Free Republic

Core U.S. consumer prices rose less than predicted in December, reinforcing hopes that inflation is tempering as the Federal Reserve contemplates its next move on interest rates. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the consumer price index showed a seasonally adjusted 0.2% gain on a monthly basis and 2.6% annually, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday. Both were 0.1 percentage point below expectations. Though they look at both measures, Fed officials consider core inflation a better long-run gauge of where inflation is heading. On a headline basis, the CPI posted an increase of 0.3% for the month, putting the...

SNIP While many European leaders are still hoping they might be able to talk things out, discussions have essentially been futile so far. Europe has been hesitant to retaliate against the United States, in part because it relies on America for military technologies and support for NATO. But Brando Benifei, a member of the European Parliament and the chair of its delegation for U.S. relations, said that calculus may be shifting, in part because popular opinion in Europe has turned more critical of the U.S. “A lot of people are saying that we are clearly over a red line,” he...

U.S. senators have left town for a week-long recess, leaving themselves only five days to pass the six remaining federal government funding bills. Four of those massive bills, which are also the thorniest, have not even passed the lower chamber, though House leaders hope to advance them in a package next week while the Senate is off. If Congress fails to meet the deadline – which many, including the National Governors Association, anticipate – they face a partial government shutdown. In that instance, the only way lawmakers could prevent a shutdown would be by punting the deadline via a Continuing...

Mayor Mamdani’s new chief equity officer disparaged liberal white women in numerous posts on an X account deleted shortly before her appointment — and just as another aide landed in hot water for her radical screeds, The Post has learned. The city’s new equity officer, Afua Atta-Mensah liberally sprinkled the phrase “comrade” throughout her posts and retweeting statements such as, “there’s NO moderate way to black liberation.”Mamdani — in appointing Atta-Mensah to the top city position designed to promote inclusion — said, “There is no one I trust more to advance racial equity across our work in City Hall.”Atta-Mensah’s disturbing...

Join together with Fellow FREEPERS to Pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.'I Urge, then, First of All, that Requests, Prayers, Intercession and Thanksgiving be Made for Everyone: for Kings and All those in Authority that we May Live Peaceful and Quiet Lives in All Godliness and Holiness.' 1 Timothy 2:1-2Religion Forum Threads Labeled [Prayer] are Closed to Debate of Any Kind.1Peter 5:11To Him be Glory and Dominion Forever and Ever, amen.

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces. Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! ~ Hall of Heroes ~ Harold O. Messerschmidt Info from here. Harold O. Messerschmidt (1923 September 17, 1944) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II. Messerschmidt joined the Army from Chester, Pennsylvania in May 1943, and by September 17, 1944 was serving as a Sergeant in Company L, 30th Infantry...

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — A small part of Florida is the Snowy State for the second year in a row.Snow briefly covered the grass and rooftops in parts of the western Florida Panhandle on Sunday morning as just enough frigid air rushed in behind a cold front to turn the last rain showers into snowflakes in the Sunshine State.Elsewhere, the winter weather promised to interfere with playoff football in places — Boston and Chicago — more accustomed to it, although the visiting teams come from warmer climes. And in the upper Midwest, residents braced for blizzard conditions.The southern snow wasn’t...

The prime minister will take to the Downing Street lectern this morning, after another extraordinary weekend of diplomatic turmoil prompted by US President Donald Trump. Sir Keir Starmer knows that people and businesses in the UK will expect him to respond, in front of the cameras, to the prospect of the UK and European allies being hammered by more US tariffs. It is the latest twist in the row over Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory Trump wants to get his hands on. Trump has said he will impose new taxes on eight US allies - Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the...

Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) – The collective wealth of the planet's billionaires soared to a record level in 2025, charity Oxfam reported Monday, warning of "highly dangerous" political consequences as the global elite gathers for the World Economic Forum. US President Donald Trump's policies in particular spurred the fortunes of the ultra-rich, which jumped 16.2 percent in the first year of his second term to $18.3 trillion, the NGO said in a report released each year ahead of the Davos forum. "Actions of the Trump presidency including the championing of deregulation and undermining agreements to increase corporate taxation have benefited the...

The Nobel Foundation, the group responsible for administrating the various Nobel prizes, on Sunday issued a clarification around the rules for handing out the prizes after Venezuela‘s opposition leader María Corina Machado offered her peace prize to President Donald Trump, which he accepted. “The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations,” the foundation wrote in a statement posted to X on Sunday. “It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who ‘have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,’ and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize.” “A prize can therefore not, even symbolically,...

