Free Republic

Guess what, Audie? President Obama was not on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Truman was not aboard the Enola Gay. Ordering something and carrying it out are different jobs. But on Friday's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish held Pete Hegseth to a different standard. The setup was Jonah Goldberg criticizing the way Hegseth had announced the public firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the Islamist terrorist who murdered 13 soldiers at Fort Hood: "Secretary Chesty McBroseph is just trying to show off how macho he is; a max-T thing." Cornish then took her shot at Hegseth. "And...

President Donald Trump's agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to boost diesel supplies is drawing criticism from within his own party, exposing Republican divisions over the White House's latest attempt to bring down fuel prices ahead of November's midterm elections. The pushback follows Trump's announcement Friday that Putin had agreed to supply millions of tons of diesel fuel to United States and global markets. The administration subsequently authorized transactions involving Russian diesel, with the Treasury Department issuing a temporary license allowing Russian-origin diesel to reach global markets. The move drew scrutiny because Congress just weeks ago approved the Lindsey O....

In an extraordinary example of individuals from hostile countries working together to save lives, Israeli media that spoke with airport authorities are saying that the alternate pilot crew who landed a hijacked flight safely included a Russian and a Ukrainian. Israel Hayom identified the brave off-duty pilots’ nationalities after speaking with officials at the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The temporarily hijacked FlyDubai flight was headed for Tel Aviv in Israel, with many Israeli passengers, but after the violent incident it diverted to Tabuk for an emergency landing. There was some initial confusion about the...

No one would claim that the Iran War has been a political godsend for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. But some Israel-First conservatives are willing to say—and lately have been incessantly saying—that the Iran War hasn’t been a political scourge. Those Israel-First conservatives are wrong, even if the devil is, at least partly, hidden in the details. The Iran War has damaged Trump’s approval ratings, consumed his presidency, and darkened the GOP’s prospects in the upcoming midterm elections. A chief proponent of the argument that Trump hasn’t suffered all that much from the Iran War is Ben Shapiro...

One of JD Vance's former Senate colleagues is emerging as a leading contender to be his running mate in a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt has built a close relationship with Vance and is considered a top candidate for the ticket, Axios reported Tuesday. Vance views Schmitt as 'trustworthy, intelligent, and articulate,' according to the outlet. Schmitt, 51, served as Missouri attorney general before winning his Senate seat in 2022. Vance has not formally announced a 2028 bid. Donald Trump has repeatedly floated Vance and Marco Rubio running together in 2028, but has not said which of...

Nearly 1 million people who bought President Trump’s memecoin have lost money through the end of June, according to a report by the cryptocurrency analytics firm Nansen. Their losses total $3.81 billion. The analytics firm’s assessment was calculated this week after Mr. Trump signed an annual financial disclosure showing that he walked away with a $636 million payout on the same crypto bet, part of a haul of at least $2.2 billion from all of his business ventures in 2025. Once a crypto skeptic, Mr. Trump embraced the profit-making opportunity of digital currencies in 2024, while he was running for...

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s latest strikes on Lebanon and Iran have made clear that U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who started the war in lockstep, want different things.Trump had publicly warned Israel not to strike Beirut in its war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. When it did, on Sunday, Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at Israel for the first time since the April ceasefire. Israel then struck Iran, with which Trump has been engaged in weeks of high-stakes negotiations.The fighting has since died down, but the differences between the two leaders are likely to persist.That’s...

https://x.com/jayblackisfunny/status/2031479216647094640Jay Black@jayblackisfunny5hPete Hegseth spent $100,000 on a piano, $2 million on Alaskan King Crab, $7 million on lobster tail, $15 million on steak, $120,000 on ice cream machines, and $12,000 on fruit basket stands… JUST IN SEPTEMBER! (But, tell me again how Somali day care centers are the problem.)@amuse@amuse36m@grok did Pete by a $100K piano? $2M on crabs? $15M on steaks? $120K on ice cream? And $12K on fruit? All in September?Grok@grok35mNo, Secretary Hegseth didn't personally buy these. Per OpenTheBooks analysis of DoD data, these were Pentagon-wide contracts in Sept 2025 (end of fiscal year "use-it-or-lose-it" spending spike to $93B...

