Free Republic

Republicans are on the defensive as Democrats have successfully made the shutdown fight about health care. Most Republicans said they don’t want to see insurance premiums spike, but neither are they willing to openly support the extension of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits Democrats are asking for. While the GOP has remained united in refusing to even entertain the idea of an extension in the context of ending the shutdown, Republicans don’t appear to have an alternate plan for what happens next. “We’re open to a lot of different things. And the president wants to make health...

As a former state commander of a major Veterans Service Organization, I know firsthand how difficult it is to obtain service records from the National Archives. That's why, when I learned that a political operative tied to Jack Ciattarelli - the Trump-endorsed Republican running for governor in New Jersey - was handed the unredacted service records of his Ciattarelli's opponent, Democrat Mikie Sherrill, my B.S. meter went off at full siren. This was a movie I had seen before. As a college student, I had the honor of chauffeuring former Senator Max Cleland around New Jersey and New York. Cleland,...

The left doesn’t really care about Kimmel or free speech, it’s just about exploiting a convenient storyline to keep their narrative of Trump-is-authoritarian alive.ABC News pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air on Wednesday. Not for being painfully unfunny, and not even for having an opinion. No, Kimmel got yanked because he flat-out lied and claimed: “the MAGA gang desperately [is] trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”It was a pure lie. Following widespread criticism, Nextstar Media Group said its ABC...

A Fox News presenter suggested during a live segment that people struggling with homelessness and mental health issues should be executed. Brian Kilmeade made the comments on the network's flagship talk show Fox and Friends on Wednesday alongside co-hosts Lawrence Jones and Ainsley Earhardt. The trio had been discussing the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska who was killed while on a bus when Kilmeade made the now heavily criticized remark. Jones suggested that people not taking up programs to help those battling mental health and homelessness should be locked up, when Kilmeade went nuclear. 'Or involuntary lethal or something,...

The numbers show Democrats have an image problem, amid record-low approval ratings and a growing voter registration gap. To reverse that trend, some Democrats are working to build a message they say can win over more Americans. Democrats suffered heavy losses in the 2024 elections, both nationally and in battleground states. Last year more new voters registered Republican than Democrat for the first time since 2018, according to data from business intelligence firm L2. “Democrats have to reestablish trust with voters and win a whole bunch of folks back,” said Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio. Landsman hopes to lead the charge...

In a move that’s sending shockwaves through the American media landscape, Fox News personalities Jeanine Pirro and Tyrus have fired a warning shot at the country’s legacy networks—CBS, NBC, and ABC—declaring an all-out “war” that’s as much about influence as it is about ratings. The campaign, fueled by a staggering $2 billion war chest, isn’t merely a battle for viewers; it’s a fight for the soul of American discourse as the nation barrels toward the 2025 election. The War Begins: Fox News Goes Nuclear The drama unfolded in a series of televised segments and behind-the-scenes strategy sessions that quickly leaked...

Summary ICE officers face burnout, frustration amid Trump's aggressive enforcement Public outrage grows over ICE's arrest tactics ICE launches recruitment drive to hire 10,000 officers WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Under President Donald Trump, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has become the driving force of his sweeping crackdown on migrants, bolstered by record funding and new latitude to conduct raids, but staff are contending with long hours and growing public outrage over the arrests. Those internal pressures are taking a toll. Two current and nine former ICE officials told Reuters the agency is grappling with burnout and frustration among...

Democratic friends, let’s try a thought experiment. Imagine you woke up one morning and all your media sources were produced by Christian nationalists. You sent your kids off to school and the teachers were espousing some version of Christian nationalism. You turned on your sports network and your late-night comedy, and everyone was preaching Christian nationalism.That’s a bit how it feels to be more conservative in the West today — to feel drenched by a constant downpour of progressive sermonizing. What would you do in such circumstances? Well, at least at first, you’d probably grit your teeth and take it...

... In 2022, after eight years of intermittent fighting in Ukraine’s east, Russia initiated a full-scale invasion, with the aim of reducing a rump Ukraine to a satrapy. Putin has given no indication of renouncing that ambition or of abandoning his broader goal of restoring Moscow’s sway over much of the former Soviet or tsarist empires, including the Baltic states and other nations to Russia’s west. Any “deal” between Trump and Putin (and the U.S. president, who has more recently referred to a “feel-out” meeting, is clearly downgrading expectations) will, given the Kremlin’s longer-term objectives, never be enough. The best...

