Free Republic

An ex-CIA analyst was sentenced to more than three years in prison Wednesday for leaking top secret documents about Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran last year. Asif William Rahman, 34, had pleaded guilty in January to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information after he was arrested for absconding with records from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency last October that indicated Israel was planning to launch airstrikes in response to a massive Iranian missile attack. Rahman, who had been a CIA employee since 2016 and had access to top secret documents, leaked the stolen information on social...

The Stanford Internet Observatory, a small but prominent research group studying abuse on social media platforms, looks to be in crisis, according to a report by Platformer. Some key staff have departed recently, including founding director Alex Stamos and research director Renée DiResta, Platformer reports. A handful of staff have left recently after not having their contracts renewed, and other members have been told to look for other jobs. Platformer describes the turmoil as a “dismantling” of the research group. Stanford Internet Observatory research centers on some of the most pressing types of abuse online, including threats to democracy and...

A Romanian national pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to his role in a “swatting” ring that targeted dozens of public officials, including a former US president. Going by the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher,” 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo took part in a years-long conspiracy to place bogus 911 calls, claiming emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and make bomb threats against government buildings and houses of worship, according to Justice Department. Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, allegedly targeted about 100 people, including members of Congress, governors, cabinet-level executive branch officials...

Newly leaked test results prove that Olympic boxer Imane Khelif does have male chromosomes — after the International Olympic Committee dismissed the claims as “not legitimate” and let her compete in the Paris 2024 Games. Khelif – a 26-year-old who has long maintained she is female — was found to have male XY chromosomes in a 2023 test carried out by an accredited Indian doctor, newly obtained test results leaked by 3 Wire Sports show. “Chromosome analysis reveals male karyotype,” read the test results — referring to male chromosomes – which left Khelif barred from the 2023 women’s World Boxing...

A federal complaint unsealed on Tuesday in Brooklyn has charged Asif Merchant, also known as “Asif Raza Merchant,” a 46-year-old Pakistani national, with murder-for-hire in connection with a foiled assassination plot targeting a politician or U.S. government officials on American soil. The plot was thwarted by law enforcement before any attack could be executed. Merchant is currently in federal custody in New York, according to the press release. FBI investigators believe that the intended targets of the plot included Trump and other current and former U.S. government officials, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter, per CNN. According...

A Pakistani national was arrested in Canada this week for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center in New York City on the anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas militants against Israeli civilians. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the terrorist organization ISIS, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). “The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around October 7th of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS,...

Following the news that Trans Mountain Corporation will start filling the expanded pipeline in February, with first crude to be loaded from Vancouver in April, Canadian crude prices jumped to the narrowest discount to WTI since August 2023. U.S. refiners used to cheap Canadian crude will need to start budgeting more for the commodity from this spring. Canadian oil producers are preparing for the 890,000 bpd in takeaway capacity growth. ... U.S. refiners used to cheap Canadian oil might need to reach deeper into their pockets to keep buying it. The idea behind the Trans Mountain expansion was to turn...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) reacted to new reporting about then-President Joe Biden’s fitness by saying, “I don’t think it’s a new story that Joe Biden is a seasoned senior leader of our country, it was probably the most covered story of 2024, questions about his age.” Coons said, “I was surprised by what I saw the night of the debate. I hadn’t had a previous experience like that with President Biden. Ultimately, several weeks later, he decided to drop out. And, frankly, rather than looking back and re-litigating the timing...

The Democratic Party is finally saying the quiet part out loud: "Biden should not have run again." Revelations about President Joe Biden's cognitive decline and his administration's alleged cover-up have returned to the national conversation ahead of next week's release of CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson's book, "Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again." Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a 2024 presidential campaign surrogate for President Joe Biden, and considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, acknowledged on Wednesday that Biden should not have run for a second term. And...

Last week I wrote about the concerns of a pair of North Korea analysts that something had changed in the tone of the rhetoric emanating from Kim Jong Un. Of course North Korea has a long history of belligerent talk and threats against the US but something about this seemed different and more urgent. Kim said he was giving up on reunification with South Korea. Instead, South Korea would now be considered the North’s top enemy.But it’s more than just empty rhetoric. Sometime over the past few days Kim ordered a monument meant to symbolize hope for reunification torn down.Kim...

