Free Republic

French officials have openly admitted they have “no solution” to stop the flow of small boats crossing the Channel, dealing a fresh political blow to Keir Starmer after Britain agreed a new £662 million border enforcement package with Paris. The comments came despite Downing Street unveiling plans for expanded joint patrols, increased surveillance and the deployment of at least 50 riot-trained French officers to beaches used by migrant gangs operating along the northern French coastline. Local politicians in the Pas-de-Calais region dismissed the measures as cosmetic and warned the crossings would continue regardless of British funding. Alain Boonefaes, a deputy...

How commonplace is political violence these days? A man shooting at federal officers near the White House as JD Vance's motorcade passed by was barely mentioned in the papers. Still, the timing could not be better for Noah Rothman's new book, Blood & Progress: A Century of Left-Wing Violence in America. Ian Haworth returns to the Weekend Beacon with a review. “’This is a book about the assassins, the vandals, the small-cell terrorists, and the lizard-brained mobs that mete out destruction, violence, and death in the name of political causes and in the pursuit of political outcomes,’ Rothman declares, before...

Amid talk that war with Iran may be renewed, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated Truth Social video that showed him seemingly ordering the destruction of an Iranian naval vessel. “OK we have it in our sight. Fire – boom!” Trump says in the video as a U.S. destroyer blows an Iranian aircraft out of the sky. “I’m sure preparations are underway for more escalation,” said Jon Hoffman, a research fellow in defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute, said, according to the New York Post, which said “intense preparations” are under way to resume fighting. “Trump has refused...

A transgender athlete in California so dominated the state finals that it brought protest and outrage from fans and parents in attendance. It also brought a very unusual move from event officials. AB Hernandez, 17, a senior at Juniper Valley High School, took first place in the girls’ long jump, high jump, and triple jump during this weekend’s California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section finals. The ill feelings toward Hernandez were obvious, not just from protesters and parents but also from female competitors who seemed to avoid the trans athlete after the win. Having evidently anticipated the backlash and, potentially, the...

The World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in Central Africa an international public health emergency on Sunday after dozens of suspected deaths were reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Uganda. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, does not meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency, the WHO said. The declaration follows reports of 80 suspected deaths, eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246 suspected cases as of Saturday across at least three health zones in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu.

Tillis, who is retiring after his tenure in the Senate ends in January 2027, posted a lengthy statement on X, warning that Hegseth continues to “disrespect our greatest allies and some of our best military professionals with impulsive decisions not grounded in reality or good judgment.” “If the rumors are true that Hegseth is trying to sideline General Chris Donahue, one of our nation’s finest warfighters, by downgrading U.S. Army Europe-Africa to a 3-star command, he is taking another step down a dangerous path,” Tillis wrote, calling it “a step that is not in the best interests of our nation...

A post moving fast across X on Saturday claimed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer “has announced he is standing down.” That is not the confirmed position. No official resignation announcement has been verified from Downing Street. But the reports underneath the viral claim tell a story that is almost as dramatic. According to a Daily Mail report from columnist Dan Hodges now circulating widely on the platform, Starmer has “told friends he intends to stand down and set out an orderly timetable for his departure.” That language is sourced to private conversations, not to a formal public statement from the...

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy is facing a serious challenge for his seat, five years after voting to convict Donald Trump on impeachment charges following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump has endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow, but the field also includes well-known state Treasurer John Fleming. If no candidate gets majority support, the top two vote-getters will advance to a primary runoff. Whoever emerges from the Republican contest will be heavily favored in the general election.

Charlamagne Tha God threw a racial epithet at black U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarance Thomas, calling the jurist a “coon” on Wednesday’s broadcast of The Daily Show.The podcaster and radio shock jock frequently hosts the Daily Show’s “In My Opinion” segment, where he speaks on current events and culture. During his bit this week, he played a video of Delaware Democrat Senator Chris Coons. After playing the clip, the radio host, whose real name is Leonard McKelvey, used the senator’s name as a cudgel against Justice Thomas.“Mr. Coons’ is actually my nickname for Clarence Thomas,” the racist McKelvey said.

