Free Republic

... In 2022, after eight years of intermittent fighting in Ukraine’s east, Russia initiated a full-scale invasion, with the aim of reducing a rump Ukraine to a satrapy. Putin has given no indication of renouncing that ambition or of abandoning his broader goal of restoring Moscow’s sway over much of the former Soviet or tsarist empires, including the Baltic states and other nations to Russia’s west. Any “deal” between Trump and Putin (and the U.S. president, who has more recently referred to a “feel-out” meeting, is clearly downgrading expectations) will, given the Kremlin’s longer-term objectives, never be enough. The best...

‘How many people do you employ this month?” might sound like the kind of question an employer can easily answer, but it’s not. Especially for large businesses, the exact number of employees in a given month is hard to pin down. The media report layoffs and hires in round numbers, but for calculating total employment in the country, it really matters whether “500” means 478 or 523, because those discrepancies multiplied across millions of businesses make a huge difference. Within government, Donald Trump’s appointee as BLS commissioner, William Beach, has been a leader in calling for modernizing the surveys that...

When Elon Musk sued Media Matters in 2023, the law firm of Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias swooped in to represent the liberal media group. It made little headway against the lawsuit before submitting millions of dollars in legal bills, prompting Media Matters officials to lash out at the firm as they faced financial ruin, according to a new report. According to the New York Times, Elias Law Group originally represented Media Matters against Musk’s lawsuit, which accused the group of manipulating X posts to falsely link the social media platform to white nationalists and anti-Semites, part of what Musk alleged...

Some people may call it the chickens coming home to roost. Media Matters for America (MMfA), a George Soros-funded left-wing censorship group, reportedly may be on the verge of collapse. The organization is reeling after a series of lawsuits and government investigations, which are straining its already frazzled finances. (MMfA raised $19 million in 2023 — and somehow spent $20 million.) But here’s what some may consider poetic justice: The group essentially claims the government is now doing the Right’s bidding in an effort to destroy it.This is the same group, a 2012 report held, that was previously coordinating with...

"The Late Show" wasn't just a platform for Democrats under Stephen Colbert's tenure, it was also one for left-wing journalists and hosts. Fox News Digital has counted at least 200 episodes of "The Late Show" that featured members of the liberal media. The far-left politics of "The Late Show" have been facing scrutiny after CBS announced last week that it was pulling the plug on Colbert's program, which will officially wrap up in May 2026. According to IMDB search results, CNN anchor and "60 Minutes" correspondent Anderson Cooper holds the record with 20 formal guest appearances on "The Late Show."...

Everybody was shocked — shocked! — when Stephen Colbert announced this week that CBS canceled “The Late Show.” The despondent media reacted like a meteor was about to smash into Earth. But how surprising was Colbert’s kibosh really? Did peoples’ jaws also hit the floor when Blockbuster Video called it quits in 2014? Were they muffling their screams when blimps were phased out for air travel in 1937? “What do you mean ‘no more silent films’?!” The end of “The Late Show” was every bit as writ-in-stone as any of those predictable downfalls. And it’s not only Colbert. The Grim...

"CBS has announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026, bringing the show’s historic run—and the Late Show franchise itself—to a close."Colbert addressed the show’s cancellation himself while taping tonight’s show."

It takes the undeveloped ego of a toddler to pout this long. But if Elmo on Sesame Street can learn how to share, surely these three can too. For all its concern about a peaceful transfer of power, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are probably not planning a story about the three board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) who have refused to leave the board after Trump removed them in April.Not so long ago — in 2020 and 2021 — PBS and NPR were spreading propaganda that President Donald Trump was going...

Trump has largely shut down the southwest border by ending asylum programs and deploying troops. But those moves have shrunk the pool of easy-to-deport migrants.TIJUANA, Mexico — When President Donald Trump pledged to launch the “largest deportation operation in American history,” this border city swung into action. The local government declared a state of emergency. Federal authorities built a shelter for up to 2,600 deportees, complete with beds, showers and white-coated chefs. It was, one local official said, the “zombie apocalypse scenario.” But five months after Trump took office, the shelter is nearly empty. So few deportees have arrived —...

