Free Republic

Eleven minutes into the June 27 presidential debate, CNN anchor Dana Bash slipped a note to her colleague Jake Tapper after President Biden gave a rambling, incoherent answer. “He just lost the election,” she wrote. The event at the network’s Atlanta studios — recounted in Tapper’s and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson’s new book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” — turned out to be the most consequential presidential debate in history. Negative reaction to Biden’s alarmingly disastrous performance led him to abandon his campaign three weeks later and Vice President Kamala Harris...

A woman is jailed after prosecutors on Monday accused her of stabbing her 7-year-old son for making a mess in their Rogers Park apartment over the weekend. As we reported Saturday, Chicago police arrested the woman at Evanston Hospital after she went there to have her son treated for a stab wound. Yesterday, prosecutors said Llovana Torres, 26, stayed up late on Friday night cleaning her apartment in the 1700 block of West Touhy. But she awoke on Saturday morning to discover that her son had made another mess. She struck her son a number of times, and he hid...

The massive tax and immigration bill, which is central to Trump’s second-term plans, faces continued resistance from both moderates and GOP hard-liners.President Donald Trump carted his bully pulpit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, trying to persuade — and, at times, threatening — congressional holdouts to back the White House’s budget bill, which could determine whether he regains the momentum he had early in his second administration or sees his agenda stall.The massive tax and immigration bill, which is central to Trump’s second-term plans, narrowly passed the House Budget Committee on Sunday and faces continued resistance from both moderates and GOP...

This past weekend on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, FBI director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, made a stunning declaration: Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. That was it. Case closed. Bongino even said he’s “seen the file,” as if that alone should convince the American people to move on.But that’s not how this works.I couldn’t tell if I was watching an interview or a hostage video.The public doesn’t owe Patel and Bongino blind trust, especially not on a matter this explosive. In fact, their appearance on Bartiromo’s show torpedoed their credibility.Epstein wasn’t just another inmate. He was a...

At private gatherings, strategists and donors are swapping ideas to help the party capture the digital mojo that helped President Trump win. Yes, there’s a price tag.Six months after the Democratic Party’s crushing 2024 defeat, the party’s megadonors are being inundated with overtures to spend tens of millions of dollars to develop an army of left-leaning online influencers. At donor retreats and in pitch documents seen by The New York Times, liberal strategists are pushing the party’s rich backers to reopen their wallets for a cavalcade of projects to help Democrats, as the cliché now goes, “find the next Joe...

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio said Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating does not take into account the risk of the federal government printing money to pay its debt. Bond holders would suffer losses due to the depreciating value of the money they are getting paid, Dalio said. ... Bridgewater Associates founder and billionaire Ray Dalio warned Monday that Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating understates the threat to U.S. Treasurys, saying the credit agency isn’t taking into account the risk of the federal government simply printing money to pay its debt. “You should know that credit ratings...

wo major battle fronts are happening right now in the fight to defund Planned Parenthood and Big Abortion. In the Courts, Planned Parenthood is suing to force pro-life states to continue to pay for abortions. Liberty Counsel is on the case. Fund the fight to Defund Planned Parenthood at the U.S. Supreme Court and a special Challenge Grant will DOUBLE the impact of your gift. After witnessing the horrors our client Sandra Merritt revealed in her undercover videos which exposed Planned Parenthood’s evil baby parts for sale scheme, South Carolina banned Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Sandra’s videos showed Planned...

SummaryTrump meets with divided House Republicans Tax provisions, Medicaid cuts lead disputes Bill would extend tax cuts from Trump's first term WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday pressed his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Congress to unite behind a sweeping tax-cut bill, but apparently failed to convince a handful of holdouts who could still block a package that encompasses much of his domestic agenda.In a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, Trump bluntly warned Republicans in the House of Representatives not to press for further changes to the sprawling bill, which would cut taxes and tighten eligibility...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump implored House Republicans at the Capitol to drop their fights over his big tax cuts bill and get it done, using encouraging words but also the hardened language of politics over the multitrillion-dollar package that is at risk of collapsing before planned votes this week.During the more than hour-long session Tuesday, Trump warned Republicans not to touch Medicaid with cuts, and he told New York lawmakers to end their fight for a bigger local tax deduction reversing his own campaign promise. The president, heading into the meeting, called himself a “cheerleader” for the Republican...

Dear FRiends, We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. This means no spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers. And because we are not a 501C, we have preserved our God-given, constitutionally protected right to free speech without government intervention. If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today: Click here: to donate by Credit CardOr here: to donate by PayPalOr by mail to: Free Republic, LLC...

