Free Republic

Marketplace plans from the Affordable Care Act no longer feel very affordable to many people, because Congress did not extend a package of enhanced subsidies that expired at the end of 2025. Last week, the House did pass legislation to extend the expired subsidies, and negotiations have moved to the Senate. Without a deal, an estimated 4.8 million will go without coverage this year. But even without a health plan, people will still need medical care. Many, like the Sorys, have been thinking through their plan B to maintain their health. The Sorys both lost jobs in November, within days...

Why does the famed leftist radio bastion have all its broadcasters speak in that insufferable whisper? Here is the somewhat disturbing answer. It is a common occurrence for a regular person to be flipping through radio channels, eventually to come across the style of radio presentation known as “NPR voice” — a soft-spoken, breathy, quietly pompous mode of vocal performance suggestive of an intimate conversation among a small circle of elites. The question immediately arises: Who could possibly find this manner of presentation appealing, and why? The answer lies in understanding NPR as the distilled essence of sociological, ideological, and...

Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967. CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the encouragement of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell. “CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving,...

The Trump administration is freezing child care funding to the state of Minnesota in response to a viral video that purports to expose extensive fraud by federally funded day care centers. Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old self-described "independent YouTube journalist," posted the 42-minute video on X and YouTube the day after Christmas. In it, he and an older man — identified only as "David" — visit various seemingly empty day care centers, bombarding Somali employees with questions and accusing them of not providing services to any children despite receiving public funds. The pair claim to have exposed over $110 million in...

A strong majority of Americans say they're worried about the climate. So why do they hear so little about it in the news? …The problem has become even more acute at a time when the US president is openly hostile to the scientific consensus on climate change. Donald Trump and his allies have pushed misleading narratives about the trade-offs of green energy, drawing reporters into covering false controversies instead of facts and making the job of reporting harder. "The Trump administration is playing reporters like a fiddle on the issue of trade-offs" by bringing up red herrings and sending reporters...

During President Trump's first term, the economy was a relative strength of his. During the 2024 presidential campaign, his promises to lower prices in a country grappling with post-COVID inflation propelled him back into office. But toward the end of his first year in office this term, just 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. It's his worst mark in the six years that Marist has been asking the question. The only time in that span that Americans had a similarly negative view of a president's handling of the economy...

Jonathan Franklin, a current University adjunct professor & former NPR correspondent who built his career on issues of race, culture, & justice, was recorded making openly racist remarks during an undercover date with James O’Keefe. Franklin, scheduled to teach a Georgetown course on interviewing & sourcing, labeled Black conservatives such as Candace Owens, Lawrence Jones, & Clarence Thomas as “coons,” & mocked his colleagues, saying he “works with stupid white people.” During the confrontation, Franklin attempted to assault an OMG cameraman before fleeing. Georgetown University records confirm Franklin is currently teaching students how to “interview sources effectively,” even as he...

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — With the remains of one hostage still in Gaza, the first phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas is nearly complete, after a two-month process plagued by delays and finger-pointing. Now, the key players — including Israel, the Palestinian militant Hamas group, the United States and a diverse list of international parties — are to move to a far more complicated second phase that could reshape the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan — which was approved by the U.N. Security Council — lays out an ambitious vision for...

A federal judge ruled against one of the Trump administration’s efforts to defund NPR.The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) had slashed a $36 million contract with NPR after President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at cutting funding to the news outlet. After a judge’s ruling, the CPB is renewing the contract after a judge ruled in NPR’s favor, according to the network.The Corporation for Public Broadcasting agreed Monday to fulfill a $36 million, multi-year contract with NPR that it had yanked after pressure from the Trump White House.The arrangement resolves litigation filed by NPR accusing the corporation of...

Countries are gathering in Brazil at the COP30 summit to take stock of climate change. As in past summits, the negotiations are starting on the back foot: countries already aren't meeting their goals to cut heat-trapping emissions from burning fossil fuels. The world has barely budged in its efforts to combat climate change compared to one year ago, according to a new report from the United Nations. If countries stay on that track, the planet will warm by about 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, compared to the pre-industrial temperatures of the mid-1800s. That's slightly better than...

