Free Republic

Health insurance prices in the U.S. have been spiraling for four consecutive years, and employers are now bracing for the highest spike yet in 2025—the biggest increase in 15 years, according to a wide-ranging survey of more than 1,700 employers. The National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans by Mercer, a subsidiary of Marsh McLennan, is part of the advisory firm’s services to help employers manage health insurance costs while seeking to improve employee health and well-being. Sunit Patel, Mercer’s US Chief Actuary for Health and Benefits, said two factors are combining to send costs higher. “Health benefit cost trend has...

In 2016, Dr. Marcus Zervos agreed to the unthinkable: test the vaccinated against the unvaccinated. Convinced it would prove vaccines safe, he vowed to publish the results no matter what. Those results never saw the light of day—until now. Here’s what the buried study revealed. Meet Dr. Marcus Zervos, head of infectious disease at Henry Ford Health in Detroit. He’s as pro-vaccine as they come. In 2016, he crossed paths with health freedom journalist Del Bigtree, who urged him to take on something public health had avoided for decades: a study comparing the health outcomes of vaccinated and unvaccinated children....

Chicago aldermen are once again warning downtown residents and workers to be prepared for potential chaos ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Independence Day, a holiday that has increasingly turned into an unsanctioned takeover of the Loop and surrounding areas by car caravans. The warnings come as city officials brace for another year of traffic jams, fireworks, and noisy celebrations that have tested police and exasperated locals. CPD arrested 69 people during last year’s four-day weekend, including at least 19 for illegal gun possession. Aldermen Brian Hopkins (2nd) and Brendan Reilly (42nd), who represent much of the downtown area, have issued...

There’s a reason why the J6 Committee deleted the records of their activity, an angle missed by most. When you understand what they hid and why they did it, you then understand why current Speaker of The House Mike Johnson will not go near the subject. The J6 Committee used interfaces with the NSA database and pre-existing portals with aligned DHS Social Media databases (including Twitter, see prior “Twitter Files”), as research and evidence gathering mechanisms for their investigations. The J6 targets were identified through a collaboration between the legislative research group and the FBI. [That’s unlawful by the way...

Nepal is in complete meltdown after the government’s insane decision to BAN the internet’s largest platforms under the excuse of fighting “misinformation.” On September 4, 2025, Nepal’s ruling elites declared war on free speech, abruptly banning 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Reddit, citing “failure to register” under new regulations, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The heavy-handed ban backfired instantly. Thousands of angry young Nepalis, mostly Gen Z, poured into the streets. For years, they’ve lived under corruption, poverty, and elite privilege. Now, with their digital lifeline severed, they erupted in rage....

U.S. producer prices fell unexpectedly last month, dropping 0.1% from July. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which captures inflation in the supply chain before it hits consumers — showed that wholesale inflation decelerated in August after advancing 0.7% in July. Wholesale services prices fell 0.2% from July on smaller profit margins at retailers and wholesalers, which might be a sign that those companies are absorbing the cost of President Donald Trump’s sweeping taxes — tariffs — on imports. Compared to a year earlier, producer prices rose 2.6%. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called...

Instagram deleted my video about restaurants in Gaza and even restricted my account. The video had 600,000 views, no hate, no violence—just food. I even added proof with links to the restaurants’ own Instagram pages.Meanwhile, mainstream media spreads fake photos of “starvation” in Gaza. Like, share, and subscribe to help spread the truth. Active restaurants in Gaza: / mekato.cafee / aman_caffe / soul_coffee1 / arabesco_2025 / athar.cafe.gaza / aaedali0 / aaedali0 / fadi_sultan8 / athar.cafe.gaza / mekato.cafee / yehia_saqalah / new_gazaa / orca.resto.cafe / modern.cafe / beehubandcafe / ahmed_ali_kitchen / sobhe_sayyed / lava.cafe.official / dr.mo5tar_ / usern7293cx5u / ghosncafe.gaza /...

Vietnam has erased and/or frozen 86 million unverified bank accounts as the nation surrenders to the globalist Great Reset. Anyone wishing to function in society must surrender their biometric data to maintain a bank account. The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) claims that the measure was a system cleanup aimed at preventing fraud. In actuality, the measure is one step closer toward a national ID system that enables the government to control its citizens’ every move. “This is a data-cleansing revolution,” said Pham Anh Tuan, Director of the Payment Department. “While the total number of bank accounts remains 200 million,...

More personal details are being shared about the woman who was stabbed to death in an apparently random attack on a light-rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. -snip- While living in the Charlotte area, Ferguson said the college graduate worked at a pizza restaurant, took care of animals, helped at a senior citizen center and rode that same train often. “The first day she was allowed to work, she got a work permit here, she got a job the very first day,” Ferguson described. According to Barnacle, the Ukrainian embassy offered to help bring Zarutska’s body back to the European...

