Free Republic

@RandPaul Thanks to @FBIDirectorKash, we now have the electronic devices Dr. Fauci used during the COVID pandemic and throughout the first Trump administration. Now, it’s time to find out what was on those devices. I referred Dr. Fauci for prosecution under both Presidents Biden and Trump, and now I’m gearing up to subpoena him to testify under oath in front of Congress. Stay tuned…

The Senate’s presiding Republican chair has ruled that Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has the sole authority to decide if provisions of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act violate the 1974 Congressional Budget Act or other budget laws, a controversial ruling Democrats tried to overturn but failed. Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), who was presiding over the Senate at the time, ruled that the chair will not sustain any budgetary points of order against the massive bill unless Graham as Budget chair says they are valid objections — drastically limiting the power of Democrats, who are in the minority.

Three conservatives — Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) — are pressing for the adoption of an amendment that would cut an additional $313m in federal Medicaid spending. And at least two of them, Johnson and Scott, won’t say if they’ll vote for final passage if the amendment doesn’t succeed. The amendment, which would stop the 9-to-1 federal match for Medicaid enrollees who are “able-bodied” and without dependent children in states that expanded the program, is unlikely to be adopted.Multiple Republican senators, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), have pushed hard against the Medicaid cuts already...

For new moms 'Kelly' and Jada, getting a place on the Mother and Baby Unit at HMP New Hall was life-changing. Both women committed crimes which landed them with short custodial sentences. For both of them, it was their first offence. They feared the disruption being locked up would cause their families, and especially the impact it would have on their babies, who weren’t even a year old. Both Kelly (not her real name) and Jada were given a place on the Mother and Baby Unit, a special and rare wing in some women prisons, where female offenders can serve...

A 92-year-old man has been found guilty of the rape and murder of a Bristol woman in a case that remained unsolved for nearly six decades. Louisa Dunne, 75, was found strangled on her living room floor by a neighbour on Britannia Road in Easton, Bristol, on 28 June 1967. Convicted rapist Ryland Headley, of Clarence Road in Ipswich, has now been found guilty of Mrs Dunne's murder following a trial at Bristol Crown Court. Senior investigating officer Det Insp Dave Marchant said Headley, who was in his 30s when he killed Mrs Dunne, had left "a legacy of misery...

The man swimming laps next to me in the public pool in Santa Monica paused at the edge of the limpid water and sighed. A fifth-generation Angeleno of Chinese descent, Colin said he’s been driving his two daughters to their activities all over town – today is swim team training — because their nanny won’t. The nannies will not come out of the house. He said: “It’s like Anne Frank or something.” The nannies in this town are mostly Hispanic and like so many other Latinos doing important jobs in our community, they’re now living in a state of terror....

President Trump late Sunday cautioned Republican lawmakers against going “too crazy” with cost-cutting efforts as fiscal hawks push for spending cuts in the massive reconciliation package making its way through Congress. “For all cost cutting Republicans, of which I am one, REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected. Don’t go too crazy!” Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump argued the bill would make up for the lack of deficit reduction efforts with significant economic growth. The Senate is plowing ahead with efforts to pass the massive tax and spending bill, which contains key pieces of President Trump’s agenda, including an...

Driven by a desire to help ex-servicemembers with mental illness, GOP lawmakers led a failed campaign last year to persuade the Biden administration to approve psychedelic drugs. Now they may have found the ally they need in President Donald Trump’s health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A longtime believer in psychedelics’ potential to help people with illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, despite the lack of supportive evidence Biden officials found, Kennedy is ramping up government-run clinical studies and telling the disappointed lawmakers doctors will be prescribing the drugs soon. “These are people who badly need some kind of...

During debate on the Senate floor, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) rose in opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and warned of its impact on the national deficit.

n a disturbing and increasingly frequent pattern, the Palestinian town of Taybeh, located east of Ramallah and known as the last remaining town in the West Bank inhabited entirely by Christians, faces ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers targeting residents, their property, and farmlands. According to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, in recent weeks settlers have established a new outpost on the eastern edge of Taybeh atop the ruins of a farmhouse whose owners were displaced roughly a year ago. The outpost was erected in a vital agricultural zone, spanning around 17,000 dunums (roughly 4,200 acres), which serves as a...

President Trump’s feud with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is showing no signs of abating as the president seeks to oust the GOP congressman for his history of regularly breaking with the administration. Massie recently opposed the administration by denouncing its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and refusing to support the president’s legislative agenda, leading Trump’s political operation to launch a targeted campaign against Massie. On Friday, a Trump-aligned super PAC, led by the president’s co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita, rolled out its first ad as part of a $1 million ad buy targeting Massie. The 30-second ad — titled “What happened...

The Senate blocked an effort Friday to prevent President Trump from taking future military action against Iran without authorization from Congress, less than a week after he directed strikes aimed at the country’s nuclear capabilities. Senators voted 47-53 largely along party lines against the war powers resolution. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the lone GOP lawmaker to vote with Democrats. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), an ardent backer of Israel, voted with Republicans.

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have signed a peace deal in Washington aimed at ending decades of devastating conflict between the two neighbours, and potentially granting the US lucrative mineral access.

PSAKI: You’re going to be dealing with tremendous attacks from MAGA Republicans. We’ve already seen that over the last 24 hours, including from Stephen Miller, Elise Stefanik, the NRCC. They’re already trying to run an Islamophobic campaign against you, which I will just note, and you’ve lived this, but for people who are just tuning in, is a continuation of some of the tactics that we saw during the primary. But it’s going to come tenfold. I know you know that, but how are you going to handle that personally? MAMDANI: You know, it’s sad in that in one sense...

@RandPaul How is this America’s responsibility? The US will have to borrow the $ from China before sending the $ to Gaza. Someone must have forgotten we are still over $36 trillion in debt. State Department approves $30 million in funding for Gaza

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has declared that Hungary will not support Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, citing an overwhelming mandate from a national vote in which 95 percent of participants opposed Ukrainian membership. Speaking in Brussels, Orbán revealed that 2,168,431 Hungarian citizens voted against Ukraine joining the EU, out of a total of 2,278,000 valid votes cast. Just 5 percent supported the idea. “I came here with a strong mandate. My voice has grown deeper — after all, I will speak today in the voice of more than 2 million Hungarians when I say during negotiations that Hungary...

The IDF publishes a summary of Operation Rising Lion, ... According to the report, for months leading up to the operation, Military Intelligence gathered evidence that Iran was rapidly enriching uranium to 60% - a level sufficient to produce several nuclear bombs in a short time. Intelligence also revealed a covert regime plan involving advanced nuclear weapon research and experimentation in key areas. In parallel, the Iranian regime was preparing to triple its production of precision missiles, expanding its arsenal from 2,500 to 8,000 missiles. This was part of a broader strategy that included a multi-front attack against Israel, beginning...

@TheoVon Omnibus bills and why they suck w/ @RepThomasMassie

Russia is increasing production of its Oreshnik missile system as NATO pledges an additional $40 billion to Ukraine. The nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile is a powerful system with the capacity to travel 3,415 miles, effectively enabling Russia to strike anywhere in the West from Europe to the United States. “Serial production of the latest Oreshnik medium-range missile system is under way,” Putin told a graduating class of military cadets in televised comments. The system became operational on November 21, 2024, and used in an attack whereby it carried multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV) payload and six warheads that were each...