Free Republic

Philadelphia Inquirer national columnist Will Bunch gaslit the American public in an outrageous full-throated defense of “Bidenomics.” Bunch’s Sept. 14 column headline speaks for itself: “The problem with ‘Bidenomics’? It didn’t go far enough.” The columnist doubled down on his absurd logic in the sub-headline: “New census data shows how ‘Bidenomics’ was helping America's working class and poor — until a key anti-poverty program was killed.” Economists interviewed by MRC Business showed why the argument was nonsense. The columnist attempted to bend the recent jaw-dropping Sept. 12 U.S. Census Bureau report that showed the overall U.S. poverty rate spiked 4.6...

With the primary season getting underway, it’s also time for the traditional round of newspaper endorsements. Few people seem to believe that those endorsements hold anywhere near the influence they did fifty years ago, but some traditions have to be maintained, I suppose. That’s not the case at the Philadelphia Inquirer, however. They are publishing their picks for the Democratic races as they normally do. But instead of listing endorsements for candidates in Republican primary races in Pennsylvania this week, the editorial board of the Inquirer decided to publish a long-winded explanation of why they refused to endorse a single...

Imagine this: It’s a gray, chilly day in Washington, D.C., in March of 2023. A handful of protesters from left-leaning groups like Indivisible are huddled outside against the icy Potomac winds, but mostly there’s a climate of disbelief in the nation’s capitol as the GOP-dominated House of Representatives wraps up debate over the impeachment of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., 46th president of the United States. It was little more than five months since the Republicans gained 43 House seats in the 2022 midterms, many in newly gerrymandered seats, and since the incoming chair of House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan...

"People want to see him," Andrew Wyatt told reporters.Bill Cosby’s next step could be a comedy tour. The newly freed comedian’s spokesperson Andrew Wyatt told reporters Thursday, including from the The Philadelphia Inquirer, that Cosby has been “been talking to a number of promoters and comedy club owners” and “is just excited the way the world is welcoming him back.” Wyatt added to Inside Edition, “A number of promoters have called. Comedy club owners have called. People want to see him.” The 83-year-old Cosby was freed Wednesday after serving more than two years of a three-to-10-year sentence at a state...

A Swedish pilot named Per-Olof Eldh, using a Viggen fighter jet, lined up with the Blackbird’s flight path and even gained full missile lock. ___________________________________________________________ The SR-71 Blackbird is a legendary plane, which had a long life that began in the 1960s and ended in the 1990s. The plane, considered the fastest ever to fly, was famously never shot down, although it did once have a close call with a meteor while flying over North Korea in the early 1980s. A recent report looked at another close call the SR-71 had, with an unlikely source: the Swedish Air Force, from...

The censure was in response to Fogal’s letter of June 7th, 2020, and his subsequent interviews with liberal newspapers The New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer in which he not only gave his support to the violent Marxist group, but also directed many gratuitous insults toward Trump voters, specifically to the overwhelming majority of patriotic Franklin County and other South Central Pennsylvania citizens who enthusiastically support the President.

Recently, I ran across a piece in the Philadelphia Inquirer that lays out four racist words and phrases that should be banished from the English language. It begins like this: "Editor's note: Please be aware offensive terms are repeated here solely for the purpose of identifying and analyzing them honestly. These terms may upset some readers." Steel yourself, brave reader, here they are: Peanut gallery Eenie meenie miney moe Gyp No can do The same grammarian who authored the piece had previously confronted the "deeply racist connotation" of the word "thug," noting that President Donald Trump "wasn't the least bit...

I’d never thought that some liberals would actually take a stand and call out their colleagues for being totally unspooled for caving to the progressive mob. For some, the liberal agenda they grew up with is now considered right-wing in some circles. Why? Well, it doesn’t go far enough. It has to be far left and quasi-Marxist. The woke clowns we used to mock on The College Fix and Campus Reform have graduated. And now, their toxic agenda is spreading like a brush fire. No dissent is permitted. Just one slip-up or differing opinion from that of the far-left mob...

Pennsylvania has removed hundreds of COVID-19 deaths from the official death count after coroners pointed out the state’s health department numbers did not match their own. Pennsylvania Health Department officials had included in their count “probable” coronavirus deaths in cases where they believed the virus was the cause of death but did not have confirmation from a positive test result, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Officials removed over 200 probable deaths from their official tally on Thursday in what they said was an effort to be transparent. “We realize that this category can be confusing, since it does change over time,”...

