Free Republic

A Venezuelan migrant arrested 16 times since arriving in Chicago in October 2023 is now in ICE custody, records show. Back in February, after his 13th arrest, we reported that a Cook County judge warned Josue Vargas Rodriguez that he would be eligible for deportation because he pleaded guilty to trying to rob a woman in Streeterville. Incredibly, Rodriguez was subsequently released from custody after that court hearing and he managed to get arrested three more times before the feds finally scooped him up, records show. Rodriguez, also known as Santos Vargas, Santiago Bargas Rodriguez, Santiago Jose Vargas Rodriguez, and...

On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) stated that the minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine appears positive and he appreciates President Donald Trump changing his approach.Merkley said, “Well, what I really like is it creates a partnership between the Trump administration and Ukraine, which is such an improvement from where we’d been, where Trump was essentially mimicking or mouthing all of the talking points that Putin wanted him to mouth. And it does have elements that we’ve heard about that sound good. It’s not demanding that Ukraine repay us for the aid that we’ve...

Ukraine's parliament will hold a vote on May 8 to ratify a minerals deal signed with the United States earlier this week, a lawmaker said on Friday, while the prime minister suggested the agreement will help Kyiv with supplies of air defence systems. Ukraine and the U.S. signed a deal on Wednesday that will give the United States preferential access to new investments in extraction of Ukraine's natural resources, and fund investment in Ukraine's reconstruction. According to the deal, new military aid, if provided by Washington to Kyiv, could be scored as the U.S. contribution to the joint fund being...

Thursday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” senior political commentator Van Jones spoke with a group of African Americans in South Carolina who explained why they voted for and continue to support President Donald Trump. Seth Dawkins said, “I mean, part of it is he’s an &&&^&^&. I like — I like authenticity.” Detra German said, “It just opened my eyes to maybe he’s not this person that I have been led to believe that he was.” Kyasia Kraft said, “I saw how things were going during his first term, and I was pleasantly surprised, and I was pleased with what...

Sheryl Crow is opening up about her headline-making move against Elon Musk, saying the public protest of selling her Tesla was a way for her to fight for her children’s future. The “Soak Up the Sun” singer shared a video on Instagram in February of her Tesla being towed away, saying she was donating funds from the sale of the vehicle to NPR in response to Musk and President Trump’s calls to slash federal funding for public broadcasters. NPR, Crow said at the time, is “under threat” by Musk, the CEO of Tesla and head of the Department of Government...

What is going on; US DEBT CLOCK is posting $36.798 Trillion as of today. GOV DEBT TO THE PENNY is posting $36.213 Trillion as of 4/30/25.

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Rare earth elements are crucial to our modern existence, as well as our advanced defense systems. China, America’s primary supplier of these metals, has restricted exports of rare earths into the U.S. in retaliation for the president’s tariffs on Chinese exports into the country. There’s no reason to panic, though. There’s a way to work around the problem, and it doesn’t require a minerals deal with Ukraine. Rare earth elements are needed to make our cellphones, computer hard drives, flat-screen monitors and televisions, as well as life-saving medical equipment. They are in fact “indispensable metals in electronics manufacturing.” Without them,...

ive years after the worldwide hyperfocus on COVID-19 began, some are concerned about the next pandemic — whether it could be caused by influenza, bird flu or another pathogen. Too easily overlooked are non-influenza, non-COVID viruses and bacteria that are burgeoning and spreading unchecked — both in the U.S. and around the world. While they may not cause the next pandemic, they do cause a lot of illness and death. One such bacteria is Streptococcus Group A, an old enemy that colonizes the throat and tonsils of close to 20% of U.S. children, according to Dr. Joshua Osowicki, team leader...

A ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists bound for Gaza was bombed by drones while in international waters off Malta overnight Thursday-Friday, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a pro-Palestinian activist group, said. The Saudi Al Arabiya news channel, citing a Western security source, reported that the convoy was organized by Hamas and that those onboard planned to engage with IDF troops as they approached the Gaza shore. The group uploaded video footage on social media ostensibly showing a fire on one of its ships. The footage could not be independently verified. A ship carrying humanitarian aid and activists bound for Gaza...

