Free Republic

While media cries about Trump eradicating fraud, and protesters punish Musk over DOGE findings, Social Security cons are plentiful. When Elon Musk announced in February that there were 10 million Social Security numbers belonging to holders apparently aged 120 years and older, instead of acknowledging the great potential for fraudulent activity, the corporate media downplayed the concerns. They insisted that Social Security fraud is “not very common” and maligned the Trump administration’s efforts to purge the federal government of waste and abuse. However, multiple instances of Social Security fraud confirmed in April alone are a reminder that the system has...

Cory Bowman was feeling inspired in January as he headed home after watching his half brother, JD Vance, be inaugurated as vice president. The 36-year-old Bowman, who shares a father with Vance, was already active in the community, starting an evangelical church in Cincinnati's West End and later opening a coffee shop. But he hadn't thought politics was his calling. Now, suddenly, he did. He decided to launch a campaign for mayor. "There was nobody that pushed me into it, nobody that told me that this is a pathway I should go," he said in an interview one recent morning....

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced Wednesday that he will not seek re-election in 2026, ending his decadeslong career in Congress. The decision from Durbin, who is the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, will open up a leadership position in the chamber and is expected to set off a competitive primary for his seat in solidly blue Illinois.

President Trump issued a stark warning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, saying Kyiv’s leader was in a “dire” situation and “can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country.” Trump, 78, was responding to Zelensky telling reporters Tuesday that “Ukraine will not legally recognize the [Russian] occupation of Crimea” — a key part of a US-proposed peace plan under discussion in London Wednesday, and a condition that has long been a red line for Kyiv. “This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost...

The Slovak government halted purchases of COVID-19 vaccines on Wednesday pending a review of their safety by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Prime Minister Robert Fico said. Fico, a populist who has himself declined coronavirus vaccination, has long criticised the COVID policies of the previous governments, including vaccination campaigns before his return to power in 2023. Fico told a televised briefing that based on a 2023 agreement signed by a previous administration, Slovakia was still due to receive 300,000 more vaccine doses for around 5.7 million euros ($6.48 million). He did not name the suppliers. "We have an expert opinion...

High-profile tribal activists backed a Long Island school in its fight to keep its team name despite a state ban on Native American logos – joining a President Trump rallying cry. Frank Black Cloud, a member of the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota, said Tuesday that rebranding the Massapequa Chiefs would be a “terrible thing to do.” “Historically, we are Chiefs, we are Warriors,” said Black Cloud, 60, referencing neighboring Wantagh’s Warriors team — which may also have to drop its name. He pointed to a pair of 2004 and 2016 polls that found nine in 10 Native Americans...

Podcaster Tim Pool took full advantage of his New Media seat in the White House Briefing Room to humiliate the corporate media to their faces … and it was glorious… “Many of the news organizations represented in this room have marched in lock step on false narratives, such as the ‘very fine people’ hoax, the Covington smear,” Pool said, prefacing his first official question to Awesome White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. “And now, the ‘Maryland man’ hoax, where an MS-13 gang member, adjudicated by two different judges, I believe, is simply being referred to as a ‘Maryland man’ over...

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On Tuesday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) pushed for more gun control in her state, claiming, “Guns are the number one killer of young people in America.” Whitmer made the comments in Lansing, with members of the gun control lobby gathered behind her for Annual Advocacy Day. For years the left was called out for claiming guns were the number one cause of death for children in America. Breitbart News showed this claim to be false when President Joe Biden first made it on June 2, 2022. We noted the claim was based on reported 2020 CDC data, then dug...

“The Office” star Rainn Wilson slammed “left-leaning” media outlets for causing the public to lose trust in President Donald Trump and Elon Musk — while being cheerleaders for the Biden administration. Wilson, who played the ambitious Dwight Schrute on the hit show, voiced his complaints to MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle during an interview with her on his “Soul Boom” podcast Tuesday. He said left-wing outlets like MSNBC were in denial in their coverage of Biden’s faltering mental acuity and issues important to voters like inflation and illegal immigration — but are now overly negative in their coverage of Trump and...

The Trump DOJ responded to a federal judge’s order demanding more details on its decision to deport MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. On Tuesday evening Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, erupted on the Trump Administration after a conference to address the government’s dispute over discovery in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case.

Russia has recaptured a monastery that was one of the last remaining Ukrainian positions in the Kursk region after a fierce 10-day battle. Vladimir Putin’s forces are in control of the St Nicholas Belogorsky Monastery in the border village of Gornal, around a mile from Ukraine, state media reported. It had been used as a base for as many as 300 Ukrainian soldiers trying to organise the defence of captured Russian territory. Moscow’s troops managed to break the Ukrainian foothold at the historic landmark after fierce fighting in the area The claimed Russian victory means Ukraine’s shock incursion into Russia’s...

“Black Americans’ fight for true reparations will not be co-opted and misappropriated for racist anti-immigrant fear-mongering operations,” said Dreisen Heath, a reparations researcher. White House aide Stephen Miller argued that Americans who have been harmed by undocumented immigrants and immigration policies enacted by the Democratic Party should receive “reparations.” Miller, who serves as President Donald Trump‘s deputy chief of staff for policy, appeared on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight” on Friday night, where he discussed the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which include the mass deportation of undocumented people living in the United States. During the news segment, Miller said Americans should...

Following the Tesla Q1 earnings call and a profit drop of 71%, Elon Musk has announced his imminent departure from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).A longtime hero of the left due to his work on global warming initiatives — solar panels and electric vehicles — Elon Musk began to fall out of favor initially when he bought Twitter, announcing that he wanted to defend “freedom of speech.” He became an absolute enemy of the left when he joined the Trump administration as the titular head of the Department of Government Efficiency.In the initial months of Elon’s work with DOGE,...

NEW YORK, April 22 (Reuters) - Power grid use in the far northeast United States registered an all-time low over the weekend as mild weather and rooftop solar panels slashed demand on the regional electrical system, grid operator ISO New England said on Tuesday. The U.S. power grid is shifting as climate change, the rise of renewable electricity generation and the electrification of buildings and industries like transportation upend long-held supply and demand trends. On April 20, power demand on the New England power grid dropped to 5,318 megawatts after three consecutive years of registering record lows, ISO New England,...

It could take up to five years to develop a domestic supply chain to supplant China’s global monopoly in processing rare earths into materials needed to produce everything from iPhones to F-35 fighter jets. While the United States has most of the 17 rare earth elements and 50 critical minerals underground, it has no industrial capacity to refine them into processed metals and magnets, according to Melissa “Mel” Sanderson, American Rare Earths board member and Critical Minerals Institute co-chair. “Currently in the United States, we have zero magnet manufacturers,” Sanderson told The Epoch Times. She said that’s why China imposed...

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is boasting on the front page of The Wall Street Journal that, “Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about here.” This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion. Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being...

New experiments to dim the Sun using geoengineering techniques will be approved by the UK government within weeks. These trials could provide critical data on methods to combat runaway climate change.

Governor Brad Little signed an executive order that aims to ramp up timber harvests during a visit to Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday. Titled the “Make Forests Healthy Again Act,” the executive order directs the Idaho Department of Lands to expand on its partnership with the U.S. Forest Service to reduce wildfire risk in Idaho’s federally managed forest lands. Active management activities include “increasing timber harvest, restoring watersheds to support the industry, protecting communities, and making our forests healthier, more resilient and resistant to catastrophic wildfire,” said IDL director Dustin Miller. Sixty percent of Idaho’s land is owned and managed by...

Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will not seek a sixth term next year, confirming to WBEZ in an Illinois exclusive that he will leave office in 2027 in a long-awaited move certain to set off a massive, intraparty succession fight. “I’ve decided not to run for re-election. So a year and a half from now, I’ll be wrapping up. I plan on working full-time until that moment, but I’m not going to be waging a campaign for re-election,” Durbin said during an interview in downtown Chicago. A major reason for his decision boiled down to one thing: his age. By...