Free Republic

Red Command members respond with gunfire after ‘biggest ever’ police assault on city’s drug traffickers Gang members in Rio de Janeiro bombed police with drones in retaliation for their deadliest raid on the city’s drug traffickers. In scenes akin to a war zone, residents of the city’s poorest northern neighbourhoods scrambled for cover as 2,500 armed officers engaged in an exchange of fire with Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, one of Brazil’s most powerful crime groups. Few could have anticipated the scale of the operation: 64 people killed, more than 80 arrested and 12 hours of gunfire. Members of Red...

The ‘betrayal in the skies’ did not happen. Under the feeble Joe Biden administration, a federal agent developed an operation that, while unsuccessful, demonstrates just how approachable is the inner circle of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. The agent approached Nicolás Maduro’s chief pilot, General Bitner Villegas, with an offer: divert the Venezuelan presidential plane to a place where US authorities could detain him. In exchange, the pilot would become ‘a very rich man’. Associated Press reported: “The conversation was tense, and the pilot left noncommittal, though he provided the agent, Edwin Lopez, with his cell number — a sign he...

JD Vance spoke, without notes, without looking at his speech; gave a great speech, and is now taking questions from students, just like Charlie Kirk did. The VP of the USA, 'debating' with students, answering questions. No prep, no filter. This man WILL be the next President. If you can't get Fox News via cable, the event is streaming on You Tue as well.

A staffer for the Democrat Governor of Massachusetts has been fired after he was arrested on drug and gun charges. Lamar Cook, who was a member of Gov. Maura Healey’s staff, was arrested after police executed a search warrant at his state office in Springfield. During the search, authorities seized eight grams inside of his government office. The now former Deputy Director of the governor’s western Massachusetts office has since been charged with cocaine trafficking and unlawful possession of a gun. Per CBS News: A member of Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s staff has been fired after he was arrested on...

Can anyone remember what phase of this Government we’re in now? “Phase 2” was announced just last month, as the Prime Minister shook up his Downing Street operation. The phrase was intended to reassure supporters that following a year of questionable competence in office, things could only get better. Has it worked? Unfortunately for Keir Starmer, the facts speak for themselves. In May 2021 Starmer is known to have seriously considered resigning as Labour leader after Boris Johnson’s Conservatives gained the seat of Hartlepool from Labour in a by-election – an almost unprecedented achievement for a party of government. What...

The downsizing comes as the David Ellison-Bari Weiss era of CBS News kicks into high gear CBS News eliminated multiple streaming programs on Wednesday as part of newsroom-wide layoffs, just one part of Paramount’s sweeping job cuts and a blow to the news organization’s headcount as Bari Weiss’ already turbulent tenure as editor in chief gets into full swing. It was not immediately clear how many people were affected, though some reports pegged the figure at nearly 100 jobs. The cuts affected CBS News’ streaming companion shows to “CBS Mornings” and “CBS Evening News,” both of which were canceled, according...

Kansas City Chiefs star (and Taylor Swift’s fiancé) Travis Kelce is getting into the activist investing business. The NFL athlete, podcast host and burgeoning actor joined the activist investment firm Jana Partners in a bid to seek an overhaul of Six Flags, the theme park company that owns Knott’s Berry Farm, Cedar Point and Six Flags amusement parks across the country. Jana disclosed that it now holds approximately 9 percent of Six Flags shares, alongside Kelce, former Gap CEO Glenn Murphy and tech executive and former J.D. Power CEO Dave Habiger. The firm says it plans “to engage with the...

The rates, pricing and other data for 2026 Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance plans were publicly posted on the federal Healthcare.gov marketplace on Wednesday, just three days ahead of the start of open enrollment. The health research nonprofit KFF said the average increase in premiums for ACA plans will be 26 percent next year, based on data for “benchmark” silver plans, which are the midtier plans in each region that most people purchase and are used to set the subsidy amounts. But KFF found the amount that people pay for coverage is set to rise 114 percent on average because...

A progressive Democratic candidate may be headed to the slammer before she even gets a chance at going to Congress.Kat Abughazaleh, a former Media Matters journalist running to represent Illinois’ 9th District in the House of Representatives, was charged by the Department of Justice for allegedly assaulting an ICE officer.She is charged with two counts of conspiracy to impede or injure an ICE officer, along with assaulting or impeding that officer while he was on duty.The indictment, which was filed on October 23, accuses Abughazaleh, as well as five others, of attacking an ICE agent’s vehicle by banging aggressive on...

A new analysis published by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) found that out-of-pocket premium payments will more than double if ObamaCare’s enhanced premium tax credits expire. According to the CBPP’s projections, annual out-of-pocket premium payments would more than double, exceeding $1,000 on average if the credits aren’t extended. Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace plans begins this Saturday. “Since Congress has not acted sooner and many enrollees likely have already experienced sticker shock and decided not to enroll, it should also extend the open enrollment period (scheduled to end January 15 in most states)...

