Free Republic

On Wednesday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” President Donald Trump discussed nuclear talks with Iran and stated that Iran has to turn over its uranium and either deactivate or destroy their centrifuges or else they will face strikes from the United States.

Karmelo Anthony's mother says family has been "under attack," that her daughter has been afraid to sleep in her own bed, and that her husband's "mental health is deteriorating day by day."

(CNN) - Nancy Pelosi privately offered some advice for Hakeem Jeffries as Democrats devolved into bitter infighting over a government funding bill reviled by much of their party. “Use your power,” she told him in an hour-long sit down in his office earlier this month, telling Jeffries to flex his muscle with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and sharpen their party’s strategy with a shutdown looming, according to a person briefed on their conversation. After a week back home where Democrats took an earful from their voters demanding they hold a tougher line with President Donald Trump, Jeffries is facing...

Wednesday, during an appearance on “Morning Joe,” long-time MSNBC personality Chris Matthews said President Donald Trump used a “Sesame Street” strategy to teach his MAGA followers what to think. Matthews said, “He’s questioning the separation of powers, and he’s questioning whether a judge has a right to be a judge. Clearly, he’s teaching again, as I said the other day. He’s always teaching. He’s always got a Sesame Street-thing going. Teaching the MAGA people what to think. They all hate this judge now. That’s what he wants to do, the MAGA people. And they’re the ones the senators are afraid...

President Trump has selected Gerald Parker, a veterinarian and former top-ranking federal health official, to head the White House's pandemic office, two U.S. officials tell CBS News. Congress created the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy after the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of one of the lessons learned from the outbreak, the office was intended to formalize the so-called czar roles that had led efforts across the federal government to prepare and respond to pandemic threats. Parker was previously the associate dean for Global One Health at Texas A&M University. "One Health" refers to the study of...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) plans to meet with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Day to discuss “strategy,” as the top House Republican prepares for Friday’s Speaker election. “I’m going to be with him at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Day,” Johnson told News Radio 710 KEEL in Shreveport, La., according to a report published Tuesday. “We’re going to map out some strategy.” Johnson said the president-elect initially wanted to reveal his endorsement of the Speaker on New Year’s Day but moved it up to Monday.

I'm a retired economics professor who voted against Harris, mainly because of her economic policies. For example, Harris (and virtually all Democrats) rally around the statement: “The rich should pay their fair share!” I have a number of problems with this statement when it is a basis for government economic policy. For example, consider her statement that the rich don't pay their fair share. First, who gets to determine “a fair share”? Currently, the top 10 percent of income earners (i.e., the “rich”) paid 73.7% of all taxes collected by the IRS. Wage earners with $550,000 or more (the top...

The Justice Department on Friday announced it is suing the state of Virginia for removing non-citizens from its voter rolls.“The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the State of Virginia, Virginia State Board of Elections and Virginia Commissioner of Elections to challenge a systematic state program aimed at removing voters from its election rolls too close to the Nov. 5 general election in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA),” the DOJ announced.

Democrats believe Vice President Kamala Harris must admit to the failures of the Biden-Harris administration to survive exposure during Tuesday’s debate as the status quo candidate of the past three and a half years. Harris has clear vulnerabilities as the vice president: She cannot campaign on policies to fix crime, inflation, and border security without undermining the Biden-Harris administration’s policies, but she must tout the administration’s policies to validate her record and candidacy. “The debate will pose a challenge for Ms. Harris, who will have to decide how much to embrace or distance herself from President Biden and his policies...

Former President Clinton’s White House strategist Paul Begala says former President Trump’s stream of insults against Vice President Harris is “nutty at best and racist at worst” as a campaign strategy, as the vice president closes the polling gap, seizing on momentum. “He’s an insult comic,” Begala said Tuesday in a CNN interview. “That’s what he does.” Begala lauded Trump allies, including former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, for attempting to keep Trump on message and focus on campaign issues, but he noted Trump’s current strategy isn’t as effective against Harris as it was against President Biden. “The problem is he’s...

