Free Republic

The graffiti appeared hours after The New York Times issued an editor’s note amending its July 24 article, “Gazans are dying of starvation.” Five days after publication, the Times acknowledged that its story referenced a Gazan boy, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, suffering from severe malnutrition, but later learned from his doctor and medical records that the child also had pre-existing health conditions. The editor’s note underscored that the article had been updated to reflect these new details.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared shoulder-to-shoulder Friday with Texas Democratic lawmakers in a show of support for their nearly weeklong walkout, which has blocked a vote on congressional redistricting maps sought by President Donald Trump in a widening national battle over U.S. House control. Texas has been the epicenter of Trump’s push to gerrymander congressional maps to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority before next year. But the standoff is threatening to spill into other states — including California, New York, Florida and Indiana — in an emerging proxy war for control of Congress...

Redistricting reform could die as it becomes another polarizing and partisan blood sport.David Daley is author of “Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count” and “Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections.”The 2026 midterms might not be decided by tariffs, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings or even Sydney Sweeney’s divisive American Eagle ad — but by gerrymandering. Just a handful of seats separate the two parties, and first Republicans and now Democrats are angling for more before votes are cast.Texas Republicans stand ready to adopt a new map that could award them as many as five additional...

Vladimir Putin started it. Joe Biden didn’t stop it. But, no matter his efforts to the contrary, this is the week in which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine becomes US President Donald Trump’s war. The most powerful office in the world doesn’t always invite choices. Trump is mandated to address the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II because the United States was involved, under his predecessor, as Ukraine’s key ally and sponsor. Trump could have dropped the war entirely. But instead, he chose to impose the force of his personality, initially through the idea he could end it in...

Mohammed Mondal, a 47-year-old Ohio father, will spend decades in prison after pleading guilty in connection with his wife’s 2023 shooting death. At the time, Mondal, his wife, Stacy, and their children were en route to a photo shoot. Mondal shot his wife in front of them, believing she was having an affair. Records reviewed by Law & Crime revealed that Mohammed Mondal was sentenced to spend between 25 to 30 years and a half in a state correctional facility. He had previously agreed to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. In turn, the Hamilton...

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Republicans move to redraw legislative maps in red states to pad their narrow House majority in Washington, some Democrats are rethinking their embrace of a nonpartisan approach to line-drawing that now complicates their party’s ability to hit back before next year’s midterm elections.In many Democratic-controlled states, independent commissions rather than the state legislature handle redistricting, the normally-once-a-decade task of adjusting congressional and legislative districts so their populations are equal. Parties in the majority can exploit that process to shape their lawmakers’ districts so they are almost guaranteed reelection.Who controls redistricting in the statesCongressional redistricting after the...

In 2020, a disgruntled litigant posing as a deliveryman opened fire at the New Jersey home of District Judge Esther Salas, killing her 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl. Five years later, as President Donald Trump steps up hiscriticism of federal judges who have blocked some of his agenda, dozens of judges have had unsolicited pizzas delivered to their homes, often in Daniel Anderl’s name.District Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of Rhode Island, who stalled Trump’s initial round of across-the-board spending cuts, is among those who received pizzas in Anderl’s name. His courtroom also has been flooded by threatening calls, including one...

An atomic cloud is captured by a bomber over Nagasaki in 1945; tourists visit the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima on June 28, 2025. August 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Japan and the end of the Pacific theatre of World War II. Aug. 6 marks the 80th anniversary of the United States dropping an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima – and three days later, on Nagasaki – during World War II. Today, most Americans (83%) say they know a lot or a little about these events, according to a new Pew Research...

Vice President JD Vance blasted an AP reporter who suggested he is “protecting pedophiles” during his visit to a steel factory in Ohio to promote tax cuts. During a Q&A session, the reporter stated: “I guess I’m going to be that person. There are some protestors outside accusing the GOP of protecting pedophiles.” “We’re wondering what you think are the reasons the U.S. government should shield the client list of Epstein from the public?” Vance didn’t hold back in his response. “Well, let me just say a couple of things. First of all… we’re not shielding anything. The President has...

In his second post-office visit in Chicago, former President Joe Biden stopped to accept an award from the National Bar Association, blasting President Donald Trump without ever saying his name to the crowd at the Hyatt Regency in the Loop Thursday evening. “Judges matter, courts matter, the law matters, and the constitution matters,” Biden said. “I think a lot of Americans are starting to realize that under this president. … Get ready folks, he’s just starting.” Biden Thursday decried the abduction of immigrants from their families and communities while highlighting attacks on civil rights and voter access. “There are moments...

