Free Republic

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the IRS could revoke the tax-free status of left-wing nonprofits such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, three sources familiar with the matter have told The Post.It is part of a Trump-backed crackdown on “bogus” charities, *** Bessent’s inner circle is drafting a blueprint that could ultimately strip non-compliant organizations of their 501(c)(3) status, according to two of the people familiar with the plans. The reviews could result in massive back payments and civil penalties, the same sources said. The initiative leans in part...

WASHINGTON — A former Southern Poverty Law Center chief finance officer declined to face charges in person that she fraudulently funneled $1.2 million in donor money to white supremacist groups. Heidi Beirich waived her right to appear at a virtual court arraignment in the Middle District of Alabama on 14 felony charges involving alleged wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. Instead, her defense team appeared for the Zoom arraignment and entered a not-guilty plea before US Magistrate Judge Kelly Pate on all counts. Pate set a trial date of Oct. 5, which both prosecutors and Beirich’s defense attorneys indicated...

The number of U.S. troops killed or wounded in the war with Iran has risen to 774 after the Pentagon added dozens of injured service members to its casualty count in recent days. The number listed as wounded climbed from 697 on Wednesday to 756 on Thursday, an increase of 59, according to the War Department's Defense Casualty Analysis System on Friday. The number of American military deaths remained at 18. The Pentagon did not immediately explain the sharp increase, including when or where the newly recorded injuries occurred. The War Department has divided the casualties into two categories following...

DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) — Police in Dearborn Heights and Melvindale are investigating and reviewing evidence after fliers and business cards tied to the Ku Klux Klan were found scattered across both cities Tuesday evening. Dearborn Heights police received a call for service Tuesday after KKK fliers were thrown from a vehicle. Residents also found business cards containing KKK contact information thrown around the area. Residents say the fliers were found in yards, in streets, and at a children's playground on Robert Street, where a racial slur was also written in the wood chips. The fliers were recruiting people into the...

The U.S. national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time, marking a historic milestone in a borrowing buildup that has accumulated over generations, through wars, recessions, tax changes and the expansion of major federal benefit programs under presidents of both parties.The Treasury Department reported that total public debt outstanding reached about $40.047 trillion Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. The number is striking, but the more significant measure for economists is debt held by the public — money the federal government owes to investors and other entities outside the federal government. That...

President Trump suffered a pair of losses in Florida’s primaries and another in Wyoming on Tuesday as three of his endorsed candidates were defeated in key primaries, showing the limits of his influence with sagging approval numbers. Embattled Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) lost his chance at renomination against former TV reporter Ryan Elijah, who appears on track to win by double digits. Mills has been among the president’s strongest supporters in Congress since he was first elected in 2022, but he has faced mounting controversy amid a House Ethics Committee probe into his conduct. The committee has for months been...

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the top US priority in the Iran war was keeping oil and gasoline prices low for Americans, with preventing Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon ranking second.The remarks contrasted with President Donald Trump's repeated framing of the fight: that entering the war had the sole objective of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, even if that meant short-term economic sacrifices for Americans.Vance's comments also underscored the growing reality that the war now centers on control of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has forced to the top of the negotiating agenda. "I...

The David Horowitz Freedom Center is still standing. Heidi isn't.

A former Southern Poverty Law Center finance officer was charged Wednesday for her role in secretly paying informants who participated in white supremacist groups over the past decade. Heidi Beirich made an initial appearance in federal court, according to her defense attorney Michael Proctor. CNN reported that she had been arrested earlier Wednesday. A 26-page superseding indictment naming Beirich, who was first unmasked by The Post in June, was later filed in the Middle District of Alabama. “There is a new indictment that includes the former CFO of SPLC,” Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed at an unrelated news conference at...

President Trump claimed Wednesday that the US has complete control of the Strait of Hormuz, one day after Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed increasing oil exports from the crucial waterway as Iran’s economy continues to free fall. “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” Trump proclaimed on Truth Social. “Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” he added. ***“On Sunday alone, over 20 million barrels left the Arabian gulf region, which is above the pre-conflict average.” Only...

A phenomenon known as Black Fatigue is growing among many Americans who are tired of the rude and anti-social behavior in parts of black culture, and the unspoken privilege it creates. Among all the viral memes and online trends one sees while scrolling through social media, one term has been coming up more regularly: “black fatigue.” The term has been around since 2015, and appears to have originated from a board on a site that has become the Twilight Zone of the internet (a site that is “both shadow and substance, of things and ideas”), 4Chan. As with many post-modern...

