Free Republic

he decision to fire Tucker Carlson from his ratings juggernaut show on Fox News reportedly came straight from Rupert Murdoch. The exact factors which contributed to the anchor’s exit have not been officially confirmed by Fox, but sources have told various outlets that there were several factors involved in the decision. Persons familiar with the situation told the Los Angeles Times that Murdoch, the Fox Corporation chairman, was concerned about Carlson’s coverage of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in which Carlson downplayed events as “mostly peaceful chaos” and promoted the notion that it was provoked by...

Donald Trump was deposed on Thursday as part of a $250M fraud lawsuit He answered questions for seven hours and said he was 'eager to testify' Also named in the civil lawsuit are his children: Trump Jr., Eric and Ivanka Donald Trump answered questions for seven hours and described his 'extraordinary business success' on Thursday during a deposition called by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The former president was deposed for a second time as part of a $250 million fraud case in which he is accused of falsifying the value of his properties and which seeks to ban...

For decades, progressives have been aggressively informing us that they are devout fans of “diversity” and “multiculturalism.” These words have taken on an almost totemic significance, with “diversity is our strength” becoming a mantra for Canadian lefties. I have my quibbles with these buzz-words—diversity is a description, not a value—but I have often found myself wishing, over the past few years, that those who brandish these terms actually believed in them. What we have found as the LGBT movement achieved cultural dominance is that for progressives, “diversity” is where people look different, but think the same. Thus, Western nations (primarily...

Recent layoffs at ABC News were not business as usual, some staffers say. “It feels personal,” an insider told Page Six. ABC News president Kim Godwin announced layoffs at the network last month — and multiple sources told us it was a form of payback to people she thought were leaking stories about her at the network. “They’re targeting people to figure out who’s leaking, and the layoffs are a part of it. They’re trying to make an example of them,” a source believes. The cost-cutting move was part of parent Disney’s plan to cut 7,000 jobs.

DALLAS -- San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich's pregame media availability Sunday opened with the NBA's all-time wins leader declining to discuss whether he would consider retirement this offseason and ended with an unprompted, passionate speech lobbying for gun control legislation in America and criticizing "cowardly legislators who are selfish." Popovich, 74, has expressed strong opinions on gun control and other political issues frequently in recent years. He made a point to bring up the subject as his media session before the Dallas Mavericks game seemed to be wrapping up, asking whether anyone in the room was carrying a firearm....

Bill Barr said Democrats' goal is to use the judicial system to get involved with the Republican primary and ensure that former President Donald Trump wins because they think they can beat him again in 2024. Trump's former Attorney General said Sunday morning that the recent indictment against the former president and the many other legal battles are a calculated effort by progressives to embolden the MAGA base. A grand jury in Manhattan moved late last month to charge Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush money payment case – making him the first-ever president to face indictment. Last week, the...

Environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in 2024 as a Democrat. The filing was confirmed Wednesday by his campaign treasurer, John E. Sullivan. The 69-year-old is the son of former New York senator, US attorney general and assassinated 1968 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy. In March, Kennedy tweeted that he was considering a run. “If it looks like I can raise the money and mobilize enough people to win, I’ll jump in the race,” he...

Amid escalating legislative attacks on transgender people across the U.S., and coinciding with Trans Day of Visibility, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts reintroduced the Transgender Bill of Rights with resolutions in both the House and Senate. The resolutions, if passed, would not directly grant rights or protections to trans citizens, but affirm “that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement” a wide range of pro-trans legislation. Protections called for in the resolutions include amending the Civil Rights Act to explicitly cover gender identity. ...

MOSCOW, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The United States has told its citizens to leave Russia immediately due to the war in Ukraine and the risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies."U.S. citizens residing or travelling in Russia should depart immediately," the U.S. embassy in Moscow said. "Exercise increased caution due to the risk of wrongful detentions.""Do not travel to Russia," it added."Russian security services have arrested U.S. citizens on spurious charges, singled out U.S. citizens in Russia for detention and harassment, denied them fair and transparent treatment, and convicted them in secret trials or without presenting...

Biden is speaking loudly but carrying an ever smaller stick. Over the past couple of years, Xi has been ratcheting up the pressure on Taiwan, and Biden has matched and raised his bet. I have long been skeptical of the U.S.’ strategic ambiguity regarding Taiwan. Like it or not, Taiwan is now at the heart of global commerce, punching far above its weight class. About 70% of microprocessors are made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and while not all of them are manufactured on the island, the world economy would be crippled by its loss. Taiwan is at the...

