Free Republic

Quote:"Myself and five others who are either former intelligence or former military um officers put out a video restating law that's in the Uniform Code of Military Justice that if you're given an order that's illegal according to the UCMJ, you have you have the ability to push back on that order. Legal orders should always be followed, right? Just talking about illegal orders. We had a ton of folks in uniform and a lot of veterans come to us and raise real concerns about things that they were asked to do or things that they were concerned they might...

Two activist judges with a track record of sabotaging President Trump’s America First agenda have just ghosted a critical Senate hearing aimed at exposing judicial overreach. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg and U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman have both turned down invitations to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week at the explosive hearing titled “Impeachment: Holding Rogue Judges Accountable. Their absence should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention. These are not neutral judges, they are political operatives wielding federal robes as weapons against the will of the American people. Judge Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, has...

How bad is the Somali fraud scandal, in which the State of Minnesota allowed Somalis to rip off the system to the tune of $1 billion, some of them using the cash to bankroll Al Shabaab terrorism?This bad: Minnesota's largely Democrat bureaucrats are publicly blaming Walz.According to Fox News:More than 400 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) accused Gov. Tim Walz of failing to act on widespread fraud warnings and retaliating against whistleblowers.The Minnesota Department of Human Service Employees account, which says it consists of more than 480 current staff members at the Minnesota DHS, wrote on...

The rule of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa since 1994 has been marked by a widening chasm between poor black people, the majority and a tiny black elite, who get richer and richer. A quarter of our children are so badly malnourished that their brains are stunted for life. Amid this terrible hunger, President Cyril Ramaphosa lives in fabulous splendor. He is said to be worth 6 billion rand (around $350 million). He has mansions in the rich parts of South Africa. He has a fleet of luxury cars. He owns a game farm of 11,120 acres....

... KEY FACTS Since calling the strike on November 13, the company’s highly trafficked “Red Cup Day” when it gives away free reusable coffee cups to customers, Starbucks Workers United reports new stores have been added to its strike list each passing week, now totaling 120 stores. SWU claims that baristas in 550 unionized stores are prepared to continue escalating the strike until Starbucks delivers a fair union contract and resolves hundreds of unfair labor practices charges. Since the strike began, Starbucks has disputed the number of stores impacted, claiming many stores on the strike list never closed and others...

Food stamps were first issued in 1939 as an assistance program to prevent starvation during the Great Depression. But 86 years later, thousands of liquor stores and smoke shops have become approved retailers, increasing the possibility of fraud, new research shows. The longest ever government shutdown, which ended after 43 days of deadlock, thrust the federal food stamp program into the national spotlight as millions of recipients went without benefits. But, it also laid bare many abuses in the system. Even before the shutdown, the Trump administration planned to crack down on fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)...

Minnesota state employees accused Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz of bearing full responsibility for massive fraud that drained the state’s social services programs, claiming he retaliated against whistleblowers who tried to sound the alarm. “Tim Walz is 100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota,” the employees wrote in a statement posted to social media. They described a “cascade of systemic failures” and alleged Walz “systematically retaliated against whistleblowers using monitoring, threats, repression, and did his best to discredit fraud reports.” The accusations come as federal prosecutors pursue cases involving more than $1 billion in stolen taxpayer funds across three separate...

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, may have been radicalized after entering the United States, AFP reported. Lakanwal, 29, faces a first-degree murder charge in the November 26 attack that killed 20-year-old guardsman Sarah Beckstrom and critically wounded another. “I will say we believe he was radicalized since he’s been here in this country,” Noem told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. In another interview on ABC’s This Week, she added, “We do believe it was through connections in his home community...

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has received little support from long-time allies Russia and China as President Trump ramps up military pressure against Caracas. Beijing and Moscow, Maduro’s two most powerful allies, have previously provided Venezuela with military equipment, financial aid, and army training in the face of American aggression — but both nations have strayed from their usual tactics as they face their own military and economic woes. While Russia previously deployed two nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela as a united show of force against the US in 2018, Moscow’s generosity has apparently dried up as it approaches its fourth year...

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece The Two Towers, he wrote a scene in which the tree-giant Ent named Treebeard prepared to battle against the evil wizard Saruman for his part in the wanton destruction of Fangorn Forest.“Wizards ought to know better: they do know better. There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men bad enough for such treachery.” This quote came to mind as I reflected on the shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C. For two weeks now, a growing number of congressional Democrats played the part of pawns in a well-funded, highly coordinated campaign...

