Free Republic

Senate Democrats on Friday blocked a House-passed bill to fund federal departments and agencies for seven weeks, putting Washington on the path to an Oct. 1 government shutdown. Democrats came together in near unison to defeat the measure on a 44-48 vote, with only Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) voting for the Republican-drafted proposal, which passed the House earlier Friday by a 217-212 vote. Two Republicans voted against the House-passed continuing resolution: Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), an outspoken fiscal hawk who argued it would prolong Biden-era spending levels, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), a centrist who has voiced grave concerns...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, in a Tuesday opinion piece for The Guardian, called out President Trump for boosting “divisive, far-right politics” worldwide in recent years. “We must unite to take on the reactionary populists and nativists who are exploiting economic concerns, the atomisation of modern life and a growing distrust of political and media institutions – something we have seen in countries across Europe and, of course, in the US,” Khan said in his Guardian piece. “President Donald Trump and his coterie have perhaps done the most to fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent...

Senate Republicans are growing increasingly exasperated over President Trump’s refusal to give them permission to move tough bipartisan sanctions legislation against Russia and countries that buy its oil. Trump pressed European allies over the weekend to levy harsher sanctions against Russia, but he has dragged his feet on the bipartisan sanctions bill, which Republican senators were hoping to get done in July. The failure to act is fueling growing disillusionment among some Senate Republicans that Trump is not serious about helping Ukraine. One Republican senator who requested anonymity to comment candidly on the stalemate over the sanctions legislation questioned whether...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) renewed her call for a “national divorce” to divide the country along partisan lines on Monday — this time citing the fractured response to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and federal funding disputes in Congress. “There is nothing left to talk about with the left. They hate us,” Greene wrote on the social platform X. “To be honest, I want a peaceful national divorce.” “Our country is too far gone and too far divided, and it’s no longer safe for any of us,” she added.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is standing in the way of a bipartisan push to tighten sanctions on the country of Georgia, which lawmakers and advocates say is the best way to stand up for pro-democracy forces and counter Russian, Chinese and Iranian influence in the country. Mullin is blocking passage of the Megobari Act — titled the Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia’s Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Act — bipartisan and bicameral legislation that codifies sanctions against officials in the ruling Georgian Dream party for human rights abuses, corruption, undermining democracy and deepening ties with American adversaries. In a...

A dozen federal judges across the political spectrum have spoken out against the Supreme Court’s handling of cases involving President Trump amid intense public scrutiny of lower court rulings. The 12 judges spoke to NBC News on condition that they not be identified out of fear of retaliation, so it’s unclear who they are or where they located. NBC reported the slate includes judges “appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents, including Trump, and serving around the country.” They pushed back on what they described as a pattern of emergency rulings from the conservative-leaning high court in response to lower court...

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) has apologized for incorrectly stating on a White House application more than a decade ago that he was a Bronze Star recipient. Moore, a rising star in the Democratic Party, served in the Army Reserve between 1996 and 2014. He was deployed to Afghanistan in August 2005 through March 2006. Though he has won multiple awards for his service, including the National Defense Service Medal, he stated on a 2006 application for the White House Fellowship that his service won him the award of a Bronze Star. “For my work, the 82nd Airborne Division have...

At least three senior CDC officials resigned on Wednesday after Dr. Susan Moranez was ousted as the CDC Director. According to The Washington Post, Monarez departed the CDC over RFK Jr.’s push to change vaccine policy. Following the departure of Dr. Monarez, three senior CDC officials resigned per The Hill and PBS: Demetre Daskalakis, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and CDC Chief Medical Officer Deb Houry. The Hill reported: At least three top officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired less than a month on the job. CNN and The Washington Post and The Hill confirmed Dr. Monarez has been ousted. Details of Monarez’s departure from the CDC are not immediately available. The Hill reported: Susan Monarez, the longtime government scientist recently confirmed as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has been let go from her position after less than a month in the role. A source familiar with the situation confirmed to The Hill that Monarez is ousted as CDC director. The Senate confirmed her on July 29. The...

I went to prison for defending the Constitutional separation of powers. John Bolton (an occasional contributor to The Hill) may well wind up in prison, too if investigators uncover evidence and prosecutors decide to bring charges over his alleged classified disclosures. When Bolton wrote his book, “The Room Where It Happened” — reportedly receiving a $2 million advance — he wasn’t just dishing gossip. He was sharing information about Oval Office conversations and national security that should have stayed secret — either by law or under executive privilege. A federal judge already spelled this out in black and white. In...

