Free Republic

This is a real head scratcher as why even bother? So much for America First I guess.

The hemp industry is bracing for layoffs, production reductions and billions in lost revenue after Congress passed a government funding bill late Wednesday containing a surprise provision that will ban nearly all hemp-derived consumer products. Hemp, a derivative of the cannabis plant, was legalized in the 2018 Farm Bill for industrial uses like rope, textiles and seed. But the law’s broad definition created a loophole in federal rules on THC — the psychoactive compound responsible for a high — experts said, allowing producers to extract psychoactive cannabinoids from federally legal hemp. Companies used that opening to flood the market with...

President Donald Trump is facing a pivotal decision that could define the next phase of his Middle East policy: whether to allow Turkish troops into Gaza as part of a U.S.-backed stabilization force. The move, which Ankara is lobbying for, has triggered alarm in Israel and among Arab allies who view Turkey’s ambitions and Islamist ties as a threat to regional stability. According to Middle East Eye, Turkey is preparing a brigade of at least 2,000 soldiers drawn from multiple branches of its military to join the mission once a U.N. Security Council mandate is approved. Israel has flatly rejected...

As in his first term, Donald Trump now presides over a visibly sinking ship as his approval ratings slide. MAGA, a movement built around the personality of one man, never amounted to a coherent political force or even a workable coalition. Claims that Trump and his lieutenants won a mandate in 2024 and then ‘saved’ the country were always delusional. After all, his margin was thin, as was that of his party in Congress. Three forces are killing MAGA, perhaps even pushing the US in a distinctly socialist direction. The first are the internal divisions, which are growing ever-more pronounced...

Based on CAMERA watchdog: https://www.camera.org/article/poynter-politifact-fact-check-misleads-on-beheadings/ and moreHamas Beheading of Israeli Babies During October 7 MassacreDate:October 7, 2023Location:Southern Israel (Kfar Aza, Be'eri, and others)Type:Terrorist atrocity, massacre, decapitationPerpetrators:Hamas terrorists from GazaOutcome:Confirmed beheadings of babies and children by Israeli eyewitnesses, first responders, and forensic experts. Poynter/PolitiFact fact-checks later retracted after CAMERA critique.Hamas Beheading of Israeli Babies During the October 7 Massacre During the barbaric October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, Hamas terrorists beheaded Israeli babies and children — acts verified by multiple Israeli officials, emergency responders, journalists, and forensic pathologists. While hostile media voices fixated on disputing a specific number (“40”), the...

@RepThomasMassie 🏆 In spite of a last ditch effort by the President to foil the motion, and @SpeakerJohnson’s propaganda, the discharge petition I have been leading just succeeded! In December, the entire House of Representatives will vote on releasing the Epstein files.

Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender whose death by suicide has spawned intense scrutiny of the high-profile people he knew, mentioned Donald Trump by name multiple times in private correspondence over the last 15 years with an associate and an author in Trump’s orbit, according to newly released emails from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

Paul and the Kentucky Hemp Association say McConnell’s language banning the sale of hemp-derived products that include more than .4 milligrams of THC per container will destroy the entire hemp and CBD industry — in a blow to farmers, businesses and consumers. McConnell says his provision targets “intoxicating THC products” that were made legal in the 2018 Farm Bill that launched the hemp industry, closing what’s often been referred to as its “loophole.” He says that would crack down on synthetic products with intoxicating amounts of THC — the psychoactive component in cannabis plants — while preserving non-intoxicating CBD and...

The killer came by night – a masked man on a motorbike who struck without warning and then sped away. It's become a familiar pattern in some corners of the new Syria in recent months, as the country's fragile unity is eroded by revenge attacks and sectarian killings. The main targets are Alawites, the sect of the ousted Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. But this time, on 1 October, the victims were Christians – Wissam and Shafiq Mansour, cousins who were both 39, and were as close as brothers. As they chatted with a friend over coffee and cigarettes, they were...

