Free Republic

Trump is the great magnetic north of our political metabolism. Harold Macmillan, prime minister of Great Britain from 1957 to 1963, was once asked by a journalist what was the most troubling problem he faced during his prime ministership. “Events, my dear boy, events,” was his reply. It was ever thus, of course. But in the great pudding of life, the currents of events seem to cluster more thickly in some moments than in others. I understand that every age is naturally inclined to exaggerate the importance and vividness of its own dramas. The incessant beat of our 24-hour news...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862) (Trade Expansion Act), it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Policy. Copper is a critical material essential to the national security, economic strength, and industrial resilience of the United States. Copper, scrap copper, and copper’s derivative products play a vital role in defense applications, infrastructure, and emerging technologies, including clean energy, electric vehicles, and advanced electronics. The United States faces significant vulnerabilities in the copper supply...

Fifty-nine percent of Democrats now call themselves supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America. That’s scary because the stated goals of the DSA are not some bloated European welfare state but a radical overhaul of American society. It’s an overhaul that would eventually cost us both our economic and democratic freedoms. A new Quinnipiac poll did not sugarcoat wording to ask about “fairness” instead of socialism or whether people were “open-minded” to so-called “democratic socialist” policies. It directly asked, “On political matters, do you consider yourself a supporter of the Democratic Socialists of America, or not?” Twenty-six percent of those...

The moles want gold! Two nitwit nightcrawlers — including a particularly portly “mole person” — were busted Thursday for diving into a Manhattan manhole in a subterranean quest for precious metals, police and law-enforcement sources said. Cops nabbed Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and Samuel Reveron, 25 – both Venezuelan citizens – near their Queens homes in connection to a surreal pre-dawn Wednesday sewer escapade just steps from the Loews Regency New York on the Upper East Side. The strange shenanigans could end up shedding light on the motivations of mysterious “mole people” spotted popping out of sewers — as Reveron admitted...

President Donald Trump and Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, met face to face for the first time Tuesda evening, publicly cementing a rapidly expanding relationship between Washington and Caracas that recent polling suggests is deeply unpopular among Venezuelans. Trump received Rodríguez at the Lotte New York Palace during a reception for foreign leaders attending the General Assembly. The meeting was held behind closed doors and without press access, but both governments released photographs showing Trump and Rodríguez together. Rodríguez later described the encounter as “historic” and said they discussed strengthening relations and cooperation in energy, mining and security. “We held...

It's not every day that an American labor union gets investigated for possible ties to two of the world's most lethal terrorist organizations. But Chicago's Service Employees International Union Local 73 isn't an everyday union. Last September 24, FBI agents raided residences in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan of more than a dozen radical activists in an effort to connect them to the Hamas (Gaza and the West Bank) and FARC (Colombia) guerrilla movements. Two of the occupants were SEIU Local 73 chief steward and executive board member Joe Iosbaker and former local board member-steward Tom Burke. Neither they nor anyone else has...

Last Friday FBI agents raided the homes of far left activists in Chicago and Minneapolis who are linked to the Marxist FARC terrorists and Islamic radicals as part of a terrorism investigation. The home of radical Hatem Abudayyeh in Chicago was raided in the terror sweep. Radical Hatem Abudayyeh protested against Israel in Chicago in January 2009. (Daylife) Hatem Abudayyeh is the executive director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN). Hatem Abudayyeh has been with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) since 1999, and was appointed Executive Director in 2003. The Arab American Action Network was founded by former...

The Iran and Ukraine wars have exposed the world’s reliance on the Middle East and Russia for diesel Persian Gulf states and Russia have invested tens of billions of dollars in refineries over the past decade to grab a bigger share of the global diesel market. Now, war in both regions has sent exports plunging, squeezing supplies of a fuel that powers much of the global economy. Diesel prices are soaring—they eclipsed $6 a gallon in the U.S. for the first time last week and have kept climbing, hitting $6.45 on Friday. The surge has rattled governments and markets around...

Colombia’s hardline president, Abelardo De La Espriella, has provoked outrage after posting a video on social media in which he strides through rows of white body bags that he says contained the corpses of 23 “neutralised” guerrillas.De La Espriella took power last month vowing “all-out war” against illegal armed groups and he published the footage on Thursday in an apparent attempt to show he was fulfilling that pledge.“I promised to confront terrorism without hesitation and I’m keeping that promise,” the far-right politician wrote above the video. “I did not come to play nice with murderers, extortionists and child recruiters. I...

