Free Republic

The president said earlier this week that he imagines the communist government will “fall fairly soon.” President Donald Trump signaled in a new interview that he could take military action to topple Cuba’s communist government before he leaves office. “I want to get Cuba done before I leave you,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday when asked if he would order the use of military force against Cuba to free the nation. Trump said his administration is “watching it very closely” and Cuba is “doing very poorly,” calling it a “failed” country. The president said he would...

FIRST ON FOX: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking aim at "soulless global bureaucrats" using "rules-based order" arguments to undermine U.S. foreign policy in a speech Friday, warning that the "spirit of Marx" outlived the Soviet Union. U.S. leaders of both parties defended the "rules-based international order," the network of postwar institutions America built. Rubio is set to argue the system has been turned against the country that built it, the same case he made at his January 2025 confirmation hearing, when he called the postwar order "a weapon being used against us." In a preview of Rubio’s speech...

Five people, including two children, have been rescued after spending nearly three months stranded aboard a small boat in the Pacific Ocean, ending an extraordinary ordeal that began with what was supposed to be a brief trip between islands. The survivors were among nine passengers who departed the Micronesian islands of Murilo and Ruo on July 30, according to Fox News. The group had planned to make the roughly one-hour crossing, but a sudden storm pushed their 20-foot skiff off course and left them drifting in open water, according to reports from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and The Times of...

The party swept into power after vowing to lower energy bills. It won’t be easy. Gushing victory speeches by Democrats who promised to tame electricity prices marked the beginning of a risky political countdown. Time is not on their side.The party’s focus on addressing cost-of-living issues by expanding clean power could increase prices before it lowers them, according to energy analysts, raising the risk that Democrats could enter the 2028 presidential cycle before fulfilling their affordability promises.“That’s a legitimate issue, and it’s not going to be solved in one political cycle,” Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) acknowledged in an interview this...

Ex-CIA Director John Brennan's son Kyle has been arrested for the alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials, the Daily Mail is first to report. FBI agents took Brennan, 40, into custody at his workplace in Herndon, Virginia, on Friday afternoon. A search warrant of his personal cell phone was executed by FBI last night, according to a law enforcement source. The criminal complaint was signed by a Virginia judge on Friday. Brennan is facing a felony charge for the 'transportation of child pornography' after child sexual abuse material was allegedly found on his phone, according to court documents. He...

Hicks died following what his wife, ESPN broadcaster Hannah Storm, called an “acute illness.” “Our family is heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected passing of Dan following an acute illness,”

Bush recently registered as an agent of a Brussels-based foreign principal organizing anti-Israel tours in the Palestinian territorie Former "Squad" member Cori Bush, now a foreign agent hired to lead anti-Israel propaganda tours in the West Bank, has been blocked from entering the Jewish state, she announced in a Friday video filmed from the airport. "My visa is now revoked," Bush said. "I tried to go through the TSA checkpoint and they were having problems letting me through, and the person asked me for my visa, I pulled up my visa, my visa to Israel is revoked." Bush attributed the...

Explanation: The large stellar association cataloged as NGC 206 is nestled within the dusty arms of the neighboring Andromeda galaxy along with the galaxy's pinkish star-forming regions. Also known as M31, the spiral galaxy is a mere 2.5 million light-years away. NGC 206 is found at the center of this sharp and detailed close-up of the southwestern extent of Andromeda's disk. The bright, blue stars of NGC 206 indicate its youth. In fact, its youngest massive stars are less than 10 million years old. Much larger than the open or galactic clusters of young stars in the disk of our...

The Trump administration said Thursday that it deported a record number of illegal immigrants in the past year — with nearly a half-million people living in the US without legal permission forced to return to their homelands. About 60% of those removed since President Trump returned to office were charged with or convicted of a crime within the US ***The Thursday announcement did not provide detailed criminal statistics on the 483,200 removals in fiscal 2026,***The number outpaced the 442,640 deportations in the prior year, which included most of Trump’s first year back in power. Both years dwarfed the annual tallies...

NEW ORLEANS — A cruise type of boat with up to 129 people aboard was struck by a tanker on the Mississippi River Friday afternoon, according to the port of New Orleans spokesperson Kimberly Curth. Port NOLA Harbor Police, the New Orleans Fire Department, the New Orleans Police Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and emergency medical personnel are on scene, conducting rescue and response operations. Passengers are being brought inside the Port of New Orleans Administration Building, located at 1350 Port of New Orleans Place, for triage and assistance.

