Free Republic

It turns out peace is a powerful proposition.While the peace process in the Ukraine is an urgent and vital priority for the American foreign agenda, it is but a part of the overarching détente process between the nuclear superpowers US and Russia, after the Joe Biden administration from hell managed to degrade relations to the very edge of a confrontation.With the advent of the second Donald J. Trump administration, things soon started to change.The few phone calls between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin and the couple of meetings between the two delegations are just a kickstart on the complex...

Many homeowners avoid selling because of high capital gains taxes, prompting real estate professionals to call for changes.With median home prices exceeding $1 million in many U.S. housing markets, some real estate professionals are drawing attention to a 28-year-old capital gains tax law, citing it as one factor contributing to the nationwide housing shortage.A recent report from Realtor.com shows that California is home to 8 of the 10 most expensive housing markets in the United States. San Jose tops the list with a median sales price of $2.02 million, followed by Anaheim and San Francisco at $1.45 million and $1.32...

Cabinet officials and senior staffers across the Trump administration are reclaiming power from Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service, a trend that began long before the billionaire’s relationship with President Donald Trump exploded in public acrimony days after Musk formally left his White House post.As Musk departed, some of his top lieutenants were streaming out of government. Among those heading for the exits even before Musk and Trump began feuding, according to a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information: longtime aide Steve Davis, who was overseeing cost-cutting efforts; lawyer James Burnham, DOGE’s general counsel;...

“Where are the spending cuts?”FACT: President Donald J. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is just one mechanism the Trump Administration is using to cut spending.FACT: The One Big Beautiful Bill includes $1.7 trillion in mandatory savings. This means that for the first time since the 1990s, the bill offers a chance to cement real savings on mandatory spending programs into law. OMB Deputy Director Dan Bishop — known for his fiscal responsibility — says he “waited for an opportunity like this” when he was in Congress to make real, substantial spending cuts.FACT: The One Big Beautiful Bill makes permanent fixes...

The skirmishes with immigration agents of the past few days are dwarfed by the widespread rioting, vandalism and violence that engulfed whole neighborhoods in 1992.Some Republicans have drawn parallels between President Trump’s dispatching of National Guard troops to Los Angeles on Saturday and what happened in 1992, when soldiers and Marines were sent to the Los Angeles area to restore order after the Rodney King riots.But that was a far different situation.In contrast with the isolated skirmishes seen in Los Angeles County over the past few days, there were neighborhoods in 1992 that had devolved into something resembling a lawless...

I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command. We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed. Rescind the order. Return control to California.

SummaryIDF says Hamas used hospital as cover for command centerHamas leaders Sinwar, Shabana found dead in tunnel after strikeWeapons and documents also found in tunnelKHAN YOUNIS, Gaza, June 8 (Reuters) - The Israeli army said on Sunday it had retrieved the body of Hamas' military chief Mohammed Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in southern Gaza, following a targeted operation last month.Another senior Hamas leader, Mohammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was also found dead at the scene along with a number of other militants, who are still being identified, said IDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin.Israeli...

Washington (AP) — After the raucous rainbow-hued festivities of Saturday’s parade, the final day of World Pride 2025 in the nation’s capital kicked off on a more downbeat note.Thousands gathered under grey skies Sunday morning at the Lincoln Memorial for a rally and protest march, as the community gathers its strength for a looming fight under President Donald Trump’s second administration. “This is not just a party,” Ashley Smith, board president of Capital Pride Alliance. “This is a rally for our lives.”Smith acknowledged that international attendance numbers for the bi-annual World Pride were measurably down, with many potential attendees avoiding...

For the first time in the US, more babies are now born to moms 40–44 than 15–19. This marks 2 historical shifts for the US, plummeting teen pregnancy and gradually rising fertility for older women.

The Pentagon deliberately spread UFO conspiracy theories surrounding Area 51 in an attempt to conceal secret weapons programs, according to a newly released report. A report released by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) found that an Air Force colonel visited a bar near Area 51 in the 1980s – providing the owner fabricated material depicting flying saucers around the highly classified military base, according to the Wall Street Journal’s review of the report released in 2024. The Pentagon reportedly intentionally ran a disinformation campaign on American citizens in an attempt to hide the development of the F-117 Nighthawk, the...

