Free Republic

So much for insensitivity and heartlessness, every time Republicans try to do this. Senate Democrats recently signaled that they would be willing to shut down much of the government—again—rather than vote for a package that includes funds for immigration enforcement. This seems a bit tone deaf, as securing the border and immigration enforcement were two of the main reasons President Trump was elected. Several things are at play here. Democrats are so scared of losing the new and burgeoning voting bloc they illegally imported into the U.S. that they will do anything to protect it, American citizens be damned. If...

Leaders of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private agency that has steered federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country, voted Monday to dissolve the organization that was created in 1967. CPB had been winding down since Congress acted last summer to defund its operations at the encouragement of President Donald Trump. Its board of directors chose Monday to shutter CPB completely instead of keeping it in existence as a shell. “CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving,...

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have unveiled a new spending bill totaling at least $174 billion that could get a vote in the House of Representatives as early as this week. It’s a significant step toward avoiding another government shutdown come Jan. 30, the deadline congressional leaders set after ending the recent 43-day shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — in November. The legislation released on Monday is a package of three of the 12 annual spending bills that Congress is charged with passing: commerce, justice, science and related agencies; energy and water development and related agencies; and interior, environment...

And that's exactly what they have been doing. It's right out there in the open. https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/2006852882210128088Transcript "The only way we're going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, the dreamers, and all of them. Because our ultimate goal is to help the dreamers, but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here."

More than 4,000 elementary, middle and high schools across Korea have shut their doors as the country’s student population shrinks, new data shows. According to the Ministry of Education’s latest figures, revealed on Sunday by Rep. Jin Sun-mee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, since 1980, 4,008 schools under 17 regional education offices nationwide have closed as of March this year. During the period, the number of enrolled students decreased from 9.9 million to 5.07 million. Elementary schools account for the majority of closures, with 3,674 shut down permanently, compared with 264 middle schools and 70 high schools. Over...

Brace for another government shutdown early in the new year, as the GOP’s narrow majorities and the Democratic base’s deep desire to derail the Trump presidency makes it near-impossible for Congress to get anything done. The first piece of coal in Americans’ stockings: The short-term funding bill that Democrats finally allowed to pass last month, ending the record-long shutdown, only runs through Jan. 30. The federal Fiscal Year 2026 started Oct. 1 this year, yet the House and Senate have so far passed only three of the 12 appropriations bills to fund various parts of the government. And they’re not...

The trouble with nostalgia is that it appears to rewire our minds, bringing only pleasant memories to the forefront of our consciousness. It is incredibly effective at erasing the things we don’t want to think about. We remember bubblegum and video games more than malaria or third-world starvation. Our salad days are filtered through rose-tinted glasses; we assume everything was better in the past. I was thinking about this recently after reading that MTV would be shutting down at the end of this year. As someone born in the final minutes of the 1970s, I am a member of Generation...

Only eight percent of Americans believe Democrats “won” the government shutdown battle, a weekly survey from the Economist/YouGov found. The survey asked respondents, “In your opinion, who won the shutdown battle?” Across the board, a plurality, 39 percent, said “neither” side won the shutdown battle, followed by 35 percent who said Republicans. Only eight percent deemed Democrats the victors. Even Democrats themselves are aware that their side lost. Only 14 percent of Democrats surveyed said Democrats won the shutdown battle, as 25 percent said Republicans and 45 percent said neither side. A slight majority, 52 percent, of Republicans said their...

Air traffic controllers and technicians with perfect attendance during the government shutdown will receive $10,000 bonuses, the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration said this week. The bonuses will go to 776 controllers and technicians, who will receive notification next week with payments going out by Dec. 9, the FAA and DOT said. There are about 11,000 fully certified air traffic controllers in the U.S., according to their union. “These patriotic men and women never missed a beat and kept the flying public safe throughout the shutdown,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a release late Thursday. The DOT...

U.S. airlines are predicting another record Thanksgiving holiday travel period and are upbeat now that the travel-snarling government shutdown has ended. Airlines will carry more than 31 million people between Friday, Nov. 21, and Monday, Dec. 1, Airlines for America, a lobbying group representing the largest U.S. carriers, predicted Thursday. The busiest days are expected to be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with about 3.4 million people flying, followed by the Monday after Thanksgiving, with around 3.1 passengers. Airline executives have expressed relief after the longest-ever government shutdown ended Nov. 12. Shortages of air traffic controllers, who were required to work...

