Free Republic

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced the closure of the Global Engagement Center as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the “censorship-industrial complex.”“Today, it is my pleasure to announce the State Department is taking a crucial step toward keeping the president’s promise to liberate American speech by abolishing forever the body formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio wrote in an op-ed for the Federalist, titled, “Rubio: To Protect Free Speech, The Censorship Industrial Complex Must Be Dismantled.”Rubio wrote that, in 2016, the Obama administration changed the GEC’s focus on combatting international terrorism cover...

Newly declassified documents show informant Stefan Halper was motivated in part by "monetary compensation" and was paid nearly $1.2 million from FBI over three decades. ********************************************************************** Akey FBI informant in the widely-debunked Russia collusion case was paid nearly $1.2 million over three decades, was motivated in part by "monetary compensation," and continued snitching even after agents concluded he told them an inaccurate story about future Trump National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, newly declassified documents show. The nearly 700 pages of once-secret documents, obtained by Just the News, were recently turned over by FBI Director Kash Patel to House Judiciary Committee...

Social Security has never missed a benefit payment since the program first began sending individuals monthly benefits more than eight decades ago. But the recent actions at the U.S. Social Security Administration by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency are putting monthly benefit checks for more than 72.5 million Americans at risk, former commissioner and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley told CNBC.com. “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits,” O’Malley said. “I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.” Ahead of any interruption in benefits, “people should start...

New York -- When a suspicious video of ballots being ripped up in Pennsylvania gained attention on social media last October, federal agencies responded quickly and called it out as Russian disinformation. On Election Day in November, bomb threats to polling places in numerous states caused relatively few disruptions to voting. It’s one of the many scenarios covered by the nation’s cybersecurity agency in its outreach to state and local officials.The Trump administration’s downsizing and disbanding of federal agencies has hit efforts that improve election security and monitor foreign influence. That could create gaps for America’s enemies to exploit the...

This morning as I was driving to a client's home listening to the radio a very interesting explanation was being discussed. Did you know the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was not part of the Congressional Budget?These darn communists actually had the Fed funding them. Apparently the CFPB is not a line item, but the government has to request a 'draw' for funding from the Federal Reserve Bank? The CFFB is now sitting on $700 million dollars and the Trump administration simply says they don't need this particular draw, so it is $0.00.When Obama and Warren set this up this way...

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency can continue to access sensitive records from at least three federal agencies after a federal judge in Washington denied a request to block Musk's budget-slashing team from the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. U.S. District Judge John Bates, in a late-night ruling, denied a request made by a group of unions and nonprofits to issue a temporary order blocking DOGE from the sensitive records maintained by the three agencies. … The judge's decision came down to the question of whether DOGE has the authority...

Federal workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are on high alert as they monitor signs of a potential Trump administration overhaul of one of the government's main scientific agencies. Many employees are bracing for potential staff cuts, as well as slashes to the funding that supports science within the agency and by many research partners across the country. In particular, NOAA staffers are concerned about how President Trump's executive orders, including one targeting climate change programs, could affect the agency's research and operations. Agency officials have received a list, which NPR has viewed, of terms that could run...

In third phase of CRANE program, Aurora Flight Sciences will build X-plane with no moving control surfaces. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aurora Flight Sciences has been chosen by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to construct a groundbreaking full-scale X-plane. This aircraft, named the X-65, will serve as a technology demonstrator within the Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program. This initiative marks a significant shift in the realm of aircraft design, moving away from traditional flight control methods towards the innovative use of Active Flow Control (AFC) actuators. Since the Wright brothers' historic flight in 1903, aircraft have predominantly...

A House Committee is expected to launch an investigation into a United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinians for alleged ties to Hamas, according to a report. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is planning to investigate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East, which is also known as UNRWA, according to the New York Post. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told the outlet that there's evidence of a connection between the UN agency and Hamas. "There is extensive evidence of a troubling connection between UNRWA and Hamas, and it is far deeper than...