FBI & DHS CRUSH Antifa As Network Leaders ARRESTED Under RICO & Terror Charges | MASSIVE PANIC Federal authorities have initiated a series of coordinated enforcement actions targeting individuals described as part of a loosely organized extremist network commonly associated with “Antifa.” According to officials, the investigation involves potential conspiracy, organized criminal activity, and other federal charges under statutes that can include racketeering provisions. Operations led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and supported by the Department of Homeland Security have resulted in arrests, asset seizures, and the execution of digital search warrants. Authorities say the actions are part of...

As its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis intensifies, the Trump administration is leaning into messaging that borrows from phrases, images and music about national identity that have become popular among right-wing groups. ...The administration says it’s tired of criticism that its messaging is framed around white supremacy or Nazi slogans. “It seems that the mainstream media has become a meme of their own: The deranged leftist who claims everything they dislike must be Nazi propaganda,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “This line of attack is boring and tired. Get a grip." César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, a law professor at Ohio...

Few things better illustrate why there has been a steep decline in the quality of writing at The New Yorker under the editorship of David Remnick than his absurd reaction to finding out that a letter supposedly written by Jeffrey Epstein to convicted serial sex offender Larry Nassar which implicated President Donald Trump in something bad has been determined to be fake.On Tuesday, Remnick revealed just how sadly his obsession over his Orange Whale has overwhelmed him to the extent that he has laughably lost whatever sense of rationality he might have left as you can see in "Trump, Epstein,...

Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was suspended by ABC on Wednesday following a brief pressure campaign from the Trump administration as well as conservatives in the media, who successfully twisted Kimmel’s words following last week’s assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. During Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, the comedian criticized conservatives for trying to “score political points” off Kirk’s death. “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel...

President Trump has long mused about using troops to crush violent protests or riots in blue-state cities. He is now moving to do so in Los Angeles.Setting up a rare use of military force on domestic soil, President Trump ordered the Pentagon on Saturday night to send at least 2,000 National Guard troops to respond to protests in Los Angeles set off by his immigration crackdown.Mr. Trump has long mused about using military force on domestic soil to crush violent protests or riots, fight crime and hunt for undocumented migrants — a move that his aides talked him out of...

Satellite images have revealed how Moscow is bulking up its military presence on the Finnish border - in a chilling echo of pictures taken of Russian bases before Putin launched his war in Ukraine. Moscow is building troop accommodation, aircraft deployment infrastructure and refurbishing old facilities at key military bases, analysts have said, in a sign it is seeking to reinforce its capabilities in the border region. The pictures, which were obtained by Swedish broadcaster SVT from Planet Labs, suggest there has been activity at four locations inside Russia - Kamenka, Petrozavodsk, Severomorsk-2, and Olenya. In Kamenka, which is around...

ATLANTA (AP) — The billionaire heir and the former bartender.Many Democrats have been in and out of the spotlight as the party looks for effective counters to President Donald Trump and his second administration. But two disparate figures, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have seen their national profiles rise by delivering messages that excite a demoralized and fractured party. The governor, a 60-year-old heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, and the congresswoman, the 35-year-old with working-class roots, both won their first elections in 2018. Both have urged mass resistance and accused their party...

Antisemitism is increasing on university campuses — and throughout the world. But let’s be clear: Donald Trump and the right wing are not fighting antisemitism. They are exploiting it. And they are deliberately doing so, using Jewish people as pawns in a broader war on education.

If the Trump administration succeeds in blocking Harvard from enrolling international students, the hardest-hit group would be students from China, who make up the school’s biggest share of current students from overseas.The consequences are likely to extend far beyond those select few who could gain entry to the prestigious university. The move could reshape the broader relationship between the two countries by cutting off one of the few remaining reasons that people in China still admire the United States.The flow of students from China to the United States has long been one of the most reliable ballasts in the two...