Free Republic

President Trump’s unconstitutional and unjust war against Iran is setting back his “affordability” agenda. The war has caused a big rise in gasoline prices. Among the related concerns is the hindering of the movement of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, the only available passage for ships to transport oil from the Persian Gulf The increased costs will do more than raise prices at the pump. An increase in gas prices brings increased transportation costs that will be passed along to consumers. Prices of a variety of goods, including food, will increase. No wonder Energy Secretary Chris Wright, White House...

Republicans attempting to oust Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie in a bitter primary are deploying his opposition to the war in Iran. The Republican Jewish Coalition Victory Fund on Thursday released an ad supporting Ed Gallrein, the candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, that focuses on Massie’s opposition to the war. “America is at war with a fanatical regime that seeks nuclear weapons. American hero Ed Gallrein stands with President Trump, our country and our military,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot. “Thomas Massie, he stands with Iran and radical leftists in Congress,” the narrator says, “opposing Trump just like...

Once war begins and American soldiers are under fire, a rational discussion of the pros and cons of war becomes nearly impossible. That is exactly why our Founders wrote a Constitution that demands a debate before the initiation of war. But there was no debate in Congress, let alone a vote. On Feb. 28, Americans awoke to discover that their country was once again embroiled in a war in the Middle East. Americans were not asked if they would bear the burdens of war. Instead, the American people were told, through a presidential eight-minute video posted around 2:30 in the...

According to a Politico report citing an internal Pentagon notification, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has requested additional military intelligence officers to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days and possibly through September. When the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran last Saturday, the operation was framed as a swift military campaign. Donald Trump later described it as a limited effort expected to last roughly four to five weeks. ...

On the third day of the new war with Iran, and after years of building a political reputation grounded in opposition to foreign intervention, Vice President JD Vance broke his silence: He supports the strikes and believes the latest adventure abroad is not only prudent but consistent with his and President Trump’s promises not to risk American lives for regime change.The difference between this conflict and the Global War on Terror, Vance told Jesse Watters of Fox News, was that Trump “is not going to let his country go to war unless there is a clearly defined objective.” The stated...

@redpillb0t RON PAUL: “There’s been a coup. We don’t have any resemblance to a government that believes in a republic. We don’t have honest money. We don’t have integrity. We don’t even have people in Washington who even pretend… to tell the truth.” “[I believe the coup began on] November 22, 1963.” IAN CROSSLAND: “What happened on that day?” RON PAUL: “That was the day Kennedy was murdered by our government. You know, by the CIA.”

Those who have examined the Epstein files have seen information about how connected Jeffrey Epstein was to members of the political, business, and academic elites. Many of these connections started after Epstein’s 2008 conviction. The Epstein files support claims that Epstein worked with intelligence agencies, in particular Israel’s Mossad and the American CIA. Yet the mainstream media and most politicians seem uninterested in whether Epstein used underage girls in a scheme to blackmail powerful individuals on behalf of intelligence agencies. Fortunately, the alternative media is not afraid to discuss Epstein’s intelligence connections or any other matters related to Epstein, including...

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced legislation today to repeal Donald Trump’s global tariffs, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. The binding measure will be treated as a privileged resolution that must receive a vote on the Senate floor. The measure would terminate the emergency that Trump declared in order to slap tariffs of up to 40% on products Americans buy from other countries. In the wake of Trump’s tariff declaration, costs have...

Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The 11th Hour,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should not be wearing masks during their operations in American cities. Paul said, “I think the main thing is if you want trust to develop again, I’m not somebody who wants to abolish ICE. I want ICE to behave within the rules and enforce the law. But I want them to behave in a normal, rational law enforcement manner.” Host Stephanie Ruhle said, “Do you think it’s OK for ICE to be wearing these masks? Paul said, “I think that anonymity and wearing...

@60Minutes “I saw a man that was retreating,” GOP Sen. Rand Paul says of the video he saw of Alex Pretti, shot and killed by federal immigration officers. He has scheduled a Congressional hearing on the matter.

