Free Republic

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services narrowed sharply in April, falling to $61.6 billion from $138.3 billion in March—the largest monthly improvement on record—driven by a steep drop in imports and continued strength in American exports. The 16.3 percent decline in imports, the biggest on record, coincided with the introduction of new U.S. tariff schedules and followed months of accelerated purchasing by companies anticipating higher duties. Analysts noted that much of the shift reflected a hangover after months of elevated imports as businesses rushed to bring in goods ahead of the tariff hikes. At the same time, exports...

On this week’s broadcast of “CBS Sunday Morning,” former President Bill Clinton rejected claims of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Reporter Tracy Smith asked, “Speaking of aging there is there is this book that came out talking about Joe Biden and the people around him seeing that he had cognitive and physical decline. Did you ever have a moment with him where you thought maybe he was unfit to run for president?” Clinton said, “No.” Smith repeated, “No.” Clinton continued, “I thought he was a good president. The only concern I thought he had to deal with was, could anybody...

The massive coverup of Joe Biden’s mental decline has stimulated plenty of indignant commentary. Missing from the hand-wringing is a demand for accountability, which brings to mind the quip: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” This newspaper and recently published books have exposed the trickery and lies of Mr. Biden’s minions and Democratic allies, who attempted to wield power in a leaderless vacuum. It was perfectly described in Tunku Varadarajan’s review of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book, “Original Sin,” as resembling “a hush-hush leftist capture of an infirm president.” A White House cadre, with...

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called on former first lady Jill Biden to “answer for” her role in the massive cover-up of her husband’s declining mental aptitude, accusing her of still “lying to the American people.” Leavitt unleashed her fiery tirade against the wife of former President Joe Biden while speaking to reporters on Thursday: “I think, frankly, the former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband… Because I think anybody, looking again at the videos and photo evidence of Joe Biden, with your own eyes and a little bit of...

It's well known that San Francisco is a urban disaster area, what with malls moving out, hotels shutting doors, conventions moving to other cities, thieves looting retailers with impunity, little shops fleeing, and entire districts full of homeless drug addicts looking like Dante's seventh circle of Hell.But has anyone asked what's going on at Fisherman's Wharf, the city's most famous tourist destination?Sure, it's known as a tourist trap. But everyone likes to try its famous Italian and seafood restaurants at least once.Now it's a ghost town:Fisherman’s wharf destroyed … go woke go broke So sad what “progressives” have done to...

Ex-Obama aide and “Pod Save America” co-host Jon Lovett admitted on Jon Stewart’s “The Weekly Show” podcast that he withheld his concerns about President Joe Biden’s physical decline during the 2024 campaign. Lovett told Stewart and his fellow “Pod Save America” host Jon Favreau that he didn’t want to publicly voice his concern over Biden’s declining health because he wanted him “to f—— win.” “I remember feeling I want to talk about this as a huge liability. To talk about this is something Joe Biden can overcome, but I’m not going to go so far as to say, ‘I think...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” CNN Contributor and Democratic strategist Paul Begala said that the revelations about then-President Joe Biden’s mental fitness don’t impact the credibility of the Democratic Party at all and “I don’t think any Democrat who’s going to be facing voters in the midterms was at all complicit.” And there were “a whole bunch of politicians who understandably were rooting for him and hoping that he was doing fine, but they didn’t know.”Co-host Mary Louise Kelly asked, “What does this mean to your party’s ability to hold President Trump, his administration, and Republicans accountable...

On Monday’s broadcast of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart stated that the attempt to hide then-President Joe Biden’s mental decline “was a terrible coverup, because we all f*cking knew. All of us knew. There was no coverup. Poll after poll showed vast majorities of the public thought Biden was too old and too out of it to run again.” While discussing the book “Original Sin” by CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios National Political Correspondent and CNN Contributor Alex Thompson on Biden’s mental fitness and the promotion for the book in light of Biden’s cancer diagnosis, Stewart mocked...

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Pérez reacted to audio of then-President Joe Biden’s interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur by saying that the interview took place right after the October 7 attack when Biden “had spent that entire time, obviously, on the phone and working long hours.” And so you could wonder if Biden’s struggles in the interview are “because of fatigue” or due to his decline. After agreeing with host Jake Tapper that Biden’s decline got particularly bad in 2023, Pérez stated, “They did not want this to come out before the...

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) responded to questions on if she saw signs of President Joe Biden’s decline by saying that she didn’t see Biden that often and she “can’t speak to that directly.” Co-host Pamela Brown asked, “You were a co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign. You stuck with Biden until he dropped out of the race. Given your position in the campaign, what signs of decline did you notice?” Whitmer responded, “I have not read the book. I can tell you this, that, if, as the book reports, Cabinet members didn’t have...

