Free Republic

CNN — US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president in recent weeks, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN. There’s no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.

July 16 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida are trying to solve the mystery of a plane found abandoned at the side of a Bay County road. The Springfield Police Department said on social media that "a portion of a plane" -- the cockpit, nose and front propeller -- was found abandoned at the side of Transmitter Road. The plane bears markings from ZooWorld in Panama City Beach, including giraffe logos on its seats, but the business said it got rid of the plane about a week ago. "That used to be part of an exhibit, but it was removed to...

Horrific news from Israel. A survivor of the Nova music festival lost her mind, killed her 6 years old with an axe and then walked across the street (as seen in the video) to the mall where she tried to attack the security guard and ended up hurting herself. The October 7th massacre left a deep wound in the souls of many survivors. Some committed suicide and others like in this case, simply lost their mind.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is a woman who has a lot to explain, and it turns out she’s not very good at explaining it. ... Cheatle’s record came under scrutiny almost immediately after the attack, with conservative activist Mike Cernovich noting Saturday that her profile on the government’s website emphasized diversity and noted that her prior experience, before becoming the 27th director of Secret Service, was senior director of global security at PepsiCo. ... Take ... the roughly 30 minutes that reportedly elapsed between the time the shooter, Thomas Crooks, was initially spotted on the roof of a building...

Boris Johnson urged Donald Trump to back Ukraine in a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention. -snip- The former prime minister, who enjoys warm relations with his former counterpart, shared an image of himself posing with Trump on Tuesday. Mr Johnson said: “Great to meet president Trump who is on top form after the shameful attempt on his life. “We discussed Ukraine and I have no doubt that he will be strong and decisive in supporting that country and defending democracy.” -snip- In particular, he has argued that Trump, whom he has endorsed in November’s US...

@elonmusk This is the final straw. Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas. RE: @libsoftiktok Gavin Newsom signed AB1955 today which bans schools from making rules requiring parental notification if a child identifies as transgender. ... @elonmusk I did make it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children

Democratic members of Congress are reviving a fight over President Biden's candidacy following a brief respite in the wake of Saturday's assassination attempt against former President Trump, Axios has learned. Some lawmakers are uneasy about the Democratic National Committee's plans to forge ahead with a virtual roll call vote to nominate Biden weeks before the Democratic convention. "People are back to being angry at Biden and a push to sign on to this letter is going around ... the 'replace Biden' movement is back," a House Democrat told Axios. A letter circulating among congressional Democrats argues that there is "no...

Explanation: What are these unusual interstellar structures? Bright-rimmed, flowing shapes gather near the center of this rich starfield toward the borders of the nautical southern constellations Pupis and Vela. Composed of interstellar gas and dust, the grouping of light-year sized cometary globules is about 1300 light-years distant. Energetic ultraviolet light from nearby hot stars has molded the globules and ionized their bright rims. The globules also stream away from the Vela supernova remnant which may have influenced their swept-back shapes. Within them, cores of cold gas and dust are likely collapsing to form low mass stars, whose formation will ultimately...

The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), along with federal, state, and local agencies in seven federal judicial districts and geographical locations across the United States, led a six-week national operation that resulted in finding 200 critically missing children, which includes endangered runaways and those abducted by noncustodial persons.Operation We Will Find You 2 (OWWFY2), the second-of-its-kind nationwide missing child operation, was conducted from May 20 to June 24 and focused on geographical areas with high clusters of critically missing children. Children who go missing may be in serious danger and can be vulnerable to child sex trafficking, abuse, exploitation, and other...

Hollywood star John Leguizamo has spread fake news claiming that former President Donald Trump wasn’t injured during Saturday’s assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. John Leguizamo — who has recently filled in as host on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show — re-posted a photo of Trump showing his right ear without any sign of injury . “Not even a scratch! But milk it for all you can!” the actor wrote. However, it turns out the photo was from 2022. Not even a scratch! But milk it for all you can! https://t.co/GRPLkj8ASU — John Leguizamo (@JohnLeguizamo) July 16, 2024 The photo in question...

