Free Republic

After slapping 25% "penalty" tariffs on India for buying Russian crude — revoked last month — the U.S. on Thursday issued a 30-day waiver to New Delhi for purchasing crude from Moscow as the Iran war upends global supplies. The West Texas Intermediate oil surged 8.51%, or $6.35, to close at $81.01 per barrel on Thursday in the biggest single day gain since May 2020. Global benchmark Brent rose 4.93%, or $4.01, to settle at $85.41 per barrel. The waiver on purchasing Russian oil will help ease supply worries globally, as India is the world's fourth biggest refiner and and...

Families of failed asylum seekers will be paid up to £40,000 to leave Britain under a new Government pilot scheme. Migrants who cooperate with the system and leave the UK within seven days will receive payments of up to £10,000 per person, capped at four per family, as part of the Home Office plan. Some 150 families living in taxpayer-funded hotels were sent messages on Thursday informing them that they can take part in the trial. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “This is an insult to the British taxpayer… Offering £40,000 to failed asylum seekers to leave the country...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s reward came from heaven. Israel used a powerful ballistic missile that flew to the edge of space before plummeting to Earth and blasting Iran’s unsuspecting supreme leader and dozens of his top henchmen last Saturday. The Blue Sparrow, a missile that can fly for 1,240 miles and leaves the Earth’s atmosphere before crashing down, was used by Israel during Operation Epic Fury, killing Khamenei and his cohorts. So intense was the impact that debris was found in western Iraq, according to Israeli sources. The surprise attack came together last week after Israeli officials deliberately gave the impression...

A Fort Worth federal jury got a closer look Tuesday at the alleged "antifa" materials the government says motivated what it's calling a coordinated attack on an immigration detention center July 4. FBI investigators walked the jury Tuesday through “zines,” or homemade booklets, pamphlets, posters and other items they found in the homes and cars of several people on trial. Anti-fascism, anarchy, the abolition of ICE and police, opposition to Israel, noise demonstrations, direct action and animal rights were common messages found throughout the material. A Fort Worth federal jury got a closer look Tuesday at the alleged "antifa" materials...

A Seattle woman who shot and killed a rideshare driver, then stole his car and drove to get her haircut, has pleaded guilty to murder. Ne'Iani Allen-Bailey, 20, faces between 15 and 23 years in prison when she is sentenced later this month for her plea to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement, according to filings in King County Superior Court. In August 2023, Allen-Bailey killed Amare Geda, 52, as he was parked on 1st Avenue South in the SODO neighborhood. Geda was driving for a rideshare service and had a "Lyft" jacket on at the time he was killed....

There will be changes in the UK government soon. I have little doubt of that, although exactly what those changes will be will, unfortunately, be determined by the feckless and immoral Labour Party in the near term. It's hard to say whether Keir Starmer is toast yet, but I would put a modest bet on the likelihood, if for no other reason than that the Labour Party will soon be in panic mode due to the steady stream of bad news and embarrassments. Starmer has somehow survived up until now, despite being the least popular Prime Minister since...well, nobody has...

Donald Trump has promised cheap insurance for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz in a challenge to Lloyd’s of London. The US president said he had ordered America’s international investment body to insure ships travelling through the Persian Gulf at a “very reasonable price” after the outbreak of fighting in the Middle East led insurers to cancel polices and dramatically raise rates. Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Effective IMMEDIATELY, I have ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide, at a very reasonable price, political risk insurance and guarantees for the Financial Security of ALL Maritime...

I’m going to start out this morning by quoting a piece I wrote back in 2007:Yesterday, I made a comment with regards to the culpability of Jimmy Carter as regards our current troubles with Iran. As you may imagine I managed to get some email commentary on that charge. For the most part, the mails chided me for rendering such a verdict against so great a president. Apparently, the people writing, have learned nothing from reading this site, over the years. In any event, Michael Evans, in an OP/Ed piece in the Jerusalem Post, nails it down quite nicely ...The...

