Free Republic

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. central bank would have eased monetary policy by now if not for President Donald Trump’s tariff plan.When asked during a panel if the Fed would have lowered rates again this year had Trump not announced his controversial plan to impose higher levies on imported goods earlier this year, Powell said, “I think that’s right.” “In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,” Powell said at European...

They told us DEI was progress. They told us these government jobs were building a better, more inclusive America. What they didn’t tell us is that this entire system was creating a class of emotionally broken dependents who tied their entire identity, purpose, and mental stability to a taxpayer-funded title. Now, the house of cards is collapsing, and it’s getting really ugly. Meet former federal worker Caitlin. Caitlin was so devastated after being fired from her DEI federal job, her husband found her on the fire escape, contemplating whether it was high enough to jump. He later had her committed....

Federal authorities won't explain why three men who participated in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, have mysteriously disappeared from the FBI's Capitol Violence Most Wanted list. One unidentified man wore an earpiece during the riot and was filmed carrying what appeared to be a concealed handgun on his left hip. The man was pictured on the FBI's most wanted list for over five months until he was removed without explanation on the same day the New York Times reported an FBI informant was at the Capitol on Jan. 6. A second unidentified man was filmed beating police officers...

Inflation in the Federal Reserve’s preferred price gauge eased in January after making steady increases throughout the fall. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased by 0.3 percent in January, easing to a 2.5-percent annual increase from 2.6 percent in December. The moves were in line with economists’ expectations. “This is about the only inflation indicator this month where the Fed can find some refuge,” Olu Sonola, economist with Fitch Ratings, wrote in an analysis. Concerns about resurgent inflation have been mounting after prices in both the PCE and the broader consumer price index (CPI) increased between September and...

Recent court orders slowing down or indefinitely blocking President Donald Trump’s policy blitz have raised the specter that the executive branch might openly flout the federal judiciary and prompted questions about how judges would respond. Any decision by the administration to defy federal courts would immediately implicate profound constitutional questions about separation of powers that have kept each branch of the government in check for centuries. That’s in large part because it would test the power of courts to enforce rulings that are supposed to be the final word. Legal experts say there are few options to force compliance with...

A federal worker at a Virginia town hall is bemoaning the standard audit procedures many in the private sector endure quite often. He tells horror stories of employees having to describe what their job entails and worries of cuts.. says 19-year-old DOGE employees are having 15 minute interviews with federal employees to “justify their existence” before determining if they should be fired.

Washington CNN — More than 1,100 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency received notice this week that they were deemed to be on probationary status and warning they could be fired immediately, according to an email obtained by CNN. Probationary employees receiving the email have been working at the agency for less than a year. The emails began to go out on late Wednesday afternoon, according to an EPA union official.

U.S. — With President Donald Trump ordering all government employees to come back to working in person by February 6, federal workers expressed concern that returning to the office would interfere with them not working. Thousands of federal employees who had been afforded the opportunity to work remotely following the COVID-19 pandemic said they were disappointed that being required to return to working in person would negatively impact their desire to collect paychecks without actually working. "I'm not sure I want a job where I have to work," said IRS case analyst Steve Reaves. "That's not what I applied for...

The mandate is the latest effort in the Trump administration's push to end DEI.

From $100,000 for a girls’ fun run in Gaza to $700,000 to push edible insects, taxpayers are getting ripped off.Hell hath no fury like big-government trough feeders facing budget cuts. Oh, how the piggies have pounced on President Donald Trump’s attempts to rein in out-of-control spending in a federal government with a morbidly obese deficit. “Most people voted for cheaper eggs. They did not vote for this chaos,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said Wednesday at a grandstanding session with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after the Trump administration rescinded a memo on freezing federal loans and grants. News flash for...

President Donald Trump's administration asked federal agencies to implement plans to return federal workers to the office — including making arrangements for those who live too far away for a regular commute.On Monday, the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget issued new guidance that expanded on an RTO executive order for federal workers originally issued on January 20.Specifically, the memo asked agencies to "determine permanent worksites" for employees who have been working remotely full time and include "the steps the agency will take to move these employees' duty stations to the most appropriate Federal office...

