Free Republic

Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran on Wednesday of flying members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into Yemen, saying Tehran’s actions helped ignite a renewed confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. "They decided to send direct flights from Tehran into Yemen, carrying IRGC elements and others into the country," Rubio told reporters. "And the Saudis responded to it." Rubio did not identify the flights, specify how many IRGC personnel were allegedly transported or provide evidence supporting the allegation. He made the remarks while attending an annual gathering of Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers...

A tugboat captain broke down in tears as he accepted responsibility for a collision with a sailboat that killed three young girls in Florida - as prosecutors revealed he was on his phone around the time of the tragic incident. Yusiel Lopez Insua, 46, wept as he pleaded guilty to seaman's manslaughter on Tuesday over the July 28, 2025, incident that left seven-year-old Mila Yankelevich, Arielle Buchman, 10, and Erin Ko, 13, dead, NBC 6 reported. The three girls, two others, and a 19-year-old sailing instructor were in the Biscayne Bay on their final week of camp with the Miami...

A 74-year-old Miami Gardens woman was arrested for allegedly biting two of her step-grandchildren during a family fight, police said. Isabel Baltazar was arrested Monday on two counts each of battery and child abuse with no great bodily harm, an arrest report said. According to the report, the alleged incident happened Sunday night when Baltazar's son, the stepfather of the two kids, got into a physical altercation with the childrens' biological father. During the fight, the two children and Baltazar intervened before she ended up biting the two children in the back and arm, the report said. The biting caused...

Florida's Tampa International Airport (TPA) is on track to privatize its security in a bid to reduce chaos and delays, angering federal workers and their union. TPA's move, announced earlier this week, comes amidst a broader push by the Trump administration to privatize airports around the country. In May, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced a public-private partnership model called TSA Gold+, which will allow private contractors to oversee airport security operations by hiring personnel and managing security equipment. That is the program TPA opted into. A record-long, 43-day government shutdown late last year, as well as lengthy partial shutdowns...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) is calling for all congressional staff to undergo background checks and dishing on growing foreign influence campaigns that she describes as “the worst kept secret on Capitol Hill.” Cammack has introduced a resolution that would also mandate disclosure of staffers’ nationalities as well as any payments by foreign governments to current or new Capitol hill hires. The proposal comes after reports emerged last month that the FBI has been investigating a senior GOP aide for allegedly acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Qatar, as well as revelations that spies for Cuba and...

CARACAS, Venezuela - U.S. missionaries accused by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of espionage have been forced from their remote outposts among jungle tribes by a government order, the final pair leaving Thursday after years of evangelical work. The New Tribes Mission flew those two out of the rain forest to regroup with other missionaries in the eastern city of Puerto Ordaz. There they will decide what to do next: leave the country or continue with a legal battle seeking to overturn the government's order to expel them from indigenous areas by Sunday. Most of the group's missionaries are Americans. Since...

A family of seven who tucked into an expensive feast brazenly left an Orlando restaurant without paying, it has been claimed. The group were caught on surveillance footage consuming a spread worth $300 before leaving @ The Diner, apparently without settling their hefty tab on Sunday. The Florida restaurant is now seeking to identify the alleged dine-and-dashers, who are said to have taken off during its busiest shift of the day. It wrote on Instagram that the family ordered multiple dishes and appeared to enjoy a leisurely meal before carrying out their premeditated escape in stages. The restaurant, which shared...

The attorney for an imprisoned Navy admiral told Military.com that efforts are underway to either get his conviction reversed, or to receive a pardon from President Donald Trump. Retired four-star Navy Adm. Robert P. Burke, 63, of Coconut Creek, Fla., once the second-highest uniformed Navy officer who formerly commanded forces in Africa, Europe and Russia, was found guilty in May 2025 of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, performing acts affecting a personal financial interest, and concealing material facts from the United States following a five-day trial. He was sentenced in September to six years in prison. His case received revived...

A top Missouri prosecutor was booted for having an affair with an illegal migrant her office was probing for sex assault — and because she slept with two other men in glaring conflicts of interest, too, court papers allege. Disgraced Ray County Prosecutor Camille Johnston was yanked from her position Thursday when a judge signed off on Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s petition laying out a slew of misconduct allegations against her during her three and a half years in office, Hanaway announced. Johnston — an elected official who took office Jan. 1, 2023 — compromised the integrity of her...

Missouri Prosecutor Camille Johnston is in MAJOR trouble. Allegedly: • Had an intimate relationship with an undocumented immigrant whose sexual assault case her office was prosecuting. • Helped him evade arrest by driving him to Mississippi in 2023, gave him her car + title, and vacationed with him in Florida. • Never disclosed the relationship, never recused herself, and allegedly slow-walked the charges. PLUS: • Accused of a relationship with a criminal defense attorney whose clients she was prosecuting. • Accused of a relationship with a married domestic violence suspect (C.W.) — and firing an employee who confronted her about...

