Free Republic

The encrypted-messaging service Signal is the application of choice for dissenters around the world. The app has been downloaded by more than 100 million users and boasts high-profile endorsements from NSA leaker Edward Snowden and serial entrepreneur Elon Musk. Signal has created the perception that its users, including political dissidents, can communicate with one another without fear of government interception or persecution. But the insider history of Signal raises questions about the app’s origins and its relationship with government—in particular, with the American intelligence apparatus. Such a relationship would be troubling, given how much we have learned, in recent years,...

VIDEOAny liberals who discount the charge that Minnesota elected officials, especially Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan aka "Flan Southside," were administrators of the Signal Chat group as just another "conspiracy theory" just had their ridiculous dismissal blown out of the water by the president of the Minneapolis Teacher's Union. Listen as she forthrightly admits that elected officials were proud of their work as Signal Chat administrators because they helped IMPEDE federal law enforcement such as ICE.

The head of the Minneapolis teachers union said in a recent interview that elected officials are involved in anti-ICE agitation in the city."The notion that people that are actively engaged in ICE watch, in being vigilant in protecting our neighbors, in Signal chat groups, running plates, in their cars doing patrols — that somehow we're ashamed of that activity, that somehow you can call our bosses and show our faces and then we would be shunned by our community..." Marcia Howard told Al Jazeera in an interview that aired last week.Howard is the president of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators,...

VIDEOMinnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan waited a full week before issuing a carefully crafted "denial" that she was "FLAN SOUTHSIDE" on the Signal Chat exposed by Cam Higby that showed her as an administrator of that group directing Antifa type thugs on how to IMPEDE federal law enforcement by ICE. Sorry but saying "Ridiculous" and "that's not me" are NOT real denials. With the way the left plays games with semantics she could justify lying by claiming that "FLAN SOUTHSIDE" is not her (because the name "PEGGY FLANAGAN" was not used on Signal Chat). The bad news for FLAN SOUTHSIDE...

Americans remain bitterly divided over the chaos that’s engulfed Minneapolis as President Donald Trump seeks to deport illegal-immigrant criminals. Some see the protesters thwarting the enforcement of immigration law as “protecting friends and neighbors” — a form of righteous vigilantism.Others contend Trump’s efforts are legal and necessary — despite the tragic deaths of two civilians who unlawfully interfered with federal enforcement action.The tactics and behavior of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are under deserved scrutiny in the cases of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.But what about the anti-ICE provocateurs, agitators and instigators hell-bent on disrupting and impeding...

Wednesday was Lucia Webb’s second day doing ICE watch in Minneapolis. It was just two days after the federal government launched its expanded immigration enforcement actions in the Twin Cities. In her car, she followed federal immigration agents from south Minneapolis to a park-and-ride lot by the Minneapolis VA Medical Center’s light rail stop. That’s when her car was boxed in by four ICE vehicles and surrounded by mostly masked federal agents. One agent told her she can’t be “chasing” them around the city. She replied that she wasn’t chasing. The agent said she was breaking the law by following...

VIDEOAs you can see, Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan was regularly posting on TikTok right up to the day, January 25, 2026, when she was EXPOSED as being an Administrator of the Signal chat under the not very secret code name of "Flan Southside" directing Minneapolis insurrectionists with instructions on how to IMPEDE federal law enforcement officers. The very interesting thing is that her TikTok posts CEASED right after her exposure as one of the insurrectionist ringleaders in her role as "Flan Southside." It will be very very interesting to see what, if ever, she posts on TikTok the next...

Signal chats have reportedly been used in Minnesota to coordinate rapid responses to ICE activity and alert or deploy anti-ICE agitators, according to multiple reports.Independent journalist Cam Higby has published screenshots and descriptions of Signal chats he says were used to share ICE vehicle locations and coordinate additional agitators, claims DX could not independently verify.

It has been revealed that anti-ICE agitator Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by Border Patrol in Minneapolis on Saturday, broke his rib one week before the fatal shooting. Sources told CNN that Pretti suffered a broken rib around a week prior to being shot after a group of federal agents tackled him. The incident began when Pretti stopped his car after he observed ICE agents allegedly chasing a family on foot. The source said Pretti began shouting and blowing his whistle. Pretti had allegedly told the source that five federal agents tackled him and leaned on his back, leaving...

