Free Republic

The headline probably has most of you saying to yourselves: Of course, I believe the amount of fraud taking place in federal 'safety net' programs. No matter what number you report, Moran, I've already imagined it. I'd agree with you, except that the scale of the fraud, waste, and lax enforcement is beyond anything anyone ever imagined. Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a contributing editor at Reason, has spent her entire career as a voice crying in the wilderness, trying to get Congress, opinion-makers, and citizens to pay attention...

JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon has warned that the Trump administration's attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will backfire. Dimon defended the Fed as he spoke with reporters after his bank issued its fourth-quarter earnings results on Tuesday. 'Everyone we know believes in Fed independence, and so do we, and anything chips away at that is probably not a great idea,' Dimon said. 'It will have the reverse consequences. It will raise inflation expectations and probably increase rates over time.' The nation's pre-eminent banker added: 'I don't agree with everything that the Fed has done,' but 'I do have...

Adams told podcast listeners this month his odds of recovery are 'essentially zero' after cancer diagnosis. Dilbert" creator Scott Adams is in hospice care at his Northern California home as his health declines "rapidly" amid his battle with prostate cancer, his ex-wife said. Shelly Miles, who was married to the cartoonist from 2006 to 2014, told TMZ that Adams had begun receiving "end-of-life care" at his home last week. Miles said that she, her sister and Adams' stepdaughter Savannah, along with nurses, have been caring for him.

Trump’s property developer persona must salivate at getting the hugest property deal ever. The mini-continent of Greenland is likely worth many trillions of dollars in natural resources and development potential. Cagey negotiator Trump speaks of buying Greenland from Denmark for a few billion dollars, a typical, low-ball opening bid. Trump knows the USA is by far the best custodian for Greenland. And, its acquisition would address our serious security concerns about Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic. The European Union and NATO want to leverage Denmark’s current colonial “ownership” of Greenland into a European asset. We can evaluate a...

CHRISTMAS BIBLE-ART EPISODE #31 of 33 JESUS GROWS INTO ADULTHOOD M A T T H E W CHAPTER 2 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was...

The Supreme Court has just now started oral arguments in the transgender case.Little v Hecox.Issue: Whether laws that seek to protect women's and girls' sports by limiting participation to women and girls based on sex violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. You can listen to the arguments here:Supreme Court audioSCOTUSblog is livestreaming it at their website. SCOTUS oral argument scotusblog.com

The Trump administration is ending Temporary Protected Status for Somalians in the United States. TPS allows individuals from a country where war or other forms of unrest are taking place to remain in the United States when they would not be eligible to be admitted through other immigration programs. The Department of Homeland Security said TPS for the group ends March 17. “Temporary means temporary,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said, according to Fox News. “Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status.” Fox noted that Somalis have...

The Florida 2025 black bear hunt has been a flop as an attempt to manage the bear population in Florida. It may have been successful as a trial run on how to manage a bear hunt. Only 52 bears were harvested. To keep a stable population, at least 600 bears should have been harvested, probably 1500. About 15 % of a black bear population needs to be harvested to keep a stable population. From myfwc.com: There were 52 bears harvested during the 2025 bear hunt, which is a hunter success rate very close to other states with similar hunt parameters....

The European Union should raise a continental army of 100,000 soldiers and create a “European Security Council” because the “Pax Americana” is over and it would build “European Independence”, a top commissioner has said.The European Union wants to create a parallel defence structure replicating many of the roles presently carried by the NATO alliance, so said the bloc’s Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius at a Swiss military conference. While focussing on the Ukraine war and the perceived threat of Russia, the Commissioner also listed other threats or geopolitical changes that he said made it “even more clear that we need to...

Lately, I’ve been noticing behavior from adults that would’ve been considered unusual — or even unacceptable — not that long ago. This video isn’t about politics, sides, or beliefs. It’s about behavior, accountability, and how adults are responding to stress, conflict, and frustration in public spaces. Public outbursts, emotional escalation, lack of self-control, and performative behavior used to be rare. Now, they’re becoming common — and that should concern all of us. This isn’t a judgment. It’s an observation. And it raises an important question: When did this become normal?

