Free Republic

DANGER: ICE Losing Support - Trump Must DO THIS NOW!

It’s known as “Don Colossus.” At 15 feet tall, the statue of President Trump, mounted on its 7,000-pound pedestal, is about the height of a two-story building — a giant effigy cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf. For more than a year, the golden statue has been at the center of one of the stranger moneymaking ventures of the Trump era. A group of cryptocurrency investors paid $300,000 to have a sculptor create it as a tribute to Mr. Trump, an outspoken crypto proponent. Then they used it to promote a memecoin called $PATRIOT....

A notable number of Republican lawmakers broke sharply with the White House on Friday after President Trump posted — and later deleted — a video on social media that included a clip of former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes. Republicans have generally been careful about voicing criticisms of Trump, and Friday’s episode began with a more typical partisan line, with Democrats quick to condemn the video as racist. But then Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) — a close Trump ally and the only Black Republican in the Senate — soon joined them, paving the way...

Bend skier Hunter Hess is feeling "mixed emotions" about representing the U.S. at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Hess spoke during a news conference in Milan on Friday with the Team USA freeski halfpipe squad. He was reportedly asked what it means to wear Team USA gear and the American flag amid the Trump administration's immigration arrests. "It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now I think," Hess said. "It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren't. I think...

Governments habitually lie. They lie so often that it is peculiar for governments to claim “authority” on anything other than falsehood. Before the Gutenberg press and general literacy, “authorities” announced self-serving lies in the public square. With the arrival of newsprint, “authorities” disseminated State propaganda as daily news. Radio and television revolutionized the mass manipulation of minds. The adoption of the personal computer, the rise of the Internet, the commercialization of pocket computers posing as handheld phones, and the sticky web of an ever-growing social media complex have made it possible for government “authorities” to reach inside every human brain...

So far, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hasn't been linked to any suggested wrongdoing revealed by the Epstein files. But his decision to give another politician, whose ties to Jeffrey Epstein have been laid bare by the documents, the vital job of ambassador in Washington D.C. has drawn a ferocious backlash. As the most tumultuous week in his premiership ends, Starmer is facing calls from his political opponents, and some party allies, to step down from Britain's top job. What did he know, and when did he know it? Those are the big questions facing Starmer amid outrage over his...

The White House deleted a meme video posted on President Trump’s Truth Social that depicted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes — after a prominent GOP senator called the clip the “most racist thing I’ve seen” and demanded it be taken down. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the post and accused critics of fomenting “fake outrage” — but the video was taken down a little before noon Friday. A White House official added that a staffer had “erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the highest-ranking black...

Here we go again. President Donald Trump says he wants to make a deal with Iran and avoid war. And he’s sending negotiators to Oman for talks with Iranian diplomats on Friday. Sound familiar? Ahead of scheduled U.S.–Iranian talks in Oman last June, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, instigating a war that Trump later briefly joined with a bombing raid on Tehran’s main nuclear facilities. Not quite eight months later, the world anxiously waits to see if recent history will repeat itself, this time with America leading the charge. Israel, of course, is worried that Trump won’t attack....

President de Gaulle of France initiated the secret operation “Vide-Gousset” and repatriated 3,313 tonnes of gold reserves from the vaults of the Federal Reserve in New York and the Bank of England in London from 1963 until 1966. De Gaulle feared America’s deficit in its balance of payments would rupture Bretton Woods and lead to a devaluation of the dollar against gold. All France’s dollars were converted into gold, and to avoid treachery, the metal was repatriated over the course of three years. It took 44 boat trips and 129 flights to bring home more than three thousand tonnes of...

@RepThomasMassie The President of the United States called me a moron at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning because I’m still fighting for what he promised the American people: Reduce big spending, DOGE, no new wars, end foreign aid, defend 1A 2A 4A, prolife, and expose sex traffickers.