In 2020, a disgruntled litigant posing as a deliveryman opened fire at the New Jersey home of District Judge Esther Salas, killing her 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl. Five years later, as President Donald Trump steps up hiscriticism of federal judges who have blocked some of his agenda, dozens of judges have had unsolicited pizzas delivered to their homes, often in Daniel Anderl’s name.District Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. of Rhode Island, who stalled Trump’s initial round of across-the-board spending cuts, is among those who received pizzas in Anderl’s name. His courtroom also has been flooded by threatening calls, including one...

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Thursday on Fox News’ “Hannity” that the legacy media refuses to cover new Russiagate revelations because doing so would require them to admit they played a role in the cover-up. Since the allegations emerged involving officials from the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, corporate media has largely shifted its focus to other issues. While discussing the legal side of the scandal, Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Turley who should “be worried” about potential legal repercussions. “Well, there’s a lot of people worried in this city tonight. This is the great reveal...

Republican senators were appalled by President Trump’s rough treatment of 91-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the Senate’s most senior Republican, on social media and are pushing back on Trump’s attempts to squeeze the senator into abolishing an arcane procedure known as the Senate blue slip. GOP senators were not pleased that Trump piled so much pressure on Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to get rid of a long-established Senate tradition. Trump piled on by reposting on Truth Social posts accusing Grassley of being a “RINO” and “sneaky” and standing in the way of Trump’s agenda. Sen. Thom...

The Left's fatal humor deficit.Left-wing comedy, especially late-night shows, took another hit recently when Paramount’s CBS canceled the Late Show and its host Stephen Colbert, whose pathetic ratings were nowhere near worth the millions of dollars the show has been burning through for years. The Dems’ press-agent media, of course, have been parroting Colbert’s claim that Paramount is carrying water for President Trump, the prime target of Colbert’s juvenile, humorless insults. In reality, the show had a staff of 200, cost $100 million annually to produce, and lost $40 million a year. You don’t have to be Adam Smith to...

Egads! After a disastrous first 100 days, Donald Trump is starting to have a much more successful presidency. This is not what we, his foam-at-the-mouth critics, had planned or perhaps secretly hoped for. Some of this is a function of good policy, like getting NATO’s European members and Canada to spend much more on their defense, something previous American presidents asked for, but much too politely. Far from destroying the Atlantic alliance, as his critics feared, Trump may wind up being remembered for reviving and rebalancing it, to the advantage of both sides. Some of this is courageous policy: Joining...

I’m not a big fan of political labels. They invite people to put you in a box, and the only box I want to be in is one labeled “open-minded.” I don’t think anyone has a monopoly on the truth.But anyone who takes a look at my résumé — I worked at a top Democratic Party-aligned think tank and a left-leaning political action committee, where I helped Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats win elections — would acknowledge that over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time in the progressive movement.And yet, for the past week, the politician I find...

When labor leader David Huerta was arrested last month during a high-profile anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest in Los Angeles, Democrats rushed to denounce his detention.

With each passing week, Chief Justice John Roberts and his Republican-friendly colleagues bestow never-before-enjoyed authorities upon the Trump Administration. The plan seems to be — if we grant the president everything he dreams of, maybe he’ll leave the high court unmolested. The republic may fall but we’ll still have the cool robes and life tenure. John Roberts is becoming the Neville Chamberlain of post-democratic government in America. Recent steps by the Supreme Court have allowed the executive branch to decimate the Department of Education, summarily fire tens of thousands of other civil servants, permit “third country removals” to notoriously dangerous...

Advertisements are always mirrors of society, and sometimes what they reflect is ugly and startling. This week, American Eagle, which brought us baby tees and low-rise denim in the aughts, debuted an advertisement campaign starring actor Sydney Sweeney. Sweeney, 27, is featured doing all sorts of Americana things in her American Eagle denim — like leaning over the hood of a white Mustang or lying on the floor holding a long-haired German shepherd puppy. At the end of each video, an off-screen voice speaks over blocky letters declaring that Sweeney — blonde, blue-eyed and white — “has great jeans.” The...

CNN’s Erin Burnett is being skewered for reporting that the gunman who opened fire in a Midtown skyscraper — killing an NYPD cop and three others — was “possibly white” after viewing the initial security footage released immediately after Shane Tamura’s deadly rampage. In the photos first shared online, the suit-clad Tamura, 27, was captured in broad daylight walking into 345 Park Avenue with a Palmetto State Armory AR-15 rifle in his hand. CNN host Erin Burnett said that police knew the gunman had “sunglasses, mustache, male, possibly white” during a broadcast shortly after the shooting Monday evening. The chilling...