Free Republic

Newsdump Alert: Trump Meeting In Qatar Opens Foreign Trip... Qatar's Connections To The US, Israel And Hamas Cannot Be Denied... The rage against Hamas over the brutal events of October 7th, 2023 belies the facts of Israeli and American interaction with Hamas through Qatar prior to October 7th. Having Hamas in power in Gaza and the... How about some Top Ten Country Songs from 50 years ago today the music of my life... Time for a "National Debt Update" our theme song... This week the US national debt that began rising when Lyndon Johnson was President of the United States...

There are a few reasons to doubt the American government's stated aim of wiping out these so-called "narco terrorist" gangs threatening the US from Venezuela, even after one takes out of the equation the sort of equipment the military is deploying - which isn't what they would need for effective drug smuggling interdiction. While the president acknowledges that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is a huge killer in the US (which it is) and is supplied by drug gangs (which it is), to blame Venezuela for fentanyl production is simply incorrect.Mexican cartels produce fentanyl with precursors largely supplied from China, and...

America’s Founders made the presidential pardon power absolute, and they did so as a protection against injustice. But Hamilton and Madison might be having second thoughts as they watch President Trump dole out pardons as a form of political legal tender. In the latest example, Mr. Trump on Wednesday pardoned crypto kingpin Changpeng Zhao, who happens to be a Trump family business partner. “I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people,” Mr. Trump said. “A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything.” One of those people wasn’t Mr. Zhao, unless...

@MassieforKY I tell it like it is. Here’s a group of lobbyists in DC who sell out farmers while pretending to support them. @BeefUSA supports electronic tags on livestock, opposes country of origin labeling, is against checkoff reform, & won’t lift a finger to help farmers sell beef locally.

Virginia Giuffre's ghostwriter has revealed she holds the names of everyone listed in the Epstein files along with private recordings to prove it. Amy Wallace, the co-author of Giuffre’s posthumous memoir Nobody's Girl, sat down with NewsNation on Tuesday to discuss the 400-page tell-all detailing the harrowing events that unfolded on the disgraced billionaire's infamous island. In an explosive claim, Wallace insisted the list exists, that she knows the identities of everyone named and that the FBI has been holding it for more than ten years.

@RandPaul Like I told @cherylcasone on @MorningsMaria, Republicans ran against Biden’s reckless spending… then adopted his spending levels. I won’t. $38 trillion in debt isn’t sustainable. It’s a threat to our economy and our dollar. I’ll keep voting no until Washington gets serious about balancing the budget.

@Holden_Culotta Tucker Carlson: “What the hell is going on that Thomas Massie is a target, but Lindsey Graham has a Trump endorsement?” “Of all the members of Congress that I know, Massie is the most principled.” “If Lindsay Graham continues to get elected, then the whole MAGA thing is totally fake.” “I don’t think there are many people in the country who live out Donald Trump’s own stated principles more precisely than Thomas Massie does.” “His personal life … is like one of the most impressive things I’ve ever heard.” “He is self-reliant in the most American sense.” “This is...

The Trump administration excels at sowing uncertainty. But it is sending an unambiguous message to crypto entrepreneurs who may be operating on the fringes of the law, or outside of it: Don’t worry about a thing. ICYMI: President Donald Trump on Thursday issued yet another reprieve for a crypto mogul who happens to have greatly enriched the Trump family’s net worth. Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, served a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2023 to charges related to anti-money-laundering violations. Zhao, widely known as “CZ,” was released in September 2024. After months...

U.S. President Donald Trump said he stopped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from fighting in Gaza, a war he said would have continued "for years" without his pressure on Netanyahu. “He would have just kept going,” Trump told TIME in a newly published interview. “It could have gone on for years. It would have gone on for years. But I stopped him, and everybody came together when I stopped him.” Trump and Netanyahu have heaped praise on each other publicly. But Trump has also shown signs of frustration with Netanyahu's hardline approach, saying in his recent speech to the Knesset...

