Free Republic

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...

Former Republican Majorie Taylor Greene posted a photo this weekend of herself, Tucker Carlson and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., along with the statement that "the movement has come." Last month, Carlson said he was planning to create a new political party, the Columbia Journalism Review reported. Greene's photo, posted on X on Saturday, featured the three, who have been sidelined over their opposition to President Trump's agenda and suggests discussions on a third party are continuing. "We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise. But he’s betrayed us all....

The Department of Commerce quietly announced*** it will designate more than $870 million in federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturing in exchange for a minority equity stake in seven companies. *** the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said Commerce’s CHIPS Research and Development Office signed letters of intent with seven companies to provide a combined $874 million in federal funding under the landmark CHIPS and Science Act. *** “The Department will receive a minority, non-controlling equity stake in each company as a condition for receiving the funds to enhance the return for the U.S. taxpayer,” NIST wrote. Up to...

Ben Crump is back. The leading BLM ambulance chaser is at it again, this time in Madison, Wisconsin, where Corey Ruiz, a knife-wielding career criminal with 40 prior arrests, was shot by police. And Ben’s warning that there’ll be no peace in Madison and you know what that means, time to start looting stores until injustice is delivered and police officers are lynched. Crump promised that “there will be no peace and business as usual in Madison, Wisconsin,” until the police are held accountable. He spoke alongside the mother of Ruiz’s daughter, siblings and mother — who broke down in...

Detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested five teens from the Washington D.C. area for conspiring to steal merchandise from the 7-Eleven store at 3141 Ronald Reagan Parkway in Davenport. The teens are members of Run it Up, a travel basketball program affiliated with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). Their team is in the area to participate in the Puma NXTPro basketball tournament and they were staying at a Solterra Resorts vacation rental which is less than a mile from the store. The theft occurred on July 23, 2026 at around 4:10 am. The suspects concealed merchandise such as...

Longtime CNN political commentator and Democrat Van Jones rebuked far-left activists Saturday, warning that their positions on Hamas, prisons and immigration are regressive and threatened to steer the Democratic Party in the wrong direction as socialist-backed candidates celebrated recent primary victories. "Yes, we want our Democratic Party to be a big tent. But we don’t need 'party poopers. So STOP pooping in the punch bowl — and telling us the turds are ice cubes," Jones said on X, in reference to his Substack post. Jones accused some Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) activists of promoting positions involving Hamas, policing, prisons...

Culture Jul 13, 2026 Charlottesville's Lee statue melted down, transformed into 'racial diversity' monument "To transform the very material of a monument is to acknowledge that history cannot be erased, but it can be reimagined." Charlottesville's Lee statue melted down, transformed into 'racial diversity' monument Image Libby Emmons Brooklyn NY Jul 13, 2026 4 minute read A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was at the heart of the Charlottesville protests in 2017, followed by the Unite the Right rally where Heather Heyer was killed. The rally was funded in part by the SPLC, which paid for so-called informants...

Five people were killed and two others were injured in what Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly described as a targeted mass shooting against one family over the weekend in East St. Louis. Two suspects, ages 15 and 16, have been arrested in connection with the investigation. Authorities said the suspects were taken into custody at Holten State Park. As of Sunday evening, their names had not been released. The shootings took place at three different places in the city — Jones Park, a residence in the area of 39th and Summit and the Samuel Gompers Homes. “The picture is...

Media outlet Headline USA has produced a report that indicates FBI involvement in neo-Nazi marches and rallies across the country for the past twenty years. Additional bureau involvement stretches back to the 1970s. Much of the more recent activity took place under the watch of former FBI Director Robert Mueller. The allegations are not only serious, but potentially history-altering, as one of the events with alleged FBI involvement, the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, VA, was Joe Biden's claimed impetus to run for president in the 2020 election. Based on the testimony of operatives David Gletty and Bill...