HOUSTON, Texas — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week that nearly 3,600 criminal illegal aliens were arrested in Houston during the six-week Democrat-led government shutdown. Department of Homeland Security officials said the arrests targeted the “worst of the worst,” including convicted pedophiles, MS-13 gang members, kidnappers, and repeat offenders previously deported multiple times. Breitbart Texas rode with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) during the government shutdown and with ICE Houston during its first-ever nighttime enforcement action. During four hours, before getting rained out, ERO officers arrested approximately 40 illegal aliens, including at least two drunk drivers.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Wednesday signaled an end to further Democrat shutdown shenanigans with a move to go back to what he called the "old-fashioned way" of funding the government. Speaking to members of the press, Thune said that the "path to a stronger, safer America" is getting funding bills passed through the traditional appropriations process "instead of continuing resolutions." The Schumer Shutdown, which brought chaos to American airports, cut funding to SNAP benefits, etc., ended after 43 days. 🚨NOW — Senator John Thune says government is going to operate the OLD—FASHIONED way!By passing appropriation bills instead...

For all the talk about artificial intelligence and quantum supremacy, the fate of civilizations still depends on breakfast. ChatGPT can’t grow corn. Empires rise on stomachs as much as on silicon. And America’s food system – long dismissed as safe and self-sufficient – has quietly become a front line in the US-China rivalry. We act as if lunch is inevitable, but Beijing knows that food is power. A new report from the America First Policy Institute should wake us up. Washington long treated agriculture as a post-political space where globalization could do no harm, and was therefore happy to let...

The USDA is “crunching numbers” as it considers potential relief for farmers from tariff-related losses, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Stephen A. Vaden said Monday. President Donald Trump’s administration previously hinted that it might devote up to $12 billion to aid payments for farmers who were hurt by tariff policies this year, Politico reported in late October. “This department only woke back up on Thursday of last week,” Vaden said, referencing the Nov. 12 conclusion of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. “Lots of things changed during (the government shutdown),” including trade agreements with China, Southeast Asia, Pakistan, and...

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey publicly called for the removal of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, marking a rare open challenge to party leadership and setting off internal conflict within the Democratic Party. Booker made the remarks during a televised appearance, initiating what several lawmakers described as an unprecedented public break from standard intra-party practice. Booker’s comments signaled dissatisfaction with current leadership and represented a shift from the typical private discussions that accompany leadership disputes. He called for new leadership within the Senate Democratic caucus. The statement was delivered openly and immediately drew attention among Democratic lawmakers in Washington....

A left-wing group behind the massive "No Kings" protests targeting President Donald Trump and his administration launched its largest primary undertaking: targeting Senate Democrats who joined Republicans to reopen the government. "This is no longer about them - it’s about us. We’re done waiting for Democrats to find their spine," Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, said in a Monday press release. "We can’t afford a weak and cowardly Democratic Party... The protests are supported by dozens of left-wing and liberal groups, with Indivisible, the 50501 movement and the No Kings Organization, itself, identified as the top organizers...

The longest government shutdown in history is over, but appropriators still have a long way to go to get nine of the 12 necessary funding bills over the finish line by Jan. 31, 2026.The government reopened after 43 days, following the House’s passage, mostly along party lines, with six Democrats voting in favor and two Republicans voting against, of a legislative package that extended funding until the end of January and included three appropriations bills.However, with the new January deadline, appropriators are up against the clock, as both chambers must now agree on the nine remaining bills so they can...

oday is November 11; thank a veteran. On the menu today: The progressive grassroots insist that they’re madder than ever about Chuck Schumer, but there’s no sign of any coalescing around an alternative leader for Democrats in the Senate. Meanwhile the Democrats continue to chant “no more kings,” although it’s not the hereditary transfer of government power part that really bothers them. Everybody Hates Chuck, Part Two The big story as the week continues is the progressive grassroots’ apoplectic rage at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over how the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history is coming to a...

The government is open again, but only because Democrats finally admitted defeat. After orchestrating the longest shutdown in American history — 43 days of economic carnage and manufactured crisis — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) walked away with exactly what they deserved: nothing. No wins. No concessions. No extensions of the pandemic-era ObamaCare subsidies over which they had been holding the country hostage. Just a battered economy, furious constituents, and a party eating its own.House and Senate conservatives refused to blink, and Democrats had nowhere left to go.The wreckage they left behind...

The Democrats needed to re-open or they’d become irrelevant.Well, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is finally over, and many of you are asking questions like, “Why would Sydney Sweeney make a movie where she plays a fat boxer? What was she thinking?” Also, “Why do women play with their hair when they like a guy?” And here’s another one: “You know how the screen just went dark in the last episode of ‘The Sopranos’? What the hell was that about? I mean, they’re paying the screenwriter good money. Shouldn’t he be able to come up with some kind...