Free Republic

Just went to the MD website to buy my 2026 Fishing license - THE GOVERNOR INCREASED THE PRICE from $5 to $12. for the Senior License. Not going to break my bank but what a slap in the face of Seniors.

Iranian missile strikes have dropped to their "lowest number" yet over the past 24 hours, as Operation Epic Fury sparks "widespread desertions" among Tehran's fighting force, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday morning. "The last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missiles and drones fired by Iran," Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon. "Our strikes are damaging the morale of the Iranian military, leading to widespread desertions, key personnel shortages, and causing frustrations amongst senior leaders." "They will go underground, but we will find them," Hegseth said of the Islamic Republic’s remaining leadership. "We recently destroyed...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio questioned the value of NATO Tuesday night after European allies blocked the US military from using their bases and airspace to launch attacks on Iran. Rubio, who recalled that as a senator he was “one of the strongest defenders” of NATO, told Fox News host Sean Hannity that membership in the transatlantic alliance would be “reexamined” after the Iran war. “If now we have reached a point where the NATO alliance means we can’t use those bases to defend America’s interests, then NATO is a one way street,” the top US diplomat lamented. “If NATO...

Democrat senators claim it is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy that the SAVE America Act requires states to share voter rolls and requisite identifying information with the federal government in order to check for noncitizens, but many of their states already share the same data with left-wing third party organizations. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., argued against the bill on the Senate floor, stating, “States would be required to report their full voter rolls to Department of Homeland Security and certify that there are no non-citizens on their list. And the federal government can require, then, states to purge their voter...

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson couldn’t get a single colleague to join her dissent warning of “catastrophic” fallout from upholding a Christian counselor’s free speech rights. The Supreme Court found 8-1 Tuesday that Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” was viewpoint discrimination against Kasey Chiles, who was barred under the law from offering talk therapy encouraging gender-confused kids to feel comfortable in their bodies. “Ultimately, because the majority plays with fire in this case, I fear that the people of this country will get burned,” Jackson wrote in her 34-page solo dissent. “It is baffling that we could now be standing on...

Gregg Phillips, the Trump administration official in charge of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, accused President Donald Trump’s Truth Social of “blocking” his posts on Wednesday after claiming to have teleported to a Waffle House 50 miles away. Phillips made headlines last month after it was revealed by CNN’s KFile that he had made a number of bizarre statements, including claims that he had teleported to a Waffle House 50 miles away. “I was with my boys one time and I was telling them I was gonna go to Waffle House and get Waffle House,” said Phillips during a...

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.