Free Republic

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was reportedly in the dark about the Trump administration’s plan to invade Venezuela and depose President Nicolas Maduro. Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the White House excluded the nation’s top intelligence from discussions about the planned ouster, which was carried out on Saturday. People familiar with the situation said that Gabbard had previously opposed U.S. intervention in the South American country. “The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela,” Gabbard, then a Democratic member of Congress, tweeted in 2019. “Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose...

In what could prove to be a pivotal election year for the Republicans, with the midterms holding much influence, President Donald Trump arguably needs the support of his own party now more than ever. Especially as he is facing loud calls for impeachment from the Democratic Party on account of his Venezuela operation... Yet there is currently a split forming, as some prominent Republican lawmakers are publicly disagreeing with Trump regarding his renewed annexation threats against Greenland in the wake of the Venezuela intervention. In a series of inflammatory remarks labeled as “utterly unacceptable” by Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen,...

... Mr. Romney’s lead idea is to eliminate the income limit on the Social Security payroll tax. He imagines that a huge 12.4% hike to the marginal rate on an essential cohort of the striving will have a “relatively small impact on economic growth.” Moreover, this whopping increase in social-insurance premiums wouldn’t come with better coverage. Mr. Romney would largely sever the link between Social Security contributions and benefits. We think these changes are poor policy—and we also note that they aren’t taxes on the rich but on salarymen. Mr. Romney dismisses the doomed-from-the-get-go DOGE effort to end the deficit...

Kyle Rittenhouse - who shot three people during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin - offered to travel to Minnesota amid unrest after ICE fatally shot a woman. 'After thinking about it, should I travel across the state line to Minnesota?', Rittenhouse asked in a tweet to his 76,000 followers on X. Five years ago, a 17-year-old Rittenhouse decided to travel from his home in Illinois to Kenosha during Black Lives Matter protests that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-15-style rifle at a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he shot three people and killed two....

Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967. CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the encouragement of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell. “CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving,...

President Donald Trump halted his motorcade at a Florida shopping center Friday morning to buy marble and onyx “at his own expense” for the new White House ballroom, according to the pool report. The out-of-town press pool remained in vans parked near railroad tracks while Trump was inside Arc Stone & Tile in an industrial area of Lake Worth, Florida , located off of I-95., according to the report. Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email Friday morning for comment. Why It Matters Trump said he recently refurbished parts of the White House with marble floors and...

A politically charged YouTube video thrust a group of Somali-owned day cares in Minnesota into an uncomfortable spotlight this week, accusing the owners of defrauding the state and unleashing a torrent of threats against them. A lawyer who represents one of the operators of Minnesota Best Childcare Center in Minneapolis, which was featured in the 43-minute video, said his Somali clients have received hundreds of death threats since the video went viral late late last week. “Everybody is very scared right now of being targeted,” attorney Jason Steck said Dec. 31. “Nobody wants to stick their head up. Nobody wants...

Gen Z right-wing influencers like Nick Fuentes have suggested they may not support Vice President JD Vance if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee in 2028 and have praised California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Why It Matters The 2028 election is years away, but talk about who could run for higher office has already begun. Vance is viewed as the frontrunner on the Republican side. The Democratic primary is likely to be more competitive if current polling stands, and Newsom is viewed as a leading candidate. He has cast himself as a staunch rival of the Trump administration. The...

A $6,000 deduction is now law for some older Americans who receive Social Security benefits, a centerpiece of a major new bill signed by President Donald Trump. Promoted as historic relief, the reality is more complex, less generous, and comes with a significant long-term price tag that could undermine the very system it purports to help.

Although there is much to lament in the unconstitutional and illegal policies of the Trump administration, not enough has been said about its lack of compassion and basic human decency. How does it change us as a nation to witness countless acts of cruelty by our government? How does it change how we talk in our society to see a president refer to other nations as “shithole” countries or to tell a female reporter, “quiet, piggy”?

"Mic-drop" truth bomb. Israeli Ambassador Claps back at NBC Host: "Quoting Gaza Health Ministry is Like Quoting MS-13's Welfare Stats" | WATCH. An on-air clash goes viral as Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter slams NBC’s Kristen Welker for citing Gaza casualty figures, igniting a fierce debate over media bias, wartime propaganda, and the battle to control the narrative. Welker referenced the ministry's reported death toll while grilling Leiter on civilian casualties during Israel's operations in Gaza and Lebanon. Leiter fired back: "Kristen, you just quoted the Gaza Health Ministry. That’s like quoting MS-13 Social Welfare Ministry." The analogy, equating the ministry...