Voters passed the last November as a Democratic countermeasure to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas, Florida and other states. California’s controversial Proposition 50 – passed by voters last November as a Democratic countermeasure to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas, Florida and other states – is now on a collision course with the Supreme Court. The measure empowered California’s Democratic-controlled legislature to sideline the state’s independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and redraw congressional districts mid-decade. That commission, created by voters in 2008, was intended to curb partisan manipulation by placing map making in the hands of an independent 14-member panel focused on...

The Talk Shows May 17th, 2026 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FACE THE NATION (CBS): Margaret Brennan anchors: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer; Taiwanese Ambassador to the United States Alexander Yui; Former Bush (Dubya) Director of the CIA and Obama administration Sec of Defense Robert Gates; CBS News' executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto. Panel: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.). FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Anchor Shannon Bream: Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson; singer Amy Grant. Panel: Rachel Campos-Duffy, Mark Walker and Roger Zakheim. MEET THE...

President Trump threatened to pull his endorsement of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on Saturday, as she campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) ahead of a tough reelection fight. Trump railed against Boebert in a pair of back-to-back posts on Truth Social, calling her “weak-minded” and asking if there was “anyone interested” in challenging her in the GOP primary for Colorado’s 4th congressional district. “Boebert is campaigning for the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman in the History of our Country, Thomas Massie, of the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, and anybody who can be that dumb deserves a good Primary fight!” Trump wrote in...

Shortly after a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Modena, Italy, four Italian civilians stepped in and tackled the vehicle's driver, pulling him to the ground, according to the city's mayor. "The madman, I don't know what to call him, the criminal who committed this act, he got out of the car brandishing a knife," Mayor Massimo Mezzetti told state-owned news agency RAI. "Four citizens, whom I thank, captured him and handed him over to law enforcement." Mezzetti said that eight people were wounded when the car rammed into a crowd on Via Emilia, a busy street in...

The Chinese government is tightening the screws on American investment in its artificial intelligence sector. The core purpose is to keep U.S. capital out of technologies it deems “strategically sensitive” to national security. The protective action is a reminder that Washington also needs to prioritize insulating our own critical sectors from foreign adversaries.Few industries are more important to our national security than healthcare. More than 131 million people - nearly two-thirds of all U.S. adults - use prescription medications. Yet the United States has allowed its pharmaceutical supply chains to become dangerously dependent on foreign rivals - particularly China. That...

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Bill Cassidy voted to convict Donald Trump in February 2021. Louisiana Republicans spent five years deciding what to do about it. On Saturday, they gave their answer. Cassidy, who has represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate since 2015, did not finish in the top two of the Republican primary. He will not advance to the June 27 runoff. His Senate career is over. The two candidates who did advance, Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming, now face each other in a runoff that will determine which of them represents the Louisiana Republican Party against the Democratic nominee...

Alex Saab fell out of favor with the new administration that took power since Maduro’s ouster and capture by US forces in January.

President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory tone during his trip to China. He returned from his Beijing summit with Xi Jinping yesterday full of praise for the “great leader,” who is, in Trump’s estimations, “an incredible guy.” The summit was “very successful, world-renowned, and unforgettable,” according to the President, who insisted that “a lot of different problems were settled.” But there’s one problem that hasn’t been addressed: the growing number of Chinese operations on US soil. Last week Eileen Wang, the mayor of the southern Californian city of Arcadia agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent of...

CONFLICTING LOYALTIES An interviewer once asked the late Senator Sam Ervin, Jr. how he had developed such insight into human behavior. "I had a good teacher, Henry Horace Williams," replied Ervin. "He said the things that try people's souls do not consist of choosing between good and evil. The thing that tries a person's soul is having to choose between conflicting loyalties." Ervin went on to say that understanding that concept had not only helped him make better decisions, but to judge other people more fairly as well. Sometimes unwise choices were simply the result of misplaced loyalty. "A...

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a primary challenge on ​Saturday for hardline conservative Representative Lauren Boebert, until now ‌a staunch Trump ally, after she campaigned for maverick Representative Thomas Massie in his Kentucky district. "Boebert is campaigning for the Worst 'Republican' Congressman ​in the History of our Country, Thomas Massie, of ​the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, and anybody who can ⁠be that dumb deserves a good Primary fight!" Trump ​wrote on Truth Social. Boebert, a Colorado congresswoman, responded with a ​post on X: "Yes, I saw the President’s post. No, I’m not mad or offended....