Free Republic

The US military operation to track down, capture and fly Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro back to the United States for prosecution on drug trafficking charges went flawlessly. It was well-coordinated, meticulously planned and executed to a tee. Nearly two days after Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were taken into U.S. custody, details of the snatch-and-grab mission are beginning to percolate into the US media. It involved a cyberattack against Caracas’s electricity system, precision bombing against several Venezuelan airfields and ports, a low-flying helicopter assault on Maduro’s hideout and a CIA deployment that was operating in the country since August....

While the world’s attention is focused on the war in Gaza, Ukrainian officials are full steam ahead trying to convince their US and NATO partners to remain steadfast in bankrolling Kyiv’s war effort against Russia.Unlike Zelensky’s shop, the Biden administration’s messaging on the war has been all over the place. On one day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is beaming with confidence that Washington and its European allies will best Russian President Vladimir Putin “in a contest of wills.” Yet on others, a nervous Biden is taking to the White House podium to shame congressional Republicans into writing and passing another...

Donald Trump, the loud-mouthed, bombastic, tell-me-like-it-is real estate billionaire who remains at the top of the pile in all major national and state-level polls, loves to pick on Sen. Rand Paul. He lashed out at the eye-doctor, constitutionalist and junior senator from Kentucky seemingly out of nowhere in the very beginning of the second GOP presidential debate in Simi Valley, Calif. On the very first question, Trump preemptively blasted Paul without being attacked. "Well, first of all, Rand Paul shouldn't even be on this stage." Trump told the national audience of 23 million Americans. "He's number 11, he's got 1...