Free Republic

President Donald Trump pardoned Troy Lake on Friday. The 65-year-old Wyoming diesel mechanic spent seven months in federal prison for tweaking and removing emissions systems on ailing engines. He was originally sentenced to one year and one day in prison, but was released early to home confinement with an ankle monitor in September. He and his business Elite Diesel were also fined $52,000. Though relieved to be free of the dismal prison in which he spent his 40th wedding anniversary and his 65th birthday, Lake said that he believed he’d spend the rest of his life as a convicted felon,...

Two-time space traveler and billionaire Jared Isaacman had been on the cusp of becoming NASA’s next administrator last May when President Donald Trump yanked his nomination. Trump has since changed his mind. “Jared’s passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new Space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era,” Trump wrote Tuesday on a post on Truth Social announcing he was putting Isaacman back in a position to lead the agency. Isaacman had sat through the Senate confirmation hearings...

Nuking the filibuster is unprincipled, but it also makes little political sense: Trump would be doing Democrats a huge favor by greasing the wheels for exploiting fleeting one-party national majorities in the future, which will allow them to shove through massive generational “reforms” without any national consensus. And they would be able to do it without taking any political heat for nuking the filibuster. In recent years, they’ve coalesced around an argument that says the 60-vote threshold to cut off debate in the Senate is antiquated — a “Jim Crow relic,” said one-time filibuster champion former President Barack Obama —...

A federal judge Friday issued a permanent injunction barring President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops from any state to Oregon, finding the president exceeded his authority.“Even giving great deference to the President’s determination, the President did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard,” U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut ruled in a 106-page opinion.Immergut’s injunction follows a three-day trial she held last week and a brief, preliminary order she issued on Monday. Friday’s injunction offers a much more detailed examination of the law and conditions in Portland leading up to Trump’s Sept. 27 authorization of...

The US Federal Reserve’s decision to ease monetary policy is inflating an economic bubble that could drive up the prices of hard assets, but also marks the final phase of a 75-year economic cycle, according to former hedge fund manager Ray Dalio. Typically, as CoinTelegraph’s Vince Quill reports, the Federal Reserve typically eases interest rates when economic activity is stagnating or declining, asset prices are falling, unemployment is high and credit dries up, as seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s or the 2008 financial crisis, However, as Dalio wrote in an article posted to X this week, the...

U.S. airlines again canceled more than 1,000 flights on Saturday, the second day of the Federal Aviation Administration’s mandate to reduce air traffic because of the government shutdown. So far, the slowdown at many of the nation’s busiest airports hasn’t caused widespread disruptions. But it has deepened the impact felt by the nation’s longest federal shutdown. WRAL News Brief Watch More “We all travel. We all have somewhere to be,” said Emmy Holguin, 36, who was flying from Miami Saturday to see family in the Dominican Republic. “I'm hoping that the government can take care of this.” Analysts warn that...

Summary Thune sees positive momentum in budget talks Trump suggests redirecting federal healthcare funds Healthcare subsidies are at the heart of shutdown dispute Government shutdown is well into its second month WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Bipartisan talks in the U.S. Senate to end the federal shutdown have taken a positive turn, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Saturday, with lawmakers working on deals to temporarily reopen the government and introduce three longer-term funding bills for some agencies.Asked by reporters whether there have been bipartisan talks within the last 24 hours that have been positive in nature, Thune, a...

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is in Puerto Rico for the annual Somos Conference. Friday, he visited an Islamic center and helped serve meals.

Explanation: Do some surface features on Enceladus roll like a conveyor belt? A leading interpretation of images taken of Saturn's most explosive moon indicate that they do. This form of asymmetric tectonic activity, very unusual on Earth, likely holds clues to the internal structure of Enceladus, which may contain subsurface seas where life might be able to develop. Pictured above is a composite of 28 images taken by the robotic Cassini spacecraft in 2008 just after swooping by the ice-spewing orb. Inspection of these images show clear tectonic displacements where large portions of the surface all appear to move all...

A man allegedly opened fired on Border Patrol agents in Chicago Saturday. The shooter was driving a Jeep when the shots were fired near 26th Street and Kedzie Avenue, as the agents conducted immigration enforcement operations, the US Department of Homeland Security wrote on

Mamdani didn’t win because affluent Brooklynites suddenly became Marxists. He won big because he identified something real that cuts across traditional class boundaries: a pervasive sense that the fundamental bargain of American economic life has broken down. Look carefully at Mamdani’s coalition and you see two distinct phenomena that shouldn’t be confused with each other. The core—the engine of his victory—was the gentrified neighborhoods of Brooklyn. Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Bushwick, Fort Greene: these delivered 60-70 point margins. This wasn’t tactical voting or lesser-of-evils thinking. This was enthusiasm. These neighborhoods turned out at near-presidential levels and voted as a bloc....

