Free Republic

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, during an appearance on Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, said the Trump administration is trying to “stifle dissent” following ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show. “Without question, they’re trying to stifle dissent,” Shapiro said after noting that selectively firing people for their viewpoints is “dangerous.” The indefinite suspension of Kimmel’s show came after his Monday night monologue about the 22-year-old man accused of shooting and killing right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. On Wednesday afternoon, Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr on a conservative podcast threatened to cancel ABC affiliate broadcast...

Kamala Harris settled on picking Tim Walz to be her running mate last year because she felt Americans were too racist, antisemitic and homophobic to accept her preferred option – Pete Buttigieg. In an excerpt from the former vice president’s forthcoming book, “107 Days,” obtained by The Atlantic magazine, Harris describes Buttigieg as her “first choice” but later deemed the openly gay former transportation secretary to be “too big of a risk” on the ticket. Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner —if I were a straight white man,” Harris wrote. “But we were already asking a lot of America:...

Last night, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner spoke at a town hall meeting at a church in Kingsessing, one of several appearances he’s scheduled to make this week. The topic, in part, is the Trump administration’s repeated threats to send National Guard troops to major American cities. ---SNIP--- Scales went on to argue that “lawless Larry, crumb bum Krasner” was only speaking about the National Guard situation in order to “distract the people of this city from his failures.”

Pennsylvania’s Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro is extremely aggrieved by President Donald Trump pointing to leftist violence and referring to individuals perpetrating it as “scum.” Shapiro attempted to spread blame around by stating that “no one party is immune from political violence.” […] “We are at an inflection point in America. Violence transcends party lines — and the way to address it and have true peaceful debate is for leaders to speak and act with moral clarity. That needs to start with the President,” he said, placing blame on Trump and completely ignoring the fact that Kirk did just that —...

The shooting death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk is the latest act of political violence in the United States. Pennsylvania has also seen political violence, with the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler County and the firebombing of Gov. Josh Shapiro's residence. While in Pittsburgh for an AI summit on Thursday, Shapiro said there's no place for this violence in American democracy. He said everyone on both sides of the aisle must stop the rhetoric to prevent any further acts of violence. Shapiro expressed his condolences while pleading for the violence to stop. The Democratic governor criticized President Trump...

The announcement came after students and people in the area were alerted to shelter in place and barricade doors.Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said reports Thursday of an active shooter on the campus of Villanova University was a result of a "cruel swatting incident," in which someone calls in a fake threat to induce panic and police response."Swatting is illegal," Shapiro said in a statement. "I've directed [Pennsylvania State Police] to work alongside their partners and use every tool at our disposal to find the person or people who called in this fake threat and hold them accountable.""I know today was...

A tell-all describes how the war in Gaza loomed over the 2024 campaign and strained Biden’s reelection bidJosh Shapiro’s Judaism was not a factor in Kamala Harris passing him over as a running mate, according to a 2024 election tell-all, contradicting a narrative Republicans eagerly peddled. If anything, Harris rejected Shapiro because they had too much in common — both were former attorneys general who hoped to be president. That and poor chemistry knocked Shapiro out of the running, according to How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, by political reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and...

Philadelphia's public school system, according to documents provided to the Free Beacon, teaches identity politics and hosts radical pro-Hamas employees.. Philadelphia’s public school system has become an "absolute cesspool" of anti-Semitism and anti-American hatred, according to local parents, who say Gov. Josh Shapiro (D.) has "completely ignored" their pleas for help. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Philadelphia school officials have publicly defended terrorism, called for the release of convicted cop killers, claimed Israel is an "apartheid theocracy," and denounced the United States as a "criminal Amerikan empire." The Philadelphia school district settled a federal discrimination case with the Department...

Around 10,000 people gathered in and around the Lancaster County Convention Center on Saturday for the 17th annual Lancaster Pride Festival, the largest gathering in the festival’s history and the first to be attended by a Pennsylvania governor. Fifty-six years to the day since the Stonewall uprising in New York City renewed the gay rights movement in America and 10 years since the United States Supreme Court established marriage equality, Gov. Josh Shapiro joined local elected officials and festival organizers onstage to celebrate Lancaster’s LGBTQ+ community. Sights from Lancaster Pride Festival 2025 [photos] “Here in Pennsylvania, we fight for equality...

Gov. Josh Shapiro will be joining Pennsylvania’s LGBTQ community and their supporters at Lancaster Pride Festival on Saturday. His announcement came the same day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that parents must be allowed a provision to opt out their children from class when course material conflicts with their religious beliefs. The suit over LGBTQ book characters was the latest in a series of legal actions, state and federal legislation, presidential executive orders and funding threats targeting the rights of LGBTQ people. In Pennsylvania the major hospitals that provide gender affirming care to trans people of all ages, abruptly dropped...

