Free Republic

President Trump on Wednesday said that India will pay a 25% tariff on Aug. 1 and suffer a penalty for buying Russian energy."Remember, while India is our friend, we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their Tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the World, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary Trade Barriers of any Country," Trump posted on Truth Social."Also, they have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia’s largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants...

‘You need to TRUST ME on this,’ Clapper’s crony told the analyst, saying he ‘would need to demonstrate [his] ability to “outgrow”’ the refusal to sign off on assessments he did not concur with. A crony of then-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper threatened to withhold a promotion from a senior intelligence official unless he concurred in the fake Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, notes obtained exclusively by The Federalist show. The notes made public for the first time today recount a conversation the top analyst in the Office of the Director of...

GOP senators sparred with fellow Republican Josh Hawley on Wednesday over a Hawley-authored bill that would ban trading and ownership of stocks and certain other assets by lawmakers, the president and vice president and their spouses and dependent children. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the bill on a slim 8-7 vote after earlier adopting a Hawley substitute amendment that extended the prohibitions beyond just members of Congress, reaching into the Oval Office. The compromise amendment would give officials elected before the date of enactment until after their current term to divest their assets. So President Donald Trump...

Vitol Group handed a record $10.6 billion to its executives and senior staff through share buybacks last year, as the fallout of the energy crisis continued to deliver extraordinary riches to the world’s commodity traders. The share repurchase — almost certainly the highest such payout in the industry’s history — means privately held Vitol has distributed over $31 billion to its partners in the past decade, according to the company’s audited annual accounts seen by Bloomberg News. The numbers show how the disruptions that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have handed a spectacular bonanza to a small group of commodity...

Many Hispanic Americans living along the U.S.-Mexico border are voicing strong support for President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration enforcement, adding that they got exactly what they voted for.In the 2024 presidential election, Trump managed to flip several border counties that had not voted for a Republican president in decades, and in one particular case, for more than a century. President Joe Biden’s mismanagement of the border was cited by members of these Latino communities as one of the defining reasons for this change, and Trump’s historic crackdown on illegal immigration has kept them satisfied with their choice. “Oh, I’m...

Texas has long been defined by oil, heat, and huge infrastructure projects. Now, it’s also at the center of a growing environmental debate. Microsoft’s Stargate campus in Abilene is leading a data center boom that is drawing concern over water use, right in the middle of a prolonged drought. According to a July 2025 investigation by The Austin Chronicle, data centers across Central Texas are consuming millions of gallons of water every day. This comes as many residents are being asked to reduce their usage due to dwindling supplies. The problem is not limited to one city. In San Antonio,...

President Trump on Wednesday went off on one his closest allies in Congress, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) over voting in committee on a bill that would ban stock trading by lawmakers, presidents and vice presidents, arguing that Hawley teamed up with Democrats to advance the measure. The bill would ban congressional lawmakers and their spouses from trading stocks as well as presidents and vice presidents, but the latter would only apply to future administrations. Still, Trump, in a social media post, went off on Hawley claiming that he was being used by Democrats to target the president. He also questioned...

WASHINGTON — President Trump warned Tuesday that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state in September if the Israeli government fails to meet certain conditions could reward Hamas and stressed that the US would not follow suit. “You could make the case that you’re rewarding Hamas if you do that,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One en route to the US from Scotland. “I’m not about to do that.”Earlier in the day, Starmer committed to granting Palestine UK recognition during the United Nations General Assembly, following in the footsteps of France, unless Israel takes “substantive...

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has arrived in Tenerife as British police seek to question him over an alleged assault after he was filmed close to a man who was left seriously injured on the ground. Robinson flew to Spain from the UK early on Tuesday. On Monday evening video emerged of him saying “he come at me”, an apparent claim of self-defence, at the scene of the alleged assault in St Pancras station in London as a 64-year-old man lay motionless on the ground. The injured man was still in hospital on Wednesday in a stable condition. Police are...

Texas Republicans unveiled a new congressional map on Wednesday that would provide their party with five new red-leaning districts, a plan that — if enacted — could provide a boost to the party as it tries to cling to control of the House. The redraw would significantly benefit Republicans by making districts held by Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who both represent heavily-Latino areas of the Rio Grande Valley, redder, and make some Democratic-controlled districts even bluer in an attempt to create GOP-leaning districts elsewhere.

