Free Republic

"They can use their own personal credit cards," said one Republican chairman.. Republican leaders in the House have denied requests by Democrats to approve congressional trips to check on deportees at a mega prison in El Salvador. With a post to X on Friday, House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) revealed a letter in which he told a pair of Democrats that he was rejecting their demand for authorization of a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL) to visit the Terrorism Confinement Center or CECOT. “If Democrats wish to travel to El Salvador and meet with a foreign illegal MS-13 gang member,...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday he will cut short an official visit to South Africa because of a major Russian attack on Kyiv overnight. Zelenskyy still held a planned meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the government's Union Buildings in Pretoria but said on his Telegram page that he would return home after that. Zelenskyy arrived in South Africa late Wednesday night just as Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital that killed at least nine people and injured more than 70.

Sen. Van Hollen took a highly publicized trip last week to El Salvador to advocate for Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return.. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Monday after he admitted that his trip to El Salvador to meet a deported illegal immigrant was paid for by taxpayers. Van Hollen took heat from Republicans and one of his constituents, Angel Mom Patty Morin, after he flew to El Salvador in an effort to bring home deported illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the White House maintains is an MS-13 gang member. On "Fox...

The U.S. Navy officially scrapped a Biden-era “climate action” plan for the force on Tuesday, signifying the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to refocus the military towards warfighting. “Today, I’m focusing on the warfighters first, and I’m rescinding the Biden administration’s climate action program. Our focus needs to be on lethality and our warfighters,” Navy Secretary John Phelan announced in a video message. Released in May 2022, the Climate Action 2030 program contained a series of actions and goals the Department of the Navy (DON) has taken or planned to undertake to tackle what Biden Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro characterized...

TORONTO - The Canadian Securities Administrators says it has indefinitely paused work on developing new mandatory climate disclosures and updating diversity reporting rules in response to recent developments in the United States. Stan Magidson, chair of the CSA, says it made the decision to support companies because of the rapid shift in the global economic and geopolitical landscape. He says the regulator will instead focus on making Canadian markets more competitive, efficient and resilient. In recent years, there’s been a push to require companies to report more details on what climate-related risks they face and how they plan to address...

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “All In” that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is acting “unconstitutionally and illegally” on behalf of President Donald Trump. Discussing Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk, Markey said, “There have been no charges that have been lodged against her, no evidence produced except for an op ed that she wrote in the Tufts University newspaper as part of a debate going on at Tufts University. Beyond that, they have charged her with nothing. And so to the extent to which this is more like Russia or more like Belarus, where someone might be swept...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The world’s biggest corporations have caused $28 trillion in climate damage, a new study estimates as part of an effort to make it easier for people and governments to hold companies financially accountable, like the tobacco giants have been. A Dartmouth College research team came up with the estimated pollution caused by 111 companies, with more than half of the total dollar figure coming from 10 fossil fuel providers: Saudi Aramco, Gazprom, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, National Iranian Oil Co., Pemex, Coal India and the British Coal Corporation. For comparison, $28 trillion is a shade less than...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is spending $500 million to put an additional 1,000 electric school buses on the road as federal cuts and freezes paused efforts in other states to replace aging diesel-fueled fleets that are more polluting. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Wednesday that 1,000 zero-emission school buses and related charging infrastructure will be provided to over 130 rural, low-income and disadvantaged school districts. The state grants add about 500 more charging stations for school buses to more than 200 stations already in operation in districts. The expansion contrasts efforts in other states that were hampered by the...

President Trump continues to walk back his original tariff assault, and markets are pleased. They rose again Wednesday after Mr. Trump said he won’t fire the Federal Reserve Chairman and is likely to retreat from his highest China tariffs. Is this Mr. Trump’s François Mitterrand moment? Readers of a certain age will recall how the French Socialist President swept into power in 1981 promising a far left agenda of government control over the private economy. The market reaction was brutal. Within a year he had put socialism on pause and by 1983 he had abandoned most of it. He went...

Liberalism is dead and liberals killed it.. A handful of years after they cheered a president flanked by armed soldiers declaring half the countries to be enemies of the state, liberals are denouncing President Trump as a dangerous authoritarian. The misinformation censors of yesteryear have suddenly discovered that they love free speech and the men who filled D.C. with federal troops worry about the right to protest. This born-again liberalism fools absolutely no one except the fools virtue signaling it. The majority of liberals cast aside liberal values, they learned to deplore meritocracy, fair play, freedom of speech and all...

