Free Republic

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Friday for the US to resume strikes on Iran to “finish what we started” — as Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said it was unclear whether a deal was possible even “over weeks or months.” “We are at a moment that will define President Trump’s legacy,” Wicker said in a statement. “His instincts have been to finish the job he started in Iran, but he is being ill-advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.”The 74-year-old further criticized current diplomatic...

WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, announced her resignation Friday to care for her husband after his diagnosis with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. Gabbard informed President Donald Trump of her decision during a meeting in the Oval Office. Her last day leading the Office of the Director of National Intelligence will be June 30, according to a resignation letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

A former Democratic megadonor blasted his party’s newly released election autopsy, arguing the party doesn't need a lengthy report to understand why voters rejected them. John Morgan, who has previously given over a million dollars to the Democratic Party, revealed he didn’t give "a penny" to the 2024 campaign once Vice President Kamala Harris took the helm. Speaking on "Jesse Watters Primetime," Morgan argued the DNC’s post-mortem report misses the mark, failing to address the party’s decision to embrace certain progressive social issues. "I don't know what they spent on this autopsy, but they could have given me nothing and...

President Donald Trump is championing the prospect of putting the kibosh on twice-annual clock changes by making daylight saving time permanent. A bill to make daylight saving time permanent has been folded into a larger measure that the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced in a 48-1 vote on Thursday. "Big Vote today (48-1!) in the Energy and Commerce Committee on a Bill including The Sunshine Protection Act, which will be making Daylight Saving Time Permanent! This is so important in that Hundreds of Millions of Dollars are spent every year by people, Cities, and States, being forced to change...

Based on my reporting, it was well known in national security circles that a CIA investigative unit had sent emails to several members of DNI Gabbard’s Director’s Initiatives Group — or DIG — demanding they come in for questioning. While the CIA unit routinely conducts polygraphs and investigations, the timing of the request was concerning. It did not appear to be part of a standard security clearance review. The alleged CIA monitoring of the Director’s Initiatives Group was described as tracking “every keystroke” on their government computers and devices. While there is no expectation of privacy on government computers and...

I've noticed that user ransomnote ( https://freerepublic.com/tag/by:ransomnote/index?tab=comments;brevity=full;options=no-change ) publishes numerous X posts every day. I work with AI every day, and it feels like maybe he's just set up an AI agent/bot to pull from X and share on FR throughout the day. Kinda weird. I asked him about it in a comment, and he didn't reply. I don't want to be the blog police. But I was curious if FReepers are OK that an increasing number of FR posts are simply shared from X. Or if we'd prefer that news articles from online publications are shared instead. I've been...

Michelle Walker, who is of Jewish ancestry, says the organization that runs the community, Return to the Land, discriminated against her by denying her the opportunity to buy land based on race and religion. Walker is married to a Black man and has biracial children, her lawsuit says. She’s seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages.

A Georgia science teacher already charged with having sex with a student in a classroom closet has now been accused of abusing five other teens, including a girl — allegedly having sex in a Hummer as well as at a golf course parking lot. Maris Nichols, 25, was re-arrested Thursday, nearly two weeks after she was first charged with sexually assaulting a student at least twice, in the school closet as well as a parked Hummer, 11Alive reported.

Disney has filed a petition with the FCC asking the agency to declare that The View is exempt from the statutory equal opportunities requirements that would otherwise apply to broadcast shows. Disney argues that The View qualifies as “bona fide news” under the law, comparing itself to Meet The Press or Face The Nation. Therefore, Disney argues, it can have one partisan candidate for office on The View while denying equal opportunities to all others. The FCC is now seeking public comment on Disney’s request to be labeled as “bona fide news.” Is The View a “bona fide news interview...

CNN This Morning host Audie Cornish used Friday's Group Chat to promote her new CNN podcast, Engagement Party, co-hosted with former her former National Public Radio colleague Ari Shapiro, whom she brought onto the Chat panel. The discussion quickly turned into a nostalgic send-off for Stephen Colbert’s Late Show. The segment perfectly illustrated the insular world of legacy media’s liberal talent pipeline. Cornish and Shapiro, both veteran NPR anchors, were joined by Garcia-Navarro (another longtime NPR host) as they lovingly processed Colbert’s exit. Shapiro set the tone early, describing the finale as “so moving” with a “snow globe moment” that...

When serial killer Rex Heuermann returns to court on June 17, eight families will finally receive justice. Heuermann, who has pleaded guilty to the murders of eight young women whose bodies were left on Gilgo Beach and elsewhere here in Suffolk County, is set to receive three life sentences without parole, followed by 100 years to life in prison.

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in northeastern Congo banned funeral wakes and gatherings of more 50 people Friday in an effort to curb a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in a region where medical workers have struggled with a lack of resources and pushback from angry residents. The World Health Organization said that the outbreak now poses a “very high” risk for Congo — up from a previous categorization of “high” — but that the risk of the disease spreading globally remains low. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 82 cases and seven deaths have been confirmed in Congo, but that...

Explanation: This cosmic snapshot covers a field of view over twice as wide as the full Moon within the boundaries of the high-flying constellation Cygnus. Made using astronomical narrowband filters, the image highlights the bright edge of a ring-like nebula traced by the glow of ionized hydrogen and oxygen gas. Embedded in the region's expanse of interstellar clouds, the complex, glowing arcs are sections of shells of material swept up by the wind from Wolf-Rayet star WR 134, the brightest star near image center. Distance estimates put WR 134 about 6,000 light-years away, making this telescopic frame over 100 light-years...

The anti-incumbent, anti-Israel fever is set to take out Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10). Trust me, no one on the left or the right will be sad to see him go. Goldman was the lead counsel for House Democrats in the first impeachment of President Donald Trump. Goldman infamously decided to pick a fight with Angel Mom Josephine Dunn, who lost her child to fentanyl, and testified before Congress at the impeachment hearing for former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Goldman was as hateful and condescending as usual, but ended up with his tail between his legs.

"A French court on Wednesday delivered a dramatic verdict against Airbus and Air ‌France over France's worst air disaster, ruling that both companies were guilty of corporate manslaughter in the 2009 Rio-Paris plane crash off Brazil....." [snip]

A Canadian man who lives in Massachusetts is accused of voting in multiple U.S. elections, something Dems say never happens. Another day, another foreign national charged with voting in U.S. elections — and yet another example of why failure to pass the SAVE America Act is not an option. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced authorities had arrested Sunny Manhertz, 40, of Saugus, Massachusetts. The noncitizen has been charged with unlawful voting by an alien and one count of “the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under state law,”...

OK - I got one yanked a while back - still not perfectly clear on what things will get something you post pulled, but I think the last one had something to do with a title not matching source title?

It's finally over

Portland Press Herald Maine official recommends transgender athlete referendum be invalidated Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien says that supporters fell roughly 500 valid signatures short of qualifying for the November ballot. May 21, 2026 Billy Kobin, Staff Writer A Maine official is recommending that a proposed referendum seeking to ban transgender athletes from competing in a way that aligns with their gender identity not appear on the November ballot. The rebuke Thursday came from Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien, the designated hearing officer in a case that has pitted supporters of the referendum against opponents. McBrien...

Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump's director of national intelligence, is leaving the administration, Axios learned Friday. The big picture: Gabbard's departure is not due to any controversies surrounding her work or job performance, but due to her husband being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, one senior Trump administration official and another source familiar told Axios.