Free Republic

A man who admitted to enriching himself in the "Feeding Our Future" scam was facing up to three years in prison but got a slap on the wrist after agreeing to a plea deal. Abdul Abubakar Ali claimed to have served up about 1.5 million meals and collected federal funds through the Federal Child Nutrition Program, but prosecutors said he didn't actually serve any at all. In Oct. 2022, he agreed to plead guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors said he paid $92,500 in restitution so far and provided valuable information to investigators. He also...

Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch roasted Solicitor General John Sauer over the citations in his argument during oral arguments in the highly-anticipated birthright citizenship on Wednesday. Trump signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship during the first days of his second term, which was promptly blocked by a lower court in a ruling that was upheld by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case — Trump v. Barbara — on Wednesday morning, with Trump in attendance. While it’s tough to forecast based on questioning, things did not...

Police discovered more than two dozen pipe bombs inside a White Plains apartment while investigating an explosive found on a quiet, tree-lined block Monday morning — providing a terrifying answer to the mysterious series of thunderous booms neighbors had been hearing for weeks. Cops arrested Raymond Elders, 65, on several charges, including use of a weapon of mass destruction, after authorities found 25 complete pipe bombs and explosive-making materials at his Odell Avenue apartment, CBS New York reported. Elders was cuffed following an investigation that was sparked when a police officer spotted a mysterious explosive device near his doorway. Cops...

The assassination of Iranian-Canadian dissident Masood Masjoody exposes Tehran’s growing campaign of transnational repression on Canadian soil, while critics warn that Ottawa’s immigration and security policies have allowed IRGC-linked operatives and regime loyalists to infiltrate and operate freely within Canada. In a chilling escalation of Tehran’s transnational terror, Canadian authorities have charged two suspects with the first-degree murder of Masood Masjoody, a 45-year-old Iranian-Canadian dissident and former Simon Fraser University instructor. Masood’s vocal criticism of the Islamic Republic’s brutal regime made him a prime target for the Islamic Regime’s extra-national assassination teams. Masjoody’s body was discovered on March 6, 2026,...

NATO TIES IN QUESTION: President Donald Trump says he is strongly considering pulling the United States out of NATO, the military alliance that has been a cornerstone of the international order since the end of World War II, after other members failed to join his war on Iran, according to Britain’s Telegraph newspaper. Trump will address the nation at 9 p.m. ET tonight to deliver an update on the war.

Vice President JD Vance announced his book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” will be released June 16. “I’ve been writing this book for a long time, and I’m honored to finally be able to share the full story with you all,” Vance wrote in a post to X. “‘Communion’ is about my personal journey and how I found my way back to faith.” The book will be published by HarperCollins Publishers, which also published Vance’s 2016 bestselling book “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.” Since its release, “Hillbilly Elegy” has sold over 5...

The US president said the UK has aircraft carriers "that didn’t work"LONDON, April 1. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump doesn’t think too highly of Great Britain’s naval fleet. "You don't even have a Navy. You’re too old, and have aircraft carriers that didn’t work," he told The Daily Telegraph, referring to the state of Britain’s fleet of warships. In mid-March, the American leader had already voiced his disappointment with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer over London's lack of support for the military operation in Iran. In particular, he blasted the British aircraft carriers. When asked whether Starmer should spend more...

Shipping and military expert John Konrad spent all day in D.C. on Tuesday talking to his military sources and concluded that "the Navy appears to be in no rush to reopen the strait," even while Iran dictates whose oil tankers are allowed to pass. "What is this administration trying to leverage?" Konrad wondered, and that nobody he talked to was willing to discuss the fate of Hormuz "until European politicians and media stop calling Americans war criminals and monsters." While Konrad admitted he has "no idea" when Hormuz will reopen, "but if the price is a modicum of cooperation and...

Former White House adviser and key figure in the MAGA movement, Steve Bannon, has called on the United States Department of Homeland Security to deport Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair, and send him to fight in Iran. “Netanyahu's kid down in Miami, turf him out tomorrow,” Bannon said. Similarly, on February 28th, a site was launched with the URL ‘DraftBarronTrump.com,’ a satirical site with fabricated quotes from the Trump family hailing Barron Trump’s bravery and how he should enlist to fight against Iran. A draft would require approval from both the president and Congress, and the US has not...

Six years ago in the spring, as COVID-19 cases grew in distant China, Britain was torn between sealing the country off and letting daily life continue its restless hum. For people who lived through it, those weeks — and the subsequent months — were a strange state of upheaval. Today, that collective experience is etched into London's landscape. Raised by ordinary citizens in 2021, the 1,640-foot-long National Covid Memorial Wall stretched along the bank of the River Thames, directly opposite the Parliament, as if holding vigil over the nation's corridors of power. On a recent visit, I took a walk...

