Free Republic

CHICAGO, IL — As the city seeks to push back against President Donald Trump's efforts to enforce immigration law, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told his aides that he hoped their "ICE-Free Zones" would work a lot better than their "Gun-Free Zones." With Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker adamantly opposing any ICE operations to apprehend illegal aliens, the leaders were cautiously optimistic that setting up zones to prevent immigration enforcement would turn out better than the zones they set up to keep people from being brutally shot to death. "Maybe this method will work this time," Johnson was heard telling...

A man who killed a 6-year-old boy during a home invasion in Kentucky, US, has been released early on parole, leading to a White House review. The boy's father has now vowed to "kill him" if he ever crosses paths with him. Ronald Exantus, 42, attacked the Tipton family in their home on December 7, 2015. He focused his rage on little Logan Tipton, slashing him repeatedly in the head with a kitchen knife. Logan's father, Dean Tipton, confronted the intruder and was stabbed and thrown 10-15 feet, he told WLKY.

Joe Biden quashed the release of a CIA memo indicating concerns over his family's allegedly corrupt business ties to Ukraine, it emerged today. CIA director John Ratcliffe declassified a stunning memo on Wednesday after a review of historical records from Biden's tenure as vice-president.The 'top secret' document, filled with redactions, also highlights how Ukrainian government officials were uneasy about Biden's visits to the country during the Obama administration.The dossier details how officials in Kyiv privately raged at Biden for coming to their nation to lecture them about corruption while his son Hunter was sitting on the board of a Ukrainian...

After two years of war, there is a chance of a deal that will end the killing and destruction in Gaza and return the Israeli hostages, living and dead, to their families. It is an opportunity, but it is not certain that it will be seized by Hamas and Israel.It is a grim coincidence that the talks are happening exactly two years after Hamas inflicted a trauma on Israelis that is still acute. The 7 October attacks killed around 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians, and 251 were taken hostage. The Israelis estimate that 20 hostages are still alive and they...

Joe Biden’s presidency was a multi-trillion dollar criminal conspiracy that shred every “norm,” violated nearly every right, and abused any power it could to punish its political opponents. The Trump administration’s prosecutions of Team Biden’s abuses of power may be the healthiest development for the rule of law since the end of Jim Crow.This is a story Republicans should tell with pride — and must tell incessantly, or the next Democrat administration will make Biden’s four years look like Camelot under Arthur.The Seeds of CorruptionThe seeds of the Biden administration’s weaponization of government were sown while he was still vice...

The biotech tycoon found guilty of orchestrating the cold-blooded execution of a former business partner was revealed to be a failed magician who bought a fake medical degree from a Russian university. In his most bombastic illusion, Serhat Gumrukcu, who once performed under the stage name Dr. No, managed to dupe Hollywood elites, biotech investors, and even US regulators into believing he had discovered a cure for HIV. But behind the smoke and mirrors, federal prosecutors say Gumrukcu, 42, the eccentric Turkish-born founder of Enochian BioSciences, was nothing more than a con artist with a mansion in the Hollywood Hills,...

Pritzker said that Texas National Guard troops should, ‘stay the hell out of Illinois.’Fully embracing anarchy, Democrat leaders in Chicago, a sanctuary city; and in Illinois, a sanctuary state, are using every possible method to thwart federal immigration authorities from removing illegal aliens and curtailing rampant crime there.Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order Monday creating an ICE Free Zone, preventing ICE from using city property, such as parking lots, as staging areas, or for enforcement actions. City agencies are directed to use physical barriers like locked gates to limit access to city property, and report to the mayor...

At least theoretically, because of open competition, democracies are supposed to choose their “best” members to be in charge of the public sector. For some reason, however, that doesn’t often happen.Examples of this defect abound. About thirty years ago, here in Oakland, CA, the city’s moms and pops were clutching their pearls over the rampant crime along the near-bayside corridor defined by East 14th Street. Having worked right there for the previous fifteen years, the situation was quite familiar to me.Really conspicuous street crime began when the Barcelona bar closed. Having been mostly a front for the procurement of prostitutes,...

Have you noticed a stark contrast between the anti-liberty left and the pro-freedom right these days? While one side is ramping up violence and lies, the other is having a grand old time pumping out sombrero memes and videos in an effort to restrain runaway government. One side is cosplaying at some sort of “Civil War” ramp-up scenario. The other realizes that those who have to resort to violence have run out of ideas, and that violence shows weakness in argumentation and ideological rigor.As of this moment, the worst (subject to change) would be the story of Virginia A.G. nominee...

People in Washington DC are starting to realize the full scale of the Obama surveillance system. All of the evidence and datapoints, those released and those yet to surface, flow in one direction. Even the professionally reluctant are starting to admit.What Obama, Biden, Comey, Crossfire Hurricane, Robert Mueller, Arctic Frost and Jack Smith were doing, was using their offices -and govt systems- to watch their opposition, spy on them, then take action based on the results.Friend of the Treehouse John Spiropoulos has put together a series of videos explaining how President Obama, FBI Director James Comey and CIA Director John...

