Free Republic

John Brennan and James Clapper teemed up yesterday to write an opinion piece for the NY Times defending their work on an Intelligence Community Assessment about the 2016 election. It's titled "Brennan and Clapper: Let’s Set the Record Straight on Russia and 2016."The Brennan-Clapper opinion piece (BCOP) can really be broken down into three parts. First is a summary of the previous reviews of their work, all of which concluded it was fine.While some external critiques have noted that parts of the Russia investigation could have been handled better, multiple, thorough, yearslong reviews of the assessment have validated its findings...

An Islamic center in Minnesota penned a gushing letter of support for a Somalian migrant convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl. Qalinle Ibrahim Dirie, 42, was convicted in May of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after he was found guilty of abducting the girl from her backyard and raping her in June 2024. Following his conviction, Dirie's local Islamic center, Al-Ihsan Islamic Center in St. Paul, submitted a heartfelt letter begging Hennepin County District Court Judge Michael Burns to consider the convicted criminal's 'character' before delivering a sentence, Alpha News reported. The letter, titled 'Community Support Letter for Qalinle Dirie,' was...

President Trump, on Thursday, extended the tariff pause on Mexico for another 90 days, in the hopes that a larger trade deal can be made. Mexico's President agreed to immediately suspend non-tariff trade barriers to secure the extended pause. The tariff rate will remain, with a 25 percent "fentanyl" tariff, a 25 percent tariff on cars, and a 50 percent tariff on steel, aluminum, and copper. .@PressSec: "Mexico has agreed to immediately terminate its non-tariff trade barriers, of which there are many. As the President said, we will continue to talk to Mexico over the next 90 days with the...

Germany's foreign minister said on Thursday recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of talks on a two-state solution but Berlin would respond to any unilateral actions, after citing "annexation threats" by some Israeli ministers. Johann Wadephul issued the statement before heading off to Israel and the Palestinian territories on a trip Berlin has billed as a fact-finding mission amid heightened alarm over starvation in Gaza. His remarks marked Germany’s strongest warning yet to Israel as Western nations intensify efforts to exert pressure. In recent weeks, Britain, Canada and France have all signaled their readiness to recognise...

On Wednesday, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll ordered West Point to terminate the employment of President Biden’s recently hired censorship czar. The revelation came following a now unavailable Tuesday announcement from the academy that Jen Easterly, the former director of the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), would be serving as the new Robert F. McDermott Distinguished Chair within the school’s Department of Social Sciences. Easterly graduated from West Point in 1990. “A Homecoming Worth Celebrating,” West Point Dean Shane Reeves wrote in a now unavailable X post congratulating Easterly. “Welcome home!” ... Easterly led CISA from July 2021 to January...

The ousting of Kiev regime leader is ongoing – and today, the successor was anointed in the pages of Vogue. After three and a half years hailed as the heroic defender of democracy and a present-day Churchill, Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky rapidly fell out of favor with both the exhausted Ukrainian population and with his masters in the West. We reported today here on TGP how the EU has frozen all aid until the independence of the anti-corruption agencies is restored.

Even after the Ukraine war ends, Russia will continue to pose a threat to its neighbours unless the world works to “change the Regime” in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday morning. Russia’s leadership is mentally “stuck in another era” and rejects the “post World War Two” world order, warned President Zelensky as he called for regime change against Moscow to remove the threat permanently. Addressing an Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conference remotely by a video link plagued with technical difficulties, when he could be heard the Ukrainian leader decried fresh overnight airstrikes by...

U.S. President Donald Trump has made clear that he wants a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine by August 8, the United States told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday. “Both Russia and Ukraine must negotiate a ceasefire and durable peace. It is time to make a deal. President Trump has made clear this must be done by August 8. The United States is prepared to implement additional measures to secure peace,” senior U.S. diplomat John Kelley told the 15-member council.

Hillary Clinton approved plan hatched by campaign aide to ‘smear’ Trump with Russia collusion: declassified docs WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton approved a plan hatched by a campaign adviser to “smear” then-candidate Donald Trump with false claims of Russian collusion and distract from her own mounting email scandal during the 2016 election, according to explosive intelligence files declassified Thursday. The plan included “raising the theme of ‘Putin’s support for Trump'” and “subsequently steering public opinion toward the notion that it needs to equate” the Russian leader’s political influence campaign with actual interference in election infrastructure.