Fox Business’s Larry Kudlow expressed concern on Friday over the Trump administration’s move to take a 10 percent stake in mega chipmaker Intel. “I am very, very uncomfortable with that idea. I’m very uncomfortable with that one, but that’s a conversation for another meal on another day,” Kudlow told economist Stephen Moore, in an interview highlighted by Mediate. Moore himself, a Trump economic adviser, earlier in the appearance, also criticized the administration’s decision, calling it “terrible.” “I hate corporate welfare. That’s privatization in reverse. We want the government to divest of assets, not buy assets. So terrible, one of the...

President Trump on Monday bashed Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) as “incompetent” amid threats from Trump to send National Guard troops into the Illinois city. “The incompetent Mayor of Chicago just stated that, in DC, where crime has been brought down to almost nothing, there have been no murders in 9 days, something which hasn’t happened in years, and people are safe again, only nine people have been arrested,” Trump said on Truth Social. “That is wrong, hundreds of criminals have been held, captured, and arrested, and their guns have been taken away. DC IS SAFE AND BOOMING!!!” As of...

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) on Saturday upped her crusade against conditions in the Gaza Strip following a declaration of famine in the region by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. “U.S. taxpayers fund Israel $3.8 billion annually for military aid. That means every U.S. tax payer is contributing to Israel’s military actions,” Greene wrote in a Saturday post on X. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to pay for genocide in a foreign country against a foreign people for a foreign war that I had nothing to do with. And I will not be silent...

“Gavin Newsom is now trolling Trump. I’ve never seen a Democrat do this. I think it’s very funny… he’s imitating Trump’s exact style,” Maher said Friday during his “Real Time With Bill Maher” show. “This is Newsom: ‘And he will fail as he always does, sad. And I, the peacetime governor, our nation’s favorite, will save America once again. Many are calling me the, you know, Gavin Newsom, many say the most loved and handsome governor,’” Maher added, reading a post Newsom made on X. Newsom and his communications team have tried to mimic Trump’s rhetoric and social media persona...

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Friday pushed back on President Trump’s threat to target Chicago next in the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime following a sweeping takeover in the nation’s capital. “As Donald Trump attempts to create chaos that distracts from his problems, we’ll call it out for what it is,” Pritzker wrote in a lengthy thread on social platform X “Trump and Republicans are trying to distract from the pain they’re causing — from tariffs raising the prices of goods to stripping away healthcare and food from millions.”

Russia is sending signals that it intends to slow-walk a peace deal on Ukraine, showing some daylight between the Kremlin and President Trump’s intentions to end the war. From a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to suggestions of security agreements for Kyiv, Russian officials have expressed doubt about some early prospects of a peace deal, parts of which are also being backed by a contingent of European Leaders. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov tamped down any progress made at a summit at the White House earlier this week where Trump met with seven foreign leaders as well as Zelensky,...

Syria is home to the world’s oldest existing Christian communities, which trace their lineage back to Apostolic times. According to Syriac Christian tradition, the Syriac Kingdom of Osroene was the world’s first political entity to declare Christianity as its state religion. King Abgar V — known as Abgar the Black — adopted the Christian faith after being healed from a devastating illness by the disciple Thaddeus in 33 AD. * On the road to Damascus, the former persecutor of Christians, Saul of Tarsus, was transformed into the Apostle Paul, further rooting Christianity in Syrian soil. * Syria has played a...

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to “robust” security guarantees, including “effectively” offering Ukraine Article Five-like protection, during their historic Friday meeting. “We agreed to robust security guarantees that I would describe as game-changing,” Witkoff said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Witkoff explained that Russia agreed to allow the United States and other European countries to “effectively offer [Ukraine] Article Five-like language to cover a security guarantee,” referring to the provision of NATO that states an attack on one NATO member is seen as an...

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are locked in a close battle in the state’s bitterly contested Senate primary, according to an Emerson College Polling survey released Friday. The poll showed Cornyn essentially tied with Paxton. He led by 1 point, 30 percent to 29 percent, with 5 percent saying they prefer another candidate and 37 percent undecided. The margin is much closer than numerous other past polls that have shown Paxton with a lead over the longtime incumbent. “Seven months ahead of the Republican Primary, the contest between the four-term incumbent and the Attorney General...

Democrats are making a play for Ohio in next year’s Senate race as former Sen. Sherrod Brown prepares an expected comeback attempt. The Buckeye State was once firmly purple but has become increasingly red in the Trump era. President Trump won the state in 2024 with 55 percent of the vote, and Brown lost his bid for reelection to Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), winning 46.5 percent of the vote. Those totals show Brown was much more popular with Ohio voters than former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Democrats think a lower-turnout midterm election could carry him...