Free Republic

Last week the nuclear rhetoric between the US and Russia made some of us feel like we were transported back to 1962. Back then, Soviet moves to place nuclear-capable missiles 90 miles off our coast in Cuba led to the greatest crisis of the Cold War. The United States and its president, John F. Kennedy, could not tolerate such weapons placed by a hostile power on its doorstep and the world only knew years later how close we were to nuclear war. Thankfully both Khrushchev and Kennedy backed down – with the Soviet leader removing the missiles from Cuba and...

@NuryVittachi "The American empire is over," Richard D. Wolff, U.S. professor of international affairs, tells Al Jazeera. Already the biggest economic power on the planet is not the US and its allies, but China and the BRICS. But no U.S. politician dares to tell the people: "It's over."

‘How many people do you employ this month?” might sound like the kind of question an employer can easily answer, but it’s not. Especially for large businesses, the exact number of employees in a given month is hard to pin down. The media report layoffs and hires in round numbers, but for calculating total employment in the country, it really matters whether “500” means 478 or 523, because those discrepancies multiplied across millions of businesses make a huge difference. Within government, Donald Trump’s appointee as BLS commissioner, William Beach, has been a leader in calling for modernizing the surveys that...

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been moved from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas, authorities have confirmed. The move comes as Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, has pressed the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction while also seeking a pardon from President Donald Trump. Earlier in July, Maxwell held two meetings with the Deputy US Attorney General, the details of which have not been made public. Maxwell has been at the centre of controversy surrounding the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files, and the...

President Trump is increasingly directing his frustrations at specific Senate Republicans, including turning his fire on key allies in recent days. The president this week publicly excoriated Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) over upholding the “blue slip” tradition and pushing a congressional stock trading ban, respectively. While Trump has long had a tendency of airing his grievances out in public — especially toward those he views as disloyal — the latest barbs about staunch backers are raising eyebrows and drawing questions about whether the strategy will continue to be effective in advancing his agenda. “I don’t think...

Bill Cassidy is playing a gambit. The Republican doctor from Louisiana appears ready to fight for his Senate seat next year, a race complicated by his checkered history with President Donald Trump and a new primary system that could make reelection more difficult. His main hurdle? Convincing his Louisiana base that he’s gotten behind Trump’s agenda, despite his vote to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial. His GOP challengers have already seized on that vote, pitching themselves as better Trump loyalists. The gambit is that voters will be swayed by Cassidy’s late turn toward Trump, including support this year...

Financial markets finished the week on a high note after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stood his ground against President Trump in a rare joint appearance by the two men Thursday. The S&P 500 finished 0.4 percent up, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 208 points or 0.47 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained about a quarter of percent to close above 21,108. ... Friday’s gains followed a confrontation between Trump and Powell on Thursday in which Powell repelled an attack from Trump — this time not on social media but on television. The exchange took place at...

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) vowed that President Trump’s threats to primary him will “backfire tremendously” and ultimately lead to Republicans losing their House majority in the 2026 midterms. “Well, they’ve spent $1.8 million against me so far in my congressional district. I think it has had very little effect, but they are trying to beat up on me to keep everyone else in line here and I think it is not working. I think what’s going to happen, this will be a referendum on whether the executive branch controls the legislative branch,” Massie said during a Tuesday interview with NBC...

10 Shocking Stories the Media Buried Today #10 - Democrat reveals Jeffrey Epstein received $1.1 BILLION in wire transfers from a SINGLE bank account. It’s not often you see a Democrat laser-focused on Epstein. Sen. Ron Wyden dropped the unexpected bomb. He revealed: “4,725 wire transfers adding up to nearly $1.1 billion flowing in and out of just one of Mr. Epstein’s bank accounts. If you ask me, that is more than 4,000 potential lines of investigation right there. Hundreds of millions more flowed through other accounts.” Let that sink in. One account, over a billion dollars. And no one...

