Free Republic

For much of 2025, the dominant narrative among economists, market strategists, and Wall Street commentators was straightforward and gloomy. Trade shocks would slow growth. Immigration crackdowns would tighten labor markets. Tariffs would reignite inflation. A recession, many said, was not a matter of if, but when. That story has not played out.Instead, the U.S. economy continues to outperform expectations and outpace other developed nations. Growth has persisted even as consumer confidence has fallen, the labor market has cooled, and trade policy uncertainty has lingered. For investors, this disconnect between sentiment and reality is not just interesting. It is actionable.At the...

Multimillionaire Sami Sheen says it’s “impossible” to pay her bills on time because it’s simply “not fun.” The 21-year-old daughter of Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards — who has been a highly successful OnlyFans creator since June 2022 — made a barrage of candid admissions to her TikTok followers Monday. “At what age do I have to start adulting?” she asked in a selfie-style video, confessing that she’s “so bad at being an adult” because she still views herself as a “16-year-old girl.”

Russian forces appear close to being pushed out of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupyansk, with only a small number of isolated troops remaining and even pro-Kremlin voices acknowledging the setback, according to a report.

President Donald Trump on Friday cast himself as the ultimate arbiter of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, in an exclusive conversation with POLITICO.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet with Trump in Florida on Sunday and told reporters he’s bringing with him a new 20-point plan for peace. The framework includes a proposed demilitarized zone and the meeting is expected to focus on U.S. security guarantees. But in an interview, Trump appeared lukewarm to Zelenskyy’s latest overture and in no rush to endorse the Ukrainian president’s proposal.“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump said. “So...

Scientists have reversed Alzheimer’s disease in mice, potentially showing a pathway to treat the illness among humans, according to a Dec. 22 peer-reviewed study published in the Cell Reports Medicine journal.Alzheimer’s is traditionally considered irreversible. In the study, researchers treated two groups of mice with P7C3-A20, a pharmacologic agent. One group carried human mutations related to amyloid processing, while the other carried a tau protein mutation. Both amyloid and tau pathologies are two major early events of Alzheimer’s. Researchers say that as mice develop brain pathologies resembling Alzheimer’s, they are ideal subjects to test how P7C3-A20 affects Alzheimer’s in humans....

Leftist Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan recently appeared wearing an Islamic garment on a Somali-language YouTube channel out of Minneapolis to tell Somali migrants that she’s “got your back.” Flanagan was chosen by Democrat Gov. Tim Walz as his running mate in 2018. She is not a Muslim; she is instead a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) native Americans and has won election as Walz’s running mate in two elections. With President Donald Trump’s administration focusing on the massive fraud and welfare funding theft by Somali migrants in the Gopher State, Flanagan apparently wanted to reassure...

NEW DELHI — A Hindu extremist mob in northern India assaulted two Christian couples and an attorney for several hours, accusing them of forced conversion. In Haryana state’s Titoli village, 5 miles from the city of Rohtak, the mob forced one of the Christians, a pastor, to set fire to a heap of Bibles while the Hindu extremists recorded videos that immediately went viral, resulting in 32 complaints to the police. Pastor Jehovah Das, 65, and Vinod Masih, 42, along with their wives, had been invited to a Christian family’s home in the village to pray and bless the arrival...

Geopolitics, diversification, and Fed easing contribute to the U.S. dollar’s downward pressures.While the so-called Santa Claus rally delivered year-end gains for stocks and precious metals, the U.S. dollar received a lump of coal to finish a not particularly strong 2025. The U.S. dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a weighted basket of currencies, is on track for its largest annual decline since 2003. This year, the index has dropped 10 percent, with nearly all of the damage occurring in the first half of 2025, when it tanked almost 11 percent. The alternative trade-weighted dollar index—a measure created by...

WASHINGTON — The tiny Pacific nation of Palau — a former filming location for “Survivor” — has agreed to take up to 75 third-country deportees from the United States who don’t have a criminal record — in exchange for a $7.5 million grant to support the roughly 18,000-person island chain. The $100,000 per-deportee fee, announced on Christmas Eve by Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. and the US embassy in Koror, introduces one of the most favorable venues yet for deportees if their recalcitrant homelands — such as China, Cuba, Russia or Iran — won’t take them. “Palau and the United...

And Zohran Mamdani has . . . Ms. Rachel. Why would the man about to be sworn in as mayor of America’s largest city elevate a woke, anti-Israel YouTube children’s entertainer to his inner circle, appointing her as a prime member of his inaugural committee? Simple: Because Mamdani himself is a child. SNIP That Mamdani rushed to anoint Ms. Rachel as his advisor is further proof, as if any further proof was needed, that New York is about to be governed by the most infantile crew ever placed at the helm of a major American municipality.

