Free Republic

Senator Eric Schmitt delivered an absolute demolition of a clueless reporter on Tuesday after she tried—and failed spectacularly—to equate narco-terrorist drug-running vessels as harmless “fishing boats.” What followed was a brutal reality check that the fake news media desperately needed. While Democrats obsess over protecting cartel operatives and criticizing U.S. interventions, Schmitt made clear the only victims in this story are American families burying loved ones poisoned by fentanyl. The exchange was filmed by Caden Olson, a congressional reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Reporter: If you can seize a tanker without killing anyone, shouldn’t that… If you can...

Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro escalated hostile rhetoric toward the U.S. this week, declaring in a public speech that his regime stands ready to "smash the teeth of the North American empire" amid rising tensions with Washington. Maduro delivered the remarks during a televised rally, where he mixed threats with spectacle. At one point, he sang a rendition of "Don't Worry, Be Happy," danced on stage, then urged Venezuelans to "fight back" against what he portrayed as U.S. aggression. The performance appeared aimed at projecting confidence as his government faces growing international pressure. Maduro also invoked nationalist symbolism, holding the sword...

(LifeSiteNews) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is declaring victory in his years-long fight against a Biden-era guidance that sought to limit hospitals’ sharing of information pertaining to abortions or “gender transitions” from investigators trying to enforce state laws. In its final year, the Biden administration issued a rule change to the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, to greatly limit the sharing of information pertaining to so-called “reproductive health care.” The move was made...

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I am friends with a billionaire property developer who left Britain for good this year. He went to live in a European tax haven because he objects to this country’s 40 percent inheritance tax—one of the most punitive rates in the world. He was born and had lived in London all his life, but his business interests are now global; he no longer recognizes this city, and feels the current Labour government is hostile towards wealth creators. The nation will miss him and his ilk: He reckoned he was frequently one of the top 10 taxpayers in Britain. Overall, the...

From a distance, it looks like a war plane imagined by Hayao Miyazaki, or the type of machine that could only exist in a science fiction novel. But according to aviation enthusiasts who captured footage of it soaring in the California skies last week, it’s an experimental aircraft designed by Stratolaunch, an aerospace company located in the Mojave Desert. Chances are, residents in surrounding towns will see more of it, too. Described as the world’s largest flying aircraft, Roc — which looks like two 747s fused together and has a wingspan larger than a football field — recently completed a...

“‘And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty’” (Matthew 13:23). The ultimate barrier to salvation is unbelief, and anyone willing to receive the gospel on Christ’s terms proves he or she is “good soil.” God honors the humble faith of receptive hearers and opens their spiritual ears, minds, and hearts, allowing them to understand the gospel. The example of the receptive hearers ought to encourage everyone who has ever witnessed...

An IHOP cook has been charged after allegedly shooting two teenage porch pirates outside his home as they ran away with packages. Rakim Bradford, 34, opened fire after he came to the door to collect a delivery outside his townhouse in Atlanta and saw three youths he believed were trying steal it. He called a co-worker after the shooting and told them he was cleaning his gun when he got a notification that the delivery had arrived, according to the arrest warrant. The colleague told police that Bradford said he went to get the package holding his gun, and it...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit targeting a proposed Muslim-focused residential community in North Texas, accusing developers of an "illegal development scheme" that violated state securities laws. The 21-page complaint, filed Dec. 5 in Collin County, names the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), its affiliate Community Capital Partners (CCP), and several leaders involved with the targeted development, once known as EPIC City and now called The Meadow. Spanning over 400 acres in Collin and Hunt counties, plans for The Meadow include over 1,000 homes, a K-12 faith-based school, a mosque, elderly and assisted living facilities, apartments, clinics,...

Another one! The semi-truck driver who was arrested in a deadly crash in Washington state is an Indian illegal alien who was released into the US by the Biden Regime. 25-year-old Kamalpreet Singh killed a 29-year-old man on the morning of December 11 after he crushed the victim’s vehicle between two trucks while driving northbound on SR 167. Singh likely obtained his CDL in Democrat hellhole of California, since he resided there. He is facing a vehicular homicide charge. The Auburn Examiner reported on the crash: Troopers said three vehicles were traveling in lane one when two of them stopped...