VIDEOIs the Lt. Governor of Minnesota, the hijab wearing Peggy Flanagan, one of the ringleaders of the insurrection in Minneapolis? Signal Chat information released by Cam Higby indicates that Flanagan might be one of the signal administrators in the organized effort to impede ICE in their work. Hopefully an investigation into this matter will resolve whether or not she is guilty of insurrectionist activities. Keep in mind that Flanagan is currently a candidate for U.S. Senator from the Somali flag state of Minnesota.

FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday the bureau has identified people and groups who are funding leftist protests aimed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Minnesota. During an appearance on conservative commentator Benny Johnson's podcast, Patel confirmed that the FBI's investigation into the unrest is active and expanding. "We've got … investigations ongoing into the funding of this," Patel told Johnson, stressing that the protests are "not happening organically" and that investigators have made "substantial progress" in uncovering groups and individuals financially backing them. Patel also asserted that federal authorities are examining encrypted left-wing chats connected to protest organizers...

When Renee Good drove her car into an ICE agent earlier this month, the left tried to gaslight us into believing she was just some innocent bystander who was just at the wrong place, that she’d just dropped her son off at school and wasn’t supposed to be there. That narrative fell apart fast. Good, we soon learned, was a trained anti-ICE agitator who was absolutely there to obstruct law enforcement. Now we're watching the same playbook unfold with 37-year-old Alex Pretti, the armed agitator shot dead by Border Patrol agents on Saturday in Minneapolis while confronting agents. The talking...

I have infiltrated organizational signal groups all around Minneapolis with the sole intention of tracking down federal agents and impeding/assaulting/and obstructing them. BUCKLE UP ALL WILL BE REVEALED Each area of the city has a signal or several signals. Let’s start with a screen recording of all members of the south side group to start. ….

The FBI searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson Wednesday morning, as part of a classified document leak investigation. Agents reportedly executed a search warrant at her residence in suburban Alexandria, Va., seizing her phone, a Garmin watch, and two laptops (a personal computer and a Washington Post-issued device). Natanson was reportedly told she is not the target of the investigation. The suspected leaker, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, is a Maryland-based government system administrator with top-secret clearance. The Justice Department alleges in its complaint that he took home classified material, including documents found in his lunchbox and basement. Attorney General...

A new report claims that two of five people arrested in connection with what the FBI said was a plot to unleash a wave of terrorist bombings in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve are transgender. The FBI said that the people arrested were a splinter group of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which federal officials said has a pro-Palestinian, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government ideology, according to USA Today. The suspects were part of a Signal group chat calling itself “Order of the Black Lotus.”

I would not be surprised to see a denial of this report, probably before I'm done writing about it. NPR is reporting that, according to an anonymous US official, the White House is now looking for a new Secretary of Defense to replace Pete Hegseth. The White House has begun the process of looking for a new secretary of defense, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly... This comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continues to find himself mired in controversy. NPR has also confirmed with the same official that Hegseth shared details ahead of...

The wide-ranging leak investigation into the Pentagon continues to claim major scalps.Politico reported this afternoon that a third top official in the Defense Department was put on administrative leave Wednesday and escorted out of the building.The man in question is Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg.As Politico notes, Carroll is a Marine Corps Reserve officer who has worked at Anduril, a defense contractor that specializes in autonomous systems.He was also infamously fired by the Biden regime for allegedly creating a hostile environment. Before his termination, he served as chief operating officer of the Pentagon’s former...

A second member of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's inner circle has been placed on leave after an investigation into leaks of potentially sensitive information. Darin Selnick, the Defense Department's deputy chief of staff, was suspended from duty and escorted out of the building. This came on the heels of another Hegseth aide, Dan Caldwell, being escorted out of the Pentagon; see Hegseth Advisor Who Was Included in Leaked Signal Text Chain Escorted From Pentagon, Placed on Leave – RedState.Selnick is a retired Air Force officer and, like Caldwell, was part of a group Hegseth brought with him from Concerned...

A federal judge ordered White House officials involved in a group chat on military strikes in Yemen to preserve the messages after a bombshell report revealed that they potentially shared classified information. US District Judge James Boasberg ordered members of President Donald Trump's national security team to keep any messages sent or received over the Signal messaging app between 11 and 15 March.

The magazine said that it decided that “there is a clear public interest in disclosing” the information. The Atlantic on Wednesday released the screenshots of messages sent between top Trump administration officials through the encrypted app Signal detailing the timing and weapons used in airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi militant group in Yemen, arguing that spin from the White House warranted as full a release as possible. In a piece published Wednesday, the magazine said that it decided that “there is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels,...