Free Republic

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is making record-breaking progress in processing a backlog of veteran disability claims that mounted under former President Joe Biden, the agency told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The VA brought unresolved claims down from 264,717 to 198,378 — or by approximately 25% — since President Donald Trump returned to office, the VA told the DCNF. Trump’s VA has also hit the highest daily and monthly processing rates in the agency’s history while reversing a 24% increase in the backlog that occurred under Biden, the VA said in a statement. [snip] The last time the...

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued the order in March 2020 that ultimately killed at least 15,000 nursing home residents. Many senior living centers were flooded with COVID patients thanks to Cuomo’s reckless order putting them in senior living facilities instead of other locations that could have protected elderly people. Now, the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into Cuomo, probing whether he lied to Congress about his role in a state policy that led to the deaths of thousands of nursing home residents. The investigation, initiated last month, centers on a controversial March 2020 directive that required...

In the days following missing camper Tiffany Slaton’s rescue from the Sierra National Forest, what began as a heartwarming tale of a woman surviving against all odds has been tinged by a chorus of online skeptics questioning the hiker and her family.While many have praised the tenacity of the 28-year-old Georgia woman, others have expressed doubts about the veracity of her shocking survival story and have criticized her family’s fundraising motives.Slaton had set out for a three-day camping trip in the Huntington Lake area on April 20 but wound up surviving three weeks in the wilderness — eating wild leeks...

Thursday’s Senate vote to block California’s ban on sales of gas cars is the latest GOP effort to stop state climate policies.The Senate voted Thursday to block California from enforcing a rule that would ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035, a move that could have far-reaching implications for auto sales in a dozen states.The vote marks Republicans’ latest effort to curtail state-level efforts to tackle climate change, even as President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have empowered states to set their own education policies and abortion laws.This month, the Justice Department sued New York and...

The move was a major escalation in the administration’s efforts to pressure the college to fall in line with President Trump’s demands.The Trump administration on Thursday halted Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, a major escalation in the administration’s efforts to pressure the college to fall in line with the president’s agenda.The administration notified Harvard about the decision after a back-and-forth in recent days over the legality of a sprawling records request as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation, according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations.“I am writing to inform you that effective immediately, Harvard...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Education Department and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs. The administration said it would challenge the ruling.U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Trump administration from carrying out plans announced in March that sought to work toward Trump’s goal to shut down the department. It marks a setback to one of the Republican president’s campaign promises.The ruling came in two consolidated lawsuits that said Trump’s plan amounted to an illegal closure...

SummaryPasses in a knife-edge 215-214 vote, two Republicans vote no, one falls asleep Would add $3.8 trillion to the US debt, stirring investor concern Would cut green-energy incentives, fund Trump deportation push WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a sweeping tax and spending bill by a single vote which would enact much of President Donald Trump's policy agenda and saddle the country with trillions of dollars more in debt. The bill would fulfill many of Trump's populist campaign pledges, delivering new tax breaks on tips and car loans and boosting spending on...

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“Every single Democrat” voted against the “big, beautiful bill,” the Republican National Committee (RNC) said in a statement celebrating its passage by the U.S. House of Representatives. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was able to get the sweeping tax and spending bill across the finish line in the lower chamber Thursday morning in a narrow 215-214-1 vote. The RNC credited President Donald Trump for his leadership in ushering along the bill, highlighting some of the main victories in it for the American people, including tax relief. “Today, under President Trump’s leadership, House Republicans delivered a huge win for the American people...

This summer, solar power generation globally could exceed electricity from nuclear power plants for the first time ever, as solar capacity soars and sunlight and daylight hours are long in the northern hemisphere. Global solar power generation jumped by 34% in the first quarter of 2025 from the same period in 2024, according to data from Ember cited by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire. If the pace of growth is sustained though June, July, and August, solar output is set to top 260 terawatt hours (TWh) in the summer months. This would beat the average 223 TWh of global nuclear power...

President Donald Trump signed The TAKE IT DOWN Act into law. “Signing the TAKE IT DOWN Act into law is an historic moment for survivors of image-based sexual abuse: There’s finally a path for this abuse to be quickly removed from digital platforms,” Dr. Marcel van der Watt, President of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a press release. He remarked that the legislation “passed unusually fast,” thanks to “bipartisan support in Congress and First Lady Melania Trump’s championship.” “Image-based sexual abuse is a horrific assault on a person, and that abuse becomes magnified on digital platforms,” van...

