Free Republic

President Donald Trump is reportedly delaying his healthcare plan after House Republicans pushed back on his idea to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told Trump that the subsidy extension is a no-go for many Republicans in Congress. The Wall Street Journal reported that the speaker “cautioned the White House that most Republicans don’t have an appetite for extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies , according to people familiar with the matter, showing how hard it will be politically to stave off sharp increases in healthcare costs next year for many Americans.”This comes after the...

I didn’t grow up with Thanksgiving. I grew up in Australia, a place that prides itself on being relaxed and irreverent, where national icons range from crocodile wrestlers to movie stars with casual, sun-soaked charisma.Our culture is fun-loving and independent, summed up in the phrase, “she’ll be right, mate.” It means: don’t fuss, don’t interfere, everyone handles their own problems. It isn’t unkindness; it’s distance. You stay in your lane; others stay in theirs.Thanksgiving wasn’t part of my world. What I grew up with was a steady, unquestioned criticism of Americans. In art school in Sydney, we were encouraged to...

For millions of Americans relying on Social Security, small changes to the formula that calculates annual benefit increases can have an outsized impact. Social Security checks are a cornerstone of retirement income for over 50 million Americans, and Congress is now considering legislation that could reshape how those benefits adjust for inflation. It comes as Americans of all ages continue to navigate rising costs. In October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that benefits would grow by 2.8 percent in 2026 through the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Yet for many retirees, even modest increases barely keep pace with the real...

“It is one thing to say that Russia is not going to attack Europe – for us that sounds ridiculous, it really does. We have never intended to, but if they want to hear it from us, well, fine, we will put it in writing. No problem."

President Trump Takes Questions From Reporters About Deadly D.C. Shooting Of National Guardsmen November 27, 2025

"All of you that supported our cause, it went beyond our wildest dreams"Björk has celebrated her 60th birthday by detailing how proceeds from a previous single have helped bring lawsuits against the Icelandic State. Two years ago, Björk teamed up with Rosalía and Sega Bodega on the track ‘Oral’, with all proceeds from the song being donated to support the legal fight against foreign-owned salmon farming in Iceland, brought by residents of Seyðisfjörður. When the song was released, Björk detailed legal action towards the Icelandic government to help combat fish farming. “We have a team of people from the biggest...

President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that the United States is preparing to take new action against alleged drug trafficking networks in Venezuela, telling service members during a Thanksgiving call that efforts for strikes on land will be starting “very soon.” “In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many. Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea anymore,” Trump told service members in the call. “You probably noticed that people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also,” the president continued. “The...

Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf's most gregarious characters whose career was tainted by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime colleague. He was 74. A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Naugle, the tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston, said Zoeller's daughter called him Thursday with the news. Zoeller was the last player to win the Masters on his first attempt, a three-man playoff in 1979. He famously waved a white towel at Winged Foot in 1984 when he thought Greg Norman had beat him,...

I started writing my blog in 2009, largely in response to America electing an anti-American president. During those first few years, I talked a lot about Obamacare. The thing was a disaster from day one; indeed, in an omen of things to come, Obama’s team spent four times more building a website that didn’t work than Apple did developing the iPhone.Image created using AI.The worst part about Obamacare? The fact that it was a solution to a problem that didn’t exist.In 2013, I wrote the following:Obamacare was passed in 2009 (sic) in reaction to anecdotal examples of Americans who couldn’t...

On Wednesday, an Afghan national ambushed two National Guardsmen just steps from the White House. What was he doing here? Well, the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, arrived in the U.S. in September 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, in the aftermath of Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. Of course, Biden's administration assured Americans that every Afghan entering under that program went through strict vetting. Few believed it then, and it certainly rings hollow now; the shooting looks like a direct consequence of recklessness that defined Biden’s withdrawal. And Charlie Kirk not only warned us about this, but also believed it was intentional....

Just heartbreaking news.Moments ago, President Donald Trump announced that Sarah Beckstrom, one of two members of the National Guard who were shot in a terrorist attack on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., has tragically passed away from her injuries.God Speed Sarah Beckstrom.The 20 year old West Virginia National Guard member succumbed to gunshot injuries from the Afghan shooter per President Trump.There is evil among us; stop dehumanizing people. pic.twitter.com/jCaAQuYVcC— ZitoSalena (@ZitoSalena) November 27, 2025U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro shared a little bit of background on Beckstrom on X:Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom...