The oil agreement is a foundation, not a finish line but it is a hopeful moment of progress

Chevron Corp. (CVX) and other U.S. energy companies are reportedly moving closer to deals that could bring billions of dollars of investment into Venezuela's oil fields. While Chevron is nearing an agreement to expand its operations in the country, Halliburton Co. (HAL) is reportedly in talks to provide equipment to Venezuelan oil producers, as the Trump administration pushes U.S. companies to help build the nation's oil industry. Chevron, Halliburton Eye Venezuela Opportunities Chevron could add two heavy-oil fields to its Venezuelan portfolio under the potential agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The oil major...

Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar did a quick about-face on President Trump’s massive Venezuela oil deal Saturday — deleting a social media post blasting the pact before returning to declare it was “a great deal” for America and the Venezuelan people Salazar, who has been outspoken of communist Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, took to X to declare that the pact would come to an end once President Trump’s term ends. “Any oil “deal” with Venezuela’s interim regime has an expiration date: the day President Trump leaves the White House,” Salazar wrote on the site. She later deleted the English...

President Donald Trump announced an historic energy deal with Venezuela in a Truth Social post Friday night. The president called the deal “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY.” Trump wrote that the United States secured “majority U.S. control” of over 65 million barrels’ worth of Venezuelan oil reserves. Trump credited Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez and “a partnership with private business.” The president stated that the deal more than doubles American reserves and will “substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans.” He added that the deal would strengthen the...

I reported on Thursday that there was a massive deal in the offing to acquire an interest in Venezuela's oil fields that could help guarantee our energy security. Now, both President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have weighed in, saying they pulled it off and the deal is official. Trump said in a Truth Social post that they'd secured "majority control" over 65 billion barrels; it "more than doubles" our reserves and will "substantially lower gas prices." 🚨 BREAKING NEWS pic.twitter.com/vkRV9oOetV— Department of State (@StateDept) August 28, 2026BREAKING NEWS: The United States of America has just entered...

President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. has entered an agreement with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of the South American country’s oil reserves. Trump in a social media post announced the agreement he said was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez. “The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Trump wrote.

We reported earlier on 14 recent wins that are going to help the country, from immigration actions to economic actions. But now there's a new report from two U.S. officials about a deal that's in the offing. "Calling this deal huge would be an understatement," one of the officials said. "It is massive."The Trump administration is in talks with Venezuela's interim government about taking an ownership stake in the South American country's enormous oil resources, two U.S. officials tell Axios.Why it matters: The historic deal would more than double U.S. oil reserves by drawing from a country that has the...

Did his attempt to curry favor with Iran work? One of the ways Hezbollah earns money — about one billion dollars a year — is by drug trafficking. It controls much of the sale of drugs sent from Colombia and Venezuela to customers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. For eight years, beginning in 2008, a wide-ranging investigation by the Drug Enforcement Agency known as Project Cassandra uncovered how Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle Eastern political and military organization into an international crime syndicate, but Project Cassandra was shut down by the Obama administration, that...

Given that he deliberately allowed Iran to flood America with deadly drugs and grow its nuclear program, it’s easy to argue that he is. As Barack Obama slowly fades from the landscape, let’s consider how he has helped to destroy Western civilization, especially the United States of America. He did this via his fealty to Iran, which allowed unchecked, deadly drug trafficking into America while giving Iran the time, space, and funds to develop its nuclear weapons. The Obama Administration killed hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing the Iran-founded and funded terrorist organization Hezbollah to operate in the Western...

Panamanian authorities have a 1994 bombing’s suspected Iranian-backed Hezbollah mastermind in custody, with a trial ensuing soon. For more than three decades, the mystery of who blew Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 out of the Panama sky, killing all 21 aboard, including 12 top Jewish businessmen and three U.S. citizens, remained unsolved and mostly forgotten by the outside world. The small commuter plane to Panama City exploded July 19, 1994, shortly after takeoff from Colon, leaving only one body in the wreckage, not positively identified for years: a Middle Eastern male thought to have carried the bomb aboard. But now...

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- When Venezuela's populist leader welcomed Bolivia's socialist president-elect at a ceremony in Caracas, an unexpected guest had a front-row seat: Ollanta Humala, a left-leaning nationalist who is surging in popularity in Peru's presidential race. Ollanta, a former army lieutenant colonel like his Venezuelan host, President Hugo Chavez, glowed in the praise he got in Caracas. But the gathering reinforced fears of Peruvian elites that he may be part of the tide of elected leftist leaders rising across South America - or, worse, a military dictator in the making. Two days later at a news conference in...