Free Republic

Elon Musk, who was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, shared some insight on X on Tuesday into how the department will operate. Musk said that the department will take suggestions and concerns from everyday Americans regarding how the government spends money. "Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!" Musk said in part in the X post. Musk also said all the department's actions "will be posted online for maximum transparency." "We will also have...

President-elect Donald Trump touched down at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington Wednesday morning, starting a whirlwind day of meetings with House Republicans and outgoing President Biden. The 78-year-old was joined by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who Trump announced Tuesday night would co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” alongside biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Wednesday marks Trump’s first trip to the nation’s capital since his stunning election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris — in which Trump became the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote and expanded on the Electoral College margin from his 2016...

I went to the grocery store yesterday and found roast beef for $6/lb. Two weeks ago, it was $16. Heck, when I started working in a deli in 1991, it was $8. Milk for $3.19/gallon? Sharp cheddar cheese for $3.78/pound? Cream cheese for $2.26/half pound? Butter for $2.98/pound? Chicken breast for $1.99? I've been going to Aldi's lately, so I don't know exactly how to compare to before my days of shopping Safeway online since the grocery stores shut down for the pandemic, but these prices seem pre-pandemic to me. My sister reports that where she's from, so much of...

Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) asked on Tuesday for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump, who vowed to help the District reduce increased crime rates since he left the White House. The District currently ranks 172 in safety on a list of 182 American cities, according to a study recently released by WalletHub. Crime, such as reported carjacking offenses, remain much more frequent than they did under Trump’s first term, according to police data. District officials defunded the police in 2023 by 1.7 percent, while U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, who is responsible for prosecuting...

Justin Trudeau has sparked outrage after refusing to release the names of 900 alleged Nazi war criminals who fled to Canada after the Second World War. Jewish groups have called the decision, 'disgraceful' and say it dishonors Holocaust victims and survivors. The Canadian government is concealing the list of names amid fears it could be too embarrassing for the country... Large numbers of Ukrainian SS Waffen soldiers relocated to Canada following the war. ... The list of members of the Nazi-led SS Galicia unit was compiled by the Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals in Canada. The panel then met...

Not only will it cost nothing, it would save billions..

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared the severance of diplomatic and trade relations with Israel. In a statement reported by the Turkish Arabic-language channel Anadolu, Erdogan emphasized, "Turkey will stand with the Palestinians until the end." Erdogan's announcement comes amid escalating tensions in the region, as he warned that Israel's actions are becoming increasingly aggressive. "Israel will become more aggressive as long as weapons and ammunition continue to flow," he stated, expressing concern over the deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

The judge overseeing the Arizona "fake elector" case against several of Donald Trump's allies has recused himself from the case after accusations of personal bias. Last week, defense attorneys for State Senator Jacob Hoffman filed a motion to disqualify Judge Bruce Cohen, alleging that an email published by a media outlet revealed "politically charged statements" made by Cohen while overseeing the case. "While Judge Cohen is entitled to his political opinions and speech, his rhetoric and exhortation precisely mirrors the evidence of hostile partisan political zealotry at the heart of the motions to dismiss that have been languishing before the...

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered Iran a simple warning, a third Iranian airstrike against Israel “would simply cripple Iran’s economy.” Netanyahu claims that another attack on the part of Iran would cost Iran additional billions to carry out, claiming that the attack in October cost Iran $2.3 billion. How much more should the people of Iran suffer as the Iranian Regime wastes billions of dollars on attacks to Israel? Joining us on today’s Watchman Newscast Livestream is Yair Pinto and Mati Shoshani of the TBN Israel YouTube channel to break down the latest from Israel. Watch now!

Eight international aid groups have jointly rebuked Israel for not only failing "to meet any of the specific criteria" set out by the Biden administration in an Oct. 13 letter demanding that the U.S. ally drastically increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip within 30 days, but accusing Israel of taking "actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in Northern Gaza." The U.S. letter had threatened to cut off some U.S. military assistance to Israel if its demands were not met within 30 days — a deadline that has now passed. "Israel's actions failed...

