Free Republic

SummaryIn August 2025, President Donald Trump launched a federal law enforcement surge in Washington, D.C., declaring a crime emergency, temporarily federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department, and deploying federal agents alongside hundreds of National Guard troops. The administration billed it as a mission to combat rampant crime, touting successes despite data showing violent crime had already been declining for two years (reaching 30-year lows).Four months later, activists, immigrants, and local Democratic leaders argue the operation has evolved into a de facto immigration crackdown. Official figures indicate about one-third (roughly 2,500) of over 7,500 total arrests were immigration-related. Early data through mid-October...

The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode that spliced parts of his 6 January 2021 speech together, but rejected his demands for compensation.The corporation said the edit had given "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action" and said it would not show the 2024 programme again.Lawyers for Trump have threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£759m) in damages unless the corporation issues a retraction, apologises and compensates him.The fallout from the scandal led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news...

Social media influencer Naomi Seibt, a supporter of the nationalist AfD party, said she is being persecuted in Germany for her political views.BERLIN — A prominent far-right German activist has applied for political asylum in the United States, citing fears for her safety, as the Trump administration has signaled plans to prioritize protections for White refugees and Europeans who claim they are being targeted for their populist views.The activist, Naomi Seibt, is a social media influencer and supporter of the nationalist, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which German authorities have labeled extremist.Seibt, 25, said she is being persecuted in...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or sidelined at least two dozen generals and admirals over the past nine months in a series of ousters that could reshape the U.S. military for years to come. His actions, which are without precedent in recent decades, have come with little explanation. In many cases, they have run counter to the advice of top military leaders who fought alongside the officers in combat, senior military officials said. The utter unpredictability of Mr. Hegseth’s moves, as described in interviews with 20 current and former military officials, has created an atmosphere of anxiety and mistrust...

Far-right influencers have been hinting in recent weeks that they have finally found a venue — Miami — and a federal prosecutor — Jason A. Reding Quiñones — to pursue long-promised charges of a “grand conspiracy” against President Trump’s adversaries.Their theory of the case, still unsupported by the evidence: A cabal of Democrats and “deep-state” operatives, possibly led by former President Barack Obama, has worked to destroy Mr. Trump in a yearslong plot spanning the inquiry into his 2016 campaign to the charges he faced after leaving office.But that narrative, which has been promoted in general terms by Mr. Trump...

The progressive candidate is on the cusp of a historic mayoral win. And that's adding to unease among Democrats looking for a way back to national power.On the cusp of electoral victory, New York mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani marched over the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday and arrived at City Hall, where he greeted cheering supporters with a promise.“We stand on the verge of ushering in a new day for our city,” he said. Their conviction would “be the light that our city and our nation so desperately need.”Put differently: His importance won’t stop at the shores of the Hudson.If public...

The former White House adviser Katie Miller—mother of three young children, and wife of the presidential right-hand man Stephen—walked out of her front door one Thursday morning last month and was confronted by a woman she did not know. When she told this story on Fox News, she described the encounter as a protest that crossed a line. The stranger had told Miller: “I’m watching you,” she said. This was the day after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. It also wasn’t anything new.

The first video “Richard LA” posted to TikTok appeared on Aug. 21, 2024. “Accident at 27th and San Pedro,” he wrote in Spanish under video clips showing two damaged cars and paramedics pushing a man on a gurney into an ambulance. “2 people were taken to the hospital.” “Richard LA” was actually Carlitos Ricardo Parias, 44, a father of two living in southern Los Angeles. His TikTok feed soon filled with similar clips. A fire at a home on 36th and Trinity streets. A car crash on 29th Street and Maple Avenue. His audience grew steadily over the ensuing months....

Networks are planning coverage of the nationwide No Kings protests on Saturday, the second round of demonstrations against President Donald Trump‘s actions in the White House. Thousands of events are being planned across the country, but there will be a few differences from the last day of demonstration in June. This time, it is taking place amid a government shutdown, with few signs that it will end soon. And there is an official event being planned in Washington, D.C. at Pennsylvania Ave. and Third Street NW near the National Mall and the Capitol. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Chris...

More than 2,700 “No Kings Day” demonstrations are scheduled nationwide Saturday, four months after the first protests drew five million people. Organizers say Trump’s actions have escalated since June, including expanded immigration raids, prosecutions of political opponents and pressure on universities. Trump allies brand them “anti-American” When millions of demonstrators took to the streets in June for “No Kings Day” — depicting President Trump as a wannabe monarch intent on violating American democratic norms — it was still fairly early in his administration. The immigration raids in Los Angeles were just getting under way and Trump had deployed military troops...

As the president tries to send in the National Guard, a phalanx of conservative influencers is working to support his claim that Portland is burning. PORTLAND, Ore. — During the four hours Nick Sortor sat in jail on the morning of Oct. 3, the conservative influencer wondered if anyone even knew he’d been arrested. He had no cellphone. He could make local calls, but he didn’t know anyone’s number in Portland. Outside, though, his online allies were blaring the news: A right-wing journalist — and not the leftists who assaulted him at an ICE protest — had been arrested by...

The Illinois governor, a potential presidential candidate, is fighting the presence of National Guard troops and the activities of ICE agents in Chicago.When President Trump ordered the National Guard to Chicago last week, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois became the latest Democrat to bear the brunt of managing an aggressive federal government. He has concluded it must be combated with a national campaign. Aside from instructing his attorney general to file a lawsuit to block troops from other states coming to Illinois, Mr. Pritzker has few formal options to resist what he described this week as an “unconstitutional invasion of...

Let’s be clear. There is zero cause or justification for President Donald Trump to send federal troops to Portland and authorize “full force.” Despite Trump’s bluster over the very limited protests outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in South Portland, the city is not “war ravaged,” nor is the ICE building “under siege” by “domestic terrorists.” Portlanders, of course, know this already, because we live, work and raise our families here. We know from our daily routines – school drop-offs, commutes through the city and evening get-togethers – that Trump’s characterizations are divorced from reality. While the modest protests...

Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was suspended by ABC on Wednesday following a brief pressure campaign from the Trump administration as well as conservatives in the media, who successfully twisted Kimmel’s words following last week’s assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. During Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, the comedian criticized conservatives for trying to “score political points” off Kirk’s death. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel...

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history, making moves similar to those of authoritarian leaders that he has often praised. On Wednesday, Trump cheered ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show after the comedian made remarks about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that criticized the president’s MAGA movement: “Congratulations to ABC for finally having the courage to do what had to be done,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. It was the latest in a string of attacks...