Free Republic

A self-described Hamas operative who infiltrated the US Air Force and once boasted that he’s “been a terrorist since he’s been a kid” was busted alongside two Pittsburgh women after the feds foiled an apparent terror plot involving a pair of pipe bombs, the Justice Department announced this week. Mohamad Hamad, 23, who has dual citizenship in the US and Lebanon, was already charged for defacing a synagogue was hit Tuesday with a nine-count superseding indictment along with Talya Lubid, 24, and Micaiah Collins, 22. “Mohamad Hamad lied about his loyalty to the United States, among other false statements, in...

Dem House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Sunday rejected a Democratic National Committee big’s controversial plan to fund primary challenges against passive party members in safe districts. Jeffries of New York instead touted his intent to back all House Democratic incumbents across the country in the 2026 cycle and push the party to focus on knocking off Republicans. “I look forward to standing behind every single Democratic incumbent, from the most progressive to the most centrist and all points in between,” Jeffries told ABC News’ “This Week” when asked about the opposing stance by Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman David...

The world’s richest man is dying to figure out how lawmakers on Capitol Hill got “strangely wealthy” despite their comparatively modest public salaries. Speaking at a town hall in Wisconsin Sunday night, Elon Musk suggested that his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will investigate how certain members of Congress have achieved generational wealth. One attendee at the town hall had asked Musk if DOGE had uncovered evidence of funds wired from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “They’ll [the government]...

Sparks flew during a closely-watched federal appeals court hearing Monday afternoon — with a Barack Obama-appointed judge tearing into the Trump administration’s plans to mass-deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Judge Patricia Millett, a member of the bench since 2013, dominated much of the questioning — grilling a Justice Department lawyer over due process concerns for the 260 purported illegal migrants shipped to a notorious El Salvador prison earlier this month under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. “There were planeloads of people. There were no procedures in place to notify people,” Millett exclaimed at one point....

President Trump took dramatic action Thursday to inch closer to fulfilling a four-and-a-half-decade-old conservative dream of abolishing the Department of Education, which was created in 1979 under the late former President Jimmy Carter. While the Department of Education has one of the smallest staffs of cabinet-level departments, conservative critics have long ripped it as an unnecessary bureaucracy with an oversized budget. Still, the Trump administration has acknowledged that the Education Department has some important responsibilities such as its work on student loans and administering Pell Grants that it wants to retain. “The Department of Education will be much smaller than...

Boeing is struggling to convert the two Boeing 747 planes initially ordered by a now-collapsed Russian airline.When Donald Trump was elected to a second term as President in November, he called Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg to check on the progress of the new Air Force One planes he ordered during his first term. Unfortunately for the failed steak salesman, the two new Boeing 747 planes won’t be ready until at least 2029, after Trump’s second term ends. Suggested Reading Tesla Is Underperforming And Wall Street Isn't Excited About It Elon Musk, Who Wants To Stop People 'Taking Advantage Of...

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer demanded answers from the Selective Service agency for reposting a vulgar social media screed last month suggesting the US may be on a similar trajectory to Nazi Germany. Although the report was subsequently scrubbed from the Selective Service’s official X account, Comer (R-Ky.) is keen on obtaining additional information on the matter and wants to ensure the perpetrator is fired.... One day after the Nov. 5 election, the Selective Service X account reposted a remark by user “SloJoe” likening the incoming Trump administration to Nazi Germany. “For all you stupid [xxx] out there that...

On December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on TV screens across America and instantly captured the hearts and ears of a generation. Bolstering the animated special, based on Charles M. Schulz's immensely popular PEANUTS comic strip, was an engaging score from Bay Area jazz artist Vince Guaraldi, who brought characters like Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy to life through his evocative cues... Guaraldi's soundtrack, meanwhile, has since become one of the best-selling jazz albums in history, second only to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, and regularly ranks among America's top-selling holiday albums every December.Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas...

GOP veep pick JD Vance on Sunday went head to head with CNN host Jake Tapper over former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and the fact that some former top aides have called him a “fascist.” “State of the Union’s” Tapper came out of the gate grilling Vance on Trump’s remarks about an “enemy from within” and retired Gen. John Kelly’s suggestion that his onetime boss fits “into the general definition of fascist.” Vance, 40, in turn belittled Trump turncoats such as Kelly and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) as warmongers, which led to Tapper, 55, to drill down on the...

House Speaker Mike Johnson got into a testy exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper over recent rhetoric from former President Donald Trump about the “enemy from within” as well as X-rated insinuations about golfer Arnold Palmer. Reacting to Trump’s tale about Palmer’s manhood while speaking at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Johnson (R-La.) countered that what matters to voters is their economic situation. “Everywhere I go, Jake, everybody has the same concerns,” Johnson, speaking from a campaign stop in Michigan ,told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “They’re fed up and they’re fired up about the cost of living that’s unaffordable...