U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to make official a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender patients at Catholic hospitals. The step formalizes a yearslong process for the U.S. church to address transgender health care. From a Baltimore hotel ballroom, the bishops overwhelmingly approved revisions to their ethical and religious directives that guide the nation's thousands of Catholic health care institutions and providers.

For over three months, the U.S. military has repeatedly struck boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, claiming that the vessels were intending to carry drugs into the United States. Since the first attack was announced on Sept. 2, these strikes have occurred nearly every week, killing dozens of people. NPR compiled a list of these boat attacks using posts on Truth Social and X by President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. These posts show grainy video footage of vessels being blown up. The administration has not publicly released further evidence that the boats were actually carrying drugs...

width="50%" Store manager Jose Pajares says he's slashing prices and stocking less food since business has slowed down at the Save A Lot in Springfield, Mass. The bulk of their customers depend on SNAP benefits, and the store depends on their business. A lapse in funding would hurt everyone. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Theresa Rios came to the grocery store this week with a shorter shopping list than usual. And she's also paying even more attention than usual to price. Walking past a shelf of items labeled "Real Bacon Bits" next to packages of imitation bacon bits, Rios doesn't hesitate. "This...

Access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth will be dramatically restricted by the Trump administration under new proposals by the Department of Health and Human Services. NPR has obtained the draft text of a proposed rule that would prohibit federal Medicaid reimbursement for medical care provided to transgender patients younger than age 18. It also prohibits reimbursement through the Children's Health Insurance Program or CHIP for patients under age 19.

Construction crews began dismantling the East Wing on Monday, even as the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) has not granted approval for the ballroom itself. According to NPR, NCPC chairman Will Scharf — who is also a Trump aide — said at a September meeting that the commission lacks jurisdiction over demolition or site preparation, only the “vertical build.” At an East Room event with the Louisiana State University baseball team, Trump acknowledged the noise from the construction happening “right behind us,” and added, “They wanted a ballroom for 150 years, and I’m giving that honor to this wonderful place.”

For Emma, what could have been a simple dollars-and-cents decision was far more complicated. The choice before her: whether to accept a scholarship offering nearly free tuition to attend law school at Indiana University in her home state — or to pay $45,000 a year at the University of Minnesota. A few weeks ago, she moved to Minneapolis to start law school, a choice largely shaped by the fact that Emma is trans. She has felt increasingly like Indiana's government doesn't welcome her.

Fifty years ago — Oct. 1, 1962 — the first black student was admitted to the University of Mississippi, a bastion of the Old South. The town of Oxford erupted. It took some 30,000 U.S. troops, federal marshals and national guardsmen to get James Meredith to class after a violent campus uprising. Two people were killed and more than 300 injured. Some historians say the integration of Ole Miss was the last battle of the Civil War. It was a high-stakes showdown between President Kennedy and Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett. "I'm a Mississippi segregationist and I am proud of it,"...

There could be as many as 104.1 million people who back domestic terrorism in the U.S. Most of America believes politically motivated violence is a problem in America, and there remains an alarming 30% who believe "Americans may need to resort to violence to get the country back on course," according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. That 30% includes 11% who "strongly agree" Americans must resort to violence to force their political agenda, and 19% "agree." With 347 million people in the U.S., 30% equates to 104.1 million supportive of domestic terror, including potentially more than 38 million who...

Every so often the media rolls its sleeves up and tries to once again get us all to eat gross, filthy bugs instead of delicious, healthy, clean meat. CBS ran this segment over the weekend arguing we should eat bugs because soybean farming is bad for the planet or something 🥴 Sadly, 2025 is no exception, with NPR once again making a bid to have us eat literal larva: In markets in the capital Kinshasa, tubs full of writhing white maggots line the alleyways, and women traders fry caterpillars, spiced with chili, over charcoal fires. "The more you eat caterpillars,...

A statue of President Trump holding hands with Jeffrey Epstein appeared briefly on D.C.'s National Mall this week, only to be removed after less than a day. The bronze-painted installation, titled Best Friends Forever, depicts the two men smiling at each other, each with an arm and leg raised as if in mid-frolic. "In Honor of Friendship Month, we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his 'closest friend,' Jeffrey Epstein," reads the plaque, emblazoned with hands making a heart shape. September is widely recognized as friendship month. Trump has repeatedly downplayed his relationship with Epstein, the...