Free Republic

Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump's administration on Saturday put journalists at Voice of America and other US-funded broadcasters on leave, abruptly freezing outlets long seen as critical to countering a Russian and Chinese information offensive. Hundreds of reporters and other staff at VOA, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets received a weekend email saying they will be barred from their offices and should surrender press passes, office-issued telephones and other equipment. Trump, who has already eviscerated the US aid agency and Education Department, on Friday issued an executive order listing the US Agency for Global Media...

United Nations aid agencies have been sent questionnaires by the US asking them to state if they have "anti-American" beliefs or affiliations. Among the 36 questions on the form, sent by the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and seen by the BBC, is one asking if they have any links to communism. Some of the world's biggest humanitarian organisations have received the questionnaire, including the UN Refugee Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Many of the UN aid agencies who were sent the form receive funding, not just from USAID, but directly from the US...

The Senate passed a bipartisan bill Friday that will permanently classify fentanyl-related substances, also known as fentanyl analogs, as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act. The HALT Fentanyl Act passed with overwhelming support, earning 84 Senate votes while 16 opposed it. The bill aims to close loopholes exploited by drug traffickers who smuggle substances with chemical compositions similar to fentanyl but are different enough to evade legal penalties. "What this bill does — it says, 'OK, it's illegal to bring in fentanyl.' But it recognizes that some of those attempting to bring in fentanyl will try and circumvent...

The U.S. military conducted wide-ranging air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday, President Trump said. Why it matters: It was the biggest wave of U.S. strikes in Yemen since Trump assumed office. A U.S. official said Saturday's strikes were not a one-off but the start of a series of "relentless" U.S. strikes against the Houthis that are expected to last for days or maybe even weeks. Driving the news: According to local reports in Yemen, numerous explosions took place in Sana'a around 1:30pm ET. Trump said the strikes were aimed at "terrorists' bases, leaders, and missile defenses." Behind...

His intellectual waterboarding of Europe’s elites was a joy to watch. Well, that was a delicious spectacle. America’s self-made VP gloriously roasting the wizened technocrats of Europe. A Yank from dirt-poor origins sticking it to Europe’s turbo-smug ruling class. How they squirmed as the boy from Ohio who somehow made it to the top of US politics chastised them for their indecent desertion of the ideals of liberty, democracy and security. It was like an intellectual waterboarding, and I loved every minute of it. This is JD Vance’s stirring speech at the Munich Security Conference yesterday. But you already knew,...

U.S. Vice President JD Vance has warned that Europe risks “civilizational suicide” if it continues to undermine fundamental Western liberties and engage in mass migration policies. In an interview published on Friday evening with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, Vice President Vance doubled down on his critique of the globalist agenda that dominates much of Europe, warning that, ultimately, it may be the downfall of the “the cradle of Western civilization”. “The entire idea of Christian civilisation that led to the founding of the United States of America was formed in Europe. The cultural bonds, the religious bonds – these things...

A deranged, anti-Elon Musk dad scrawled a swastika on the side of a Cybertruck in Brooklyn in a brazen attack committed right in front of The Post. The lefty loon was so triggered by the $80,000 electric Tesla truck parked on Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights that he double-parked his Subaru – with two car seats in the back – burst out, and defaced the car. The Cybertruck’s owner Avi Ben Hamo, who is Jewish, was stunned. “I feel myself burning inside,” Ben Hamo said. Back in his Subaru, the hateful vandal tried to speed off — but Ben Hamo,...

The Basel III Countdown Begins Basel III will be implemented in the U.S. on July 1, 2025. The much needed change strengthens bank capital requirements, limits leverage, and increases liquidity standards to reduce financial risk and enhance banking system stability. A significant part of that involves restoration of Gold to its status as Tier 1 capital reserved for the world’s highest valued collateral. What follows is an analysis and explanation of the scramble to repatriate both Gold and Silver by American banks as that deadline approaches. 1. Repatriation: Quiet Additions to the U.S. Balance Sheet The gold being repatriated now...

A radical federal judge has moved to block former President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure America’s borders and protect its citizens. On Saturday, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg, an Obama-appointed leftist, granted a temporary restraining order to stop the Trump administration from deporting thousands of Venezuelan nationals under the Alien Enemies Act—an action well within the executive’s constitutional authority. This outrageous ruling comes after far-left groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Democracy Forward, rushed to court in a desperate bid to shield illegal immigrants from deportation. Their lawsuit, J.G.G. v. Trump, seeks to upend Trump’s lawful enforcement...

