Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul expressed concerns Sunday over President Donald Trump’s threats to bomb Iran as the Middle Eastern country sees widespread protests continue. Speaking with ABC’s “This Week,” the Kentucky Republican said he is not sure striking Iran “will have the effects intended.” “We wish freedom and liberation the best around the world, but I don’t think it’s the job of the American government to be involved with every freedom movement around the world,” Paul said.Paul also expressed concerns over how the administration would distinguish between Iranian protesters and law enforcement if Trump were to approve military action in the...

The head of U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil on Friday told President Donald Trump that Venezuela is “uninvestible” under current conditions, saying major changes were needed before his company would return to the country that has seen its crude oil resources sink into disrepair. The comments by Exxon CEO Darren Woods were a blow to Trump’s hopes that American oil majors would move quickly to make big investments in Venezuela — and cast doubt on the president’s insistence that U.S. companies are prepared to spend $100 billion or more.

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok restricted access to a much-criticized deepfake generator on social media platform X following a surge of users creating nonconsensual nude images. Grok now says that "image generation is currently limited to paying subscribers" as "this helps ensure responsible use while we continue refining things," citing "recent issues and improvements to safeguards." The chatbot has drawn scrutiny from regulators and politicians across Europe after it enabled users to manipulate pictures posted online into a series of deepfakes, including depictions of undressed minors and public figures. Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch was one of the latest...

Tim Walz wants a third term. Donald Trump and Mike Lindell want to beat him. Minnesota has been the white whale for Republicans in the Trump era. And 2026 could be the year they finally break through — if President Donald Trump and one of the most prolific peddlers of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election don’t sink their chances. Republicans are growing optimistic about their chances of unseating Democratic Gov. Tim Walz next year, as he seeks a historic third term. But Trump’s increasingly caustic attacks on Walz and disparagement of Minnesota’s Somali community — and MyPillow CEO Mike...

“Make no mistake, the blame behind the skyrocketing health care costs millions are facing today is squarely at the feet of House Republicans, and the American people know it,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) said in a statement. “Instead of putting forth a serious proposal to address spiking health care costs, House Republicans chose to focus on delivering massive tax breaks for the wealthiest few — never even allowing a floor vote to save the tax credits before their expiration.”It is true no vote took place before the expiration, but jitters about an electoral backlash prompted a handful of House...

Josh Gerstein of Politico is facing an avalanche of critical responses on Twitter/X over a post he published on Monday night in which he implied that Somali daycare centers might start justifiably shooting people for knocking on their doors and asking questions, under ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws. He was responding to the explosive claims made by independent citizen journalist Nick Shirley and the revelations in his recent viral video exposing hundreds of millions in alleged fraud carried out by Somali-owned daycare centers in Minnesota. Here is Gerstein’s tweet (it’s a screenshot in case he deletes it): Liberal journalists support ‘Stand...

You simply cannot hate and/or mock the Left-dominated media enough. Even Christmas is not safe from being targeted by their joyless, ham-fisted propaganda to project their own campaign of cultural subversion onto some straw man they relentlessly label the “far-right.” Politico published an eminently mockable piece, just in time for the most wonderful time of the year, titled – brace yourselves – “How the far right stole Christmas.” By “far right,” of course, the Left means anything to the right of Chairman Mao. It means any political opponent who believes in upholding God, family, and country. It means any political...

Politico is framing the celebration of Christmas as a “far-right” front in Europe, arguing that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her party have made it a “spectacle.” Conservative social media users blasted the left-wing outlet’s Wednesday article, “How the far right stole Christmas,” authored by Rome correspondent Hannah Roberts. […] In the Christmas Eve piece, Roberts wrote that the holiday “is becoming a new front line in Europe’s culture wars,” with so-called “far-right” parties and politicians “claiming the festive season as their own.” The evidence?: Meloni’s defense of public Nativity scenes and other long-standing Christmas traditions in her majority-Catholic...

Remember how Democrats once hailed ObamaCare as a "big f---ing deal?"Nowadays, as inadvertently revealed by Politico, many Democrats have turned their backs on the 15-year-old program they have come to loathe (while urging continued funding for it) and instead increasingly demand its replacement with Medicare For All.On Sunday, Politico reporters Lisa Kashinsky and Elena Schneider revealed the deep Democrat discontent with ObamaCare in "Democrats are united in bashing GOP on Obamacare. Medicare for All could reopen a rift."The article began with how fervently many Democrats are in their desire to ditch ObamaCare in favor of the entirely government-financed Medicare For...

At least six career staff were placed on leave after DHS opened an investigation into whether they misled the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, into taking the test. At least six career staffers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were suspended with pay this summer after organizing a polygraph test that the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, failed. The Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation into whether the staff provided “false information” about the need for the test — which was scheduled after Gottumukkala sought access to certain highly sensitive cyber intelligence shared with the agency. This article...

