Free Republic

President Trump continues to walk back his original tariff assault, and markets are pleased. They rose again Wednesday after Mr. Trump said he won’t fire the Federal Reserve Chairman and is likely to retreat from his highest China tariffs. Is this Mr. Trump’s François Mitterrand moment? Readers of a certain age will recall how the French Socialist President swept into power in 1981 promising a far left agenda of government control over the private economy. The market reaction was brutal. Within a year he had put socialism on pause and by 1983 he had abandoned most of it. He went...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Monday the city faces a $800 million deficit, plans on laying off 1,647 staff, is seeking a state bailout and has “identified new revenue.” Bass blamed the Trump administration and the economy for falling revenue. “Cities like ours are going through challenging economic times across the nation,” said Bass. “Turmoil and uncertainty from Washington and a slowing economy are causing lower revenue projections.” With 61,455 employees, 1,647 layoffs equate to a workforce reduction of 2.7%. With just over $8.3 billion paid out in payroll last year, the city pays its employees an average of...

Veteran reporter Bob Woodward said Monday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that President Donald Trump is “throwing bombs of ignorance” onto the U.S. economy. Woodward said, “He thinks tariffs are good remedy. Well tariffs are a tax on consumers. I mean consumers wind up paying. There may be some benefit but if there was real benefit we’d feel it in the economy now. And we basically have a good economy that he’s meddling with in a way, throwing bombs of ignorance right in the middle of a process that, you know, should be allowed to go on naturally. It’s a shame and...

Harvard University initiated legal action on Monday against the Trump administration, accusing it of leveraging federal funding to impose sweeping and unconstitutional demands on the institution, reports The Harvard Crimson. The lawsuit, filed in a US district court, alleges that the federal government’s decision to freeze billions in research funding constitutes an unlawful attempt to control the university’s internal operations. The legal complaint challenges a recent $2.2 billion funding freeze, as well as an anticipated additional $1 billion in cuts reportedly planned by the administration. Harvard contends that the freeze is part of a broader campaign to coerce compliance with...

Imagine my surprise when in the spring of 1939 a letter arrived at my house inviting me to dinner at the Old Chancellery with the world’s most reviled man, Adolf Hitler. I had been a vocal critic of his on the radio from the beginning, pretty much predicting everything he was going to do on the road to dictatorship. No one I knew encouraged me to go. “He’s Hitler. He’s a monster.” But eventually I concluded that hate gets us nowhere. I knew I couldn’t change his views, but we need to talk to the other side — even if...

The Jewish comedian has long made Nazi references in his satire.Add Larry David to the list of celebrities who were put off by comedian Bill Maher’s friendly sitdown with President Trump. In a New York Times opinion piece, “My Dinner with Adolf,” the Jewish creator of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” imagines a get-to-know-you meeting “at the Old Chancellery with the world’s most reviled man, Adolf Hitler.” The narrator ends up being charmed by the Nazi leader. “I thought that if only the world could see this side of him, people might have a completely different opinion,” he gushes. The essay doesn’t...

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat that included his wife, lawyer and brother, three people familiar with the chat told CNN.The revelation comes as some of Hegseth’s closest advisers have begun sounding the alarm about the secretary’s judgment, including his former press secretary, John Ullyot, and three former senior officials Hegseth fired last week — his top adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and Colin Carroll, who served as chief of staff to the deputy secretary of defense.

House Democrats are diving back into GOP districts to conduct town halls during the long spring recess, escalating an unusual tactic they’re hoping will help them win over battleground voters. The gambit — aimed at districts held by Republicans facing tough reelection contests — was initiated after House GOP leaders advised Republican lawmakers not to meet face-to-face with voters in large, public forums amid the outcry over President Trump’s efforts to remake Washington. In March, a handful of Democrats ventured into GOP districts to stage town halls put on by grassroots activists and local party affiliates. They’ve expanded the effort...

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) delivered an address to the press on Sunday in which he claimed that, based on intelligence in his possession, there is a fear of a political assassination. "I now want to warn, based on unequivocal intelligence information: we are on the way to another tragedy. This time it will come from within. The levels of incitement and madness are unprecedented. There will be a political assassination. Jews will kill Jews," Lapid warned. He added, "The most threats are against the director of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. The Israeli ruling party, the Likud, published...

The UK’s largest teaching union has called Reform UK “far-right and racist” and its leader has dismissed Nigel Farage as “a poundshop Donald Trump,” as the union pledged funds to oppose the party’s candidates in elections. Delegates to the National Education Union’s annual conference backed a motion stating that “far-right and racist organisations, including Reform, seek to build on the despair, poverty and alienation in our society by scapegoating refugees, asylum seekers, Muslims, Jews and others who do not fit their beliefs”. The motion also committed the NEU to use its political fund for campaigns against Reform election candidates and...