Amazon Prime Video is backtracking after fan outrage erupted over its decision to digitally erase guns from James Bond promotional artwork — a move critics mocked as absurd. The images in question featured actors who played the Bond character, including Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. But rather than holding guns in the images, all of them stand awkwardly and empty-handed. The company’s revised artwork now features images from the movies themselves, though none of the promotional images show 007 with a weapon. In posters from Connery’s “Dr. No” and Brosnan’s “Goldeneye,” the guns were edited out...

PBS NEWSHOUR: NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including the federal government shutdown reaching day six with no signs of the stalemate ending.GEOFF BENNETT, PBS NEWSHOUR: And, Amy, there's some new polling from CBS News and YouGov that shows everyone is getting bad marks for how they're handling this.About half of Americans disapprove of how the president and Republicans and how Democrats in Congress are dealing with this. Might public pressure change anything?AMY WALTER, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Well, it's clear, I think as...

A Reddit post showing how one woman was rewarded for more than a decade of service at her job has struck a nerve online. The post by u/BigZee004, shared to the subreddit Mildly Infuriating, has received more than 42,000 upvotes since it was shared on October 1. The viral image shows what the poster’s girlfriend was given for 11 years at her company: a single mini candy bar tied with a “thank you” tag. In tiny print, the tag reads, “We appreciate your dedication and loyalty over the past 11 years.” The poster added in the comments: “This was in...

The government shutdown is barreling forward, with few signs of a resolution over the weekend.It’s normal for these shutdowns to feel intractable, right up until the moment one side suddenly caves. But the dynamics here are unusual and suggest this one could last longer than usual.The Democrats foldThis might be the most likely outcome, for a few reasons. The first is that it’s generally how shutdowns end; the side that makes demands rarely gets what it wants, because the American people overwhelmingly don’t like using shutdowns as leverage. The second is that we’ve already seen some cracks in the Democratic...

[Catholic Caucus] Diocese removes cathedral’s kneelers used for Holy CommunionThe Diocese of Charlotte in North Carolina has removed the portable kneelers used by the faithful to receive Holy Communion at the Cathedral of St Patrick. The announcement was made on 6 October by the cathedral’s rector, Fr Peter Ascik, according to the Charlotte Latin Mass Community, a lay group which shared news of the change online.The kneelers had previously been introduced to accommodate those wishing to receive the Eucharist kneeling and on the tongue, a posture long associated with the traditional Roman Rite and maintained by some Catholics at celebrations...

Manisha Puppala, an Indian national who recently graduated with a master’s degree in tech management from the Rochester Institute of Technology, planned to apply for an H-1B work visa to remain in the U.S. after her studies. Now that the Trump administration has announced a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications, her future is in doubt. Puppala, who took on $120,000 in loans to study in America and has been working at a Boston firm on a permit that allows foreign students to work temporarily in the U.S., had dreamed of running her own startup. “What do I do now?”...

The FBI spied on eight Senate Republicans and a House Republican lawmaker in 2023 during the Justice Department’s broad inquiry into the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Senate Republicans held a press conference Monday to disclose the information. A newly uncovered FBI document related to Arctic Frost revealed that the Biden-era investigation led to special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of President Trump on charges related to election interference.Arctic Frost was initially launched in 2022 to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The call records secretly obtained by the FBI date from Jan....

The terror group’s sudden openness to Trump’s peace plan is the product of his decision to flip the diplomatic script: advancing peace by negotiating with Israel’s Arab neighbors.The Middle East could be on the verge of a major turning point. On Friday, Hamas signaled openness to Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. On Monday, mediators will convene in Egypt to facilitate indirect peace talks between Hamas and Israel. On the table: the possible release of all remaining Israeli hostages, the transfer of control over Gaza away from Hamas, and a permanent ceasefire. But Hamas’s conditions for...

Israel and Hamas will begin indirect talks in Egypt on Monday after Hamas said it would accept parts of President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, including releasing all remaining Israeli hostages. I spoke with my colleague Josh Keating about what we know about the deal and its chances of succeeding for Vox’s daily newsletter, Today, Explained. Our conversation is below, and you can sign up for the newsletter here for more conversations like this. What happened on Friday? Is the war actually about to end?On Friday, Hamas issued a response to the 20-point Gaza peace plan, which had been put...

“Doors win wars” is more than just a slogan. It’s a proven fact. In Pennsylvania, our Citizens Alliance team executed the largest Republican ballot-chasing program in the country, knocking on more than 510,000 doors in 2024. The public goal was for Donald Trump to capture 33% of the mail-in vote. He earned 34.5% — and with it, Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes. That effort helped re-elect Trump as president. Now we’re bringing that same fight to New Jersey. With mail-in ballots already hitting mailboxes in the governor’s race, the “New Jersey Chase” has officially begun. The mission is simple: flip New...