@RandPaul Tonight the process of opening the govt begins, less chaos is a good thing but hidden deep in the swamp speak of the Republican bill will be a waiver of PAYGO the long-standing law requiring new spending to be offset with cuts. And so it goes, a trillion here a trillion there. $38 trillion in debt and counting. A depressing outcome

Senate Majority Leader John Thune finally got the eight Democrats/Independents he needed to vote in favor of a Continuing Resolution that will allow the government to reopen. Tonight’s vote was just one step — though a critically important one — in a process that could take several days to play out. Among other things, the CR is different from the one that passed the House on September 19 so the House will have to vote on it again.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., gives a mixed review of President Donald Trump, even as the president seeks to oust him from Congress. (Credit: Fox News Digital)

Imagine a fire chief who refused to fight fires because it would violate the flames’ right to burn. You’d think such absurd logic could only exist in satire, yet Mexico’s new president has just offered us something remarkably similar—except the flames in question are drug cartels, and the houses burning are filled with real people on both sides of the border. Every day, roughly 200 Americans die from drug overdoses, with the vast majority of fentanyl flowing through Mexico’s cartel-controlled territories. Just last week, these same criminal organizations gunned down a mayor at a Day of the Dead celebration in...

Donald Trump is often described as a “populist,” a “nationalist,” or as someone who sits outside the traditional ideological categories. However, when one examines his foreign policy closely, a different picture emerges. Trump is, in practice, a neoconservative. He is not a neoconservative in the sense we once knew: he does not cloak American interventions in the language of democracy promotion, human rights, or universal values…What makes him distinctive is not the substance of his policies, but the way he frames them, stripped of the moralizing tone. Oddly enough, this makes his foreign policy more transparent—and perhaps, in some ways,...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) pushed back on President Trump’s claim that grocery prices are falling, arguing that affordability — an issue she believes contributed to GOP election losses this week — is a problem for many Americans. “I go to the grocery store myself,” Greene told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday. “Grocery prices remain high. Energy prices are high. My electricity bills are higher here in Washington, D.C., at my apartment, and they‘re also higher at my house in Rome, Ga., higher than they were a year ago.” “So, affordability is a problem,” the lawmaker continued. She said she...

<p>Two Republican Kentucky congressmen will play a part in deciding the future of President Donald Trump's White House ballroom.</p><p>The lavish gold-accented ballroom, announced by Trump in July, is expected to cost around $300 million to create and sparked controversy in late October after bulldozers removed the entire East Wing of the White House, raising questions around transparency and legal authority.</p>

MAGA Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) had harsh words for former Fox News host Tucker Carlson while discussing anti-Semitism in the GOP before an audience with the American Jewish Coalition on Saturday. Carlson recently hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, drawing rebukes from Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “It is easy to talk about anti-Semitism on the left,” Fine said. “I want to talk about the dark force rising on our side. Multiple speakers have talked about the rise of anti-Semitism on the right, but it is not enough to speak in platitudes...

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., whose wife passed away last year, announced that he legally remarried last month and then had a celebration with friends and relatives this past weekend. The congressman, who is seeking re-election while facing a Trump-backed primary challenger, noted in a Monday post on X that he and Carolyn Grace Moffa were legally married on October 19. "Carolyn and I would like to announce our recent marriage! We were legally married in Kentucky on October 19th by the pastor of the church we have been attending for several months. This weekend we celebrated with close friends and...

Suspects were identified in the Dearborn terror plot. “This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend,” Patel said last week. Fox News later reported that the thwarted terror attack was connected to ISIS. Details were not immediately available. On Monday, two of the suspects were identified: Mohmed Ali, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Majed Mahmoud. According to the FBI, the suspect were reportedly planning the Halloween weekend mass shooting terror attack dubbed “pumpkin.” The suspects reportedly practiced at a shooting range in Michigan.

A defense attorney in Michigan is pushing back on the FBI’s allegations that his client and a group of young men arrested Friday were planning to carry out a violent attack over the Halloween weekend. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrests of multiple people Friday who he said were plotting a “potential terrorist attack.” He said more details would be forthcoming. Amir Makled, the lawyer for a Dearborn, Mich., man who was still detained Saturday, said he hasn’t gotten many details about the case, but he told The Associated Press that, after reviewing the matter, he doesn’t expect any...