Free Republic

President Donald Trump said early Wednesday morning that Chinese President Xi Jinping is “very tough” and “extremely hard to make a deal with” as the United States attempts to advance trade talks with China. While the president’s top trade officials have met with their Chinese counterparts, Trump has yet to sit down with Xi since imposing massive tariffs on Chinese imports. A senior White House official told CNBC that Trump and Xi would likely speak “very soon,” potentially this week. “I like President Xi of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO...

A 22-year-old man has been arrested in Pakistan and confessed to the murder of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf, according to police. Authorities say they believe Umar Hayat murdered Ms Yousaf at her home in Islamabad on Monday after she rejected what they called his "offers of friendship". He allegedly also repeatedly tried, and failed, to meet her. They say he broke into her home, fired two shots, stole her phone and fled. Her last video on Instagram, posted last week, showed her surrounded by balloons and cutting a cake for her birthday. Given her high profile in Pakistan,...

[snip] Juliette Kayyem is a former Obama DHS official who is now a CNN senior national security analyst. Introducing her on Tuesday's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish didn't disclose Kayyem's Obama affiliation. Cornish proceeded to tee up Kayyem to criticize the Trump administration in connection with the Boulder attack: "Given the cuts to the Justice Department grant programs that actually deal with hate crimes and prevention, is this DOJ even positioned to deal with a rising problem [of antisemitic incidents]? Kayyem was only too happy to swing at that tee ball: "It is in a tougher position than it...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a merciful miracle, the Spirit of the Lord strengthened Elon one last time to push the pillars of Congress over, bringing the government crashing down. According to sources at the Capitol, the miracle occurred just in time to stop Congress's "big, beautiful" spending bill from being passed, while also causing the entire Capitol Building to violently collapse. Experts say the bill now has little chance of passage, as it is buried in rubble along with several hundred politicians. "Elon called to the Lord," said one witness. "He said, 'O Lord God, please remember me and...

Former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has a book out this fall that promises a close look at President Biden’s decision not to run for reelection and calls for thinking beyond the two-party system. Jean-Pierre herself has switched her affiliation to independent after working in two Democratic administrations, according to Legacy Lit, a Hachette Book Group imprint that will publish “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines” on Oct. 21. “Until January 20, I was responsible for speaking on behalf of the President of the United States,” Jean-Pierre, the first Black woman and openly...

Here are 50 reasons why President Donald J. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is the best chance in a generation to pass critical reforms for which Americans voted:It delivers the largest tax cut in American history. This means an extra $5,000 in Americans’ pockets with a DOUBLE-DIGIT percent DECREASE to their tax bills. Americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 will pay around 15% less in taxes.It makes the Trump Tax Cuts permanent, preventing the largest tax increase ever. If the bill doesn’t pass, Americans will see the largest tax increase in history.It raises Americans’ take-home pay by as much as...

In just the last six months, a socialist torched the governor’s mansion in Pennsylvania. A trust-fund psycho stalked a healthcare CEO and then shot him in the back. An illegal alien from Egypt named Mohammed threw Molotov cocktails at a group of Jewish demonstrators. Mobs of visibly unhealthy Antifa activists attacked a Christian concert in Seattle, injuring several people and sending one police officer to the hospital. (And then the attackers effectively received an endorsement from the mayor of Seattle.) A man from Massachusetts was arrested at the Capitol after admitting that he planned to set fire to the conservative...

Americans have been warned about the risks posed by dating apps after several kidnappings in Mexico. The U.S. Consulate General Guadalajara said it had confirmed reports of U.S. citizens "kidnapped by individuals the victims met on dating apps in recent months in the Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Nayarit areas," adding the violence is not limited to one geographic area. "Victims and their family members in the United States have at times been extorted for large sums of money to secure their release," the security alert said.

Warpig Lindsey Graham traveled to Ukraine this past weekend to pump up the hopes of the Ukrainian leader in the country’s ongoing war with Russia.During his visit to Europe, Graham told reporters that a Russian victory in Ukraine would be worse than the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.Lindsey is getting desperate.The globalist warmongers fear Trump’s work to bring peace to the region. The warmongers are shooting for World War III.Senator Lindsey Graham: “The American withdrawal from Afghanistan was a terrible decision. It triggered the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It made America look weak in the eyes of the world....

If fire departments on land have problems unleashing the torrent of water needed to extinguish a single burning EV, the crew of a ship doesn't stand a chance against hundreds of flaming lithium-ion batteries. A cargo ship carrying around 3,000 vehicles across the Pacific Ocean caught fire on Tuesday. The Morning Midas, a 600-foot cargo ship, was in the middle of a voyage from Yantai, China to Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico when the fire broke out. Zodiac Maritime, the ship's London-based operator, noted that smoke was first spotted on a deck carrying 800 electric vehicles. Once the blaze got out of...

