Free Republic

The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries. The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran. U.S. and Iranian diplomats held talks in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy over Tehran's nuclear program, after Trump amassed military forces in the...

Corey Lewandowski fired a Coast Guard pilot for leaving Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s blanket on a plane — but was forced to rehire them upon realizing there was nobody else to fly the plane, according to a stunning new report.Lewandowski, an unpaid special government employee who unofficially acts as chief of staff for Noem — with whom he’s had a years-long affair — has overseen a reign of terror over department staff since President Trump took office last year.According to the Wall Street Journal, Noem had to switch planes during an official trip due to a maintenance issue, but...

President Donald Trump has pardoned five former NFL players convicted of various offenses ranging from counterfeiting to drug trafficking*** Johnson revealed on social media Thursday that Trump has granted clemency to former New York Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko, former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton, former Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, former Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon. “As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again,” she wrote and added, “So is our nation.” Johnson also credited Cowboys owner Jerry Jones with relaying the news...

***U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled the government must pay to fly back or accept at a port of entry any of the men who are now in countries other than Venezuela. Upon arrival in the U.S., they will be detained as they fight accusations they are Tren de Aragua gang members. The judge previously ruled the government violated the due process rights of the 137 Venezuelan men, and they were entitled to a hearing. But Boasberg had left the door open for a legal process that didn’t entail their physical return. “Apparently not interested in participating in this process,...

A federal grand jury refused to hand up an indictment Tuesday against six Democratic lawmakers accused by President Trump of “seditious behavior” this past fall. DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro led the failed effort to indict Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chris Deluzi (D-Pa.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) over a video posted on social media this past November urging members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.” *** Slotkin, who previously accused Trump of “directing the FBI to target us” and “weaponizing the federal government” against...

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to force Michigan to hand over its full, unredacted voter registration rolls. The judge ruled that federal law does not require the state to disclose voters' private information. U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou of the Western District of Michigan dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice after Michigan refused to provide a complete voter list containing personally identifiable details. Jarbou, who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, granted the state's request to toss out the case. The dispute began last year as the Justice Department...

Representative Jamie Raskin has said unredacted copies of certain documents in the Epstein files appear to contradict President Donald Trump’s longstanding assertion that he barred the late sex offender from his Florida club. *** the Maryland Democrat said one of the documents he reviewed at the Justice Department’s new satellite office in Washington, D.C., was an email from Jeffrey Epstein to his co‑conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell. He said the email included details relayed by Epstein’s lawyers about a conversation with Trump’s attorneys around 2009. Raskin*** said Trump was quoted as saying that while Epstein was never a member of his Mar-a-Lago...

In an age of rage, it is often difficult to stand out in the mob as so many pander to the perpetually irate. However, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie has found a way to win the race to the bottom. In a posting on Bluesky, Bouie mocked the account of the addiction of the mother of Vice President J.D. Vance, saying that she should have sold her son for drugs. Bouie used Bluesky (the digital safe zone for the viewpoint intolerant on the left) to post one of the most reprehensible attacks on Vance. Bouie wrote that “this is...

The White House is dismissing backlash over a meme video the president posted on Truth Social late Thursday depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as gorillas. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King,'” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.” *** The roughly one-minute video was mostly focused on claims of vote rigging in the 2020 election but showed AI-generated...

President Donald Trump's favorability ratings remain stagnant as he enters the 13th month of his second term, according to an I&I/TIPP poll. The poll, conducted at the end of January, found 41% of voters view Trump favorably, while 50% rated him unfavorably.Last month, Trump had a 41% favorability rating and a 49% unfavorable rating. Republicans, who gave Trump an 80% favorable rating and just a 13% unfavorable rating in January, gave a 77% favorable rating and 17% unfavorable in this month's poll. Among Democrats, Trump's favorability fell from 13% in January to 10% in February, while his unfavorability remained at...

Democrats seem to be getting their mojo back as the midterm season heats up. Democrats topped Republicans on the generic congressional ballot by a considerable six points, 52% to 46%, scoring the highest of any party on that metric in the history of the survey commissioned by Fox News.The minority party also made massive gains on key issues, crushing Republicans on affordability by 14 points, health care by 21 points, helping the middle class by 14 points, transgender issues by 22 points, and even taxes by one point.<“Democrats are taking back the House in November,” a confident Democratic Congressional Campaign...

