Free Republic

A quiet western Massachusetts town is being torn apart by a proposed 50% property tax hike — with neighbors stealing yard signs from one another and some residents warning they could be forced to sell their homes. Residents of South Hadley, Mass., head to the polls Tuesday to vote on proposals to close the local budget gap. One would raise $11 million for the town and hike average property tax bills by about $1,700 per year, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The more modest proposal would generate a cool $9 million, increasing average property tax bills by roughly $1,400....

California politicians are trying to repeal Prop 13! Help us defeat costly their costly and unfair tax and utility hikes and pass the California Taxpayer Protection Initiative! California’s working families are already struggling with a high cost of living and state and local politicians are making it worse by constantly trying to raise taxes and spike our utility rates. California politicians are specifically trying to repeal Prop 13 — along with a blizzard of other tax hike proposals. That’s why Carl DeMaio and Reform California are helping to lead the campaign to block any more tax hikes and pass a...

The U.S. intelligence watchdog developed derogatory evidence about the CIA analyst who prompted the 2019 Ukraine-focused impeachment against Donald Trump, including that he submitted false information in his whistleblower complaint, offered hearsay to support his allegations and had the "potential for bias," according to newly declassified memos that were kept from Americans during the failed bid by Democrats to remove the president from office six years ago. The documents declassified by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the request of Just the News provide a starkly different portrait of the alleged whistleblower whose name and face were never shown...

As is so often the case, the greatest threat to any institution comes from within. Currently, a Groyper movement—that is, a movement built on mindless isolationism, hardcore antisemitism, coy pro-Naziism and Islamism, huge pockets of misogyny, and a barely hidden dislike for America—is trying to co-opt MAGA and the Republican Party. Its leaders are podcast hosts Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones, all of whom once claimed to be straight-talking conservatives. Now, they just engage in crazy talk. Trump tried to ignore them, but he seems to have realized that the GOP risks going down the same...

“I am sick of serving in Congress with immoral freaks who abuse their office and bring dishonor to the institution.” —Rep Anna Paulina Luna You have entered the season of chaos. Better get used to it. The center quit holding a long time ago, and now even the margins are quivering. Buckle up and batten down. It will probably get rougher and weirder. Struggle is everywhere. Will Iran reopen Hormuz or not? They really only have days to stop playing games with the rest of the world. It will soon be clear whether they can negotiate in good faith. It...

House Bill 1471 allows the Chief of Domestic Security at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to make a foreign or domestic terrorist designation if certain conditions are met. The designation is contingent upon approval of the governor and Cabinet. “To uphold the rule of law, our state must operate under one legal system, the Constitution must remain the law of the land, and we must defend our institutions from those who would harm us – especially terrorist organizations that seek to infiltrate and subvert our education system,” said second-term Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. “HB1471 reinforces these principles in Florida.”...

An immigration appeals board has denied Mahmoud Khalil’s latest bid to dismiss his deportation case, a largely expected ruling that brings the former Columbia University graduate student and Palestinian activist one step closer to re-arrest and possible expulsion. The Board of Immigration Appeals issued the final order of removal on Thursday, according to Khalil’s lawyers. The board’s rulings are not public, and an inquiry to the US Department of Justice was not immediately returned. Khalil said he was not surprised by the ruling, which he called “biased and politically motivated.”

Rob Undersander is a millionaire. He also received taxpayer-funded food stamps. His story illustrates an absurd – and intentional – loophole in America’s welfare system that taxpayers need closed immediately. Rob applied for food stamps in 2016. A Minnesota resident, he clearly exceeded the program’s asset limits. But in the application process, he was deemed eligible to receive a brochure on domestic violence services, which under state policy allowed him to receive food stamps. Three weeks later, his first food-stamp benefits arrived in the mail. The taxpayer cash arrived like clockwork for the next 19 months, ultimately amounting to more...

BOSTON, April 8 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday halted a move by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to end legal protections granted to over 5,000 Ethiopians that have allowed them to live and work in the United States. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston marked the latest legal setback for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's efforts to terminate the Temporary Protected Status designation for 13 countries in furtherance of Trump's hardline immigration agenda. TPS under federal law is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary...

The Left and some on the Right went crazy over a recent Trump tweet. He warned that if the Iranian regime did not cease blocking the international Strait of Hormuz, he would hit its dual military-civilian infrastructure. He promised that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” His wording may have been sloppy, but Trump obviously meant that the murderous civilization/culture of radical Iranian theocratic Islam would cease to exist and wouldn’t come back once power plants and transportation systems crucial to the regime’s survival were cut off. Why do we know that? Because, unlike...