Ben, I’ve known you a long time, brother. You can’t handle the truth. Let’s face it, Ben Shapiro is the farthest thing from MAGA. Let’s be blunt. He is a hardcore never-Trumper. He’s a hardcore never-Trumper. In the spring of ’16, he tried to upend Breitbart. He walked off the job, made a big deal about some incident in Mar-a-Lago with Corey Lewandowski. He tried to turn it to Ted Cruz from Donald Trump because he hated Donald Trump. In the general election, he barely supported Donald Trump. The first sign of– when President Trump gets sent back to Mar-a-Lago,...

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has canceled millions of dollars in grants awarded to the American Academy ​of Pediatrics, it said on Wednesday, including ones the group said were aimed at ‌reducing sudden infant death and early detection of autism. The move comes as the AAP, a vocal critic of HHS ‌Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., challenged vaccine policies enacted under his leadership in federal court. Kennedy, a longtime critic of vaccines, has accused the organization of accepting funding from drug and vaccine makers to further their interests. These grants, previously awarded...

California’s immigrant truckers are under direct threat, and the consequences are already landing in Sacramento’s neighborhoods, warehouses and family households. Drivers with spotless records are walking into the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) locations expecting a routine renewal of their commercial driver's license and walking out unemployed — not because they failed a test or violated a law, but because a federal agency quietly rewrote immigration categories and ordered states to enforce the fallout. This is a bureaucratic ambush. A new rule from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is sowing confusion across California’s supply chain and logistics network at...

My guest today is Andrew Kolvet, who was Kirk’s close confidant. Since the assassination, he’s taken on many of Kirk’s responsibilities, including hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show.” Andrew Kolvet: …“Now, Charlie’s mission was to say: Hey, before us are two roads. You can either go grievance politics, socialism, free stuff populism, Mangione-ism, Mamdani-ism, or you can go MAGA.“ …“I think this is the through line for Israel — is you do not have to support Israel to belong to the team, at least in a traditional historical sense…I’m an American. I’m born in this country. My kids are going to...

He grew up on a farm in Indiana, the son of a factory worker and eldest of five children. He studied at Liberty, a Christian university founded by the conservative pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and recalls wearing a T-shirt expressing opposition to the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Two decades later, Justin Douglas is running for the US Congress – as a Democrat. He is among about white 30 Christian clergy – pastors, seminary students and other faith leaders – known to be potential Democratic candidates in next year’s midterm elections, including a dozen who are already in the...

The official Rapid Response 47 White House team responded to her post, writing: “Why did you marry your brother.” Trump has repeated this debunked allegation before, writing on Thanksgiving: “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 for lack of Government, Military, Police, schools, etc.” Omar...

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley's son Nalin Haley on Monday accused Republicans of failing to acknowledge disillusioned Gen Z voters' struggles with unemployment and affordability. The first step our leaders need to do is admit that we have a problem. And right now I haven't heard any Republican leaders talk about the issues that young people are facing," Haley told "Fox & Friends."

Congressional Speech, Military Orders, and the Danger of Half-TruthsIn recent days, a group of six members of Congress created controversy by telling active-duty military personnel that they “do not have to obey illegal orders.” Their statement, while rooted in a true principle of military law, has caused confusion and concern among legal experts, Pentagon officials, and veterans. Understanding why requires looking at two separate systems: the constitutional protections granted to members of Congress, and the strict doctrine governing obedience to orders within the military.1. Constitutional Protections for Members of CongressThe U.S. Constitution grants members of Congress several key protections to...

Whatever you think of Donald Trump, is it fair to play the full Nazi card against him? David Brooks--the fellow who was so impressed by the crease in Obama's pants--apparently thinks so. On today's Meet the Press, commenting on images of Trump supporters at a rally responding to his request to raise their right hands to pledge to vote for him, Brooks said "if we're going to get Trump, we might as well get the Nuremberg rallies to go with it." Have a look at the photos below and compare the Trump rally to a real Nuremberg rally. Really, Chuck...