Free Republic

Senate Democrats on Tuesday tried to force a vote on a measure to prevent President Trump from launching a military attack on Cuba, as he repeatedly threatens action against the island. But Republicans blocked the procedural vote from moving forward, arguing that the U.S. isn't engaged in hostilities with Cuba. The issue is "moot," GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said. Democrats are seeking to get ahead of the president on Cuba after he took unilateral action against Venezuela and Iran. The resolution was introduced in March by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, who has also spearheaded the efforts...

FRANKFORT — The teetering checks and balances between Kentucky’s judicial and legislative branches over the power to reprimand judges kept swinging Wednesday. The Republican-controlled legislature censured state Supreme Court Justice Kelly Thompson for portions of his recent opinion in a Lexington judge’s appeal of her impeachment by the state House. The Senate approved a censure resolution sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers. A few hours later, the House adopted a similar measure filed by House Speaker David Osborne after Republicans blocked any debate on the measure. Stivers’ resolution alleges that Thompson’s opinion “threatened attorneys and legislators participating in pending impeachment...

From 1973 to 1977 the National Hockey League was the wild west, and Bob “Gasser” Gassoff—a 5’10”, 190-pound wrecking ball who skated for the St. Louis Blues—was one of the best enforcers in the game. His job was not to score. It was to protect the players who did. High-stick, slash, board or manhandle a Blues skill player and Gasser would drop the gloves and answer the bell, over and over, until somebody turtled or a referee had the stones to break it up. He skated to the penalty box bloodied and sometimes missing his jersey, then flashed a trademark...

President Trump has now survived three assassination attempts. The perps weren’t exactly members of Moms for Liberty. The liberal media like to portray violence as coming exclusively from the right. President Biden claimed that White supremacy was the greatest threat to America. What do Luigi Mangione (charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson), the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk, the man convicted of the 2012 attack on the Family Research Council, and the shooter at a practice session for the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game have in common? All are or were hard-core leftists. Most of the political violence...

Short statement

A fundraising email for California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter bearing a vulgar message aimed at President Trump has has been blasted for going out after a gunman targeted Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The email — with the subject line “(Explitive) Trump” — included statements the ex-congresswoman made at the California Democratic Party Convention in February, where she held up a sign bearing the vulgar two-word insult. “I’m Katie Porter. Some of you know me as the whiteboard lady who held CEOs and billionaires accountable in Congress,” read the email, which was sent by the progressive activist organization...

Two North Carolina legislators are leaving the Democratic Party to become unaffiliated after facing scrutiny for not sufficiently supporting the party’s agenda. State Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed, both of Mecklenburg County, announced in recent days that they are leaving the Democratic Party. Cunningham has served in the state House of Representatives for about 14 years and Majeed has served for eight years. Their moves come about a month after losing primary elections to Democratic challengers who attacked Cunningham and Majeed for occasionally voting with Republicans to override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein and, before him, by former...

The national wage floor is so low that it might as well not exist.Do you want to know the good news about the minimum wage? In most parts of the country, it is practically irrelevant. The last federal minimum wage increase went into effect on July 24, 2009, raising it from $6.55 an hour to $7.25. We have experienced nearly 50 percent inflation since then, yet the minimum wage has stayed the same. Even in 2009, only 4.9 percent of workers were actually paid $7.25 an hour, and that number has dropped to 1.1 percent today. This is good news:...

President Trump slammed the chancellor of Germany on Tuesday after Friedrich Merz said the U.S. was being “humiliated” by Iran. “The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago.” “No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise!” he wrote. Merz, speaking to students Monday in Germany, said...

The suspect in a deadly shooting that happened outside a Strongsville Costco on Saturday evening, April 25, faced a judge on Monday morning. Christian M. Bryant, 22, of Fort Worth, Texas, is facing an unclassified felony count of murder, accused of shooting an employee outside the store, according to Strongsville police.

