Free Republic

If you think the price of tariffs is high, consider the cost of no tariffs.Liberal and libertarian opponents of President Trump’s tariffs argue that Americans pay for tariffs and that those tariffs are a form of taxation. Tariffs were how the American government was funded before Democrats were able to successfully implement the otherwise unconstitutional income tax through the Sixteenth Amendment. Democrats preferred tariffs to taxes. Why? Because they believed tariffs were regressive while taxes were progressive. Tariffs kept the poor from buying the cheapest products while taxes were weighed against the wealthy. That’s still the thrust of their current...

‘I worry that the disrespect they have been shown will not inspire continued respect for the judiciary, without which we cannot long function.’The refusal by a majority on the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to shut down leftists’ lower court judicial coup against President Trump has drawn sharp rebukes from conservatives across America. These critics (correctly) argue that the high court’s unwillingness to stop (and at times, its willingness to participate in) this effort both subverts the power of the executive branch and undermines the will of the more than 77 million Americans who voted for the president in the 2024...

President Donald Trump participates in the swearing-in ceremony for Interim USAO for the DC office, Jeanine Pirro. The media question segment begins at 8:45 of the video below and there is a lot of news within the press portion. The first question surrounds Russia and the recent statements from the Kremlin. President Trump says he is not able to give opinion on the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the moment and will await approximately two weeks until the “terms” are received from Russia. President Trump directed attention to Emissary Steve Witkoff who is coordinating with both Russia and...

Explanation: This might look like a double-bladed lightsaber, but these two cosmic jets actually beam outward from a newborn star in a galaxy near you. Constructed from Hubble Space Telescope image data, the stunning scene spans about half a light-year across Herbig-Haro 24 (HH 24), some 1,300 light-years or 400 parsecs away in the stellar nurseries of the Orion B molecular cloud complex. Hidden from direct view, HH 24's central protostar is surrounded by cold dust and gas flattened into a rotating accretion disk. As material from the disk falls toward the young stellar object, it heats up. Opposing jets...

Has any American company run away from a public commitment faster than Target?In an Aug. 19, 2020, conference call, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell forthrightly put his company in the forefront of the quest for racial and ethnic justice. George Floyd had been murdered by Police Officer Derek Chauvin, abetted by several other officers in Minneapolis, Target’s home city, only about three months earlier. Calls for recognition of the racism exposed by the killing were still reverberating nationwide.“Our team is passionately demanding equity and justice for our Black colleagues and guests,” Cornell said. “We are united in that passion and...

Project Veritas released undercover video of DNC Vice Chair David Hogg admitting Jill Biden’s Chief of Staff, Anthony Bernal, was running the Biden White House. Per Project Veritas: Project Veritas today released Part One of an explosive undercover investigation revealing shocking truths about who truly controlled the Biden White House. Through covert meetings with David Hogg, Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Deterrian Jones, former staffer in the Biden White House Office of Digital Strategy, Veritas uncovered a web of influence centered around Jill Biden’s Chief of Staff, Anthony Bernal, and a tight-knit inner circle. In candid, on-camera...

Something stinks inside the Pentagon, and the White House knows it. A leak investigation involving Pete Hegseth, top Trump defense aides, and a supposedly “top secret” document about reclaiming the Panama Canal has totally unraveled. The case began with firings, rumors of a traitor in the ranks, and even whispers of an illegal NSA wiretap on a Trump loyalist’s phone. That alone would be enough to trigger a massive scandal, right? But now, even that story appears to have been fake. The real story is looking more and more like this entire “leak” probe was a political hit job, used...

Legislation moving through Congress includes breaks for the upper and middle classes as the House rebuffs President Donald Trump’s suggestions.House Republicans rejected a push by some allies of President Donald Trump to include tax hikes on the rich in sweeping legislation they passed last week — a decision that could carry repercussions into next year’s elections.The legislation House Republicans approved last week extends tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017, cutting rates across income groups, including large benefits for the Americans who pay the highest share of federal income tax — those in the top 5 percent of the...

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Jasmine Crockett is upset that a “28 year old single mother of five” had to increase her work hours after her food stamps were cut.My question: Where is the father of these five children?https://youtube.com/watch?v=T4NjMZ5ss0g

The judge said a customs officer had acted improperly in stripping Kseniia Petrova, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, of her visa after she failed to declare research samples she was carrying into the country.A federal judge on Wednesday said she would grant bail to Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist employed by Harvard University, in an immigration case stemming from Ms. Petrova’s failure to declare scientific samples she was carrying into the country.“There does not seem to be either a factual or legal basis for the immigration officer’s actions” in stripping Ms. Petrova of her visa on Feb. 16, Christina...

A poll conducted by the Argentina-based research agency CB Consultora Opinión Pública found that Presidents Daniel Noboa of Ecuador and Javier Milei of Argentina stand as the two top-ranked heads of state in South America, the Argentine newspaper Clarín reported on Wednesday. The survey was conducted across the nine Spanish-speaking South American countries and Brazil from May 19 to 22. It found that Noboa, who was inaugurated for his first full four-year term last week, leads the ranking with a 52.1-percent approval rating, making him the South American president with the highest approval rating according to the study. Milei ranked...

Danwatch and Der Spiegel has gained access to hundreds of highly detailed blueprints ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit that accuses billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency of illegally accessing government data systems, canceling government contracts and firing federal employees.U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Tuesday that 14 states can proceed with their claims against Musk and DOGE. The states, through their attorneys general, sued in February over the defendants’ alleged constitutional violations.The states had asked Chutkan to temporarily block DOGE from accessing any data systems or terminating any federal employees. But the judge denied that request on Feb. 18. She found that...

SummaryPutin wants written pledge to halt NATO expansion eastwards, sources say Russia also seeks lifting of sanctions and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine Ukraine has insisted on NATO membership aspirations despite Russian demands MOSCOW, May 28 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia, according to three Russian sources with knowledge of the negotiations. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two...

A religious rally descended into chaos after trans counter protestors targeted a woman and her three small children before a scuffle broke out with police officers. Christian activists with Mayday USA had organized an event outside of Seattle City Hall on Tuesday, with trans groups counter-protesting their appearance in the city. One shocking clip, captured by Cam Higby with Today is America, has emerged from the protests showing a woman with her three children, one of whom is a baby, trying to get through the mob. She appears to be with her partner who is holding the hand of one...

In response to a question about Elon Musk’s criticism of the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” President Donald Trump directed his frustration at Democrats. CBS News Sunday Morning will air an episode with Musk on Sunday, June 1. In a preview clip posted on social media Tuesday, Musk explained that he was “disappointed” in the Trump-backed spending bill — which was passed by the House last week. Musk expressed frustration that the bill increases the federal deficit and argued that it “undermines” the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) work to eliminate wasteful government spending and fraud. After swearing in former Fox News...

Putin hits Ukraine with 300 drones and missiles in 'massive attack' that leaves Trump outraged President Vladimir Putin’s conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia, according to three Russian sources with knowledge of the negotiations. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two and has shown increasing frustration with Putin in recent days, warning on Tuesday the Russian leader was “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in...

Several collections of example clips from the latest version 3 of Google’s Veo text-to-video generator, which now includes synced audio as well. Big improvement over the previous Veo 2—basically looks like normal YouTube or Hollywood-produced content to the casual eye. All this content was 100% made using prompts. Things are going to get weird folks. These first two are meta-satire with the “people” in the gen questioning why they were created by a prompt and/or trapped. Clever and amusing. Video series 1Video series 2This one is all social media influencers reacting to the end of the world. Video series 3Bunch...

One minute video with two very different opinions about why some neighborhoods are nicer than others.