Free Republic

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said Wednesday on CNN’s “News Central” that he is advancing legislation that would force the Trump administration to produce a human rights report on El Salvador that would result in “serious consequences” if violations were found. Kaine said, “We just want the administration to follow the law and so there is a privileged motion, which means even a single senator can file it and you’ll be guaranteed a vote that will require the administration within 30 days to produce a human rights report on El Salvador, including the conditions of the prison to which American residents...

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday had tea with a former jihadist who until recently had a $10 million US bounty on his head. Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, once known by his militant nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, met Trump in Riyadh six months after leading a swift campaign that toppled the half-a-century-old Assad regime, ejecting Iran-backed armed groups and declaring himself leader of the country. Al Sharaa was placed on the US Specially Designated Global Terrorist list in 2013 for heading al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, known as Al Nusra Front, and allegedly orchestrating suicide bombings across...

Democratic Representative Shri Thanedar on Tuesday moved to force a House vote on his articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Thanedar took to the House floor on Tuesday afternoon to notice his seven articles of impeachment as privileged. That means House Republican leaders have two legislative days to bring up the resolution. They are most likely to introduce a motion to table the resolution, which would effectively kill it. Why It Matters Thanedar introduced the articles of impeachment, which accuse Trump of offenses including obstruction of justice, bribery and corruption, and tyrannical overreach, last month. However, few Democrats have...

Three lawmakers have been outed for falling asleep in Congress during an overnight hearing at Capitol Hill, sparking outrage online. Video shows the hilarious moment Democrat Reps Debbie Dingell from Michigan and Jan Schakowsky from Illinois took a nap on Wednesday morning. Another clip shows Republican Rep. Blake Moore from Utah being gently shaken awake by another lawmaker after he failed to respond to a question. The snooze-fest came during a marathon hearing in Washington DC as lawmakers debated Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful' domestic policy bill. Dingell, 71, was seen slumped in her seat completely unconscious while surrounded by three...

Pope Leo XIV’s MAGA-supporting brother Louis Prevost has defended his clerical record and said he is likely to govern the church as a centrist.During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncesnored, Prevost was asked about his brother’s liberal advocacy and asked whether he intends to govern the church in the style of Pope Francis.Here is a transcript of the exchange:MORGAN: Do you think he’s going to be a very liberal pope?”PREVOST: No I do not. I don’t think he’s going to roll back the changes that Francis made. I think he’s going to. Here we are. Let’s continue down this path...

In an exclusive statement to Newsweek, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said it plans to fly a banner near President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Wednesday amid backlash over a luxury plane gifted by Qatar.

In his first address to the Bundestag parliament on Wednesday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to rearm Germany so that the country would have the “strongest” military force in Europe. Following years of chronic underinvestment in defence and relying on the United States for protection, Chancellor Merz told lawmakers that “strengthening the Bundeswehr is our top priority” and will make “every effort to continue to achieve the greatest possible agreement between the European and American partners.” In this context, Merz promised to expand Germany’s military forces “into the strongest conventional army in Europe,” Die Welt reports.

Authorities in Lancaster, South Carolina, have charged six illegal immigrants between the ages of 13 and 21 in connection with the “random” May 2 murder of a mother who was driving to meet friends in Rock Hill. Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputies located Larisha Sharrell Thompson, 40, deceased with a gunshot wound behind the wheel of her vehicle on Riverside Road in Lancaster, which is located about an hour south of Charlotte, North Carolina. On May 12, authorities announced the arrests of three adults, including Asael Aminadas Torres-Chirinos, 21; Jarby Ardon Ramos-Odari, 18; Jeyson Sobied Pineda-Salgado, 17; and three juveniles,...

Trump’s Riyadh Speech Heralds The End Of Failed Neocon Foreign PolicyTruly looking out for American interests means refraining from trying to remake foreign countries in our own image.In what was probably the most important presidential speech in decades, President Donald Trump repudiated decades of failed interventionist U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East during an official visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.Not only did Trump lambast neocon “nation-building” in the region, he more or less vowed never to pursue the kinds of neocon misadventures that spilt American blood and treasure over the past 25 years in the insane pursuit...

A 19-year-old man was arrested after spending months planning an attack on a U.S. Army site in suburban Detroit, authorities said Wednesday. The man was planning a mass shooting at the Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command in Warren, commonly known as the Detroit Arsenal, on behalf of the Islamic State group, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. But he didn’t know that he had been scheming with two undercover FBI employees, who recorded audio and video images of their meetings with him, including handwritten diagrams of the site, referred by the Army as TACOM, authorities said.