VIDEOMany federal workers are highly upset that President Trump has ordered that they can no longer work remotely and must return to work at their offices again. Here you see a group of federal workers a few days ago protesting against that order. This particular group of feds are also upset that Kash Patel will soon be ending their funding for remote work special projects. In addition, they will soon be losing the protective services of police escorts and the U-Haul federal discounts. Federal cuts has already meant they can no longer afford marching drums.

Massachusetts must give $2.1 billion to the federal government due to an apparent mix up with federal pandemic funds. Officials said the state will be required to pay the sum over the next ten years after former Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) administration “mistakenly” used the money to cover unemployment benefits, WHDH reported Monday. Baker was succeeded by Gov. Maura Healey (D) in 2023 “and her deputies unveiled details of a settlement they reached with the outgoing Biden administration Friday in which the Bay State will repay most but not all of the amount it owed due to the error committed...

WASHINGTON — The National Archives has finally released photos showing then-Vice President Biden meeting with two of first son Hunter Biden’s Chinese government-linked business partners — again proving that the president lied about not interacting with his family’s foreign patrons. The cache of photos, released long after their potential political salience and days before Biden retires on Jan. 20, also show Chinese President Xi Jinping grinning as then-Vice President Biden introduced his son during the same December 2013 trip to Beijing.

Luigi Mangione is now in New York to face charges over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4. Mangione has been formally charged in the murder, where he reportedly shot and killed Thompson in the early morning hours outside of the New York Hilton Midtown before an investor’s meeting. Thompson was shot multiple times with a suppressed, mostly 3D-printed firearm. He’s facing over a dozen state and federal charges regarding this crime. The latest federal charges make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted

Three undercover Metropolitan Police Department officers joined the march of protesters up the northwest side of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—including one who climbed over a barricade and pushed others toward the Capitol, and another who walked behind Ashli Babbitt and predicted that “someone will get shot,” according to newly disclosed court documents. New court motions filed by Jan. 6 defendant William Pope of Topeka, Kansas, also show MPD bicycle officers stopping four armed men in plainclothes on Jan. 6. The men turned out to be federal agents. Video included with Pope’s filings also shows uniformed MPD officers saying,...

The federal workforce is the equivalent of the Soviet Nomenklatura. The big difference between the Soviet bureaucracy and the US federal bureaucracy is that a much larger percentage of the federal workforce gets the special benefits that were reserved for top Communist Party members in the Soviet Union. The Daily Wire's invaluable reporter, Luke Rosiak, reports on the sorry state of the federal workforce and on the Department of Government Efficiency's determination to reform a broken system. 94% of feds are still working from home--the EPA had poisonous water *in its own headquarters* because it was sitting in the pipes...

"Attorney General, you've told us that it's a dangerous conspiracy theory to allege that the Department of Justice is communicating with these state and local prosecutions against Trump. You can clear it all up for us right now. Will the Department of Justice provide to the committee all documents, all correspondence between the department and Alvin Bragg's office, Fani Willis's office, and Letitia James's office?" "The offices you're referring to are independent offices of the state." "I get that, I get that. The question is whether or not you will provide all of your documents and correspondence. That's the question....

Chris Wallace is learning a harsh lesson after he abruptly left Fox News after 18 years to join the left-wing outlet at CNN. Wallace was lured onto CNN’s new online streaming service called CNN+ but it’s drawing fewer than 10,000 daily viewers. Wallace is quickly learning that no one is watching him anymore. Sources say Wallace is suffering “daily breakdowns,” and asking his staffers “to count how many times a day his promo is playing.” Without stronger marketing, it appears very few people are tuning in. Jon Nicosia, president of News Cycle Media and former managing editor of Mediaite, says...

The Feds raided Alfie Oakes’ Naples, Florida home and farm with a battering ram on Thursday. Alfie Oakes is an outspoken Trump supporter and owner of Seed to Table grocery store. The raid was conducted by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service which investigates criminal behavior with the Department of Defense. --snip-- According to reports, the Feds used a battering ram to bust the door down at Alfie Oakes’ home while his wife and daughter were home. IRS agents were seen carrying boxes out of Alfie Oakes’ home.