Free Republic

Rand Paul (R-KY) blasted President Donald Trump’s overseas strikes on alleged drug boats “insane” and not something “civilized people” do. Paul joined Glenn Greenwald on the System Update podcast where he called out Trump and his Republican colleagues over US strikes against alleged drug boats in South American waters. Paul accused Republicans of supporting actions they would be up in arms over if a Democrat were in office. The senator argued the strikes include no due process and could be leading to the death of innocent people.

MAGA Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) had harsh words for former Fox News host Tucker Carlson while discussing anti-Semitism in the GOP before an audience with the American Jewish Coalition on Saturday. Carlson recently hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, drawing rebukes from Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “It is easy to talk about anti-Semitism on the left,” Fine said. “I want to talk about the dark force rising on our side. Multiple speakers have talked about the rise of anti-Semitism on the right, but it is not enough to speak in platitudes...

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts declined to distance the conservative organization from Tucker Carlson, in response to criticism that Tucker has become "anti-semitic." KEVIN ROBERTS: I'll have more to say on this in the coming days, but today I want to be clear about one thing. Christians can critique the state of Israel without being anti-Semitic. Of course, anti-Semitism should be condemned. My loyalty as a Christian is to Christ first and to America always. When it serves the interest of the United States to cooperate with other allies, we do so with partnerships on security, intelligence, technology. But when...

Weeks after Jeffrey Epstein died in federal custody in 2019 awaiting prosecution on sex-trafficking charges, JPMorgan Chase filed a report alerting the U.S. government to tens of millions of dollars of potentially suspicious transactions involving him and prominent Wall Street and business figures. The so-called suspicious activity report that JPMorgan filed identified transactions with Leon Black, the co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management; Glenn Dubin, a well-known hedge fund manager; the lawyer Alan Dershowitz; and trusts controlled by Leslie Wexner, the retail tycoon. The nature of the transactions, as well as Mr. Epstein’s role in them, is unclear....

WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump set the refugee admissions ceiling at 7,500 for fiscal year 2026, the lowest cap on record, a White House document published on Thursday said, part of a broader effort to reshape refugee policies in the U.S. and worldwide. Trump said in an annual refugee determination dated September 30 that admissions would be focused largely on South Africans from the country's white Afrikaner ethnic minority. Trump has claimed Afrikaners face persecution based on their race in the Black-majority country, allegations the South African government has denied. Trump paused all U.S. refugee admissions...

@freethepeople One of the main reasons why the government remains shut down — and why Speaker Johnson (R-La.) is preventing the House of Representatives from convening — is that Massie has the votes to release the Epstein files.

Q: Why is President Trump going after Thomas Massie? JD VANCE: It's one thing to disagree with the party on an issue...voting against the party on *EVERY single issue*? Every time we've needed Thomas for a vote, he's been completely unwilling to provide it. That's why Trump turned his ire on Massie. We could never count on him for some of the most difficult votes. I say that as someone who knew Thomas well before I got into politics.

It's super weird to have a Republican in New England, and we conservatives need to sit back, shut up, and enjoy the ride. As far as I'm concerned, she gets a permanent "Get Out of Conservative Media Outrage" card. She's not a Thom Tillis or a Jim Lankford who talks a good game about being conservative and proceeds to stick us in the back.

Here's a look at how US tariffs on Chinese goods have changed during President Trump's second term so far. February: Trump imposes a 10% tariff on Chinese goods due to what he said was the flow of the drug fentanyl to the US. March: The president adds another 10% tariff on goods from China, accusing it of not doing enough to address the fentanyl flow to the US. April: Trump adds a 34% levy on all Chinese imports as part of his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs. This brings the total to 54% on Chinese goods. This is on top of...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) warned on Friday that President Trump’s growing involvements in Ukraine’s war with Russia and in the Caribbean Sea against Venezuela could further unravel and greatly upset the MAGA base. Paul, in an interview with Dasha Burns on Politico’s “The Conversation” podcast, said the $20 billion “economic stabilization” agreement with Argentina could be “the dealbreaker … because it’s an enormous amount of money.” “But if there is more money going to Ukraine, and it looks like he is coming down on the side of getting us involved with Ukraine on their side of the war [with Russia]...