Wednesday brought the distrubing and sad news that wildfires were threatening the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Southern California. Well, it was sad news to most people. But that didn’t stop a few prominent liberals in and out of the media from either gloating or blaming conservative inaction on global warming. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and occasional CNN guest Will Bunch used the dangerous fire as an opportunity to hype his anti-Reagan book and to tout this as a what-goes-around-comes-around type situation:

The latest smear on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is a disaster for Democrats, and everyone seems to know it except the party’s presidential candidates. No sooner had the New York Times published a new, unsubstantiated allegation of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh, then most of the candidates demanded Kavanaugh’s impeachment. “These newest revelations are disturbing,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) wrote on Twitter, adding “Like the man who appointed him, Kavanaugh should be impeached.” Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) declared Kavanaugh’s “place on the Court is an insult to the pursuit of truth and justice. He must be impeached.” Sen....

Of his many outrageous campaign statements, perhaps Donald J. Trump's most important ones concern his hoped-for role as president of the United States. When told that uniformed personnel would disobey his unlawful order as president to torture prisoners and kill civilians, Trump menacingly replied "They won't refuse. They're not going to refuse, believe me." Responding to criticism by the speaker of the House, Trump spoke like a Mafia don: "Paul Ryan, I don't know him well, but I'm sure I'm going to get along great with him. And if I don't? He's gonna have to pay a big price." ......

Tony Auth, 72, of Wynnewood, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and mainstay of The Inquirer's editorial page for four decades before resigning in 2012 to become a digital artist, has died. Mr. Auth had been under treatment for metastatic brain cancer. David Leopold, his friend and curator, said he died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on Sunday, Sept. 14, four days after his supporters announced a fundraising effort for an archive devoted to his work at Temple University. Mr. Auth's remarkable career began in 1971 when the fledgling artist from California flew in to Philadelphia to interview for...

AMERICA is rightly on edge. When a man with the power to make life-or-death decisions affecting thousands of U.S. citizens recklessly shows contempt for decency and international norms of behavior, it is no wonder the American people would be both angry and fearful. When his threats are so clearly contrary to the interests of those he represents and even those who might otherwise support him, it is natural to wonder whether he has somehow become unhinged. But we should react calmly. We should not let such disregard for the public good and such an imminent threat to the lives of...

Put the fireworks in storage. Cancel the parade. Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time. This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement. For we have sinned. We have failed to pay attention. We've settled for lame excuses. We've spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago. The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner. The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing. The America they founded...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The largest union at Philadelphia's two biggest daily newspapers is planning to launch an online newspaper to compete with the company Web site if workers go on strike after midnight on Thursday. Employees from The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News would contribute local content that will be edited and posted online, said Stu Bykofsky, a Daily News columnist and spokesman for their union, The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia. ``It's to provide news and information for the community so they won't be deprived,'' he said. In competing with Philly.com, the union's PhilaPapers.com would sell ads and...

NEW YORK Embroiled in difficult negotiations with the new owners of the two Philadelphia dailies, the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia has called for a federal mediator to be sent to the talks -- and this apparently will happen. Nonetheless, cutbacks and layoffs appear in the offing at the former Knight Ridder papers. The guild spelled out the situation in a message to its members, which was first posted at the Romenesko site. It is reproduced below in its entirety. *** The Guild Monday asked for a federal mediator to help reach a settlement with the Company on a new...

Proving that local owners are under the same pressure that big newspaper chains face, one of the new owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News told employees this morning the papers are set to report one of the worst declines in ad revenue in its history. Brian Tierney, publisher of both papers, issued a memo to employees outlining the tough environment facing newspapers after meeting with several union representatives yesterday. The guild and management are currently negotiating new contracts. In the memo, Tierney explained that advertising revenue for July and August was down compared to the same months last...

The rumor mill had it right. Buyouts aimed at reducing staffing at the Philadelphia Inquirer and its Knight Ridder stablemate The Daily News were announced this morning. In a memo to staff Tuesday, Daily News Editor Michael Days called it "a lousy day." He said full-time Guild-covered employees were eligible. "The goal is to reduce our staff by about 25 employees before the end of the year," he wrote. "The Inky's goal is about 75 staffers.

Hi, Why Did You Drop My Paper? By ANNA BAHNEY ournalists at The Philadelphia Inquirer began the new year in proper fashion, by working the phones. But some senior editors were not calling sources. They were calling readers. On Thursday, a handful of top editors, including the executive editor, Amanda Bennett, began making personal phone calls to former subscribers, many of whom dropped the paper this year after The Inquirer ran a series of editorials favoring John F. Kerry for president. "If the people I call say, 'Yes, I was mad at your editorial,' then the next thing I say...