When Drudge removed the link to freerepublic I never went there again.
Drudge still has the link to Free Republic.
See, that's the problem with knee jerks (we have them on our side too). Once they are offended, they close their minds and lose all reason.
Free Republic IS linked on the Drudge Report. It's been that way as long as I can remember. So I have no idea what you are talking about with regard to it being removed. Maybe it was removed for a period of time as I remember some noise being made about it some 15-20 years ago. But I never remember a time when it wasn't there.
I think Drudge has always done a fine job with his site. Anti conservative or anti Trump? Tell that to any liberal and they will laugh at you. To them, Matt Drudge is one of their arch enemies.
Lot of other good sites mentioned on this thread. Drudge is not the only news aggregator page I go to. It is one of several others I visit regularly.
As for the complaints about "annoying" banner ads and such that I see others making here, would they be willing to support these sites with their own money? Nothing is for free in this world. If we are not willing to pay these websites a monthly fee, than we ought not complain about the banner ads. These websites have to cover their costs one way or another.
Here on the Free Republic, a subset of us pay monthly donations to keep the site running so that ads don't have to be run and so that others not paying into it can use the site for free.