CONCORD, N.C. – After making 11 appearances in the NASCAR (O'Reilly Auto Parts) Series in 2025, 19-year-old rising star Corey Day will compete full time on the circuit next season in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet fielded by Hendrick Motorsports. Day signed with Hendrick Motorsports in December 2024 and made his O'Reilly Auto Parts Series debut March 29 at Martinsville Speedway. The dirt racing phenom ran nearly 30 pavement events in 2025 across multiple series, including nine starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (one pole position and a best finish of second). In the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, Day...

November morning in New Hampshire. Pat Buchanan is standing among the men and women of a footwear factory, listening to the assembly-line cobblers about the threats posed by cheap imported shoes to not only their jobs but their communities and their country. It’s an early winter evening in Wheeling. The guys at the pub [wonder] what they will do when the smelter shuts down, never to be re-opened. How could we lose? Surely America will see what’s coming? Surely conservatives and the Republican Party will embrace the cause of these Americans whose efforts defeated first fascism and then communism, only...

Indonesia, Azerbaijan and Pakistan are the top contenders to supply troops for a future stabilization force in the Gaza Strip, according to a U.S. defense official and a former U.S. defense official granted anonymity to discuss sensitive ongoing discussions. Negotiations on the makeup of the force are ongoing, and no country has made a firm commitment… Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in Gaza says the U.S. will work with Arab and other partners to deploy a temporary stabilization force that will train and support vetted Palestinian police forces and will consult with Egypt and Jordan on the effort. The U.S....

Jamaal Bowman, the disgraced fire alarm-pulling former congressman who illegally managed a middle school without a principal’s license, is “pushing hard” to be the city’s next schools chancellor and is vowing to lead a “revolution in our public schools,” The Post has learned. The bombastic ex-“Squad” member sounded like he had already won the appointment from his socialist soulmate Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani Thursday night, when he addressed comrades at the Democratic Socialists of America’s NYC chapter on Zoom. “I’m an educator, lifelong educator. When we get universal child care y’all it’s going to lead to a revolution in our public...

President Trump proposed 50-year mortgages to improve housing affordability by lowering monthly payments. While longer terms reduce payments, they also slow equity buildup and are currently not allowed under the Dodd-Frank Act.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham urged Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and other Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster, lest the GOP “get wiped out” in the next year’s midterm elections. The federal government has been shut down since Oct. 1, after the Senate could not agree on a bill to keep the government funded beyond September. While the GOP controls the chamber 53-47, 60 votes are necessary to invoke cloture to break filibusters and advance legislation. In exchange for the requisite votes, Democrats are demanding that Republicans agree to extend healthcare premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which are...

US President Donald Trump's 'secret' city-destroying nuclear weapon appears to have been pictured for the first time by a planespotter during an alleged test flight. Californian plane enthusiast Ian Recchio spotted the flying object while attempting to picture military aircrafts while overlooking the Owen Valley. Now, military experts believe it could be the AGM-181 LRSO, the US Air Force's (USAF) next-generation stealth nuclear cruise missile. The missile is set to replace the Cold War-era AGM-86B and will be carried by both the forthcoming £585m B-21 Raider and upgraded B-52 bombers. It is thought the weapon will have an adjustable nuclear...

Former President Joe Biden delivered a strong critique of his successor Friday, arguing to a room of supporters that President Donald Trump has “taken a wrecking ball” to democracy. “I knew Trump was going to taking a wrecking ball to the country, but I had no idea, I have to admit, I didn’t know there was going to be an actual wrecking ball,” Biden said at a gala hosted in Omaha by the Nebraska Democratic party, referring to Trump’s demolition of the the White House’s East Wing to build a 90,000-square foot ballroom. “It’s a perfect symbol of his presidency,”...

Just ran across this - 16 minutes - President Donald J. Trump on the GHWBush #77 Aircraft Carrier - lot of football on - just thought I'd share. ;-) US Navy Shows Off Insane Maneuvers in Front of Donald Trump US Navy Shows Off Insane Maneuvers in Front of Donald Trump