Free Republic

HENCHMAN a short story by Piytar McPherson I am a “henchman.” Someone who gets hired to provide protection when much more powerful people are doing something significant. You’ve all seen the movies. Us henchmen get killed off all the time and nobody really notices let alone cares. We are those people who just get blown away. Now this job: It’s stereotypical. We have the Hero – typical over-large muscle type. The mage – all white hair and radiating power. The Princess – looks frails but tough as nails. Then a few of us henchmen – cannon fodder. Do have a...

A historical, funny look at some elite, sharp witted members of the New York City media from back in the 20’s, 30’s etc, including Dorothy Parker. Long, long before the media started hating Trump and being stupid as a profession. Worth watching when you have a bit of time.

Embattled CNN anchor Jake Tapper has enlisted a PR crisis guru amid scathing criticism of his new book, which claims to expose former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline—despite spending years attacking conservatives for making the same argument. Tapper and co-author Alex Thompson hired crisis communications expert Risa Heller and her firm Heller Co., to help in their May 20 launch of Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. Heller is no stranger to scandal. She represented disgraced figures like former CNN boss Jeff Zucker, who resigned after a secret affair with an employee,...

The Texas House on Wednesday passed with strong bipartisan support a bill to address what’s been called the “sexual abuse crisis” in Texas public schools. HB 4623, filed by state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, seeks to provide redress in response to tens of thousands of complaints filed against Texas educators. “We have a sexual abuse crisis in our public schools in Texas. It’s indisputable and we can’t look away,” Little said when discussing his bill on the House floor Tuesday night. “In 2019, this chamber established a mandatory educator misconduct reporting portal. Between September 21, 2021, and July 2024, there...

Russia seems to be preparing a significant offensive in Ukraine as it is moving troops toward key positions on the front, the Financial Times reported on May 13, citing undisclosed Ukrainian intelligence officials. These reported preparations indicate Moscow's efforts to escalate the war despite expected ceasefire talks this week and calls by Kyiv and its partners for an unconditional 30-day truce. Russia has rejected ceasefire proposals unless accompanied by a halt on military aid for Ukraine and continues ground assaults along the front and long-range strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. Some 163 clashes were recorded at the front over the past...

Daily Readings from the USCCBWhen Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” John 13:16–17During this, the Fourth Week of Easter, we return to the Last Supper and will spend a few weeks considering the discourse Jesus gave that Holy Thursday evening to His disciples. The question to ask yourself today is this: “Are you blessed?” Jesus says that you are blessed if you...

The Trump administration has escalated its battle with Harvard University, freezing all future grants and threatening to strip the school’s tax-exempt status. In response, Harvard has adopted some conciliatory measures— rebranding its DEI office and cancelling its racially segregated graduation ceremonies—but, behind the scenes, the university’s discrimination machine continues to operate at full capacity. We’ve obtained a trove of internal documents that reveal Harvard’s racial favoritism in faculty and administrative hiring. The university’s DEI programs are more than “unconscious bias” training. They are vectors for systematic discrimination against disfavored groups: namely, white men. As one Harvard researcher told us, “endless...

The U.S. Department of Justice is carrying out a criminal investigation into UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N), opens new tab for possible Medicare fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. UnitedHealth said it had not been notified by the DOJ about the "supposed criminal investigation reported," and the company stood by "the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program." The stock fell 8% in after-hours trade following the report. The health insurer has been under pressure for months. On Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group's CEO, Andrew Witty, stepped down unexpectedly, and the company simultaneously suspended its 2025 financial forecast due to rising medical costs....

A new executive order targets hidden criminal laws and restores basic due process to federal enforcement. On May 9, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations,” addressing one of the most insidious threats to American liberty: the unchecked expansion of criminal penalties through regulatory sprawl. For decades, this trend has eroded the separation of powers, undermined due process, and transformed the federal legal system into a maze where ordinary Americans risk criminal liability for unknowable infractions. While largely ignored by the corporate press, civil liberties advocates should see this order as a long-overdue...

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order for all California State Employees to return to the office (RTO) four days a week does not currently have a price tag for California taxpayers. Increased costs for expenses such as rent, furniture, moving services and supplies has not yet been calculated, but as a state employee at CalRecycle, I can tell you that the cost for state employees is very clear and very dramatic.

Pete Buttigieg is clearly laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run, even going so far as to grow a beard in what looks like a transparent rebranding effort. And frankly, it’s no wonder he thinks he needs a makeover; his time as Transportation Secretary was a train wreck — sometimes literally. His four years in the Biden administration were a nonstop showcase of incompetence and misplaced priorities. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single transportation crisis he didn’t bungle. Now, we've got one more. Do you remember how the Democrats and the media tried to blame Trump for January's...