In response to last week’s damning official document release about a now-infamous intelligence document that helped launch years of Russiagate madness, CNN wrote: Retired CIA official Susan Miller, an author of the agency’s 2017 intelligence report on Russian election meddling… No, she’s not. “Not an author. Not involved,” says a senior intelligence official. “There’s a chance she’s on some emails or something like that,” adds another person familiar with the investigation. “But she’s not the author of the ICA… she wasn’t leading this effort. So it’s just totally bizarre that she claims the opposite.” As if Russiagate weren’t a weird...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., spoke to Fox News Digital about the Federal Reserve, noting that he would support abolishing it if the nation stops deficit spending. "There is no more powerful and secretive organization than the Federal Reserve" ...

Egads! After a disastrous first 100 days, Donald Trump is starting to have a much more successful presidency. This is not what we, his foam-at-the-mouth critics, had planned or perhaps secretly hoped for. Some of this is a function of good policy, like getting NATO’s European members and Canada to spend much more on their defense, something previous American presidents asked for, but much too politely. Far from destroying the Atlantic alliance, as his critics feared, Trump may wind up being remembered for reviving and rebalancing it, to the advantage of both sides. Some of this is courageous policy: Joining...

Meta and Microsoft — two of America’s biggest companies — both delivered blockbuster earnings on Tuesday. The news helped to calm fears that President Donald Trump’s tariffs were hurting consumer and business spending. That boost to confidence in the broader US economy gave a lift to 401(K)s invested in major indexes like the Nasdaq and S&P 500. Meta and Microsoft are considered bellwethers for the US economy because they sit at the heart of key growth sectors — digital advertising, AI, cloud computing, and office software. Their strong performance often reflects broader consumer and business trends, from advertising spending to...

‘You need to TRUST ME on this,’ Clapper’s crony told the analyst, saying he ‘would need to demonstrate [his] ability to “outgrow”’ the refusal to sign off on assessments he did not concur with. A crony of then-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper threatened to withhold a promotion from a senior intelligence official unless he concurred in the fake Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, notes obtained exclusively by The Federalist show. The notes made public for the first time today recount a conversation the top analyst in the Office of the Director of...

Actual social media comments made by a sitting member of Cincinnati City Council …

As Congress debates how to rein in federal spending, some experts say aspects of Medicare Advantage should be on the chopping block, starting with $86 billion a year in taxpayer-funded supplemental benefits that often go unused or unverified. The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans rebate dollars to cover extra services, including dental, vision, hearing, and over-the-counter drugs. However, a 2024 study published by JAMA Network Open found that only $3.9 billion of that money went toward dental, vision and hearing benefits. Meanwhile, the industry spent an estimated $16 billion on $1,000 “Flex Cards” for new enrollees – prepaid cash...

Former Vice President Harris announced on Wednesday that she will not run for governor of California in 2026, putting an end to speculation that she would seek her state’s top executive role after her loss to President Trump in November. “In recent months, I have given serious thought to asking the people of California for the privilege to serve as their Governor. I love this state, its people, and its promise. It is my home. But after deep reflection, I’ve decided that I will not run for Governor in this election,” Harris said in a statement. The former vice president...

The Big Money Show' panel discusses the Fed's interest rate plan and the success of President Donald Trump's tariff strategy as more economic wins roll in for the nation.

Key Points Gross domestic product jumped 3% for the second quarter, better than the 2.3% estimate and reversing a 0.5% decline in the prior period. Consumer spending rose 1.4% in the second quarter, better than the 0.5% in the prior period. While exports declined 1.8% during the period, imports fell 30.3%, reversing a 37.9% surge in Q1. President Donald Trump responded to the GDP report with a fresh demand for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. ======================================================================= The U.S. economy grew at a much stronger-than-expected pace in the second quarter, powered by a turnaround in the trade balance and...

"Our hiring and pay data are broadly indicative of a healthy economy," said Dr. Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP.