Free Republic

While media pundits and other high-profile Democrats have relentlessly fearmongered about President Trump’s plans to “gut” entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicaid, it turns out Gavin Newsom was quietly doing exactly that. From Kristen Hwang at CalMatters just yesterday: In 2022, California made sweeping changes to its Medi-Cal program that reimagined what health care could look like for some of the state’s poorest and sickest residents by covering services from housing to healthy food. But the future of that program, known as CalAIM, could be at risk under the Trump administration. In recent weeks, federal officials have signaled that...

This is intolerable the latest reports I'm hearing they've blockaded the Strip and food is running out (days away) meanwhile airstrikes continue and children are being killed. There are protests in Jerusalem DAILY by Israeli citizens against these brutal tactics and the war in general. The Israeli government says it is trying to pressure Hamas to hand over hostages. President Trump is going to have to intervene or there is going to be a massive crisis especially if the reports are right about them being days away from running out of food. Over 2.3 million Palestinians are affected.

Consumer sentiment improved slightly in late April from earlier in the month but remained deeply depressed, weighed down by widespread concerns over inflation, tariffs, and a historic drop in confidence among Democrats. The University of Michigan’s final reading of its Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 52.2 in April, up from a preliminary estimate of 50.8 but down from 57.0 in March. It marked the fourth consecutive monthly decline and the lowest final reading since July 2022. The Expectations Index, which measures sentiment about the economy in the months ahead, fell to 47.3 in April, down from 52.6 in March. The...

NEW YORK (AP) — A private equity executive turned his New York City apartment into a torture chamber of “grotesque sexual violence,” Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday. He is accused of raping six women over five months in a depraved rampage in which he allegedly punched, waterboarded and shocked victims with a cattle prod and kept recordings of the assaults as trophies. Ryan Hemphill, who remains jailed after his arrest last month, pleaded not guilty to a 116-count indictment charging him with predatory sexual assault and other crimes dating to last October. The 43-year-old, who is also a lawyer, threatened to...

1:28 VIDEO AT LINK. Cops were WAAAAY more patient that I would have been...........

'They can’t wait two years for a hearing. They need ... relief right away.' Illegal aliens with criminal convictions in Washington state may soon get an "expedited review" of their application for a pardon or commutation from the governor, thanks to a bill passed exclusively by Democrats. In the last few weeks, both the Washington state House and Senate have passed H.B. 1131, making it ready to send along to the desk of Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson. While the bill addresses a number of issues related to pardons and clemency, it specifically sends those at risk of deportation to the...

‘Congress should not be operating as business as usual… Colleagues of mine should not be able to go to church or to go to the neighborhood gas station…’ While plotting upcoming protests, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., urged demonstrators to target congressmen at church. “Folks, colleagues of mine should not be able to go to church or to go to the neighborhood gas station — if they pump their own gas, because I work with a lot of billionaires,” Ramirez said. “They should not be able to, without seeing community asking them ‘What the hell are you doing [for] my Social...

I was getting gasoline yesterday in Coeur d'Alene, ID and this beauty was at the gas pump next to me. It's a rare 1940 Ford Cabover truck. The owner was a very nice young man who picked it up from a family friend after the guy who restored it passed away from a stroke. That gorgeous candy-apple red metal flake "paint" job is actually a wrap! In the 60s, the restorer / restomodder worked on cars in Southern California and he was able to buy two Ford 427 CI engines that had been custom made by Ford for drag racing....

President Donald Trump told Time magazine in an interview published Friday that genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping called him to discuss trade negotiations — a day after the Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed any reports of such negotiations were “fake news.” China and America are embroiled in an ongoing trade conflict that began when President Trump announced a plan to overhaul America’s trade relations with all economic partners. On April 2, Trump unveiled a list of tariffs imposed on nearly every country that exports goods to the United States, including a 34-percent tariff on China. The White House later told reporters...

Americans barely remember the Mexican-American War, but in Mexico memories of the war and other military quarrels with the United States remain deeply felt. Mexico lost half its territory, including California, in the war that broke out this week in 1846. President Claudia Sheinbaum, who often speaks of Mexico’s sovereignty, said, “We are neither a protectorate nor a colony of any foreign nation.” MEXICO CITY — At the entrance to Mexico City’s largest park lies a towering marble monument to six young military cadets killed in battle. The Niños Héroes — “boy heroes” — died while defending Mexico’s capital...

A tipsy Long Island teen went for a passed-out joyride in a Tesla — which he switched into autopilot mode on a busy Connecticut highway before going to sleep and being busted by cops, state police said. Garden City native Guido Reinoso-Gallegos, 19, was slumped over the steering wheel as the self-driving vehicle rolled down I-91 south in Wethersfield at just 30 miles per hour with its hazard lights flashing when he was arrested around 12:30 am Friday. Despite not having his hands on the wheel, Gallegos was charged with driving under the influence because he still needs the awareness...

China has quietly exempted from tariffs some semiconductors made in the United States, in an attempt to protect its leading technology companies from a bitter trade showdown with President Donald Trump.Levies on at least eight classifications of U.S.-made microchips have been dropped to zero, instead of the 125 percent retaliatory tariff rate Beijing has imposed on all other U.S. goods, Caijing, a Chinese financial media outlet, reported Friday.The article was later deleted. But two importers who spoke to The Washington Post confirmed that certain semiconductors are now exempted from tariffs. One company in Shenzhen listed the exemptions on social media...

Today, AD joins architect Nick Potts in London to uncover the city's ancient Roman origins. Before London, there was Londinium, the capital of Roman Britain, and although it was abandoned by AD 450, the influence and some remnants of the ancient city still remain. Join Potts as he explores how modern London rose up from Roman ruins. An Entire Roman City Is Hidden Beneath London | Walking Tour | 10:01 Architectural Digest | 7.37M subscribers | 192,282 views | April 22, 2025

On April 23, Donald Trump signed an executive order entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” which will end "disparate-impact theory." According to Heather MacDonald, writing in City Journal, disparate-impact theory states "that if a neutral, colorblind standard of achievement or behavior has a disproportionately negative effect on underrepresented minorities (overwhelmingly, on blacks), it violates civil rights laws." Disparate impact theory originated in a 1971 Supreme Court case, Griggs v. Duke Power Company. The case challenged the1964 law that prohibits racial discrimination by employers. At this time, there had to be evidence of "intentional" discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...

The sudden shift came as a reprieve for the more than 1,500 international students who have had their visas canceled in recent weeks.

"There cannot be "U.S. energy dominance" and $50 per barrel oil; those two statements are contradictory. At $50-per-barrel oil, we will see U.S. oil production start to decline immediately and likely significantly (1 million barrels per day plus within a couple quarters),” an executive at an exploration and production firm said. Another executive put it even more bluntly, “The administration’s chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets. "Drill, baby, drill" is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn't have a clear goal. We want more stability.”

The president has previously said he was looking into serving a third term. Democrats and others on the left melted down on Thursday after the official website for President Donald Trump began selling merchandise for a possible 2028 campaign. The president is prohibited by the Constitution from being president more than two four-year terms because of the 22nd Amendment. Trump's allies have hinted that his supporters may mount a campaign to undo the rule in order to allow him to serve for a third term. One shirt reads "TRUMP 2028" with the text "(Rewrite the Rules)" and sells for $36....

On March 11, about 50 judges gathered in Washington for the biannual meeting of the Judicial Conference, which oversees the administration of the federal courts. It was the first time the conference met since President Trump retook the White House.In the midst of discussions of staffing levels and long-range planning, the judges’ conversations were focused, to an unusual degree, on rising threats against judges and their security, said several people who attended the gathering.Behind closed doors at one session, Judge Richard J. Sullivan, the chairman of the conference’s Committee on Judicial Security, raised a scenario that weeks before would have...

'ActBlue has become notorious for its lax standards that enable unverified and fraudulent donations.' President Donald Trump is reportedly expected to sign a memorandum on Thursday directing the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the Democratic fundraising powerhouse ActBlue. A fact sheet on the memo was obtained by several news outlets, directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to "investigate and take appropriate action concerning allegations regarding the use of online fundraising platforms to make 'straw' or 'dummy' contributions and to make foreign contributions to U.S. political candidates and committees, all of which break the law." The fact sheet reportedly...

The Defense Department will resume providing gender-affirming care for service members, a blow to the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate transgender individuals from the U.S. military. A Pentagon memo dated Monday and revealed Thursday states the department will restore surgical procedures and cross-sex hormone therapy to individuals, including dependents of troops, as first reported by Politico. “Service members and all other covered beneficiaries 19 years of age or older may receive appropriate care for their diagnosis of [gender dysphoria], including mental health care and counseling and newly initiated or ongoing cross-sex hormone therapy,” according to the memo, signed by Stephen...