Free Republic

President Donald Trump’s privately funded plan to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom has Democrats like Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren fuming about “luxury” while they’ve shut down the government. Presidents have remodeled the White House for over a century—from Harry Truman’s gut renovation to Barack Obama’s basketball court—yet only Trump gets scorn. Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the hypocrisy on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “Do we really want to know what belittles the White House? I mean, we're just coming off the Biden administration, where cocaine was found in a carrel in the West...

Mark Carney has delivered a sharp insult to Donald Trump after trade negotiations were canceled over an ad featuring former president Ronald Reagan slamming tariffs. Trump hit Canada with an additional 10 percent tariff and terminated crucial trade talks last week after he was upset by the commercial which aired during the first two games of the baseball World Series. The tariff commercial used an excerpt of a speech given by Reagan in 1987 to criticize US tariffs during Friday and Saturday's match ups between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. Speaking about Trump's spat at the ASEAN...

Whales are great security, but it’s not always the gentlest rescue. Image credit: Andrea Izzotti / Shutterstock.com ========================================================== While filming on location off Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, whale scientist Nan Hauser was swimming towards two humpback whales when one of them started charging at her. When it approached, it started moving as if it were trying to tuck her under its fin – not a very comfortable maneuver for a human being hugged by a multi-ton giant with razor-sharp barnacles on its fins. Fearing for her life, things only got scarier as the humpback whale hoisted her out of...

“PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Oregon Republican Christine Drazan is making another run for governor. The Statement of Organization for Candidate Committee for the 2026 Primary Election for Governor was made public on Monday. Drazan, R-Canby, held a press conference on Monday at Gunderson Marine & Iron to “announce future plans," which included her officially announcing her run for governor.”

U.S. President Donald Trump meets Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo, featuring a welcoming ceremony at 0030 GMT, bilateral discussions at 0045 GMT, signing ceremony at 0120 GMT, and lunch at 0130 GMT, followed by a visit to Yokosuka Naval Base at 0645 GMT to inspect the USS George Washington and address U.S. troops. DRM News provides live coverage, expert analysis, and real-time updates on Indo-Pacific security. Watch now for key alliance developments! Trump Takaichi meeting, US Japan bilateral 2025, Sanae Takaichi Trump, Tokyo Tower view, Japanese PM welcoming ceremony, US Japan signing ceremony, Yokosuka naval base visit,...

A passenger jet was bathed in blood after it hit a flock of birds while flying out of Algiers over the weekend. Video shows a plane identified by Air Live as a Saudia Boeing 777-300 plowing through the birds as it began its ascent Saturday The airliner’s nose, front fuselage, landing gear, wheel wells and wings were reportedly impacted by the collision. The flight crew opted to continue to its destination in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where the plane landed safely. No injuries were reported

The rapid rollout of power-hungry AI data centers could be straining the US energy grid and causing utility bills to spike – and prices could get worse in the coming months, according to economists. Americans spent 3.6% more on electricity and gas in the third quarter of this year than they did during the same time last year, according to a study led by Bank of America economist David Tinsley. Taking a longer view, electricity prices rose 5.1% over the past 12 months through September, while gas service went up a whopping 11.7%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday....

Temptation has been with mankind since the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 3, the serpent tempted Eve, and in Matthew 4, satan tempted Jesus. Both were approached with the same schemes, but their responses were drastically different. Eve yielded and fell, while Jesus stood firm, rebuking satan by quoting Scripture. The Apostle John explained this pattern in 1 John 2:16, identifying satan’s threefold method of attack: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” These are the enemy’s tools—whether in the garden, in the wilderness, or today in our technology-driven world. With every...

A new groundbreaking light therapy could kill cancer cells in just 30 minutes, scientists have discovered. In the new method, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin fired infrared light, a type of light invisible to the eye, from LED bulbs at test tubes that contained human skin cancer or colon cancer cells and healthy human skin cells. The tubes also contained nanoscopic flakes of tin oxide, or SnOx nanoflakes, which were absorbed by the cancer cells. The scientists found that when the light was fired at the cells, the nanoscopic flakes absorbed it and heated up, turning into...

The Department of Homeland Security announced that 1.6 million people who were in the United States illegally have self-deported, and another 500,000 have been deported. The department has been pushing self-deportations, spending millions on advertisements that showcase a $1,000 payment and a plane ticket that people who register to self-deport are given. It's unclear how much money in total has been given to people who have self-deported. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS' assistant secretary for public affairs, said the Trump administration is on pace to "shatter" current deportation records. "President Trump and Secretary Noem have jumpstarted an agency that was hamstrung and...

