Free Republic

Politico continues its dogged faux “reporting” to create a narrative that Democrats are a lock to control the U.S. Senate in 2026. Which gives me a great opening to make one of my periodic updates on some of the crucial Senate races. The Republicans have a 53 to 47-seat majority in the Senate. There are 35 seats up for grabs in 2026. The Democrats need a net pick up of four seats to win control.The central problem for the Democrats is that only two Republican seats – Maine and North Carolina – are in competitive states. The other 20 GOP...

There are several reasons to think we won’t see a blue wave in this year’s midterm elections. A basic one is that the Democratic party simply isn’t very popular. In late May, Donald Trump’s approval ratings in the RealClear polling aggregate stood around 40 percent, which sounds bad. Yet Trump is more popular than his party – approval of the Republican brand was in the vicinity of 38 percent. And the Democrats’ ratings were even worse – standing, or one might say wilting, at about 36 percent. Those figures are not to be confused with “generic ballot” polling, which asks...

According to the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command (PLA STC), the HNLMS De Ruyter (F804) and its embarked helicopter intruded Wednesday over the airspace of the Paracel Islands, an archipelago under the control of Beijing following its violent seizure from Vietnam in the 1970s.The Dutch frigate was forced away from the Paracel Islands using “necessary measures” and was “in accordance with laws and regulations,” Senior Captain Zhai Shichen, spokesperson for the Chinese PLA STC, said in a news release.China controls the Paracel Islands via a network of 20 outposts and support forces from the mainland. Through its artificial island...

With the stakes dizzily high, President Donald J. Trump has delivered a series of bold, concrete economic actions that cut real costs for everyday families. He has paid attention to key domestic priorities. Republican leaders have generally failed to spotlight these achievements. This leaves Democrats free to dominate the conversation while public polls show persistent low approval for Trump on economic issues. Such an oversight is not minor. It borders on tragic at this pivotal juncture, when a Democratic win would likely accelerate the nation's slide from superpower status. Consider the direct relief on household essentials. Trump ended Biden-Harris-era restrictions...

Socialists from the US and Europe put on a concert in Cuba — just as the country was plunged into third blackout this month Saturday. A convoy of socialists — including streamer Hasan Piker, the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, members of Code Pink and lefty Irish hip-hop group Kneecap — is in Cuba with the goal of supporting Cuba’s oppressive communist regime. But Piker and others have been dogged by criticism for staying in a 5-star hotel in Havana, and Kneecap played a concert in the capital city as the rest of the nation of 11 million people faced...

House Republicans are heading into the 2026 midterm cycle with record-breaking cash and a shrinking battlefield. Despite the polls and the narrative being pushed by the mainstream media, Republicans seem to have momentum that Democrats appear unable to match. And Democrats can’t spin this, no matter how hard they try. Rep. Richard Hudson, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told CBS News this week that the NRCC raised $47.1 million in the first quarter of the year, the largest first-quarter haul in the committee's history. March alone brought in $28.1 million, also a record. The committee now has $78.2...

The once Golden State has a jungle primary, meaning the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party. As in the 2024 Senate race, Democrat party leaders are determined to repeat their primary strategy to set up a general election between a Democrat and a Republican. In the 2024 senatorial primary, then-Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Katie Porter held the one-two spot for a long time. But the last thing Democrats wanted was for Schiff and Porter to win the jungle primary and advance to the general election, where the two Democrats would spend months and dollars...

Erin Stewart suspended her campaign for governor of Connecticut Thursday after an investigative report concluded that her personal use of a city credit card as mayor of New Britain was a “repeated and deliberate circumvention of the city’s purchase order system to benefit herself, members of her family, and her political campaigns.” The “great majority” of the $207,076 in purchases charged to Stewart’s city-issued credit card over nearly a decade were unrelated to city business, and they warrant a criminal investigation by state and federal criminal authorities...

President Donald Trump granted a key approval Thursday for a major new oil pipeline from Canada into the U.S. that’s been dubbed “Keystone Light” over its similarities to a contentious project blocked by the Biden administration. The three-foot-wide (1 meter) Bridger Pipeline Expansion would carry up to 550,000 barrels (87,400 cubic meters) of oil a day from Canada through Montana and Wyoming, where it would link with another pipeline. The pipeline needs additional state and federal environmental approvals before construction, which company officials expect to start next year. Environmentalists hope to stop the project over worries that the pipeline could...