Joe Rogan used his latest podcast episode to weigh in on the Epstein files controversy amid public uproar over the Department of Justice’s probe into the late pedophile and his associates. The podcast giant lambasted the Trump administration’s announcement that there was never a list or footage revealing clients of the high-flying sex pest. “They’ve got videotape and all a sudden they don’t,” Rogan, 57, said on the latest episode of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” released Tuesday. “You had the director of the FBI on this show saying, ‘If there was [a videotape], nothing you’re looking for is...

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) signaled support Tuesday for releasing government files related to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein – in an apparent break from President Trump.“I’m for transparency,” Johnson said in an interview with conservative podcast host Benny Johnson, when asked if he would support congressional efforts to subpoena the Justice Department for documents or seek testimony from convicted Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. *** It’s a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide,” the House speaker declared. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

NOW - Tucker Carlson says Epstein was "working on behalf" of Israel and Israel was "committing crimes" on American soil.

I honestly think to get the OBBB passed he's had to give up certain positions. How else do you explain it? The endorsement of Lindsey Graham, too? The resumption of aid to Ukraine? It's all very odd and timely. I think Trump has (had) a lot invested in getting OBBB done. Think about it. It was his signature bill. They held it hostage and now you see why... There is (was) a lot at stake.

The Trump administration plans to implement a process whereby farmers in Iowa can vouch for hard-working, law-abiding migrant farmworkers who may be facing deportation, so that they can remain in the U.S. The proposed process was shared by President Donald Trump during an event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Thursday night, kicking off a year of patriotic celebrations meant to honor the nation’s 250th birthday. Trump said the new plan will take place in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and that legislation for the measure is currently being drafted while speaking Thursday evening from Iowa. “You know,...

Hackers with links to Iran are threatening to disclose emails stolen from the US President’s inner circle. The hackers, who go by the pseudonym Robert, told Reuters in an online chat that they have 100 gigabytes of stolen emails from Susie Wiles, the White House’s chief of staff, Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s lawyer, Roger Stone, Trump’s advisor and Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the centre of the Trump camp’s hush-money scandal.The group, Robert, said they could sell the material but didn’t provide Reuters with any details on their plans, nor describe what was in the emails. The US Cybersecurity and...

A federal judge in Massachusetts on Friday further blocked the Trump administration's attempt to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students while giving those students additional legal protections. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued the preliminary injunction after having granted a temporary restraining order against the federal government this month. The injunction holds that the administration is blocked from yanking Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which was based on a May 22 revocation notice the Department of Homeland Security sent to Harvard administrators. In her decision, Burroughs directed the government to “immediately” prepare guidance to alert...

A Wisconsin dairy farmer alleged in a federal lawsuit filed Monday that the Trump administration is illegally denying financial assistance to white farmers by continuing programs that favor minorities.The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal court in Wisconsin on behalf of a white dairy farmer, Adam Faust. *** The new lawsuit alleges the government has continued to implement diversity, equity and inclusion programs that were instituted under former President Joe Biden. *** . “After being ignored by a federal agency that’s meant to support agriculture, I hope my...

A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump acted illegally when he seized control of California’s National Guard during ICE-related riots in Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer issued the decision Thursday, siding with Governor Gavin Newsom and ordering Trump to return control of the Guard to the state "forthwith." "His actions were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," Breyer wrote. "He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith." "Federalism is not optional," the...

President Trump has ordered the California National Guard to secure Los Angeles from the anti-ICE rioters, despite the vocal objections of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass. It’s the first time in 60 years that the commander-in-chief deployed a state’s National Guard without the governor’s blessing, and members of the Trump administration are saying the move is justified because the protests represent a “violent insurrection” against the country. “This is a violent insurrection,” White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller posted Saturday night. Vice President JD Vance also used the word in describing the riots: “Insurrectionists carrying...

*** Driving the news: In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel first obtained by Axios, Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) asked that they "immediately clarify whether this allegation is true." The lawmakers asked for a timeline of the DOJ's declassification and publication of the Epstein files, an explanation for why they haven't turned over any new documents since February. And they requested a description of Trump's role in reviewing the files, a list of personnel involved in their release and an answer for why files previously released to Congress contained "significant...