Free Republic

Americans’ personal income in the first four months of 2025 is “almost triple the expectations,” making for a “great” start of the year, CNBC’s Rick Santelli exclaimed on the air, urging viewers to “give credit” to the Trump administration. The longtime CNBC editor revealed the “powerful” numbers on Friday morning, sharing that personal income increased 0.8 percent in April. “This is a great four-month start to any year,” he said. “When you look at income, for the first four months of the year, they’re powerful numbers — up 0.6 in January, up 0.7 in February, up 0.5 last month, up...

The appearance by Patty Morin came as a federal judge threatened the Trump administration with a contempt-of-court investigation over its deportation flights to El Salvador.Just hours after a federal judge threatened a contempt-of-court investigation over the Trump administration’s deportation flights, the White House sought to freeze the legal debate by reminding Americans of a heartbreaking case of a mother killed by an unauthorized immigrant.White House officials called a special briefing on Wednesday in the press room to bring Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was killed while jogging on a trail in Maryland in 2023, to the podium....

The most powerful countries in the world command the global stage with a unique mix of economic strength, military power, cutting-edge technology and cultural reach. These nations influence international policy and hold significant sway over global affairs, using their resources, strategic positions and diplomatic skills to maintain dominance. But power isn't dimensional; it's a complex concept shaped by how these factors combine to elevate certain countries above the rest. 6. South Korea South Korea has solidified its status as a technological leader, particularly in the semiconductor industry, with major companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix playing pivotal roles. 7....

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor announced Monday he plans to resign from his post next month to make way for President-elect Donald Trump’s chosen replacement to lead the powerful office. Damian Williams said he would step down as US attorney for the Southern District of New York on Dec. 13. “Today is a bittersweet day for me,” Williams said in a statement. “It is bitter in the sense that I am leaving my dream job, leading an institution I love that is filled with the finest public servants in the world,” he continued. “It is sweet in that I am confident...

God works in mysterious ways. Donald Trump was a superb president, though not a perfect one. He had a lot of issues, and one of them was his own inexperience and lack of understanding about just how deep the rabbit hole went. And how could he? Washington, D.C., is a place of insane complication. Politics is a confusing game as it is, but when you start adding layers of bureaucracy and people who are really good at talking out of both sides of their mouth, even the most stalwart defender of the people can be misled. Many people are elected...

ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jon Karl said Tuesday on ABC’s “The View” that the possible outcomes for former President Donald Trump in the election are from prison to the most powerful President of the United States. Karl said, “I mean, look, we talk about the stakes for the country. And this is in many ways, this will tell us what kind of country we live in. We’re at a crossroads. But think about the stakes for Trump himself. On the one hand, I mean, if he loses, Jack Smith is still there, the trials move up, we have sentencing...

In a bold show of force, the United States launched an unprecedented B-2 Stealth Bomber attack on Houthi-controlled underground bunkers in Yemen, marking a dramatic escalation in regional tensions and a clear message to Iran. The radar-evading B-2s targeted five fortified weapons storage sites around Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi stronghold of Saada. The strike, the first of its kind against Iran-backed Houthi militants, underscores the US’s commitment to countering Tehran’s influence in the Middle East and protecting vital shipping lanes in the Red Sea. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the strike, calling it a “unique demonstration of...

When I was offered the role of Ronald Reagan’s longtime confidant Edwin Meese in “Reagan,” playing opposite Dennis Quaid as the 40th president, I was excited. I asked our producer, Mark Joseph, if it would be all right if I reached out to Meese and he replied, “We can set that up.” I was pleasantly surprised and immediately started to prepare my questions for the interview. The outcome was that Reagan’s former counselor and U.S. attorney general spent an hour with me on a Zoom session. His insights were helpful and as I prepared myself for the role, I read...

Rare high winds and flash flooding are expected to batter New York City as the potent storm system responsible for killing six in Tennessee pushes northeast into Sunday afternoon. The low-pressure center that produced dramatic storms across the South on Saturday will head northeast, strengthening as it nears New York, where 50 million people are under flash flood watch.

Former US President Donald Trump on Saturday released a new campaign video. The video ad builds on the thousands of people, including 31 Americans, killed by Hamas in Israel since October 7, and slams US President Joe Biden's release of billions of dollars in funds to Iran. The campaign video, claims, "Trump played hardball with Iran. Destroyed ISIS. Kept the Middle East at peace. Kept us out of endless wars with strength."

