Free Republic

Donald Trump and wife Melania were all smiles as they watched a fireworks display at one of the many celebrations being held in the Washington, D.C., area ahead of the inauguration. Trump marked his return to power with a celebration at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, about 30 miles outside Washington. In addition to the First Couple, many of the major players in the Trump orbit were in attendance, including daughter and former senior advisor Ivanka, who was alongside her husband, Jared Kushner. All of Trump's adult children and their partners were in attendance, with Don Jr....

An American contractor held hostage in Afghanistan for more than two years has been released in exchange for a convicted Taliban drug lord jailed in the United States, the White House said Monday, announcing a rare success in U.S.-Taliban talks since the militant group took power a little more than a year ago Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran who had spent more than a decade in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor, was abducted in January 2020 and is believed to have been held since then by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network. He was traded for Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban associate convicted...