Free Republic

SummaryTrump campaigned on eliminating Education Department Judge blocked mass firings and bid to close department The Justice Department said the lower court lacked jurisdiction to "second-guess the Executive’s internal management decisions," referring to the federal government's executive branch."The government has been crystal clear in acknowledging that only Congress can eliminate the Department of Education. And the government has acknowledged the need to retain sufficient staff to continue fulfilling statutorily mandated functions and has kept the personnel that, in its judgment, are necessary for those tasks. The challenged (reduction in force) is fully consistent with that approach," the filing said.The department,...

A tipster brought MRC Business’s attention to some damning information about one of website traffic cop NewsGuard’s senior editors, which begs the question of why she was even hired in the first place. Dina Contini, who had previously served in various editorial roles at liberal outlet Reuters, currently serves as the senior managing editor of NewsGuard. However, it appears that Contini has a sordid history of being accused of creating hostile work environments and engaging in harassment. “In a ‘Management Conduct Notice’ that the journalists’ union sent on Sept. 21 [to Reuters’s top brass], it claimed Dina Kyriakidou Contini, the...

SummaryEight OPEC+ members met online OPEC+ cites steady economic outlook, healthy fundamentals Started unwinding output cuts in April For more detail on OPEC+ unwinding its cuts, see Explainer LONDON/MOSCOW, May 31 (Reuters) - The world’s largest group of oil producers, OPEC+, stuck to its guns on Saturday with another big increase of 411,000 barrels per day for July as it looks to wrestle back market share and punish over-producers. Having spent years curbing production - more than 5 million barrels a day (bpd) or 5% of world demand - eight OPEC+ countries made an modest output increase in April before...

Deep state whistleblower Edward Snowden may be getting a new lease on life. The famous fugitive, who has been living in Russia since 2013 after leaking classified National Security Agency documents showing the US was engaged in a massive surveillance program, has been a cause célèbre among left-wing and free speech activists, but has received a chillier reception from Republicans. But Snowden has some powerful allies in President-elect Trump’s cabinet, insiders told The Post. Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, co-sponsored a resolution in September 2020 calling on the United States to drop all charges against...

Summary EU seeks mutually beneficial trade deal with Washington U.S. demands unilateral concessions to cut goods trade deficit EU Commission says leaders' call has given new impetus to talksBRUSSELS, May 26 (Reuters) - The European Union may have won a reprieve from U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened 50% tariffs, but it remains unclear how the bloc will square its push for a mutually beneficial trade deal with Washington's demands for steep concessions. Trump backed away from imposing the levies on EU imports from June 1 after a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, restoring a July...

SummaryTrump's Gulf tour sidelines Netanyahu, marks new Middle East order Netanyahu's stance on Gaza, US-Iran talks creates rift with US Massive arms and financial deals signal US pivot to wealthy Gulf Domestic critics say Netanyahu's policies leave Israel paralysed Dubai, May 18 (Reuters)- - Nothing captured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's isolation more starkly this week than the image of U.S. President Donald Trump shaking hands with Syria's Islamist leader Ahmed al‑Sharaa - a man Israel has branded "an al‑Qaeda terrorist in a suit." "He's got the potential. He's a real leader," Trump told reporters after talks with Sharaa on...

SummaryTrump order targeted children of certain immigrants Three judges issued orders blocking policy nationwide Administration challenges nationwide injunctions WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court wrestled on Thursday over Donald Trump's attempt to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict birthright citizenship, a move that would affect thousands of babies born each year as the Republican president seeks a major shift in how the U.S. Constitution has long been understood.The court's conservative justices, who hold a 6-3 majority, seemed willing to limit the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide, or "universal," injunctions, as federal judges in Maryland,...

SummaryTrump's Middle East focus shifts to Gulf business deals PM Netanyahu's right-wing govt at odds with some U.S. policy shifts U.S.-Israel relations strong but diverging priorities evident, say observers JERUSALEM, May 14 (Reuters) - Israel's right-wing government has maintained a diplomatic silence this week as U.S. President Donald Trump fired off a blizzard of announcements that have shaken Israeli assumptions about their country's standing with its most important ally.Trump's decision to bypass Israel during his current visit to the Middle East had already been seen as a marker of the his administration's increased focus on lucrative business deals with wealthy...

When U.S. President Donald Trump decided to seek a second term in the White House, Doris Davis and Susie Bartlett - an interracial lesbian couple living in New York City - made a life-changing decision. If he won, they would move abroad. The couple said they had been willing to give Trump a go during his first term, but they'd watched in alarm as he returned to office and ended a range of policies aimed at promoting racial equity and rights for LGBTQ+ people. "We love this country, but we don't love what it has become," Davis, a 69-year-old educational...

