Free Republic

Rarely has an economic policy been repudiated as soundly, and as quickly, as President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs—and by Mr. Trump’s own hand. Witness the agreement Monday morning to scale back his punitive tariffs on China—his second major retreat in less than a week. This is a win for economic reality, and for American prosperity. Make that a partial win for reality. The Administration agreed to scrap most of the 145% tariff Mr. Trump imposed on Chinese goods on April 2 and later. What remains is his new 10% global base-line tariff, plus the separate 20% levy putatively tied to...

House Republicans are proposing to bar most non-citizens from receiving taxpayer-funded benefits, including food stamps, in President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” GOP lawmakers are pursuing an extensive overhaul of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help offset the cost of the president’s tax priorities. The House Agriculture Committee will include a provision in their draft bill to restrict SNAP benefits to those who are citizens or lawful permanent residents following Republican Illinois Rep. Mary Miller’s request to the panel to prohibit certain non-citizens from receiving food stamps. “Taxpayer-funded benefits like SNAP are intended for Americans in need,...

A group of 59 white South Africans has arrived in the US, where they are to be granted refugee status. President Donald Trump has said the refugee applications for the country's Afrikaner minority had been expedited as they were victims of "racial discrimination". The South African government said the group were not suffering any such persecution that would merit refugee status. The Trump administration has halted all other refugee admissions, including for applicants from warzones. Human Rights Watch described the move as a cruel racial twist, saying that thousands of people - many black and Afghan refugees - had been...

TAMPA, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis is stepping up immigration efforts with the announcement that more than 100 Florida Highway Patrol troopers have been sworn in as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals. This means troopers can now serve federal warrants and help remove dangerous, criminal illegal aliens without waiting for the federal government to get directly involved in the operation.

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) filed paperwork Monday to run for Iowa governor in 2026, as multiple Republicans continue to weigh the opportunity to replace Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) when her term ends. The Hill’s attempts to reach Feenstra and his campaign team were unsuccessful. Feenstra, who was first elected to the House in 2020, has been openly mulling a gubernatorial bid since Reynolds announced on social media last month that she won’t seek a third full term. “I’ll tell you right now, I’m focused on fulfilling and making sure that we get Trump’s agenda completed,” Feenstra told reporters after an...

A total of 10 bodies have been found in rivers in the Portland, Oregon area since mid-April, two of which were found in May alone. The 10th body was found by authorities on Saturday on the Willamette River and was recovered at Portland's Cathedral Park, per KPTV. The identity of the person or the cause of death has yet to be released. Earlier in May, after the discovery of the eighth body, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said in a press releasethat the number of bodies recovered in a short time frame is "not unusual, though it is tragic."...

This week, much of the mainstream media ran with the headline that the economy contracted in the first quarter of this year. Predictably, they promptly blamed President Donald Trump. But a quick glance under the hood shows the data points to a much stronger economy than the headlines suggest. On Wednesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its estimate of economic growth measured by gross domestic product (GDP) for January through March. The topline figure pointed to a contraction of 0.3 percent—a number that certainly doesn’t seem positive. If we learned anything from economic data under former President Joe Biden,...

Between 2022 and 2024, the U.S. saw a record 43 percent rise in “sheltered homelessness”—staying in some sort of emergency shelter, as opposed to living on the street. That is shocking enough on its own, but according to a new study, a contemporaneous spike in asylum seekers accounted for a stunning 60% of that increase. “Asylum seekers”—as referenced in the study—are all recent immigrants seeking residence in the U.S., regardless of their legal status. Unsheltered homelessness has been on the rise since 2015, but sheltered homelessness had declined by 12% from 2007 to 2022 before its sudden 43% spike between...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the City of Turlock are continuing their funding fight over the Turlock-based homeless shelter, We Care. On Friday, Newsom wrote a letter to the city and expressed disappointment with their decision to reject allocating a single dollar. "It is imperative that the City reconsider its priorities and demonstrate the kind of collaborative, accountable, and solution-oriented leadership this crisis demands. Enough. Do your job," wrote Newsom. But Turlock Mayor Amy Bublak said she decided against approving the letter and dollar until the shelter took accountability. "This isn't about $1," Bublak said. "This is about ACCOUNTABILITY, and...

For more than 150 years, almost all people who were born within U.S. territory automatically received citizenship – regardless of their parents’ immigration status. President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order on birthright citizenship – stating that children born in the U.S. to parents who are not in the country legally, or who are not permanent residents, cannot receive citizenship – threatens to upend this precedent. The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the case on May 15, 2025. This comes after federal judges in three cases that took place in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington banned Trump’s order...