U.S. President Donald Trump called for Decarlos Brown Jr. to receive the death penalty after a quick trial for the killing of Iryna Zarutska. "The ANIMAL who so violently killed the beautiful young lady from Ukraine, who came to America searching for peace and safety, should be given a 'Quick' (there is no doubt!) Trial, and only awarded THE DEATH PENALTY," Trump posted to Truth Social. "There can be no other option!!!" This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.

Magistrate Judge Teresa Stokes is not qualified to practice as a lawyer in the state of North Carolina, according to the state's database of registered lawyers. The revelation comes after it was reported that Stokes released Decarlos Brown on cashless bail after his last brush with the law before he was charged with stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska to death in August. When Stoke's name is entered into the North Carolina State Bar lawyer look-up tool, an error is presented, indicating the judge, although overseeing a magistrate court, does not have the ability to practice law as a lawyer professionally in...

Gruesome video shows a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee getting stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train – a case that has turned into a flashpoint as the Trump administration vows to crack down on crime in large, predominantly Democratic cities. The attack happened shortly before 10 p.m. August 22, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said. A caller said a woman was stabbed in the throat. The victim, Iryna Zarutska, is a refugee who recently fled from war-torn Ukraine, CNN affiliate WBTV reported. Video of the attack shows Zarutska entering a train car and taking a seat directly in front of...

(Reuters) - An extraordinary spat is occurring within the U.S. judiciary concerning a flurry of Supreme Court decisions backing President Donald Trump, with judges voicing confusion over the rulings issued on an emergency basis while a Trump-appointed justice accused some of them of defying the nation's top judicial body. These decisions have let the Trump administration implement contentious policies that were impeded by judges who had cast doubt on the legality of the Republican president's actions. In issuing such opinions, the Supreme Court has offered little or no reasoning for its actions. That has caused exasperation among some of the...

Trump Stares Down Protesters in D.C. Safety Showdown: President Donald Trump faced a fiery protest while dining at a Washington, D.C. restaurant near the White House. Demonstrators stormed the venue waving Palestinian flags and chanting, “Free D.C., free Palestine, Trump is the Hitler of our time.” Despite the uproar, Trump remained composed, continuing conversations with nearby guests. Vice President J.D. Vance reassured diners to enjoy their meals, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth watched as security tried to contain the scene. Watch

Like a great pendulum that has swung too far in one direction, American education has spent decades lurching away from its founding principles. For generations, our public schools have transformed from institutions that acknowledged the divine into sterile laboratories of secular indoctrination. Parents have watched helplessly as their children were taught to hide their faith like contraband, to whisper prayers as if they were speaking profanities. But sometimes, just when the pendulum seems frozen at its furthest point, gravity reasserts itself. The erosion didn’t happen overnight. Since the 1960s, a series of court decisions and bureaucratic edicts have systematically scrubbed...

As I have written many times, with New York’s fantasy “net zero” energy plans, it is not a question of whether they will fail, but only when and how. The Democrats, who dominate state politics, and their environmentalist allies, are firmly committed to the impossible. Thus, they are caught in a trap of their own making, and from which there is no good escape. The fact that they are caught in this trap is obvious to anyone with basic arithmetic skills, but almost all of our politicians and environmentalists lack those. However, a small handful of them are starting to...

A Florida robbery Saturday ended up far from whatever two men had expected after one victim grabbed his gun. The incident took place at about 7 p.m. in Dania Beach, according to WTVJ-TV. Two robberies took place at a 7-Eleven. A victim was robbed at gunpoint in the store’s parking lot. Justin Kessel, 19, is suspected of that crime, police said. The suspect then entered the store, where a clerk was robbed. So far, everything was going according to plan. But while the suspect was robbing the store, the victim decided he had had enough of being a victim and...

GOP leaders historically argued spending cuts, not tax increases, should address national debt"... In the meantime, Republicans should take with a grain of salt increased revenue and ask themselves whether the goal is to balance a bloated budget with increased taxes or instead limit the size and scope of government. This important question once differentiated conservatives from liberals — I hope the current fad for import taxes doesn’t entice all conservatives to forget the goal of a small, constitutional federal government."

The Reform Party of the United States and its New York affiliate have endorsed independent candidate Joseph Hernandez in the 2025 New York City mayoral race, praising his positions on transparency, fiscal responsibility, and political reform. The endorsements were announced September 7 in separate statements from the state and national parties. In its statement, the Reform Party of New York described Hernandez as “a true American success story” and praised several proposals he has made, including converting vacant office buildings into housing and expanding ranked-choice voting to general elections, which it said reflect the party’s platform. “Since its founding by...

The United States Transhumanist Party has endorsed independent candidate Timothy Grady in the 2026 race for governor of Ohio. Members approved the endorsement in a majority vote announced by the national organization this month. In a September 4 statement, Grady said he was honored to receive the support of the U.S. Transhumanist Party and that he and the party “share a commitment to the use of science and technology to the benefit of all.” He praised the organization’s leadership in addressing the real-time implications of emerging technologies, calling them “existential questions that demand leadership and foresight.” “These are not challenges...