MANKATO, Minn. (FOX 9) - A man arrested for shoplifting from a Mankato business led authorities to discover a stash of guns and information that authorities believe were plans for a "mass casualty" attack within the next 24 hours. What we know: Mohamed Adan Mohamed, 24, of St. Peter, faces felony charges of theft and threats of violence after surveillance footage caught him taking $2,150 worth of ammunition magazines, bear spray and body armor on April 17. According to charges, store employees became suspicious when he began selecting high-priced items without checking the prices. As he attempted to leave, store...

When Matt Raboin founded his hard cider company in Wisconsin eight years ago, he wanted to buy American. But he soon found out that his needs as a small, upstart cidery couldn’t be met by any existing American bottle makers because his orders were too small. Forced to look overseas, Raboin, like many American small business owners and consumers, found the best bang for his buck in China. Now, his vulnerable business model has been disrupted nearly overnight by President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, which escalated at a dizzying rate, giving business owners little time to adapt. While...

President Trump has repeatedly shared an image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's finger tattoos in an effort to link the Maryland man, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador on March 15, to the notorious MS-13 gang. On Monday, Mr. Trump again shared a photo of Abrego Garcia's left hand on social media, alleging he "had 'MS-13' tattooed onto his knuckles." The image shows the characters "M," "S," "1" and "3" digitally added above Abrego Garcia's existing tattoos — a leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull — along with labels describing each symbol beneath. Many people online recognized...

ATLANTA (AP) — The pastor of a Georgia megachurch who led a nationwide 40-day “fast” boycott of Target stores over the retail chain's commitment to diversity initiatives is now calling for that effort to continue as a “full Target boycott.” The Rev. Jamal Bryant said this week that the Minneapolis-based retailer has not met all of the boycott effort's demands. Among them: Restoring its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion principles and pledging money to Black-owned banks and businesses. Target announced in January that it would phase out a handful of DEI initiatives, including a program designed to help Black...

US President Donald Trump has signaled a potential U-turn on his trade war with China amid continued market volatility, saying the high tariffs on Chinese goods will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.” Trump’s remarks, made at a White House news event Tuesday, appear to mark a rhetorical climbdown after weeks of tough posturing and tit-for-tat retaliation that sent tariffs on China beyond a staggering 145%. “145% is very high and it won’t be that high,” Trump said in a question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office. “It won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down...

Canada is a proud nation that will “never” submit to foreign domination — but if it is to be ruled by a landed septuagenarian from afar, its citizens would prefer King Charles to Donald Trump, hands down. In fact, Canadians would rather return to the to the British Empire than adopt Trump’s repeated insistence that it become the 51st U.S. state, even with his promises of lower taxes and better security, according to a new poll. The poll, conducted for DailyMail.com by J&L Partners, reveals that a 54 percent majority of Canadians would prefer King Charles III as their head...

President Trump signed an executive order this afternoon that targets the broken college accreditation system. Basically, colleges and universities become accredited through third-party agencies, which play a big role in determining whether these higher education institutions can receive federal funds. And, President Trump [requires] these college accrediting agencies to change their criteria to prioritize merit over woke ideologies. ... Colleges and universities are accredited to ensure they meet basic standards by third-party entities, not the federal government, though the Department of Education decides which accrediting agencies to recognize. The accreditation process has broad implications since the government uses it to...

In an unprecedented move, the Justice Department has announced the indictment of a leader of the violent Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang, who will face terrorism and international drug distribution charges. This is the first time the DOJ has brought terrorism charges against a member of the newly designated foreign terrorist organization. FBI Director Kash Patel called the first-of-its-kind terrorism indictment ‘a critical step in dismantling their network and holding its members accountable.’ Enrique Martinez Flores, 24, a reportedly high-ranking member of TdA who goes by the name ‘Chiqui.’ He is charged with conspiring to provide, and providing, material support...

Charlie Kirk @charliekirk11 DNC = Defending Non-Citizens From Kayleigh McEnany 8:34 PM · Apr 23, 2025

Judge Paula Xinis postponed discovery in Kilmar Abrego Garcia for one week in response to the Trump Administration’s request for a delay. The judge did not give a reason for her decision to postpone the discovery. “The Court has reviewed Defendants’ Motion to Stay and Plaintiffs’ Response. With the agreement of parties, the Court hereby ORDERS that discovery shall be stayed until April 30, 2025, at 5:00 PM,” the judge wrote.