Free Republic

Donald Trump has encountered online mockery after disclosing he completed a cognitive test three times, amidst worries about his well-being. Concerns regarding the president's cognitive health have been escalating recently. Since beginning his second term in office, Trump has displayed a series of unusual symptoms, including bruising on his hands and apparent mental disorientation. Despite performing his duties as normal, many consider that the situation has reached a pivotal point in recent weeks. * * * Multiple individuals referenced a test he allegedly took as a screening tool to detect dementia in patients. @JoJoFromJerz questioned: "Why does he think bragging...

*** The promise from President Donald Trump was clear: expose it, clean it up, and drain the swamp. Now more than a year into Trump’s second term, many voters are beginning to ask a simple question: Where are the results? ***Approval ratings for FBI Director Kash Patel are slipping. Only 40 percent of likely voters view Patel favorably. Even more striking, just 32 percent believe he is performing better than previous FBI directors, while 37 percent think he is doing worse.[Rasmussen Reports] *** During the campaign, Trump promised unprecedented transparency on a series of long-running controversies that many Americans believe...

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was “the first” person in the Trump administration to push for war with Iran, the president claimed Monday. Trump revealed during a public safety roundtable in Memphis, Tenn. that he had surveyed his top military brass about how he should handle the situation, and Hegseth quickly advocated for military action to stop the theocratic regime from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “I called a lot of our great people. We have great people, and I said, ‘Let’s talk. We got a problem in the Middle East. We have a country known as Iran that, for 47...

Judging by Donald Trump’s outbursts of late, he can’t seem to decide whether reopening the Strait of Hormuz is easy or hard. He also can’t seem to decide whether he needs international allies to help with this urgent task or not. Iran’s blockade on oil shipments exiting the strait—done in response to Trump’s attack—is causing worsening global consequences daily. So it would be useful for Trump to settle these arguments in his own mind already. But Trump’s incoherence on the Strait of Hormuz actually reveals something else, as well: a massive political weakness. .....

On Friday night, Donald Trump announced that America was “very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East.” He even pinned the announcement to the top of his Truth Social account to make sure everyone realized he meant it. That did little to settle the markets over the weekend, however, so this morning he took to Truth Social again to go further in ALL CAPS: I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD...

Some analysts say the economic effects of Operation Epic Fury in Iran could persist for years, even after the strikes end. Oil prices have climbed since Operation Epic Fury began, with WTI crude futures closing at $98.32 on Friday, up more than $30 from $67.02 on Feb. 27 — the day before the conflict with Iran began — according to Investing.com. “Productive capacity will be offline for an uncomfortably long time, meaning energy prices are likely to fall much slower than they rose,” Kyle Rodda, a senior analyst for the online trading platform Capital.com, told Axios, referring to an Israeli...

President Trump announced Monday that the US will not attack any part of Iran’s power and energy infrastructure for five days after Washington and Tehran had engaged in “very good and productive talks” over the weekend about ending the three-week-old war. “I am please [sic] to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,” Trump wrote, without elaborating. “Based on the tenor and tone of these in-depth, detailed and constructive conversations,...

In the shaded courtyard of a San Francisco affordable housing complex in early March, California’s most prolific Yes In My Backyard legislator rolled out his congressional campaign’s new housing platform.

Stocks rallied Monday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. and Iran have held talks and that he was halting strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure, giving investors hope that the Middle East conflict that spiked oil prices and raised fears of a global recession was nearing an end. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1,117 points, or 2.4%. The S&P 500 rose 2.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.4%. Before Trump’s comments, which he posted on Truth Social on Monday morning, futures were pointing to more losses for equity markets under siege from skyrocketing oil prices and...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran threatened to target recreational and tourist sites worldwide and insisted it was still building missiles. Its supreme leader issued another defiant statement on Friday, nearly three weeks into U.S.-Israeli strikes that have killed a slew of Tehran’s top leaders and hammered its weapons and energy industries.The United States was meanwhile deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 additional Marines to the Middle East, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states as many in the region marked one of the holiest days on...