This video from Black Conservative Perspective discusses the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Tyrron Johnson by Tennessee National Guard soldiers in downtown Memphis during the Fourth of July weekend (0:00-0:15, 1:45-2:30). Key takeaways from the video include: The Incident: According to authorities, officers were responding to reports of shots fired around 4:00 a.m. when they encountered Johnson with a handgun. A chase ensued, and soldiers shot and killed Johnson after he allegedly turned toward them while armed (0:15-0:54, 5:44-5:53). Investigation: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is currently leading an investigation into the shooting, at the request of the Shelby County...

A mother who was vacationing at a Minnesota lake is accused of trying to kill her daughter after the two argued over a cell phone. Court documents obtained by Law & Crime allege Jasmine Marie Laws, 35, of Baltimore, threw her 15-year-old daughter’s phone into a lake in Otter Tail County, Minnesota. The daughter went into the water to get the phone, and when she retrieved it, she got into an argument with Laws. Laws allegedly struck the daughter first, with the daughter allegedly retaliating by grabbing Laws’ hair. The two continued to fight, and Laws allegedly put the daughter...

Hundreds of masked white supremacists descended on the nation’s capital, proudly waving Confederate flags during the 250th Independence Day celebration. The demonstrators were seen wearing hats emblazoned with the logo for the Patriot Front — a white nationalist group founded by Thomas Rousseau after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Counterprotester Heather Heyer was infamously killed at that rally when a madman plowed into her and several others. Members of the group were snapped riding the DC Metro Saturday. In one shot, a black woman sitting on the train...

Suspected Fed group Patriot Front is in Washington, DC, today for another demonstration on the 250th anniversary of American Independence. The group was seen gathering outside of Washington Union Station this morning, chanting “Life, Liberty, Victory” and “Reclaim America!” The group was wearing khaki pants, navy blue shirts, green hats, combat boots, and white face masks to conceal their identities. Via Mitchell Miller on X: They were also seen marching away from the train station, carrying various flags, including American flags and Confederate flags. Some flew the American flag upside down, a signal of distress. The Southern Poverty Law Center...

Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, the Democrat nominee for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District, denounced the Declaration of Independence, capitalism, billionaires, and what he called “American exceptionalism.” Rabb made the remarks during the “America at 250 — Trump Fascism, Historical Erasure, and the Battle Over Truth” panel, held June 26 at People’s Plaza on Independence Mall in Philadelphia. Rabb is running unopposed in Pennsylvania's heavily Democrat 3rd Congressional District and is widely expected to win election to Congress in November. During the discussion, Rabb argued that the Declaration of Independence did not deliver freedom to everyone and instead helped preserve the...

At least 13 people were injured late Friday night when two gunmen opened fired from a vehicle into a crowd in the city's Princeton Park neighborhood, Chicago police said. Police said at around 11 p.m., officers were called about a person who had been shot along West 95th Street near South Wentworth Avenue. A preliminary investigation determined a red SUV pulled alongside a large crowd, and two suspects inside the vehicle began firing gunshots before fleeing the scene. When officers arrived on the scene, they found two people who had sustained gunshot injuries. A 32-year-old woman was shot twice in...

As if the Southern Poverty Law Center wasn’t already looking like a menace instead of a respected civil-rights outfit, now comes evidence that one of its top execs was sending donor cash to the white supremacist she was shacked up with. To be fair, it’s long been obvious that the SPLC is a racket exploiting liberals (especially in the media) desperate for right-wing threats to condemn; the nonprofit raked in billions over the decades to support its (shoddy) research, including a “hate map” and database on supposed hate groups. Now it stands charged with funneling funds to members of the...

A heroic Indiana mother was killed when she stepped in between her son and an 18-year-old gunman who had pulled a firearm on them during a Facebook marketplace sale. Jean Gragg, 40, and her teenage son were selling a watch to prospective buyer John Ford during an arranged meet-up on the front porch of their Edison Park, Ind . . Ford allegedly fired multiple shots at Gragg, who was walking up her driveway back to her home as her horrified family watched.