Former Vice President Kamala Harris was met with mockery after she accepted the key to the city of Jackson, Mississippi, where the mayor also declared last Wednesday “Kamala Harris Day,” in honor of her many “accomplishments.” The former Democratic presidential candidate, who is rumored to be mulling a second try at the Oval Office, was in the Magnolia State as part of a mammoth book tour promoting her memoir, “107 Days,” when she was honored by Jackson’s Mayor John Horhn (D). “Kamala, you don’t know what you mean to Jackson, Mississippi. You don’t know what you mean to Mississippi. You...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has awarded a nearly $1.7 billion contract to construct vital border barriers and advanced “smart wall” technology in New Mexico’s remote Bootheel region. Announced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on January 6, 2026, the $1,679,170,000 award went to Fisher Sand and Gravel Co. (parent of Fisher Industries) for 49 miles of primary border wall and 60 miles of secondary barriers in Hidalgo County, between Border Monuments 1 and 49. The project includes patrol roads, cameras, sensors, and detection systems—creating a layered, high-tech deterrent against illegal crossings, drug trafficking, and threats to national security.

BERLIN (AP) — The eight European countries targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump for a 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland blasted the move Sunday, warning that his threats “undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral.”The joint statement by some of America’s closest allies signaled a possible turning point in the recent tensions over sovereignty and security nearly 24 hours after Trump’s threat.It was also the most forceful rebuke of Trump from the European allies since he returned to the White House almost a year ago. In recent months, Europeans have mostly opted for diplomacy and...

4,000 churches closed in 2024, while only 3,800 were started, Lifeway Research reports. More Protestant churches are being closed in America than are being planted, and older congregations appear to be bearing the brunt of the contraction, according to data from a new Lifeway Research study.The study published Tuesday used data collected from 35 denominational groups that represent 58% of U.S. Protestant churches. The Tennessee-based research arm of Lifeway Christian Resources also cited information from the Annual Church Profile for 2023 and 2024 of the Southern Baptist Convention — America’s largest Protestant denomination.While 4,000 Protestant churches were closed in 2024,...

After talks between the Greenland and Denmark foreign ministers and U.S. officials on Wednesday yielded no results, President Donald Trump was met with questions as to what his next steps might be. Talking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump—who continues to ramp up pressure on Greenland in his desire to annex the territory—refused to rule out the option of leaving NATO. “Greenland is very important for the national security,” said Trump, doubling down on his argument about the 0Kingdom of Denmark territory. He went on to say the U.S. “cannot rely on Denmark” to protect Greenland from Russian and...

As America enters an era that will seemingly be dominated by artificial intelligence (AI), many question the value of a college education. John Adams College (JAC), a recently founded liberal-arts institution in Provo, Utah, answers the value question by specializing in teaching uniquely human qualities. JAC, formerly Mount Liberty College, was founded in 2019 by professors who were discontented with the college status quo. Tired of college being treated as mere career training, they built a new institution from scratch, dedicated to “preparing men and women to enter the world defending liberty, standing in humility, and upholding virtue.” JAC offers...

[Catholic Caucus] Consistory Done Like Middle School - Leo XIV Is ResponsibleJournalists Raymond Arroyo and Robert Royal, and canon lawyer and priest Gerald Murray of New York talked on January 16 about the consistory of January 7-8. A short sequence, video below.Robert Royal commenting on Cardinal Grech’s contribution on synod:I think you hear that and you say, what in God’s name can that possibly mean? This is the gobbledygook we’ve been listening to for years about synodality and all this confusion. I mean, one of the things I’ve heard from sources is that many of these cardinals have said, "Look,...

The Trump administration is discussing the possibility of offering asylum to Britain’s Jews, The Telegraph can reveal.Robert Garson, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, said he had been in talks with the State Department about providing sanctuary for Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in the UK.Mr Garson, who was born in Manchester, told The Telegraph that the UK was “no longer a safe place for Jews”.He said the Islamist attack on a Manchester synagogue and the widespread anti-Semitism evident in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel had led him to conclude British Jews should be offered refuge in the US.In...

President Donald Trump said Saturday he plans to sue JPMorgan Chase, accusing the banking giant of improperly cutting off his accounts in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump made the allegation in a lengthy post on Truth Social, where he also denied a report that claimed he had offered JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon the job of Federal Reserve chair. Trump also pushed back on suggestions he had considered Dimon for Treasury secretary, saying he already has Scott Bessent in the role. "The problem is, I have Scott Bessent doing a fantastic job, A SUPERSTAR — Why...

Consider the hapless man. He’s uncertain, ineffectual, star-crossed. Nothing ever seems to work out for him; he can’t confidently take action to face a crisis. You’d think he would make for a dull story. And yet there he was last year, serving, improbably, as the protagonist in several notable films. Instead of prestige movie heroes like J. Robert Oppenheimer, we had the unlucky lead who bumbles forward as if confounded by the plot unfolding around him. He’s a man of action, sometimes, but not much sense. He turns to exactly the wrong person for help with an important task. He...