~Favorite I or You Songs~ I walk the line – Johnny Cash*Video*You can’t Always get what you want – Rolling Stones *Video*

[Catholic Caucus] Who is driving the campaign against the Order of Malta?Somebody has got it in for the Order of Malta, the 900-year-old Catholic order which maintains hospitals and runs charitable activities all over the world. In Italy, a stream of very similar articles has been appearing, beginning with an attack last October in the left-wing newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, by a journalist writing as Thomas Mackinson. In recent weeks there has been an accelerating series of articles under different names, all of them repeating the same criticisms. People in the Order’s ambit are beginning to wonder who is putting...

Colorado’s Medicaid program made an estimated $77.8 million in improper payments and another $207.4 million in potentially improper payments for autism therapy, according to a February report from the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services.Auditors investigated $289.5 million in Medicaid payments from 2022 to 2023 that paid for more than 1 million claims for Applied Behavior Analysis—a therapy used to treat autism and developmental disabilities.Each of the 100 claims reviewed contained at least one improper or potentially improper payment, suggesting a 100 percent failure rate.Improper payments are not necessarily fraudulent. Payments are considered improper when the...

he Republican-led House on Thursday rejected a measure aimed at blocking President Donald Trump from carrying out further military strikes on Iran without congressional approval, delivering a victory for the White House even as lawmakers voice deep unease about the widening conflict. The War Powers Resolution, introduced by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, failed in a 212-219 vote after Republican leaders rallied enough support to defeat it, allowing the Administration to continue its military campaign against Iran for now without seeking new authorization from Congress. All House Democrats voted for the resolution except for Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas,...

China is in talks with Iran to allow crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas vessels safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz ​as the U.S.-Israeli war on Tehran intensifies, three diplomatic sources told Reuters. The war, ‌which entered its sixth day on Thursday, has left the critical shipping passageway all-but shut, with countries around the world cut off from a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. China, which has friendly ​relations with Iran and relies heavily on Middle Eastern supplies, is unhappy about the ​Islamic Republic's move to paralyse shipping through the Strait and is pressing...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, 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. " America It's Time To Pray! " Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile....

Imagine all of this sturm und drang over someone who may not even be vertical and respiratory. Ever since the death of Ali Khamenei in the opening seconds of the joint US-Israeli military action, Iran has technically been without a head of state. The Supreme Leader in Iran controls all policy and action, as well as commanding all of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic. Ali Larijani and Masoud Pezeshkian can issue orders while hiding in hospital offices, but they do not have the perceived divine and theological authority that the top mullah has in these systems, and that...

Lucy Biggers was once a devoted acolyte of the climate cult, affiliated with “activists” like AOC and Greta Thunberg. Then Covid happened, and, to give credit where it’s due, Biggers saw through the lunacy, wondering how in the world the people were expected to get to zero carbon emissions—the stated goal of the climate cult—if the oppressive lockdowns and forced quarantines only resulted in a (roughly) 5% decrease over the year? (That 5% number was offered by Biggers, though don’t take it as fact because I actually don’t know myself what the numbers are.) Like many others, Biggers was depressed,...

ABC's Jonathan Karl just had a conversation with President Trump in which Trump described Tucker Carlson as someone who had lost his way.In a lengthy conversation just now, President Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson who called the Iran war “absolutely disgusting and evil.”"Tucker has lost his way,” Trump told me. “I knew that a long time ago, and he's not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our…— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 5, 2026In a lengthy conversation just now, President Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson who called the Iran war “absolutely disgusting and evil.” "Tucker has...

A Chicago federal appeals court on Thursday vacated a lower court’s injunction placing use-of-force restrictions on immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz, calling it “constitutionally suspect” and questioning the manner in which the district judge dismissed the underlying suit. The three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was split 2-1, with Chief Judge Michael Brennan and Judge Michael Scudder in the majority and Judge Frank Easterbrook dissenting. The ending of the Trump administration’s appeal was a foregone conclusion after U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in January granted a motion by the plaintiffs to dismiss the underlying lawsuit....

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...