A January survey from Harvard University and The Harris Poll found that a slight majority of respondents believe that former President Biden was more effective than President Trump. The poll, released Monday, found that 51 percent of respondents said Trump is doing a worse job than Biden, while 49 percent said the president is doing a better job than his predecessor. The same survey conducted in December found that 53 percent of respondents said Trump is faring better than Biden did. The latest results also mark a stark reversal from February 2025, when 58 percent of respondents to the Harvard-Harris...

@60Minutes “I saw a man that was retreating,” GOP Sen. Rand Paul says of the video he saw of Alex Pretti, shot and killed by federal immigration officers. He has scheduled a Congressional hearing on the matter.

Jeannine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, on Monday threatened jail time for anyone who enters the capital with a gun. In remarks on Fox News that could deepen a growing rift between gun owners and the Trump administration, Ms. Pirro declared that if anyone brings “a gun into the District, you mark my words, you’re going to jail. I don’t care if you have a license in another district and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.” Her remarks prompted swift pushback from the Republican Party’s pro-Second Amendment wing, which was thrown...

President Donald Trump's favorability ratings remain stagnant as he enters the 13th month of his second term, according to an I&I/TIPP poll. The poll, conducted at the end of January, found 41% of voters view Trump favorably, while 50% rated him unfavorably.Last month, Trump had a 41% favorability rating and a 49% unfavorable rating. Republicans, who gave Trump an 80% favorable rating and just a 13% unfavorable rating in January, gave a 77% favorable rating and 17% unfavorable in this month's poll. Among Democrats, Trump's favorability fell from 13% in January to 10% in February, while his unfavorability remained at...

Paul addressed federal officials’ claims that Pretti posed a threat to ICE officers.... I saw no evidence of him assaulting the police,” Paul said. “The president’s advisor, Stephen Miller, called Pretti an assassin. That’s a lot of people–not telling the truth,” Pelley added. Paul shook his head at Miller’s statement and added, “It sounds like terrible judgment. I mean, terrible conclusions, incorrect conclusions, stating things that no one else believes.

“You bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail, and hope you get the gun back.” Pirro said on Fox News Monday in part, adding, “I don’t care if you have a license in another district and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else.” D.C. law requires firearm owners to register their weapons with local police and bars residents from registering certain semiautomatic rifles, effectively preventing civilian ownership of those models in the district, Axios reports.

China Sets The Price Now GFN – SHANGHAI Trading in a major China-listed silver fund was halted for a full session on January 30 as regulators moved to contain price distortions, while global silver prices fell sharply from record highs amid elevated volatility and tighter derivatives margin requirements. China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange suspended trading for the entire day on January 30 in the UBS SDIC Silver Futures Fund LOF, according to an official fund announcement. The notice stated that trading would be halted from the market open through the close as part of exchange risk-control measures. “该基金将于2026年1月30日开市起停牌至收市。” (“The fund will...

The price of gold fell from a record $5600 to $4770 per ounce. On Friday, the price of silver fell by 31%. This is the biggest percentage drop in the price of this bullion since March 1980. What could be the reasons for such declines?Gold hit a new record high on Thursday at $5600 per ounce. Silver was trading at $120 per ounce. Suddenly, precious metal prices began to fall. By Friday evening, gold was already costing $470 per ounce. Gold fever reached a new high at the beginning of 2026, with prices hitting a record earlier this week....

Democrats seem to be getting their mojo back as the midterm season heats up. Democrats topped Republicans on the generic congressional ballot by a considerable six points, 52% to 46%, scoring the highest of any party on that metric in the history of the survey commissioned by Fox News.The minority party also made massive gains on key issues, crushing Republicans on affordability by 14 points, health care by 21 points, helping the middle class by 14 points, transgender issues by 22 points, and even taxes by one point.<“Democrats are taking back the House in November,” a confident Democratic Congressional Campaign...

I first cover the price of silver at the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Then, I present a spreadsheet of 10 dealers I asked how much their 1 kg silver bars were selling for. I also show 6 clips of me interacting with some of the vendors. Note that on the second clip, the first part was about indium ingots.