Free Republic

He bet a quarter billion on something maybe worth 60 Million, to bully, damage, and hopefully to destroy this president, and paid $18 billion for it. Who is laughing now? Bezos, a virulent Trump hater, used the Washington Post, a paper of repute at one time, to perform regular, predictable and malevolent daily blitzkriegs on the candidacy, and after he was elected, on the presidency of the man We, the People, elected to the nation’s highest office, his family, his associates, his policies, and his ideas. In other words, Bezos and the Washington Post colluded, cooperated and conspired with the...

Turkish autocrat Recep Tayyip Erdogan is coming to Washington, DC, on May 16 loaded for bear.  He has an ambitious agenda and apparently feels he can achieve it all because he holds “trump” cards against the President of the United States. Erdogan and his proxies have publicly said they want to convince the United States to jettison its budding alliance with the Syrian Democratic Union (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish group that has become the tip of the spear in the fight against ISIS in Syria. On this point, they will encounter resistance...

One thing that that has puzzled a lot of people since the selection of Pope Francis two years ago is how a left-leaning Pope could succeed two very serious conservative Popes—John Paul II and Benedict XVI—who you would have thought had stacked the ranks of the Cardinals with clergy that would perpetuate their theological and philosophical outlook. Was Benedict hounded out of office by some kind of internal Vatican scandal perhaps? Was there some ecclesiastical version of a coup?There’s no evidence that I’m aware of—until now. Three days ago the National Catholic Register ran a very curious article about...

VATICAN CITY — Five years ago, Pope Francis was elected to be an agent of change within a church shaken by scandals and the historic resignation of Benedict XVI. He quickly became a global force in geopolitics, setting the agenda on climate change and care for migrants. World leaders wanted to be near him. Even non-Catholics adored him.Today, Francis is increasingly embattled. The political climate has shifted abruptly around the world, empowering populists and nationalists who oppose much of what he stands for. Conservative forces arrayed against him within the Vatican have been emboldened, seeking to thwart him on multiple...

Rep Paul Gosar has said that he plans to seek charges of treason against four FBI officials for treason in trying to topple a legally elected president. He claims that their actions were not only illegal but constituted an attempted coup of a sitting US president using false dossier information that they knew was really opposition research (lies) paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC. He is seeking charges against former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Gosar said:

WASHINGTON — The United States was said to have planned to destabilize at least two Arab countries over the last two years. A former leading U.S. military commander asserted that the administration of President Barack Obama worked to destabilize the regimes of Bahrain and Egypt. Ret.] Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the administration’s drive against Bahrain, wracked by a Shi’ite revolt, was led by the intelligence community.

Georgia’s gubernatorial race is another contentious battle. Republican Brain Kemp has a two-point lead, but Democrat Stacey Abrams refuses to concede. She bizarrely talks of a “do-over” when it comes to this race (via The Hill): Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams offered no signs she plans to concede in the Georgia gubernatorial race during a speech in the early morning hours of Wednesday."I want to say this: if I wasn’t your first choice or if you made no choice at all, you’re gonna have a chance to do a do-over," Abrams said during the speech to supporters, alluding to a potential...

...Mnangagwa struck a conciliatory tone in the months leading up to the election. Declaring that Zimbabwe was “open for business,” he amended a law requiring local ownership of diamond and platinum mines. He signaled his intent to end farm seizures and vowed to sell off failing state enterprises. He even wrote a New York Times op-ed calling for democracy and equal rights for all citizens. But Mnangagwa is tied to numerous human rights abuses, including overseeing a series of government-ordered massacres between 1982 and 1986 known as the “Gukurahundi.” An estimated 20,000 civilians from Zimbabwe’s Ndebele ethnic group were killed....

During the Obama presidency, the U.S. administration was wary of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had come to power in Egypt after the country’s first-ever free elections. Despite his declared support for democracy and change in the Arab world in the wake of the Arab Spring, then-President Barack Obama did not take a strong position and reject the coup against President-elect Mohamed Morsi. The coup, as we know, led to the military’s return to power in the largest Arab country — along with tyranny, repression, corruption and mismanagement. That is the conclusion that David D. Kirkpatrick arrives at in his excellent...