Pregnancy help centers (PHCs) in Virginia are facing a serious threat. A proposed constitutional amendment could expand abortion access, remove the limited safeguards for women and girls that currently exist, and endanger the existence of PHCs across the Commonwealth. This fall’s election will determine which delegates will vote on that amendment in January. If you’ve ever supported a PHC with your time, prayers, or donations, we’re asking you now to take one more step: support us with your vote. Vote for a delegate who will protect women, unborn children, and the ministry you’ve built. For the staff of PHCs in...

HARRISBURG — How much are state and national groups spending to flood the airwaves, fill mailboxes, and buy up digital ads ahead of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court retention elections? That’s a harder question to answer than you might think, thanks to a mix of lagging reporting, weakly enforced rules, and a campaign finance system that requires little transparency. Many groups are trying to sway voters through independent expenditures — money spent without coordinating with the candidates’ campaigns. These expenditures are often made by groups that can’t legally give to candidates, including dark money nonprofits that don’t have to disclose their...

President Donald Trump visits the USS George H. W. Bush during the Titans of the Sea Presidential Review, witnessing a live U.S. Navy maritime power demonstration in the Atlantic Ocean. This event marks the Navy’s 250th anniversary and highlights America’s global naval presence, carrier strike group operations, and commitment to sea control and deterrence. Filmed aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier CVN 77, this historic visit reflects two and a half centuries of U.S. naval dominance and forward deployment. Watch the US Navy Shows Off Insane Maneuvers in Front of Donald Trump.

(DCNF)—CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ tenure began with significant layoffs announced by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison in a memo Wednesday, according to The Guardian. The cuts, planned before she was named to the post, affect roughly 100 staffers at CBS News, including virtually all of the outlet’s “race and culture” section, The Guardian reported, citing Puck News reporter Dylan Byers. One staffer told The Guardian the cuts, which involved about 1,000 total employees across Paramount, were a “bloodbath.” Scoop @PuckNews: CBS NEWS leadership will announce layoffs tomorrow... Nearly 100 jobs will be affected across the division, as I've long...

When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted at former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, “Maybe if you channeled all this anger into swimming faster you wouldn’t have come in fifth,” it was more than a cheap shot. It was a window into what passes for feminism on the Left in 2025. In a post that went viral, I responded, “Imagine hating another woman for defending women, then mocking her for not beating a man.” That single sentence, my response on X, reached more than 62,000 likes in just a few hours. People are fed up. Ordinary Americans, men and women alike, can see...

More than 2,000 people, mainly women and children, have been reportedly executed in the last 48 hours in Sudan after the city of El-Fasher was captured by paramilitaries. The western Sudanese city fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after more than 18 months of brutal siege warfare, giving the group control over every state capital in the vast Darfur region. Allies of the army, the Joint Forces, said on Tuesday that the RSF 'committed heinous crimes against innocent civilians in El-Fasher, where more than 2,000 unarmed citizens were executed and killed on October 26 and 27, most of them...

American politics is broken, but not in the way most people think. The problem isn't just the money – it's where the money comes from. Since Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" in 1994, we've watched congressional races transform from local contests into nationalized referendums. Every House and Senate race has become a proxy war for party control, with millions of dollars flooding across state lines to tip the balance in competitive districts. A senator from Montana doesn't answer primarily to Montanans anymore – they answer to donors in New York, California, and Texas who will fund their next campaign or...

The historically black boarding academy in Mississippi is a model worth seeking to emulate.Piney Woods, Miss. It’s no revelation that Dixie has long lagged other parts of the country—be it economically, educationally or otherwise—or that Mississippi has long been the region’s poster child for underachievement. A defining feature of Mississippi’s past was its violent and persistent opposition to black civil rights. It’s where 14-year-old Emmett Till was lynched in 1955. It’s where segregationists rioted over black Air Force veteran James Meredith’s attempt to integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962. During Jim Crow, Mississippi’s black voter-registration rate was the lowest...

A set of extreme abortion bills in Pennsylvania could make the Keystone State one of the most radical pro-abortion states in the country if legislators carry them through both chambers. The Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee voted October 22 to advance seven bills that protect, grow, and subsidize the abortion industry. The bills passed in a 14 to 12 vote, with all Democrats in favor and all Republicans against and all seven aim to thwart anyone who would disrupt the pro-abortion agenda. All 14 Democrat legislators on the Judiciary Committee are endorsed by and have received funds from Planned Parenthood's Political...

Yoni Appelbaum’s grandfather was a mailman. Appelbaum shared this fact with me in Charlottesville last week, onstage at a “Democracy360” event hosted by the University of Virginia and cosponsored by The Atlantic, where he is an editor. We were there to talk about “building the American dream” and, by Appelbaum’s account, being a mailman was once a way to do that. “He was proud of that job. And it was enough, together with my grandmother’s job, that they could buy a row house in Canarsie and raise a family.”That was not, however, the point of the story. Rather, Appelbaum wanted...