Republicans have faced a bitter blow after a set of special election results on Sunday morning revealed that a former GOP stronghold has flipped to the Democrats. On the state level, Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped the 9th District in the Texas State Senate, defeating Republican Leigh Wambsganss in a runoff.The Fort Worth-area district went for Donald Trump by 17 points in 2024 - and the sweeping win this weekend could offer warning signs for Republicans ahead of this November's midterm elections. The president had urged his supporters to vote for Wambsganss in Saturday's election in a Truth Social post.Rehmet, a...

Kristi Noem has been left utterly humiliated as her hard-charging ICE agents were given new rules last night to ignore 'agitators' and only arrest 'criminal' migrants as part of Trump's new deportation agenda. *** Trump appointed Homan to take command of immigration enforcement in Minnesota. Homan is a longtime rival of Noem and her rumored lover, Corey Lewandowski. [Ed. note: gratuitous, superfluous] 'This is common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it. Draw down the number of people here,' Homan told reporters.New guidance for ICE directs agents to...

The Department of Justice will “pursue charges” against the anti-ICE agitators who invaded a Sunday church service in St. Paul, including disgraced former CNN reporter Don Lemon, who feebly attempted to cloak his participation in the chaos as an “act of journalism.” Assistant attorney general for civil rights Harmeet Dhillon told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that the department “will pursue charges” related to the incident in which families and children were terrorized by a screaming mob of protesters at Cities Church. Lemon “went into the facility, and then he began, quote, unquote ‘committing journalism,’ as if that’s a sort of...

The Catholic archbishop for the U.S. military services said it “would be morally acceptable to disobey” orders if troops considered them against their conscience as the Trump administration intervenes in Venezuela, readies troops for a possible deployment to Minnesota and threatens to seize Greenland.Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio is the latest public figure to suggest that U.S. soldiers could disobey their orders. His comments also underscored the mounting concern being voiced by the first American pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, as well as his top cardinals in the United States, over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.“Greenland is a territory of Denmark,” Broglio...

Gov. Gavin Newsom told world leaders to “stand up” to President Donald Trump and show “backbone” during the Democrat’s visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.“It’s time to buck up, it’s time to get serious and stop being complicit,” Newsom told a reporter when asked if he had any message for Europeans concerned about the White House’s comments on acquiring Greenland. “It’s time to stand tall and firm and have a backbone. I can’t take this complicity, people rolling over. I should have brought a bunch of kneepads for all the world leaders.” *** “I mean, handing out...

President Donald Trump has granted clemency to James Phillip Womack, the son of Arkansas Republican Rep. Steve Womack, commuting the remainder of his federal prison sentence for drug distribution. The commutation was issued under an executive grant of clemency signed by Trump and released by the Justice Department. USA Today reported that James Womack was sentenced in federal court in May 2024 to eight years in prison and fined $1,900 for distributing more than five grams of methamphetamine.The sentence stemmed from a federal indictment filed April 26, 2023, charging James Womack with distributing methamphetamine and being a felon in possession...

President Trump has warned America’s European allies “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace” after he missed out on last year’s Nobel Prize amid a new round of threats to annex Greenland.Trump’s message, initially sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, was forwarded to multiple European ambassadors in DC, according to PBS. “Dear Jonas,” the message reads. “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now...

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib went on an emotional rant about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recruitment posts on social media during a Friday shadow hearing in Minnesota. The hearing, chaired by Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, discussed the recent heightened presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota and the fatal shooting of Renee Good. When it was Tlaib’s turn to speak, she used her time to passionately suggest that recent DHS social media posts evoked “neo-Nazi” and “white nationalist” imagery. Tlaib held up a printed Jan. 9 social media...

It seems Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has found a Trump administration policy he agrees with: Those darn potheads can’t be trusted with constitutional rights. Nevada is one of 19 states joining the administration in urging the Supreme Court to uphold a federal ban on gun possession by users of cannabis products — including those users who reside in states where medical and recreational use of the drug has been legalized. On March 2, the court will hear a case involving the federal government’s efforts to prosecute a Texas man for violating a federal statute that prohibits gun possession by...