Free Republic

When catastrophe strikes, its victims understandably want to know how and why — but their curiosity often morphs into snap judgments and witch hunts by those with ulterior motives. The horribly destructive wildfires sweeping through Los Angeles County neighborhoods have become fodder for irresponsible, fact-free finger pointing, mostly aimed at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Social media have erupted with vituperative attacks on both figures, alleging that they, either by actions or inactions, allowed the firestorms to destroy thousands of homes and claim dozens of lives. One expertly produced fake video depicts Newson and Bass playing...

Rubin, widely regarded as the most courageous and intellectually dynamic opinion columnist in the history of American journalism, finally “resigned” from the Washington Post on Monday and launched a “pro-democracy” website, the Contrarian, on Substack. In a note announcing her alleged resignation, less than a week after the Post laid off roughly 100 employees in an effort to stop losing $77 million a year, Rubin accused the paper’s owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, of sabotaging journalism’s “sacred mission” of “defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Contrarian is built on a premise some would describe as delusional. In Rubin’s view, the...

President-elect Donald Trump fawned over Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) after a recent meeting between the two, calling him a “fascinating man” who he “couldn’t be more impressed” by. CBS News reported late last week that Fetterman was set to become the first Democratic senator to meet Trump since his triumph in November’s presidential election. “I think that one, he’s the president, or he will be officially…and I think it’s pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it. And no one is my gatekeeper,” said...

Not quite six years ago, wildfire expert Jack Cohen, who lives in Missoula, Mont., visited Pacific Palisades to instruct firefighters and property owners on how to protect homes against wildfires. Three days of training, including a tour of the community, left Cohen hopeful, but the feeling faded when it became clear that his lessons were not going to be fully implemented. This week’s tragedy has left him with a deep sadness. Respected by fire agencies across the country, Cohen and Pyne have found their straight-talk admonitions often disregarded or dismissed. Sensitive to losses and suffering, both said they are motivated...

As quickly as the Sunset fire started charring through Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday evening, an AI-generated photo of the Hollywood sign ablaze was rapidly circulating on social media. It was just one example of misinformation surrounding the Los Angeles-area fires spreading on social media, and experts warn that false information during natural disaster events disrupts recovery efforts and harms community trust. ** Misinformation can emotionally exploit a situation, hijack conversations from emergency information and, in some cases, lead to financial scams, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ** Unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid...

Rarely has media spin control bias been more sharply on display than during the coverage of the Los Angeles wildfires by FOX 11 local news on Wednesday.Their Good Day LA anchor Melvin Robert heard something from former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso -- who lost to Karen Bass in the primary -- that was critical of the local officials regarding the lack of water for the fire fighters. Robert immediately went into spin mode and denied any such lack of water only to be contradicted a few moments later by his own reporter on the scene with the fire fighters.

Biden inherited a mess. He leaves the U.S. in far better shape, at home and abroad.It is easy to forget how desperate things were on Jan. 20, 2021, when Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. became the 46th president of the United States.Just two weeks earlier, thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters had stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent attempt to keep Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory. The nation was at the height of the coronavirus pandemic; in that month, 3,000 Americans died daily from covid-19. There were newly developed, lifesaving vaccines, thanks to the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed...

All that was missing was Joe Scarborough looking into the camera and saying—à la his recent claim that the current Biden was the best Biden ever and f-you if you didn't believe it—that Jimmy Carter was the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln. Today's episode Morning Joe engaged in some world-class revisionism in praise of Carter. Incredibly, citing supposed Soviet views at the time, Scarborough credited Carter [and Mika's dad Zbigniew Brzezinski] more than Reagan, for the fall of the Soviet Union.Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Trump and his MAGA allies are already targeting the four major pillars of resistance to Trump during his first term. As we prepare for Trump’s second regime — which promises to be far worse than the first — it’s important to do what we can to protect and fortify these four centers of opposition. 1. Universities University faculties are dedicated to finding and exposing the truth — which has often meant calling out Trump’s lies. But Trump has warned that he’ll change the criteria for university accrediting in order to force university faculties into line...... 2. Nonprofits America’s nonprofits have...

When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) met with key Democrats last month to make her case to help lead a committee that will be critical in countering President-elect Donald Trump, she faced sharp questions from members of her party. As Ocasio-Cortez lobbied the powerful Steering Committee that decides panel assignments, Rep. Linda T. Sánchez (D-California) pressed her on her past decisions to endorse primary challengers against Democratic incumbents. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), one of the incumbents Ocasio-Cortez tried to defeat, followed up by asking why Democrats should elevate her given her previous animosity toward her less-liberal colleagues, according to two...