President Biden participated in a second reception this week for the Democratic National Committee in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he urged those in attendance to take climate change more seriously. Just one day after a fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, California, where Biden accidentally revealed a previously unknown detail about former President Jimmy Carter’s health, he made a number of off-the-cuff comments about climate change including one about the Colorado River drying up. "You’re not going to be able to drink out of the Colorado River," Biden said to a crowd of about 60 people. He also likened climate change...

Collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank operated without a chief risk officer between April 2022 and January 2023 while the operation's United Kingdom-based Head of Risk stands accused of prioritizing pro-diversity initiatives over her actual role. This revelation comes after the firm became the largest bank to collapse since the 2008 financial crisis - disclosing a $1.8 billion loss in its finances. SVB's former head of risk, Laura Izurieta, who formerly performed a similar role for Capital One, left the bank in April 2022. She wasn't replaced until January 2023 when the bank hired Kim Olson, formerly of Japanese bank Sumitomo...

In the wake of two bank failures, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury announced a bank bailout program that could be dubbed “QE Extra Lite.”Last week, Silicon Valley Bank was shuttered by federal authorities after the bank suffered significant losses selling bonds in order to raise capital. When that news hit, depositors rushed to pull funds from the bank, making it functionally insolvent. Then over the weekend, federal authorities shut down Signature Bank.On Sunday, the FDIC created “bridge banks” to handle both insured and uninsured customer deposits. Banking regulators assured depositors that they would have full access to all...

Biden spoke shortly before the market opened at 9.30am in attempt to shore up trust in the banking sector amid amid fears of a rout after the collapse of SVB 'Our actions should give Americans confidence that the US banking system is safe,' the president told the press conference But investors are smelling blood in the water. First Republic Bank saw its shares crash 74 percent to $21.50 from a high of $81.76 in premarket trading ********************************************************************************* Trading has been halted in First Republic Bank this morning after shares by a record 67 percent before the market opened after Joe...

Signature Bank, one of the two big US destinations for crypto companies, has been closed by New York regulators. “All depositors of this institution will be made whole,” the Treasury, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a joint statement. This is the third major bank that has fallen in the space of a week, and investors are spooked. The joint announcement that depositors will be protected above the $250,000 guaranteed by the FDIC appears to be meant to reassure banking customers that their money will not be frozen. Signature had $88.59 billion in deposits as of December...

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who was on the House select committee that probed the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, weighed in on and welcomed potential House Republican plans to investigate Jan. 6 for themselves now that they control the lower chamber. “If @HouseGOP wants new Jan 6 hearings, bring it on. Let’s replay every witness & all the evidence from last year,” Cheney said on Twitter. “But this time, those members who sought pardons and/or hid from subpoenas should sit on the dais so they can be confronted on live TV with the unassailable evidence,” the...

Former Vice President Mike Pence, who was subpoenaed last month by the special counsel overseeing investigations into former President Donald Trump relating to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, filed a motion on Friday to block the subpoena, according to reports. CNN reported that a source familiar with the filing claimed Pence filed the motion on the basis that the U.S. Constitution’s Speech or Debate clause protects him from providing testimony related to Jan. 6.

Leaked emails from a Colorado elementary school revealed administrators going behind a parent's back to secretly transition a student. Laurel Elementary School Assistant Principal, Amanda Pawelski, and Poudre School District Chief Equity Officer, Marlena Gross-Taylor, were caught in leaked emails discussing going behind a parent's back to instruct an elementary school student by their preferred pronouns. On March 31, 2022, Amanda reached out to Marlena, who was only a few months into her new position, about an unidentified student who has 'expressed their pronouns and chosen name but their parents directly [told] school staff not to call the students by...

Former President Donald Trump on Friday announced a plan for a prospective second term through which the U.S. would develop new cities and bolster living standards nationwide. "Our objective will be a quantum leap in the American standard of living," he declared in a policy video. "Almost one-third of the landmass of the United States is owned by the federal government," he said. "With just a fraction of that land... we should hold a contest to charter up to ten new cities and award them to the best proposals for development." "These freedom cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American...

Berlin said it would oppose the plan unless Brussels agrees to allow so-called synthetic fuels that can burn like gasoline and diesel but spew fewer climate-damaging emissions alongside fully electric vehicles. Italy’s Environment Ministry said that environmental targets should be pursued in a way that avoids harming jobs and production and that electric vehicles shouldn’t be seen as the only route to zero emissions. Meanwhile, Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis NV, whose brands include Fiat, Peugeot, Jeep and Chrysler, warned on an earnings call with reporters last month that the industry may be getting ahead of its customers. “I...