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson Criminal aliens at a Texas detention center spelled out "SOS" as a Reuters drone passed overhead. How’d they know it was coming? How was it so perfectly executed? Sure looks staged.... From Collin Rugg 4:47 PM · Apr 30, 2025

Christmas decoration suppliers should have received their first orders for trees and ornaments by now. But they haven't. Chinese producers of plastic Christmas trees and other festive decorations say orders from US clients, which are crucial for their business, have stopped amid a tariff tit-for-tat tariff announcements. President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese imports by 104 percent so far this year US retailers are almost completely reliant on China for Christmas decorations, where they source 87 percent of the holiday's goods — worth roughly $4 billion. Chinese factories are also heavily dependent on the US market, where they...

BRUSSELS, April 6 (Reuters) - European Union countries will seek to present a united front in the coming days against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, likely approving a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of U.S. imports from dental floss to diamonds. Such a move would mean the EU joining China and Canada in imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States in an early escalation of what some fear will become a global trade war, making goods more expensive for billions of consumers and pushing economies around the world into recession.

FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Hundreds of people protested in European cities on Saturday against U.S. President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk, following a bruising week for financial markets after Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs.

Elon Musk's SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin on Friday won U.S. Space Force rocket launch contracts worth a combined $13.5 billion through 2029 to send some of the Pentagon's most sensitive and complex satellites into space. The Space Force's flagship National Security Space Launch procurement program will assign roughly 54 missions through 2029 in incremental task orders, according to its Space Systems Command office.

Shares of conservative news outlet Newsmax (NMAX.N), opens new tab soared more than 27% before the bell on Tuesday, extending their gains a day after a stunning debut on the New York Stock Exchange.The stock traded at $106, more than 10 times the IPO price of $10, valuing the cable news network at $12.8 billion.Newsmax's shares closed with a more-than-eight-fold gain at $83.51 on Monday, partly buoyed by retail interest. The stock remained the top trending ticker on retail investor-focused social media stocktwits.com.The cable news operator, which raised $75 million in its "mini IPO" last week, is looking to expand...

Two British diplomats expelled in a spying row. A blistering statement from Russia's foreign intelligence service calling Britain "a warmonger." And a threat from a top ally of Vladimir Putin to seize UK assets inside Russia. As the U.S. under Donald Trump seeks to reset ties with Moscow and broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, Britain has been granted the status of Russia's public enemy number one. It's a mantle it has held on and off over the past two centuries. "London today, like on the eve of both World Wars of the last century, is acting as the main...

WARSAW, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Poland said on Saturday it has been paying for Ukraine's Starlink subscription and will continue to do so despite sources saying the United States could consider cutting Ukraine's access to the satellite internet system. U.S. negotiators pressing Kyiv for access to Ukraine's critical minerals have raised the possibility of cutting the country's access to Elon Musk's vital Starlink satellite internet system, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Starlink provides crucial internet connectivity to the war-torn country and its military. "We pay and will continue to pay a subscription fee for satellite internet for Ukraine,"...

Tech billionaire Elon Musk and United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio have traded barbs with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski over the use of Musk’s Starlink internet service in Ukraine. During the tense exchange on X on Sunday, Sikorski suggested that Poland, which pays Ukraine’s Starlink costs to help it repel Russia’s invasion, might have to seek alternative suppliers if Musk’s satellite network proves to be an “unreliable provider”. -snip- Rubio came to Musk’s defence following Sikorski’s post, accusing the Polish politician of “making things up”. “No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink,” Rubio...

But one of the real issues for "journalists" was something Trump said about Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and it's not a new part of the president's repertoire. If you missed it this is how Trump honored the Senate's most notorious non-Native American: President Trump to Democrats on the war in Ukraine: "Do you want to keep it going another five years? Yeah...Pocahontas says yes!" The legacy media can always be counted on to get triggered on behalf of a Democrats. In this case it was a Reuters White House reporter: "Pocahontas": First racial slur in a Joint Address — Nandita Bose...

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that pausing US military aid to Ukraine would be the best contribution to the cause of peace, but cautioned that Russia needed to clarify the details of the move by US President Donald Trump. -snip- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cautious on reports of a pause in US aid and said the details needed to be seen. “If this is true, then this is a decision that can really encourage the Kyiv regime to (come to) the peace process,” Peskov said. “It is obvious that the United States has been the main supplier of this...