The Trump administration will be undertaking a "phased pause" at contractor-operated Job Corps centers across the country, which was recently found to have a low graduation rate and a high number of serious incident reports filed. A press release from the Department of Labor stated that the pauses will occur at contractor-operated Job Corps centers by June 30, and will initiate "an orderly transition for students, staff, and local communities." Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement, "Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community. However, a...

Apple heiress Laurene Powell Jobs, Google founder Eric Schmidt, and the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation are among the Democratic heavyweights bankrolling the anti-Israel charity of activist Kamau Franklin, who called Elias Rodriguez’s alleged assassination of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., a "morally righteous" act. Franklin runs Community Movement Builders, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes "liberation" ideology for black Americans, Palestinians, and other groups. The organization embraces radical rhetoric in support of those causes, referring to police as "pigs" and calling the state of Israel "the result of a war crime." Last week, Franklin signed an open letter defending Rodriguez’s...

The investigation into the horrific attack on pro-Israel protesters in Boulder, Colorado, has led to the arrest and detention of an Egyptian suspect's wife and five children, according to the Department of Homeland Security. A weekly demonstration by the “Run for Their Lives” grassroots organization against Hamas terror was itself the target of a heinous terror attack when a man firebombed the group with Molotov cocktails on Sunday. A shirtless suspect was captured on cellphone video at the scene, and police were able to arrest the 45-year-old man identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national in the U.S. "illegally,"...

In the dawn light of a South African savanna, a team of rangers huddle around a satellite dish aimed skyward. Their phones spring to life with a signal – an unthinkable result just months earlier in this remote, off-grid conservation zone. The source is Starlink, Elon Musk and SpaceX’s satellite internet service, offering encrypted, high-speed connectivity far from state-controlled networks. But in South Africa, this signal didn’t just connect – it disrupted. And that disruption provides some subtext to the extraordinary “Wild West Wing” showdown between Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May, which played out in...

- A drag queen storytime event planned for next week in Monterey is stirring controversy and sparking strong opinions across the community. The event, hosted by the Monterey Public Library in partnership with Monterey Peninsula Pride and Oscar’s Playground, is scheduled for June 11 and features a drag performer named Saint Sallos.

Stewart’s smirk became the face of ‘smart liberalism,’ solidifying distrust in middle America and fostering a culture of ridicule and sanctimony.Jon Stewart is back at it again, playing the role of political chiropractor, desperately trying to realign the spine of a party he helped fracture. The New Yorker recently offered Democrats a fresh 2028 campaign slogan: “Overcome the stink.” It’s classic Stewart — sharp, crowd-pleasing, and seemingly wise. The kind of quip you’d see on a bumper sticker next to “Coexist.” And yet, the stench he’s gesturing at — the political decay, the public disillusionment, the loss of coherence on...

I just finished speaking, by telephone, with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia. The call lasted approximately one hour and 15 minutes. We discussed the attack on Russia’s docked airplanes, by Ukraine, and also various other attacks that have been taking place by both sides. It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace. President Putin did say, and very strongly, that he will have to respond to the recent attack on the airfields.

Joe Rogan just had Bono on his podcast, and Bono, who famously poses as the great White Irish savior of the Third World, stated that America’s USAID cuts have already killed 300,000 people. Well, that’s a lot of people. Rogan pointed out that USAID is a giant money laundering scam, and a lot of other people have been either asking where all these 300,000 dead people are or wondering why Bono – who’s rich beyond measure thanks to the bad taste of so many people – doesn’t get his checkbook out and start scribbling. No evidence supports his ridiculous claim,...

Israel warned Wednesday that it is “prepared” to “act accordingly” to stop Greta Thunberg’s so-called Freedom Flotilla Coalition from reaching Gaza — as the eco-activist frolicked and filmed smiling social media content on the Mediterranean Sea. Thunberg, 22, set sail Sunday to bring milk and protein bars to Gaza — with the Swedish campaigner posting images of her glamming it up onboard in a keffiyeh and holding a Palestinian flag. Some of the 11 other protesters onboard soon reported the boat being followed by drones, which appeared to actually be Greek coast guard devices. However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)...

Documents released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Tuesday appear to contradict former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s claim that a controversial 2023 memo targeting “radical traditionalist Catholics” was a one-off and the work of a single bureau field office. Extent of FBI’s targeting of ‘radical traditionalist Catholics’ greater than Biden officials claimed, GOP senator reveals The Biden-era FBI chief told House lawmakers in July of 2023 that the memo – which described the purported overlaps between Catholics who oppose abortion rights and would-be terrorists as an opportunity for “threat mitigation” and “source development” – was “a single product by a...