Free Republic

Cuba’s coast guard shot dead four people and wounded six others aboard a U.S.-registered speedboat in an exchange of gunfire off the communist island’s coast, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. In a statement, the ministry said a Cuban patrol vessel had approached the Florida-registered boat to identify those on board when shots were fired from the boat, wounding the captain of the Cuban craft. According to Havana’s statement, the boat was detected within Cuban territorial waters Wednesday morning on the northeast side of the El Pino channel near Cayo Falcones in Villa Clara province. Cuban border troops moved in to...

Trump’s strategy prizes preemptive deterrence over drift or isolation, exploiting leverage to sap rivals, steady allies, and avert the cascading conflicts that metastasized under Obama and Biden. Critics of Trump’s second-term foreign policy—the usual Left and some on the neo-isolationist Right—claim it is recklessly herky jerky and guided by no consistent grand strategy. Yet, in both the first Trump administration’s National Security Strategy paper and its second-term update, he clearly disdained ground wars abroad, nation-building, and isolationism. A better description of U.S. strategy across Trump’s two terms in office might be called Jacksonian or preemptive deterrence. That is, Trump’s foreign...

WASHINGTON — Allegations made in FBI interview documents by a woman against President Donald Trump, as revealed by NPR and the New York Times, are coming under scrutiny.

Last year the U.S. experienced something that hasn’t definitively occurred since the Great Depression: More people moved out than moved in. The Trump administration has hailed the exodus—negative net migration—as the fulfillment of its promise to ramp up deportations and restrict new visas. Beneath the stormy optics of that immigration crackdown, however, lies a less-noticed reversal: America’s own citizens are leaving in record numbers, replanting themselves and their families in lands they find more affordable and safe.

A 22-year-old assisted living employee accused of disguising himself in long female wigs and executing an 87-year-old millionaire philanthropist he treated nightly, is now also charged with shooting at a Maryland state trooper Tuesday while on the run. The Montgomery County Department of Police’s Major Crimes Division confirmed during a news conference on Wednesday that Marquis Emilio James, 22, of White Marsh, Maryland, was arrested in connection with the Valentine's Day homicide of 87-year-old Robert G. Fuller Jr. at the Cogir Potomac Senior Living Facility, and the shooting of a Maryland State Police trooper Tuesday during a traffic stop in...

Team USA's men’s hockey team didn't have to pull out their wallets while celebrating their Olympic gold medal in Miami on Monday night. Instead, Pat McAfee stepped in to pick up the six-figure tab. Following a 2-1 overtime victory against Canada to secure gold at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, the American squad touched down in South Florida and headed straight to E11EVEN nightclub. The celebration featured players spraying the crowd with Armand de Brignac and Bel Aire Gold champagne, alongside a heavy rotation of E11EVEN Vodka, Don Julio 1942, Dame Mas Tequila, Happy Dad, and Michelob Ultras. Throughout the...

As President Donald Trump vowed to wage a "war on fraud" during his State of the Union address Tuesday, a panel of voters across the political spectrum had mixed reactions. The panel, assembled by polling group Maslansky + Partners and comprising 29 Democrats, 30 independents and 41 Republicans, gave real-time reactions as Trump spoke. The reactions were displayed on a line graph where high values represented positive reactions and low values indicated negative reactions. Trump said corruption was "plundering America" and said the most "stunning example" was in Minnesota, where welfare fraud has been a focal point and a child...

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin were involved in a heated back and forth during a Senate hearing Tuesday that sparked immediate reactions across social media. "Everybody we bring up here, you guys chastised for trying to make changes," Mullin said during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing Wednesday. The committee was discussing issues with Obamacare during a hearing on the nomination of Casey Means as U.S. surgeon general. "God forbid we change and try to fix our broken system," Mullin continued. "Anyway, I ranted too long." As Mullin was attempting to return...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — With spring break on the horizon, Mexico’s resort cities have long been a top destination for college students and vacationers looking to get away for the holiday. However, on the heels of last week’s cartel violence, some travelers are canceling or considering a different destination. “Cancellations for those areas, definitely,” Renee Pilley, Senior Travel Advisor with AAA in Amherst, said in response to some of Mexico’s resort cities. “People are just … they don’t want to take a chance.” Violence broke out in reaction to the Mexican government’s operation that killed one of their most notorious...

President Trump touted his economic agenda, honored our heroes, defended his actions abroad, promised that Iran would never get nuclear weapons, and yes, found time to make Democrats look like morons. He rightly kept chastising them for not applauding or standing for issues that are universally popular, like increased public safety. He was able to get a couple, like a new law banning insider trading on the Hill. **SNIP** Sen. Liz Warren (D-MA) provided a standing ovation for that one. Trump later asked if Nancy Pelosi would’ve stood. He bodied her, but after the speech, Pelosi was blindsided by CNN,...

The Panamanian government said Tuesday that trade has not been affected after it took control of two ports operated by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings at the Panama Canal. Authorities moved in Monday to take over the Balboa port on the Pacific side and the Cristóbal port on the Atlantic side, after a court annulled the contract that had allowed Hutchison to run the terminals under concession for nearly three decades. Under new 18-month agreements signed with the Panamanian government, Balboa will be operated by APM Terminals, a subsidiary of Denmark’s Maersk, while Cristóbal will be run by Terminal Investment...

WASHINGTON – Democrats’ counterprogramming event to President Trump’s State of the Union address was hijacked by MAGA supporters and liberals dressed up like frogs — chirping “ribbit.” Activists and lawmakers held dueling events on Tuesday night to present their counterargument to the president. Some speakers were there to entertain, some to rally the troops ahead of the November midterm election and some charged that Trump was lying to the American people. “I’m not at the State of the Union speech tonight, because you’re not going to hear about the State of the Union. You are going to hear lie after...

"Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10). Your fruitfulness is directly related to your knowledge of divine truth. Every farmer who enjoys a plentiful harvest does so only after diligent effort on his part. He must cultivate the soil, plant the seed, then nurture it to maturity. Each step is thoughtful, disciplined, and orderly. Similarly, bearing spiritual fruit is not an unthinking or haphazard process. It requires us to be diligent in pursuing the knowledge of God's will, which is revealed in His Word. That is Paul's prayer in Colossians 1:9, which...

Join with fellow FREEPERS across the world to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, Technology, Religious Freedom and the Media. "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. "Finally, brothers, rejoice. Set things in order. Be encouraged. Agree with one another. Be at peace. And the God...

A 25-year-old man from Spring, Texas is jailed without bond, charged with aggravated assault after authorities say he secretly gave abortion medication to a pregnant woman against her will, causing the death of their unborn child. Jon Rueben Gabriel Demeter faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury — family violence. Authorities indicated possible additional or enhanced charges pending further evidence processing. The child, named Presley Mae by her mother, was stillborn at a hospital in The Woodlands. The woman told authorities she believed the father of her baby had administered a drug to...

A female police officer who apparently defended the rights of a Christian street preacher against complaints from a crowd of Muslim men in London has been praised for her actions. A clip of the exchange in the predominantly Muslim area of Whitechapel, in London, has gone viral on social media, with a single post on X being viewed over half a million times. One bystander in the tense exchange can be heard accusing the preacher of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. As the group press the officer to take action, the Metropolitan Police Officer can be heard saying: "I understand that...

A Maryland county Board of Education has been ordered to pay $1.5 million to settle a case brought by parents of different faith groups over the school district’s refusal to allow them to opt their children out of LGBT-themed lessons in public schools. As Zeale News previously reported, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents — who included Christians, Muslims, and Jews — in June 2025, holding that Montgomery County’s school district could not unconstitutionally burden parents’ religious freedom rights. The parents sued after the school district promoted gender transitions, pride parades, and pronoun preferences to young...

The United States intercepted in the Indian Ocean a third tanker accused of violating the blockade against sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean, after it fled the region, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.“From the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, we pursued it and intercepted it,” the Pentagon said, accompanied by a video showing soldiers rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck of the tanker Bertha. “The vessel was operating despite the blockade established by President Trump against sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean and was trying to escape,” it added, referring to the overnight operation. The Defense Department “will deprive illicit actors and...

With Bill and Hillary Clinton giving their depositions to the US House Government Oversight Committee over Clinton ties to Jeffrey Epstein a man known as a 'financier' I am certainly reminded of those "Clinton Years" of the 1990's. Those years punctuated by financial questions about the Clinton's from the 'cattle futures' windfall for Hillary to the Whitewater project questions surrounding them and those infamous Rose Law Firm billing records. But in the end it was all for nought as a probe of the Clinton's centered on financial wrongdoing descended into the pit of Bill Clinton's illicit sexual relationships and his...

If the West feels insane, it’s because something pathological took over.The social chaos isn't merely a clash of ideas but a system that rewards liars, tyrants, and manipulators, while punishing the sane.