An out-of-town police officer shot and killed an individual early Tuesday afternoon in Milwaukee, said two Milwaukee law enforcement sources. Brian Steel, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capitol City Lodge No. 9, confirmed that Columbus police were involved in a shooting in Milwaukee. The shooting occurred near North 14th and West Vliet Streets outside of the security perimeter for the Republican National Convention, said Milwaukee law enforcement sources, who asked not to be named publicly because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation. The Journal Sentinel has reporters at the scene.

Kim Cheatle must resign, or get fired. The near-assassination of former President Donald Trump is the Secret Service’s most stunning failure in decades. That’s the opinion of her boss, Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure,” he said Monday on CNN; on ABC, it was: “A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur.” The total security breakdown at Trump’s Butler, Pa., rally — which came an inch from killing the ex-prez, and did take Corey Comperatore’s life with two other civilians put...

<p>A Columbus police officer is believed to have shot someone while working in Milwaukee as part of the security efforts surrounding the Republican National Convention.</p><p>Brian Steel, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capitol City Lodge No. 9, said details are limited but he was contacted about a possible shooting in Milwaukee involving a Columbus police officer.</p>

The LinkedIn co-founder who told a panel of billionaires he wished former president Donald Trump was an “actual martyr” days before Saturday’s assassination attempt, is a dark money donor who has contributed tens of millions to Democratic political candidates. Reid Hoffman, 56, is among the big money supporters of numerous political action committees and non-profits that contribute to progressive and left-leaning political candidates and causes, according to publicly available FEC data. He is a backer of the Hopewell Fund, a non-profit which is managed by Arabella Advisors, described as “a secretive dark money juggernaut” which spent more than $1 billion...

Here we go! Democrats in Congress are back at it with another round of attacks on Joe Biden after taking a break following the assassination attempt against Trump. Nearly two dozen Democrat lawmakers have called for Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race following his disastrous debate performance. The rebellion took a back seat for a few days after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday. But the Democrats are back at it with an effort to sabotage the DNC’s plan for an early ‘virtual roll call.’ The DNC scheduled a virtual roll call...

It was a grey, drizzly Monday on March 30, 1981, when President Reagan emerged from the Washington Hilton hotel, heading back to his presidential limousine parked a few yards away. His inauguration had been only a few weeks before and he'd just finished speaking at a lunch of US labor union leaders. Along with the rest of the White House press corps I was about 20 feet away, roped off from the President. Suddenly, just as one of our number shouted a question for him, shots rang out. In a split second, a burly Secret Service agent brusquely bundled Reagan...

Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his federal corruption trial.Federal prosecutors in New York alleged the New Jersey Democrat accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and more in exchange for the senator's political clout. Three New Jersey businessmen who were also charged, along with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients. Two of those co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also convicted of all counts they faced.The jury deliberated for about 13 hours over three days.Menendez pleaded not guilty to...

OK, so here's the thing. Regardless of which side of the political spectrum trots out unfounded conspiracy theories, I disdain them. My thoughts are much stronger, but we'll just leave it at that for now. That said, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ain't got nothin' on a University of Virginia associate professor who claims the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on Saturday was a "staged event for suckers." Yeah. Sethunya Mokoko made the incredulous claim, based on zero facts. Within minutes of the attempt on Trump's life, the "staging theory" went viral and was eagerly embraced by many on...

"US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president in recent weeks, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN.""The existence of the intelligence threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency — and the enhanced security for Trump — raises new questions about the security lapses at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania...

A prominent Ukrainian air unit responded with delight to the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump, who has criticized Western support for Kiev's proxy war against Russia.The social media channel of Ukraine’s 79th Air Assault Brigade celebrated the shooting of former US President Donald Trump Saturday, according to a Sputnik contributor, appearing to jokingly take credit for the assassination attempt. Security analyst Mark Sleboda made the revelation on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Monday. “As soon as [the shooting] happened, the first thing that popped into my mind was, hmm, Mirotvorets,”M said host Garland Nixon, referring to the...