“What do you expect when you sue the president?” Hearing that comment, some people may guess the comment was made by someone addressing one of President Trump’s political opponents who has been targeted for federal prosecution. That quote, though, is much older. It is from an IRS agent addressing officials of a conservative organization that was being audited during Bill Clinton’s presidency. This illustrates that the use of federal agencies to punish presidents’ enemies did not start with President Trump. The administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used tax investigations against political opponents. Targeted individuals included publishers of newspapers that...

"When we declare war is supposed to be done by Congress. It's not supposed to be done willy nilly," Paul addedRepublican Sen. Rand Paul again slammed President Donald Trump over the administration's continued strikes against alleged drug boats off Venezuela, reiterating that any armed conflict should be approved by Congress. Speaking with British journalist Piers Morgan, Paul rejected the administration's claim that the strikes were targeting smugglers carrying different drugs, including fentanyl. "There is no fentanyl made in Venezuela. Not just a little bit, there's none being made. These are outboard boats that, in order for them to get to...

<p>President Donald Trump scolded America’s cattle ranchers in a Wednesday Truth Social rant that saw him declare that they’d be in dire straits without him.</p><p>Trump has faced criticism over his suggestion that the United States might buy more beef from Argentina.</p>

The ghost writer who helped Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, pen her posthumous memoir claimed she knows everyone named in the so-called Epstein files. “Yes, I know who the names are,” Amy Wallace told News Nation’s “Banfield” on Tuesday of those tied to the notorious, now-deceased sex trafficker. “Virginia [knew] who the names are, but so does the FBI and so does the Department of Justice,” the “Nobody’s Girl” co-author insisted. “That’s why there’s such a clamoring right now for the Epstein files to be released.” Wallace, who spent four years writing the book, said she still...

The Republican Party's pro-Israel allies are going all-out to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie. He's responded by making those attacks a centerpiece of his campaign. The GOP's mega-donor ranks are filled with backers of Israel, and they're showing they're willing to invest in defeating lawmakers who are critical of Israel. They're also aligning themselves with President Trump, who has singled out Massie (R-Ky.) — a rare congressional Republican Trump critic — for defeat. Massie has vocally criticized Israel's handling of the war in Gaza and voted against providing U.S. aid to Israel. He also skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's July...

@RandPaul On @MeetThePress, I made it clear: America needs diplomacy over endless war, real debate before military action, and fiscal sanity, not $2–3 trillion deficits from either party. I’ll stand with President Trump when he’s right and stand up to government overreach when he’s not.

@RepThomasMassie First the British Ambassador lost his job and now the Prince lost his title. Don’t tell us there’s nothing in the Epstein files. The truth is coming out and we will not give up. Repost this and tag @SpeakerJohnson if you want him to quit delaying the vote.

Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday questioned the wisdom and legality of President Donald Trump’s policies toward Venezuela and suspected drug dealers coming from its coast. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Kentucky Republican again raised concerns about the legality of the Trump administration’s strikes on boats that it claims are carrying drug traffickers, as well as the president’s statement that the United States might conduct direct attacks on Venezuela’s territory. “When you kill someone, you should know, if you’re not at war, not in a declared war, you really need to know someone’s name at least,” Paul said. “You...

@LeadingReport BREAKING: President Trump calls for Thomas Massie to be removed from Congress.

@RandPaul Washington’s spending addiction is out of control. I refused to support the $2T GOP deficit or the $3T Democrat deficit. I don’t want a shutdown, and I’ll support legislation to ensure our troops are paid, but I won’t rubber-stamp reckless budgets from either party.

@RonPaul In an hysterical rant over the weekend, President Trump has blasted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as a couple of "wackos" who refuse to vote with the Republican Party. Meanwhile, President Trump has just announced that his first in-person fundraiser of the election cycle will be for...Lindsey Graham! Also today, Israel breaks ceasefire and kills dozens more Palestinians in Gaza.