Free Republic

A "racial equity" and "restorative justice" nonprofit funded by Minnesota taxpayers is calling for donations to a new bail fund that’s helping free anti-ICE agitators and illegal immigrants detained in Minneapolis. The Legal Rights Center, which Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison led for five years, is promoting the People’s Bail Fund of Minnesota through Know Your Rights MN, a Legal Rights Center project that provides legal information and resources for activists. The project’s website was updated Thursday to include a link to the bail fund, which only secured nonprofit status last week and is actively "accepting requests for ICE protest...

The Regime Behind the Carnage: Iran’s War on Its Own People and on Israel. Iran’s Hypothetical Atrocities and Its Proxy War Against Israel. The Islamic Republic of Iran has a dark history of brutally suppressing its own people, with estimates suggesting that in just two weeks of crackdowns (Jan/2026), it massacred between 20,000 and 50,000 unarmed civilians. Extrapolating this rate over two years yields a staggering 1.04 million to 2.6 million potential deaths—a chilling reminder of the regime’s capacity for mass murder against innocents, far exceeding even the most tragic conflicts. This same ruthless regime fuels terrorism through its backing...

A tell-all describes how the war in Gaza loomed over the 2024 campaign and strained Biden’s reelection bidJosh Shapiro’s Judaism was not a factor in Kamala Harris passing him over as a running mate, according to a 2024 election tell-all, contradicting a narrative Republicans eagerly peddled. If anything, Harris rejected Shapiro because they had too much in common — both were former attorneys general who hoped to be president. That and poor chemistry knocked Shapiro out of the running, according to How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, by political reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and...

Pink Floyd co-founder Rogers Waters defended the murderous regime in Iran, one week after defending former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, calling claims that Iran has been a leading sponsor of terrorism around the world “nonsense.” “The government sent the police out to protect those grocers, those business owners, those ordinary working people in Iran, ok? And they were attacked by a gang of armed thugs who murdered, we believe, armed thugs, probably organized by MI6 and the CIA,” Waters said about the deadly response from Iran’s government to protesters in an appearance this weekend on Piers Morgan Uncensored. Water went...

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said authorities “must break the back of the seditionists” and blamed US President Donald Trump for “casualties” after the Islamic Republic’s bloody crackdown on a protest wave against the country’s clerical authorities. Iranian authorities have repeatedly blamed the US for the mass demonstrations they have called “riots” and “terrorist” operations. Trump had threatened to strike Iran if it did not stop killing protesters, but starting Wednesday sounded a more conciliatory tone, saying he was assured the killings would stop. In a speech broadcast by state television to mark a religious holiday, Khamenei...

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib went on an emotional rant about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recruitment posts on social media during a Friday shadow hearing in Minnesota. The hearing, chaired by Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, discussed the recent heightened presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota and the fatal shooting of Renee Good. When it was Tlaib’s turn to speak, she used her time to passionately suggest that recent DHS social media posts evoked “neo-Nazi” and “white nationalist” imagery. Tlaib held up a printed Jan. 9 social media...

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has declared that the terror group will not give up its weapons, warning that such a move would mean "the end of Lebanon." According to Qassem, Hezbollah is prepared to pay additional prices in order to preserve its military capabilities. "The weapons in our hands are meant to defend ourselves, our resistance, our people, and our homeland," he said. Qassem also claimed that relinquishing the weapons would weaken Lebanon and advance Israel’s strategic objectives. Warning the Lebanese government against implementing plans to disarm militias, Qassem claimed such plans are being promoted under pressure from the United...

The White House announced on Jan. 16 the names of members appointed to the Gaza Board of Peace, which President Donald Trump created as part of phase two of a U.S.-backed plan to end the war in Gaza. Among the “founding executive board” members are U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The board also includes private equity executive Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and U.S. national security adviser Robert Gabriel, according to a White House statement. The board, to be chaired by...

In a major win for the Trump administration, a federal appeals court ended a Biden-appointed district judge’s blockade on the deportation of a pro-Hamas foreign activist on Thursday. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated orders from New Jersey-based District Judge Michael Farbiarz regarding the detainment and attempted deportation of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. As law professor Mark Goldfeder previously wrote in these pages, Khalil — a Syrian-born green card holder — was detained by federal authorities last year “on the charge that he ‘led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist...

The US president is expected to chair the board, which is to oversee a Palestinian committee charged with managing war-ravaged Gaza as the peace plan enters its second stage. Since the plan came into effect in October, Israeli attacks have continued in the enclave, where key questions remain over withdrawal and disarmament. US President Donald Trump on Thursday, January 16, announced the formation of a Gaza "board of peace," a key phase two element of a US-backed plan to end the war in the Palestinian territory. "It is my great honor to announce that the board of peace has been...

