Free Republic

In a significant move, the United Nations has voted to remove Iran from a prominent women’s rights body for the remainder of its 2022-2026 term for the regime’s brutal crackdown on women-led protests against the theocracy. The decision comes into effect immediately, the United Nations said. The move, proposed by the United States, to expel Iran from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was hailed by activists in Iran and all across the world. Twenty-nine members of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) voted in favour, eight countries voted against and 16 abstained.

Last Friday, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona caused headlines when she announced she would quit the Democrat party to become independent. Sinema told Politico that she “never really fit into a box of any political party.” Sinema began her political career in the Arizona Green Party and rose to prominence for her advocacy of LGBT rights and opposition to the war on terror. However, when Sinema first ran for office, she ran as a Democrat in 2004, perhaps to increase her clout in politics. It turned out to be an astute decision; it enabled her to be elected to the...

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has announced she has left the Democrats and is registering as an independent senator. Sinema made the announcement Friday morning by publishing an op-ed in the Arizona Republic. The senator blasted the increasingly partisan interests and radicalization of the Democratic Party as the reason for her departure. She suggested that she had felt under pressure to “demonize people” as a member of the Democrats. Sinema continued by explaining that such divisive tactics are causing lawmakers to become “distracted by political drama.” In her op-ed, Sinema explains that she decided to become an independent as her moderate...

Five cars rented by President Joe Biden’s Secret Service detail for his Thanksgiving weekend trip to Nantucket mysteriously burst into flames a day after he left, according to reports. Footage of the burned out rental vehicles in a car park at Nantucket Memorial Airport was obtained by the Nantucket Current. The local news site reported that the cause of the fire was under investigation. No one was injured in the blaze. Footage showed firefighters dampening down the smouldering remains of several vehicles including a Chevy Suburban, a Ford Explorer, an Infiniti QX80, a Ford Expedition, and a Jeep Gladiator. In...

Investigators are exploring the possibility that more than one person is behind the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, which have sent shockwaves through the small college town of Moscow. Four days on from the murders, the killer or killers remain at large with no arrests made and no suspects named. Moscow Police Chief James Fry admitting on Wednesday: “There is a threat out there still”. Authorities in Moscow, Idaho, have released very few details about what happened to the four University of Idaho students who were murdered last weekend. Police have cautioned the small town of 25,000...

Lara Trump issued a dark warning to Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis saying it would be “nicer” for him to stay out of the 2024 race for the GOP presidential nomination. The daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump appeared on Sky News Australia to boost his prospective candidacy that’s expected to be announced on Tuesday. The announcement appears to be set to go ahead despite Mr Trump being urged by allies to delay his campaign start until after the Georgia Senate runoff on 6 December. “I think he's a smart enough guy to know that it would be great to...

The senior naval officer in charge of America’s nuclear triad says the current worldwide tensions sparked by Russia’s war against Ukraine could be the opening act for a larger conflict that the US must prepare for. In remarks at the Naval Submarine League's 2022 Annual Symposium & Industry Update, US Strategic Command commander Admiral Charles Richard said the Ukraine crisis “is just the warmup”. "The big one is coming, and it isn't going to be very long before we're going to get tested in ways that we haven't been tested a long time,” he said.

After FBI agents raided the home of ABC News producer James Gordon Meek’s home last spring, a report in Rolling Stone floated the possibility that the sweep could have been related to his work as a journalist. However, new information reported by The Daily Beast suggests the raid was unrelated to his journalistic pursuits. Mr Meek’s home was raided by the FBI, but the agency’s reasons for the search were unknown to the public. According to Rolling Stone, "independent observers believe the raid is among the first - and quite posible, the first - to be carried out on a...

Independent voters are breaking for Republican candidates less than two weeks before the November 8 midterm elections. According to CBS/YouGov polling from October 12 to 14, independent voters preferred generic congressional Democrat candidates over Republican ones by 40 percent to 38 percent. However, in a second poll from October 26 to 28, independents said they preferred generic congressional Republican candidates over Democrat candidates by 49 percent to 33 percent. This means that Republicans saw an 18-point swing in their favor among independent voters over a two-week period.

