Free Republic

Wild conspiracy theories have a way of seeping into public discourse these days, thanks in part to the divided nature of U.S. politics, the growth of websites that actively promote them, such as InfoWars, and the capacity for fake news to spread virally on social media without any fact-checking or oversight. Enter “Q.” In late October, just days before a different InfoWars-inflated conspiracy—about anti-fascist protesters plotting a civil war—was about to fizzle, a user identified as Q on the imageboard website 4chan started posting vague, portentous messages related to an approaching “storm.” The user claimed to be a high-level government...

As Trump prepares to release a GOP document accusing the FBI of abuses, bureau alums hope Director Chris Wray holds the line—but has to be ready to walk. Former FBI agents are warning that FBI Director Christopher Wray has to be prepared to quit, should President Donald Trump assent over bureau objections to the release of a memo calling the FBI’s integrity into question. The release of the memo, considered imminent, shows no signs of stopping, even as the leader of Democrats in the House called on its Republican author, Devin Nunes, to be removed from his chairmanship of the...

During an increasingly ugly meeting, the company’s CCO refused to answer whether money laundering allegations were true and blamed staff for undermining the business. During a private meeting with editors this week, a top Newsweek executive blamed his own journalists for the magazine’s recent turmoil and refused to answer whether the company committed financial crimes. Newsweek Media Group interim Chief Content Officer Johnathan Davis took questions from editors for nearly 90 minutes on Wednesday, according to recording obtained by The Daily Beast, about firings and investigations that have engulfed the company. Last month, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office raided Newsweek...

Newsweek has fired several top editors and reporters in the midst of legal problems and widespread turmoil in the newsroom, according to staffers familiar with the decision. The magazine's news director, Cristina Silvia, announced in a staff meeting that editor in chief Bob Roe, executive editor Ken Li, reporters Celeste Katz and Josh Saul, and International Business Times editor Josh Keefe had all been fired, the Daily Beast reported Monday. The firings come after Newsweek was accused of buying fraudulent web traffic to trick the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into buying ad space, and after the Manhattan District Attorney's office...

Employees at Newsweek have been told that editor-in-chief Bob Roe and executive editor Ken Li have been fired, sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN. A reporter, Celeste Katz, who had written articles about financial issues at the magazine as well as an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney's office into its parent company, Newsweek Media Group, was also let go, the sources said. Staff in Newsweek's New York offices were told to stop working and go home for the day on Monday afternoon, a source close to the newsroom told CNN. Katz was seen cleaning out her desk,...

Chaos roiled the Newsweek offices Monday with the firings of the editor-in-chief, his number two and three reporters — possibly in retaliation for their unfavorable coverage of the company. Johnathan Davis, the co-founder/CEO of Newsweek Media Group, ordered the firing of top editor Bob Roe, his deputy Ken Li and reporters Celeste Katz and Josh Saul, as well as Josh Keefe, a reporter for the International Business Times, a sister company, a source said.

The publisher of Newsweek and the International Business Times has been engaging in fraudulent online traffic practices that helped it secure a major ad buy from a US government agency, according to a new report released today by independent ad fraud researchers. IBTimes.com, the publisher’s US business site, last year won a significant portion of a large video and display advertising campaign for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency. Social Puncher, a consulting firm that investigates online ad fraud, alleges in its report that the ads were displayed to an audience on IBTimes.com that includes a significant amount...

Nearly a year after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, a Harvard University professor says 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton could still become commander in chief. Lawrence Lessig, the Roy L. Furman professor of law and leadership at Harvard Law School, penned an essay for Medium in October outlining a series of hypothetical scenarios that could take place should the ongoing probe find that the Trump campaign actually conspired with Russia to influence the results of the election. If Trump did conspire with Russia, the president “should resign, or, if he doesn’t, he should be impeached,” Lessig wrote in his essay. Vice...

The White House released details about President Donald Trump’s health on Friday after his annual medical exam—and numbers don’t lie. A statement from the White House on Friday said Trump is "extremely healthy." But the results of some basic screening tests look more concerning than those of his predecessor. Specifically, his weight and cholesterol could be putting him at risk for heart disease.

Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser has suggested that people send her money in order to transform their lives, or face divine consequences. Paula White, who heads up the president’s evangelical advisory committee, suggested making a donation to her ministries to honor the religious principle of “first fruit,” which she said is the idea that all firsts belong to God, including the first harvest and, apparently, the first month of your salary.

