Free Republic

Federal prosecutors say the Biden‑era border crisis produced one of the most brazen cybercrime cases in years. The Department of Justice charged 54 alleged members of the Venezuelan terror gang Tren de Aragua with using sophisticated malware to loot millions from U.S. ATMs and funnel the cash back to their criminal network. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska unsealed two sweeping indictments charging 54 individuals for their alleged roles in a nationwide ATM “jackpotting” conspiracy tied to the violent Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua (TdA). Prosecutors say the group deployed sophisticated malware to force ATMs across...

President Trump on Tuesday called for a "total and complete blockade" on all sanctioned oil tankers that enter or depart Venezuela, as the administration heaps pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at sea — and leaves the door open for land strikes. "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America," the president wrote on Truth Social. "It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil,...

United States Southern Command on Monday announced that Joint Task Force Southern Spear took out three narcotrafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific. A total of eight “narco-terrorists” were killed in the strikes. “Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking,” US SOUTHCOM said. Video from the strikes shows massive explosions on each boat, turning them into burning piles of rubble. WATCH: VIDEOS AT LINK.................... US Strikes More Venezuelan Drug Boats US Southern Command said in a statement on X, On Dec. 15, at the direction of @SecWar Pete...

Cannabis stocks jumped on Friday as the White House prepared to significantly ease federal restrictions on marijuana. President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order as soon as Monday that would allow for reclassification of weed, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC. Such a move would allow cannabis companies to fall under different tax regulations and encourage investment.Cannabis stocks took a leg up in Friday’s midday trading following CNBC’s report. The Washington Post first reported on Thursday that Trump was expected to use an executive order to instruct federal agencies to reclassify marijuana as a less...

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and arm of the Iranian military, seized an oil vessel allegedly carrying “smuggled diesel” in the Persian Gulf, Tehran revealed on Thursday. The unidentified ship was reportedly flying the flag of E-Swatini and was part of what Iran alleges is a massive trafficking scheme to steal Iranian oil and sell it abroad. The IRGC revealed the news on the same day that the Iranian government condemned the United States for staging a similar seizure of a ship accused of carrying illicit oil in the Caribbean following an appropriate warrant process....

The U.S. Supreme Court will announce on December 15 whether it will hear a major challenge to federal marijuana bans brought by state-licensed cannabis companies, a decision that could force a reckoning between national law and the patchwork of state-legal markets. The justices are slated to discuss the petition in Canna Provisions Inc. v. Garland during a private conference on December 12. Four votes are needed to grant review, which would make it the first time the Court directly weighs the constitutionality of federal prohibition amid widespread state legalization. Massachusetts-based plaintiffs Canna Provisions, Gyasi Sellers, Wiseacre Farm, and Verano Holdings...

U.S. — Following a difficult year that saw the party lose the White House to Donald Trump and both houses of Congress to Republican control, a new survey revealed that Democrats' poll numbers had surged among the key narcoterrorist demographic. While the Democratic Party had shown signs of making inroads in other segments of the voting populace, it was the sudden spike in support from the important South American illegal drug traffickers that gave the party hope that its popularity was back on the upswing. "We're out here fighting hard for the rights of drug traffickers," said House Minority Leader...

@SenRandPaul I opposed John Kennedy’s idea to bring in so many Afghan nationals. I told Kennedy it was reckless and dangerous. Ultimately, Kennedy and Biden won, and our country was flooded with unvetted Afghan nationals. This video has the receipts. In 2013, I put forward legislation to suspend visas from high-risk terrorism countries and to require thorough background-check waiting periods for all others, so Americans can be confident our visa system keeps terrorists out In 2015, I also introduced legislation to stop taxpayer-funded benefits for newly arrived refugees from high-risk countries.

