Free Republic

War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said the U.S. military is "locked and loaded" and prepared to escalate against Iran if negotiations fail. "We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry," Hegseth said during his weekly press conference at the Pentagon, *** "We'd rather not have to do it, but we're ready to go at the command of our president and at the push of a button," Hegseth told reporters*** Hegseth issued a direct warning to Iran's military leadership, saying the imbalance in capabilities is decisive. "Our capabilities...

Perhaps, and we'll get to an answer – or at least an argument for it – shortly. The better question created by the last two pontificates is this: Has the Catholic Church abandoned St. Thomas Aquinas' deeply considered and scripturally rooted "Just War Doctrine" in exchange for flabby and fashionable pacifism dressed up as Christianity? We can address both questions without indulging in ad hominems and invective, I assure you, even when public officials (such as President Trump) can't restrain their frustration enough to keep the debate on point. The second question matters more than the first, especially in a...

Argentina President Javier Milei recently had some sharp words for the political left. But his observation is backed by more than his experience. Research makes it clear that the various strains of leftism, from today’s American Democratic Party to Democratic Socialists to green radicals to the tens of millions of voters who are attracted to progressive candidates and policies, are fueled by an emotional crisis. We beg our brothers and sisters on the left to consider why they do what they do. Milei, a defender of laissez-faire economic policy, said he once “thought being on the left was a...

Barbara Boyd argues Tom Friedman admitted some prefer Iran not be defeated if it politically benefits Trump or Netanyahu, then frames recent events as exposing “theater” about defending democracy. She claims the EU executed a regime-change operation against Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, citing NGO pressure, frozen funds, threats to strip voting power, and a push to end EU member-state vetoes, amid protests over a fuel crisis tied to the Iran war. Boyd highlights JD Vance’s remarks in Hungary about radicals, sovereignty, and foreign election pressure. She says Tulsi Gabbard declassified documents showing Trump’s first impeachment was a hoax driven by whistleblower...

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of President Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship as we have known it. The court’s eventual opinion in the case, Trump v. Barbara, will almost certainly hinge on how the justices interpret the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, which says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” The court will probably also respond to the first words of the president’s March 19 brief, which asserts that...

Eric Swalwell has dropped out of the race for California Governor after a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Republicans may be celebrating the demise of the prominent Democrat, but they should hold off on the champagne for now. Swalwell’s exit only increases the chance of two Democrats moving through to the run-off, depriving the GOP of a place on the ticket. However some Republicans still believe that the two GOP candidates in the race – Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco – can make it through California’s jungle primary and face each other in November. While it sounds exciting and makes...

Warsaw officials are gloating that so-called “bandits, criminals, and thieves” will soon be tried in Poland. Donald Tusk on X. Péter Magyar’s incoming Tisza government is set to extradite two senior figures from Poland’s former conservative Law and Justice (PiS) administration who sought refuge in Hungary from leftist PM Donald Tusk’s pursuit of his rivals. It is no wonder that Tusk, a fellow member of the centrist-liberal European People’s Party, is so happy with Magyar’s victory. Orbán’s Defeat Sparks Gloating Across Europe’s EstablishmentJubilant reactions from EU figures reveal how pivotal Hungary had become in opposing further centralisation—but Patriots for Europe...

Iran's military has threatened to block marine traffic in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Sea of Oman if the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz continues, escalating tensions in an already volatile region and raising alarms about global trade and energy supplies.***Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, a senior commander in Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned that continued U.S. enforcement actions against Iranian shipping could trigger sweeping retaliation. "If the aggressive and terrorist America continues its unlawful actions of maritime blockade in the region and creates insecurity for Iranian commercial ships and oil tankers, this action will...

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office staff has billed more than 34,000 hours working on lawsuits filed against the Trump Administration since November 2024, according to records obtained by The Center Square. More than two thirds of those hours billed within a six-month period. The 34,000 hours represents a combined 1,416 days or 3.9 years of billable work. “That's a significant amount of time even for an agency with 800 lawyers,” Citizen Action Defense Fund Executive Director Jackson Maynard told The Center Square. “For comparison a lot of private law firms have billable requirements for lawyers in the range of...

It's a game to watch Watching the media scurry all over cyberspace to explain away why their TDS-afflicted economic catastrophe forecasts aren’t panning out. Take the surprisingly tame inflation on the month, despite the ongoing Iran War. Despite a 4 percent increase on the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported April 14 that the Producer Price Index of wholesale prices increased 0.5 percent month-over-month for March, which was much less than the 1.1 percentage increase forecasted by economists as conflict over the energy-critical Strait of Hormuz ensued. Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy indicators, also came in...

Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said the evidence that Iran was an imminent threat to the United States was not there.Co-host Joe Kernen said, “You have such a tough job. I asked Senator Scott, and he said, I love Senator Paul because you never waver, but everybody wavers. I was going to ask you about war powers, and the Constitution is messy, and to stick with it as you do in the real world, it’s hard. I don’t know why you even have this job. It must be so difficult at this point for you, right?...

A fallback plan to ensure Europe can defend itself using NATO’s existing military structures if the U.S. departs is gaining traction after getting buy-in from Germany, a long-term opponent of a go-it-alone approach. The officials working on the plans, which some officials are referring to as “European NATO,” are seeking to get more Europeans into the alliance’s command-and-control roles and supplement U.S. military assets with their own. The plans—advancing informally through side discussions and over dinner meetings in and around the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—aren’t intended to rival the current alliance, participants said. European officials are aiming to preserve deterrence...

A Chinese-owned tanker under U.S. sanctions has passed the Strait of Hormuz despite the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that began on Monday.Citing data from Kpler and MarineTraffic, Reuters reported that the vessel had traversed the chokepoint earlier today. Owned by Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co Ltd., the vessel, Rich Starry, became a target for U.S. sanctions because it was used to transport Iranian crude.

President Donald Trump flipped on his once close ally, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, on Tuesday in a phone interview with an Italian daily newspaper. Trump responded to Meloni’s recent criticism of his attack on Pope Leo XIV by accusing Meloni of being a changed person. On Monday, Meloni called Trump’s multiple attacks on the Pope “unacceptable.” “I find President Trump’s words toward the Holy Father unacceptable,” Meloni said in a statement. “The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal that he calls for peace and condemns every form of war.” Meloni was...

@MarioNawfal BREAKING: MTG and Ro Khanna are forming a political coalition... Let that sink in. They disagree on almost everything. But they've found enough common ground to start: the Epstein files, the Iran war, foreign aid, and a $40 trillion debt run up by the same bipartisan center that's been in charge for decades. Khanna put it bluntly: The Vice President shouldn't be reporting to Netanyahu before reporting to Congress. This isn't a friendship. It's a signal that the old left-right coalition holding Washington together is starting to crack from both ends simultaneously.

Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer has been telling California voters he wants to “abolish ICE” despite investing nearly $90 million in a company behind the state’s largest immigration detention center. The California gubernatorial candidate has tried to swat off that criticism, but in a recent interview with the Sacramento Bee, he said it was a “mistake.” “We never had anything to do with running the company,” Steyer said. “But it was a mistake to think that that was a place where it was decent to make money.” Steyer founded a hedge fund named Farallon Capital Management in 1986. Under his management,...

A Chinese tanker under US sanctions passed though the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, defying Washington's naval blockade that began on Monday. After circling the area late on Monday and initially turning back, the 600ft long vessel passed through the waterway on Tuesday. Oil tanker Rich Starry is owned by Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping Co Ltd. and became a target for US sanctions because it was used to transport Iranian crude. Rich Starry is a medium-range tanker that is carrying about 250,000 barrels of methanol, according to the data. It loaded the cargo at its last port of call, the UAE's...

Conservative activist Riley Gaines brushed off President Donald Trump's criticism of her on Monday, saying she does "nothing for the approval of man." Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer, was one of the many Trump supporters critical of an AI-generated image the president shared on social media on Sunday portraying himself as a Jesus-like figure. Trump has since deleted the post. "Seriously, I cannot understand why he'd post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?" she wrote on X on Monday, commenting on the image. "Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would...

A divided federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered US District Judge James Boasberg to end his efforts to hold Trump administration officials accountable for flouting his orders in a high-stakes immigration case. The decision comes nearly a year after Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal trial-level court in Washington, DC, said in a blockbuster ruling that “probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt” for defying his orders to temporarily halt the deportation of migrants under a powerful wartime authority invoked by President Donald Trump. The Trump administration appealed several times to the DC Circuit Court of...

A woman named Lonna Drewes accused Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) of drugging and raping her during a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, adding to the weighty allegations of sexual misconduct against the California Democrat. Drewes told reporters she met Swalwell in 2018 while working as a model in Beverly Hills. She said she owned a “fashion software company” at the time and that Swalwell offered to help her with connections. Drewes said they met two times socially and that she believed “he was my friend.” On the third occasion, she said he sexually assaulted her in a hotel...