America’s sin problem isn’t confined to Las Vegas, according to a new study. While the Nevada gambling and tourist destination remains true to its reputation as “Sin City,” it turns out America has no shortage of cities promoting vice and illicit behavior. A WalletHub study released Nov. 17 collected data from several sources on 182 cities nationwide and assessed 37 vices and criminal activity, ranging from excessive drinking to violent crime and the number of adult entertainment establishments per capita, to determine which cities are the most “sinful” in the nation. The study's title, "Most Sinful Cities in America," isn’t...

The Afghan man accused of gunning down two National Guard members blocks from the White House last week had been unraveling for years, unable to hold a job and flipping between long, lightless stretches of isolation and taking sudden weeks-long cross-country drives. His behavior deteriorated so sharply that a community advocate reached out to a refugee organization for help, fearing he was becoming suicidal. Emails obtained by The Associated Press reveal mounting warnings about the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an asylum seeker whose erratic conduct raised alarms long before the attack that jolted the nation's capital on the eve of Thanksgiving....

DETROIT — A professor at Ferris State University was arrested in Detroit on Tuesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, the agency said. Sumith Gunasekera was living in the U.S. illegally, according to ICE. He also was convicted of sex crimes in Canada and Nevada, per a release by the agency. In 1998, Gunasekera was arrested twice over a three day period: first for allegedly uttering death threats on August 28, 1998; then again on August 31 for allegedly inviting a minor to sexual touching. He was convicted of both charges that November and spent 1 month behind...

A wannabe social media influencer went viral this week when he handed out 18-inch machetes and booze to homeless people in Austin and New Orleans in a bizarre stunt he insisted was for their benefit. Keith Castillo — who goes by “povwolfy” — posted a video on Thanksgiving to TikTok and Instagram that garnered more than 14 million views. “Here, want one of these?” Castillo says as he distributed the potentially deadly weapons. “Hell yeah, man,” one man responds as he accepts the free blade. One woman asks for “one more.” A caption reads, “Keeping the homeless in the streets,”...

The shriek of whistles and a cacophony of cars honking have taken on new meaning on the streets of major U.S. cities in recent months — a warning to all those in earshot that immigration enforcement is nearby. The warning tactics from activists have become popular in cities recently targeted by Border Patrol immigration operations. Jill Garvey, a co-director of the pro-democracy group States at the Core, said during the first nationwide virtual “ICE WATCH” training session hosted with the help of community organizers from Chicago on Nov. 21. More than 500 people attended the online training session from dozens...

West Yorkshire Police arrested a British business owner over a picture he posted on social media of himself holding a gun in the United States. IT contractor Jon Richelieu-Booth told the Yorkshire Post that in August, he posted a picture on the networking site LinkedIn of himself holding a shotgun at a friend’s homestead in Florida. He was visited by local police, who warned him about the post and told him to be “careful” about what he says online and “how it makes people feel.” Eleven days after the post, West Yorkshire Police officers returned and arrested Richelieu-Booth over allegedly...

Authorities describe the 764 network as a ‘disgusting group of criminals’ targeting children as young as 8.FBI Director Kash Patel said arrests for the infamous online exploitation ring, the “764” network, are up almost 500 percent over last year. In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek, Patel said his agency made a “huge push” to protect children against the “predators” associated with the network. This group has proven to be dangerous for minors and other vulnerable groups who are targeted and threatened through forums and gaming platforms. The FBI announced on Feb. 20 that it has prioritized...

There’s no escaping the annual Black Friday sales, which seem to last longer every year. Equally, there’s no escaping that Amazon is the top dog in both the event itself and as a target for cybercriminals. With an estimated 310 million active users in 2025, Amazon has always been a prime quarry for scammers, hackers and other highly-targeted cybercrime activity. Now the online retail giant has issued a stark warning that every customer must take seriously as attackers strike. Here’s what you need to know and do. Amazon Sends Users Attack Warning – What You Need To Know Hot on...

On Friday, President Donald Trump offered yet another devastating characterization of one of the Democrats’ legion of America-Last, far-left politicians. All of Trump’s rhetorical cylinders were firing as he gave us this: "The worst “Congressman/woman” in our Country, Ilhan Omar, always wrapped in her swaddling hijab, and who probably came into the U.S.A. illegally in that you are not allowed to marry your brother, does nothing but hatefully complain about our Country, its Constitution, and how “badly” she is treated, when her place of origin is a decadent, backward, and crime ridden nation, which is essentially not even a country...

Will Trump negotiate with Maduro and refrain from military action? While the US has deployed the largest military force to America Latina since the 1990’s, the naval siege of Venezuela will not necessarily devolve into a bloody confrontation. After President Donald J. Trump stated that negotiations with dictator Nicolas Maduro was a real possibility, a report arises that Trump has already spoken with Maduro last week. The two leaders reportedly discussed a possible meeting between them in the United States, according to the New York Times. Reuters reported: “The newspaper added that there were no plans at the moment for...