President Trump directed federal agencies to “take any action necessary” to liberate Los Angeles from the illegal alien invaders. “A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals. Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations — But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve. I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in coordination with all other relevant Departments and Agencies, to take all such action necessary to liberate Los...

The Sacramento LGBT Community Center warned that hundreds of youth, many at risk of homelessness or in crisis, could lose access to life-saving mental health counseling and gender-affirming care if the City Council fails to approve additional funding. A $500,000 loss for the center from a terminated federal grant has already affected youth and adult mental health services, said Executive Director David Heitstuman.

The Democrat senator criticizes Trump's deployment of National Guard.The anti-ICE demonstrations in and around Los Angeles have been “peaceful,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) claimed on Sunday, despite clear evidence of violent clashes with federal authorities.Booker seemed to take a page out of CNN’s “mostly peaceful” playbook from 2020 after President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the weekend. Trump criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — both Democrats — for not being able to contain the chaos as videos and media reports documented how demonstrators hurled rocks, concrete, and fireworks at...

First Amendment violations face renewed scrutiny.First Amendment violations face renewed scrutiny.The cornerstone of American liberties is the First Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids any state or government agency from prohibiting the free exercise of religion or abridging free speech. Continuing revelations about FBI scrutiny of conservative Catholics demonstrate that the Joe Biden administration’s FBI threatened both and then deceptively concealed from Congress the full extent of its activities.New FBI RevelationsA letter to FBI Director Kash Patel from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) alleges that the FBI obscured its dubious investigation of traditional Catholics by concealing or deleting documents and misrepresenting...

"Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles after two days of violence, clashes and unrest. We have an incompetent Governor (Newscum) and Mayor (Bass) who were, as usual (just look at how they handled the fires, and now their VERY SLOW PERMITTING disaster. Federal permitting is complete!), unable to to handle the task," he wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. President Trump has said masks are banned at anti-ICE protests Los Angeles, where police have clashed with demonstrators. Trump has dispatched about 2,000 members of the National Guard to respond. "Great job by the National Guard in Los...

Well kooky here china just recently announced they were turning an eye to South Africa and now Paul Mashatile is trying to get the white farmers that his government has been persecuting to stay!?!?!?!?! I guess the chinese didn't offer good terms .... LOL!

Hamas and other terrorist groups have issued a warning to residents of the Gaza Strip, urging them not to trust what they described as “false promises from the occupation” or participate in “enemy plans,” threatening that doing so could provoke a severe response. In an official statement, the groups claimed that the humanitarian aid distribution centers operated by the United States have become “death traps,” where civilians are allegedly lured by hunger and killed in what they referred to as daily “massacres.” The statement further alleged that the true objective behind these aid centers is to dismantle UNRWA and shift...

Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, is one of my favorite people in the administration. That’s because he’s got a razor-sharp mind that allows him to expose all the leftist lies and assumptions in media queries, and, with simplicity and clarity, to respond with the truth. Given his communicative abilities, perhaps it’s not surprising that ABC’s Terry Moran issued a vile personal attack against Miller. One gets the feeling that it's not just anti-MAGA sentiment but real jealousy at work. ABC seems to be trying to figure out how not to get...

As the Trump administration makes good on its promise to arrest and deport hundreds of people in the country illegally, Kentucky’s junior senator is offering a solution for those who haven’t committed a crime. When asked recently in an interview how President Donald Trump should handle immigrants who entered the country unlawfully but haven’t otherwise violated another law, Rand Paul said his preference is to institute a work program. “I’ve always thought the trade-off was this: If you came here illegally, you get to work, you still don’t get to vote and you really don’t get on a track to...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, in an interview Sunday morning, spoke out forcefully against violence, but also called the federal government’s response “unneccessary.” She called the administration’s actions “posturing” and “completely disruptive to a city that has already gone through so much.” She also condemned violence, saying people who engaged in it or vandalism should be “arrested and held accountable to the full extent of the law.” “The protest that happened last night in L.A. was relatively minor,” she added, and “to say that the city is out of control, I don’t know what city they are talking about.” Demonstrations...