Free Republic

"Politics War Room" James Carville and Al Hunt speculated on whether Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., may switch parties and throw Democrats’ Senate plans in disarray. As Carville and Hunt took questions from listeners, one asked why Fetterman, who has been known for taking surprisingly bipartisan stances, doesn’t just go all the way and switch parties. "I am not a big Fetterman fan," Carville said, declaring he thinks Fetterman is often motivated by wanting to see his name featured in newspapers. "He may switch, because they are going to correctly say if he wants to run again – I don’t know,...

<p>Senior Vatican Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández has said Pope Leo XIV is continuing the legacy of Pope Francis.</p><p>On April 13, Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, stated in an interview given to Italian newspaper Il Giornale that it is inaccurate to claim Pope Leo XIV intends to overturn his predecessor’s pontificate, emphasizing instead continuity through specific initiatives and teachings promoted within the Church. The interview marked the approaching first anniversary of Pope Francis’s death, on April 21.</p>

…Publicly reported numbers point to a wide range. Media interviews with a crowd-rental CEO describe individual participant compensation in the low hundreds of dollars per person—often $100–$300 for simple roles, with higher pay for longer hours, bad weather, or early morning calls. Request volume, especially in Washington, D.C., has spiked during high-stakes political moments, which can drive prices higher during peak periods.Broader coverage has captured tactical cases where participants were paid modest flat fees. Poynter summarized reporting in which people received $60 to attend local meetings, with $200 for a speaking role, showing how “appearance of support” payments can be...

Two men were found dead this week after a minivan carrying nearly 500 pounds of liquid meth — which authorities said had a street value of up to $3 million — crashed in a Texas neighborhood, prompting a federal drug probe and a hazmat response. Cops and firefighters responded to the crash on Delga Street in Fort Wayne around 11:30 am Thursday and found the vehicle had slammed into a parked car before rolling into a nearby fence, CBS News reported. The vehicle allegedly contained 10 buckets of the addictive drug, authorities said. The man in the passenger seat was...

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Eric Swalwell is not the only member of Congress drawing attention for his activities off the House floor — with sources telling The Post that Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a married member of Swalwell’s “Cool Kids Clique,” was spotted surreptitiously kissing a much younger congressional aide in the summer of 2023. Swalwell (D-Calif.) fell in with Gomez, a fellow Golden State Democrat, and Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) while all three were still in the House, sources said. The trio became known for their socializing and drinking. While Gallego, Swalwell’s closest friend in Congress, faced questions about what...

The UNC Sheps Center, which tracks rural hospital infrastructure in the United States, has documented 195 rural hospitals that have closed or converted to outpatient facilities since January 2005. Six are in Pennsylvania. Closures have far outpaced the opening of new rural hospitals during this period. As a physician who has trained in rural communities and a researcher who studies community well-being and public health, we see that every rural hospital closure exerts a domino effect on surrounding communities and residents. This can be difficult to quantify but manifests as lost jobs and economic decline, poorer health and a pervasive...

An anti-white maniac who sucker-punched a TikTok influencer, assaulted two other women and berated a Jewish couple in a crazed spree of hate and violence will spend at least three years behind bars, a Manhattan judge ruled Tuesday. Skiboky Stora, 42, went on a bizarre, 15-minute rant in Manhattan Supreme Court — accusing prosecutors of using AI videos to frame him — before Justice Josh Hanshaft sentenced him to 3-to-9 years in prison for the string of assaults in 2023 and 2024. “I just want to start off by saying I’m not an ignorant person, judge,” Stora, wearing a brown...

Journalists Nick Shirley and Jon Fetherston join 'Saturday in America' to discuss Democratic efforts to criminalize investigative journalism and allegations of fraud across the country.

An international fugitive was arrested in Dubai this week following a years-long manhunt. Daniel Kinahan, the alleged leader of one of Ireland’s biggest criminal gangs, the Kinahan cartel, was arrested on organized crime charges on Wednesday in a covert operation involving Irish and United Arab Emirates authorities. The 48-year-old alleged crime boss is expected to face charges in Ireland related to a gangland feud between the Kinahan cartel and the Hutch gang that has left 18 people dead since 2015. Dubai police didn’t name Kinahan, saying they had “arrested an Irish fugitive for his alleged role in an organized criminal...

T.V. Mini-Series "Odyssey" queued at the link-click to 1 minute 41 seconds. The climactic Throne Room scene of Odysseus stringing the bow which only he could, shooting an arrow through numerous axe-rings, and slaughtering Penelope's unwanted suitors, is the central dramatic motif of all of Western Civilization. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0_A9XWxV0Q&t=101sStudents of ancient Greek culture, not necessarily at English universities, but more commonly centered on Greek Orthodox Church parishes, study the Homeric epic poems as the foundation of Western Civilization. It was set up in the 8th century before Christ.