The European Commission was wrong to refuse to release text messages sent by Ursula von der Leyen to the head of Pfizer during negotiations to secure Covid-19 vaccines, the EU's top court has ruled. The General Court said the commission had not given a plausible explanation as to why the exchanges between its president and Pfizer's Albert Bourla could not be made public when an investigative journalist requested them in 2021. That year, Pfizer signed billions of euros in vaccine contracts with the EU, including a deal for 1.8bn extra doses. The content of the messages between von der Leyen...

The three Ukrainian nationals were arrested in Germany and Switzerland on suspicion of agreeing to send parcels containing explosive or incendiary devices from Germany to Ukraine, German prosecutors said. They were apparently working for people associated with Russian state agencies. The alleged plan was for the men to send packages that would explode while being transported to Ukraine. According to the German news magazine Spiegel, the man had started to run tests for possible attacks by sending parcels with GPS trackers to Ukraine. The men are suspected of acting as secret agents for the purpose of sabotage, as well as...

U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) is introducing legislation that would mandate triggers, barrels, and other gun parts be tracked after being sold. Island News reported that Tokuda’s bill, the Gun Hardware Oversight and Shipment Tracking Act (Ghost Act), is designed to track gun parts as a way of helping law enforcement find so-called “ghost guns.” Hawaii News Now noted the legislation “will allow law enforcement to track gun parts coming into the state and who ordered them.” Tokuda said, “Let’s not make it easy for people to buy the parts that they need to make weapons of destruction, endangering law...

Painting the Deep South as an embarrassing cultural backwater is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice among elites. It’s not just tolerated—it’s venerated. Mississippi is probably the top target. I don’t have to tell you why. You know about the poor health outcomes. The poverty. The corruption. The obesity. The Confederacy stuff. Wikipedia has an entry dedicated to the phrase “Thank God for Mississippi,” because its horrible performance on so many metrics saves other states the embarrassment of finishing last. The term has been used since at least 1945. This has made it awkward in recent years,...

Qatar signs an agreement with Boeing to purchase 160 aircraft — the largest widebody aircraft order in the American company's history

Predicting the midterms is easy … If Republicans continue to do what they’re doing, which is going against Trump’s Cabinet picks, being worthless and lazy, and doing nothing to help Trump, they’ll lose in a landslide. It’s almost like they want to lose. ... That's exactly what they want. It's easier to blame the democrats when our country falls apart because they'll say they don't have the majority. They have no intention of passing Trumps agenda. Most of them are in on the take. ... Makes sense, they lose, democrats get majority, impeach Trump and they get to continue their...

Congress already has investigated, and confirmed, that Joe Biden and his family took in tens of millions of dollars while he was vice president or president from what amounted to an influence peddling operation. First Son Hunter Biden was part of the plans, and is described as repeatedly having sold access to his father to foreign interests. Curiously, as that income pipeline no longer exists because the influence collapsed on Biden's departure from the White House, there now are multiple reports that the family is looking for ways to start generating income. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has promised, like in...

“They’ll find out. They’ll find out. They’ll find out,” Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday. ============================================================== House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries warned Republicans and federal law enforcement against sanctioning or arresting three Democratic New Jersey lawmakers who were involved in a tense immigration protest. “They’ll find out. They’ll find out. They’ll find out,” Jeffries said Tuesday when asked how he’d respond if officials arrested or sanctioned Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Bonnie Watson Coleman. “That’s a red line. It’s a red line, it’s very clear.” The three Democrats were inspecting the new ICE facility, which is set to play a...

Seriously, these idiots are going down this road again? Wasting tax dollars, dividing the country. I really hope people reject this “bigley “ Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) on Tuesday started the clock for the House to vote on his seven articles of impeachment against President Trump. Why it matters: House Republicans will likely move to table — or kill — the Thanedar's motion, forcing Democrats into a tough position on a vote many of them would rather not take. Thanedar's move forces the House to take action by the end of the week, unless he withdraws his motion. Spokespeople for...

A group of gunmen fired into a crowded bar, hitting five Venezuelan migrants suspected of being members of the Tren De Aragua gang. Two of the TDA members died during the attack, while three others sustained injuries. The attack occurred on Monday night at the Foro Santa Maria bar in Mexico City’s Cuauhtemoc borough. The gunmen, who remain at large, went into the bar, fired over two dozen shots at the table where the five victims were seated, and then fled. The victims included three men and two women. By the time paramedics arrived, two of the men had died...