Iran is once again on fire. For the better part of the last month, Iranians have been taking to the streets in large numbers to demand change. The proximate cause for the protests was spiraling inflation, but as the crowds grew, Iranians clamored for the end of the Islamic regime. Despite the avalanche of speculation, no one knows what will happen in Iran. That is the nature of popular uprisings, they are unpredictable. To many analysts, journalists, pundits, and academics, this round of protests feels different from previous ones in 2009, 2017, 2019, and 2022—and maybe they are. Or maybe...

The failed ‘ceasefire’ (in which the fire never actually ceased) was premised on Hamas disarming. As anyone with any common sense warned, Hamas would not disarm. And no one would force it to disarm. That hasn’t stopped Steven Witkoff from pushing on with imaginary plans based on fantasies about how Hamas really wants peace despite decades of evidence otherwise.Unmoved by those concerns, US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced on Wednesday the “launch of phase two,” where the goal will be “moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance and reconstruction.“We’ve talked to a number of Hamas people, and we’re hearing throughout...

The chair of Shannon Airport warned the Minister for Transport that protests and airside incursions at the airport were a “grave risk” and a threat to the international reputation of the State. The letter to Minister Darragh O’Brien last May said security breaches at Shannon that month were part of a “persistent and deeply concerning” trend. However, a further incident took place in November when protesters managed to reach an apron and taxiway, before spray painting a US military aircraft. In last year’s correspondence, the airport chair Conal Henry pleaded for help, saying the incursions posed a very serious security...

After more than 2,000 Druze were killed in a brutal massacre, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri says Israel’s airstrikes halted the bloodshed, condemns Syria’s rulers as jihadists and calls for an independent Druze entity in Sweida

Iran's Candidate: This is how Tehran seeks to shape the new Hamas leadership. Iran supports Khalil al-Hayya as a candidate for head of Hamas' political bureau due to his close ties with the military wing and the resistance axis, and its assessment is that he ensures continuity of the military line without internal division. Summary. The upcoming internal elections in Hamas for the position of chairman of the political bureau are taking place at a particularly sensitive time, against the backdrop of the war in the Gaza Strip, the fragile ceasefire, and the increasing involvement of regional players in the...

The U.S. Treasury and State Departments designated several chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) or specially designated global terrorists (SDGTs) on Tuesday. The State Department has designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as an FTO and SDGT, and its leader, Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh, as an SDGT, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a statement. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department has determined the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood to be “SDGTs for providing material support to Hamas,” he added. The designations come after President Donald Trump ordered a review of Muslim Brotherhood chapters for designation...

Iranian Activist Masih Alinejad Slams Ana Kasparian's Ridiculous Iran Comments | WATCH Iranian activist Masih Alinejad torches Piers Morgan for platforming regime-apologist drivel amid Iran's bloody crackdown, because nothing says 'uncensored' like fueling tyrants' excuses to kill.

President Trump was briefed on new options for military strikes in Iran, a senior U.S. official confirmed Sunday. Mr. Trump appeared to lay out his red line for action on Friday when he warned that if the Iranian government began "killing people like they have in the past, we would get involved." "We'll be hitting them very hard where it hurts," he said at the White House. "And that doesn't mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts." On social media, Mr. Trump offered his support for the protesters, saying that "Iran...

Hussam al-Astal, the commander of an anti-Hamas armed militia that operates in the eastern Khan Yunis area, published a video in which he claims that his men eliminated the head of the investigations department in Hamas's Khan Yunis police. The assassination occurred when the department head was shot at close range, close to his home in the Hamas-controlled al-Mawasi area. Hamas initially blamed the Shin Bet for the elimination. In the recorded video, Hussam al-Astal shows off a gun that he claims was taken from the target. He harshly calls out Hamas and claims, "This is a man who harmed...

An Iranian protester told KAN Reshet Bet that many Iranians admire Netanyahu and Israeli strikes, while blaming economic collapse, repression, and inflation for the unrest. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently the most popular person in Iran, a Tehran resident told KAN Reshet Bet on Wednesday... They also told KAN that Iranians were "impressed" by Israeli strikes on Iran in June, as part of Operation Rising Lion, as the air force "focused only on regime infrastructure and did not harm civilians." ...The Iranian is an opponent of the Islamic Republic regime and has participated in demonstrations over the past 11...