FULL TITLE: Pastor Brunson ‘Immediately’ Expressed His Gratitude With Display of Patriotism After Being Freed From Turkey After Pastor Andrew Brunson was released from Turkey following two years of detainment, he expressed his gratitude in the most patriotic way — even before he touched down on American soil. Before the pastor landed at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C., on Saturday, his plane made a stop in Germany on Friday to refuel. While there, he and his wife were greeted by U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell, who presented Brunson with a folded American flag. The pastor, moved by the gesture,...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., alleged Sunday that there is a “bureaucratic coup” being uncovered following reporting last week that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed trying to oust President Trump. The New York Times reported Friday that Rosenstein considered rallying Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution and offered to wear a wire to record his conversations with the president. Rosenstein has denied he considered such actions and follow-up reports have indicated that he was being sarcastic when bringing up the secret recording. Graham told “Fox News Sunday” that Trump should not fire the top Justice Department...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that she is confused why Americans aren’t “uprising” against the Trump administration over conditions on the border with Mexico. The California Democrat’s weekly press briefing veered into explosive territory when the subject of illegal immigration came up. Mrs. Pelosi said there may be “uprisings” over children who are separated at the U.S. southern border when asylum seekers decide not to arrive at a proper checkpoint.

snip Informed sources in both Moscow and Kiev have told TIME that Tymoshenko has reached a deal with the Kremlin, under which she would be more considerate of Russia's needs — particularly for long-term rights to its Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol — and would tone down her traditional anti-Moscow diatribes, and in return she may find Russia more flexible when it comes to negotiating next year's prices for the natural gas on which Ukraine depends. However, Tymoshenko firmly denies rumors of any accommodation with foreign powers, insisting that she abides only by the interests of Ukraine. Rumors of...

Vladimir Putin is 'alive' but 'neutralised' as shadowy security chiefs stage a stealthy coup in Moscow, it was claimed last night. Former FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev was behind the plot, claimed chairman of the pro-Kremlin national Islamic Committee, Geydar Dzhemal. Snip... 'I think that Putin is neutralised at the moment, but of course, he is alive,' said Dzhemal, seen as a Kremlin loyalist. 'He is under the control of the power-wielding agencies, who have, in my opinion, organised a coup d'etat.' snip.. 'My information is that Patrushev met Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov in Pyatigorsk on 11 March and tempted him...

CNN analyst and former CIA intelligence official Philip Mudd wondered aloud Monday when a shadow government will emerge to oppose President Donald Trump following a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

Democratic Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen on Monday called for the “military folks” to save America from President Donald Trump after Trump’s much-criticized press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Where are our military folks? The Commander in Chief is in the hands of our enemy!” Cohen wrote on Twitter, using language suggestive of a military coup. Cohen later said that he was in no way calling for a coup. “No coup called for,” he wrote, claiming it unlikely that someone would call for a coup on Twitter. Cohen’s bizarre tweet was similar to one from former Obama CIA Director John...

Nearly two years ago, the British people voted for Brexit. They rejected the arguments of the political, business, academic and media establishment, which were united in their support for the European Union and its elitist agenda that favors the rich. Instead, voters chose populism, voting for Britain to become a self-governing, independent nation outside the EU. You can say they were wrong; you can lament their decision. But you can’t deny the facts of what happened. But guess what? Denying the facts is exactly what the elitists are trying to do. Right now, the political debate in the United Kingdom...

On Friday there was more good economic news as the jobs report showed the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%, the lowest since 2000. For African Americans and Hispanics, the unemployment rate is now the lowest ever recorded. In April, 164,000 nonfarm jobs were added to payrolls surpassing a 135,000 increase in employment in March. Among the sectors to perform well in April were construction which added 17,000 new jobs and manufacturing employment which surged by 24,000 jobs. Most analysts believe that the economy is nearing full employment, so it is not surprising that the Economic Cost Index shows wages are...

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III has been appointed to preside over the special counsel’s criminal case against Paul Manafort. That is bad news for Robert Mueller. At a Friday hearing, Judge Ellis accused the Mueller team of “lying” about the scope of its investigation. He asked for a copy of the unredacted “scope memo” penned by Rod Rosenstein, which Congressional Republicans have also sought.The judge is particularly concerned that much of the information that forms the basis of the Manafort indictment was compiled by the Justice Department during the Bush and Obama Administrations, when Robert Mueller was the FBI Director.I...

Former CIA Director-turned-Twitter troll, John Brennan issued President Trump a warning Friday morning after the House Intel Panel released their much-anticipated Russia report, officially clearing Trump. There was no Trump-Russia collusion. End the witch hunt now and start prosecuting all involved in the attempted coup. Not only did the House Intel report clear Trump of any ‘collusion’ with Russia, it revealed a group of wealthy donors spent $50 million to fund the Trump-Russia investigation. A group of about 7-10 wealthy donors from California (Silicon Valley) and New York spent $50 million to fund a Trump-Russia investigation conducted by none other...