The small South Caucasus nation of Georgia has become a multi-billion dollar hub for the international used car market. The vehicles are mostly sourced from the US, and many appear to be ending up in Russia. Equivalent in size to more than 40 football pitches, it hosts thousands of vehicles up for sale. He says that his company has responded to “a lot of demand for Western-produced vehicles”. Today the firm has 600 employees.

The U.S. State Department has determined and certified Cuba as a "not fully cooperating country" (NFCC) for not helping with counterterrorism efforts after the island nation failed to turn over at least 11 fugitives in 2024 to U.S. custody. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce made the announcement on Tuesday that the certification, which falls under Section 40A of the Arms Export Control Act, will result in the prohibition on the sale or license for export of defense services to Cuba. "In 2024, the Cuban regime did not fully cooperate with the United States on counterterrorism," Bruce said in a statement....

Paint splattered on floors. Spray-painted messages and screeds covering walls. Furniture moved and overturned. Security cameras disabled. Fire extinguishers missing and entrances blocked by stacks of chairs. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” a facilities manager at Portland State University said Thursday as he examined the destruction left behind after a three-day occupation by pro-Palestinian protesters in Millar Library.

Donald Trump once again works his magic. A group of white South Africans has been granted refugee status in the US The first group of white South Africans arrived in the United States on Monday, the State Department announced following the prioritization of the Afrikaner refugee resettlement program.State spokesperson Tammy Bruce argued in a statement that the group is vulnerable and facing unjust racial discrimination in South Africa, saying taking them in is an action to protect victims of racial discrimination. They thank Trump. They wave the American flag. This has democrats ablaze in outrage. Representative of the left, Al...

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was among the mourners attending Pope Francis’s funeral in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on Saturday. Pope Francis had been a supporter of Assange and had even suggested giving him asylum in the Vatican. “Now Julian is free, we have all come to Rome to express our family’s gratitude for the Pope’s support during Julian’s persecution. Our children and I had the honor of meeting Pope Francis in June 2023 to discuss how to free Julian from Belmarsh prison. Francis wrote to Julian in… pic.twitter.com/1B4iNp31Is — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 26, 2025 “Now Julian is free, we...

Between 2022 and 2024, the U.S. saw a record 43 percent rise in “sheltered homelessness”—staying in some sort of emergency shelter, as opposed to living on the street. That is shocking enough on its own, but according to a new study, a contemporaneous spike in asylum seekers accounted for a stunning 60% of that increase. “Asylum seekers”—as referenced in the study—are all recent immigrants seeking residence in the U.S., regardless of their legal status. Unsheltered homelessness has been on the rise since 2015, but sheltered homelessness had declined by 12% from 2007 to 2022 before its sudden 43% spike between...

A total of 10 bodies have been found in rivers in the Portland, Oregon area since mid-April, two of which were found in May alone. The 10th body was found by authorities on Saturday on the Willamette River and was recovered at Portland's Cathedral Park, per KPTV. The identity of the person or the cause of death has yet to be released. Earlier in May, after the discovery of the eighth body, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said in a press releasethat the number of bodies recovered in a short time frame is "not unusual, though it is tragic."...

Poland's foreign minister says his country has evidence that Russia recruited people on the Telegram messaging service to carry out last year's massive shopping centre fire in Warsaw. Speaking to the BBC in an exclusive interview, Radek Sikorski said Moscow's actions were "completely unacceptable" and that a second Russian consulate in Poland had been closed as a result. His comments come after a Polish investigation concluded that the Marywilska shopping centre fire was orchestrated by Moscow's intelligence services. Russia denied its involvement, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accusing Poland of being "Russophobic".

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – A massive fire that destroyed a large shopping center in Warsaw last year was the result of arson ordered by Russian intelligence services, Polish officials said Sunday on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the blaze. The fire broke out May 12, 2024, in the Marywilska 44 shopping that housed some 1,400 shops and service points. Many of the vendors were from Vietnam, and it inflicted tragedy on many in Warsaw’s Vietnamese community. “We now know for certain that the massive fire on Marywilska was the result of arson commissioned by Russian services,” Prime Minister...

Grand Old Popey. Pope Leo XIV was an active voter who participated in several Republican primaries in recent years and voted in the most recent presidential election, according to a report. Then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicago native, pulled the lever in Republican primaries in 2012, 2014, and 2016, the Washington Free Beacon reported, citing election records. The Dolton, Illinois, born pontifex also voted in general elections in 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2024, the report stated.