Last week former Trump-hating FBI Director Jim Comey posted a threatening photo on his Instagram account with the message “8647” which means “kill Trump.”Comey later lied and said the shells were already lined up on the beach as he walked by. Comey is currently under investigation for calling for Trump to be assassinated in a cryptic Instagram post. Comey continues to walk free after threatening the President of the United States.But the fad he created is going viral.Amazon is now selling “8647” T-shirts, hats and stickers!In fact Amazon has 7 pages of 8647 merchandize on their website.Examples at link.The unhinged...

The British maritime security firm warns that "should a future Russia-Ukraine peace agreement fail to address EU-UK sanctions on Russian hydrocarbon exports, Russia is likely to reallocate its security resources, previously concentrated on the Black Sea, to the Baltic region"LONDON, May 20. /TASS/. Attempts by European nations to detain allegedly Russia-linked merchant ships in the Baltic Sea are heightening the risk of "non-linear warfare" between NATO and Russia, according to a report by the British maritime security firm Ambrey. The assessment indicates that, in the near term, there will be "heightened maritime security risks, particularly around vessels transporting oil from...

An Egyptian fisherman who helped organise the movement of more than 3,000 migrants as part of a £12 million illegal boat crossing operation has been jailed for 25 years. UK-based Ahmed Ebid, 42, was involved in smuggling nearly 3,800 people from North Africa to Italy between October 2022 and June 2023, with some making their way to Britain, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Ebid is the first person in the UK to be convicted of being involved in people smuggling across the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Italy. He arrived in the UK on a small boat in 2022...

Monday on CNN’s “NewsNight,” CNN contributor Scott Jennings batted down co-panelist Democrat strategist Julie Roginsky’s response to recent revelations about former President Joe Biden’s health. Roginsky argued the focus should be on President Donald Trump, not Biden. Jennings rebutted Roginsky by noting Biden’s health was a prominent story in the news cycle, and Democrats’ response was “Trump.” Partial transcript as follows: JENNINGS: Are you arguing that Joe Biden was fine during his — ROGINSKY: I’m not arguing that he was fine. I’m arguing that — JENNINGS: You keep pivoting back to Trump, who’s — who’s clearly fine. ROGINSKY: I’m sorry....

Defending Education is taking parental rights to court, suing the state of Colorado over its outrageous and arguably unconstitutional new groomer law. You might remember the recently passed Colorado legislation to fund castration of “trans” kids with taxpayer dollars and in spite of parents' wishes, to mandate pro-trans policies in schools, to criminalize “deadnaming,” and to take supposed “misgendering” into account in custody cases. Defending Education, an organization that stands for parents and against woke indoctrination in schools, is suing the Democrat-run state over the extremely harmful legislation. Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, Protect Kids Colorado, Do No Harm, and Dr....

The White House doctor who previously gave now former President Joe Biden a clean bill of health is a longtime family friend — as speculation of a cover-up over his new cancer diagnosis continues to ramp up. Dr. Kevin O’Connor served as the 82-year-old’s official physician during his White House stint — and repeatedly insisted for years that Biden was in top mental shape despite his obvious cognitive decline. Now, in the wake of Biden’s prostate cancer diagnosis, O’Connor’s longstanding relationship with the Biden clan has come under renewed scrutiny. The physician also has business ties to Biden’s young brother,...

Kamala Harris was left aghast when President Joe Biden donned a “Trump 2024” cap at a Pennsylvania firehouse in a bizarre scene at the height of last year’s presidential race, a bombshell new book has revealed. During a visit to a Shanksville firehouse while commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Biden, now 82, posed with more than a dozen youngsters clad in pro-Trump attire — then briefly put on the cap after being egged on by a member of the crowd. “What is he doing?” Harris — by that point the Democratic nominee after Biden ended his re-election...

Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) on Tuesday said she rebuffed efforts from the Trump administration to strike a plea deal ahead of pending assault charges stemming from her visit to an immigration detention center, saying they wanted her to “admit to doing something that I did not do.” Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced Monday she planned to charge McIver with assaulting a law enforcement officer – thought she has yet to actually do so. McIver has said she did nothing wrong during a visit to a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility where chaos ensued as...

Like during the aftermath of the CNN debate in the 2024 election, Joe Biden's staff has more leaks than the Iraqi Navy. They cower in fear of this cantankerous man, but when they smell blood in the water, they spill all the details. Weeks after that debate implosion, which led to his booting from the Democratic ticket, the staff leaks were numerous and damning. Now, with the prostate cancer diagnosis, an affliction that Joe was likely suffering for years, more aides are leaking details, from knowing that something else might be off besides his mental health to whether he took...

TR agreed to take down X posting of documentary, which everyone has already downloaded and circulated. So he's being released this week. Suzy Connolly has been incarcerated for tweet, is still being held for more than a year, has a young daughter. Already took down the tweet. Court ruled against her. Transcript linked to video.