Free Republic

This could be a major step forward in the fate of a certain South American nation: The United States and Venezuela have reportedly agreed to resume diplomatic and consular relations. The first indication came from News Nation White House Correspondent Kellie Meyer, in the form of a rather terse post on X.U.S. and Venezuela's interim authorities agree to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations.— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) March 5, 2026This was followed by a U.S. News & World Report piece, which had (a few) more details.⁠The ⁠United States and ⁠interim authorities in Venezuela have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular ‌relations,...

The Supreme Court struck down the majority of President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in February, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren isn’t letting the Administration weasel out of paying back American taxpayers. “If your Administration is successful in its campaign to avoid paying back illegally collected tariffs, it would amount to a theft in broad daylight from each and every American family that has paid the price of your failed economic agenda,” Warren said in a Wednesday statement. Per her office’s estimates, the tariffs have cost families about $1,700 each. The Supreme Court on February 20 ruled against the tariffs 6-3, arguing...

Kristi Noem's exit from the Department of Homeland Security had barely been confirmed when one Democrat had already signed up to support her replacement. Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman moved to back his Senate colleague Markwayne Mullin for the top DHS job almost immediately — earning the vicious fury of Democrats who are growing tired of his independence. 'I'm not sure how many fellow Democrats will vote to support our colleague @SenMullin as the next DHS Secretary, but I am AYE,' Fetterman posted on X.

t's not easy being a Cuban agent of subversion in the Western hemisphere these days. Not only is Cuba out of money and falling apart, the glory days of the medical missionaries and the embassy wine parties with the elites abroad while the locals suffer back home are now all drying up. According to the Associated Press: QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador declared Cuba’s ambassador, Basilio Antonio Gutiérrez, and his diplomatic staff “persona non grata” on Wednesday and gave them 48 hours to leave the South American country. Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has seen his approval rating in the United Kingdom plunge to around 50 points underwater, boasted about his country’s decision to stay out of the conflict in Iran to a group of Muslims on Tuesday. Starmer spoke to Muslims at a Ramadan ceremony held at Westminster Hall on Tuesday night and was applauded when he said, “On Iran, I want to make clear that the U.K. was not involved in the offensive strikes of the U.S. and Israel, and that remains the case.” “As many of you know, I never supported the Iraq war...

The Iranian drone strikes that hit Amazon Web Services facilities in the Middle East have thrust a new question to the forefront of the tech industry: Should data centers be defended like military assets? The attacks — the first known military strikes at an American hyperscaler’s infrastructure — damaged two AWS sites in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain, disrupting services across the region and underscoring how critical data infrastructure is emerging as a potential target in modern warfare. “[Physical attacks] are only going to become more common moving forward as AI becomes more and more significant,” Sam...

A widening Middle East conflict has posed a fresh test for global central banks, as fears of an oil shock and renewed inflation risks complicate policymakers’ calculus for shoring up growth. Crude prices soared on Monday after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Tehran responded with missile attacks targeting multiple Gulf countries. Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for oil shipments, has effectively stalled as the threat of attacks from Iran deterred vessels from passing through the waterway. Brent crude prices extended...

As the war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran enters its sixth day, the rate of military resource depletion on both sides has emerged as a critical factor that could determine the outcome of the conflict. Reza Talaei-Nik, a spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Defense, stated on the 3rd, “We have the capability to sustain an ‘offensive defense’ longer than the enemy expects in this war,” adding, “We have no intention of deploying all our advanced weapons and equipment from the outset.” This remark, implying that Iran has yet to use its “advanced weapons,” directly contradicts U.S. President Donald Trump’s...

Iran will target the Israeli nuclear site of Dimona if Israel and the US seek regime change in the Islamic Republic, semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing an Iranian military official. In recent days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump have said that the objective of the operation is to “create the conditions for the Iranian people to replace the regime.” While some had said that Trump may claim the condition had been met and end the operation within days, senior Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post that the US would stay in the fight until...

An extensive investigation based on declassified government documents and previously suppressed scientific research has uncovered compelling evidence that U.S. biological weapons programs contributed to the emergence of Lyme disease, which now affects hundreds of thousands of Americans annually. The investigation reveals a pattern of concealment spanning six decades, including the systematic suppression of critical medical research and the release of nearly 300,000 radioactive ticks across Virginia to study how the disease-carrying insects would spread. In 2014, researchers discovered extensive unpublished materials in the garage of deceased scientist Willy Burgdorfer, who identified bacterium that causes Lyme disease. The materials revealed that...