Smartmatic, the electronic tabulator company suing Fox News for alleged defamation following the 2020 election, failed in a February court hearing to disclose a meeting with Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman, newly unsealed court documents allege. Following the 2020 election, both Fox News and Newsmax “hosted commentators who aired concerns that tabulators were not secure, were vulnerable to voter fraud, and had possibly changed Trump votes to Biden votes,” as described in these pages by Logan Washburn. Smartmatic sued, arguing the comments amounted to defamation. Fox previously settled a suit with Dominion Voting over similar allegations while Newsmax recently settled with...

A bold legislative proposal, the “Restoring Constitutional Mandate for Congress to Set Rules for the Federal Courts Act,” seeks to rein in what its author warns is an existential crisis – a “judicial coup” targeting President Donald Trump and the American people. Drafted by Jonathon Moseley, a 24-year legal veteran and founder of the Patriot Legal Defense Fund, the bill aims to rescind the Rules Enabling Act. The Constitution empowers Congress to set the rules for the Federal courts. But Congress generously trusted the U.S. Supreme Court with this honor and prestige. The bill includes a rebuke of U.S. Supreme...

On Tuesday, astronomers watched as a vast 'bird wing' eruption sent waves of superheated plasma surging across the sun's northern hemisphere. At over 600,000 miles long (one million km), the filament of solar material was more than twice as long as the distance from the Earth to the moon. Now, scientists predict that part of this filament eruption could hit Earth tomorrow. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, aurora chaser Jure Atanackov predicted that the full force of this eruption could trigger a severe or even extreme geomagnetic storm, the highest level on official rating systems. Stunning video recorded...

I never thought I’d end up in handcuffs and a jail cell for something I didn’t say. But last May, police in New Haven, Conn., arrested me — because a parking attendant falsely claimed I had used a racial slur against him nearly a year earlier. I denied it. I asked the cops to check the parking lot’s surveillance video. They didn’t — and the state charged me first with disorderly conduct, then with three counts of breach of peace in the second degree. It took almost a year, tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and endless stress...

Prices paid to U.S. producers of goods and services unexpectedly declined in April, defying predictions that tariffs would reignite inflation. The producer price index for final demand fell 0.5 percent last month, the Labor Department said on Thursday, the largest decline since April of 2020. Economists had forecast a 0.2 percent increase for the month. The prior month’s reading was revised up from a decline of 0.4 percent to flat. Compared with a year ago, the producer price index (PPI) is up 2.4 percent, in line with expectations. In March, the index was up 2.7 percent. The producer price index...

Florida State Senator Jason Pizzo, the former Democratic Minority Leader who announced last month that he was leaving the party to register as a voter with no party affiliation, is planning to run for state governor in 2026. In a speech on the floor of the state senate in late April, Pizzo announced his change in party affiliation from Democrat to that of “No Party Affiliation.” He criticized the modern Democratic Party, describing it as “dead,” and praised the state’s independent voters, crediting them for his past electoral success. Pizzo was first elected to the state senate in 2018 as...

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got into a heated debate with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., during a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday after the senator accused Kennedy and the Trump administration of delaying critical cancer care for one of her constituents named Natalie. Following a recess, Kennedy said the patient, Natalie, was found to be ineligible for the clinical trial she was trying to get into. The patient was found to be "medically ineligible," Kennedy said. "It had nothing to do with the [reduction in force] and NIH had been trying to get her into...

Ukraine’s president confirmed on Thursday that he has agreed to send the delegation to Istanbul for lower-level talks with Russia’s representatives, but he will not be present there himself. -snip- "Out of respect for President Trump, the high level of the Turkish delegation, and President Erdogan, and since we want to try to achieve at least the first steps toward de-escalation, an end to the war – namely a ceasefire – I have decided to send our delegation to Istanbul," Zelensky said. Kyiv’s delegation will be led by Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, Zelenskyy said, despite the fact that Umerov's...

SNIP “In my country, we are fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted. That affects all of us here because the arts are democratic. Art is inclusive, it brings people together. Art embraces diversity and that’s why art is a threat, that’s why we are a threat to autocrats and fascists,” he said. “America’s philistine president has had himself appointed head of one of our premier cultural institutions,” he continued. “He has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities and education. And now he has announced a 100% tariff on films produced outside of the...