Free Republic

The state requires voters to prove their citizenship. An error led to chaos, suspicion and confusion, signaling broader challenges for Republican-led efforts across the country.PHOENIX — For 30 years, no one questioned Danny Dobosz’s citizenship when the lifelong Republican cast his ballot. So when a letter arrived from a local election official last month asking him to send back a copy of his birth certificate to prove he was an American citizen who was eligible to vote, he tossed it in the trash at his home in Yuma, Arizona. Dobosz, an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump who was born...

Two weeks ago, the sharp-tongued comedian Bill Maher had dinner with Donald Trump. Maher emerged from the meeting thoroughly charmed. During the opening monologue on his show on Friday, he described Trump as engaged and even likable. Trump made him feel comfortable and listened to. In their conversation, which included “an amazing tour of the whole house,” Trump remained empathetic. “He didn’t get mad. He’s much more self-aware than he lets on in public,” Maher recalled. “Why can’t we get the guy I met to be the public guy?” It’s unfortunate that Maher allowed himself to get played like this.In...

MUNICH — When Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, the United States helped whip Europe into a staunchly unified response. Now U.S. leaders may be splitting Europe into pieces as President Donald Trump seeks to end the war, European leaders and policymakers say.Vice President JD Vance and other top administration officials made their European debut last week, slashing their way through a continent of allies as they embraced far-right leaders, demanded access to mineral wealth and offered sympathy to the views of Russian President Vladimir Putin.By the end of the week, European leaders found themselves potentially cut out of peace...

Both Russia and Ukraine have been escalating their bloody conflict, now past the 1,000-day mark, seeking maximum advantage before Jan. 20, when President-elect Donald Trump will take office and probably bring a different U.S. policy toward the war. For Russia, escalation is about saving face — expelling Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region — and grabbing as much Ukrainian territory it can. For Ukraine, it’s a matter of surviving with its sovereignty and as much of its preinvasion territory as possible. Escalation might be a hard concept to grasp in a savage struggle that has led to an estimated 1...

A Washington Post ‘reporter’ on Monday asked Karine Jean-Pierre what Biden is going to do to stop Trump’s live X interview with Elon Musk on Monday night. President Trump is back on X after taking some time away from the social media platform. Trump tweeted a campaign ad ahead of his highly anticipated live interview with Elon Musk on Monday evening at 8 pm ET. Washington Post reporter Cleve Wootson wants the government to intervene to shut Trump down with just a few months to go until Election Day. “One more, Elon Musk is slated to interview Trump tonight on...

The population of Providence, R.I., has barely held even since 2020. Had it not been for some 8,300 immigrants who settled in Providence County, it would have shrunk by 1.3 percent by last year. Same in South Bend, Ind., where some 1,700 immigrants into Saint Joseph County barely filled a gap left by locals ditching town. Immigrants slowed demographic decline in more than 1,100 counties from 2020 to 2023, according to census estimates. Their numbers made up more than the entire growth of the population in 131 of them. The demographic reality casts immigration in a different light, not as...

Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current and former government officials and private-sector sources with knowledge of the technologies in use. Bush has recently described the warrantless operation as "terrorist surveillance" and summed it up by declaring that "if you're talking to a member of al Qaeda, we want to know why." But officials conversant with the program said a far more common question for eavesdroppers is whether, not...