Free Republic

President Donald Trump's military intervention in Venezuela has emerged as a flash point in the closely watched Republican primary campaign between Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a long-running Trump antagonist, and retired Navy SEAL officer Ed Gallrein, who has the president's backing. Massie, showing his non-interventionist leanings, fired off a series of social media posts criticizing the dramatic action that captured Nicolás Maduro and removed him from the South American country. “Wake up MAGA,” Massie wrote. “VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for.” Gallrein responded that Massie had “shown...

President Donald Trump's focus on the brazen U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is frustrating some White House aides and Republican lawmakers, who want him to address economic and healthcare concerns in an election year, according to three people familiar with the matter.White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, her deputy James Blair and Vice President JD Vance are pressing Trump to prioritize domestic concerns, said two White House officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Vance has been the most persistent voice in meetings, repeatedly steering conversations back to kitchen-table issues, they said....

Furious over the killing of a U.S. citizen at the hands of an ICE agent in Minneapolis, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura slammed President Donald Trump as a “draft-dodging coward” who has “destroyed the Constitution.” Ventura, an independent, former wrestler and Vietnam veteran, was at his high school alma mater Thursday to show support for it after ICE descended on the school the same day Renee Nicole Good was killed by an ICE agent. “He’s the draft dodging coward, who when it was his time to serve his country, he did what all rich white boys did. I wasn’t a...

WASHINGTON — The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday to block President Trump from taking additional military action in Venezuela, just five days after the capture of Caracas strongman Nicolas Maduro. In a 52-47 vote, the upper chamber agreed to consider a so-called “War Powers resolution” to force Trump to end hostilities toward the South American nation, in a blow to the administration. The measure must still clear the Senate and House to take effect

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday called for the release of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife from U.S. custody after President Donald Trump announced that they were captured during military strikes on the capital city of Caracas. “We firmly call on the U.S. leadership to reconsider this position and release the lawfully elected president of a sovereign country and his wife,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, stressing the need to resolve the dramatic confrontation through diplomacy. In a separate message, the ministry said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone to Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez...

His arrest isn’t just about Venezuela—it may be the start of something much bigger. As Iran’s protests intensify, one question is spreading fast: Is Iran next? And if the dominoes keep falling, what does that mean for China? This episode breaks down why Maduro’s capture changes the rules of global power—and why Beijing is watching Iran with growing anxiety.

Doha says it is ready to contribute to international efforts for de-escalation and dialogue regarding VenezuelaQatar said Saturday it is ready to contribute to any international effort aimed at reaching an “immediate peaceful solution” in Venezuela, calling for restraint and de-escalation. In a statement, the Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern over developments in Venezuela, following US attacks on the capital, Caracas, and the detention of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The ministry urged all parties to exercise restraint, reduce tensions and pursue dialogue to address outstanding issues. It reaffirmed Qatar’s position in support of the UN...

After the capture and arrest of Venezuelan dictator and cartel leader Maduro, the untiring gentlemen of the Senate, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer, have vowed to pass a resolution blocking any action against Venezuela. Sen. Schumer, Sen. Adam Schiff, Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary’s former VP, and Sen. Rand Paul are teaming up on a resolution to try and turn back the clock. No word on whether it will ask for Maduro’s return. While Congress has a legitimate role in declaring war, this resolution is stupid and destructive to the point of being treasonous. President Trump has signaled that he’s not...

Newsdump Alert: The United States Attacking Venezuela And Seizing Its President Nicolas Maduro New York Times Reports 40 Venezuelans Killed... A rehearsal for what might happen in Iran. President Trump made noise about Iran Friday morning to distract a bit from this IMHO. Many see this as distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein Files as well. Mr. Trump's rambling statement about the operation to capture Maduro reminded me of the kind of... "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is...

Representative Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, defended Somali immigrants to his constituents during a 2015 town hall, according to an episode of the podcast This American Life. Emmer said on X on Sunday that he is calling for “the denaturalization and deportation of every Somali engaged in fraud in Minnesota.” At the 2015 event, Emmer said, according to the podcast: “I'm going to tell you, the Somalis, according to the measurements that have been used over time, are some of the fastest-assimilating populations that we've had." Emmer also said, “If you're asking me how I feel about immigrant populations who...

