Free Republic

A Kansas grandpa is desperately searching for his four grandkids after their mom was brutally murdered and dumped in a shallow grave — allegedly by her husband, a self-proclaimed Mississippi cult leader called the “Silver Creek Messiah.” One of the last things La’Datra Williams, 26, told her grief-stricken dad, U.S. veteran Eddie Williams, on May 20 was she was “determined” to leave Charles Sims and his polygamous cult, which believes he’s a true vessel for the Holy Spirit and ordained by God almighty to fix the world’s problems. Sims is charged with first-degree murder for La’Datra’s killing. “I don’t know...

SLIDELL, La. — A Slidell woman has been arrested for allegedly purchasing a Lamborghini and plastic surgery while on government assistance. Agents with the Attorney General Liz Murrill's Louisiana Bureau of Investigation arrested Candace Taylor, 35, of Rousset Ridge in Slidell on Monday. Agents said they received a complaint from the Louisiana Department of Health regarding Taylor allegedly committing Medicaid Recipient Fraud. According to the complaint, Taylor underreported her income in order to receive Medicaid benefits. Arrest records between 2020 and 2024 showed that Taylor engaged in a series of actions to apply for and receive Medicaid benefits through misrepresentation,...

House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized a discharge petition that would force a vote in the U.S. House on releasing the federal files pertaining to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are behind the effort to force the release of files relating to Epstein.

Louisiana Senator John Kennedy appeared to have a mental episode live on Larry Kudlow’s Fox Business show Tuesday, adding yet another entry to the long, bipartisan list of alarming age-related lowlights from our country’s leaders. “I’m sure Jesus loves him, but everybody else thinks—everybody else …” said Kennedy, 73, before trailing off. You can see it in his face—his eyes and mouth particularly—as he struggles to remember what he meant to say or where he is before ultimately giving up

Many years ago, a leftist attorney I know thought he had a trump card to play, showing how hypocritical churches were when it came to gay marriage: They never complained about abortion infringing on their constitutional rights, he said. Their constitutional complaint in the face of gay marriage showed they were homophobic. I gently reminded him that churches don’t perform abortions, but they do perform marriages. In other words, anything that allows the government to force doctrinal changes on religious institutions and believers infringes on their First Amendment rights. Thus, the moment the Supreme Court decided its misguided Obergefell decision...

LAFAYETTE — Five people, including several current and former head law enforcement officers, were taken into custody earlier in the week and indicted on an alleged scheme involving falsifying crimes to facilitate immigration visa fraud for profit, national and state officials announced Wednesday. Officials said four current and former law enforcement agents were taken into custody Monday as well as a Oakdale business owner. The following people are being indicted after the U.S. Attorney's Office in Shreveport returned a 62-count indictment for the alleged immigration conspiracy: - Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle - Oakdale Ward 5 Marshal Mike "Freck" Slaney...

Nearly two months after 10 inmates escaped from a New Orleans jail by crawling through a hole behind a toilet, authorities have recaptured all but the man with the most violent rap sheet: Derrick Groves. Following the May 16 jailbreak, law enforcement tracked down three escapees within 24 hours and most of the others within the next few weeks. While some of the fugitives roamed through nightlife hotspots and another made Instagram posts, Groves has so far kept a low profile.

Nothing will ever be easy with congressional Republicans. The reconciliation package aged all of us 35 years, as Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to whip votes, hold the line, and make some phone calls. President Trump was also working the phones heavily when final passage was at stake in the House. Republican leadership held the line, but with Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) retiring after the reconciliation vote, delivering what’s left of the Trump agenda before the 2026 midterms is about to get even tougher. The House did its job and passed the rescission package, but...

Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise helped to gain an Iranian woman’s release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he advocated for her.Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian, 64, has been living in the U.S. for 47 years. Her husband, Russell Milne, and daughter, Kaitlynn Milne, are both U.S. citizens.

Almost 62 years after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the Central Intelligence Agency has revealed that one of their officers had contact with Lee Harvey Oswald before and after the November killing, documents released this week and first reported by Axios have revealed. The documents concern a CIA officer who specialized in psychological warfare known as George Joannides. The crux of the revelation is in a document dated Jan 17, 1963 revealing that Joannides had an alias and fake driver’s license under the name “Howard Gebler.” Prior to Thursday's document revelation, the CIA had denied that “Howard” was in fact...

