Free Republic

A six-day immigration sweep in Florida in April resulted in the arrests of more than 1,100 people, the Trump administration said on Thursday as it increasingly relies on local law enforcement to help speed deportations.

New York Magazine’s Ben Terris saved the most important part of his extensive profile of Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman for last: “I didn’t find any indication that the stroke had left him cognitively impaired,” he wrote in its concluding paragraphs. That is not the impression that a reader would have gathered from the worried former Fetterman staffers, jilted progressive activists, and anecdotes detailing the senator’s declining mental health that preceded this observation. The piece paints a portrait of a broken man, a shadow of his former self, plagued by depression and demented episodes. None of that was especially apparent to...

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — President Donald Trump offered some encouraging words and advice for graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday in a speech interspersed with impressions of transgender weightlifters, accusations that judges were interfering with his agenda and attacks on his predecessor, Joe Biden. The Republican’s jolting speech was standard fare for Trump and well received by the crowd in deep-red Alabama, which backed him in all three of his presidential runs. “You’re the first graduating class of the golden age of America,” the president told the graduates.

At a White House event marking the National Day of Prayer, President Donald Trump stood flanked by religious leaders of every stripe—Christian pastors, Jewish rabbis, Hindu swamis, Buddhist monks, and Muslim imams. But in typical Trump fashion, what began as a carefully choreographed moment of spiritual unity soon veered into campaign trail chaos, as he launched into an unscripted anecdote involving imams, death, and what he mistakenly called “38 virgins.” “I love them. They were great,” Trump said, recalling a meeting with Muslim leaders in Michigan during the 2024 campaign. “They said, ‘We don’t want to die.’ I said, ‘You...

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday proposed a $163 billion cut to the federal budget that would sharply reduce spending in areas including education and housing next year, while increasing outlays for defense and border security. The administration said the proposed budget would raise homeland security spending by nearly 65% from 2025 enacted levels. Non-defense discretionary spending — a slice of the budget that excludes the massive Social Security and Medicare programs as well as the rising cost of interest payments on the nation’s debt — would be cut by 23% to the lowest level since 2017, the White...

A tour van collision left at least seven dead near Yellowstone National Park after both vehicles caught on fire on Thursday evening. A deadly collision near Yellowstone National Park left seven dead after a tour bus crashed into a Dodge Ram pickup truck, according to Idaho police. Thursday night at 7.15pm on a highway near Henry's Lake State Park, 16 miles west of Yellowstone, the two vehicles collided before both caught on fire. The driver of the pickup truck was reported to have died along with six others in the tour van, which was carrying a group of 14 people...

The US and Ukraine have signed a deal that will give Washington access to some of the war-torn country's natural resources.Months in the making, it sets up an investment fund that Ukraine hopes will cement US assistance as the country struggles to repel Russia three years after the invasion. The Ukrainians have now published the deal and there have been public statements from both sides. Here are seven key takeaways.snipThere were some concerns in Kyiv that the resources deal could hinder Ukraine's ability to join the EU, if it gave preferential treatment to US investors, as Kyiv and Brussels already...

Apple reported its highest March-quarter revenue in over two years, reaching $95 billion, as customers rushed to purchase devices ahead of potential new U.S. tariffs. As a result of the ongoing trade war with China, the tech giant announced that the majority of U.S. iPhones would come from India, while iPads and other devices would be imported from Vietnam. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple announced a significant surge in revenue for the March quarter, driven by strong demand for iPhones and other devices as customers moved to make purchases before the introduction of new U.S. tariffs in April....

Performance reviews ... Senior Executive Service, top bureaucrats serving throughout the government and across administrations, swelled to around 8,000 under Biden. Most live in Washington, D.C. They typically earn an annual salary between $183,000 and $250,000. An overwhelming majority, 96% .. receive above-average performance ratings even as public trust in government continues to crater. But standards will soon tighten. It is called “forced distribution.” The new OPM rule .. eliminates Biden-era requirements that evaluated executives based on their promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The stated goal is instead an evaluation of job performance, not political ideology. Now only top...

French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly pressuring cardinals to block Cardinal Robert Sarah, a conservative African prelate challenging the Church’s progressive path. French President Emmanuel Macron is facing renewed criticism after it was revealed that he is trying to influence one of the most sacred processes in the Catholic church—the papal conclave. The allegation, made by Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, centers on purported communications between Macron and several French cardinal electors aimed at blocking the candidacy of Cardinal Robert Sarah. The Cardinal has said that “the West no longer knows who it is, because it no longer knows...