The typically mild-mannered and tight-lipped Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell privately laced into former President Donald Trump and sobbed during the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol, an upcoming book claims. McConnell (R-Ky.), 82, slammed Trump, 78, as “stupid,” “ill-tempered,” a “narcissist” and a “despicable human being” behind closed doors toward the end of his administration, according to a preview of the book “The Price of Power” from the Associated Press.“It’s not just the Democrats who are counting the days” until Trump’s White House departure, McConnell told associates in confidence, per the AP. “[Trump’s conduct] only...

A former congressional candidate was charged over allegations that he threatened to dispatch a hit squad to murder his political opponent while he was running against Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) William Braddock, 41, of St. Petersburg, Fla. is accused of making the alleged threats on June 8, 2021 — including one where he threatened to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” to take out his rival. Prosecutors did not outright name the victim, but at the time, he was vying against fellow Republican Luna and he was allegedly caught on audio calling the lawmaker a “dead squirrel” and “a...

Donald Trump’s campaign is getting some dough-lightful news out of Ohio. A beloved Cincinnati bakery, whose “cookie poll” has accurately predicted every election outcome but one since 1984, has the former president and Republican nominee leading Democrat Kamala Harris in its unscientific survey. Trump notched about 54% support (2,953 cookies) to Harris’ 39% (2,134 cookies), with an “independent” smiley-face cookie scoring 7% (397 cookies), per the latest tally shared with The Post by Busken Bakery. The cookie poll will remain open until Election Day on Nov. 5, so the tallies reflect the result of “early voting” by those with a...

WASHINGTON — President Biden was so hellbent on getting out of Afghanistan that he rebuked any advice to the contrary, ignored the pleas of the Afghan government and disregarded objections from US allies. That was the one of the main takeaways from the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s more than two-year investigation into America’s chaotic, deadly Afghanistan withdrawal, according to a blistering report released Sunday. “During his decades-long tenure as a Delaware US senator, eight years as vice president of the United States and nearly four years as president, Mr. Biden has demonstrated distrust of America’s military experts and advisors and...

With the Democratic base seemingly mobilized after replacing President Biden at the top of the ticket, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are dead even in the battleground states, a new poll revealed. Trump and Harris notched 50% apiece in the battleground state average, and the vice president scored a one-point lead over the Republican nominee in a national head-to-head matchup, a CBS News/YouGov poll found, garnering 50% to Trump’s 49%. Republicans haven’t won the national popular vote in a presidential election since 2004. In the battleground states, Michigan went 48% Harris to 48% Trump, with Pennsylvania...

Democrats are growing increasingly nervous that President Biden’s campaign is sinking after his disastrous debate performance — and their hopes of retaining the Senate and retaking the House in November could sink along with it. In key contests across the country, especially in the Senate, Democrats have generally been outperforming Biden in polls, teeing up a potentially stark contrast with the 2020 election when he generally outshined members of Congress and other contenders in his party. “There are concerns with the impact on down-ballot races if the President doesn’t do well,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif) admitted on NBC’s “Meet the...

President Biden applauded a call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip Sunday while attending the commencement of Morehouse College in Atlanta on Sunday. Valedictorian Deangelo Fletcher, who spoke before Biden’s commencement address, stopped short of any direct rebuke of the president but called for an “immediate and a permanent ceasefire.” “It is only right for the class of 2024 to utilize any platform provided to stand in solidarity with peace and justice,” Fletcher said while evoking the activism of Morehouse alumnus Martin Luther King Jr.

Three women who worked in former President Donald Trump’s administration bleakly warned voters against returning him to the White House in 2024. They cautioned that he poses a grave threat to American democracy and some even mused about backing the Democrat option should Trump lock down the GOP nod. “Everyone who was in the West Wing, and frankly, a lot of Cabinet secretaries, they know how dangerous Trump is,” former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin told ABC’s “This Week.” “This is not about politics. It’s not about policy. It is about the character of the man.” Griffin was...

Former President Donald Trump was adamant Monday that he hasn’t lost his marbles and crowed about how he recently “aced” a cognitive test after seemingly confusing former President Barack Obama with President Biden at recent campaign events. Clips of the 77-year-old appearing to mix up the 44th and 46th presidents have swept across social media and been eagerly dissected by the 45th president’s political foes. But Trump has insisted that he was “sarcastically” mixing up the two Democrats to rib Biden about who is really running the show. “Whenever I sarcastically insert the name Obama for Biden as an indication...

Chris Christie partly blamed his onetime friend Donald Trump for the spike in antisemitism and Islamophobia across the country. The former New Jersey governor posited that Trump’s language has emboldened others to act hatefully. “When you show intolerance towards everyone, which is what he does, you give permission as a leader for others to have their intolerance come out,” Christie told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “And that’s been going on for quite some time, not just with Donald Trump, but with university professors on some of our most elite campuses in this country.”