Free Republic

The American people are just now emerging from the longest and most devastating government shutdown in U.S. history. And while the blame lies squarely with Senate Democrats, we cannot ignore the weapon they used to hold the country hostage: the legislative filibuster. In January, when spending considerations again come due, if Democrats once again choose to shut down the government, then Republicans should immediately end the filibuster.By wielding the filibuster, which requires a 60-vote Senate supermajority to pass legislation, Democrats inflicted tremendous harm on the nation, including: $11 billion in permanent economic damage; an estimated 1.5 percentage points in lost...

MARGARET BRENNAN: ... Is the President holding himself to the same standard that he is asking of others when it comes to dialing back dangerous rhetoric? PAUL: You know, everybody knows that the President is famous for his unfiltered social media. But if you take at face value the idea that calling your opponents traitors and then specifically saying that it warrants the death penalty is reckless, inappropriate, irresponsible, there are a number of other ways to describe it, but it’s not something that is helping the country heal wounds. I think it stirs things up and- and really, I...

Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said Sunday he would advise against Ukraine signing the peace proposal that President Donald Trump has offered to end its war with Russia unless more "ironclad" security guarantees are written into the agreement."Without that, I would not advise Ukraine to sign this. They can't sign an agreement like Budapest and then allow Russia to invade again," McCaul told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.Peace talks continue as American officials are meeting on Sunday with a Ukrainian delegation in Geneva.

A U.S. Department of Justice employee has been hit with state terrorism charges after allegedly doxxing a federal agent during a border raid. This week, investigators with the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office arrested Karen Olvera De Leon on charges stemming from a criminal indictment. Olvera De Leon is an employee with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville and is charged with one count of terrorism and one count of tampering with physical evidence. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, the case began on June 9,...

Ten years ago this month, I announced that Wyoming Catholic College—where I was then serving as president—had made the deliberate decision to forgo participation in federal student loan and grant programs. Our reason was simple: We believed that accepting federal dollars might compromise our mission to “immerse students in the Great Books (the Western canon), the Good Book (the Bible), and God’s First Book (nature).” In other words, we chose to reject federal funds for the sake of defending classical education. What a difference a decade makes. Today, classical education is no longer something to simply be defended—it is ascendant,...

Convicted Israeli spy Jonathan J. Pollard downplayed the controversy around his private meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, telling NBC News the visit was “personal” and “wasn’t done surreptitiously.” The “main point” of the meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in July, Pollard said, was to “thank” the ambassador for “his efforts on my behalf during my incarceration.” Pollard, a former American intelligence analyst, spent 30 years in prison on espionage charges after being found to have passed critical security documents to Israeli intelligence in the 1980s. Israel made Pollard a citizen during his lengthy prison term,...

Summary DOGE disbanded eight months ahead of scheduled end in July 2026 Former DOGE employees take new roles in administration Elon Musk initially led DOGE, promoting its work on social media WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has disbanded with eight months left to its mandate, ending an initiative launched with fanfare as a symbol of Trump's pledge to slash the government's size but which critics say delivered few measurable savings. "That doesn't exist," Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Reuters earlier this month when asked about DOGE's status. It is...

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s lax residency directive is ‘unconstitutional and unlawful,’ the RNC lawsuit alleges. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is violating the state’s constitution and breaking the law through a directive allowing individuals who have never resided in Michigan to vote in the Great Lakes State’s elections, a lawsuit filed Friday by the Michigan GOP and the Republican National Committee alleges. The complaint, exclusively obtained by The Federalist, takes issue with the secretary of state’s guidance on overseas voters who generally fall under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The lawsuit asks the court to...

The concerns surrounding Trump’s immigration clampdown in the Tar Heel state speak to a tension at the center of the president’s immigration agenda.Patrick Sebastian, a GOP pollster based in North Carolina, said voters “draw a clear line” between deporting immigrants who are living in the country illegally and working but not breaking other laws, and unauthorized immigrants who have committed crimes. “In purple states, there’s broad support for removing the latter — and the left looks foolish protesting that,” Sebastian said. “But the other narrative has gotten more play over the past week, and that could be a problem for...

The Telegraph has published a draft of the European “peace plan” for Ukraine — an alternative to the U.S. proposal. It includes 24 points, and many of them look tougher in Kyiv’s favor compared to the American version. Key points: 🔵 Full ceasefire and international monitoring (U.S. + Europe, satellites, drones, on-the-ground inspections). 🔵 Russia must return all deported Ukrainian children and all detained civilians. 🔵 Exchange of all prisoners of war under the “all for all” formula. 🔵 Ukraine receives legally binding security guarantees from the U.S. — effectively a version of Article 5. 🔵 No restrictions on the...

