Free Republic

I’m not sure if Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) wanted the speakership, but he turned out to be the right person for the job. Speaker Johnson continues to impress by passing numerous pieces of legislation with razor-thin majorities. The man gets things done. He’s a closer.

A Canadian Sikh man has received an apology from a gym chain after he was kicked out from one of its locations for wearing a ceremonial kirpan knife. Gurpartap Singh Sangha recorded himself being ordered to leave a GoodLife Fitness gym in Windsor, which is just across the Detroit River along the US-Canada border. He posted the video to his 21,000 followers on TikTok, where it has been sparking controversy and going viral, receiving 2.2 million views as of Wednesday morning. 'Racially singled out by a good life employee,' a caption edited onto the video said. 'You’re kicking me out...

From the outside, this was shaping up as a strong year for wartime Ukraine. Ukrainian drones are burning Russia’s refineries and starving occupied Crimea of fuel. Moscow’s summer offensive has stalled on most parts of the front, and Ukraine is taking back territory. In Washington, a president who spent last year berating Kyiv has warmed to it again. But suddenly last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismantled what looked like a winning team — removing his popular defense minister, his prime minister and, late Tuesday, the acclaimed commander in chief of his armed forces. Zelensky, the comedian turned president who has...

A longtime deli in South Jersey is temporarily closed after thieves stripped copper wiring and piping from the building, disabling its refrigeration systems and forcing the disposal of roughly $20,000 worth of food, the business said. Somerdale Cold Cuts has served the community since 1976. The family-owned deli on North Warwick Road has been closed since owner Johnny “Gabagool” Audry discovered the theft, which occurred overnight on July 12, according to the business’s Facebook page. The thieves never entered the building, Audry said, but they removed enough copper from the exterior refrigeration equipment to disable both the deli’s walk-in refrigerator...

A Chicago Cubs fan who smacked another spectator who did not stand for The Star-Spangled Banner is speaking out after a video of the incident went viral. The video drew strong and divided reactions on social media, with public opinion split on the older man's actions. Now, he has spoken out on the incident, which happened during the 10-1 win against the Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field on Sunday, in various interviews. Robert Chavez claimed that an important element of the story is missing. In the video, he is seen yelling at the younger man - who was not identified...

US House of Representatives passes a $1.15T defense bill with provision deepening Pentagon-Israel weapons tech cooperation and funding $750M for joint defense programs.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) said Wednesday that a photo from Abdul El-Sayed’s Detroit rally told him “all he needs to know” about the progressive candidate’s standing with black voters in Michigan’s Democrat Senate primary.Clyburn, who is backing Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), was reacting to a photo from the rally. His comments landed 13 days out from the August 4 primary, with establishment Democrats pressing their advantage over El-Sayed.“I saw a picture that concerned me coming out of Michigan. I saw the rally,” Clyburn said. “I didn’t see a single person that looks like me. That tells me all I need...

Tweaker Geographic Episode 125: “TweakFairy”

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Welcome Aboard! Future service members participate in a swearing in ceremony held during the Wings Over Wayne air show at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The Wings over Wayne Air Show and Science and Technology Expo is a biennial event and has grown to be the largest free air show in North Carolina. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Leighton Lucero) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served...

"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.” —George Washington, Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796France has completed the investigation America has yet to undertake. In May 2025, the French Interior Ministry published “The Muslim Brotherhood and Political Islam in France,” the product of a mission assigned to senior officials a year earlier. The inquiry examined political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood’s role in spreading it, and...

In the skies over eastern Ukraine, an aging F-16 fighter jet has reportedly scored a rare victory against one of Russia’s most advanced warplanes, the Su-35. The US has finally confirmed what the Ukrainians claimed earlier this month: a Ukrainian F-16 fighter, donated by NATO, may have downed a Russian Su-35 Flanker-E, the backbone of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS). “I want to highlight the incredible work that the Ukrainian industrial base is doing. It ranges from their surface-to-air capabilities to their air-to-air capabilities. I’ll note that recently we had the first air-to-air kill where a Ukrainian F-16 shot down...

