Free Republic

Mitch McConnell has missed 38 Senate votes since his June 12 fall. If absent Monday, it will be his 39th missed vote, extending his absence beyond six weeks.The United States Senate is set to convene on Monday, July 27, for a key vote to appoint Donald Trump's nominee Walter Clayton as the new Director of National Intelligence. But the lingering question remains on the Republican Party camp: will Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell be present for Monday's roll call at the Senate? McConnell remains hospitalized at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC undergoing rehabilitation after his treatment, according to...

Iran has been accused of smuggling spies into the UK disguised as small boat migrants crossing the English Channel. UK authorities are said to have discovered individuals linked to Tehran's intelligence agencies among asylum seekers arriving in Britain by using face recognition technology fitted to drones and surveillance watchtowers. It is also understood that the routes used to traffic migrants are operated and 'owned' by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Daily Mail reported in March how asylum seekers ostensibly fleeing the war in Iran had arrived in France to cross the Channel to the UK. Dozens were said...

I've never met Rupert Lowe and, judging from his latest comments this weekend, I'd say it's unlikely that's going to change. According to the leader of Restore Britain (we've got Reform and Restore; I'm looking forward to Replace and, even better, Retire) for a period in my life I wanted to destroy all that's good about Britain, create a dependency culture and, for good measure, sterilise the untermenschen. The MP for Great Yarmouth has not been looking into my soul and excavating its darkest secrets. He has, rather, been sounding off about one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories to...

The Labour Government has been accused of trying to block a report on migrant crimes from being released. The Ministry of Justice has launched legal action to prevent the publication of crime statistics by nationality. The Information Commissioner’s Office has ordered the department to release conviction data from between 2018 and 2024, which the department is now appealing. The Centre of Migration Control (CMC), a think tank, requested data on violence, sexual offences, drugs, arson, criminal damage, weapons, theft, and robbery under the Freedom of Information Act. The Ministry of Justice has argued that the data would be too expensive,...

Over the summer months, 5 million people will visit London, with its free museums and galleries, massive events featuring the biggest names in music and sport, and everything Britain’s capital city has to offer. And, as new figures released today show, they’ll be able to do so knowing London is one of the safest cities of its size in the world. On social media, a dark blizzard of disinformation – much of it coordinated and amplified by extreme groups and hostile foreign actors – has seen bots and trolls depict London as a “lawless” city where crime goes unpunished and...

Elon Musk denied that he supports the “far right” in a new interview with The Economist, countering the interviewer’s claims by saying he backs “normal people” who are mislabeled by the media. “You support not just the populist right, but the far right — in fact, very fringe parties in some countries,” said editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes in the sit-down interview. “No, I support the normal people. What you call the far right, falsely,” Musk declared. “Here are the principles, and tell me, which of these sound terrible. That we should have secure borders? That we should have safe cities?...

With the pointless war of choice in Iran going poorly, the Trump administration has declared a virtual war on the international criminal court (ICC). Secretary of state, Marco Rubio, vowed on Monday to “dismantle” the court as a supposed threat to US sovereignty. His rationale is laced with sophistry. The administration’s real goal is to secure impunity for war crimes, even those committed on the territory of ICC member states. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed and a video posted on X, Rubio conjures up a dystopia in which local American officials such as police officers or border patrol agents...

Famed progressive CNN pundit Van Jones is blasting the far left for pushing “crazy ideas” and “turds” — while warning the mainstream of the Democratic Party is too worn down to rein in the extremists. “I’m a strong Democrat, with a winning bipartisan track record. I’m rooted in progressive ideals and policies: criminal justice reform, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free education, clean air and water. These are ideas I have fought for my entire adult life,” Jones said on X over the weekend. “But some people in groups like the DSA are pushing an agenda FAR outside those...

Spain striker Borja Iglesias has conceded he will reluctantly shake Donald Trump's hand at the World Cup final because he 'doesn't want to go to prison'. The United States president will be on hand at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey to hand the Jules Rimet trophy to the winners on Sunday, with Spain taking on defending champions Argentina. It's possible, though, that Trump will meet players from both sides, and that's put Iglesias on edge. The 33-year-old has regularly made his political views clear, and spoke out during the controversy surrounding former president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation...

More voters would be more likely to support a democratic socialist candidate than a Make America Great Again supporter or a candidate endorsed by President Donald Trump, the CNBC All-America Economic Survey released Friday found. The survey’s findings come as democratic socialist candidates win Democratic primaries across the country following the November election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The shift has become a lightning rod for Republicans, who are aggressively branding Democrats as communists. The results indicate that even with a number of self-described democratic socialists on the ballot, Democrats will have the upper hand heading into November’s...