Freed Palestinian Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was once accused of telling a Vermont gun store owner that he used to “kill Jews while he was in Palestine” with modified automatic firearms that he built himself, court documents allege. The allegations were laid bare in court papers filed Wednesday as the Trump administration unsuccessfully sought to keep Mahdawi in custody following his arrest for leading anti-Israel protests on the Ivy League campus. In arguing their case, the Trump admin honed in on a visit Mahdawi made to the gun store in the summer of 2015, which resulted in the owner...

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, the latest crush of the left-wing resistance to President Donald Trump and a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday night and found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of jokes about his weight. Kimmel played video of President Trump mocking Pritzker’s weight, saying: “He’s too busy eating, he wants to eat all the time. ‘Would like a hamburger? How many do you want? Five,’” Trump said, imitating the billionaire Hyatt hotel heir ordering food. “He loves to make fun of people any way he can,” Pritzker nervously replied, adding...

It got “60 Minutes” sued by the man who became president of the United States. Now it’s up for a major award — for precisely the same aspect of it that so enraged Donald Trump. Last fall’s “60 Minutes” story on Kamala Harris — the subject of Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS — was nominated for an Emmy Award Thursday for “outstanding edited interview.” Trump, in his lawsuit, complained that the interview was deceptively edited to make his Democratic election opponent look good. The annual News & Documentary Emmys will be awarded in late June. “60 Minutes” is competing...

Workers demand back wages from companies impacted by steep U.S. tariffs and an economic slowdown in China. Protests by workers demanding back wages are spreading across China in a sign of growing discontent among millions suffering the brunt of factory closures, triggered by steep U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports amid an economic downturn. Across the country – from Hunan province’s Dao county in central China to Sichuan’s Suining city in the southwest and Inner Mongolia’s Tongliao city to the northeast – hundreds of disgruntled workers have taken to the streets to protest about unpaid wages and to challenge unfair dismissals...

Have you ever heard of a gorilla that could drive a car, make jokes, knew over 1,000 words, and even took care of a pet cat? What if I told you that this gorilla had fascinating things to say about death and even had an answer about what happens after it? But beyond all that… Before he passed away, he had a message that he passed on to the whole world in sign language that you will be amazed and shiver when you hear it…

Daily Readings from the USCCB“Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.”John 6:12–13John’s Gospel is filled with much symbolic meaning. The passage above concludes the story of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. After feeding the multitude of people with only five barley loaves and two fish, they were able to fill twelve wicker baskets with what remained. What was the reason for the extra? Saint Augustine, in commenting...

A Pennsylvania woman was caught on camera taking a dump on another driver’s car during a revolting road rage incident Tuesday — and then bizarrely bragged about it being a “clean poop,” according to authorities and a report. The victimized driver didn’t report the poop-filled fracas, but the disgusting act was videotaped by a bystander and posted on Instagram. The footage shows a woman hop out of her vehicle, storm over to the other car, pull down her pants and squat on the grill of the other car — quickly ripping loose in just a matter of seconds as the...

Laura Loomer @LauraLoomer Why did President @realDonaldTrump nominate a Democrat to the #3 top position at the DOJ whose wife helped paint the Black Lives Matter mural outside the White House? Stanley Woodward, Trump’s nominee for Associate Attorney General, has donated to @BarackObama 15 times and is married to Kristin McGough, a far-left DC lawyer who testified in defense of BLM rioters and claimed the DC criminal code was “racist.” She also sued President Trump in 2020 on behalf of Black Lives Matter. Kristin McGough uses pronouns in her bio. She supports kneeling for George Floyd. And she supported the...

Three children were dramatically rescued from a COVID lockdown house of horrors after being forced for years to stay inside and wear face masks long after pandemic restrictions ended. The siblings — 8-year-old twins and a 10-year-old — were finally freed from the home in Oviedo in Spain’s northwest on Monday after being locked inside since 2021, local outlet El Comercio reported. “As soon as we got them out, all three children began to breathe deeply, as if they had never been outside before,” an investigator said. The children’s parents, only identified as a 48-year-old German-American woman and her 53-year-old...

Video from politico