Hagai Lerner, who lost his sight while fighting in Gaza four months ago, lights torch at Independence Day ceremony in Kiryat Arba, together with Ram Cohen, who was also injured.

Eight years ago, a renowned psychiatrist publicly shared his concerns about the practice of medically and surgically “transitioning” children to appear as the opposite sex. He had no idea uttering such a commonsense viewpoint would end up costing him his job.In 2017, Dr. Allan Josephson of the University of Louisville had joined a Heritage Foundation panel entitled “Gender Dysphoria in Children: Understanding the Science and the Medicine.”His remarks were well-informed and thoughtful: “[G]ender dysphoria is a socio-cultural, psychological phenomenon that cannot be fully addressed with drugs and surgery,” he explained. “Thus, doctors and others should explore what causes this confusion...

King Charles III is set to make a historic visit to Canada later this month, attending the State Opening of Parliament in Ottawa on May 26–27, 2025. This landmark event marks the first time a reigning monarch has opened Canada’s Parliament in nearly seven decades—since Queen Elizabeth II did so in 1957. The royal visit comes at a politically sensitive moment, as tensions between Canada and the United States continue to rise. The visit is expected to not only reinforce the symbolic ties between Canada and the British monarchy but also underscore Canada's sovereign identity amid provocative remarks from US...

President Donald Trump, early Friday, declared his administration will be taking away Harvard's tax-exempt status, a move that would spike the Ivy League's tax burden substantially, according to experts. "We are going to be taking away Harvard's Tax Exempt Status," Trump said on Truth Social. "It's what they deserve!" Last month, Trump said that the school should "perhaps" lose the tax exemption and accused the university of acting as a "political entity." Harvard's endowment, at roughly $52 billion, is reportedly the largest at any U.S. university, reports MassLive on Thursday. House Republicans have also proposed raising the tax rate for...

Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to cut funding to news outlets NPR and PBS, the White House said, marking the U.S. president's latest attempt to use federal funding as leverage against institutions he does not view favorably. The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funding to PBS and NPR stations, to "cease direct funding" to them, according to the order's text released by the White House late on Thursday. It labeled the news outlets as partisan and biased. "The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and...

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is being torched online after she expressed sympathy for countries that may be affected by mass deportations from the U.S. after she remained largely silent on millions of migrants pouring into the U.S. under the Biden administration. Crockett, a first-term progressive who has made headlines for several controversial comments this year, appeared unaware of the apparent double standard, which drew criticism from conservative accounts and commentators and Republican lawmakers. "As far as I'm concerned, you randomly kidnapping folk and you throwing them out of the country against their civil rights, against their constitutional rights," Crockett said...

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A Venezuelan migrant arrested 16 times since arriving in Chicago in October 2023 is now in ICE custody, records show. Back in February, after his 13th arrest, we reported that a Cook County judge warned Josue Vargas Rodriguez that he would be eligible for deportation because he pleaded guilty to trying to rob a woman in Streeterville. Incredibly, Rodriguez was subsequently released from custody after that court hearing and he managed to get arrested three more times before the feds finally scooped him up, records show. Rodriguez, also known as Santos Vargas, Santiago Bargas Rodriguez, Santiago Jose Vargas Rodriguez, and...

On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) stated that the minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine appears positive and he appreciates President Donald Trump changing his approach.Merkley said, “Well, what I really like is it creates a partnership between the Trump administration and Ukraine, which is such an improvement from where we’d been, where Trump was essentially mimicking or mouthing all of the talking points that Putin wanted him to mouth. And it does have elements that we’ve heard about that sound good. It’s not demanding that Ukraine repay us for the aid that we’ve...

Thursday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” senior political commentator Van Jones spoke with a group of African Americans in South Carolina who explained why they voted for and continue to support President Donald Trump. Seth Dawkins said, “I mean, part of it is he’s an &&&^&^&. I like — I like authenticity.” Detra German said, “It just opened my eyes to maybe he’s not this person that I have been led to believe that he was.” Kyasia Kraft said, “I saw how things were going during his first term, and I was pleasantly surprised, and I was pleased with what...