Free Republic

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" would cut taxes by $3.7 trillion while raising deficits by $2.4 trillion over a decade. The CBO makes projections based on information provided by Congress when considering legislation that includes spending and taxes. But is it always right? Not according to Larry Kudlow. During his show on Thursday, Kudlow outlined how the Congressional Budget Office missed projections related to the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, Trump’s signature bill in his first term. "The current cost of the 2017 tax cuts should be zero. Why should they...

Cook County has erased nearly $665 million in medical debt for local residents since launching the effort in 2022, according to new figures released Thursday. County leaders are celebrating the latest milestone of the program, which has so far helped almost 557,000 people have some of their debt abolished. The effort has relieved the most debt for people on Chicago’s South and West sides and in the south and west suburbs.The amount erased ranges from around $600 to $4,000 on average per person depending on where they live.

Musk and Gor disliked each other since before Trump reclaimed power on Jan. 20 — with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO describing Gor as “sleazy” during the transition and questioning his staffing picks. But the world’s richest man had the president’s ear and friendship through last week. Simmering behind the scenes was a grudge nursed by Gor over a March 6 Cabinet meeting, during which Musk “humiliated” him by slamming the pace of staffing the administration, said the sources, each of whom have interacted closely with Gor. “He was bragging to other people that he was going to get one...

Iran has ordered thousands of tons of ballistic missile materials from communist China, raising new concerns about the regime’s intentions and its growing alliance with America’s adversaries. This development comes amid tense negotiations with the Trump administration over the future of Iran’s nuclear program, as the regime works to rebuild its military capabilities. According to a Wall Street Journal report, shipments of ammonium perchlorate are expected to arrive in Iran within the next several months. An Iranian company, Pishgaman Tejarat Rafi Novin Co., recently placed the order for this missile component, with the material sourced from Hong Kong-based Lion Commodities...

Elon Musk posted a poll on X on Thursday asking followers whether they support the idea of a new political party to take on the Republicans and Democrats. Why it matters: The richest man in the world is publicly feuding with the most powerful man in America, whom he spent record-setting sums to elect. We're about to find out what Musk is prepared to do about it. Driving the news: Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he was "disappointed in Elon" for coming out against his "Big Beautiful Bill." Trump speculated it was because the bill...

President Trump is planning to give TikTok another lifeline. With a mid-June deadline approaching and trade talks with China in limbo, Trump is expected to sign an executive order staving off enforcement of a law banning or forcing the sale of the app, according to people familiar with his plan. It would be the third extension since Trump took office in January. The current one expires June 19. The White House had been facilitating a deal for investors to take ownership of an American-operated TikTok, but it got tangled in Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs on Chinese imports in early...

Is America giving up on peace in Eastern Europe and preparing for military action in the Middle East? The Trump administration is diverting anti-drone weaponry that was initially allocated for Ukraine to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East, according to a Wall Street Journal exclusive. “The Pentagon quietly notified Congress last week that special fuzes for rockets that Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones are now being allocated to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East,” the Journal reported Wednesday.What the Journal didn’t mention is that Russia has received thousands of drones from Iran, which is...

Veterans gathered in Normandy on Friday to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings — a turning point in World War II that ultimately precipitated the downfall of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s regime. Roughly two dozen veterans who served in World War II traveled to the beaches of Normandy to honor the thousands that died on D-Day, as well as the tens of millions that died in the second World War. D-Day marked a significant turn in World War II as it set the stage for the defeat of Nazi Germany by effectively establishing a Western front. It essentially...

The Trump administration has recovered a cell phone and hard drives used by Dr Anthony Fauci during the Covid pandemic, the president's FBI chief has revealed.Speaking Thursday on the Joe Rogan Experience, FBI director Kash Patel described the discovery as 'a great breakthrough' in the government's ongoing investigation into the origins of the pandemic and the federal response. Patel said investigators had long struggled to locate the devices Fauci used while serving as chief medical advisor to the White House — records that could shed light on key decisions surrounding lockdowns, mask mandates, and ties between Fauci's former agency and...

The war between Russia and Ukraine is intensifying, growing more violent and escalating rather than moving toward peace. A recent Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russia damaged bomber bases, but this has provoked a major retaliatory response: Russia launched over 400 drones and missiles, overwhelming Ukraine’s air defenses. Many of these were advanced Iranian-made drones now upgraded by Russia, making them harder to intercept. Ukrainian forces reportedly intercepted only about half the attacks, and even Patriot systems were either ineffective or destroyed. Footage shows multiple successful Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, with minimal air defense response in cities like...

