Free Republic

Joshua Aaron has worked in and around the tech industry for around two decades. He built his first app — a blackjack game — at computer camp when he was 13. His newest app is designed for a very different purpose: to let users alert people nearby to sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their area. Aaron launched the platform, called ICEBlock, in early April after watching President Donald Trump’s administration begin its immigration crackdown. The White House’s immigration policies have sparked mass protests across the United States; a CNN poll in April showed 52% of Americans polled...

Immigration authorities in Chicago arrested a Mexican illegal immigrant accused of decapitating a missing Illinois woman and storing her body in a storage container filled with bleach. Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, of Waukegan, Illinois, was arrested in April and charged with concealing a corpse, abusing a corpse and obstruction of justice, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Immediately after his first court appearance, Lake County Judge Randie Bruno released Mendoza-Gonzalez from custody. He was arrested again Saturday afternoon at a market in Chicago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and remains in ICE custody, according to DHS....

When President Trump announced tariffs in April, officials in Kazakhstan were surprised to see their country on the list. Kazakhstan, a resource-rich country that borders Russia and China, does a minimal amount of trade with the United States. And based on how Kazakh government officials interpreted Mr. Trump’s new policies, more than 90 percent of its exports to the United States would be exempt from the tariff. American officials have spent much of the last decade promising money and support to prod the country to open up its economy, especially mining. "Many in the region saw the U.S. as a...

On Tuesday, Attorney General Pamela Bondi held a press conference announcing a week-long, multi-agency and multi-law enforcement and tribal operation headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the New Mexico District Attorney’s Office. The operation resulted in huge drug busts and multiple arrests of high-level members of the Sinaloa cartel. According to Bondi, the agents garnered 11.5 kilos of fentanyl, including three million fentanyl pills — the largest seizure in the nation's history. The main head of the Sinaloa cartel, Alberto Salazar Amaya, was arrested along with five others, all in the country illegally. Amaya was arrested in Salem,...

Shawn Monper, 32, a resident of Butler, Pennsylvania, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with making threats to assault and murder President Donald J. Trump, other U.S. officials, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.“I want to applaud the outstanding and courageous investigative work of the FBI and the Butler Township Police Department, who thankfully identified and apprehended this individual before he could carry out his threats against President Trump’s life and the lives of other innocent Americans,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Rest assured that whenever and wherever threats of assassination or mass violence occur, this Department...

A 32-year-old man from Butler, Pennsylvania, has been arrested and charged by federal authorities after allegedly making multiple online threats to assassinate President Donald J. Trump and other U.S. officials. The suspect, identified as Shawn Monper, was taken into custody by the FBI and Butler Township Police after investigators traced a series of violent messages posted to YouTube under the username “Mr Satan.” According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Monper made threats against the former president, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and various U.S. officials over a span of several months. The case is particularly alarming...

Bangkok -- Search teams in Myanmar recovered more bodies from the ruins of buildings on Friday, a week after a massive earthquake killed more than 3,100 people, as the focus turns toward the urgent humanitarian needs in a country already devastated by a continuing civil war. United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher, who is also the emergency relief coordinator, will visit the area on Friday in an effort to spur action following the March 28 quake. Ahead of the visit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the international community to immediately step up funding for quake victims “to match the...

Two nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) made their initial appearances in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and Houston, Texas, yesterday to face charges issued out of the Northern District of California for acting as agents of the Government of the PRC without prior notification to the Attorney General. The defendants, Yuance Chen, 38, a PRC national and legal permanent resident who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, a PRC national who traveled from the PRC to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested Friday on a criminal complaint charging...

The drug turns people into malleable zombies who have nightmarish hallucinationsTHE world's scariest drug Devil's Breath - used by organised crime groups to kidnap Brits abroad - may have made its way into the UK. The mind-warping chemical was once tested by the CIA as a truth serum and turns tourists into "zombies" who give up valuables without a struggle. Deborah Oscar, 30, suspects she was spiked on a London train with ‘Devil’s Breath’ drugCredit: SWNS Also known as scopolamine or burundanga, the powerful drug is derived from the seeds of the Borrachero tree and wipes away memory and free...

COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. — The suspect accused a murdering the pastor of a church in New River admitted to the crime in a jailhouse interview with 12News. Before reading further, 12News wants to warn readers that the content of this story may be disturbing. The suspect, Adam Sheafe, said he planned to "execute" and "crucify" a total of 14 priests in 10 states across the country before being caught by police after the murder of his first victim, Pastor William "Bill" Schonemann of New River. Sheafe is currently in custody in Coconino County and 12News spoke to him from his...