I know many claim things are better but the there are 0.97 open jobs to every 1 unemployed...Businesses are closing right and left..Banks are in trouble, repos are at record levels, Credit Card defaults are at atmospheric levels. Beginning to look like 1929...the beginnings of it anyway...Let them eat cake I guess... October layoffs Amazon 30,000+ UPS 46,000 Target 1,800 Paramount 1,000 Applied Materials 1,400 Sika 1,800 And many more

@SenRandPaul Bomb first, ask questions “never” makes zero constitutional sense and even less practical sense. I still have questions about the survivors from Ecuador and Colombia. Either they’re drug traffickers, in which case they should be tried and locked up, or they’re not. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that people who value the Constitution and due process are skeptical.

Moral relativism is enticing. It enables me to establish the moral value of everything I do by reference to the behavior of others. It allows me to avoid censure by judging my intentions, choices and actions not on the basis of whether they are intrinsically right or wrong, but by the lesser standard of whether someone in a similar position might have done something similar. It is deeply corrosive of personal mores and social trust. Over time it dulls the conscience to any moral hierarchy. It is never a legal defense and shouldn’t be a moral one. Moral relativism is...

https://babylonbee.com/news/bad-luck-trump-says-the-missing-epstein-files-were-in-the-east-wing-and-have-now-been-destroyedWASHINGTON, D.C. — The Jeffrey Epstein case is now formally closed following an announcement by President Donald Trump that all the missing Epstein files were in the East Wing of the White House and have now been destroyed. "You know, I never go to the East Wing, but I guess that's where all the Epstein files were. Even the client list, if you can believe it. They said there was no client list, but I guess it was in the East Wing the whole time. Who knew?" Trump told reporters Monday morning. "There were a lot of files. A lot...

MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/ Russia and Nicaragua have signed an intergovernmental agreement on defense cooperation, which is available on the Russian cabinet’s website containing legal information. The agreement provides for "the exchange of views and information on issues of mutual interest in the military field, as well as for the coordination of joint efforts to counter challenges and threats and to global and regional security and stability." Moscow and Managua will also cooperate on international platforms, focusing on key issues of global security and stability.

The Trump administration’s military airstrikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast that the White House claims were being used for drug trafficking are “extrajudicial killings”, said Rand Paul, the president’s fellow Republican and US senator from Kentucky. Paul’s strong comments on the topic came on Sunday during an interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, three days after Donald Trump publicly claimed he “can’t imagine” federal lawmakers would have “any problem” with the strikes when asked about seeking congressional approval for them. US forces in recent weeks have carried out at least eight strikes against boats in the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast, killing...

Newsdump Alert: Trump Meeting In Qatar Opens Foreign Trip... Qatar's Connections To The US, Israel And Hamas Cannot Be Denied... The rage against Hamas over the brutal events of October 7th, 2023 belies the facts of Israeli and American interaction with Hamas through Qatar prior to October 7th. Having Hamas in power in Gaza and the... How about some Top Ten Country Songs from 50 years ago today the music of my life... Time for a "National Debt Update" our theme song... This week the US national debt that began rising when Lyndon Johnson was President of the United States...

There are a few reasons to doubt the American government's stated aim of wiping out these so-called "narco terrorist" gangs threatening the US from Venezuela, even after one takes out of the equation the sort of equipment the military is deploying - which isn't what they would need for effective drug smuggling interdiction. While the president acknowledges that the synthetic opioid fentanyl is a huge killer in the US (which it is) and is supplied by drug gangs (which it is), to blame Venezuela for fentanyl production is simply incorrect.Mexican cartels produce fentanyl with precursors largely supplied from China, and...

America’s Founders made the presidential pardon power absolute, and they did so as a protection against injustice. But Hamilton and Madison might be having second thoughts as they watch President Trump dole out pardons as a form of political legal tender. In the latest example, Mr. Trump on Wednesday pardoned crypto kingpin Changpeng Zhao, who happens to be a Trump family business partner. “I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people,” Mr. Trump said. “A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything.” One of those people wasn’t Mr. Zhao, unless...

@MassieforKY I tell it like it is. Here’s a group of lobbyists in DC who sell out farmers while pretending to support them. @BeefUSA supports electronic tags on livestock, opposes country of origin labeling, is against checkoff reform, & won’t lift a finger to help farmers sell beef locally.