‘How many people do you employ this month?” might sound like the kind of question an employer can easily answer, but it’s not. Especially for large businesses, the exact number of employees in a given month is hard to pin down. The media report layoffs and hires in round numbers, but for calculating total employment in the country, it really matters whether “500” means 478 or 523, because those discrepancies multiplied across millions of businesses make a huge difference. Within government, Donald Trump’s appointee as BLS commissioner, William Beach, has been a leader in calling for modernizing the surveys that...

When Elon Musk sued Media Matters in 2023, the law firm of Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias swooped in to represent the liberal media group. It made little headway against the lawsuit before submitting millions of dollars in legal bills, prompting Media Matters officials to lash out at the firm as they faced financial ruin, according to a new report. According to the New York Times, Elias Law Group originally represented Media Matters against Musk’s lawsuit, which accused the group of manipulating X posts to falsely link the social media platform to white nationalists and anti-Semites, part of what Musk alleged...

Some people may call it the chickens coming home to roost. Media Matters for America (MMfA), a George Soros-funded left-wing censorship group, reportedly may be on the verge of collapse. The organization is reeling after a series of lawsuits and government investigations, which are straining its already frazzled finances. (MMfA raised $19 million in 2023 — and somehow spent $20 million.) But here’s what some may consider poetic justice: The group essentially claims the government is now doing the Right’s bidding in an effort to destroy it.This is the same group, a 2012 report held, that was previously coordinating with...

"The Late Show" wasn't just a platform for Democrats under Stephen Colbert's tenure, it was also one for left-wing journalists and hosts. Fox News Digital has counted at least 200 episodes of "The Late Show" that featured members of the liberal media. The far-left politics of "The Late Show" have been facing scrutiny after CBS announced last week that it was pulling the plug on Colbert's program, which will officially wrap up in May 2026. According to IMDB search results, CNN anchor and "60 Minutes" correspondent Anderson Cooper holds the record with 20 formal guest appearances on "The Late Show."...

Billionaire In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder stirred up a storm of online controversy over the weekend when she revealed that she planned to move her family out of California to Tennessee. The news comes as In-N-Out begins to expand heavily into the South, launching a new joint headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville — where Snyder will also now be based. Snyder revealed the coming move on a recent podcast appearance, saying, “There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here.” The clip, from a new episode of...

Everybody was shocked — shocked! — when Stephen Colbert announced this week that CBS canceled “The Late Show.” The despondent media reacted like a meteor was about to smash into Earth. But how surprising was Colbert’s kibosh really? Did peoples’ jaws also hit the floor when Blockbuster Video called it quits in 2014? Were they muffling their screams when blimps were phased out for air travel in 1937? “What do you mean ‘no more silent films’?!” The end of “The Late Show” was every bit as writ-in-stone as any of those predictable downfalls. And it’s not only Colbert. The Grim...

"CBS has announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, bringing the show’s historic run—and the Late Show franchise itself—to a close."Colbert addressed the show’s cancellation himself while taping tonight’s show."

It takes the undeveloped ego of a toddler to pout this long. But if Elmo on Sesame Street can learn how to share, surely these three can too. For all its concern about a peaceful transfer of power, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are probably not planning a story about the three board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) who have refused to leave the board after Trump removed them in April.Not so long ago — in 2020 and 2021 — PBS and NPR were spreading propaganda that President Donald Trump was going...

Trump has largely shut down the southwest border by ending asylum programs and deploying troops. But those moves have shrunk the pool of easy-to-deport migrants.TIJUANA, Mexico — When President Donald Trump pledged to launch the “largest deportation operation in American history,” this border city swung into action. The local government declared a state of emergency. Federal authorities built a shelter for up to 2,600 deportees, complete with beds, showers and white-coated chefs. It was, one local official said, the “zombie apocalypse scenario.” But five months after Trump took office, the shelter is nearly empty. So few deportees have arrived —...

The mainstream media tried to destroy Trump—but in the end, they destroyed themselves. This is the story of anchors who lost their minds, reporters who lost their careers, and a media machine that couldn’t handle President Trump.

The California Democratic Party is reportedly seeking to address concerns regarding the electability of California politicians following former Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat in the 2024 presidential election. Delegates have gathered to induct new members and prepare for upcoming elections. Harris addressed the group through a pre-recorded video message, and Gov. Gavin Newsom was absent. Supporters consider Harris essential to advancing key Democratic priorities, including labor rights and women’s healthcare. However, some Democrats expressed concern about her ability to connect with working-class voters. Delegate Jane Baulch-Enloe said, “I don’t know if a California Democrat can win a presidential election. California...