Senator Rand Paul is on a campaign to knock President Donald Trump off of his warpath. During Paul’s appearance on Fox News Sunday, host Shannon Bream asked the Kentucky Republican what information he wanted the government to provide about its military strikes in the Caribbean Sea. But Paul said that a briefing wasn’t what he was after. “A briefing’s not enough to overcome the Constitution,” Paul said. “The Constitution says that when you go to war, Congress has to vote on it. And during a war then, [there are] lower rules for engagement and people do sometimes get killed without...

Hormel Foods is recalling nearly five million pounds of frozen ready-to-eat chicken products due to potential metal contamination. “Hormel Foods Corporation, an Austin, Minn. establishment, is recalling approximately 4,874,815 pounds of foodservice ready-to-eat frozen chicken products that may be contaminated with pieces of metal,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced. USA TODAY shared: The poultry was distributed nationwide to HRI Commercial Food Service locations from February to September. The recall was issued after multiple foodservice customers reported finding metal in frozen chicken breast and thigh products they were served at an establishment, and the...

Dan Niles, founder and portfolio manager at Niles Investment Management, joins CNBC's 'Money Movers' to discuss his outlook on this week's Big Tech earnings, the rise in Qualcomm stock, and more. You will see a 30 to 50% correction in many AI-related names next year, says Dan Niles | 6:01 CNBC Television | 3.26M subscribers | 41,414 views | October 27, 2025

ack DeJohnette, the jazz drummer celebrated as one of the genre’s true greats – who worked with stars including Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Charles Lloyd – has died aged 83. A press representative for ECM, the record label that released many of his recordings, confirmed the news, while his personal assistant added that he died from congestive heart failure.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- In the race for New York City mayor, early voting is in full swing with a huge turnout over the weekend. More than 160,000 New Yorkers have already cast their ballots and the candidates are not done campaigning as they look to deliver their closing arguments with just over a week to go until Election Day…[Let’s cut to the chase] … Cuomo said the record early voting numbers are skewing his way. Voters ages 55 and older made up more than half of the turnout, which is a dramatic shift from the primary when voters 25...

Bolivia’s president-elect, Rodrigo Paz Pereira, has announced the country’s immediate withdrawal from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), a regional bloc driven by the governments of Cuba and Venezuela. This decision, revealed during a press conference on October 25, 2025, not only represents a direct rejection of the principles that have supported authoritarian regimes in the region but also accelerates the organization’s imminent collapse, reducing it to a remnant of nations with ruined economies and systematic human rights violations. Paz, from the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), who will assume power on November 8 after winning the...

Currently south of Jamaica, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa has been continuing intensification Monday, and the storm is so violent, it forced the NOAA Hurricane Hunters to end a reconnaissance flight early because of severe turbulence. “Reports from NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate the central pressure has fallen to near 908 mb, with both aircraft releasing dropsondes in the northeastern eyewall that support an initial intensity of 145 kt,” wrote the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in their latest forecast discussion for Melissa. “The NOAA aircraft left the storm early after experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall.”...

WASHINGTON — The country’s largest union representing federal workers is calling for lawmakers to pass a short-term spending measure to immediately end the government shutdown, urging Democrats to abandon their current position and join Republicans in supporting a stopgap solution. “Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley wrote in a statement first shared with NBC News. “It’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today. No half measures, and no gamesmanship.” The statement could increase pressure on Democrats to...

Gaslighting has become a science for Democrats during the current government shutdown. After years of flirting with falsehoods, they have turned into full-blown, bald-faced liars as they attempt to pin the carnage that is coming on Republicans because they “control” the House, Senate, and White House. Tarlov is not alone. Senator Mazie Hirono took to X on Monday to peddle the tired Democratic narrative that Republicans are to blame for the ongoing government shutdown. “Friendly reminder that Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House. This shutdown is entirely their fault,” Hirono posted, racking up thousands of likes...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Barksdale Air Force Base, LouisianaBarksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force base in northwest Louisiana, United States, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale Air Force Base occupies more than 22,000 acres east of Bossier City and along the southern edge of Interstate 20. More than 15,000 active-duty and Air Force Reserve members serve at Barksdale.The host unit at Barksdale is the 2d Bomb Wing (2 BW), the oldest bomb wing in the Air Force. It is...