The latest brutal act of Afghan refugee terrorism claimed the lives of two brave members of the National Guard in D.C.. Since their arrival in the United States, Afghan ‘refugees’ have been involved in violent attacks, in assorted crimes, and in sexual assaults on women and girls.The attack by Rahmanullah Lakanwal took place a mere week after another Afghan, Abdullah Haji Zada, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the Election Day plot.Abdullah and Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, his Afghan brother-in-law, a former ‘guard’ at an American facility in Afghanistan, had plotted a mass shooting attack directed at “large groups...

The C.I.A. and an Afghan intelligence official said that the shooter had been part of an Afghan “partner force,” known as a Zero Unit, trained and supported by the agency in the southern province of Kandahar. The Afghan refugee accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., fought in the late days of the U.S. war there as part of a “Zero Unit,” a paramilitary force that worked with the C.I.A., according to a person briefed on the investigation and an Afghan intelligence officer familiar with the matter. The units were known for their brutality and labeled “death...

The Campbell’s Co. said Wednesday it has fired an executive who was recorded making racist comments and mocking the company’s products and customers. Martin Bally, a vice president in Campbell’s information security department, was named in a lawsuit filed last week by Robert Garza, a former Campbell’s employee who said he was fired Jan. 30 after he reported Bally’s comments to a supervisor. The lawsuit was filed in Michigan, where both Garza and Bally live. Campbell’s is based in Camden, New Jersey. In the lawsuit, Garza claimed he met with Bally in November 2024 to discuss his salary. During the...

The Afghan national accused of shooting two West Virginia National Guard members just blocks from the White House previously worked with multiple U.S. government entities—including the CIA—while serving with a partner force in Kandahar, Afghanistan, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe. The suspect has been identified as 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said entered the United States in September 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era resettlement program launched after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Lakanwal had an established relationship with various entities in the U.S. government, including the CIA, due to his role with a partner...

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) said he will file privileged articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump before Congress breaks for Christmas, which would force the House to consider them within two legislative days though they can be tabled. “There will be articles of impeachment filed before the Christmas break. This, I pledge. We have to participate. This is a participatory democracy. The impeachment requires the hands and the guidance of all of us,” Green said. Green said, “I am Al Green, an unbought, unbossed, unafraid, liberated Democrat. I will speak truth to power, which is pretty easy to do. You...

Standing at the podium in the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was, instead of answering questions about the Trump administration, answering questions about her own family. The mother of Leavitt’s nephew was detained by ICE this week. Bruna Caroline Ferreira, “a criminal illegal alien from Brazil,” allegedly overstayed a tourist visa that expired in 1999 according to the Department of Homeland Security. No doubt an embarrassing moment for the usually forthright Leavitt, it also crystallized how the shockwaves of Trump’s immigration are being felt across America. Now, I’m an upstanding citizen, thank you very much. I can’t say I...

During last week’s excruciating Oval Office make-nice between an insultingly buddy-buddy American President and a fraudulently obsequious New York City mayor-elect, the contest was over which pol was the more patronizing. At one point Trump graciously granted his petitioner permission to call him a “fascist” while clearly implying the guy’s OTT campaign rhetoric had been embarrassing. Donald Trump sat regally on his throne, patting Zohran Mamdani’s arm while commending “Attaboy!” as if petting a golden retriever that had fetched a ball. For his part, Mamdani stood mutely by the Resolute desk with cartoonish humility, hands over crotch. This cowed performance...

What if Senator Kelly and the other members of Congress making that video about not following illegal orders did not intend it for our military. What if they intended it as a message to their hysterical followers. What if they intended their followers to assume anyone in uniform following Trump's orders were following illegal orders, because what else can Trump do? At this point how could anyone know if that was their intent or not? Wouldn't some of their crazed followers do exactly what that Afghan in DC is alleged to have done, and attack anyone on military duty? At...

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that National Guard Spc. Sarah Beckstrom — one of the two soldiers ambushed in Washington, D.C. — has died from her injuries, calling the suspected gunman a "monster" and blasting what he described as catastrophic vetting failures during President Joe Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal, according to a New York Times pool report. Trump made the announcement while speaking to military units via video link from the White House, seated alone at a table facing two large screens showing the troops. He said Beckstrom, 20, "was savagely attacked" and did not survive, and that the second soldier,...