Newsweek published an incredibly misleading article about first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday, stating in the headline that she ordered the removal of a tree that Andrew Jackson planted on White House grounds in 1835. “Melania Trump orders removal of the near-200-year-old tree from the White House,” Newsweek tweeted.While it's true the first lady did order partial removal of the tree, it was only after specialists determined it was a huge safety risk. Specialists at the United States National Arboretum were brought in by the White House to assess the Magnolia grandiflora, as it is specifically termed. According to documents obtained...

The historic Jackson magnolia has been on the south facade of the White House since the 1800s—making it the oldest on the grounds. But Tuesday, Melania Trump reportedly made the decision to have it removed after tree specialists determined “the overall architecture and structure of the tree is greatly compromised.”

On the morning after Christmas, first daughter Ivanka Trump tweeted photos of her husband, Jared Kushner, and son on a boat with the caption, “this fish is a trophy!” But many Twitter users were more interested in something in the background—a Confederate flag.

During his campaign, President Trump promised to ban all Muslims outright until he could figure out “what is going on.” He later explained that this idea had developed into several policies that would have the same effect. Keep Up With This Story And More By Subscribing Now Since his inauguration, Trump has begun to implement them—they include slashing the refugee program, banning all immigration and travelers from several majority Muslim countries, and imposing new burdens on all visa applicants as part of “extreme vetting” initiatives. So far, these policies appear to have “worked,” strongly reducing Muslim immigration and travel to...

My fellow Americans, I am sorry to bring you this disturbing and frightening tale from the once great Newsweek magazine. There are no more news stories to report that will upset you more than this one. The bad news is, the Pences are murderous, irresponsible pet owners. Don't take my word for it, read what crack journalist John Haltiwanger at the venerable giant of a news magazine uncovered in "Mike Pence's Pets Won't Stop Dying": "Vice President Mike Pence's family has lost yet another pet––a cat named Pickle––just six months after cat Oreo died." Pickle the cat died mysteriously after...

Liberal reporters are scandalized by what they say is President Trump’s effort to “discredit” and “undermine” special counsel Robert Mueller, worried that it could presage an attempt to “remove Mueller, or end his investigation.” But when President Bill Clinton was being investigated by Ken Starr, journalists applauded Democratic and White House attacks on the independent counsel, and frequently joined in themselves. Today’s journalists seem appalled by attempts by the President and his allies that question Mueller’s credibility. Washington Post reporters Devlin Barrett and Sean Sullivan sounded the alarm in a front-page story on December 7: “Several law enforcement officials said...

The U.S. military allowed thousands of Islamic State militant group (ISIS) fighters to flee from their de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria, in a secret deal that boosted the U.S. fight against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a former Pentagon-backed commander, who has since switched his allegiance to Turkey and who spoke to Reuters. As the spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a mostly Kurdish coalition of Arabs and ethnic minorities, Brigadier General Talal Silo acted as the face and the voice of the U.S.’s leading partner against ISIS in Syria. The U.S.-backed group successfully ousted...

President Trump and FOX News aren’t the only ones angry over the verdict in the Kate Steinle trial, wherein undocumented Mexican immigrant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate was acquitted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, as well as most of the charges he faced. Neo-Nazis and white nationalists, many of whom were present in Charlottesville, Virginia this August when a young man allegedly murdered antiracist activist Heather Heyer, gathered in front of the White House this afternoon to use Steinle’s death to call for stricter laws on immigration. The group, which numbered at roughly two dozen, according to eyewitnesses, featured Richard Spencer,...

First Daughter Ivanka Trump was in Hyderabad, India this week touting female entrepreneurship. Too bad she wasted the opportunity by plagiarizing much of her remarks from one of her previous speeches, Newsweek declared Wednesday in its piece, "Ivanka Trump Plagiarizes One of Her Own Speeches in India."The Newsweek editors regretted that "the breadth of her talking points were recycled from a previous speech she gave during a foreign trip earlier this month."  That other "foreign trip" appears to be the one she made to Tokyo, Japan. They pulled some specific excerpts to prove they had caught Ivanka red handed. "When women...

Newsweek really jumped the shark Thursday when they claimed that Ivanka Trump “plagiarize[d] one of her own speeches” during her trip to India.Newsweek bashed Ivanka for reusing lines from some of her old speeches. Of course, that’s not plagiarism, as plagiarism requires the words or ideas be taken from someone else.Recycling speeches and parts of speeches is pretty standard for people who have a lot of speaking engagements. “Several lines the 36-year-old delivered Tuesday had been directly pulled from her poorly attended November 2 speech in Tokyo, where she attended the World Assembly for Women alongside Japanese President Shinzo Abe,” Newsweek writer...