As the number of women of childbearing age declines in Germany, birth rates are projected to continue falling. The German Family Association says family-unfriendly structural policies are to blame. Germany's birth rate fell to its lowest post-World War II level in 2025. According to preliminary figures from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), around 655,000 live births were recorded in 2025, compared to around 680,00 in 2024. Last year, the country recorded more than one million deaths. This brings the birth deficit to around 350,000, setting yet another record. Declining birth rates for the fourth year in Germany Last year marked...

King Charles has extolled the importance of Britain’s “special relationship” with the United States in a speech to US Congress that made pointed reference to the importance of Nato, the defence of Ukraine and the climate crisis. In a speech that will be read as a veiled plea to Donald Trump to return to the United States’ traditional European alliances and restore his country’s role as a defender of liberal values, Charles said: “America’s words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence. The actions of this great nation matter even more.” Charles’s appearance before the joint session of...

Utah Democrats may be on the brink of an unexpected political realignment after a progressive newcomer pulled off a convention upset that has reshaped a closely watched House race. Progressive first-time candidate Liban Mohamed narrowly won Utah Democrats’ convention endorsement Saturday in the state’s newly redrawn 1st Congressional District, defeating establishment favorite Ben McAdams, an outcome that has energized the party’s left flank. Newsweek reached out to Mohamed via email for comment. Some Democrats have framed this result as a potential turning point, with Angel Vice, chair of the Utah Democratic Party Women’s Caucus, telling the Deseret News after the...

Ex-FBI Director James Comey charged with threatening Trump’s life in ‘8647’ post Former FBI Director James Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he threatened President Donald Trump when he posted an image of seashells spelling out “8647” on his Instagram account last year. The charges mark the second time that Comey has been indicted in a federal case since Trump’s second presidential term began. The indictment was revealed three days after Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after an alleged assassin ran toward the event.

The US will soon begin issuing passports featuring an image of President Donald Trump inside, a State Department official said Tuesday. The official said that the passport “will be the default passport out of the Washington Passport Agency when available” for those who renew their passports in person at that location. “Online options or other locations will maintain existing passport design,” the official said.

The UK’s new ambassador to the US has described Keir Starmer as having been “on the ropes” over the Peter Mandelson scandal and said it is Israel rather than Britain that has a “special relationship” with the White House. Christian Turner, who took office in February to replace Mandelson as the UK’s most senior diplomat in Washington, made the remarks privately to a group of students visiting the US in the same month he was appointed. His remarks are embarrassing for Downing Street because they emerged in the same week that the king is carrying out his state visit under...

The resolution aimed at introducing the concept of consent into rape legislation in the 27 member states of the European Union was adopted on Tuesday by a large majority – with 447 votes in favour, 160 against and 43 abstentions. The text urges that "only a clear, affirmative, freely given and unambiguous indication of consent is valid" in sexual relations. It adds that "silence, a lack of verbal or physical resistance or the absence of a ‘no’ cannot be interpreted as consent". Any sexual act outside this framework, it says, should be considered rape. The text also stresses that prior...

California’s High-Speed Rail boondoggle is now estimated to cost taxpayers $231 billion, up from its original $33.5 billion price tag in 2008 when voters passed Proposition 1A. “Our country has never seen a fiscal disaster of this magnitude,” California Rep. Kevin Kiley said on X Monday. Voters were deceived by the original ballot summary and language in Proposition 1A from 2008, but the state’s lawmakers seem to find that fact inconvenient. And, the entire project is lacking in private, public and debt funding to complete even the most minor operating segment – nearly 20 years later. “If it is built,...

King Charles III is addressing a joint meeting of Congress, following meetings at the White House with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump.

SummaryMPs vote 335 to 223 against a Tory-led motion calling for a parliamentary investigation into claims Keir Starmer misled MPs about Lord Mandelson's appointment as US ambassadorDuring the lengthy debate, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch says it's "very obvious" Starmer told the Commons things that were "not correct"After the result, No 10 accuses the Conservatives of a "desperate political stunt" the week before key elections in Scotland, Wales and EnglandThe government's won the vote but there's still a lot disgruntlement, writes our correspondentThe debate came as Starmer's former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney told MPs he made a "serious mistake" in...