BEIRUT: At least seven people were killed and 24 ​wounded in two Israeli strikes in the Beirut area, the Lebanese health ministry said on Wednesday, in attacks that hit vehicles in Beirut's southern outskirts and in an area just south of the capital. One of the strikes killed Hezbollah's top commander for Iraq military affairs, Yousef Hashem, a Lebanese security source and a Hezbollah source both told AFP. The security source said "a senior Hezbollah official, who is the military chief for the Iraq file, named Youssef Hashem, was killed in the strike on the Jnah area in Beirut," adding...

Lebanon indicts Hizbullah members on weapons charges Four Hizbullah members face legal proceedings in Lebanon on charges of possessing weapons, part of a broader government strategy to ban the group's military activities. First responders work at the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Hanouiyeh, east of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict after Hizbullah launched missiles at Israel. [Kawnat Haju/AFP] First responders work at the site of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Hanouiyeh, east of Tyre, on March 30, 2026. Lebanon was pulled into...

In an unprecedented move that has left parents and students scratching their heads, Maplewood Elementary School announced yesterday that starting next week, all students will be required to take a mandatory two-hour nap during school hours. The new policy, dubbed "Dream Time," aims to improve focus and overall student well-being. Principal Susan Bright explained, "After extensive research, we found that a short nap can boost creativity, memory, and happiness. Plus, who doesn’t love a good snooze?" The school is installing custom sleep pods in every classroom, complete with lavender scent diffusers and plush pillows. Parents initially reacted with surprise and...

NEW YORK (AP) — In a new lawsuit, one of the first three women to officiate an NFL game describes her three years at the pinnacle of her profession as a descent into the grip of a sexist institution unable to treat a woman as an equal. Robin DeLorenzo cited gender-based scrutiny, humiliation and open hostility among the indignities she suffered from 2022 to 2025 as a league official. The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, filed Friday, sought reinstatement along with unspecified damages.

A nationwide general strike is set to take place on April 5, with organizers calling on all Americans to come together and take part in a coordinated effort to “force big change” by applying large‑scale economic pressure. The action is being organized under the banner of “General Strike 2026,” also known as Strike26. Organizers are positioning the April 5 action as an extension of the previous nationwide general strike—which happened on January 30—framing it as part of a broader, ongoing campaign rather than just a single‑day protest. According to their website, the campaign organizers are calling for a nationwide strike...

The death of 11-year-old Alireza Jafari, the first known child recruit killed during the Iran war, underscores what rights advocates describe as a governing doctrine that places regime survival above civilian protection amid mounting wartime pressure. Jafari, a fifth-grade student, was killed at a military checkpoint in Tehran during US and Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, according to Hengaw, a Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization that monitors abuses in Iran. In an interview with the state-affiliated Hamshahri newspaper, the boy’s mother said that because of a “shortage of personnel,” his father had taken him to the checkpoint. He was later...

Rising tensions between the Pezeshkian administration and Iran’s military leadership have pushed the president into a “complete political deadlock,” with the Revolutionary Guard effectively assuming control over key state functions, informed sources told Iran International. The IRGC has blocked presidential appointments and decisions while erecting a security perimeter around the core of power, effectively sidelining the government from executive control. Efforts by Masoud to appoint a new intelligence minister last Thursday collapsed under direct pressure from IRGC chief-commander Ahmad Vahidi, sources with knowledge of the situation told Iran International. All proposed candidates, including Hossein Dehghan, were rejected. Vahidi is said...

The Authentication LayerWhy Digital ID Is the Hill to Die OnA friend and I got into it recently. He’s smart, freedom-minded, and totally gets the danger of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). Expiring money, programmable control, carbon budgets - he sees most of the expanding tyranny clearly. And yet he dismisses Digital ID as a distraction. When I try to make the case that digital ID is the gateway to the gulag in the metaverse, he demands I name ONE thing Digital ID gives the government that they can’t already do.My answer: it enables CBDC.Of course, governments have already encroached...

The Court will hear oral arguments this morning at 10:00 in Trump v. Barbara. Issue(s): Whether Executive Order No. 14,160 complies on its face with the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment and with 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a), which codifies that clause.The key arguments in the birthright citizenship case here:.Key ArgumentsAudio of oral arguments here:Supreme CourtCspanScotusblog is liveblogging here:liveblog

This NATO war game went horribly wrong. Ukraine’s drone warfare exposed NATO weaknesses during a major Estonia war game, and the results were brutal. In this video, I break down how just 10 Ukrainian operators simulated the destruction of two NATO battalions, and what that reveals about outdated doctrine and the future of warfare. In May of 2025, NATO ran a major "military exercise" called Hedgehog in Estonia, involving over 16,000 troops from 12 NATO countries. This "wargame" highlighted the critical role of a Ukrainian-Estonian OPFOR unit, leveraging advanced "drones" and the expertise of "Ukraine soldiers" to simulate a mechanized...