Free Republic

It's been a rough summer for generals in Cuba. They are dropping like flies, as we see in this report:Over just nine days this month, Cuban state media announced the deaths of five generals, sparking a wave of discussion and rampant speculation among analysts and exiles.The senior military leaders all appear to have died between July 17 and 26. Some were serving and others retired, but all had lauded military careers. The youngest was 58. Most were in their 70s or 80s. It is not clear what caused the deaths, and there is no indication they were related.The deaths of...

In the months since I was terminated for expressing opinions, I have learned that my experience is all too common in Big Law. I am a Navy SEAL and Iraq war veteran who transitioned back into civilian life as a lawyer. Recent experience has taught me that people with my beliefs and values are viewed as parochial, at best, and in any case are not welcomed by many of those who are considered “leaders” in the legal profession. One of the things I realized soon after I started practicing law is that there are very few practicing attorneys who are...

You might be thinking this article’s headline is the start of a bad joke. You’d be right, except it’s no laughing matter. It seems a day doesn’t go by without hearing about someone who’s being attacked for saying things everyone knows are true, and this past week showed just how widespread this cancer has become, as each of these individuals or entities has tried to silence their critics for doing just that. Bishop Joseph Strickland from his post overseeing the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, ostensibly for his poor governance of the diocese but more likely for his frequent use of...

After they struggled with COVID-19 symptoms for two weeks, Joel Mahoney drove his parents to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, where his mother, Nancy Mahoney, was admitted on Dec. 19, 2021 for complaints of labored breathing, fatigue and a cough. She was treated for COVID pneumonia that required supplemental oxygen. She told the hospitalist treating her that a doctor, Ellsworth internist Meryl Nass, had diagnosed her with COVID “over the phone” earlier that month and prescribed a five-day supply of the antiparasitic drug ivermectin. The proponents of using the drug to treat COVID have been roundly criticized, and the...

If former President Donald Trump wins reelection in 2024, he will work to deconstruct the administrative state, the apparatus of unelected bureaucrats in federal agencies who write binding rules with, without, or against the law. The administrative state uses its rule-making ability to essentially usurp the separation of powers between the three branches of government by creating a so-called fourth branch of government not created by the Constitution. Nearly 2 million federal government employees in federal agencies make up the administrative state. Trump refers to the administrative state as the “swamp” and the “deep state.” “We will demolish the deep...

Russia sacked two generals in the past week, as Moscow’s Ministry of Defense reportedly continues to purge its top officers, pointing to a growing disarray in the military leadership following the aborted rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group. Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu canned Maj. Gen. Vladimir Seliverstov, commander of the Tula Airborne Division, this week, according to Belarusian news outlet Charter97. The governor of the Tula region, which borders Moscow, Alexei Dyumin, tried to stand up for Seliverstov, who was involved in the battles in Bakhmut, but to no avail, according to the Russian publication VChK-OGPU. Seliverstov’s reported...

A top Russian general has 'vanished' amid claims he had advance knowledge of the weekend armed revolt which threatened Vladimir Putin's regime. One theory is that General Sergei 'Armageddon' Surovikin is under interrogation over a plot to oust defence minister Sergei Shoigu amid a hunt to purge the enemies within. Surovikin, 56, is the second-in-command of the Russian armed forces. He has known links to 'coup leader' Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary army chief. US officials briefed on American intelligence said a top Russian general had advance knowledge of Prigozhin's plans to rebel against Shoigu and chief of the armed...

Fox News has parted ways with firebrand political commentator Dan Bongino. The network said in a statement on Thursday, “we thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors.” Tucker Carlson’s exit deals blow to Fox News Texas bill seeks to keeps lights on in midst of disaster A former U.S. Secret Service agent who had become know for his sharp defenses of former President Trump while a regular on Fox’s prime-time shows in recent years, Bongino was granted an hourlong Saturday evening program on Fox in 2021. The network said his last show was April...

Democrats are in for a nightmare scenario if the Republicans win enough seats in the House and Senate to be able to have oversight powers over congressional committees, and a report that was released on Friday by US House Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) shows that he has an extensive plan to dive into the concerns that face Americans about the historic corruption and fraud at the top of the US Government.Jordan is expected to be nominated for Speaker of the House if all goes right for the Republicans giving him a bird’s eye view of what the report details.Media sources...

Video shows moment when former Chinese president Hu Jintao unexpectedly leaves Saturday's closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress. A staff member supports Hu by the arm as he stands up. He also speaks to President Xi Jinping for a moment and pats Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder before being led out.

