Free Republic

In a matter of days, the US House speaker, Mike Johnson, claimed that Donald Trump was an FBI informant who was working to try to take down the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein – then backed away from the confusing statement. Johnson made the baffling claim on Thursday speaking to reporters at the US Capitol. “He was an FBI informant to try and take this stuff down,” Johnson said of Trump. The remark was so perplexing that it reportedly confused even Trump administration officials. By Sunday, Johnson was walking back his explosive comment. “The speaker is reiterating what the victims’...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration operations in Los Angeles, the latest victory for President Donald Trump’s administration at the high court. The conservative majority lifted a restraining order from a judge who found that “roving patrols” were conducting indiscriminate arrests in LA. The order had barred agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.Trump’s Republican administration argued the order wrongly restricted agents carrying out its widespread crackdown on illegal immigration. U.S. District Judge Maame E. Frimpong in Los Angeles had found a...

Horrific footage of a career criminal stabbing a Ukrainian refugee from behind on a North Carolina train has prompted a national uproar - but you won't find it on any liberal media websites. The crazed attacker can be seen lunging at Zarutska from behind, before the footage skips the graphic slaughter to show him carrying a knife dripping with blood as he walked through the train carriage and another passenger sprinted away.

In his book Empire of the Raj (2004), historian Robert Blyth argues, “The Persian Gulf was the heart of the Indian sphere.” Indeed, the Indian subcontinent had been connected to the Gulf region through trade and migration for centuries, a reality that was built upon by the British when they established their empire in India. Contrary to what modern maps of British India might make us believe, the territory of influence of the British Raj expanded far beyond the contours of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As Sam Dalrymple points out in his book, The Shattered Lands (2025), “As recently...

(Sep. 6, 2025) — In a striking opinion issued last month, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s opinion that now 75-year-old Roberto Moncada, though born in the United States, should not have been considered a “birthright” citizen. The decision was first flagged to this writer by CDR. Charles F. Kerchner, Jr. (Ret), who on August 30 posted to his blog a video from attorney and broadcaster Robert Goveia providing an analysis of the panel’s 25-page opinion. Born in New York City in 1950 to a Nicaraguan diplomat, Moncada worked in the United...

“Portland, it’s unbelievable what’s going on in Portland. The destruction of the city. I’m going to look at it now,” Trump said in a Friday new conference.

The alumni association at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has canceled an award ceremony for actor and veterans advocate Tom Hanks, citing a desire for the Army service academy to focus on preparing future officers for war after several political controversies involving the Trump administration shook the institution this year. Retired Army Col. Mark Bieger, president and chief executive officer of the West Point Association of Graduates, disclosed the decision in an email to faculty circulated Friday. A copy of Bieger’s message was reviewed and verified by The Washington Post.

Reform party members were in a jubilant mood today, as the party's Birmingham conference aligned with news of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner's departure from government. Soon after Rayner announced she would be resigning after underpaying tax on a flat purchase in Hove, Reform party leader Nigel Farage sought to capture the moment by giving his headline speech three hours early. After a rush for seats, the crowds at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre were urged by Farage to "be ready" for an early general election in 2027 - though one isn’t expected until 2029. Watching on, our correspondent Nick Eardley...

Afghan cultural norms, enforced even in emergencies by the ruling Taliban, forbid physical contact between men and women who are not family members. In the village of Andarluckak, in Kunar Province, the emergency team hurriedly carried out wounded men and children, and treated their wounds, said Ms. Aysha, 19. But she and other women and adolescent girls, some of them bleeding, were pushed aside, she said. “They gathered us in one corner and forgot about us,” she said. No one offered the women help, asked what they needed or even approached them. Tahzeebullah Muhazeb, a male volunteer who traveled to...

Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he doesn’t believe a bipartisan effort to force a House vote compelling the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents will succeed. Asked about the discharge petition led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Johnson said he doubted they would convince enough Republicans to sign on. “I don’t expect he will,” Johnson said when asked about Massie’s chances of success. .. White House officials are running an intense pressure campaign to keep Republicans from joining the discharge effort. Trump aides have made calls to GOP members who have co-sponsored the Massie-Khanna measure, pressuring those...