Vice President JD Vance is projecting loyalty to Donald Trump as the president leads the United States into the type of war the Iraq veteran didn’t want — and as the new conflict complicates Vance’s political future. Vance allies have played down the impact the operation in Iran could have on his presidential ambitions, insisting that a mission involving the U.S. military only for a matter of weeks won’t stay in voters’ memories. People close to the vice president have also conceded to The Washington Post, however, that a months-long conflict will pose a problem for whoever is the next...

In the wake of sexual abuse allegations against civil rights icon Cesar Chavez, groups began pushing to rename some of the dozens of California sites and events named for the labor leader. San Francisco’s Cesar Chavez Day Parade has been renamed to the Dolores Huerta Parade and Festival, and it will be held on April 11, organizers told the Chronicle. San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who represents the Mission, said she “will support community efforts to remove Cesar Chavez’s name from any District 9 institutions.” Her district includes Cesar Chavez Street, Cesar Chavez Elementary School and is the site of...

Allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior and abuse of young women or girls have emerged against iconic late labor organizer Cesar Chavez, and the ​union he co-founded will not take part in annual celebrations of him, ‌according to statements on Tuesday. The Cesar Chavez Foundation, which preserves memorials including his California gravesite, said the alleged "inappropriate sexual behavior" occurred while Chavez was president of the United Farm Workers Union, which he co-founded ​in 1962. The union said there were allegations that Chavez "behaved in ways that are ​incompatible with our organization’s values" while adding that it had no direct ⁠reports or...

Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal. Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva in late February and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources. Two days after the talks ended, and after a date had been agreed for a further round of technical talks in Vienna, the US and Israel launched the attack on Iran.

A day after the farmworkers union Cesar Chavez co-founded announced it was distancing itself from him after allegations surfaced, civil rights leader Dolores Huerta broke her silence on her past sexual encounters with him that resulted in secret children.

Catherine Connolly used her first St Patrick’s Day message to celebrate migrants and warn against the “normalisation of war” ahead of Irish premier Micheal Martin’s meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday. A week ago she criticised the “deliberate assaults on international law” in the Middle East and said the UN charter “cannot be ignored”. While not naming the US or Israel explicitly, this was seen as a rebuke of the Irish government after ministers avoided stating that the bombing campaign on Iran broke international law. In her St Patrick’s Day message on Monday, Ms Connolly said...

Support for Israel has declined among all age groups since 2023, with the sharpest decline taking place among those aged 18-34, almost two-thirds of whom expressed a "negative" view of the country, according to a recent NBC News poll.In what the outlet described as a "sea change" regarding voters' opinions on Israel and the Palestinian territories, the poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted from Feb. 27 to March 3 found that 63% of voters under age 35 have a negative view of Israel, compared to just 13% who have a positive view and 23% who hold a neutral view.The numbers...

On the night of March 13th, the United States military executed what Trump called, and I quote, one of the most powerful bombing raids in the history of the Middle East. 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island. We've been talking a lot about that island of late, including naval mine storage facilities and missile bunkers. They were obliterated. And here's the absolutely crucial detail. Trump personally ordered the Pentagon to spare the oil infrastructure. He said, "I've chosen not to wipe out the oil infrastructure of the island yet. Should Iran do anything to interfere with the free passage...

HHS secretary violated federal procedures in revamping advisory committee, judge saysA federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child, and says Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures in revamping a key vaccine advisory committee. The decision Monday halts an order by Kennedy -- announced in January -- to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis, and RSV. Leading medical groups voiced alarm at the changes. The American Academy of Pediatrics and...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — In the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump increasingly has been knocked on his political heels. He’s grown more agitated with news coverage and has failed to find a way to explain why he started the war — or how he will end it — that resonates with a public concerned by American deaths in the conflict, surging oil prices and dropping financial markets. Even some of his supporters are questioning his plan and his overall poll numbers are declining. Meanwhile, Moscow is getting a boost...