National Association for Gun Rights warns the move could derail momentum toward a U.S. Supreme Court challenge to “Assault Weapons” Bans and magazine bans nationwide. A growing controversy is unfolding after the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, signed onto a Department of Justice brief seeking to revisit a major pro-Second Amendment ruling from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. The case, Benson v. United States, recently resulted in a three-judge panel striking down Washington, D.C.’s magazine ban, marking a significant legal victory for gun owners and a potential stepping stone toward broader challenges to “Assault...

No shortage of surprises around here. President Donald Trump, less than half a day after announcing his intention to destroy “a whole civilization” if the Iranians didn’t reopen the Hormuz, declared via Truth Social that the Pakistanis had brokered a two-week ceasefire on the premise that the Iranian 10-point framework is a “workable basis” for a peace deal. This is a bit of a headscratcher to everyone who has actually seen the Iranian framework, which, among other things, asserts the Islamic Republic’s right to uranium enrichment, institutionalizes an Iranian-Omani toll system in the Hormuz, and demands immediate sanctions relief. The...

TODAY'S NEWS, April 7-8, 2026 Writer: Larry Schweikart Larry Schweikart HEADLINES: Republicans continue to mostly stay ahead of Ds in registrations; Trump has slashed the Deep State numbers; Grade inflation hurts everyone. The News of Today is the History of Tomorrow PROGRAM NOTE: I will be gone on Friday, but will return on Monday. IN POLITICAL NEWS 1) As you know, I put little stock in any polls, but here you go: President Trump is at 51%-47% approval, up four points from last. And here is Ras, at 49 Here are are some voter registration updates to go along with...

Iran “begged” for a ceasefire agreement, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced during a press conference Wednesday morning, claiming total victory for the United States and noting that President Donald Trump “forged this moment.”Speaking of the eleventh-hour ceasefire following Trump’s threat to end an entire civilization, Hegseth pointed to the broader picture, reminding Americans that Iran has a history of “targeting our people, killing Americans, [and] lying and blackmailing their way toward a nuclear weapon.”“So they thought. No longer. Not on our watch,” Hegseth said, explaining that other presidents have kicked the can down the road. However, he said, Trump...

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s remarks about customs at sanctuary cities’ international airports have sparked concern on social media. “If they’re a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?” Mullin said in part during an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on Monday.

Iranian American Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) on Monday said she is calling for the 25th Amendment and is introducing articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth due to the war in Iran. Ansari’s move comes as President Donald Trump’s 8 p.m. Tuesday night deadline for Iran to agree to a peace deal. If one is not reached, the president promised the complete destruction of Iran's power plants and bridges. “Trump is escalating a devastating, illegal war, threatening massive war crimes and targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran,” Ansari said. “In the last 48 hours alone, the rhetoric has crossed every...

In the Gun Free School Zone case against Gabriel Metcalf in Billings, Montana, the authorities have returned Gabriel’s single-shot 20-gauge shotgun, an ammunition pouch, and the six rounds of 20-gauge ammunition that were seized when Gabriel was arrested on August 23, 2023.The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the case illegitimate and remanded it to the District Court with instructions to dismiss. The Ninth Circuit opinion was sent to the District Court on September 23, 2025, just short of two years after Gabe was arrested.AmmoLand has been at the forefront of reporting on this case, with over two dozen articles...

The case against birthright citizenship seems straightforward and persuasive. Is it really right for an eight-month pregnant Mexican woman to illegally cross the Rio Grande, give birth, and be allowed to stay in America because her newborn child is now a natural born citizen? By the same token, is it just for a Chinese millionaire to have 100 children by surrogacy, arrange for them to be born in the US, and then move them back to China, where they are now US citizens and can later vote in US elections? That’s crazy, right? And these are not hypothetical or imaginary...

An exclusive Channel 2 Action News Investigation finds hundreds of Georgians arrested for DUI in 2025 later were proven to be sober by GBI blood tests. In suspected DUI cases, the GBI tests samples for drugs only if they are found to be under the legal limit for alcohol. Through an open records request, Channel 2 Action News Consumer Investigator Justin Gray obtained records showing that 701 people tested by the GBI in 2025 had no illegal or prescription drugs found in their system during toxicology screenings. [snip] Smyrna resident Lenny Daniel is one of those. “It’s a shame to...

The Senate filibuster is often romanticized as a noble safeguard of minority rights, a procedural guardrail that forces consensus and slows the passions of majorities. Yet the actual history of the filibuster—its accidental creation, its use by factional minorities, and its long record of blocking popular and essential legislation—tells a very different story. From the beginning, the filibuster has been less a principled protection of deliberation than a tool for thwarting the democratic process, empowering small groups of senators to override the will of the electorate and frustrate the functioning of representative government. Its history demonstrates not a tradition worth...