Former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway joined the chorus of GOP strategists who want former President Donald Trump to change his tone on the campaign trail. Conway told Fox Business anchor Larry Kudlow during an interview on Monday that her former boss needs to adapt his rhetoric to produce a “winning formula” against Vice President Kamala Harris. “The winning formula for President Trump is very plain to see,” Conway proclaimed. “It’s fewer insults, more insights, and that policy contrast.” The GOP strategist worked closely with Trump for three years before retiring from her role as counselor to the president in...

Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton is joining those criticizing vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s past statement about “childless cat ladies.” Bolton thinks the comment could resonate politically as much as 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s remarks describing some Trump supporters as “deplorables.” “I think these comments by Vance are really the 2024 counterpart of [former Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton’s famous statement in the 2016 election where she called Trump supporters ‘deplorables,’” Bolton said on CNN’s “The Source” Friday. “[I] mean, if politicians can’t learn — it’s one thing to attack your opponent, it’s another thing to...

Was the “leak” actually strategic? Could it have been a clever reverse psychology maneuver? Think about it in terms of Trump deliciously pouring gasoline on an already raging dumpster fire. Democrats — to spite their arch nemesis — then are forced to rally behind the dead man walking. Brilliant Trump move, if true.

According to a recent poll conducted by Emerson College, President Joe Biden has only a seven-point lead over rival and former President Donald Trump in the blue state of New York. Biden is also well under a 50 percent approval rating. Combined with the candidacy of independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., this potentially makes the state ripe for picking by Trump in this fall’s election. The Empire State has changed over the years since Ronald Reagan won it in 1980 and again in 1984, but not so much that it is a slam dunk for Biden. He will have to...

The 75 largest cities in America were collectively $288 billion in debt at the end of fiscal year 2022... 53 major cities that do not have enough money to pay their bills. Yet all of them claimed their budgets were balanced, as is required by law. That means lawmakers understated each city’s debt by not including future costs like employee pensions and healthcare ... New York City has a taxpayer burden of $61,800, the largest by far despite being the most populous. The city has only six cents saved up for every dollar it will need to spend on retiree...

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that President Joe Biden’s strategy on Israel is not working. Co-host Joe Scarborough said, “If the president turns on Netanyahu aggressively, if the president says we’re going to stop sending weapons, then Netanyahu actually uses that to gain more power inside of Israel saying, see, we have been abandoned even by the United States, we have to fight on.”

Russia cannot defeat Ukraine or the West - and will likely lose - if the West mobilizes its resources to resist the Kremlin. The West’s existing and latent capability dwarfs that of Russia. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of NATO countries, non-NATO European Union states, and our Asian allies is over $63 trillion.[1] The Russian GDP is on the close order of $1.9 trillion.[2] Iran and North Korea add little in terms of materiel support. China is enabling Russia, but it is not mobilized on behalf of Russia and is unlikely to do so.[3] If we lean in and...

Is it possible to speak obvious truths without being chastised? It depends entirely on whether that truth supports The Narrative™ or challenges it. The most powerful tool to enforce compliance with the dominant Elite ideology is the requirement that the language we use be chosen and defined by that Elite. Legally and common sensically everybody knows that men do not belong in women's sports and women's spaces. So for those who want to make that happen the answer is to redefine the word "women" to include everyone who wants to be one. Hollow out words and pour in whatever meaning...

Vice President Kamala Harris is reportedly working to fix the Biden campaign strategy — nine months from election day. Harris, whose favorability rating is worse than President Joe Biden’s, appears to be positioning herself as an alternative if he decides not to run for reelection before the Democratic National Convention (DNC). A majority of voters say there is no chance they would vote for Biden in 2024, a recent CNN poll found. The convention is the only feasible route Harris could take to replace Biden, 81. Politico reported a three-step process: Biden Must Voluntarily Step Aside Before Democratic National Convention...

JERUSALEM – Top Iran experts in the U.S. and in Israel are warning President Biden that his administration’s strategy of de-escalation and containment targeting the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism – the Islamic Republic of Iran – has failed and America needs to reestablish deterrence against Tehran as fears of the regime obtaining a nuclear device grow. Alarming reports about Iran moving at an astonishingly fast pace to possess a nuclear weapon have emerged since last month. In December, Reuters reported that a confidential IAEA report released to member states said it had "increased its production of highly enriched uranium,...