Students from universities including Yale, Stanford and UCLA have been refusing to eat in solidarity with Palestinians at risk of starvation in GazaWhen I speak to Iman Deriche, she hasn’t eaten in five days. “There are some moments of fatigue,” she says. “But I’m doing well.” The 21-year-old Stanford University student is one of 24 students and three faculty members who are taking part in a hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. They aren’t alone: students and faculty at universities across the US are going on hunger strike with activist organisation Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), from...

Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown told reporters Thursday morning she won't resign after being federally indicted with her daughters. "Why would I resign," Brown said. "I haven't been convicted of anything." Why it matters: Brown, who represents District 3 in west Charlotte, plans to run again later this year. Catch up quick: Federal prosecutors indicted Brown on wire fraud charges, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In a release Thursday morning, prosecutors described Brown and her daughters' alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain federal money during the pandemic. The intrigue: In the indictment, prosecutors...

The New Zealand singer says coming off birth control after 15 years felt like the ‘best drug’ she’s ever had. Her critics claim she’s fuelling anti-contraception rhetoric – but is that really the case?In an interview with Rolling Stone to promote her upcoming fourth album, Virgin, New Zealand pop star Lorde revealed that she’s off birth control for the first time in 15 years. “I’ve now come to see [my decision] as maybe some quasi right-wing programming,” she admits, referring to the rise of right-wing fear-mongering and misinformation spreading around hormonal contraception. “But I hadn’t ovulated in 10 years. And...

I hope everyone is paying close attention to what DOGE's Antonio Gracias just said here.. Not only did they find illegals with social security numbers that voted. But THEY VOTED IN THE 2020 ELECTION TOO How long have Democrats been rigging elections with illegals?? “They registered to vote, and they actually voted in 2020 and 2024” ... 2020 was stolen ... This has been going on for decades. ... 2000 Mules told everyone. Documented, verifiable, data. Just look at California.

Report shows that $70 million in US taxpayer money was given to the California NGO’s that are going after and shutting down family farms.. Our tax dollars are being laundered to NGO’s and used to shut down our food system.. “Congress is investigating the NGOs that shut down the 12 family farms — They also verified by the committee that they did not respond when they said, hey, why'd you do this? — And now they're talking about that they might have to subpoena them because they're not answering their questions.”. “They also verified they were giving about $70 million...

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says it has secured 60 convictions against migrants who set foot in the new National Defense Area in El Paso. The convictions came through guilty pleas entered in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The 60-foot-wide NDA running from the Texas-New Mexico state line through El Paso County near Fort Hancock, Texas, is considered an extension of Fort Bliss. “Beginning in early May, additional criminal charges were filed against individuals who illegally entered or were found illegally in the United States and who had illegally entered the National Defense Area,” the U.S. Attorney’s...

Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old man from Chicago, has been arrested by US authorities following the killing of two Israeli embassy workers on Wednesday evening. A man and a woman identified as a couple called Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgram were pronounced dead at the scene near the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., after a gunman opened fire. It’s understood that the victims, who were both said to be Israeli nationals, had been attending a ‘Young Diplomats Reception’ before they were shot when leaving the event.

Authorities in Illinois have charged former Rock Island County Court Services administrative assistant Leisa Streeter with theft, theft of government property, forgery, money laundering, and three counts of official misconduct. After she retired in June 2024, the county's Probation and Treasurer's Departments noticed financial irregularities in her department. Authorities claim she opened a fraudulent bank account in 2003 under "Rock Island County VIP" to siphon funds, which she spent on food, entertainment, travel, and loan payments, averaging about $43,000 annually. She reportedly stole about $900,000 over 21 years.

Judge James Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit responded to the Supreme Court charging a district court with “inaction” for not ruling on an emergency injunction in A.A.R.P v. Trump in 42 minutes by arguing they had over 14 hours. Alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang the U.S. government has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, sent an injunction in April seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent their deportation or removal from the U.S., according to Ho’s concurring opinion. The district court told petitioners it would give the government a 24-hour...