Former Marine and congressional candidate William Upham faces a federal charge for allegedly threatening to kill President Trump.William Lintag Upham, a former Marine officer and qualified congressional write-in candidate, was arrested and charged on July 16 with threatening to kill President Donald Trump.The charges announced by the Justice Department came after federal agents reviewed social media videos in which Upham allegedly called for the administration’s violent overthrow. Upham, 35, appeared in federal court in Jacksonville, Fla., and a judge ordered him detained. He faces up to five years in federal prison if convicted. He is presumed innocent as prosecutors have...

A 25-year-old man faces a felony charge after authorities say he managed to bypass airport gate agents and board a full United Airlines flight to Los Angeles using a fake boarding pass, triggering an explosives sweep that forced every passenger off the aircraft. Abdulrahman Oriyomi was arrested Friday morning and charged with felony impairing or interrupting the operation of a critical infrastructure facility. The charges stem from an incident last month at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The things a mother will go through for her child. A woman named Melissa Sotomayor was shocked at how United Airlines treated her disabled son on a recent flight home from Tampa, Florida to New Jersey. Sotomayor took to TikTok — in a now viral video with over 1 million views — to share her very sad experience. She began the video explaining her son’s condition: “My son is dependent upon a trach, short for tracheostomy, and ventilator. He has vision and hearing problems.” The mother went on to explain that in order to fly safely, she made sure to...

United Airlines is preparing for customers who may object to flying into an airport named for President Donald Trump, and reservation agents have been authorized to move those passengers to Fort Lauderdale or Miami without charging more. United Will Let Customers Avoid “DJT” Airport And Fly To Miami Or Fort Lauderdale Instead United Airlines is giving reservation agents unusual flexibility to accommodate customers who no longer want to fly to West Palm Beach after the airport was renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport. According to an internal memo shared with Live And Let’s Fly, United is the process of...

Florida’s next governor needs a stress test, not a coronation. A few days ago, I posited that St. Pete Beach in Florida is showing signs of strain, hinting at a lack of the resilience that was once part of its fabric. Given that hurricanes are inevitable, I worried that its general inability to cope with even minimal pressure put it at risk of collapse in the event of another natural disaster. Some commenters thought I was exaggerating a bad restaurant experience and overextending it. It’s worth taking that criticism seriously because the objection shows that I failed to make myself...

Two death row inmates are scheduled to be put to death on the same day in Florida — the first double execution in the Sunshine State in over six decades. Governor Ron DeSantis rescheduled the execution of former police officer and convicted child murderer James Duckett for 12 p.m. on July 28, exactly six hours before Dominick Anthony Occhicone Jr. is also set to be put to death, USA Today reported. The 68-year-old former cop was set to be executed in March for murdering an 11-year-old girl in 1987, but he received a rare and temporary reprieve from the Florida...

Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao took to social media to report no one from the U.S. Navy’s elite Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron will be reprimanded after a low-altitude pass went viral in Florida on Wednesday. “Flight debrief complete. No reprimands. No firings. No problem. That’s the sound of Freedom! Semper fi and Hooyah,” Cao said in a social media post that included a brief video clip of the jet zooming over the beach. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is encouraging low-altitude military flyovers. The video shows the Blue Angels flying so low over a crowded beach in Pensacola...

Congressman Greg Steube @RepGregSteube·20h BREAKING: My amendment to withhold 100% of U.S. aid to Nigeria until its government stops the slaughter of Christians has PASSED. American taxpayers should NEVER bankroll governments that turn a blind eye while Christians are abducted, tortured, and murdered. No more wasteful foreign aid! July 15, 2026

The Marine Corps has denounced comments made by a Marine veteran running for Congress who posted a video of himself in uniform and made threatening comments directed at President Donald Trump. William Upham made the comments in a roughly 6-minute video that was posted on his social media accounts earlier this week. Upham is running for Florida's 5th Congressional District in November as a write-in candidate. In the video, Upham accused Trump of being the "antichrist" and "the enemy of God." Upham also claimed the president is "your enemy and he must be killed." The Marine Corps issued a statement...

A South Florida woman was surprised to receive a new license plate with her vehicle registration renewal that she feels carries an inappropriate message. Pompano Beach resident Nancy Dello Stritto, who is almost 77 years old, opened her mail to find a license plate reading "SQZ A55." She told CBS News Miami that the plate, which can be interpreted to spell out a crude phrase, caused her to go "ballistic." The plate has become a topic of conversation at her retirement community, where opinions are split. While Dello Stritto is unhappy with the configuration, she noted that others, including her...