The Airbus A319 that always flies Maduro touched down in Santa Elena de Uairén, right on the Venezuela-Brazil frontier. No official confirmation he's on board or that he's requested asylum in Brazil, but the timing is screaming "I'm out." Brazilian authorities say they haven't been contacted yet. If Maduro actually bolts, 26 years of Chavismo might die overnight The military splits: some will celebrate, some will try a last stand The opposition (Edmundo González, María Corina) instantly becomes the legitimate government in the eyes of the world Cuba loses its oil lifeline and implodes within months, while the U.S. bombing...

President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that the United States is preparing to take new action against alleged drug trafficking networks in Venezuela, telling service members during a Thanksgiving call that efforts for strikes on land will be starting “very soon.” “In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many. Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea anymore,” Trump told service members in the call. “You probably noticed that people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also,” the president continued. “The...

The United States has designated the Cartel de los Soles (Spanish for Cartel of the Suns) - a group it alleges is headed by Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and senior figures in his government - as a foreign terrorist organisation. Labelling an organisation as a terrorist group gives US law enforcement and military agencies broader powers to target and dismantle it. In recent months, the US has been ramping up pressure on Maduro, saying his government is illegitimate following last year's election, which was widely dismissed as rigged. The designation gives it another way to turn up the heat. But...

[TX] Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on law enforcement officials across North Texas to launch investigations into what he says may be illegal Sharia tribunals operating as rogue courts in Collin and Dallas counties. In a letter sent to local district attorneys, sheriffs, the Texas attorney general, and the Department of Public Safety, Abbott warned that certain entities may be “masquerading as legal ‘courts’ staffed with ‘judges’ issuing orders” that claim to bind individuals to Islamic law—actions he says could violate multiple state criminal statutes. Abbott noted that the First Amendment provides wide latitude for religious bodies to adjudicate internal...

Gov. Greg Abbott is escalating his actions against the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood, directing the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations into the organization and its affiliates. In a letter sent Thursday to DPS Director Freeman Martin, Abbott said CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood “have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’” The governor accused the groups of supporting terrorism, engaging in intimidation, and attempting to subvert state law through radical activity. Abbott pointed to federal court findings linking CAIR to Hamas—including a...

Greg Abbott @GregAbbott_TX: Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations. This bans them from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorizes the Attorney General to sue to shut them down.

Nov 18 (Reuters) - Hamas rejected the United Nations Security Council passing a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, saying it fails to meet Palestinians' rights and demands and seeks to impose an international trusteeship on the enclave that Palestinians and resistance factions oppose. "Assigning the international force with tasks and roles inside the Gaza Strip, including disarming the resistance, strips it of its neutrality, and turns it into a party to the conflict in favor of the occupation," the group added.

Despite detailed photographic evidence to the contrary, many liberals continue to assert that the Venezuelan boats recently destroyed by the U.S. Navy are merely fishing, not drug, boats. The Associated Press has jumped into the fray and in a roundabout "nuanced" way admitted that the destroyed boats are indeed drug boats. The "nuance" comes in via the AP asserting that among the crews of the drug boats, some worked mostly as fishermen or other low paying jobs with drug smuggling only as a side gig to boost their income. The AP reluctantly made the 'nuanced' admission that the destroyed boats...

The Trump administration is planning a new mission to target drug cartels in Mexico that could include U.S. troops on the ground, according to multiple officials familiar with the effort. NBC News' Courtney Kube has details on the plans and what actions could be taken.

Emergency services have been called after "multiple people" were stabbed on a train travelling in Cambridgeshire Two people have been arrested, Cambridgeshire Police say - they're currently at Huntingdon station responding to the incident No details have been released about how many people have been stabbed, or how serious the injuries are The LNER website confirms "emergency services are dealing with an incident between Stevenage and Peterborough" and says all lines are currently closed while the incident is dealt with

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor. The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the U.S. military carried out three strikes Monday in the waters of the Eastern Pacific against boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing 14 and leaving one survivor. The announcement made on social media Tuesday, marks a continued escalation in the pace of the strikes, which began in early September spaced weeks apart. This was the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day