Free Republic

The biggest story of 2025, to judge from the number of people who sent it to me, was this raccoon: In case you somehow missed this story: In late November, this raccoon got into a state liquor store in Ashland, Va., by falling though the ceiling. Once inside, the raccoon ransacked the store, leaving a trail of broken bottles... ...and apparently consuming a large quantity of booze before passing out in the bathroom next to the toilet. That’s where the raccoon was found by a store employee, who called an animal-control officer, who took it to an animal shelter. When...

Keith Ellison, Minnesota’s Attorney General, can clearly be heard pledging his support to individuals who would soon become his family’s campaign donors and later Feeding Our Future criminal defendants. His recorded statements flatly contradict his contemporaneous public statements and raise uncomfortable questions about the intersection between political fundraising and constituent services. American Experiment has exclusively obtained the complete 54-minute, 44-second audio file of a private December 2021 meeting between state Attorney General (AG) Keith Ellison and key figures in the Feeding Our Future scandal. As I wrote last week, the audio file was named as Exhibit 710 on the evidence...

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s swearing in ceremonies on Thursday will combine leftism and Islam, as the 34-year-old is set to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor when he places his hand on the Quran and is given the oath of office by Senator Bernie Sanders. Mamdani will use three different Qurans in both of his swearing-in ceremonies on January 1, The New York Times reported. For his first ceremony at midnight on Thursday, Mamdani will place his hand on his grandfather’s Quran as well as a Quran that belonged to black history activist Arturo Schomburg, according to the Times....

Mark Block uncovered unauthorized ActBlue donations made in his name. The alias “Bernie Kane” was used to spoof conservative donors. Smurfing breaks large donations into small ones to avoid detection. ActBlue does not require ID verification for small-dollar donors. Watchdogs warn these loopholes could distort real campaign momentum. In 2023, Republican strategist Mark Block was surprised to receive a phone call alleging he had donated to Bernie Sanders. He initially dismissed it as an error but then saw proof. Small-dollar donations had been processed through ActBlue using his name and address, despite the fact that he had never contributed.

Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are advocating for a bill that would stop President Trump from replacing immigration judges with what the senators call “inexperienced attorneys.”The bill is led by Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and co-sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) alongside Senators Wyden and Merkley.

Maine's Graham Platner is hardly the most extreme Democrat candidate running for office. Graham Platner, the oyster farmer running for the U.S. Senate in Maine, was exposed last month for making a number of damning comments on social media — including posts where he apparently identified as a communist, branded rural white Americans as racists, suggested that service members worried about being raped should buy "Kevlar underwear," and smeared all police officers as "bastards." Although he has since covered it up, Platner was also outed for having a tattoo of a skull image similar to that popularized by Adolf Hitler's...

On Friday's episode of HBO's "Real Time," host Bill Maher called out Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders, pointing to "collapsed" Democratic Socialist policies as evidence that socialism doesn't work. "Democrats should recognize the party moved too far left on social issues after Obama left office. Gosh, if only someone had been saying that all along. But, you know, welcome home," Maher said in his monologue at the end of the program. "Radical economic policy is always ineluctably married to radical social policy," Maher said. "Their platform, for example, calls for completely open borders. They're for what Biden was doing,...

Line forms to the left, ladies. Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is back on the market after an alleged affair with an out-of-state elected official put the brakes on his 10-month relationship with progressive activist Nomiki Konst, two sources tell The Post. The couple went public with their courtship in February with de Blasio, 64, saying at the time he and Konst, 41, were “kindred souls” who had known each other for a long time. But 10 months later and the erstwhile happy couple is no more, with sources saying the former “The Young Turks” investigative reporter and Bernie...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., joined NBC News’ Hallie Jackson and Kristen Welker to discuss the run for mayor in New York City. Sanders said a lot of Zohran Mamdani’s ideas are “not radical” but called the income and wealth inequality in the U.S. “radical.”