The Democrats’ orders to defy President Trump’s lawful orders and their outrage over Trump’s calls for accountability– and even the death penalty– are now blowing up in their faces after days of intended backlash against Trump.Trump is being proven right to call for criminal charges and the death penalty, if a jury determines it appropriate, by their own statements! In a recent video message to active-duty military members, six Democratic lawmakers told service members and intelligence officials that they have a “duty” to disobey “illegal” orders from President Trump. The members of Congress used their credentials as high-ranking former members...

The objective is a peaceful resolution, but Zelensky must accept the terms. If he refuses, then “he can continue to fight his little heart out”, meaning Ukraine will fall regardless. Submit, or die. (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)Is this your final offer to Ukraine? No, not my final offer. I would like to get the peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened. If I were president, it never would have happened. We're trying to get it ended. One way or the other, we have to...

Over nearly four years of wartime leadership, analysts say the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly played weak hands wisely. A U.S. peace plan may be his biggest test.It is another make-or-break moment of wartime leadership for President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Late last week, the Trump administration delivered to Mr. Zelensky a 28-point peace plan that many Ukrainians and their Western allies have called a wish list for Russia, a reward for its aggression and a betrayal of Ukraine. The Ukrainian leader was given seven days to either accept it or potentially watch the United States walk away from any remaining...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, in Beirut, calling him a "mass murderer" responsible for attacks on Israelis and Americans. Netanyahu framed the strike as part of Israel’s ongoing effort to dismantle Hezbollah’s leadership and prevent the group from rebuilding its arsenal after recent operations. He warned that Israel would not tolerate future threats from Lebanon and urged its government to disarm Hezbollah. "A few hours ago, the IDF eliminated Ali Tabatabai, the chief of staff of the Hezbollah terrorist organization," Netanyahu said. "Tabatabai is...

Fmr CIA Ops Officer: Slotkin ‘Knew Exactly What She Was Putting Together with Her Little Propaganda Video’ On Friday’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” on FNC, former CIA operations officer and host of the “The Wright Report” podcast, Bryan Dean Wright, argued that Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) intentionally sparked a firestorm with what he deemed a “propaganda video” urging military members to defy so-called “illegal orders.” “All right, Brian, these Democrats. Is this seditious what they’re doing?” host Jesse Watters asked. “It is,” Wright replied. “And look, we need to be very, very clear about Slotkin and who she is, so she...

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio touched down in Geneva on Sunday morning for discussions on a 28-point plan for peace to end the Ukraine war, after Washington signalled flexibility on the controversial proposal.As Breitbart News detailed, the plan — reportedly drafted by President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — was first presented to Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umarov in Kyiv, who made some revisions and passed it along to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.Umarov later denied expressing approval for much of the plan, saying he merely helped to organize discussions about it.Trump has given...

The woman set alight by a lunatic on a Chicago metro train is a 26-year-old analyst for Caterpillar who suffered burns to 60 percent of her body. Bethany MaGee, 26, was doused in gasoline and set alight on the city's Blue Line on Monday night, but managed to flee the train and survive. MaGee, from Upland in Indiana, works as a business research analyst at Caterpillar after graduating with a bachelors of science at Purdue's Polytechnic Institute. Her Facebook profile photos revealed that she is an animal lover and churchgoer, who is close to her parents Emily and Gregory, and...

Timeline of Somali Immigration and Fraud in Minnesota 1991: Somali Civil War erupts after Siad Barre’s fall, displacing over 1 million. U.S. begins admitting Somalis under humanitarian refugee policies, facilitated by NGO’s. 1992–1993: First wave of ~5,000 Somali refugees resettled in Minnesota, attracted by generous welfare access. Clan based networks form in Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, known as “Little Mogadishu.” 1990s–2000s: MN Somali population grows to 70,000–80,000. Welfare dependency is high, with roughly 40% on benefits. Remittances to Somalia start, reaching ~$1.7 billion annually by 2023, exceeding Somalia’s government budget. Al-Shabaab emerges in 2006, taxing hawala, money transfer networks. 2007–2015: Minnesota leads...

NABUMALI, Uganda (AP) — Among the most sensitive family disputes Moses Kutoi mediates are those involving upset men questioning why some of their children don’t resemble them. For the Ugandan clan leader attuned to the wisdom of his ancestors, the matter is taboo, never to be discussed with others. Yet Kutoi feels compelled to intervene in the hope of saving marriages that sometimes turn violent and are on the verge of breaking. “Even me, I don’t resemble my father,” the clan leader recently told one disbelieving man he was helping. Paternity has become a key test of faith in this...

Grok Summary of Video Transcript:Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) appeared on a Sunday morning show to discuss the intense backlash and security threats she and other Democratic lawmakers have received after releasing a video reminding U.S. military personnel of their right and duty to disobey unlawful orders. President Trump has repeatedly labeled the lawmakers “traitors” engaged in “seditious behavior at the highest level,” called for their arrest and trial, and amplified posts suggesting they be hanged or punished by death. Slotkin said the rhetoric, coming directly from the President, immediately escalated threats against them and changed the security environment.Slotkin defended the...