Josh Shapiro just gave away the largest Muslim grant in state history. Why?Local and state outlets reported it—and even quietly celebrated it. But no one asked the hard questions. No one challenged the ideology, the curriculum, or the dangerous precedent. That didn’t happen until Liberty Sentinel and journalist Alex Newman blew the lid off what this really was: a taxpayer-funded expansion of Sharia under the banner of “diversity.”In March 2025, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania awarded $5 million in taxpayer money to Al-Aqsa Islamic Academy—a Philadelphia-based Islamic school currently serving about 300 students. With this grant, the school now plans to...

TPUSA's Charlie Kirk shared this harrowing story out of West Chester, Pennsylvania: BREAKING: One of our chapter leaders at West Chester University was just assaulted on campus in advance of an event featuring Chloe Cole. The individual ran up to him, spit on him, and then punched him multiple times in the face. He is alright, thank God. He is pressing charges.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The man charged with breaking into the Pennsylvania governor's residence and setting fires inside called 911, identified himself by name and made a reference to Palestine, according to information in a search warrant obtained by WGAL. The search warrant quotes Cody Balmer, 38, as saying Gov. Josh Shapiro needs to know that he "will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people."

New details have emerged about the suspect behind the recent arson attack on the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion, revealing a chilling intent to personally target Governor Josh Shapiro, a Jewish leader who was observing Passover with his family at the time. Authorities say the suspect, identified as 38-year-old Cody Balmer of Harrisburg, told investigators he would have beaten Shapiro with a sledgehammer had he encountered him during the break-in. According to a police affidavit, Balmer admitted to harboring hatred toward Governor Shapiro, though no motive for that hatred was specified. Balmer allegedly scaled a nearly 7-foot iron security fence around the...

The man who allegedly set fire to the mansion of Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Penn., and his family turned himself in, according to the criminal complaint obtained by Fox News. Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, was first identified to police by an ex-lover after he allegedly confessed to her and "wanted her to call police to turn him in," the complaint said. It was only a short time later that Balmer turned himself in outside Pennsylvania State Police headquarters, police said. While being interviewed by troopers, "Balmer admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro." Balmer allegedly told investigators "he removed gasoline...

The man who set the Pennsylvania Governor’s residence on fire on Sunday morning has been identified. Police arrested a suspect on Sunday. His name is Cody Balmer, he’s 38 years-old and he lives near the governor’s mansion. Balmer torched the governor’s residence during Passover. Shapiro is Jewish. Times Now reported: During a news conference, police confirmed that Balmer scaled fences, evaded state troopers, and ignited the fire. He was arrested in the Harrisburg area shortly after Governor Shapiro and his family were safely evacuated. Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo stated that forthcoming charges will include attempted murder, terrorism, attempted...

On Sunday evening police announced they arrested 38-year-old Cody Balmer in connection with the fire set to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion. “Balmer will be charged with attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault against an enumerated person,” Fox News reported. ...... Snip...... During a Sunday evening presser, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said Balmer hopped a fence before starting the fire. “He actively evaded troopers who were here to secure the residence,” Bivens said. “While [law enforcement] were searching is when he attacked at the residence, broke in and set the fires.” “So that was all playing...

Cody Balmer, the suspect arrested for arson after setting Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's house on fire on Sunday was reportedly angry with Shapiro after the state of Pennsylvania auctioned off Balmer's property. A court document of the auction from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania surfaced. Balmer will be charged with attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson, and aggravated assault, the Dauphin County District Attorney announced Sunday. Balmer, 38, was identified as the suspect of the fire by Colonel Christopher Paris, the Commissioner of Pennsylvania State Police at a press conference on Sunday afternoon. Commenting on the incident, George Bivens, the Deputy Commissioner of Pennsylvania...

Pennsylvania State Police have arrested a Harrisburg man for the arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family that sent them fleeing from the governor’s residence on the first night of Passover. Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, is expected to face charges of attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson, and aggravated assault against an enumerated person, authorities said. Shapiro, who is Jewish, became visible emotional as he spoke about the 2 a.m. attack on his home as he and his family slept inside. “If he was trying to terrorize our family, our friends, the Jewish community, who joined us for...

During an interview with MSNBC host and NBC News Senior Business Analyst Stephanie Ruhle that took place on Wednesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said that he supports the goal of the Trump administration’s investigations of campus antisemitism and threats to withhold funds and schools where Jewish students can’t go to class, get fair grades, or be treated fairly should be accountable, but “The way they’re going about it, like everything else, I think is chaotic and is reckless and is undermining people’s fundamental rights,” and people can say what they wish “within the bounds of the laws and the...