The Trump Education Department has been focusing on identifying student loan fraud and they have a lot to show for their efforts. They just announced that they have uncovered more than a billion dollars in fraud. Trump’s Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, may be the last cabinet official of her kind if Trump has his way. Like many Republicans going all the way back to Ronald Reagan, Trump wants to do away with the department completely. McMahon and Trump have successfully done away with a number of horrible Bide-era policies on student loans and financial aid, which has helped them to...

He wasn’t supposed to be here. Experts say babies like Ryu Lopez don’t usually make it this far. But this holiday season, the Lopez family is deeply grateful for beating incredible odds in what Cedars-Sinai physicians are calling a medical miracle. Suze Lopez, a nurse from Bakersfield, California, was scheduled to finally have a 22-pound ovarian cyst removed; one that had been growing for years. But the results of a routine pregnancy test that was required before the surgery would give her the shock of a lifetime. “Because of the large ovarian cyst that had been growing for years, it...

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday signed legislation allowing physician-assisted suicide for certain terminally ill patients, making Illinois the 12th state to enact such a law. The measure, known as the End of Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act, or Deb's Law, lets doctors prescribe a lethal dose of drugs that eligible patients may self-administer. Springfield's State Journal-Register reported that the law takes effect in September. Under the statute, adults must have a terminal illness expected to result in death within six months, as confirmed by two physicians. Patients must have the mental capacity to make medical decisions, be...

'This was a random person in the park who went out of their way to disfigure another human being,' he said. He added that there was no evidence of the attack on Wasielewski being 'part of a larger pattern,' while urging locals to take care of one another. The police chief also pushed back on unfounded rumors concerning the attack. 'We understand how quickly information, speculation and worry we can spread,' he said. 'That's why we're 100 percent committed to sharing verified updates as soon as we have them and not before. Accuracy matters.'

A Tennessee truck driver is dead after a Chinese national, who is not proficient in English and has a non-domiciled New York commercial driver’s license (CDL), allegedly crashed a tour bus — now federal transportation officials are investigating how he was cleared to drive. “A Chinese national driving a motorcoach slammed into a vehicle in Tennessee, killing an individual and causing a major traffic jam this week,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a post on social media. “And to make matters worse: this driver had a non-domiciled CDL from NY and couldn’t speak English!”

A whistleblower claims that the Somali migrant community in Ohio is also involved in the same sort of massive social services funding fraud being uncovered day-by-day in Minnesota. Ohio attorney Mehek Cooke says that the same sort of theft of public funding seen in Minnesota has been occurring in the Buckeye State for more than a decade, Fox News reports. Cooke also accuses Ohio doctors of “rubber stamping” the fraud by failing to do any due diligence on those who are filing for aid. “They’re just rubberstamping a lot of these. And then that same individual, a week later, that’s...

WARNING: Some readers may find the details in this story provided by police to be disturbing. WILMINGTON, IL — Police say a Manhattan man used a plunger to try to flush a newborn after the mother gave birth in a toilet, more than a year before the baby girl was found buried in a yard in Wilmington. The man and woman have been charged after the body of an infant girl was found buried in a beer box in a shallow grave in a Wilmington yard Friday, according to jail records. Nicole Pokrzywa, 36, of Wilmington, was booked Saturday on...

Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker expanded his state’s culture of death on Friday by signing a bill into law legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill people. Illinois is now the 12th state, plus Washington, DC, that allows physicians to assist terminally ill people in killing themselves — all in the name of “choice,” compassion, and easing end-of-life suffering. Pritzker signed the bill despite concerns from opponents that such a law could be a slippery slope (look no further than Canada) and could be used to coerce people with disabilities and financial hardships to choose death. […] The bill, called the...

Another one bites the dust.Per a new item from the New York Post, another BLM leader has been hit with a slew of financial crimes charges, centered around an alleged “embezzlement scheme” totaling millions of dollars:The executive director of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Oklahoma City was indicted for allegedly siphoning off more than $3 million in grants to bankroll luxury vacations, shopping sprees, groceries, a car, and six properties over five years, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson, 52, was slapped with 20 wire fraud counts and five money laundering charges for funneling $3.15 million meant for...

This week, the lingering allegations over the marital history of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) took an ominous step when Border Tsar Tom Homan publicly acknowledged that the government is looking into the matter.Rep. Omar has long denied that she married her brother to gain his entry into the United States, but the allegation has continued to rage on the Internet and among her critics.The question is whether this is a substantive case of fraud or defamation.Homan stated that he was investigating whether Omar committed immigration fraud, but also noted that the statute of limitations has been an issue.In his...