(Kitco News) - Gold prices are modestly down and silver prices modestly up in early U.S. trading Tuesday, just ahead of a key U.S. inflation report. Risk aversion remains elevated in the marketplace amid an active geopolitical environment. February gold was last down $25.80 at $4,589.10. March silver prices were up $0.474 at $85.58.

Mattel is expanding its push for inclusion with the launch of its first autistic Barbie, developed in partnership with autism advocates to reflect how some people on the spectrum experience the world. Mattel spent more than 18 months developing the autistic Barbie in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), a nonprofit that works to advance the rights and media representation of autistic people. The aim, the company said, was to design a doll that reflects some of the ways autistic individuals experience and navigate the world around them. The doll includes articulated elbows and wrists to allow for...

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (KCTV) - Prosecutors charged a 20-year-old man with killing a Kansas City woman while driving drunk in Independence. Jackson County, Missouri, Circuit Court records filed on Tuesday, Dec. 30, revealed that Mason R. McIntyre faces one count of DWI causing death and two counts of second-degree assault. Court documents show that McIntyre’s blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit. The charges stem from a Saturday night crash that killed 36-year-old Jennifer Jensen and critically injured 2 others.

A suspect was arrested in connection with the deadly assault of a man in Buena Park. Buena Park police identified the suspect as Barney Lee, 57. On Dec. 29, police responded to reports of an injured man near La Palma Avenue and Western Avenue near Knott’s Berry Farm around 9:40 p.m. Officers found the victim, Elton Harrell, 29, lying on the ground with injuries. He was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Fox News host Mark Levin delves into who historically has had the power to declare war in accordance with the Constitution on 'Life, Liberty & Levin.' Explains the distinction between "making war" and "declaring war," "power of the purse" and other basic constitutional principles, concerning which a host of so-called "experts" are studiously ignorant. Expounds on the substance of the Constitutional Convention, the debates and different factions, which resulted in the text of the Constition as it now is. Transcript linked below video.

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) has published its second “State of the Chief Diversity Officer” (CDO) report. Following up on the 2023 survey, the 2025 study shares some interesting findings. Have efforts to rid higher education of DEI’s influence been, from NADOHE’s members’ perspective, a decidedly undesirable success? The report received responses from 394 CDOs and academic diversity officers (ADOs) and asked how these roles had changed either positively or negatively since 2023. Although one might expect such a study to illustrate that DEI is in danger on higher-ed campuses, the findings don’t convincingly indicate...

Do you think that the U.S. federal government might be a good place to seek reasonable guidance on matters involving science? If so, I question your sanity. In recent years the part of the federal enterprise masquerading as “science” has suffered one debacle after another resulting from acceptance and promotion of pseudoscience, examples being Covid lockdowns and school closures, let alone the entire catastrophic climate change fiasco. Do you remember the CDC ordering (on no authority) a nationwide eviction moratorium (until struck down by the Supreme Court)? And of course, the acceptance of pseudoscience by a federal bureaucracy is somehow...

The Trump administration is ending temporary protection status (TPS) for Somalia, affecting several thousand Somalis currently living in the U.S. and several hundred currently living in Minnesota under the protection. Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17. Sources at USCIS told Fox News Digital that there are 2,471 Somali nationals currently in the U.S. under TPS, with 1,383 in the country with pending TPS applications. Fox News Digital learned that an estimated 600 Somali nationals who are protected by TPS live in Minnesota.

Those who ventured forth to tame the American wilderness were among the best of our ancestors. In contrast, the Third World often does not send its best as it exploits immigration anarchy to colonize the USA back into savagery. Law & Crime presents an example: A New Jersey man was arrested days after an 8-year-old girl suffered a fractured skull when a rock hit the school bus she was riding in. The “New Jersey man” is named Hernando Garciamorales. He threw a rock the size of a baseball through the window of a bus carrying third-graders on a field trip....

"I am outraged to hear a New York City Council employee was detained in Nassau County by federal immigration officials at a routine immigration appointment," Mamdani fumed. "This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values. I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation."