Free Republic

Ellie Smith @elliekaysmith PSA if you’re going to tweet something snarky about CNN+, hundreds of journalists and technicians who did nothing but work their tails off just had the rug pulled out from under them. So be kind. Kristi Noem @KristiNoem Now you know how the Keystone XL Pipeline workers feel.

The news business is in a state of flux. Newsroom employment has dropped by about 26% since 2008 and while many new digital outlets are adding jobs, others are struggling to survive. Journalists who have left traditional newsrooms for roles outside the industry — or for positions that defy easy categorization — are offering advice on LinkedIn to reporters and editors who might want to make the same jump. Question to journalists who have left newsrooms: What's the best advice you'd give to a reporter/editor leaving the traditional world of journalism (whether they're leaving industry altogether or moving to something...

NEW YORK, NY—When Huffington Post writer Brutto Chalet discovered he was being let go earlier this year, he decided he was going to do what all Americans do when they lose their job: learn to code. There's just one problem: he suddenly realized the code he was working in was binary. "Excuse me, professor?" he said to his programming teacher. "Yeah, hi. Brutto Chalet, he/him. Did I hear you correctly? Are we only allowed to work in binary code? Are there non-binary options for us to work with?" The teacher said that they would just be learning to program atop...

John F. Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, said only months ago that those losing fossil fuel jobs in coal and hydraulic fracturing will find they have a better choice of jobs either in the solar industry or as wind turbine technicians. That was then. Now, a wind blade manufacturing plant located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, has announced it is shutting its doors permanently in less than two months. The disappearance of Molded Fiber Glass will displace over 300 workers and their families. It marks another major loss of energy jobs in the state following President Joe Biden's halting...

ROARING SPRING, PA. — When the Appvion Inc. paper mill plant shuts its doors for good in two weeks, putting 293 people out of work, it will mark the first significant manufacturing loss in this state since President Biden took office. “We were all completely blindsided,” said state Sen. Judy Ward, who claims she and other local officials had no hint that the plant, founded in 1866, was in danger of shuttering. Mitchell Becker, president of the local branch of United Steelworkers, the union that endorsed Biden for president, said he thought his job — which he’s kept for 25...

BuzzFeed acquired HuffPost from Verizon Media in February. BuzzFeed announced layoffs for the HuffPost newsroom on Tuesday, three weeks after acquiring HuffPost from Verizon Media in February. Hillary Frey, the site’sexecutive editor, and Louise Roug, the executive editor for international, will be departing in the restructuring effort. HuffPost Canada will also shutter operations later this month. A deal between BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Verizon Media was first made public in November. Verizon Media stated at the time that BuzzFeed and HuffPost would operate as “separate, distinct news organizations” with their own websites and editorial staff while BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti led...

"After 10 years (!!) I have been laid off along with many of my talented colleagues. I’m very proud of the work I did here and will share some in the coming days. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a curious, motivated narrative reporter with a keen eye for news, keep me in mind."

One of the most chilling examples in modern times of the accelerating full-spectrum assault on free speech and the First Amendment took place yesterday. One of the most chilling examples in modern times of the accelerating full-spectrum assault on free speech and the First Amendment took place yesterday on Capitol Hill, courtesy of a subcommittee of the Democrat-controlled House Committee on Energy and Commerce. For over three hours on Wednesday afternoon, the subcommittee held a virtual hearing titled Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media. The target was conservative media in general and Fox News in particular. Conservatives...

Bloomberg News on Thursday began notifying a group of employees they were being terminated, according to three people familiar with the matter, the latest in an ongoing string of layoffs at media companies as they grapple with the economics of the digital age. Some staffers were given the sense the company hoped to enact a restructuring among a group of veteran editors, according to one of these people, who noted that some employees affected had been with Bloomberg for decades. Some employees at Bloomberg were of the belief, this person said, that the company was hoping to open its ranks...

John Micklethwait, the top editor of Bloomberg News, blasted the rank and file for spotty performance over the past year as he unveiled cuts of approximately 90 people in the editorial and research departments. ... We all know that we also ‘lost’ stories because we moved too slowly,” he continued. “Teams waited for somebody to back-read a piece or ignored the requests from the News Desk to get a blast out quickly. Managers spent too much time setting up conference calls when they should just have been writing. Or teams suddenly delivered enterprise pieces that nobody wanted. “Covid has highlighted...

Noem has also built national steam with her handling of the coronavirus pandemic—a mirrored, hands-off approach to the former president’s—refusing to implement a statewide mask mandate to mitigate the disease’s spread. The popularity has sparked calls for Noem to pursue a higher office.

Forget the coronavirus. A new pandemic has broken out, one targeting the liberal media: the Chills Virus! Yesterday, New York Times editor Lauren Wolfe tweeted: "Biden landing at Joint Base Andrews now. I have chills."Poor John Berman of CNN was afflicted with the same virus this morning. On New Day, commenting on Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's inauguration performance, Berman said: "I have to say, the ending, 'for there will always be light, if only we are brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it,' something that, just aside from politics, leaves you with chills."Get...

A recent report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) indicates China will recover and overtake the U.S. economy sooner than expected following fallout from the pandemic. According to the report, China is predicted to swap places with the United States by the year 2028 “after weathering the coronavirus pandemic better than the West.” Bloomberg News reports, “The world’s biggest and second-biggest economies are on course to trade places in dollar terms in 2028, five years earlier than expected a year ago.” “The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding economic fallout have certainly tipped this rivalry in China’s favor,” the...

Parler CEO John Matze says he and his family have been forced to go into hiding after death threats and "security breaches" and left them fearing for their lives. A new court filing on Friday from the Parler legal team revealed Matze and his wife and young child are now in hiding after being placed in danger. Parler is a free speech-focused social media app that has been widely embraced by Trump supporters as it offers an uncensored alternative to restrictive Big Tech rivals.

Amazon submitted a new filing in federal court on Tuesday in response to an emergency motion by Parler to restore its hosting services through Amazon’s AWS. Parler was kicked offline early Monday after Amazon said the social media company had violated its terms of service and Parler couldn’t find another company willing to do business. Parler sued Amazon on Monday alleging breach of contract and an antitrust violation. Read the rest...

While the Obama family is considered off limits by the media, one brave comedian swung for the fences with a gutsy joke at the expense of Michelle Obama during a recent standup gig. Steve Mudflap McGrew reminds us that not all comedians subscribe to the politically correct standards of modern liberals. During the four years that Melania Trump has been First Lady, she has been relentlessly mocked and attack by both the media and the entertainment world.

A deep sense of malaise seems to have settled over America. Our politicians, from Biden at the top to lowly state-level bureaucrats like Georgia’s Secretary of State Raffensberger, are corrupt and sneer at us plebes for pointing to their corruption as evidence that they’re not our betters and that China owns America and its politicians. The media lies to us. The tech companies censor us and stop the free flow of information. Our businesses aren’t what they used to be and our “culture,” if it can even be called that anymore, is an amalgamation of poorly made reruns and vulgar...

A new Rasmussen survey indicates 72 percent of Republican voters want their legislators to be more like President Trump. In fact, in their view, Trump is an extraordinarily better role model than most members of Congress. The national telephone and online survey “finds that 72% of Likely Republican Voters think their party should be more like Trump than like the average GOP member of Congress,” Rasmussen reports. By contrast, 24 percent see the average Republican in Congress as a better example for their party. Overall, voters gave the “average member of Congress” 45 percent to just 40 percent for the...

There is a breaking story today about a tape-recorded call which is said to have taken place yesterday between President Trump and the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger. This is an interesting story in light of the article I published earlier today about the valid election challenge that remains pending in Georgia, with signs that it is being purposely stalled until such time as the outcome of the case can have no impact on either the election or public perception of the events playing out right now. The tape was obtained by the Washington Post, but several media outlets...

[Note: This piece contains heavy video and graphic content.] The Swamp hates McConnell’s bill because the Swamp, which has become a wholly-0wned subsidiary of Big Tech and the ChiComs, loves Section 230, and it also detests the provision in McConnell’s bill that would establish a commission to “study” voter fraud during the 2020 elections. My goodness, does the Swamp hate that stuff. McConnell, on the other hand, doesn’t give a tinker’s damn if any of this stuff is passed into law. He couldn’t care less personally about COVID relief; is himself firmly in the pocket of Big Tech; and has...