SummaryAnkush Khardori, a POLITICO Magazine senior writer and former federal prosecutor, provides guidance on navigating the Justice Department's release of Epstein investigation files, mandated by a law signed by President Trump with a Friday deadline. The release involves over 300 gigabytes of data, including electronic devices, documents, logs, financial records, FBI interview summaries (302s), and internal communications, excluding child pornography material. Full compliance may take weeks due to volume. Khardori warns the release is unlikely to end Epstein conspiracy theories. Five rules:Don’t Read the Files Directly: Avoid drawing conclusions from isolated items; rely on reputable journalists for context, as raw...

Members of the MAGA faithful gathered here Thursday to kick off Turning Point USA’s America Fest, the largest meeting for the organization since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was shot to death on a Utah college campus in September. Despite that somber backdrop, the event quickly devolved into a spectacle of MAGA infighting.

President Donald Trump doubled down on a statement he issued on social media in response to actor-director Rob Reiner’s death, pointing out that he “wasn’t a fan of his at all.”While taking questions from the press on Monday, Trump was asked about a Truth Social post he made in which he stated Reiner had a “crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” Trump’s post came after the news broke that Reiner — who directed The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally, and his wife, Michele, were found dead inside their Brentwood home.“Mr. President, a number of Republicans have denounced...

Two months after prominent members of a national Young Republican organization were exposed for their role in a hate-filled, private group chat, the city-based chapter showed it’s willing to welcome almost anyone. Inside Cipriani Wall Street, a lavish event space in the financial district, amid the sea of tuxedos and ball gowns, was white nationalist leader Jared Taylor. Across the room sat EmpathChan, an influencer who went viral recently for wearing blackface on Halloween. And appearing on stage was Markus Frohnmaier, a far-right German politician, whose political party the club had cheered with a German-language phrase popularized by the Nazis....

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that partisan gerrymandering will “lead to more civil tension and possibly more violence in our country,” urging restraint in the ongoing redistricting wars playing out in more than a dozen states. “I think there is the potential that when people have no representation, that they feel disenfranchised, that it can lead, it might lead to violence in our country,” Paul said in an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Paul’s warning comes as state lawmakers across the country consider redrawing congressional lines at the insistence of President Donald Trump, with Democratic-led...

Republicans on Capitol Hill who have championed the tech industry’s race to dominate artificial intelligence are confronting a growing political obstacle: voters angry over the soaring energy demands and utility costs tied to the data centers. The politics of data centers are still very much in flux, but GOP politicians may be particularly vulnerable to a voter backlash because of their pro-development views and President Donald Trump’s all-in support for AI — including blocking states from setting their own rules. Some are starting to seek distance from the White House. Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis floated new limits on data...

Epstein fever appears to have mercifully broken at Politico. Yes, although as recently as this past summer when Politico went full frenzy by publishing SIX Jeffrey Epstein stories in a 24 hour period in the apparent belief that the Epstein files would provide salvation from the Trumpocalypse, brutal reality appears to have set in.It isn't that they are any less hostile to Trump but even Trump-hating analyst Ankush Khardori recently admitted the sad truth that the release of those files is unlikely to unlikely to harm Trump.As a result, Politico has been forced to do something very unusual when it...

Belgium? Really? Of all the places in the world you would not expect to be a cesspool of nearly open corruption, Belgium pretty much tops the list. But there it is. Belgium is basically a narco-state, a top Antwerp judge has warned.https://t.co/zH0fSm2mfR— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) October 27, 2025Like so many things that sound insane when you say them, the claim that Belgium is now more akin to Mexico than a land of peace and chocolates is easy to dismiss as the fever dream of a cranky conspiracy theorist than a reflection of reality. But, according to an Antwerp judge, who published...

Donald Trump’s drive to secure peace in Ukraine must not let Vladimir Putin off the hook for war crimes committed by Russian forces, a top EU official has warned, effectively setting a new red line for a deal. In an interview with POLITICO, Michael McGrath, the European commissioner for justice and democracy, said negotiators must ensure the push for a ceasefire does not result in Russia escaping prosecution. His comments reflect concerns widely held in European capitals that the original American blueprint for a deal included the promise of a “full amnesty for actions committed during the war,” alongside plans...

On paper, Lexington County, S.C., and Placer County, Calif., have a lot in common. They’re both big, wealthy, suburban counties with white supermajorities that border on their respective state’s capital cities…But when it comes to how long their residents can count on living, the parallels fall apart. Placer has a Scandinavia-like life expectancy of 82.3 years. In Lexington, the figure is 77.7, a little worse than China’s. Step back and look at a map of life expectancy across the country and the geographic patterns are as dramatic as they are obvious. If you live pretty much anywhere in the contiguous...