Newly arrived South Africans listen to representatives from Homeland Security and the State Department deliver welcome statements in a hangar at Atlantic Aviation Dulles near Washington Dulles International Airport on May 12, 2025 in Dulles, Va. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images ==================================================================== The first group of White South African refugees arrived in the U.S. on Monday under President Trump's executive order mandating they be prioritized for resettlement — even as the broader refugee program remains largely on hold. The 59 Afrikaners, descendants of mainly Dutch colonists, underwent expedited reviews that took months, were brought to the U.S. on a government-chartered flight, and...

Far-left protestors blocking the gates at Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, were arrested after a violent clash with police on Monday. As TGP reported earlier, far-left ‘faith leaders’ created a human chain and blocked emergency vehicles from entering the Delaney Hall detention facility. Far-left faith leaders block Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark / screen image Fox News Chaos erupted at the ICE detention facility after law enforcement asked the protesters to leave the property. Police cuffed protestors for obstructing the entrance to the facility and refusing to leave. WATCH: NEW: Arrests happening in Newark. Two people...

The Trump administration announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, a state program that provides monthly cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled non-citizens who are ineligible for Social Security benefits due to their immigration status.The investigation began in Los Angeles, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations Los Angeles field office issuing a Title 8 subpoena to California’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants, the Department of Homeland Security said in a news release. According to the department, the subpoena requests all records from the Los Angeles County Department of Public...

Trump’s presidential blitz is realizing the dreams of conservative intellectuals in the Reagan-Bush era.Imagine a populist president who set out to create, “in the first weeks of his administration, a radically different perception of the presidency.” He could use “far-reaching executive orders” to “give various constituencies throughout the country the immediate conviction that this president, for a change, looks out for them.” The burst of presidential edicts would serve visceral as much as practical purposes: “The nation as a whole needs to be jarred by this newcomer’s determination to protect the country’s vital interests, perhaps by ordering, on national security...

The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 brought many changes, but one of the more unexpected was that it enabled the wolves of Eastern Europe to begin expanding their range west, where they had been practically unknown for more than a century. Few large mammals, people included, had been permitted to cross from East to West before the Berlin Wall came down. From the guard towers along the border, soldiers had shot bears for fun.Today there are more than 21,500 wolves on the continent, a species of least concern. Their revival, a beacon of hope in the biodiversity crisis,...

Sean "Diddy" Combs used fame and violence to sexually abuse women, prosecutors have said in opening statements at the hip-hop mogul's trial, while the rapper's attorneys defended his "swinger" lifestyle. The 55-year-old has pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The court also heard from prosecutors' first witnesses, including a security guard from a hotel where Mr Combs is seen in a now-viral video beating his ex-girlfriend in 2016. His testimony was followed by a man who said Mr Combs abused his ex-girlfriend during paid sexual encounters with the couple. Warning: This...

SummaryShipping firms, port operators, retailers welcome progress Industry experts say 30% tariffs remain a risk for US consumers Shipping rates could rise with a cargo rush BERLIN/LOS ANGELES, May 12 (Reuters) - The container shipping industry on Monday welcomed an agreement between the United States and China to temporarily slash punishing tariffs, saying it expected to be buoyed by a resulting recovery in bookings from China to the U.S.The United States will cut extra tariffs it imposed on Chinese imports in April to 30% from 145% and Chinese duties on U.S. imports will fall to 10% from 125% for the...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Redstone Arsenal, AlabamaRedstone Arsenal (RSA) is a United States Army post and a census-designated place adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a garrison for various tenants across the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and NASA.Redstone Arsenal remains the center of testing, development, and doctrine for the Army's missile programs. Besides the U.S. Army Materiel Command and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command, Redstone houses the Tactical UAV Project Office, Redstone Test Center (RTC),...

Britain will toughen its requirements for legal migrants and extend the wait for newcomers to claim citizenship, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday, announcing a slew of policy changes as he resists a political barrage from the country’s emboldened populist right. Immigrants will now have to wait up to 10 years before they can seek to become British citizens – raised from five years – and requirements surrounding their skills level and proficiency in English will be raised, Starmer said, policies aimed at finally reversing a years-long increase in legal migration to Britain. “This plan means migration will fall –...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday urged California cities to clear homeless encampments, escalating efforts anew to address the makeshift tents that line underpasses, parks and streets up and down the state. The Democratic governor unveiled a blueprint for a camping ban for cities and counties to follow in announcing more than $3 billion in grants for facilities to treat homeless people and others who struggle with mental health and substance use disorders. He used the occasion to exhort cities and counties once again to use the money and policy changes provided by the state to do...