Ukrainian attack on a shipyard in annexed eastern Crimea last week caused "significant" damage, a Ukrainian military spokesperson has said. Ukraine's Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk made the remarks on national television on Sunday, commenting on the November 4 strike by Ukraine on the Zaliv shipyard, also referred to as Butoma, in Kerch, which reportedly hit Russian cruise-missile carrier Askold. Schemes, a project by U.S.-funded Radio Liberty, published satellite images by California-based global-imaging company Planet Labs that appear to show the aftermath of the strike on the vessel, which is armed with a Kalibr strike missile system. "As for the...

Atlantic hurricanes are over twice as likely to quickly intensify into major storms in the past two decades compared to a comparable period in the late 20th century, according to research published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. Author Andra Garner of New Jersey’s Rowan University analyzed more than 800 tropical cyclones originating in the Atlantic since 1971. She found that this century, storms grew from Category 1 minor storms to major hurricanes—those with winds of at least 111 miles per hour — within 24 hours 8.1 percent of the tine. Comparatively, storms only intensified that quickly 3.2 percent of...

The low-flying, subsonic Neptune lends itself to the land-attack role, just like its predecessor missiles—the Kh-35 and Harpoon—do. To give the first-generation, anti-ship-only Harpoon a land-attack mode in its Block II model in the late 1990s, American missile-maker Boeing added GPS-aided inertial navigation, complementing the original Harpoon’s radar seeker. The Ukrainian navy reportedly used some of its Neptune anti-ship missiles in the missiles’ secondary land-attack mode to blow up a Russian air force S-400 air-defense battery in western Crimea on Wednesday. That the one-ton Neptune can strike targets on the ground should come as no surprise. Ukraine’s Luch Design Bureau...

The Ukrainian air assault forces finally have deployed their most powerful unit. The 2,000-person 82nd Air Assault Brigade, which is stacked with Marder and Stryker fighting vehicles and Challenger 2 tanks, rolled into action around Robotyne, in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast, apparently in the last few days. The deployment is good and bad news for Kyiv’s long-anticipated counteroffensive, which kicked off with a series of coordinated assaults across southern and eastern Ukraine starting on June 4.

The IRS was stopped from questioning Joe Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens — said to be the president’s “final gut-check” in decision-making — about cash she received from Hunter Biden, a whistleblower has claimed. Biden Owens received a payment via Venmo from the first son, according to an interview with IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year IRS veteran who gave testimony to the House Committee on Ways and Means last month. “So I continually ask, ‘Can I go and interview them?’ And those were always met with ‘no,'” said Ziegler, who was known as “whistleblower #2” in the Ways and...

"The global elitists who send your kids to war — who tell you a woman is a man & a man is a woman — who teach your children their country, their faith, their beliefs are a lie. They have corrupted every facet of American government..." 1:40 video at link

New Campaign Ad from Donald J Trump

Strange Long-Lasting Pulse of High-Energy Radiation Swept Over Earth Record Breaking Gamma Ray Burst Astronomers think GRB 221009A represents the birth of a new black hole formed within the heart of a collapsing star. In this illustration, the black hole drives powerful jets of particles traveling near the speed of light. The jets pierce through the star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they stream into space. Credit: NASA/Swift/Cruz deWildeNASA’s Swift and Fermi Missions Detect Exceptional Cosmic BlastAn unusually bright and long-lasting pulse of high-energy radiation swept over Earth Sunday, October 9, captivating astronomers around the world. The intense emission...

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the evidence that former President Trump is responsible for the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol was “very powerful.” Schiff said, “The evidence is very powerful that Donald Trump began telling this big lie even before the election that he was saying that any ballots counted after election day were going to be inherently suspect. That lie continued after the election and ultimately led to this mob assembling and attacking the Capitol. I think you heard just a few examples of what those witnesses have said behind...

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Sunday said the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol already has a “powerful and substantive narrative,” months into its probe of the fatal riots. Asked by moderator Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” how much of the Jan. 6 story the panel would have today if it did not receive any additional information, Kinzinger said the congressional investigators “know a lot of the narrative.”