Did President Trump seek authority from Congress to attack Venezuela? The short answer is no. There is no indication that Donald Trump sought or received advance authorization from Congress before ordering the strikes. Last month, Trump publicly stated that he did not believe congressional approval was required to launch attacks against targets in Venezuela, including strikes on land. He said he might brief Congress but would not seek formal legal authorization. In December, Republicans, joined by a small number of Democrats, voted down two separate War Powers resolutions in the House of Representatives that would have required congressional approval for...

In an early sign of congressional concern about the U.S. operation, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah questioned President Trump's authority to use the military in Venezuela without authorization from Congress. "I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force," he said in a social-media post.

WARNING: Israel May Launch False Flag Attack On US Ships To Force Trump Into Direct War With Iran In The Coming Weeks, Warns Military / Geopolitical Expert Matt Bracken!

Shapiro was an anti-Trumper in 2016 and was convinced Clinton would win in an electoral landslide.

Ben Shapiro’s war on Tucker Carlson risks turning conservatism inward—smearing populist concerns as extremism instead of confronting the economic failures driving millions to revolt.Just as a “country without borders is not a country,” so it is that “the conservative movement also requires borders.” This was the general message delivered by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro in a December 17 speech at the Heritage Foundation and again the next day in a speech at Turning Point USA’s Amerifest conference.Shapiro’s other main point was more specific: Conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson is no conservative and must forthwith be expelled from the conservative...

When Congress returns next week, lawmakers will have less than a month to pass the remaining nine appropriations bills funding federal agencies in fiscal year 2026. Already, however, there are signs of further delay, with two Republican senators pledging to vote against the bill for Labor and Health and Human Services due to its inclusion of $5.69 billion for refugee assistance services. The amount is less than the $6.3 billion that HHS’s Administration of Children and Families, which runs various refugee and asylee support programs, received in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. But it is still three times higher than...

It was bad enough that ostensibly conservative political commentators Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens both have been the main drivers of a growing divide in the MAGA movement, through their obsession with demonizing Israel and the Jews. Now they have also become leading Western apologists for Islam. Are they even conservative? Were they ever? (Owens in particular has never been committed to anything but her own grift, not a political philosophy.) Conservatives are defenders; we preserve. Our mission, in large part, is to defend and preserve the liberties our forefathers earned for us. It is to defend and preserve the...

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) said that she hopes extremists will be deterred by the strikes in Nigeria, “But if they don’t, I do think that Congress needs to take the step of declaring, or at least taking the vote to declare, because we don’t want to see more unilateral action out of the administration, whether it’s Republican or Democrat.”Host Cheryl Casone asked, “Congresswoman, your reaction to these new strikes in Nigeria. The president had warned the Nigerian government ahead of time, and, apparently, that government agreed that these strikes...

Full Title: Julian Assange said U.S. informants named in secret cables 'deserved' to be killed and initially refused to redact their names, a new book has revealed. WikiLeaks published thousands of names of Afghans in 77,000 classified war files put on the whistle-blowing website, attracting criticism from international charities and governments. In later releases of secret U.S. embassy cables in November around 15 per cent of files were withheld to protect lives and every file was checked before release. Amnesty International said in a letter to WikiLeaks last year that all names in Afghan war logs should be redacted.

'Tis the season for Senator Rand Paul to air his Festivus grievances about government waste! It's out, and it's spectacular! We're proud that--for the 7th year straight--the report features wasteful animal tests exposed by WCW, including: 🐶 $5.2M to inject beagles with cocaine and meth (NIH) 🐕 $13.8M for Dr. Fauci’s ongoing maximum pain tick bite experiments on beagles (NIH) 🦆☣️ $1M for a dangerous USDA-CCP bird flu gain-of-function collaboration (USDA) 🦭🐬 $77M for the Navy’s outdated Marine Mammal Program (DOD) 🐁🤰$2.8M to implant bone, liver, and thymus tissue from aborted human fetuses into lab animals to create “BLT mice”...