President Donald Trump thanked Iran for a 'gesture of Goodwill' after an American woman who was 'wrongly detained' in 2024 was released from the country – while also taking a shot at the former President Biden. Trump showed gratitude for the gesture in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, adding that the woman was now outside the country and in 'good condition'. 'Iran has allowed an American Citizen, who was wrongfully detained in December of 2024 under the "presidency" of Sleepy Joe Biden, to leave the Country,' wrote the president. 'She is now safely outside of Iran, and in...

Sir Keir Starmer was praised by leaders in one of his last acts of diplomacy on the world stage. The Prime Minister said there had been a “very productive” meeting on Monday of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris, as other global leaders took the chance to publicly thank him for his work. At a press conference after the talks, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of how positive it had been to work with Sir Keir. Mr Macron spoke of “how grateful the coalition is as whole to him” and stated “we owe you a lot, Prime Minister”. German...

The European Union has coordinated efforts to raise 900 million euros ($1 billion) in pledges of aid for Gaza’s rebuilding following two years of Israeli bombardment that left much of the Palestinian enclave in ruins, a senior EU official said Monday. How much of the money will be delivered, and when reconstruction of Gaza can begin, is unclear. The ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas militant group that took effect in October is effectively stalled. European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica announced the fund after a meeting in Brussels of the Palestine Donors Group, which includes EU and Middle...

Andy Burnham and his allies set out a vision of Britain moving even further to the Left under his premiership today, hours after he was effectively anointed Labour leader without a fight. The former Manchester mayor last night won the backing of 322 Labour MPs to replace Sir Keir Starmer, in practice meaning no challenger can now get enough support to oppose him. And this morning one of his closest allies in the Cabinet signalled he could put up taxes or increase public borrowing to fund an increase in defence spending.

Mark Carney swept to power on a backlash to President Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state, which many Americans took for mere shtick. But for the new prime minister, reading intelligence reports detailing the gravity of the crisis, it was a breaking point. In private phone conversations with Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, Trump had threatened to scrap the 1908 agreement delineating their shared border. “I tear that up and your whole country unravels,” Trump told Trudeau in one call, according to two people familiar with the matter. Over dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trudeau’s envoys tried to dissuade Trump from...

Elon Musk is set to meet Rupert Lowe, the MP leading a rival right-wing party to Reform UK, after the tech billionaire fell out with Nigel Farage. Lowe said he would meet the tech billionaire on Sunday as part of a trip to the US, which has included visits to Texas and Washington. The MP appeared in a two-hour interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, one of the world’s most popular podcasts. Lowe split from Farage early last year after Reform UK accused him of bullying, which he denies. Restore Britain was founded by Lowe soon after. A candidate for...

The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s three-hour version of Homer’s epic poem, world premiered in London on Monday night, and critics who saw the film there and at early screenings in the US have been sharing their takes on one of the year’s most hotly anticipated films. “Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey is a colossal origin-myth story of postwar disillusion and a loss of innocence witnessed by the dead,” wrote the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, ahead of the reviews embargo lifting next Wednesday and next Friday’s worldwide release. IndieWire editor-at-large Anne Thompson called the film the best picture contender to beat, and added that Matt...

Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a stark warning to NATO: Europe cannot afford to wait years for a new generation of anti-ballistic missile systems while Russia continues expanding its missile attacks. Speaking at the NATO Defence Industries Forum in Ankara, the Ukrainian president said ballistic missiles remain “Russia’s last major advantage” and called for the rapid development of affordable, mass-produced European air-defence systems. His warning came after Russia launched another devastating missile and drone assault on Kyiv, killing 26 people in the second major attack on the Ukrainian capital in just four days. The strikes highlighted a growing weakness in Ukraine’s...

Ukraine and Germany have formed a joint working group to discuss how to return Ukrainian men of military age who left the country illegally, according to Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Oleksiy Makeiev. As of late May, Germany hosted approximately 1.35 million Ukrainian refugees, including 356,000 men between the ages of 18 and 63. However, the specific mechanisms currently under discussion have not been disclosed. The development followed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s April remarks that Berlin would limit the number of Ukrainian men seeking asylum and facilitate their return home during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Germany. The ambassador outlined broader...

Talking to LBC's Sunday with Lewis Goodall, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party called for more restrictions on social media usage around the date of elections, calling for rules to be aligned with current broadcasting restrictions. "We absolutely need to strengthen regulation in the social media place," she told LBC, adding that she already has some proposals to put forward, "especially when it’s election time,” as part of a current bill being looked at in Parliament. "We’ve got an elections bill going through the House of Commons at the moment; to strengthen that bill, so that social media comes...