Americans are losing trust and confidence in the FBI and this directly impacts national security. A staggering 63 percent view the bureau negatively -- and the reasons are hidden in plain sight. Over the past few years, valid criticisms have been leveled at the partisan decision-making within upper echelons of FBI leadership. Dating back to the 2016 Trump-Russia sham investigation, heavy-handed over-charging of Trump campaign surrogates, blatantly uneven treatment of right-wing and left-wing protesters and rioters, labeling angry parents speaking out at school board meetings as "domestic terror" concerns, aiding Big Tech’s 2020 election suppression of information, seeming disinterest in...

Social Security recipients have been hit with payback demands following overpayment - and now the government agency is facing questions over how billions of dollars were incorrectly paid out. Numerous reports have told the stories of people, many of whom are vulnerable or suffer from a disability, who have been asked to pay back large sums due to the service accidentally giving them too much money. Social Security payments are made for a variety of reasons. SSA benefits are paid based on your earnings record if you are aged 62 or older or if you are a person with a...

Vice President Kamala Harris mistakenly credited a nonexistent federal agency with approving mifepristone in 2000, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen. While speaking with Noticias Telemundo’s Vanessa Hauc in an interview that aired on Friday, Harris said the “Federal Drug Administration” is responsible for approving the abortion pill, Fox News reported. While the agency is not real, it would have the same abbreviation as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which did approve mifepristone:

"The legal process which has now begun in New York won't just end in Donald Trump being convicted and barred from the [2024] election," Bout said..."Most likely he will simply be eliminated there," he continued. "Therefore, I think it's in the best interests of all of humanity and primarily all of the American people to invite Donald Trump here, to Russia, to give him security and protection here so that he leads this uprising against the globalists and, most importantly, does not allow the elimination of the American people."

Classified war documents detailing secret American and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military...were posted this week on social media channels, senior Biden administration officials said...the documents appear to have been modified...overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed...But the disclosures in the original documents, which appear as photographs of charts of anticipated weapons deliveries, troop and battalion strengths, and other plans,...

Tony Ornato, the Secret Service’s assistant director who became a central figure during a Jan. 6 committee hearing in which he reportedly told a witness that former President Trump was “irate,” has left the agency. Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s communications chief, confirmed Ornato’s departure to The Hill, adding that he retired after 25 years of service.

Bill Burns – Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency – serves as the President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace which has over a decade-long relationship with the China-United States Exchange Foundation and other Chinese Communist Party-linked groups. Burns has served as President of the think tank since 2014, overseeing its involvement with the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) which dates back to at least 2009. CUSEF – part of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front effort that seeks to “co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition” and encourage foreign actors to “adopt positions supportive of...

I searched and found no hits. I am placing this in chit chat because who knows the validity of it, but I did find it interesting enough for us to chat about it.

In 1969, the height of the Sixties’ cultural revolution, Pew found that only 12 percent of Americans supported the legalization of pot. Fifty years later, 67 percent of voters support it. Virtually every candidate on the Democratic presidential slate backs some form of marijuana legalization. Even the Trump administration has left states to manage their own business on the matter. This year, at least one candidate supports going further and decriminalizing all drugs. On Sunday, Fox News’ Chris Wallace pushed Iowa caucus winner Pete Buttigieg to explain his support for the “decriminalization” of all narcotics. First, he asked Buttigieg whether...

Face it. The U.S. government no longer belongs to the people and it no longer represents them. This causes a rage, an anger because Americans feel helpless. You see, there is absolutely nothing they can do about anything. Nothing. Americans are absolutely powerless, and the ballot box is simply a facade. It is no longer possible to redress grievances in America. At best you will be ignored. At worst you will be shot dead and killed. Take note, this uneasy feeling is not misplaced. It reflects the real state of affairs. It’s a very sad thing to say. But, yes....

The Alabama attorney general on Jan. 7, called on federal authorities to investigate the state’s 2017 special election for the U.S. Senate. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made the announcement after conducting an informal inquiry into reports of a false-flag operation designed to boost Democrat Doug Jones, who defeated Republican Roy Moore by a thin margin in a hotly contested race. The New York Times reported in December that a secret social media operation funded by billionaire Democratic donor Reid Hoffman directed thousands of accounts designed to appear like Russian bots to follow Moore. A Facebook page then falsely portrayed...