Free Republic

A report in the Daily Mail says that Republicans in Congress are investigating more than ten banks “for colluding with the federal government to spy on Americans after the January 6 protests.” The alleged witch hunt was in search of “‘extremism’ indicators.” You won’t be surprised at all to learn what qualifies as an “extremism indicator.” Fox News reported on January 17: Federal investigators asked banks to search and filter customer transactions by using terms like “MAGA” and “Trump” as part of an investigation into Jan. 6, warning that purchases of “religious texts” could indicate “extremism,” the House Judiciary Committee...

The following letter by Bill Donohue is in response to the Inspector General’s report on the FBI probe of Catholics: April 24, 2024 Hon. Jim Jordan Chairman House Committee on the Judiciary 2056 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-3504 Dear Chairman Jordan: After issuing a news release on April 19, the day after news stories broke on the FBI’s internal probe of Analysts involved in the investigation of Catholics, I had a chance to read Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report on this issue. While he satisfied some of our concerns, serious issues remain. Horowitz begins by noting that the...

House Speaker Mike Johnson betrayed liberty and the Constitution by making a full-court press to get a “clean” reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Act through the House. Section 702 authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreign citizens. When the FISA Act was passed, surveillance state boosters promised that 702 warrantless surveillances would never be used against American citizens. However, intelligence agencies have used a loophole in 702, allowing them to subject to warrantless surveillance any American who communicated with a non-US citizen who was a 702 target. Intelligence agencies could then also conduct warrantless surveillance on any...

Despite being slapped down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for ordering a Jan. 6 probationer’s computer use be monitored for so-called “disinformation,” a senior federal judge in Washington D.C. appears ready to reimpose the restriction on Daniel Goodwyn of Corinth, Texas. Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ordered Mr. Goodwyn to “show cause” for why the computer monitoring provision should not be reimposed. Judge Walton set a June 4 hearing date on the issue in Washington.

@RonWyden As the longest serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I can say with confidence that this bill is the biggest expansion of the government's warrantless surveillance power since the PATRIOT Act. I'm still doing everything in my power to stop it passing the Senate.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” that he will support Donald Trump in November. Barr said, “The real threat to liberty, the real threat to our system, are the excesses of the progressive left. They are perverting the system of justice and that’s where the danger lies. The corruption and subversion of our institutions by the left.” Co-host Bill Hemmer said, “I heard you call this hush money case outrageous. I also know you’ve been asked many times and had disagreements with the former president. He is the presumptive nominee and we assume...

Claim: President Joe Biden claimed on Wednesday that inflation was “skyrocketing” when he took office. “Look we have dramatically reduced inflation from 9% down to close to 3% we’re in a situation where we’re better situated and we were we took office, where we inflation was skyrocketing,” Biden said Wednesday at a White House press conference. The president was reacting to the latest report on the consumer price index, which showed inflation rose at an annualized rate of 4.6 percent in March, the fourth consecutive month in which inflation has exceeded expectations.

EXCLUSIVE: Biden administration officials successfully pressured fact-checking website Snopes to alter its rating on a fact check it conducted regarding a potential federal ban on gas stoves, according to internal communications. In early January 2023, Snopes issued a "mixture" rating on the claim that the Biden administration was considering a ban on gas-powered stovetops, citing comments made by a senior official overseeing product regulations. Shortly before the fact check, Richard Trumka Jr., a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), said such a ban was "on the table." "This is a hidden hazard," Trumka told Bloomberg at the time....

The largest undercover force the world has ever known is the one created by the Pentagon over the past decade. Some 60,000 people now belong to this secret army, many working under masked identities and in low profile, all part of a broad program called "signature reduction." The force, more than ten times the size of the clandestine elements of the CIA, carries out domestic and foreign assignments, both in military uniforms and under civilian cover, in real life and online, sometimes hiding in private businesses and consultancies, some of them household name companies.

