Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul renewed his skepticism Tuesday of a U.S.-Mexico border wall, asserting that the Trump administration has not justified the $46 billion for construction included in the pending House budget reconciliation package. The Kentucky Republican, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, made the comments at the tail end of an oversight hearing intended to evaluate President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request on homeland security and immigration.“So I know that the wall has a great symbolic value, but I think we should reassess … what we want to do and how much it costs,” Paul...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is blazing forward with a controversial move to repeal California's EV mandate — and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is warning it will come back to bite him.Why it matters: Schumer (D-N.Y.) all but threatened to deploy similar strategies to get around opinions by key, nonpartisan rule makers if and when he grabs back control of the chamber."What goes around comes around," Schumer said on Tuesday. He and other Democratic leaders have described the GOP move as a "nuclear option."Thune (R-S.D.) accused Democrats of "throwing a tantrum."Driving the news: The Senate will vote as soon as...

After Trump pep talk, key factions are moving toward a final megabill accord.President Donald Trump's Tuesday morning visit to Capitol Hill appeared to have its intended effect. | Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images Republican leaders are increasingly confident they will be able to notch a final deal with key GOP megabill holdouts and move toward a final vote in the coming days after several whirlwind hours of closely held negotiations.The upbeat turn in the frequently tumultuous talks was described by six senior Republicans who are participating in them. It came after President Donald Trump visited Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to...

WASHINGTON — For generations, official American documents have been meticulously preserved and protected — from the era of quills and parchment to boxes of paper to the cloud, safeguarding snapshots of the government and the nation for posterity. Now, the Trump administration has sought to expand the executive branch’s power to shield from public view key administration initiatives. Officials have used apps like Signal that can auto-delete messages containing sensitive information rather than retaining them for record-keeping. And they have shaken up the National Archives leadership. To historians and archivists, it points to the possibility that President Trump will leave...

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is issuing a bill that would effectively eliminate the multimillion-dollar birth tourism industry, where foreign nationals secure temporary visas to the United States for the sole purpose of delivering their unborn children who then secure birthright American citizenship. While President Donald Trump seeks to end birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, Blackburn is looking to ban birth tourism. Annually, an estimated 33,000 U.S.-born children are rewarded birthright American citizenship solely because their foreign parents arrived in the U.S. on a temporary visa, often a tourist visa. Decades later, those U.S.-born children can sponsor...

In a reversal, President Trump appears to have backed off joining a European push for new sanctions on Russia, seemingly eager to move on to doing business deals with it.For months, President Trump has been threatening to simply walk away from the frustrating negotiations for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.After a phone call on Monday between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, that appears to be exactly what the American president is doing. The deeper question now is whether he is also abandoning America’s three-year-long project to support Ukraine, a nascent democracy that he has frequently...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. officials must retain custody and control of migrants apparently removed to South Sudan in case he orders their removals were unlawful. U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts issued the ruling after an emergency hearing, after attorneys for immigrants said the Trump administration appears to have begun deporting people from Myanmar and Vietnam to South Sudan — despite a court order restricting removals to other countries. Murphy said the government must “maintain custody and control of class members currently being removed to South Sudan or to any other...

SummaryBonded warehouses offer tariff flexibility amid trade policy volatility Applications for bonded status face delays, costs vary by location and security needs Demand for bonded space surges, but future tariff changes pose risks LONDON/NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - Companies importing goods into the United States from China are rushing to convert warehouses into facilities that are exempt from President Donald Trump's tariffs until they are ready to sell the merchandise.The U.S. has more than 1,700 bonded warehouses, facilities where imported goods can be held without immediate payment of customs duties such as tariffs, currently 30% for shipments from China....

Douglas Horne's prepared testimony for May 20, 2025 hearing: https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Horne-Written-Testimony.pdf The video of the hearing is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLvAWO6ph-kI recommend you watch: Dr. Curtis, who attended JFK at Parkland Hospital (46:15-56:05) Mr. Hardway, who worked for the House Select Committee on Assassination in 1977 (1:12:05-1:20:10) Douglas Horne, who worked for the Assassination Record Review Board in 1994-1997 (1:33:25-1:43:55), (1:53:50-1:55:15) (2:33:40-2:46:45) Horne's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DouglasHorneJFKAssassination

Chinese scientists discovered a novel strain of bacterium with “unique abilities” that allowed it to thrive on the Tiangong Space Station, according to a report. The newly named Niallia tiangongensis was isolated by taikonauts from surface hardware on the China Space Station, according to a paper from the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. The novel strain is closely related to the terrestrial bacterium Niallia circulans, which is found in soil, sewage, food and human stool — but exhibits several mutations that could prove beneficial in the study of life...