I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has agreed to a Full and Complete Trade Deal with the Republic of Korea. The Deal is that South Korea will give to the United States $350 Billion Dollars for Investments owned and controlled by the United States, and selected by myself, as President. Additionally, South Korea will purchase $100 Billion Dollars of LNG, or other Energy products and, further, South Korea has agreed to invest a large sum of money for their Investment purposes. This sum will be announced within the next two weeks when the President of...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a court document emphasizing the importance of releasing grand jury transcripts from the high-profile cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. In court filings, the DOJ argues that the files must be released because it is in the public interest. The filing, submitted on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, follows a previous court ruling where a judge in Florida rejected the DOJ’s attempt to release grand jury materials in a separate request. This new motion comes after the DOJ faced questions from a judge regarding...

A new commercial has people talking about eugenics again — more than the actual product it’s selling. How did we get here? On July 29, Dunkin’ introduced a pair of new Refreshers to its menu. To launch one of them — the Golden Hour Refresher — the brand partnered (again) with “The Summer I Turned Pretty” star Gavin Casalegno for a new video posted on social media. “Look, I didn’t ask to be the king of summer, it just kinda happened,” Casalegno says at the start of the 35-second spot. “This tan? Genetics.” Casalegno then talks about his color analysis...

Canada will recognize a Palestinian state in September, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Wednesday. “Canada has long been committed to a two-state solution, an independent, viable and sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with the State of Israel in peace and security,” said Carney, flanked by Foreign Minister Anita Anand. The move follows similar announcements by France, which has said it will recognize a Palestinian state in September, and the UK, which has said that it will too if Israel does not meet conditions that include agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza. “Canada intends to recognize...

Arizona, Louisiana, Pennsylvania treasurers among those to sign.. A group of 26 financial officers from 21 states sent letters to 18 major financial institutions this week, warning them to abandon environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices if they wish to continue doing business with their states. The letters said ESG has undermined the traditional fiduciary duty that firms owe their clients, focusing solely on financial return, and instead prioritizes advancing political agendas. “Fiduciary duty has long been a critical safeguard that facilitated efficient capital allocation grounded in financial merit rather than political ideology,” the letter said. “But that clarity is...

Russian soldiers call the practice a sacrifice to Baba Yaga, a fearsome witch from Slavic folklore who feasts on her victims. A Russian serviceman is seen on video being tied up to a tree and abandoned to his fate – possibly death – at the hands of one of Ukraine’s large attack drones. Why this is happening is clear from a radio intercept about a similar incident, shared with CNN, in which a Russian commander can clearly be heard ordering a subordinate be tied up in this way as punishment for desertion. The instruction is given twice: “Hide him somewhere...

A federal judge on Monday ruled Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding as the nation’s largest abortion provider fights President Donald Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation. Even with the announcement, the five Planned Parenthoods that announced they were permanently closing on Friday due to Trump's Medicaid funding cuts will remain closed. Santa Cruz is one of five locations under Planned Parenthood Mar Monte that announced they were shutting down. The others are San Mateo, Gilroy, Madera and South San Francisco. This means patients can no longer...

Amid Russia's deadly attacks on Ukrainian training grounds, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said military training should be moved underground as much as possible to better protect soldiers. "The entire territory of Ukraine is within range of enemy missiles and drones," Syrskyi said after a monthly meeting on troop preparedness. "The training process must be moved underground as much as possible." A Russian missile hit a Ground Forces training facility on July 29, prompting Ukraine's military to launch an official investigation. The attack left three people dead and 18 wounded. A special commission was formed to determine whether lapses by military...

Actual social media comments made by a sitting member of Cincinnati City Council …

As Congress debates how to rein in federal spending, some experts say aspects of Medicare Advantage should be on the chopping block, starting with $86 billion a year in taxpayer-funded supplemental benefits that often go unused or unverified. The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans rebate dollars to cover extra services, including dental, vision, hearing, and over-the-counter drugs. However, a 2024 study published by JAMA Network Open found that only $3.9 billion of that money went toward dental, vision and hearing benefits. Meanwhile, the industry spent an estimated $16 billion on $1,000 “Flex Cards” for new enrollees – prepaid cash...