The New York Times wrote a few days ago, “President Biden is bequeathing his successor a nation that by many measures is in good shape, even if voters remain unconvinced.” Just how good are things? Here’s how the Times described the state of the economy:For the first time since that transition 24 years ago, there will be no American troops at war overseas on Inauguration Day. New data reported in the past few days indicate that murders are way down, illegal immigration at the southern border has fallen even below where it was when Mr. Trump left office and roaring...

PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump is reportedly becoming fed up with his new pal Elon Musk with the tech mogul being too "clingy". Musk has spent the past few days going on fiery online tirades against the British government with UK politicians now even said to be urging Trump to ditch the Tesla chief. Billionaire Musk has been Trump's biggest fan over the past few months and even helped propel him into the White House. The pair have been inseparable since the Republicans swept to a landslide election win in November. Musk reportedly joined the future president on an important phone call...

I would have written about this one yesterday, but I was enjoying the experience of getting a colonoscopy. But the story is still timely and, more importantly, a perfect example of how the Democrats and the Pravda Media create a nasty hoax out of an innocent event. I am speaking of the Great Handshake Controversy of January 6th. It was, according to the left, a very dark day in American history. Scott Jennings snarkily called it the High Holy Day of January 6th. This time the horror that must be expressed was not the storming of the Capitol building but...

LONDON (AP) — Fresh from pouring his money and energies into helping Donald Trump win reelection, Elon Musk has trained his sights on Europe, setting off alarm bells among politicians across the continent. The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive has endorsed the far-right Alternative for Germany, demanded the release of jailed U.K. anti-Islam extremist Tommy Robinson and called British Prime Minister Keir Starmer an evil tyrant who should be in prison. Many European politicians have been left concerned by the attention. Musk’s feed on his social network X is dotted with abusive language — labeling politicians “stupid cretin” and “sniveling...

During California’s most recent drought, officials went to great lengths to safeguard water supplies, issuing emergency regulations to curb use by thousands of farms, utilities and irrigation districts.It still wasn’t enough to prevent growers in the state’s agricultural heartland from draining dry several miles of a major river for almost four months in 2022, in a previously unreported episode that raises questions about California’s ability to monitor and manage its water amid worsening droughts.It’s not uncommon, during dry spells, for farmers and other water users in California to draw streams down to a trickle in places. But the severity and...

California farmers could soon enjoy bumper crops thanks to President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to lift water restrictions. But who will pick them if he follows through on his deportation threats? The country’s largest agricultural constituency backed Trump in November, bucking California’s deep-blue electorate over his campaign promises to “open the faucet” and deliver more water to the state’s parched, conservative-leaning Central Valley. But now it’s reckoning with an uncomfortable contradiction: Trump also campaigned on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, who make up at least half of the state’s agricultural workforce. That’s left California’s agricultural barons, who employ the most farm...

CNN anchor Jim Acosta said Monday on “Newsroom” that the Republican Party should have “flat out rejected” President-elect Donald Trump. Partial transcript as follows: ACOSTA: Brad, is it time for Donald Trump to apologize for what took place four years ago? BRAD TODD: I wouldn’t expect Donald Trump would apologize, I think, nor do I expect Democrats to apologize for trying to undo his presidency by all legal and extralegal means after that. ACOSTA: Oh come on Brad! Come on! TODD: No– dude! Look at our own polling. Look at CNN’s own exit polling. Voters who said they voted on...

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. The Left doesn’t get it. They’d rather mainline whatever sludge CNN or MSNBC spews on the airwaves, but there’s no escaping this anymore: Donald J. Trump won the 2024 election. He won the Electoral College. He won the popular vote. He beat the lawfare and the media smear campaigns. He’s unstoppable, invincible, and it’s about time Democrats realize they cannot beat him. So, when you have these clown threads on Twitter claiming how Trump didn’t win the popular vote—look no further than Nate Silver, of all people, to annihilate...

Author and Marine veteran Philip Klay on Thursday expressed concern about the role that Trump Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth played in lobbying him to pardon war criminals during his first term in office. Writing in the New York Times, Klay highlights Hegseth's efforts on behalf of 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, a convicted war criminal whom Trump pardoned in 2019.

Standing barefoot in the mud with an empty container in hand at a crowded water station in central Gaza, Palestinian Alaa Al-Shawish is fearing the winter weather and looking for clean water for her family.Her family are living in a makeshift tent in Deir Al-Balah, after being displaced from Gaza City amid heavy Israeli bombardment. But their new home holds deadly perils of its own.