A Somali-born historian who researched the role of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s father in the bloody regime of dictator Siad Barre found his trip to Minnesota canceled this week, allegedly due to the potential for clan violence. Mohamed Haji Ingiriis, a Somali-born fellow at King’s College in London, was scheduled to receive a Somali Hero Award in Minneapolis on Nov. 14 for his scholarship. But the event organizers warded him off at the last minute, Ingiriis told the Daily Caller News Foundation, saying that any Somali who has been critical of the congresswoman cannot safely travel to Minneapolis. The organizers revoked...

Legislation filed by Democrat State Rep. John Bucy this week would abolish the death penalty in Texas. Current Texas law allows the death penalty or life without parole for defendants convicted of capital felonies when prosecutors seek a death sentence. House Bill 387 would require life in prison without parole for defendants convicted of capital felonies committed at age 18 or older. Those who committed the offense before turning 18 would receive life imprisonment. The legislation would also remove procedures specific to the death penalty from the Code of Criminal Procedure, including provisions governing jury selection, sentencing, and the appointment...

Mayor Karen Bass cut the ribbon Thursday on a taxpayer-funded homeless housing project at a converted North Hills Motel 6, boasting a staggering $72 million price tag — nearly $650,000 per unit. The 111-unit property, located on Roscoe Boulevard near the 405 Freeway, is the latest example of Los Angeles’ costly effort to turn former motels and hotels into housing for the homeless. Bass toured the newly renovated rooms Thursday morning, praising the accommodations and supportive services available to residents. “The rooms are absolutely beautiful,” Bass told the crowd, pointing to the property’s communal spaces and counseling facilities as critical...

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., floated using a government shutdown to get President Donald Trump to end the war in Iran during an interview on Thursday, after announcing he would challenge Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for the incoming Majority Leader position. Van Hollen was asked multiple times during an MS NOW interview how he would be different from Schumer as leader. The senator pointed to ending the war in Iran. "Well, the difference is, I believe we need to be firm," he said. "I think that we heard loud and clear from the American people that they want to end...

After years of calling for its end, the electoral college’s opponents think now may be their moment. These activists have long argued that the electoral college is anti-democratic, and that presidential elections should be decided by the popular vote, like every other American election. They say the solution is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which says states should promise to give their electoral college votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote. Eighteen states (and Washington, D.C.) have signed on to the compact, leaving its members 48 votes short of the 270 votes needed to nullify the college....

Federal authorities are warning Americans – especially those in the tech and cryptocurrency industries – of the “FaceStealer” scam and social engineering campaign. According to the FBI, “cyberactors” from North Korea are aggressively targeting companies and individuals in the cryptocurrency and Web3 industries with “highly tailored, hard-to-detect social engineering campaigns” that have led to billions of dollars in cryptocurrency being stolen in recent years. It should be noted that the main North Korean hacking group is referred to by a number of names, including Sapphire Sleet, UNC1069, Stardust Chollima, APT38 and BlueNoroff. One of the main ways the scammers go...

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is marking Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week by celebrating the work of pro-life pregnancy resource centers... “We express our sincere gratitude for all those who work to provide necessary resources to women, babies, and families during pregnancy and beyond,” Bishop Daniel Thomas, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in an Oct. 27 statement. Pregnancy Help Appreciation Week, which will be celebrated from Nov. 9–13 this year, is a celebration created by Heartbeat International — a network of pregnancy centers that offer pregnancy help as an alternative to abortion clinics. A report published...

As hopes for a military victory fade, the Kremlin is now betting on Ukraine’s economic collapse and weakening European support Russian President Vladimir Putin has four bets on how to win the war in Ukraine. Two of them—that Ukraine’s army will break, or that the Trump administration will force Kyiv to submit to Moscow’s terms—are going badly.But Putin’s other two bets have a better chance of succeeding by next year: paralyzing Ukraine’s economy with relentless missile and drone strikes, and waiting for European support to falter as political parties that oppose aid for Kyiv gain popularity. This week’s U.S.-mediated talks...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has come out swinging since the Republican wipeout in the midterm elections. I hope this is because he’s laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential bid, since he is one of the few national Republicans in tune with heartland Americans. Among the topics he is discussing is the problem of “corporatism,” and how the back-scratching, crony capitalism that exists between government and many corporations repels conservative voters, while also fueling the popularity of socialism among non-conservatives. Here are some quotes from Gov. DeSantis, as documented in a NY Post article titled “DeSantis says ‘corporatist Republicans’ drive...

On Thursday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Last Word,” Nevada Gov.-elect Aaron Ford (D) said that he would sign legislation to undercut the “based in racist underpinnings” Electoral College by pledging the state’s votes to the winner of the popular vote. Guest host Jonathan Capehart asked, “The New Republic reports ‘Nevada’s incoming Democratic Gov.’ — that’s you — ‘wants to negate the Electoral College. Aaron Ford said Wednesday that he thinks the state should join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement where member states give their electoral votes in every presidential election to whoever wins the national popular...