Free Republic

A federal appeals court said on Monday that Alina Habba had been serving unlawfully as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, dealing a blow to the Trump administration and most likely setting up a showdown at the Supreme Court. In its ruling, the three-judge panel, based in Philadelphia, affirmed an earlier ruling by a Federal District Court judge, shooting down each of the government’s arguments for why Ms. Habba could continue to serve. In their opinion, the judges wrote that the Trump administration appeared to have become frustrated by the legal and political barriers that have prevented its preferred U.S....

Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) issued a statement Saturday vowing to conduct “vigorous oversight” on Caribbean strikes after a report surfaced that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the U.S. military to “kill everybody” aboard an alleged drug vessel. “The Committee is aware of recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” the senators wrote in a joint statement. “The Committee has directed inquires to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to...

Consumers soured on the current economy and their prospects for the future, with worries growing over the ability to find a job, according to a Conference Board survey released Tuesday. The board’s Consumer Confidence Index for November slumped to 88.7, a drop of 6.8 points from the prior month for its lowest reading since April. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were looking for a reading of 93.2. In addition, the expectations index tumbled 8.6 points to 63.2 while the present situation index slipped to 126.9, a decline of 4.3 points. “Consumers were notably more pessimistic about business conditions six months...

Infighting. Bad polls. Party divisions. Midterm fears. It’s all back. President Donald Trump’s administration has been embroiled in scandal and sloppiness. His own party has defied his political pressure. His senior staff has been beset by infighting. He has sparred with reporters and offered over-the-top praise to an authoritarian with a dire human-rights record. A signature hard-line immigration policy has polled poorly. And Republicans have begun to brace themselves for a disastrous midterm election. That was 2017. But it’s also 2025. Ten months into the president’s second term, Trump 2.0 is for the first time starting to resemble the chaotic...

As Trump’s downward spiral starts producing harsher media coverage, a writer who regularly dissects MAGA and political media explains why he’s entering a tailspin that will be very hard to reverse. Suddenly, media outlets seem to have figured out that President Donald Trump is really, really unpopular. There’s been a palpable shift in the discourse: The New York Times reports that Republicans are quietly looking beyond Trump, suggesting he’s losing his grip on the party. Axios claims that it’s “red alert” time for Trump and the GOP. Politico describes how Republicans are getting routed in school board races, a sign...

Millions of words have been devoted to investigating the Democratic Party’s recent “young men” problem, as it has hemorrhaged support from male voters aged 18 to 29. But on the other side of the aisle is the less-discussed fact that the Republican Party is enduring a more severe version of the Democrats’ demographic crisis: the GOP has lost an even greater share of female voters under 30. Even less discussed is the fact that while Democrats are struggling, albeit pitifully, to win back young men, the right doesn’t seem to realize the seriousness of its own predicament, much less have...

Pennsylvania voters have rejected a Republican effort to remove three Democrats from the state Supreme Court. The stakes of Tuesday’s election were high: Had Pennsylvanians voted to remove the justices, the court would have gone from a seven-member Democratic majority to a four-member group with a complete ideological split. The three justices’ vacant seats would not have been filled until another election at the end of 2027. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court regularly holds these kinds of votes for its justices. The justices are first selected in partisan elections, but at the end of their 10-year terms, voters then decide whether to...

Following numerous victories for Democrats in last night’s elections, prediction markets are showing more favorability for Democrats to regain control of the House of Representatives in 2026. Prediction market Kalshi now projects that the Democratic Party has a 69% chance of winning the House next year, compared to Republicans’ 31% chance. Numbers for Democrats are up significantly from the estimates on Election Day, which gave the Democratic Party a 59.5% chance of winning compared to Republicans’ 40.5% chance. Off-year elections are often seen as a barometer of the country’s pulse on the current leadership. After several resounding victories, Democrats are...

President Donald Trump escalated his campaign to purge cultural institutions of materials that conflict with his political directives on Tuesday, alleging museums were too focused on highlighting negative aspects of American history, including “how bad slavery was.” In a Truth Social post, Trump directed his attorneys to conduct a review of museums, comparing the effort to his crackdown on universities across the country. “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,”...

Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, and former deputy IDF chief Matan Vilnai on Sunday announced they had sent a letter to US President Donald Trump requesting that he compel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the current war. This information was provided to The Jerusalem Post ahead of other media. These top officials, along with top former police and foreign ministry officials, lead the Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS) group – which now makes up over 600 former senior security officials – in making that call on Trump to intervene. 'Stop the Gaza War'...