By hiring weak leaders with failed track records and prioritizing equity over merit, Michelle Reid destroyed Fairfax County schools.Last month, Ann Bonitatibus announced that she was resigning from her position as principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ), a magnet school located in Fairfax County, Virginia, the state’s largest school district.Before her leadership, TJ was the top-ranked high school in the nation for about a decade. Bonitatibus aided in the overhaul of TJ’s selection process in 2020 from merit to equity, thereby compromising the once highly prestigious school’s rigor, and sinking its ranking from first to...

Special counsel Jack Smith reportedly plans to retire before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January, denying the incoming president a chance to fire him. Smith, who oversaw the federal criminal cases against Trump related to the 78-year-old’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the hoarding of classified documents, is wrapping up his work ahead of the 47th president’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, the New York Times reported. Smith’s plan is to get ahead of Trump’s promise to “fire” the special counsel within “two seconds” after being sworn in, sources told the outlet. He intends to finish his...

The arena of climate and energy is sufficiently large that it deserves its own post of ideas for the incoming Trump administration. The Biden people went so far off the rails in this area that there are far more topics than I can cover. I’ll have to stick to some highlights. Communications.As I noted in the previous post, changing the communications of the prior administration should be an easy and obvious first priority. However, the Trump people notably did a poor job on this subject the first time out. The subject of climate and energy is pervasive through the websites...

In the memoir that made him famous, JD Vance practically apologized for the book’s existence, writing that he had “accomplished nothing great” in his life — “certainly nothing that would justify a complete stranger paying money to read about it.” Nearly a decade later, Vance, now 40, is the vice president-elect and potential heir to a political movement that has realigned the Republican Party. History will remember him for more than “Hillbilly Elegy,” his bestseller that was made into a movie. What for, exactly, depends on the path Vance charts when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office —...

President-elect Donald Trump has not yet been sworn into office for his second term as president, but he is already racking up wins on illegal immigration, one of the biggest issues that propelled him to reelection.A federal court in Texas struck down President Joe Biden’s “Keeping Families Together” program last Thursday, a policy created in August that would have needlessly and damagingly granted amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants and, more importantly, paved the way for a unilateral mass amnesty for all illegal immigrants in the country.First created by then-President Barack Obama in 2013, “parole in place” smooths the path...

VIDEOOne of the most annoying liberals who beautifully got her comeuppance on Election Day was TikToker Politics Girl (IAmPoliticsGirl) aka Leigh McGowan who confidently predicted VICTORY for Kamala just before the sad reality of the poll results came in that day. Her Know It All act fell apart as soon as she was brutally revealed as a Know Nothing. As a result, Politics Girl went into hiding unable to face her viewers, many of whom left both mocking as well as despondent comments to her video predicting election victory for her beloved. Here we see a sampling of those comments...

During an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi stated that “we really ran early this year to finalize” many climate regulations “before May, which, really, I think, ensures durability relative to this arcane statute, the Congressional Review Act. So, I think, because of that foresight, we have, actually, quite a durable regulatory regime going into the next few years.” Host Joumanna Bercetche asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:10] “Well, there are still a couple of months left, as well, of the administration. I do wonder if there’s anything that can be done on the...

Now that that’s settled… From a historical perspective, there’s some virtue in killing all of your enemies. Julius Caesar didn’t and was killed almost immediately after having himself declared dictator for life. In 49 BC dictator meant something different than it does today. Dictator was an honorable, temporary position that was only implemented when the Republic faced some dire or existential threat that required a firm hand to fix. Although vested with almost absolute power, a dictator would often be appointed for a finite period, perhaps 6 months, to deal with the problem and then would return to being whatever...

Transgender youth in the United States have been flooding crisis hotlines since the election of Donald Trump, who made anti-transgender themes central to his campaign. Many teens worry about how their lives could change once he takes office. During his presidential bid, Trump pledged to impose wide-ranging restrictions and roll back civil rights protections for transgender students. And his administration can swiftly start work on one major change: It can exclude transgender students from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms. One ad that aired over 15,000 times crystallized Trump’s stance...

President-elect Donald J. Trump is sending signals to the military brass. They’re going back to protecting our country, killing our enemies, and enhancing our national security. The era of woke nonsense and sensitivity training is over. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Trump’s plans for the Pentagon, alluding to the “chilling” effect it could have on the officer corps, but the president-elect has a mandate and should use it. The reported executive order would create a “warrior board” of retired generals and other senior personnel who would review the leadership qualities of the officers in question. There’s no re-election...