The mainstream media tried to destroy Trump—but in the end, they destroyed themselves. This is the story of anchors who lost their minds, reporters who lost their careers, and a media machine that couldn’t handle President Trump.

Scott Pelley ended @60Minutes by lamenting the resignation of Executive Producer Bill Owens who “did it for us and you.” Pelley ludicrously claimed Owens made sure stories on Israel and the Trump admin “were accurate and fair.” Pelley complained: “Paramount began to supervise our content in new ways. None of our stories has been blocked, but Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”

While all presidents tussle with the press, President Donald Trump has taken things to another level at the beginning of his second term. Trump, still in his first 100 days in office, has kicked the historic Associated Press out of the Oval Office and off of Air Force One, seized control of the White House press pool rotation to bring in friendly outlets, and now may take over coveted seating assignments in the Brady Press Briefing Room. All three moves generated howls of outrage from the White House Correspondents' Association, an 800-member group that previously self-policed access. "The White House...

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Monday on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that she was training Americans to help take down a potential “dictatorship” of President Donald Trump. At her resistance lab training, Jayapal said, “It appears that the Trump administration is willing to ignore judicial decisions and so that brings us to you in this room. It brings us to the people that is really, the bulwark, the wall against the crumbling of democracy.” Maddow said, “Help me understand this idea of the resistance lab and what you’re talking about in practical terms at these events.” Jayapal said, “Yeah...

The White House Correspondents’ Association on Monday pushed back against the White House’s plans to exert control over the briefing room seating assignments for journalists. In an email to members, the association — which is made up of an independent group of journalists covering the Trump administration — said it was aware of the reported efforts from the White House to take over the briefing room’s organization chart. The seating has long been set by WHCA. “If the White House pushes forward, it will become even more clear that the administration is seeking to cynically seize control of the system...

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...

White House reporters are already “exhausted” with President-elect Donald Trump’s second term before it even starts, members of the press corps told Vanity Fair on Wednesday. In the article, titled “Reporters Brace for the Frenzy of a Second Trump White House,” New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker said, “Anybody who went through it the last time remembers how nonstop it was.” “It ends up kind of becoming all-consuming and taking over your life. It wears you down,” he lamented

The word “insurrection” has been liberally applied in the press to describe the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot that ended with intrusion by demonstrators into the Capitol Building. If the word “insurrection” can be applied there, then how about to the current efforts of federal bureaucrats to insulate themselves and their chosen policies from the control of newly re-elected President Trump? In this post on October 1 (title: “The Greater ‘Threat To Democracy’ — Part III: Democrats Rule Even If Republicans Win”), I discussed multiple instances of efforts within the Biden administration to insulate its policies from getting changed...

As the Biden era comes to an end, one image will come to define the immigration lawlessness of this era.After an illegal alien linked to the Venezuelan transnational gang Tren de Aragua was arrested for allegedly performing a lewd act after breaking into the home of a New York City prosecutor, a photo went viral on the internet and social media of the alien giving a wry smirk during a court appearance.Image: Screen shot from Eyewitness News ABC7NY video, via YouTubeWhile the illegal alien, 25-year-old Brandon Simosa, is now being held without bail, he had previously had several run-ins with...

The Biden regime is trying to further entrench the deep state, while the Democrat Party pushes further to the left. After their major election loss, Democrats are doubling down on their worldview by trying to save the monstrous deep state they have been building for decades and making sure their own ranks still fall in line with radical social policies. As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, he and his party are scrambling to undermine one of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promises: cull the odious deep state. Biden is reportedly being pushed by his party to bolster the federal...

Axios CEO Jim VandeHei inspired and energized a National Press Club gala with a passionate, ad-libbed defense of free and fearless reporting, warning that "everything we do is under fire." "I hate this damn debate about: Oh, we don't need the media," he said Thursday night as he and co-founder Mike Allen accepted the Fourth Estate Award for lifetime achievement. "It's not true." What they're saying: "I love this country," Jim added. "I'm a beneficiary of this country. Some dipsh*t from Wisconsin can come and start two companies, be up here, win an award." SNIP