Sixteen IDF soldiers have committed suicide in 2025, Brig. Gen. Amir Vadmani of the IDF Personnel Directorate presented to the subcommittee for human resources in the IDF on Tuesday. Additionally, 21 soldiers committed suicide in 2024, 17 in 2023, and 14 in 2022. The committee, chaired by MK Elazar Stern, convened to discuss efforts within the IDF to prevent suicides among soldiers. "What drew attention is the unusual number of suicides recently,” Stern said. “We've addressed this before, but it has become more urgent after soldiers returned from fighting in Gaza.” The committee met with various family members of soldiers...

President Donald Trump issued a blunt warning to Israel on Tuesday to “not bomb Iran” as he departed for the NATO summit in The Hague, taking a critical position just 24 hours after brokering a fragile ceasefire already threatened after a missile strike from Iran. Speaking to reporters before takeoff, the president said that both Israel and Iran had breached the terms of the truce and made clear he was “not pleased” with Israel’s promise to launch retaliatory airstrikes after agreeing to the deal. Asked by a reporter about whether Iran had violated the ceasefire Trump replied: “They violated but...

Donald Trump warned Elon Musk on Saturday that he faces “very serious consequences” if he funds Democratic candidates following the pair’s epic public bust-up this week. The warning, delivered in an interview with NBC News scheduled to broadcast on Sunday, follows days of feuding and threats after Musk called Republicans’ budget legislation an “abomination”. Trump told interviewer Kristen Welker his relationship with the tech mogul was over and warned Musk against choosing to fund Democrats after spending close to $300m in support of Trump’s re-election last year. “If he does, he’ll have to pay the consequences for that,” Trump told...

USAID funding cuts have had a devastating impact on Irish aid agencies working in developing countries, according to documents seen by RTÉ News. The documents also reveal the cloud of uncertainty that has overshadowed Irish non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the days and weeks following US President Donald Trump’s executive order to freeze and terminate foreign aid funding. […] Hundreds of redundancies have been reported across the Irish aid agency sector and development projects in countries such as Sierra Leone, Somalia and Syria have been significantly affected. GOAL and Concern were the largest recipients of US government funding, with annual income...

Ford Motor is recalling 272,817 vehicles in the United States due to concerns over battery failure, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Thursday. The recall affects certain 2021-2023 Bronco Sport and 2022-2023 Maverick vehicles. The 12-volt battery may experience degradation and suddenly fail, which can result in a loss of electrical accessories, including the hazard lights, or cause a loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash, the US auto safety regulator said. Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the 12-volt battery free of charge, it said

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he was concerned President-elect Donald Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi will conduct a campaign of retribution against his political enemies. Co-host Jonathan Lemire said, “Let’s zero in on the hearing for attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, in particular, much has been made of Donald Trump’s wish for the department of justice to carry out a campaign of retribution against his political foes and the like. What sort of questions do you want to pose to her about that particular topic? How grave of a concern is it?”

Former Trump White House advisor turned MAGA-world podcaster, Steve Bannon, remained unconvinced on Monday that Mark Zuckerberg’s latest moves at Meta mean the CEO has actually bought into any of President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda or the MAGA movement. Zuckerberg raised eyebrows and grabbed headlines last week when he announced that Meta would do away with its fact-checking and phase in a “more comprehensive community note system” – as Elon Musk’s X has done. Zuckerberg also said Meta would move its “trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, and our US-based content review is going to be based...

After being unchurched for a number of years, I felt that it was very much time that I once again become part of a body of fellow believers in Christ Jesus. I knew The Lord desired this of me, and I felt His urging in my spirit for a long time. I decided to act upon it, and even though the Saturday before I began to encounter feelings of apprehension and fear, I decided and thought to myself, “That I should not fear, for who is it that shall stand against God, and what He wants for me? That I...

On a recent flight, I found myself seated next to a man I’ll call Rick, who was keen for conversation. We established that we are both lawyers. Rick works for the government, and I explained that I lead a gun violence prevention organization. Rick took that as an invitation to talk about guns. A self-described “2A fanatic” from Texas, Rick grew up with guns and today owns more than 40 firearms. He considers himself a collector, and many of his guns are antiques — he’s not interested in assault-style firearms — and he makes his own ammunition from recycled casings....

Kangaroo Court Day 2, Live Thread. President Trump, Judge Engoron, and Attorney General James. So, 80% of the charges cleared yesterday because of the statute of limitations. Nice work by AG Letitia James. Yet, they still get airing according the judge? How is that fair if Trump is innocent until proven guilty and these earlier charges are no longer relevant or being prosecuted. How does Trump defend himself? And will Trump get new attorneys? Can't believe they were so incompetent to no check off the box for a Jury Trial. Seriously?! Okay, let the spectacle begin...