Statement from the Libertarian Party of Guadalupe County. The Libertarian Party of Guadalupe County firmly believes that all affiliates—whether at the state or county level—should uphold the core principles and bylaws of the national Libertarian Party. In light of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s continued support for authoritarian rhetoric and tactics, as well as their open endorsement of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, we no longer recognize them as an official affiliate of the Libertarian Party. Furthermore, the refusal of the Libertarian National Committee majority to condemn this rogue affiliate leaves us with no choice but to take a principled...

President Donald Trump is free to bar the Associated Press from some White House media events for now, after a U.S. appeals court on Friday paused a lower court ruling mandating that AP journalists be given access. The divided ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit temporarily blocks an order by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, who ruled on April 8 that the Trump administration must allow AP journalists access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and White House events while the news agency's lawsuit moves forward.

Did he donate to Democrats? Yes, he did. But, a lot of other admin officials donated to Democrats too. We have receipts on that, or at least I have them. That’s a fact. Jared is a registered Republican in the state of Pennsylvania, and he was the most qualified person for the position of NASA Administrator. He’s donated $2 million to President Trump’s Inaugural Committee, and his donations to Trump are 7 times the amount he donated to Democrats. Those are just facts, regardless of who you support for the role of NASA Administrator. I am not trying to change...

A Friday report claimed that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the citizen of El Salvador deported in March by the Trump administration, is being returned to the United States in order to face criminal charges from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for transporting illegal immigrants throughout the interior of the country. The Tennessee Star was first to report that Abrego Garcia was suspected of human trafficking by Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) The Star was also first to report the “Biden-era FBI” instructed troopers to release Abrego Garcia, (more details from Micheal Patrick Leahy and Tom Pappert's month long investigation)

A possible mass shooting plot at a Michigan graduation ceremony was thwarted, authorities said, and police are searching for one of the suspects who remains at large. The apparent plot was revealed after authorities responded to a fight that broke out during the Arts and Technology Academy of Pontiac graduation, which was held Tuesday at a business in Pontiac, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. "A person approached our deputies and gave them information that a family member had told them that they had seen on Snapchat a threat to shoot up this graduation ceremony," Bouchard said at a news...

Chinese propagandists are using ChatGPT to write posts and comments on social media sites — and also to create performance reviews detailing that work for their bosses, according to OpenAI researchers. The use of the company's artificial intelligence chatbot to create internal documents, as well as by another Chinese operation to create marketing materials promoting its work, comes as China is ramping up its efforts to influence opinion and conduct surveillance online. "What we're seeing from China is a growing range of covert operations using a growing range of tactics," Ben Nimmo, principal investigator on OpenAI's intelligence and investigations team,...

On January 20, 2025, the President signed an executive order “establish[ing] the Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) with the goal of “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Exec. Order No. 14158, 90 Fed. Reg. 8441. The executive order requires agency heads to establish “DOGE Team[s]” within their agencies and to “ensure [DOGE] has full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems” in a manner “consistent with applicable law.” Id., §§3(c), 4(b), 5(b). On April 17, the District Court preliminarily enjoined the Social Security Administration (SSA) from granting DOGE affiliates...

Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, made the comments to Russian state news outlet TASS. "I think that Musk has a completely different game, [so] he will not need any political asylum, although if he did, Russia, of course, could provide it," Novikov said, in remarks translated from Russian. Musk and Trump, who had been political allies over desired cuts to federal spending, have publicly clashed recently with the feud escalating on June 5 in a series of exchanges across social media and in comments to reporters.

Mistakenly (editorialized opinion) deported Salvadoran native Kilmar Abrego Garcia is on his way back to the United States where he will face criminal charges for allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S., according to sources familiar with the matter.

Biden-era officials could face increasing legal pressure over misrepresentations to Congress about administration policy and where it overlapped with President Biden’s health as Republicans clamor for accountability. Decisions by Biden Administration officials to hide key evidence, stubbornly delay responses to subpoenaed records, or allegedly cover up President Biden’s declining mental and physical health are facing new scrutiny from congressional Republicans now dealing with a cooperative executive branch. The latest internal FBI memos released by Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, put former bureau Director Christopher Wray in hot water over his prior testimony to Congress, which Grassley wrote was “misleading.” Targeting Catholics...