Officials are hoping to set the record straight that, despite recent cuts, the National Weather Service was not hindered from forecasting this weekend’s deadly storms.

The hits just keep coming for Joe Biden’s presidency and the Democrat party. One of the details in Jake Tapper’s book, which came out today, is that Biden’s cabinet meetings were scripted, meaning that they were little more than theater. People in these meetings were more like actors than government officials. They also reportedly used cameras to cover any mistakes. If this is accurate, it basically means that Biden’s presidency was almost completely fake. Biden team scripted Cabinet meetings, used multiples cameras to cover flubs: Book https://t.co/IeQAGAi2ZZ — The Hill (@thehill) May 20, 2025 From The Hill: Tapper and Thompson...

Pennsylvania voters headed to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the municipal primary election. FULL PRIMARY RESULTS: STATE RACES | COUNTY RACES | MAYORS, COUNCILS | JUDGES, DAs, SHERIFF | SCHOOL DISTRICTS | SMALL GAMES OF CHANCE REFERENDUM. Results at Article Links.

To say football was in Nasir Adderley's blood is an understatement. His grandfather, Nelson Adderley, played at Ohio State and in the Canadian Football League. His grandfather's cousin, Herb Adderley, was a cornerback for the Green Bay Packers who eventually landed a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (and who was one of my dad's favorite players from his childhood, apparently). At just five years old, with his grandfather's encouragement, Nasir developed a passion for the sport himself. Nelson even predicted he'd play in the NFL one day, though sadly, the elder Adderley died just before Nasir started...

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals on Monday announced it is buying 23andMe out of bankruptcy for $256 million – taking with it the company’s extensive trove of genetic samples and data. It will acquire 23andMe’s Personal Genome Service, Total Health and Research Services and its large biobank, including genetic data of more than 15 million customers – raising privacy concerns from individuals who had willingly handed over the samples to completely different owners. All of 23andMe’s genetic testing services will continue uninterrupted, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 pending bankruptcy court and regulatory approvals, Regeneron said....

President Trump on Tuesday named Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein to lead his “Golden Dome” project to improve and integrate America’s missile defense technology — as House Republicans included $25 billion for the plan in the latest version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Trump said the plan would make good on Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” project in the 1980s to protect America from incoming nuclear missiles. “We will truly be completing the job that President Reagan started 40 years ago, forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “The success rate...

The Justice Department has reportedly opened a criminal investigation into former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for allegedly lying to Congress about the nursing home deaths in the Empire State during the COVID-19 pandemic. The probe into the New York City mayoral frontrunner was launched about a month ago by the Washington, DC, US Attorney’s Office, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The office was led at the time by Ed Martin, who was replaced earlier this month by Jeanine Pirro. The Republican-led panel asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue criminal...

The “presidency” of Joe Biden is one of the greatest scandals in American history. The legacy media is only now covering the mental incapacity of a president who apparently left the entire ship of state to the unaccountable bureaucracy. On Friday, Axios released Friday night news dump audio of Biden’s 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur. ... If you heard the tape and haven’t been in a coma for the past four years, then nothing here is truly surprising. The former president sounded senile and evasive when answering questions about his handling of top secret documents. Some of my...

Democratic strategist James Carville said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that the Trump administration charged Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) with assault because of her race. Carville said, “This is my personal opinion, I think they went after her, and I think her race has something to do with it. I’ll just flat out and say that. It’s my point of view.” Host Ari Melber said, “You’re of the view that you’re asserting that the Trump administration or DOJ is targeting her racially. Why do you assert that?” Carville said, “Because that’s what they’re about, and they’re trying to show it’s...

President Trump’s choice to run the Kennedy Center has said he has found $26 million in fraudulent revenue. Addressing several board members during a dinner in the White House’s State Dining Room, Grenell stated that a review of the center’s budgets from the past two years had uncovered what he described as “$26 million in phantom revenue—fake revenue.” “It’s criminal,” Grenell said. “We’re going to refer this to the U.S. attorney’s office here.” SHOCKING! Ric Grenell just revealed the new CFO of The Kennedy Center went through the 2024 & 2025 budgets and found $26 MILLION in PHANTOM REVENUE. FAKE...