For any American curious about the full extent to which cultural Marxism and left-wing political dogma have infected the intelligence community, J. Michael Waller’s new book, Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains, is a good place to start. Big Intel is part spy thriller, part historical account, and part political clarion call, all wrapped up in a horrifying true story. No one could be a more perfect fit to tell this story than Waller, who has devoted his life to studying foreign propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion. He...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday handed over transcripts of an interview with President Biden's ghost writer Mark Zwonitzer, whom the president gave classified documents, but refused to release audio of ex-special counsel Robert Hur's Biden interview. While the DOJ has handed over transcripts of Hur's interviews with Biden that led him to conclude the president is 'elderly' and 'well-meaning' but has a 'poor memory,' Republicans are unsatisfied. They insist they need audio of the interview too. They subpoenaed transcripts, notes, audio and video files largely related to Hur's interview - giving Attorney General Merrick Garland until Monday at...

Afederal judge has denied a motion by the Department of Justice and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to dismiss a suit filed by Just the News editor-in-chief John Solomon seeking to obtain records related to the FBI's investigation of alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. "Upon consideration of [10] Defendants' Motion to Dismiss, it is hereby ORDERED that the motion is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE as duplicative of the issues and arguments raised in the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon on March 29. "The Court will address all such issues and...

It's hard to overstate how corrupt the Biden DOJ has become. You know about Jack Smith's manic pursuit of Donald Trump. That's the tip of the fraud spear. It's gotten so bad that even an Obama-appointed judge notices. There are cases that the DOJ is trying to accelerate, i.e. any cases against Republicans. There are cases that are being slow walked, i.e. cases against democrats. It's gotten so obvious that it's painful. We know for a fact that David Weiss intentionally slow walked the investigation into Hunter Biden so thoroughly that statutes of limitation for the worst of the Hunter...

In an interview on MSNBC’s The Beat, former Senior Adviser to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, launched a scathing critique of Donald Trump’s pledge to pardon individuals charged for their roles in the January 6 Capitol event. (snip) “What those people did when they violently attacked the capital in order to stop a constitutionally mandated meeting of the Congress to accept the results of the Electoral College is a stain on our history,” said Rove.“Every one of those sons of b*tches who did that, we ought to find them, try them, and send them to jail. One of the...

Paul Sperry @paulsperry_ BREAKING: Biden is mandating Americans reentering US give CDC contact tracing info or face "criminal penalties," even though CDC's COVID health emergency expired May 2023

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents reportedly launched an investigation in Oklahoma to look into social media posts, Fox News reported Saturday. Rolla Abdeljawad reported an unexpected visit by FBI agents concerning her social media activity, according to Fox News. The agents reportedly visited her home and inquired about her posts following alerts from Facebook. Abdeljawad, who sought to confirm the agents’ identity by asking them to display their badges on camera, shared her experience through a video uploaded by her lawyer, Hassan Shibly, on the social media platform X. “Facebook gave us a couple of screenshots of your account,”...

In 2023, Oakland, California was the site of 14,554 motor vehicle thefts, an all-time high for the city. With increases in burglaries and robberies as well, violent and property crimes are higher in Oakland than they have been since the early 1990s.The California city of Oakland has approved a plan to install 480 surveillance cameras equipped with automatic license plate readers in an effort to fight rising crime in the city. Most of the cameras, 290, will be deployed inside the city while the remaining 180 will be placed on freeways. The cameras will provide law enforcement with the ability...

Video shows an Oklahoma woman being interrogated by FBI agents regarding her social media posts, according to her lawyer. One of the alleged FBI agents is seen on video admitting to grilling Americans about social media posts "every day, all day long." Rolla Abdeljawad was reportedly confronted by FBI agents at her home in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Abdeljawad uploaded video of the alleged encounter with government agents on her Facebook. Abdeljawad asked the agents for their credentials, but they refused. The agents would not provide the woman with their names when asked. The FBI agents allegedly interrogated Abdeljawad over her posts...

The new measures aim to tackle the harm caused by hatred and prejudice but have come under fire from opponents who claim they could stifle free speech. Scotland's controversial new hate crime laws have come into force – with a Holyrood minister saying people 'could be investigated' for misgendering someone online.

A Department of Transportation component slammed the brakes following semi-furious opposition to its proposal for "on demand" law enforcement surveillance of commercial vehicles a year and a half ago. It took another six months to turn over the records after a FOIA lawsuit to compel their release, a day before they were due in court Thursday, with no indication yet from FMCSA when it would release a final rule. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration had internal conversations about those public comments over several months, including via personal email, at the same time it was stalling a Freedom of Information...