Free Republic

Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967. CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the encouragement of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell. “CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving,...

Protests erupted across the United States on Saturday following President Donald Trump’s military attack on Venezuela late Friday. Demonstrations were held throughout the Monterey Bay region, including in Santa Cruz, Salinas and Monterey. Organized by Indivisible Pajaro Valley, protesters waved signs reading “No Blood for Oil,” “No New Wars,” and “Enough Is Enough.” The two-hour protest drew cheers and honking horns from passing motorists. Following airstrikes on civilian and government sites in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, U.S. troops detained President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and transported them to the United States to face criminal charges, according to international...

Well, Donald Trump has done it again! He stumped the chumps. The "chumps" in this case were the "blue-chip" academic and financial economists whose consensus forecast this time last year was of high inflation and low economic growth. Wrong on both counts. As you've probably heard, the GDP growth for Q3 came in at a red-hot 4.3%, following 3.5% for the second quarter. Some 90% of professional economists got it wrong -- all underestimating the strength of the Trump economy. QED: These weren't random errors. These were "hate Trump" errors. They also predicted inflation of above 3% for 2025. It's...

A politically charged YouTube video thrust a group of Somali-owned day cares in Minnesota into an uncomfortable spotlight this week, accusing the owners of defrauding the state and unleashing a torrent of threats against them. A lawyer who represents one of the operators of Minnesota Best Childcare Center in Minneapolis, which was featured in the 43-minute video, said his Somali clients have received hundreds of death threats since the video went viral late late last week. “Everybody is very scared right now of being targeted,” attorney Jason Steck said Dec. 31. “Nobody wants to stick their head up. Nobody wants...

Gen Z right-wing influencers like Nick Fuentes have suggested they may not support Vice President JD Vance if he becomes the Republican presidential nominee in 2028 and have praised California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Why It Matters The 2028 election is years away, but talk about who could run for higher office has already begun. Vance is viewed as the frontrunner on the Republican side. The Democratic primary is likely to be more competitive if current polling stands, and Newsom is viewed as a leading candidate. He has cast himself as a staunch rival of the Trump administration. The...

Instead of giving these workers additional employment benefits, the result is that they are less likely to be hired at all. The California SAC heard testimony from workers from a diverse array of industries offering their experiences with AB5, including court reporters, translators, cosmetology workers, and exotic dancers. Many of these workers were women, immigrants, people of color, and from other politically disadvantaged groups. Esther Hermida, a representative of the American Alliance of Professional Translators and Interpreters (AAPTI) testified about AB5’s impact on thousands of citizens in her industry comprised of 75 percent women. One professional translator, Ildiko Santana, reported...

Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro will soon become the top-earning governor in the U.S. after an automatic cost-of-living pay bump goes into effect on Jan. 1. Shapiro, a Democrat up for re-election next year who is often named as a 2028 presidential contender, was already the second-highest paid state leader after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. At about $245,000 this year, Shapiro earned about $5,000 less than Hochul, whose salary, according to state law, for the past few years has been $250,000. But along with dozens of other Keystone State officials of both major parties, the new year will bring Shapiro...

"Topline: A then-employee at the City of Austin’s energy utility allegedly paid $980,000 in taxpayer funds to fictional companies with bank accounts belonging to his family members, according to a new report from the city auditor. Key facts: Mark Ybarra was given a city credit card from 2018 to 2023 to hire repair companies for city buildings. He used it to pay 30 different vendors, but the city auditor could only verify that eight of them were real companies, according to the report."

A $6,000 deduction is now law for some older Americans who receive Social Security benefits, a centerpiece of a major new bill signed by President Donald Trump. Promoted as historic relief, the reality is more complex, less generous, and comes with a significant long-term price tag that could undermine the very system it purports to help.

https://x.com/Real_RobN/status/2005086582995669193🇺🇸RealRobert🇺🇸@Real_RobN·4hHere it is:The organization whose sole goal is to overthrow the United States government and bring down Western civilization with it.The Democrat Party, through the Biden–Harris terrorist administration, paid $6 billion in American taxpayer money to a network of United Nations agencies and over 200 NGOs to take down and overthrow the Constitutional Republic of the United States.Mike Howell: currently serve as the executive director of the Oversight Projects and previously was at DHS and on Capitol Hill conducting oversight of immigration matters.“The United States of America is still reeling from the worst border invasion in its history.”Mike Howell: “This...

Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is facing a fresh wave of scrutiny following the release of her 2024 financial disclosure form, which reveals a staggering leap in her household's reported wealth. The 43-year-old Democratic lawmaker, a prominent member of the so-called 'Squad', has seen her and her husband Tim Mynett's combined fortune skyrocket by as much as 3,500 per cent since the end of 2023. Despite earning a standard congressional salary of less than $175,000 (£138,000) a year, Omar's latest filings suggest a net worth that could reach as high as $30 million. The sudden windfall has reignited long-standing accusations regarding...

Although there is much to lament in the unconstitutional and illegal policies of the Trump administration, not enough has been said about its lack of compassion and basic human decency. How does it change us as a nation to witness countless acts of cruelty by our government? How does it change how we talk in our society to see a president refer to other nations as “shithole” countries or to tell a female reporter, “quiet, piggy”?

What about propane for rural folks? Do we have to give up gas furnaces and stoves? Who will pay? Will electric bills go way up? Flames emerge from burners on a natural gas stove, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Walpole, Mass. Gas and construction trade groups sued to block New York state’s controversial ban on gas stoves and furnaces in new buildings. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Credit: AP ================================================================================ News that Colorado has set hard target dates for an end to burning natural gas in our daily lives prompted many “wait, what?” questions from Colorado Sun readers. And we are here...

A series of tax documents have revealed that Rewiring America, a climate group that Democratic activist Stacey Abrams served as senior counsel for, banked over $5 million in federal climate funding just before President Donald Trump slashed the grant, which came into existence during former President Joe Biden’s administration, earlier in the year. The documentation indicates that Abrams played a much bigger part in getting the grant than she previously claimed. The $5 million was the first portion of what ultimately ended up being a $2 billion grant awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency in April 2024 to a group...

"Mic-drop" truth bomb. Israeli Ambassador Claps back at NBC Host: "Quoting Gaza Health Ministry is Like Quoting MS-13's Welfare Stats" | WATCH. An on-air clash goes viral as Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter slams NBC’s Kristen Welker for citing Gaza casualty figures, igniting a fierce debate over media bias, wartime propaganda, and the battle to control the narrative. Welker referenced the ministry's reported death toll while grilling Leiter on civilian casualties during Israel's operations in Gaza and Lebanon. Leiter fired back: "Kristen, you just quoted the Gaza Health Ministry. That’s like quoting MS-13 Social Welfare Ministry." The analogy, equating the ministry...

Summary Byron York argues that some media outlets are attempting to portray President Donald Trump as facing the same major liabilities that plagued President Joe Biden: senility and damaging inflation. On senility, York highlights a New York Times article titled “Shorter Days, Signs of Fatigue: Trump Faces Realities of Aging in Office,” which notes that the 79-year-old Trump, the oldest person elected to the presidency, has fewer public events, a shorter schedule concentrated between noon and 5 p.m., and occasional signs of fatigue. The piece compares these observations to prior reporting on Biden’s cognitive decline, citing details like a bruise...

<p>Democrats’ fear-mongering about the Trump economy is looking more and more like sour grapes.</p><p>Yesterday’s CPI report, showing inflation of 2.7 percent — well below the expected 3.1 percent — was bad political news for Democrats. Since “Liberation Day” in April, when President Trump rolled out tariffs aimed at resetting global trade in favor of U.S. companies, the left and their media allies have warned voters that the White House’s actions would clobber our economy and set inflation soaring.</p>

Yesterday’s CPI report, showing inflation of 2.7 percent — well below the expected 3.1 percent — was bad political news for Democrats. Since “Liberation Day” in April, when President Trump rolled out tariffs aimed at resetting global trade in favor of U.S. companies, the left and their media allies have warned voters that the White House’s actions would clobber our economy and set inflation soaring.

Supply and demand. If there’s little supply and demand remains constant, things cost more. If there’s plenty of supply and demand remains constant or declines, they cost less. Unfortunately for Californians, the basic law of supply and demand doesn’t well fit with Democrat ideology. Democrats don’t bother to live in the real world. They create their own to conform to their self-imagined intellectual and moral superiority. Their imaginary utopia can’t compete with reality, which inevitably comes crashing down on their heads. In this case, reality is gas prices, which are credibly predicted to reach $10 a gallon while elsewhere in...

In a final message delivered from beyond the grave, Hollywood icon Rob Reiner delivered a stirring plea for “resilience” to a global gathering of Holocaust survivors at Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Thursday. The pre-recorded video, filmed just weeks before he and his wife were fatally slain in their Brentwood home, was an emotional centerpiece of the annual International Holocaust Survivors Night. In his final address, Reiner spoke of his aunt, who was in Auschwitz, and his wife Michele, whose “whole family died there,” with the exception of her mother. Reiner — an outspoken liberal activist — didn’t shy away from...