Prior to President Donald Trump authorizing targeted strikes against Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday, federal agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have been arresting Iranian nationals, nearly all men, in the U.S. illegally. In the last few months, federal prosecutors have also brought terrorism charges against Iranians, including those in the U.S. working for the Iranian government. Iran is a designated state sponsor of terrorism. Iranian nationals illegally in the country are considered “special interest aliens” under federal law. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Sunday issued a warning to all Americans to be on a heightened...

A top adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff has been relieved of duty following the discovery of several anti-Israel social media posts. U.S. Army Col. Nathan McCormack was removed from his advisory role on Israel-related matters following the discovery of the posts. According to his LinkedIn profile, McCormack served as the Levant and Egypt branch chief within the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s J5 planning directorate. He reportedly posted several inflammatory comments on his X account, including calling Israel a “death cult” and referring to its government as “Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies,” according to the Jewish News Syndicate. A...

Genocidal Islamic Fascist Republic of Iran - threatening annihilation at least since 1991.COLUMN ONE: Hezbollah: The Latin Connection : Bombings in Argentina and Panama prompt concern over the radical group's growing presence in the region. Experts say lax security and porous borders create a prime base for terrorists, by Tracy Wilkinson, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, August 04, 1994. The embassy's cultural affairs officer, Imam Mohsen Rabbani, rose. "Israel," he intoned in accented Spanish, "must disappear from the face of the Earth." He and a dozen speakers who followed quoted Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and called for unity...

Iran's stern warning that the United States must "bear responsibility" for an Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Damascus, despite U.S. claims of non-involvement, marks a tense moment in international relations. This incident, which resulted in the deaths of senior Iranian military commanders, exacerbates already strained U.S.-Iran relations and highlights the complex geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East. Iran's vow for revenge introduces a precarious element to the situation, especially against the backdrop of concerns about sleeper terror cells within the U.S. The presence of these cells, believed by many to be a consequence of lax border security policies, poses...

White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor Stephen Miller has warned that the United States’ Alien Registration Act will now be enforced, and “illegals who fail to register with the government, as required by law, will be criminally prosecuted.” Under the Alien Registration Act, which had not been enforced for 75 years, all non-citizens are required to register with the government, submit their fingerprints, and provide the address where they are residing. Miller confirmed that the law will now be enforced in a post to X, responding to a Politico article titled, “Federal prosecutors now...

Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo last year have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the presidency has said. They were among 37 people sentenced to death last September by a military court. The three were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May. The overturning of the sentences comes ahead of a visit to DR Congo by the newly appointed US senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos. Boulos, father-in-law to President Donald Trump's daughter,...

Israel, its allies, and regional Arab countries together intercepted Iranian drones fired in retaliation for the massive Israeli airstrike launched early Friday, stopping them before they reached Israeli airspace. As Breitbart News reported, Iran launched 100 drones at Israel after the Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit targets across Iran in a surprise attack that hit Iranian military leadership and nuclear sites in several waves. Israelis were advised to remain near bomb shelters. However, the Jerusalem Post reported, the drones were all intercepted outside Israel — as in an earlier Iranian attack on Israel in April 2024. The Post explained: The...

This weekend, the US and Iran will hold their first semi-direct talks in years, despite the previous insistence of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in barring such talks. What changed? First, the Iranian security situation has degraded rapidly over the last few months, thanks to their stupidity in attacking Israel directly as well as indirectly through their proxies. That has left the mullahs more exposed than ever before in their 46-year run as theocratic tyrants in Iran. That's not the only reason, the New York Times reports today. The Iranians may have finally realized that Donald Trump returned to office with the...

Rep. Mike Collins mocked Sen. Chris Van Hollen over his visit to El Salvador ... Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., claimed in a post on X that he altered the name plaque outside the office of Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. The Republican lawmaker’s post included a photo in which the plaque outside Van Hollen’s office says that he represents El Salvador. ... Sen. Chris Van Hollen meets with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador ... "margarita-gate." ... Collins has repeatedly criticized Van Hollen for traveling to El Salvador to meet with MS-13 member and illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego-Garcia .... when...

This afternoon, President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum that instructs the Department of Justice and “other aspects of [his] government” to investigate Chris Krebs and his acts as the former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). At the signing, President Trump’s White House staff secretary Will Scharf stated: “This is a man who weaponized his position against free speech in the election context and the context of COVID-19. This is a similar Presidential Memorandum to the one you just signed. It addresses his access to government existent clearances he might have and further instructs your Department...