Free Republic

The line between protected political speech and an actionable threat is not blurry, Congress drew it Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stood at the Justice Department podium Tuesday and delivered a message as clear as the statute he cited: “You are not allowed to threaten the President of the United States. Full stop.” In a Fox News clip that quickly went viral, Blanche announced that a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on two felony counts stemming from a since-deleted Instagram post featuring seashells arranged on a beach to...

Tuesday’s gubernatorial debate at Pomona College was a good fight — and an enlightening one. This time, there were eight candidates onstage, which probably will not help Democrats consolidate their vote. It did, however, lead to substantive exchanges over policy. The most memorable candidate was Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. He was combative, but also knowledgeable on policy. None of the Democrats in particular stood out, though Katie Porter had her best performance yet. Matt Mahan also did well, especially towards the end. CBS News should be credited for holding a lively and successful event. However, the moderators almost derailed...

California gubernatorial candidates struggled to break through on the debate stage Tuesday, as Democrats look to capitalize on former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-Calif.) dramatic exit from the crowded field. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, billionaire Tom Steyer, former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and five other rivals, including Trump-backed Republican Steve Hilton, fought for standout moments in the 90-minute program at Pomona College in the unique, nonpartisan contest. Faced with questions about affordability, housing and other crises facing the Golden State, the candidates clashed in crosstalk, interruptions and squabbles with moderators just a week after a more muted showdown. Becerra jabbed...

The acting U.S. ambassador to Kyiv Julie Davis will step ​down from her post and retire, a U.S. official and ‌the State Department said on Tuesday, amid a lull in U.S.-brokered talks to achieve a ceasefire and end Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Financial Times first reported Davis' departure and said it was ​because of differences of opinion with President Donald Trump's policies and ​that Davis had grown frustrated with her role over his ⁠dwindling support for Ukraine. A career member of the U.S. Foreign Service with more than three ‌decades ⁠of experience, Davis assumed her duties as charge d'affaires...

"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me" (Matt. 5:10-11). The persecution you receive for proclaiming Christ is really aimed at Christ Himself. Savonarola has been called the Burning Beacon of the Reformation. His sermons denouncing the sin and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church of his day helped pave the way for the Protestant Reformation. Many who heard his powerful sermons went away...

Daily Readings from the USCCBReadings for the Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the ChurchWhen Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” John 13:16–17Today’s Gospel comes from the Last Supper, just after Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. What an act of humility! By analogy, it would be as if a king knelt before his servants to polish their shoes,...

Helen Comperatore, the widow of Corey Comperatore, who was shot and killed at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, by a bullet intended for President Trump last July, has no love lost for the Secret Service. “I think the Secret Service is garbage,” she told The Post. “All I’ve wanted this entire time was to sit down with the men who screwed up that day and find out why. Why? Why at that rally? Why at that one in Butler?” she asked incredulously. “...Why were you such a mess in Butler? Were you told to be a mess?"... The agency’s...

Former FBI Deputy Director and popular podcaster Dan Bongino went on Sean Hannity’s podcast, "Hang Out with Sean Hannity," in an episode that aired Tuesday, and he told us what many of us already knew: there really is a Deep State, and there are forces within our own institutions working against the very government they serve. The FBI is split, he revealed: "There were two FBIs trying to help you solve the A, B and C problems, and that's FBI one and FBI two," Bongino said in the episode released Tuesday. He explained that half of the bureau consists of...

Europe is the fastest-warming continent on Earth, the European State of the Climate Report for 2025 has found. From the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle, its climate is shifting in ways that are no longer subtle, no longer gradual, and no longer distant. The consequences are cascading across Europe’s environment, economy, and ecosystems. With hotter air, warmer seas, shrinking ice, drying soils, and stressed ecosystems, the warning signals are screaming from every part of the climate system. Europe has been warming at a rate of 0.56°C per decade throughout the past 30 years. This is more than twice as fast...

President Trump says Iran is “in a State of Collapse” and wants the Strait of Hormuz opened “as soon as possible” while talks continue. That is the pressure point right now: Tehran wants relief, global energy markets want the waterway open, and the U.S. blockade is still being used as leverage. Fox News highlighted Trump’s latest comments Tuesday afternoon: NEW: President Trump says Iran tells him it is in a "State of Collapse" and wants the U.S. to open the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/C95ebyxa70— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 28, 2026Axios put Trump’s Tuesday claim in the...