Billionaire heiress Elizabeth Simons is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Democratic Party’s campaign to retake the House — even as she bankrolls the socialist causes and candidates that have Democrats’ establishment leaders increasingly on edge.Simons, who previously cut a $250,000 check to a super PAC backing Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has donated $354,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — the party’s chief House campaign arm — and thousands more to individual House candidates this election cycle. The donations, ironically, put Simons behind the same Democratic leadership forces trying to prevent the party’s increasingly powerful progressive wing from...

An Iranian military spokesman said Saturday that Tehran's control over the Strait of Hormuz is "irreversible," warning that the United States must accept the new status quo or face even greater costs. "The Iranian order prevailing over the Strait of Hormuz is irreversible," Iranian army spokesman Brig. Gen. Amir Akraminia said, according to Iran's Fars news agency. "Today, the Iranian order prevails in the Strait of Hormuz, and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran stand firm until this order is fully established," Akraminia said. He said Iran's armed forces have the will and military capabilities necessary to...

This video, presented by *Ken LaCorte*, examines the high murder rate among *Black Americans* in the United States, analyzing the data, historical trends, and potential factors contributing to these statistics. ### **Key Takeaways from the Video:** * **The Data (0:52 - 2:43):** *Black Americans* make up roughly 13% of the U.S. population but account for over half of all murder victims and perpetrators. This disparity has persisted for decades, though the violence is highly concentrated in specific neighborhoods rather than being distributed across the entire population. * **Historical Trends (2:43 - 10:25):** Murder rates in the U.S. fluctuate significantly over...

Donald Trump clashed with Pete Hegseth over a claim that a US munitions shortage could limit his options in the Iran war, according to reports. The US president confronted his defence secretary at Camp David, his country retreat in Maryland, demanding to know why he had been misled about the missile shortage. The clash occurred on the sidelines of Mr Trump’s cabinet meeting on Friday, at which he said that he thought the missile issue “had been fixed”, two people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post. The White House dismissed the claims as “fake news”, denying that the...

Seven teenagers were injured in a fatal crash involving a stolen car in Maryland. At approximately 5:25 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Aug. 4, police responded to reports of a “serious collision” between a Toyota Matrix and a stolen Kia Optima at the intersection of Great Seneca Highway and Clopper Road in Germantown, the Montgomery County Police (MCP) said in a statement. “Officers located both vehicles with extensive damage,” said the MCP. “...The preliminary investigation determined that the white Kia Optima, reported stolen from a Montgomery County residence several hours after the collision, entered the intersection and struck a Toyota...

Trump’s campaign of repression echoes the red scare. But now the government has bigger ambitions and more powerful tools There are many parallels between the first McCarthy era, roughly 1946 to 1956, and Trump’s campaign of political repression, his own updated McCarthyism. Both regimes crafted a monster of quasi-facts and innuendo and fed it with fear: an enemy within, well-organized and financed, secretive and violent, allied with evil foreigners and bent on overthrowing capitalism, democracy and Christian morality. Both used flagrantly unconstitutional means to cleanse the nation of the spectral menace. Each time, federal employees were targeted first. President Harry...

A Louisiana man accused of gang raping Louisiana State University student Madison Brooks before she was fatally hit by a car has asked that Brooks’ supporters be banned from wearing pink in the courtroom at his trial. Desmond Carter, 21, who is charged with others of sexually assaulting Brooks, 19, in a car in Baton Rouge in 2023 just before her death, claimed that Brooks’ family and friends have repeatedly worn pink – Brooks’ favorite color — in court in an effort to intimidate the jury into a guilty verdict, according to WBRZ.Carter’s lawyers pointed to several social media posts...

President Trump on Monday blasted Iran’s leadership as “unbelievably duplicitous,” accusing Tehran of privately pursuing peace talks with the US while publicly denying any negotiations were taking place days after he called off a massive military campaign planned for the weekend.In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed Iranian officials had sought a meeting with the US before turning around and insisting they were only in talks with Oman over plans for the Strait of Hormuz. “They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that...

The Iranian government flat-out rejected President Trump’s claim that new negotiations were due to get underway later Monday, with officials stating that no talks were taking place or scheduled.Trump, 80, told reporters en route to Washington Sunday night that he had called off a planned “massive attack” on Iran at the request of US partners in the region — including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.“They thought that a deal is imminent,” said the president, later adding: “Now what we’re doing is talking to them [Iran], in the form of a ​negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon.” Iran Foreign...