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is facing a fresh wave of scrutiny following the release of her 2024 financial disclosure form, which reveals a staggering leap in her household's reported wealth. The 43-year-old Democratic lawmaker, a prominent member of the so-called 'Squad', has seen her and her husband Tim Mynett's combined fortune skyrocket by as much as 3,500 per cent since the end of 2023. Despite earning a standard congressional salary of less than $175,000 (£138,000) a year, Omar's latest filings suggest a net worth that could reach as high as $30 million. The sudden windfall has reignited long-standing accusations regarding...

Summary New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced on December 23, 2025, that retired FDNY EMS Chief Lillian Bonsignore will become the next commissioner of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), effective January 1, 2026, upon his inauguration. Bonsignore, a 31-year FDNY veteran, brings extensive experience from the department's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) division. She began her career as an EMT in 1991, rose through the ranks, and served as Chief of EMS Operations from 2019 to 2022, leading the city's emergency medical response during the COVID-19 pandemic. She retired in 2022 but is returning to public service for...

Citing the global threat of overpopulation, Gov. JB Pritzker (D-Ill) and the Democrat majority in the state legislature passed a law requiring all healthcare providers, including those who have ethical or religious objections, to tout the public benefits of abortion. Pritzker justified this compelled speech by asserting that "unconstrained population growth poses a severe threat to public health. We cannot allow zealots who hope to use the innocence of the unborn to divert us from taking the essential actions needed to avert the inevitable famine that will result from the careless creation of more mouths to feed. Hundreds of folks...

Nigeria government says it backed US strike on Thursday Nigeria says no specific religion targeted Trump had threatened to strike Nigeria to protect Christians Lakurawa sect possibly targeted, linked to past attacks LAGOS, Dec 26 (Reuters) - By publicly cooperating with the United States on a Christmas Day airstrike, Nigeria's government may have averted humiliating unilateral military action threatened a month ago by President Donald Trump. But security experts say it is unclear whether such strikes can do much to hinder Islamist militants who have long menaced communities in the area. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news...

Minnesota’s lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan donned a hijab to express solidarity with Somalis in a local TV appearance amid federal and congressional investigations into fraudsters in their refugee community who bilked taxpayers out of as much as $9 billion. “I am incredibly clear that the Somali community is part of the fabric of the state of Minnesota,” Flanagan said at Karmel Mall in Minneapolis alongside local officials in a video released by Somali TV of Minnesota on Thursday. “I am here shopping today and just encourage other folks to show up, support our Somali businesses, support our immigrant neighbors, and...

Perry Bamonte, longtime guitarist and keyboard player for the Cure, has died aged 65. The musician, known affectionately as Teddy, passed away after a short illness over Christmas, the band announced on their website.

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: A man in Seattle is in police custody after stealing a patrol car from a Washington State Patrol lieutenant ... and exclusive new video shows the suspect shoving the cop to the ground and taking off in her car.

At a Tuesday press conference in Minnesota, scandal-plagued Gov. Tim Walz erupted into what can only be described as an anti-white screed, accusing the Trump administration and Vice President JD Vance of unleashing “white supremacy” across the heartland. Yes, really. Enforcing the law and rejecting divisive racial ideology, according to Walz, now qualifies as racist. The governor’s rant came in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota — routine ICE actions targeting illegal immigrants — which Walz framed as a “war” on local communities. “This is what happens when your own federal government wages war against you,” he fumed....

This is because California’s state and local politicians have completely broken LA and the state in general. It is increasingly untenable to do business: - Too many permits - Too many laws - Too much overreach - Too many delays - Too many taxes It’s killed Hollywood and it’s coming for Silicon Valley next. The difference is that Silicon Valley can move. Hollywood just sat by while the government and party they blindly supported gutted their industry. We won’t.

The fate of Rita Loncharich underscores how moonbattery-induced societal decay has left us safe anywhere. Via Fox News: Police in Florida are investigating after a 65-year-old woman died from stab wounds she suffered inside a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Palm Beach Gardens. Witnesses told police that the suspect, 40-year-old Antonio Moore, ran out of the store after stabbing Loncharich… According to the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department, “Investigators are still trying to determine a motive for this attack.” They should ask Decarlos Brown or Lawrence Reed. They might be able to explain the motive. The national media has not...