Paul addressed federal officials’ claims that Pretti posed a threat to ICE officers.... I saw no evidence of him assaulting the police,” Paul said. “The president’s advisor, Stephen Miller, called Pretti an assassin. That’s a lot of people–not telling the truth,” Pelley added. Paul shook his head at Miller’s statement and added, “It sounds like terrible judgment. I mean, terrible conclusions, incorrect conclusions, stating things that no one else believes.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he “saw no evidence” to back the claims of senior Trump administration officials that Alex Pretti was attempting to assault law enforcement officers and instead “saw a man that was retreating” when he was shot and killed by federal officers in Minneapolis. “I saw no evidence — I saw a man that was retreating. He went to the middle of the street, he didn’t even obstruct traffic, he let a car go through. As the agents advanced on him, he retreated to the side of the street. A woman is violently...

Rand Paul made his name as a gadfly preaching about the dangers of a tyrannical federal government. Now, after the killings of two Minnesota residents at the hands of Homeland Security agents, the Kentucky Republican has a chance to do something about it. The 63-year-old, who spent years on the outskirts of the party, is now at the center of the Senate’s response to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, which have sparked new criticism of the administration’s immigration enforcement policies and raised many of the same civil liberties questions Paul has long been asking. As chair of...

Summary UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Donald Trump's remarks about British troops in Afghanistan are "insulting and frankly appalling" "If I had misspoken in that way - or said those words - I would certainly apologise," he says. The US president's comments have sparked outrage among UK veterans and politicians. The UK was among several allies to join the US in Afghanistan from 2001, after it invoked Nato's collective security clause following the 9/11 terror attacks - 457 British service personnel were killed in the conflict Corporal Andy Reid, who served in Afghanistan, tells the BBC Trump's claim is...

@RepThomasMassie Ouch, I thought Switzerland was neutral territory !

Youtube and its parent company Google deserves to be sued. For the past three weeks YouTube has been hosting a video that is a calculated lie, falsely accusing me of taking money from Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. It refused to remove the video. It is, of course, a ludicrous accusation, but paid trolls are daily spreading this lie across the internet. This untruth is essentially an accusation of treason, which then leads the internet mob to call for my death. Advocating for liability for Google is no small step for me. I have long defended the private-property rights of internet companies...

@LindseyGrahamSC I just landed in Israel, the one and only Jewish State, and America’s strongest ally and friend since its founding. If you think I flew all the way to Israel after having not slept much in days to make sure we do not hold the ayatollah’s murderous regime accountable for the slaughter of its own people, being the largest state sponsor of terrorism with Americans’ blood on its hands, and who has an endless quest to cheat and obtain a nuclear weapon to advance their sick religious Nazi beliefs, then you have missed a lot. I look forward to...

<p>Two Republican Kentucky congressmen will play a part in deciding the future of President Donald Trump's White House ballroom.</p><p>The lavish gold-accented ballroom, announced by Trump in July, is expected to cost around $300 million to create and sparked controversy in late October after bulldozers removed the entire East Wing of the White House, raising questions around transparency and legal authority.</p>

By the slimmest of margins, the U.S. Senate successfully derailed a resolution that would have curtailed the Trump administration’s power to continue military action in Venezuela. Of the five Republicans who originally voted to advance the war powers resolution, U.S. Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; and Todd Young, R-Ind.; flipped and voted for the majority leadership’s motion to tank it. “After numerous conversations with senior national security officials, I have received assurances that there are no American troops in Venezuela…[and] that [if] American forces are needed in major military operations in Venezuela, the Administration will come to Congress in advance to...

Sen. Rand Paul ripped into his fellow Republicans Tuesday over their tepid response to the Trump administration’s series of strikes against suspected drug-running vessels, saying his colleagues on Capitol Hill “don’t give a s— about these people in the boats.” “We’ve been blowing up these people in boats off the coast of Venezuela. They’re accused of running drugs, but nobody knows their names and nobody’s put up any evidence,” Paul (R-Ky.) said during an apperance on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “And so what I think is bizarre is I hear mostly my Republican colleagues say, ‘Well, we shouldn’t have...