Photos circulating on social media Saturday reveal that Hunter Biden, the son of former Democratic President Joe Biden, was at Coachella, the iconic music festival in the California desert. Biden appears in six photographs posing next to the United Kingdom rapper and artist Fakemink at what looks like the corner of a backyard. Social media posts captioned the pictures “fakemink x Hunter Biden at Coachella 2026.” Biden has his arm around the shoulder of the rapper and in some of the photos, he is looking at Fakemink with a large smile. Fakemink poses with a hand sign and what looks...

Sen. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) has been held up as a model for the Democratic Party’s future since winning his Senate seat in 2024, with colleagues praising his skills as a communicator who succeeded during a time when other Democrats have struggled. He has drawn consistent praise for his authenticity and for his ability to connect with voters — particularly Latinos, a key demographic Democrats have sought to win back in recent years. But this week, the junior senator from Arizona has faced questions that could taint his future political prospects — particularly if he decides to run for president in...

A lawless mob wreaked fiery havoc on a Queens intersection during a late-night car takeover as local lawmakers demand a crackdown on these unhinged meetups. Shocking video shows reckless drivers whipping around the intersection at 69th Street and Eliot Avenue in Queens early Saturday morning. Over 100 vehicles clogged up the roads along the Maspeth-Middle Village border. A man appeared to wave a Palestinian flag as he burned rubber, just narrowly missing those standing around the car while it made donuts around a massive street blaze. Flames arose from the street as hordes of brazen participants filmed the dangerous drivers...

Disgraced former US Rep. Eric Swalwell burned through more than $75,000 from his congressional campaign during the first quarter of 2026 — despite ditching the race five months ago. He splurged on hotels, meals, booze and even babysitters, newly released FEC filings show. The sex pest had announced on Nov. 21, 2025, he was abandoning his re-election bid for California’s 14th Congressional District representing the San Francisco suburbs, embarking instead on a run for the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor. Under campaign finance laws, the money raised prior to an abandoned bid can only be spent on limited uses —...

They’re going to need a bigger boat! Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla, which set sail from Barcelona Sunday for another anti-Israel voyage to Gaza, has been rocked by scandal after one of its woke leaders was accused of “sexual misconduct” with at least three volunteers. “A senior leader within the flotilla — a member of the steering committee, the highest governing body of the organization — engaged in sexual relations with multiple activists while on the boat heading to Gaza. Not one person. Not two. Three different individuals,” claimed Palestinian group Heart of Falastin in a social media post earlier this...

New York sanctuary politicians are determined to release an illegal alien arsonist who killed multiple people in order to stick it to Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Mexican national Roman Amatitla randomly selected an NYC apartment building to set ablaze on March 16. He injured seven people and killed four, including a toddler. Now he faces eight counts of second-degree murder and first-degree arson, according to the New York Post. The local authorities ought to be handing the illegal alien over to ICE, but they refuse to do so. Democrats have become so fanatical in their opposition to federal...

Donald Trump convened an emergency situation room meeting with his inner circle on Saturday to discuss the precarious Strait of Hormuz situation, according to a report. The president met with Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, among others, Axios reported, citing two US officials. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Envoy Steve Witkoff, CIA Director John Ratliffe, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine also reportedly attended. The meeting comes amid reports that US soldiers are preparing to storm Iran-backed ships 'in a matter...

The US is reportedly weighing plans to board and seize Tehran-linked oil tankers worldwide — eyeing a dramatic escalation against Iran at sea. Those discussions come as tensions spike in the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian forces fired on multiple commercial vessels Saturday and declared the vital shipping lane under their “strict control,” The Wall Street Journal reported. That saber-rattling sent shipping firms scrambling — just a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi insisted the strait was open for business, a claim President Trump had welcomed. Behind the scenes, US officials say the Pentagon is preparing to intercept and...

Joe Rogan, the most listened-to podcaster in the United States, joined President Donald Trump at the White House on Saturday as he signed an executive order loosening restrictions on psychedelics, even after Rogan has become a prominent critic of the Iran war and the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files. The podcast host said at the White House that he had previously texted Trump about ibogaine, an illegal psychedelic drug that advocates say can help treat opioid addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, though critics say it can cause heart problems. Rogan said Trump quickly texted back, “Sounds great. Do...

The United Kingdom is on a trajectory toward slow-motion collapse. British Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s initial reaction to the outbreak of the war against Iran was schizophrenic. He seemed wholly unprepared for a scenario in which Donald Trump would actually use the forces he had spent the previous two months flooding into the region, confounding the former Royal Navy officers and opposition lawmakers who somehow understood that Trump’s ultimatums weren’t just talk. At first, Starmer was appalled, and he blocked the Pentagon from using U.K. bases to launch sorties against Iranian targets. But the impracticality of that protest sapped his...