Business leaders are calling for as many as eight million non-Western migrants to be transplanted to Ukraine to mitigate the “demographic crisis” created by its three-year war with Russia. The news vindicates warnings from Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, that the conflict would be used as an excuse to transform the country.All-Ukrainian Association of Companies for International Employment chief Vasily Voskoboinik appeared on state television in February to push for mass migration, saying, “According to estimates by the International Organization for Migration”—a United Nations agency that preaches about immigration being “inevitable, desirable, and necessary”—” and the International Labour...

Vice President JD Vance announced Friday that businesses and corporations that invest in the United States “will be rewarded” with things such as having their taxes cut and would also benefit from decreasing regulations and energy costs.At Vantage Plastics, a plastic manufacturing plant in Bay City, Michigan, Vance spoke about how the Trump administration’s “goal is to make it easier and more affordable to make things again” in the U.S.“President Trump has been clear about his plan, about our administration’s plan — our goal is to make it easier and more affordable to make things again in the United States...

p class="a9d-pre">If you’re looking for an explanation of why the stock market has been stumbling, the financial press has a ready-made answer: blame Trump’s tariffs. The claim is familiar, convenient, and utterly predictable. It also happens to be wrong. Markets don’t move in neat response to political narratives, and the idea that investors suddenly woke up to the perils of trade policy months after Trump was elected is as laughable as it is lazy.If the press had a better explanation, they’d use it—so long as it made President Trump look bad. Instead, they’re dusting off the same script they used...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said he ordered a series of airstrikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Saturday, promising to use “overwhelming lethal force” until Iranian-backed Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor. “Our brave Warfighters are right now carrying out aerial attacks on the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom,” Trump said in a social media post. “No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World.” He also...

The prime minister’s diagnosis of the state apparatus he perches on the top of was far from flattering. Just eight months in Downing Street and he sees, too often he feels, a flabby, unfocused, overcautious bureaucracy; “too much stodge and regulation” as he put it. Ministerial levers yanked today, nothing or not much happening tomorrow – or ever. In culling the biggest arms length body of the lot, NHS England; a statement of intent – for a leaner, more responsive and crucially more accountable State. If it’s an analysis that feels discombobulating coming from him, yes former Tory PM Liz...

250% for milk? 291% for butter? 208% for whey? 241% for CHEESE? Oh wait - those are actually tariffs that Canada imposed on the U.S. last year.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday aimed at gutting the parent of U.S. government-funded media outlet Voice of America and six other federal agencies, his administration's latest step to shrink bureaucracy. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday aimed at gutting the parent of U.S. government-funded media outlet Voice of America and six other federal agencies, his administration's latest step to shrink bureaucracy. VOA, an international media broadcaster that operates in more than 40 languages online and on radio and television, is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media. The agency also funds Radio...

The Palestinian terrorist organization known as Hamas offered Friday to release one living American hostage and the bodies of four dead American hostages while retaining about 55 Israeli hostages, in response to American proposals. The offer came after U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff proposed a second-phase hostage deal that would see half of all the remaining hostages freed at the start of a ceasefire period, and the other half released at the end of the period. Israel immediately accepted the deal. Hamas

The United Nations' top humanitarian aid official stated that he has "not seen a shred of evidence" suggesting the UN was involved in the holding of hostages in Gaza, either through the use of its facilities or by its staff. Speaking to Fox News Digital on Thursday, Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), dismissed allegations that former Hamas hostages were detained in UN-run buildings or by UN personnel. "I have not seen a shred of evidence so far, and I have asked for it, that suggests...

The US is expelling South Africa's ambassador to Washington, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing him as a "race-baiting politician". In a post on X, Rubio accused Ebrahim Rasool of hating the US and President Donald Trump, and said the ambassador was "no longer welcome in our great country". The office for South Africa's president on Saturday called the decision "regrettable", adding that the country remained committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the US. The rare move by the US marks the latest development in rising tensions between the two countries. While lower-ranking diplomats are sometimes expelled,...

Donald J. Trump’s electoral victory alarmed most New York Democrats — but not Eric Adams. For Mr. Adams, the mayor of New York City who had been criminally indicted and faced political isolation, it was a golden opportunity. In the weeks before the presidential inauguration, Mr. Adams cozied up to Mr. Trump, his political allies and his family. The mayor called the president-elect on multiple occasions, congratulating him on his election victory and discussing city affairs. He met at a luxury Manhattan hotel with Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s ally and former top aide. And he contacted the president’s second...