According to Ukrainian Intelligence, numerous arrests of servicemen have started in Moscow, with traffic in the city centre blocked, although Russian media are failing to report this. Source: Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence Details: Intelligence reports that a set of measures against the servicemen have begun in Moscow, with traffic in the city centre blocked. Units of the Dzerzhinsky operational division – the elite of the Russian Guard – are reported to have entered the city. They are allegedly moving towards the centre together with police units. Quote from Intelligence: "Numerous arrests, detentions and blockades of...

Biden’s FBI and DOJ are apparently purging “political dissidents”—more evidence of a growing police state here in the U.S. The plans to target conservatives have been ongoing since 2021, so the FBI is just the latest agency that is allegedly doing the same. According to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), at least 14 FBI whistleblowers have reported the purging of conservatives in the bureau. Meanwhile, FBI insiders say that agents who “took a knee in solidarity with BLM protesters” are being rewarded with promotions. In a September 29 letter to Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Leigh Moore, Jordan and Ranking Members Darrell...

Navy has fired practically a dozen officers in management positions in lower than three months, together with 5 in a single week... an uncommon string of terminations throughout land, air and sea groups, specialists stated...Not less than 9 commanding officers and two senior advisers have been relieved of their duties since April. A complete of 13 commanding officers have been fired to date this yr, together with 12 within the Navy and one within the Marine Corps, the Navy stated. Most lately, 4 Naval commanding officers and a prime chief had been ousted from June 8 to June 14. commanding...

VLADIMIR Putin has purged his top general over a mass loss of troops in Ukraine as Russia's losses are now said to be as high as 50,000. Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, 60, was ditched for the devastating “mass casualties” among Putin's elite paratroopers, it has been alleged. The speculation comes as a Russian source is said to have suggested the country’s overall losses in Ukraine are close to 50,000 - significantly higher than most other estimates.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Tuesday claimed that the FBI is “purging” employees who hold conservative viewpoints.In a letter (pdf) to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Jordan, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that multiple whistleblowers at the law enforcement agency had come forward alleging retaliatory actions to employees who had engaged in “disfavored political speech.” The letter redacted the names and positions of the alleged whistleblowers. The Ohio Republican lawmaker said that in one instance, an alleged veteran was targeted for failing to agree with officials’ conclusions about the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol....

Russia's top commander General Valery Gerasimov has been suspended, a top adviser to the Ukrainian president has claimed, while a clutch of other officers have been sacked or arrested amid a rumoured purge of top brass. Oleksiy Arestovych, a veteran of military intelligence and one of President Zelensky's inner circle, claimed late Wednesday that Gerasimov - the chief of staff of the Russian army - has been suspended as Putin looks for senior commanders to blame over his blundering invasion of Ukraine. Arestovych, speaking to dissident Russian lawyer and politician Mark Feygin on YouTube last night, said: 'According to preliminary...

Rep. Matt Gaetz highlighted the plight of active duty service members who are fighting the Biden administration’s coronavirus vaccine mandate for the military. Gaetz featured three active duty members suing the Biden administration for the mandate, which Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered last August. Gaetz said that at a recent event in his district, which has the highest concentration of active duty military members in the country, a number of service members expressed frustration to him about the mandate. “It is a purposeful Biden purge of our military,” Gaetz said Thursday on his podcast Firebrand. Despite a broad reduction of...

A state audit of five law enforcement agencies in California found bias among officers toward people of color, immigrants, women and LGBTQ people, as well as a smattering of support for far-right extremist organizations such as the Proud Boys and Three Percenters.

A “Stalinist” mass purge of Russian secret intelligence is under way after more than 100 agents were removed from their jobs and the head of the department responsible for Ukraine was sent to prison. In a sign of President Putin’s fury over the failures of the invasion, about 150 Federal Security Bureau (FSB) officers have been dismissed, including some who have been arrested. All of those ousted were employees of the Fifth Service, a division set up in 1998, when Putin was director of the FSB to carry out operations in the countries of the former Soviet Union with the...

A month ago, as it was evident that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukrainian adventure started to unravel, a funny thing happened even though his fanbois were still predicting imminent victory. Sergey Beseda, head of the FSB’s foreign intelligence branch, was rumored to have been arrested (Trouble in Paradise: Putin Arrests Senior FSB Officers Over Ukraine Fiasco). The FSB is the domestic component of the old KGB; most foreign intelligence is the province of the SVR or GRU, the sandbox of the foreign intelligence branch is the independent states that were part of the USSR.The rumor at the time was that...