Depending on where you live, and exactly what you decide to live in, the answer could be yes. In fact, a growing number of city and county zoning agencies around the world are implementing ordinances to crack down on off-grid living, in many cases making it a crime. Over the years we’ve covered numerous examples of how government officials from around the world have been systematically targeting those who choose to live an off the grid lifestyle. From targeting self-reliant homeowners with antiquated zoning laws and regulations to forming special zoning boards that are designed to force people back onto...

Independent Utah Senate candidate Evan McMullin said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he will not caucus with either party if he beats incumbent Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) on November 8. McMullin said, “I am running as an independent. I’m building a coalition of Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and members of third parties to better represent Utah and to help lead our country forward. And I’m not going to Washington to join a party or to caucus or to play the party power game. I’m going to represent our coalition, and that’s a commitment that I’ve made to our coalition...

Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) comment that she will not be a Republican if former President Trump wins the party’s 2024 presidential nomination is sparking chatter that she might mount an independent White House run. While Cheney lost her House primary to the former president’s endorsed candidate last month, her break with the MAGA wing of the GOP has made her the leader of the anti-Trump movement among Republicans and beyond.

In remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke about why he was blocking a $40 billion Ukraine bill. Video ...

Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly suggested Twitter and Facebook should suspend social media accounts that belong to his GOP colleagues who amplified 2020 election claims... In a call with officials days after the riots, Mr McCarthy suggested the platforms shutter their accounts as they did to those belonging to Mr Trump... “We can’t put up with that,” Mr McCarthy said in a phone call on 11 January, 2021, days after the failed insurrection, according to audio and reporting from The New York Times. “Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?”

Independent voters give former President Donald Trump an edge in a hypothetical 2024 head-to-head matchup against President Joe Biden, a Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey released this week found. “If the candidates for the Presidential Election on November 5, 2024, are as follows, for whom will you vote?” the survey asked, giving voters the choices of Trump, Biden, a Libertarian candidate, a Green candidate, or other.

A new poll indicates that self-described independent voters would prefer, by an 18 percentage-point margin, that Republicans regain control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections. The poll by John Zogby Strategies, released last week, found that 45 percent of independents want the GOP in charge of the House and Senate, compared to 27 percent who want Democrats to keep their majority. The remaining 28 percent said they were undecided.

If Sen. Joe Manchin bolts the Democratic Party, he'd be more likely to switch to independent — and caucus with the Democrats — than become a Republican, people close to him tell Axios. Driving the news: Manchin’s surprise body blow to President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda set off new speculation across the Democratic Party — including inside the White House — that he may leave the party next year. * The timing and destination of Manchin's declaration: "I can’t get there. This is a no" — on "Fox News Sunday," days before Christmas — seemed designed for maximum impact....

The British "Independent" has reported that Google has been profiting from the sale of T-shirts glorifying Palestinian militant group Hamas by advertising the garments, it can be revealed, days after the UK government banned its political wing as a terrorist organisation. The military arm of the Islamist group – which controls the Gaza strip and does not recognise Israel’s right to exist – has been proscribed in the UK since 2001, but the entirety of Hamas was designated a terrorist organisation last week.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Thursday said he offered to change his party affiliation to an independent amid tough reconciliation negotiations with President Biden and the far-left. Manchin told reporters he had offered Biden and the far-left to become an independent if he become an “embarrassment” to the Democrat Party.

Andrew Yang announced on Monday that he changed his voter registration from "Democrat" to "Independent," calling the move a "strangely emotional experience." What he's saying: While Yang said he has identified as a Democrat for years and has "dozens of friends and confidantes who are entrenched in the Democratic Party," he is "confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing." "My goal is to do as much as I can to advance our society. There are phenomenal public servants doing great work every day — but our system is stuck. It is stuck in part because polarization...