Swaggart, one of the most well-known televangelists in the world, was rushed to a hospital on June 15 after going into cardiac arrest at his Baton Rouge home. A native of Ferriday, Louisiana, Swaggart founded Jimmy Swaggart Ministries and the Jimmy Swaggart Bible College, located on a vast campus off of Bluebonnet Boulevard in Baton Rouge. He was the senior pastor of Family Worship Center, located on the same campus.

A Lakeview family says they are in disbelief after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained 64-year-old Mandonna Kashanian, an Iranian-born woman who has lived in the United States for nearly five decades. Kashanian was taken into custody Sunday morning in front of her home on Woodlawn Place. According to her family, she was picking figs with neighborhood children when three unmarked vehicles pulled up around 10 a.m. and officers handcuffed her without saying a word. Her daughter, Kaitlynn Milne, said the arrest happened within 60 seconds while she and her father, Kashanian’s husband of 35 years, were inside the...

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., argued that the War Powers Act, a Nixon-era law limiting the president’s power to unilaterally wage war, is unconstitutional. President Donald Trump’s decision to order strikes on Iranian nuclear targets over the weekend was “clearly” within his powers under Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution, Johnson said. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., alongside Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California, has introduced a War Powers resolution that would bar the U.S. military from “unauthorized hostilities” in Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., argued Tuesday that the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, and vowed that a pending resolution...

NBC’s Seth Meyers continued his lamentations on President Trump’s response to the Los Angeles riots on Wednesday’s edition of Late Night. As Meyers tells it, Congressional Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, are “collaborating” with Trump to “turn America into a military-style autocracy” and would’ve ratted out the original Tea Party to the British in 1773. Meyers was agreeing with California Gov. Gavin Newsom that the Founders would be ashamed of Trump’s actions when he went on one of his Meyers-esque digressions about what the proper term for “pants” was in the 18th century and then declared, “Now, if you’re...

Two police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack filed a federal civil lawsuit, asking a judge to order the hanging of a plaque to honor police heroes who protected the Capitol, lawmakers and staff from rioters. The lawsuit cites a 2022 law signed by President Biden that required the honorary plaque be hung by March 2023. The plaque has been completed and in storage since at least last year, but GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson has not committed to installing it at the Capitol. The dispute over the plaque has angered victims and inflamed a...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been making the rounds amid the rioting that has taken place in Los Angeles County - including in parts of her Congressional district, over the last several days. As per the norm, there has been the predictable gaslighting, histrionics, theatrics, and Republican Derangement Syndrome that we've come to expect over the years from the entrenched Congresswoman. As RedState reported, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) put on his best Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) persona in a press conference Tuesday when he was asked about Waters' denial of the violence happening during the LA riots. "I'm just...

Since the 2016 elections, politicians, journalists, and many others have raised the alarm about “foreign election influence” and “disinformation,” demanding greater “content moderation” by social media platforms. It is too easy, they argued, for foreign and malign actors to quickly “go viral” at low cost, leaving the good guys unable to correct bad information. We must become more “resilient” to disinformation. It’s now clear that all of that rhetoric was cover for a sweeping censorship effort by the federal government and government contractors. Since December, a small but growing group of journalists, analysts, and researchers have documented the rise of...

Texas authorities released video showing the pursuit and arrest of two New Orleans jail inmates who escaped on May 16. Both Leo Tate and Jermaine Donald were arrested on Monday following a high-speed chase that ended in Walker County, Texas, according to the Louisiana State Police. Donald and Tate were arrested by the Texas Department of Public Safety in an operation that included several law enforcement agencies. Video released by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows the suspects' vehicle going in the wrong direction before eventually being stopped by law enforcement officials. Body-camera video shows one of the men...

A third alleged accomplice has been arrested in connection with the escape of one of ten inmates from the Orleans Parish Correctional Facility, according to Louisiana State Police. Connie Weeden, 59, is believed to have assisted the fugitives and was taken into custody following an investigation that revealed she was in contact via phone with escapee Jermaine Donald – both before and after the escape. Donald remains at large. Authorities say Weeden gave cash to Donald via a "cell phone app." She has been charged with one felony count of accessory after the fact and booked into the St. Tammany...

Little remains of the historic Nottoway plantation home in Iberville Parish after a fire reduced the 160-year-old mansion to rubble on Thursday. Charred pieces framework had fallen to the slab, with soot surrounding the once grandiose property. The prominent white columns that supported the roof were mostly gone. White Castle officials are investigating what caused the fire and have begun combing through the remains.