Sanders-backed Democrat who accuses Israel of 'genocide' has Nazi 'Totenkopf'. Graham Platner, a military veteran and Maine Senate candidate, faces backlash after revealing a Nazi tattoo and denying knowledge of its meaning. Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner sports a Totenkopf tattoo on his chest, in an archival video released by Platner himself. The skull-and-crossbones symbol is commonly associated with the Nazi SS. Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner sports a Totenkopf tattoo on his chest, in an archival video released by Platner himself. The skull-and-crossbones symbol is commonly associated with the Nazi SS. (photo credit: screenshot/via YouTube) By Andrew...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., didn't exactly have praise for President Donald Trump on Monday during an interview on "The Daily Show," but he did appear to say he had a better sense of America's situation than the Democratic Party. Stewart went on to commend his guest's "consistent" messaging, claiming that the "true inheritor of the Sanders revolution is Trump," while adding Trump was the "most socialist president" of his lifetime. lifetime. "Taking a percentage of companies to do business, that's a Bernie Sanders idea. Doing a Trump Rx where the government is involved in selling pharmaceuticals, that's a Bernie Sanders...

The Democrats have named their price to end the government shutdown — an additional $350 billion for health care over the next decade. Critics say a big chunk of that money may go to ghosts. At issue are the generous subsidies the Biden administration created for Affordable Care Act policies, sweeteners that are slated to expire in December. Making health care essentially free for millions of Americans, those policies have sent enrollment in Obamacare plans skyrocketing. But a recent study found they have also sparked a curious phenomenon: an estimated 12 million enrollees “without a single claim — no doctor...

Networks are planning coverage of the nationwide No Kings protests on Saturday, the second round of demonstrations against President Donald Trump‘s actions in the White House. Thousands of events are being planned across the country, but there will be a few differences from the last day of demonstration in June. This time, it is taking place amid a government shutdown, with few signs that it will end soon. And there is an official event being planned in Washington, D.C. at Pennsylvania Ave. and Third Street NW near the National Mall and the Capitol. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Chris...

The Vermont senator, who has called for a ceasefire for the past two years, also used the moment to call for an end to the US-Israel allianceSen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) welcomed Israel's release of some 2,000 Palestinian murderers, rapists, and terrorists, adding that Monday's exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners presents an opportunity for the United States to end its military alliance with the Jewish state. Sanders, who spent the past two years pressuring Israel to accept a ceasefire deal, said he is encouraged by "the long-overdue release" of Israel's 20 living hostages alongside "the freeing of almost...

Progressive New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is eyeing a run for president in 2028, according to a report Friday. The socialist “Squad” member is gearing up to seek higher office as she’s attempted to grow her presence across the country and the Empire State, people familiar with her operation told Axios in a Friday report.

Progressive New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is eyeing a run for president in 2028, according to a report Friday. The socialist “Squad” member is positioning herself to seek higher office as she’s attempted to grow her presence across the country and Empire State, people familiar with her operation told Axios in a Friday report. Ocasio-Cortez and her team are deciding on whether to run for the White House or the Senate, sources told the outlet. The New York lefty has joined Sen. Bernie Sanders – a former presidential candidate – on his national “Fighting Oligarchy” tour while she’s also held...

FBi investigating shooting at conservative lobbying group. A gunman opened fire on a security guard at the Washington D.C., headquarters of a conservative Christian organization only to be tackled and subdued by the guard whom he had just shot in the arm, authorities said. The suspect, identified by law enforcement sources as Floyd Corkins of Herndon, Va., is alleged to have entered the offices of The Family Research Council and yelled at the guard about the organization's policies. The shooter soon fired a handgun at the guard at around 10:50 a.m. ET. Corkins, who himself was not shot, was...

After burying multiple Democratic Senators intent on trying to destroy his political career, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got his chance to dunk on arguably the most notorious Senators in America. As expected, he did not disappoint. As NBC News reported, Kennedy appeared before the Senate Finance Committee to answer questions. This comes one week after Kennedy pushed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, Susan Monarez, to resign. The White House fired her when she refused, and three top CDC officials then resigned in protest. The hearing got testy in a hurry after far-left, Big Pharma hack...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pressuring Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign after this week’s tumult at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that saw top officials depart after the agency director was ousted. Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that he agrees with President Trump and Kennedy on making the public “healthy again,” but warned that the problem is that “since coming into office President Trump and Mr. Kennedy have done exactly the opposite.” “Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community,...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was asked on Sunday whether he is considering running for president again in 2028, but pointed to the fact he will soon turn 84 years old. During an interview with CNN, Sanders was asked “Is there another presidential run in you?” to which he replied, “Let’s not worry about that,” according to Fox News. He then said he will be 84 in September and he felt “that speaks for itself.” Sanders said he wants to see “the most progressive candidate that we can have” but what he thought was more important than him running for the...