The WSJ reports that Iran’s "missile cities" have become a strategic liability. Constant drone monitoring and neutralized air defenses have allowed the US and Israel to slash Iranian launches by 86%.The Islamic Republic's "missile cities" strategy, once seen as a significant advantage in case of an armed conflict, has become its biggest weakness during the current conflict with Israel and the US, as what used to be a mobile platform difficult to target now became a predictable target easy to locate, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.According to the report, the US and Israel entered a phase in their...

A man accused of hiring a hitman to take out US politicians, including President Donald Trump, says he was pressured by Iran's elite ​Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to devise the plot. A man accused of plotting to kill US President Donald Trump and other top politicians told the court on Wednesday he was pressured by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to organise their assassinations. Pakistan national Asif Raza Merchant, 47, was charged in September 2024 with seeking to hire a hitman to assassinate unidentified US politicians. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The IRGC — Iran's elite...

Bruce Johnston, longtime member of the Beach Boys, has announced his departure from the group after more than 60 years. “It’s time for Part Three of my lengthy musical career!” Johnston explained in a statement shared with Rolling Stone. “I can write songs forever and wait until you hear what’s coming!!! As my major talent beyond singing is songwriting, now is the time to get serious again. In addition, I’m currently working on developing a speaking-engagement chapter of my career—inspired in part by Cary Grant, who long ago made a similar move after his movie career. With a ton of...

Time magazine touted his “authenticity” and gushed, “It’s populism and piety, the proletariat and the Pharisees all rolled into a Texas-sized operation.” The Washington Post highlighted how Talarico was “leaning in to his Christian faith in political debate, an atypical approach for a Democrat.” The New Yorker’s soft-focus photo accompanied a fawning piece that described Talarico as looking “like he’d just finished his paper route and was eager to shovel the church’s walk.” It did the trick for the Lone Star State’s Democrats. But the moderate façade may already be crumbling. In 2020, Talarico was tweeting about the “virus” of...

Democratic state Rep. James Talarico of Texas has offered some off-the-wall comments regarding the Bible and God on multiple occasions during his political career. Talarico, a former public school teacher who is currently attending a Presbyterian seminary, defeated Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the party’s nomination for the United States Senate seat held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Talarico’s comments included arguing that “God is nonbinary” and that the Bible justified abortion. “In committee, I listened to 15 hours of testimony about this bill. The worst part, for me, was the number...

Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss funneled millions of dollars to the left-wing organizations that are organizing the anti-Donald Trump "No Kings" protests and spearheading lawsuits targeting President Trump's immigration and energy policies, according to new tax filings obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. They reveal the extent to which Wyss, a foreign national, is central to anti-Trump resistance efforts. The Berger Action Fund, one of two nonprofits Wyss has used to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to left-wing causes, gave a total of $57.3 million to 11 activist groups between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, the disclosures show....

Of the 90 zero-days GTIG tracked in 2025, 43 hitZero-day exploitation targeting enterprise tech products reached an all-time high last year, with China-linked cyber-espionage groups remaining the most prolific state-backed users, according to Google. Google Threat Intelligence Group tracked 43 zero-days in enterprise software and appliances in 2025, representing 48 percent of all attacks against these previously undisclosed bugs. That's up from 36 (46 percent) in 2024. In total, the Chocolate Factory documented 90 zero-day vulnerabilities actively exploited last year, which is more than 2024's number (78), but still not as many as 2023's record high of 100. And...

TEL AVIV—Israel’s military is targeting the Iranian police state that brutally suppressed protests and killed thousands of people, with the hope of clearing the way for a popular revolt to overthrow the Islamic government. Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday carried out a wave of strikes targeting people responsible for internal security, from members of the Basij paramilitary force to senior intelligence officials, the Israeli military said. Israel, along with the U.S., has also hit some domestic-security agencies, including the Tehran headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the powerful group responsible for defending and perpetuating the regime. The Revolutionary Guard and...

Attack infrastructure attributed to 'several Iran-nexus threat actors'Multiple Iranian hacking crews have been targeting internet-connected surveillance cameras across Israel and other Middle Eastern countries since the war started on February 28, according to Check Point security researchers. The Tel Aviv-based security shop has tracked "hundreds" of attempts to exploit a handful of bugs in IP cameras made by two manufacturers, Hikvision and Dahua, according to Sergey Shykevich, threat intelligence group manager at Check Point Research, in a conversation with El Reg. The countries targeted in these digital intrusion attempts - Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Cyprus, and Lebanon...

BREAKING - in Benson v. US, the DC Court of Appeals - not to be confused with the federal DC Circuit - has ruled that DC's ban on magazines over ten rounds is unconstitutional. This is the highest court in DC, akin to its Supreme Court.In the summary of the ruling, the majority appears to adopt what SAF and many others have long argued in accordance with Heller: commonality alone grants Second Amendment protection. "Because these magazines are arms in common and ubiquitous use by law-abiding citizens across this country, we agree with Benson and the United States that the...