A Los Angeles County judge who threatened to shoot defendants, attorneys and others or have them shot by bailiffs for behaving badly in his courtroom has been publicly admonished by a state judicial watchdog. Superior Court Judge Enrique Monguia engaged in a pattern of inappropriate comments from 2019 through 2024, the California Commission on Judicial Performance said in a 9-0 ruling last week. “The commission found that Judge Monguia’s remarks about shooting people, or having people shot in the courtroom, constituted an abuse of authority, fostered an atmosphere of intimidation in the courtroom, and, even if made in jest, were...

Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat running for governor of Virginia this fall, has chosen as her running mate, a state senator named Ghazala Hashmi, a Muslim with a history of bashing Virginia voters as racists. If you live in Virginia, prepare to hear a lot more about race if these two Democrats win. It will seem like old times. It’s also worth noting that Hashmi helped kill legislation that would allow parents to know if their child identified as transgender while at school.

No matter what dictionary you consult, the definition of “emergency” is never “a chronic situation that the leader of a country would like to address using powers not otherwise available to him.” This, though, is how the Trump administration tends to define the term. A national emergency is British troops winning the Battle of Bladensburg and heading toward the White House in 1814. A national emergency is Iranian radicals breaching the US embassy in Tehran and taking 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage in 1979. A national emergency is a pandemic reaching our shores, killing the particularly vulnerable and sickening...

Four Democrat-run states have issued their own vaccine guidelines after Florida banned all mandates. The governors of California, Oregon and Washington state announced this week they have formed the West Coast Health Alliance in an effort to 'ensure residents remain protected by science, not politics.' The alliance plans to review scientific data and make vaccine recommendations for residents in these states that are independent from federal guidelines. These guidelines will sidestep those enacted by the Trump administration and vaccine skeptic Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, including recent restrictions on the Covid shot. It's the first blue-state...

A COVID wave is washing over California, with the state seeing continued increases in the number of newly confirmed cases and hospitalizations as some officials urged the public to take greater precautions. The extent of the recent increases has prompted some county-level health officials to recommend that residents once again consider wearing masks in indoor public settings, at least until transmission has declined. California currently has "high" coronavirus levels in sewage, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And increases are being seen across the Golden State, from Los Angeles County to the San Francisco Bay Area...

The lights are off, the house is quiet and nothing seems to be running. But electricity is silently flowing through the plugs in your home. This hidden drain is known as phantom energy. Also called vampire energy, the wasted electricity comes from leaving devices plugged in when they’re not in use.

Americans are waking up to the prevalence of illegal immigrants working side by side with them as they consistently lose out to a cheaper alternative to themselves. Harjinder Singh, an illegal immigrant, caused a fatal vehicle crash Aug. 12, killing three people on the Florida Turnpike as he attempted to make a U-turn in an “Official Use Only” turnaround while driving a commercial truck. Further investigations revealed Singh failed English and road-sign tests, raising questions about his licensing eligibility. Commercial trucking is a quintessential American blue-collar job that provides economic opportunities for people all over the country. Even Mayor Adams...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Homecomings Are Still The Best! Col. Nate Vogel, 22nd Air Refueling Wing commander, poses with his family following his fini flight at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. Vogel took one last flight on a KC-46A Pegasus before relinquishing command of the 22nd ARW. (U.S Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Felicia Przydzial) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. Marines Fight! Sailors Fight with Sumo Suits! PACIFIC OCEAN - U.S....

The victims of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation told NBC News’ Hallie Jackson Wednesday that they had no knowledge of President Donald Trump doing anything inappropriate in relation to the deceased pedophile’s operation. Speculations surrounding Trump’s relationship with Epstein have drawn attention on Capitol Hill and the press following the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) conclusion that Epstein had not possessed a client list and its decision to not publicly release all of the documents relating to the sex offender’s criminal case. The victims told Jackson on “NBC News Now” that they had not heard or seen Trump do...

Democratic congressman Ro Khanna says the House will be compelled to vote on legislation to release the Epstein files if two more Republicans sign on to a petition he has introduced along with Republican congressman Thomas Massie. “We need just two more signatures to force the release,” Khanna said. So far, they have received the signatures of 212 Democrats and four Republicans: Massie, Nancy Mace, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. Those lawmakers are some of the most conservative in their party, but Khanna praised their support of the discharge petition, which can force a vote on legislation in the...