Justice Samuel Alito tore into Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s lone dissent in a high-stakes Louisiana redistricting dispute on Monday, calling her arguments "baseless and insulting" after the Supreme Court decided to fast-track implementing its recent redistricting ruling ahead of the 2026 midterms. Alito used a concurring opinion, joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, to directly rebuke Jackson, saying her "dissent in this suit levels charges that cannot go unanswered." "The dissent goes on to claim that our decision represents an unprincipled use of power," Alito wrote, adding that that was a "groundless and utterly irresponsible charge." The clash...

Two of the biggest names in the Republican Party are making stops the next few days in Iowa, a key 2026 midterm battleground state whose caucuses, for a half century, have kicked off the GOP's presidential nominating calendar. Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas will have the midterms on their minds during their visits, which come with just over six months to go until this year's elections, when Republicans will be defending their slim Senate and razor-thin House majorities. But the moment the midterms are over, the next presidential race officially gets underway. So the trips...

Existential crises tend to arrive when the gap between how life feels and how we thought it would feel becomes too wide to ignore.For a growing number of Americans, 2026 hasn’t just been hard. It’s been disorienting. A Talker Research survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that one in three people (32%) say they’re currently experiencing an existential crisis, with younger adults far more likely to feel that way than older generations. Nearly four in ten (37%) say their entire lives feel out of their control... A separate survey of 5,000 Americans, conducted by Talker Research for Current in December...

No link yet as John Solomon is just now announcing it on RAV...

Californians deserve better and this November, they just might get it.Ahead of the gubernatorial election this fall, pundits are buzzing with something Californians haven’t heard in years: a real chance to flip the Golden State red — at least with a new governor in Sacramento. Thanks to its top-two primary system, in which the top two finishers advance to November regardless of party, this is more than possible.AdvertisementThis election cycle matters more than most for the Republican Party, and for the people of California. The Golden State has suffered under one-party Democrat rule for more than fifteen years, and the...

An al Qaeda affiliate and Tuareg rebels claimed responsibility on Saturday for coordinated attacks across Mali, in one of the boldest operations ​insurgents have mounted in their campaign against the military-led government.Mali's army said in a statement it had killed "several hundred" assailants and repelled the assault, which hit ‌multiple sites in or near the capital, Bamako. It said a large-scale sweep operation was underway in Bamako, the nearby barracks town of Kati and elsewhere in the gold-producing country.It was unclear how many soldiers or civilians were killed in the attacks. In a statement read out on state television on...

In 2025, the number of officers feloniously killed fell to its lowest level since 2020. According to the Crime Prevention Research Center’s review of FBI LEOKA data, 53 officers were feloniously killed in 2025, down 17.2% from 2024. Early 2026 data also point lower, with 10 officers feloniously killed in the first three months of the year, compared with 15 in the same period of 2025 and 14 in the same period of 2024. The FBI’s LEOKA system relies on voluntary reporting from participating law enforcement agencies. The Officers Down Memorial Page (ODMP) appears to have more complete data than...

Derek Dooley is trying to pull off a tricky balancing act as he campaigns for the U.S. Senate: run against Democrat Jon Ossoff while waging war on Washington itself. The former football coach sharpened that message with the launch of his first TV ad, timed to promote his campaign against U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins just before early voting begins next week... “D.C. politicians focus on getting rich and famous, and never on who hired them, which is you,” Dooley says in the spot. “And as a football coach for 30 years, I can spot these ‘me first’...

Reports claim that within 48 hours, four Chinese cargo aircraft switched off their transponders and landed in Iran, allegedly carrying arms and ammunition.The flights reportedly went dark mid-route before entering Iranian airspace.This comes shortly after China’s leader reportedly assured President Trump that Beijing would not transfer weapons to Iran.No official confirmation yet on what these aircraft were carrying.Developing story.

A former New York City resident who killed two people and wounded 14 others at a packed Austin, Texas, bar was possibly motivated by the US attacks on Iran, sources told The Post. The FBI is investigating the shooting as a possible ideologically motivated act of terrorism, the sources said. The killer, who is a US citizen from Senegal, had a Quran in his car and clothing described as Islamic garb when he opened fire on Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden near the University of Texas-Austin campus, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The gunman has a history of arrests...

Nobody really budgets for a financial car crash in April. But that’s exactly what millions of Americans are dealing with this year. Instead of the refund they were counting on to finally pay off Christmas gifts or fund a summer trip, tax season 2026 is handing them a bill. And for a lot of people, it’s not a small one. It’s the kind of bill that makes you want to throw your laptop out a window. The reasons aren’t actually that complicated – the government practically set a trap for anyone with a side hustle. Between confusing tax law changes,...