A video exposing Ford’s dystopian patents for new vehicles has gone viral on X, fueling outrage over the accelerating war on personal vehicle ownership and freedom of movement. The clip details in-cabin cameras, biometric scanners, lip-reading AI, emotion detection, and real-time criminal database queries – all deciding whether your truck will let you drive. In the video, the narrator states “imagine there was an emergency outside the truck… An accident…I jump in this truck. But it won’t shift into drive. Why? Because cameras and sensors inside of my cab won’t let me shift.” Ford can suck my white ass. pic.twitter.com/JjlTXPHZov...

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, penned a social media message in the hours after President Trump was nearly assassinated — again — that called for calmer voices and cooler heads in the political realm; that said, “It’s incumbent upon all of us to reject the idea that violence has any place in our democracy.” And then he stopped laughing and hit “post” and called 1-800-BUY-BRIK — his speed dial source for pallets of bricks used by Democrat-voting supporters during their various peaceful street protests. Let’s be real. Or, as Obama might say, “Let me be clear.”...

10 minute video I ended the Learing Center... FBI Raids Minnesota Fraudsters

Polls show Americans are angry – and rightly so – at accelerating medical bills. Meanwhile, the insurers and hospitals keep raking in record profits. UnitedHealthcare just reported jumbo profits so far in 2026, and in 2025, it recorded revenues of more than $400 billion. It is raking in profits from the $1.9 trillion in federal healthcare programs. Two of the largest "nonprofit" hospital chains, Kaiser Permanente and HCA Healthcare, recorded nearly $200 billion in assets at the end of 2024. As Republican Rep. Jason Smith (MO-8), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, put it: "Hospitals are charging an...

An enterprising New Jersey man raked in up to $20,000 a day running illegal marijuana vending machines — with at least 80 locations across the state, prosecutors said. Ben Gross, a 40-year-old Toms River resident, was arrested Friday after investigators identified him as the owner of the Barbwire vending machine company. Cops in Ocean and Monmouth counties spent more than two years tracing the operation, officials said. Prosecutors said Gross made between $17,000 and $20,000 per day from the machines.

The United Nations, in its infinite wisdom has appointed the Islamic Republic of Iran to serve as one of the 34 Vice Presidents of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference on Monday, which is set to review the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The decision was made by a bloc of non-aligned and other states, typically composed of developing and non-nuclear countries. BREAKING: The U.N. just elected the Islamic Republic of Iran as one of the Vice Presidents of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference.Bravo to the U.S., UAE, Australia, UK, France and Germany for objecting.Last time, only 🇺🇸 spoke out: https://t.co/bmhFp2gKEw https://t.co/Ije4bXbV7u...

In recent days, a disturbing video and photos have circulated widely on social media showing two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers in southern Lebanon destroying a statue of Christ on the cross. The soldiers reportedly tore the statue down and smashed it with a hammer while another filmed the act. The incident occurred in the Christian village of Debel during routine operations against Hezbollah terrorists. As a Christian who has followed the Israel-Hezbollah conflict online, I found the images as shocking and indefensible as anyone else.The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) itself confirmed the event in an official statement released shortly...

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A federal judge in Arizona has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking unredacted voter rolls from the secretary of state’s office. On Tuesday in Phoenix, District Judge Susan M. Brnovich granted Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ motion to dismiss the suit filed at the beginning of the year. Federal officials say the data is needed to ensure election security, and have requested information including full names, dates of birth, addresses and driver’s license numbers. As of April 1, the DOJ reports that it has sued 30 states and the District of...

An Indian billionaire's son has offered to help Colombia get rid of a problem it has grappled with for years - a herd of hippos linked to notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. Escobar, who was shot dead by police in 1993, illegally imported exotic animals, including a male and a female hippopotamus - dubbed the "cocaine hippos". ... Efforts failed to contain the herd's growth, with a lack of predators and the fertile and swampy Antioquia region providing perfect conditions for the native African animal to thrive. Colombian environmentalists say the hippos, believed to be the biggest herd outside Africa,...

An American soldier stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana was arrested last week after he told users on the popular messaging platform Discord that he planned to conduct a mass shooting at a synagogue. Jakob Marcoulier, 22, was arrested on Thursday and charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received a tip in February that he had made threats toward synagogues, according to the US attorney’s office for the Western District of Louisiana. According to court documents, the FBI obtained audio from Discord in which Marcoulier allegedly said, “After this deployment if...