BREAKING: DEMOCRAT NEW MEXICO JUDGE RESIGNS AFTER HOMELAND SECURITY ARRESTS TREN DE ARAGUA DESIGNATED TERRORIST LIVING AT JUDGE'S HOME! The Longtime Doña Ana County Judge Joel Cano, A Democrat Has Abruptly Resigned After Federal Agents Arrested Alleged Violent Venezuelan Tren De Aragua Gang Member & Illegal Alien, Cristhian Ortega-Lopez, At A Guest House At The Judge's Residence. The Venezuelan National Was Arrested While In Possession Of Multiple Firearms, Including Ones Linked To Disturbing Alleged Crimes. Federal Court Filings Show Ortega-Lopez Was Living In The “Casita” Behind Judge Cano’s Residence In Las Cruces After Allegedly Meeting Nancy Cano While Doing Handyman...

Fox News host Jesse Watters highlights how Democrats are preoccupied with Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s, D-Md., trip to El Salvador on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’

Folks, I know this is going to be hard, but we must remain steadfast in bearing the burden of new tariffs for our essential items. Hermes has announced they will pass along the cost of President Trump’s tariffs to consumers.Currently, Hermes branded purses ranging from $20,000 to $200,000 are purchased by a whopping 0.001% of Americans, yet 90% of wives for Wall Street hedge fund managers have them.Yes, this is going to be a painful price increase; however, it is our patriotic duty to withstand it. We can survive it.NEW YORK – […] The Paris-based company — which manufactures the...

U.S. — With politicians and pundits still involved in heated debates over the legality of the deportation of an MS-13 gang member, liberals warned the public that enforcing immigration law was a slippery slope that could lead to enforcing other laws. Congressional Democrat leaders urged caution in the enforcement of long-existent laws that prevent foreign nationals from entering and residing in the United States illegally, citing the risk posed by setting a dangerous precedent of prosecuting other people for committing different crimes. "This is a perilous road to go down," said Senator Chuck Schumer. "Today, you're talking about enforcing immigration...

A violent mid-air incident aboard a domestic flight in Belize ended in the fatal shooting of an American man who attempted to seize control of the aircraft on Thursday morning, The New York Post reported. According to Belizean authorities, Akinyela Sawa Taylor, 49, brandished a knife and began attacking fellow passengers aboard Tropic Air flight V3HIG en route to San Pedro. The altercation began around 8:30 a.m. while the plane was still airborne. During the chaos, Taylor managed to injure several individuals. However, another passenger on board intervened and fatally shot the attacker in the chest. The suspect later succumbed...

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that if President Donald Trump’s administration can deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia, they can “disappear” you. Warren said, “The point is, why are they doing this? And the answer is they want to have the American people say it’s OK to just disappear people. And somehow they think if they can make up lies about him, if they can do whatever they want, then the answer will be the American people will settle for this. We do not disappear people in the United States. Because here’s the thing. If they can...

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Vice Chair David Hogg’s group, Leaders We Deserve, launched a $20 million initiative on Monday aimed at launching primary challenges against House Democrats in safe seats in the hopes of electing a new generation of leaders. “We’re not only focused on targeting Democratic incumbents when necessary,” Hogg told The Hill in a Wednesday interview. “We are here to elect young people who are running in open seats. We’re here to elect young people that are running open, competitive seats as well, and support them when they align with our values.” Hogg noted that his group is...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come a long way since 2018. When she first arrived on the political scene by beating out not just an incumbent, but a member of her party’s leadership in a Democratic primary contest, she was a rebel — an avatar of insurgent impulses within her coalition. And, among Republicans, something of a joke. Now, she’s the Democratic Party’s most popular elected official. A Yale University poll released this week found that among Democrats, Ocasio-Cortez boasts the single highest net favorability rating of all the party’s many potential 2028 presidential candidates — a sky-high 62%. In addition, 41%...

High level excerpt:Antisemitism on campus lawsuitsBacklash against Harvard’s initial response to antisemitism accusations Former President Claudine Gay’s ‘unacceptable’ testimony to Congress Former president Claudine Gay accused of plagiarism Harvard refuses to comply with Trump administration’s demands

So much crazy happens with the Trump administration every day that some downright weird but incredibly telling stuff gets lost in the noise. A recent example was the scene on April 8 at the White House where, in the middle of his raging trade war, our president decided it was the perfect time to sign an executive order to bolster coal mining. “We’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” said President Trump, surrounded by coal miners in hard hats, members of a work force that has declined to about 40,000 from 70,000 over the last decade, according to Reuters....