Jake Tapper dropped an absolute bombshell this week, reporting that despite all evidence to the contrary, former President Joe Biden actually suffered severe physical and mental decline during his presidency. How did we all miss this? Looking back in hindsight, here are ten shocking signs we can't believe everyone overlooked: When he appeared at a press conference with burn marks on his shirt from where they used the paddles: In retrospect, a bit concerning. Started narrating his own life in the third person, but referring to himself as "Ben Matlock": It seemed so innocent. Could only make public appearances...

Prices paid to U.S. producers of goods and services unexpectedly declined in April, defying predictions that tariffs would reignite inflation. The producer price index for final demand fell 0.5 percent last month, the Labor Department said on Thursday, the largest decline since April of 2020. Economists had forecast a 0.2 percent increase for the month. The prior month’s reading was revised up from a decline of 0.4 percent to flat. Compared with a year ago, the producer price index (PPI) is up 2.4 percent, in line with expectations. In March, the index was up 2.7 percent. The producer price index...

Minnesota has been in the news a lot in recent years, and not in a good way. This essay is a wistful look back at the decline of a once great state. I moved to Minnesota in 1975, partially inspired by the famous Time Magazine cover featuring Governor Wendall Anderson holding up a caught walleye, touting the “Good Life in Minnesota.” I came for the good life and the in-state college summer school rates offered by the University of Minnesota. I ended up getting a job in Minneapolis, putting down roots, getting married, having three kids, eventually owning three businesses...

A glamorous city known for sprawling mansions, boutique shops and glamor is at risk of becoming 'the next Detroit,' according to experts. Los Angeles is being rocked by an exodus of big budget TV and film production companies — long considered the backbone of the local economy. Detroit was once the center of America's auto production, but fell into decline when factories began to shut, triggering a major housing crisis. Now, some fear LA faces a similar threat. FilmLA reports that on-location production in the city fell by 22.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same...

WASHINGTON — Former White House doctor Kevin O’Connor will be among those grilled by House Republicans for hiding President Biden’s cognitive decline from the American public, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) told The Post. “Dr. Kevin O’Connor will absolutely, positively be implicated in the cover-up of this. He is a massive, massive part,” said Jackson, a physician by trade who served in the White House Medical Unit under three presidents before being elected to Congress, where he now chairs the House Intelligence Committee’s subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations “I guarantee you Kevin O’Connor has medical information that the American people don’t...

New research suggests that antidepressants can accelerate cognitive decline in people with dementia. At the same time, some drugs appear to be less harmful than others, which can help doctors make better treatment decisions. Antidepressants are often used to relieve symptoms such as anxiety, depression, aggressiveness, and sleep disturbances in dementia sufferers. However, a new observational study based on data from the Swedish Dementia Registry (SveDem) shows that patients with dementia who are treated with antidepressants experience an increased cognitive decline compared to patients who do not receive this medication. The study is based on a comprehensive analysis of registry...

Democrats have learned nothing from the backlash to their constant lies about then-President Joe Biden’s mental decline. In an interview with Puck, onetime top Biden aide Michael LaRosa admitted the obvious: The staff knew that the ex-prez’s “age was an issue” from “Day 1” and opted for “gaslighting” the public when his behavior raised alarms. Yet in the same breath, he pushed back against calling this a “coverup” as “a little harsh.” Not remotely harsh enough, in fact: That the Bidenites, Dems in general and most of the press kept up the deception so long has earned them a lasting...

Despite a consistent decline in the share of adults in the United States who identified as Christians over the last 17 years, the trend appears to have slowed in the last five years of a long-term Pew Research study. The slowdown may not last, however, as other data from Pew's third Religious Landscape Study shows America's youngest adults are significantly more likely to be unaffiliated with religion than their older counterparts, suggesting potential future declines in the "American religious landscape." With more than 36,000 respondents in the 2023-24 edition, the Religious Landscape Study is the largest single survey Pew Research...

More video has been uncovered of CNN’s Jake Tapper actively engaging in the conspiracy to cover up Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline. The backlash against CNN’s Jake Tapper and the bubbled arrogance that led him to write a book about the cover-up of Joe Biden’s obvious unfitness to be president has been both fierce and glorious. Tapper must think it’s still 2013, a time when the regime media’s snooty hubris could power them through any hypocrisy. Well, those days are over. Social Media and New Media are both blistering Tapper with multiple exhibits proving he actively engaged in covering...

The day after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson decided to co-author a book about what had led the Democratic party to defeat, with a focus on former President Joe Biden. The deeply sourced reporters found what they call a “cover-up” of the former president’s “serious decline.” The resulting book, titled “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” is coming out on May 20. The book’s publisher, Penguin Press, announced the project on Wednesday. “What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run...