Progressive firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has surged to the front of the prospective 2028 Democratic presidential field in New Hampshire, edging Pete Buttigieg and leaving Kamala Harris far behind in a new poll. Ocasio-Cortez drew 22% support among likely Democratic primary voters in the University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll released Wednesday, one point ahead of former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and 17 points ahead of former Vice President Kamala Harris. Ocasio-Cortez gained seven points since the February survey, while Harris and California Gov. Gavin Newsom lost ground — another sign of the New York lawmaker’s growing strength among...

If Team Trump’s anti-fraud efforts sometimes look a bit all-over-the-map, that’s because the map is so incredibly large. The feds spend over $7 billion a year, and fraudsters look to cash in on every dime; with Vice President JD Vance on point, the White House has organized a full-court press to fight back. One day this week, the Justice Department announced it had finally nabbed a fugitive Medicare fraudster on the lam since 2022, who allegedly stole more than half a billion dollars, even as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Medicare-Medicaid czar Dr. Mehmet Oz froze over $1...

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals barred lower court judges from releasing migrants who claim the Constitution requires their release before they can be deported. “Another big win out of the 5th Circuit,” said an X post by James Percival, the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security. He continued: DHS’s [2025] change in legal position on illegal alien detention restored the policy set by Congress and rejected a misreading of the law that perpetuated open borders for decades. “It’s not too late to take a $2,600 check and a free flight home,” he added, referring to the push...

For weeks, Verona, Wisconsin tried to get Flock to remove the three automated license plate cameras that its city council had voted to stop using. Flock told city employees not to remove the cameras, and a Flock employee told city officials that they were unsure whether the cameras could be remotely disabled, which led the town to decide to put black plastic trash bags over them until Flock eventually removed the cameras itself, according to emails obtained using a public records request by 404 Media. The emails give insight into the process cities face while deFlocking themselves after voting not...

WASHINGTON — Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) is calling for all congressional staff to undergo background checks and dishing on growing foreign influence campaigns that she describes as “the worst kept secret on Capitol Hill.” Cammack has introduced a resolution that would also mandate disclosure of staffers’ nationalities as well as any payments by foreign governments to current or new Capitol hill hires. The proposal comes after reports emerged last month that the FBI has been investigating a senior GOP aide for allegedly acting as a foreign agent on behalf of Qatar, as well as revelations that spies for Cuba and...

Democratic political strategist Maria Cardona, a member of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, joined the RCP podcast on Wednesday to preview the party’s debate over which states should vote first in the 2028 presidential primary. "One of the things we’re going to be discussing in the upcoming meeting—most likely on Friday—is: Where are we now with the early calendar? What states do we want to start eliminating, and what states do we want to really consider for that early window?" she said." We want to make sure that there’s a state from every region: South, West, Midwest and Northeast."...

"The House of Representatives passed the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday. The bill still includes the provision which merges the Israeli military into the U.S. military. The NDAA now goes to the Senate where there is still a chance for the Israeli merger provision to be stripped out."

Mike Lindell, the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Minnesota governor, drew sharp criticism Wednesday after proposing a six-month amnesty period that would allow illegal immigrants with no other criminal history to register for non-expiring conditional work visas. "I'd like the whole United States to do this, but let's say I did it here in Minnesota," Lindell said in a Tuesday interview. "Six months, all the illegal immigrants would have to go get what's going to be called a conditional work visa." Lindell outlines conditional visa plan Under Lindell's proposal, Minnesota would impose a six-month deportation moratorium while illegal immigrants register, submit...

TranscriptJesse: Iran's sugar daddy, China, alligator arms. Crude purchases down 40%. Venezuela even worse. Big mistake by Beijing to build their energy supplies off sanctioned rogues now surrounded by Pistol Pete. Our Arab allies believe that Iran's about to tap. Their economy's in tatters and their currency's cratering. Yep, they're still shooting, but they can't keep up.Pete: Iran is at the weakest point militarily it has ever been in in the past decade. Certainly, maybe in 47 years, as they've gathered effectively a terror army. Still have capabilities, no doubt, but the amount of damage that we've done to them...