Free Republic

President Trump unveiled his 2026 budget outline Friday, proposing cuts totaling $163 billion to education, housing, medical research, foreign aid funding, energy and environmental protection — while seeking to boost defense spending to more than $1 trillion. The $163 billion cut in non-defense discretionary spending is a 22.6% reduction from current levels, ... The proposed cuts to government funding are in line with Trump’s greater mission to cut bureaucracy via the Department of Government Efficiency — and DOGE ... The defense budget calls for the elimination of “woke” and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs; a down-payment on a “Golden...

The single mother made her four children proud when she became the French national champion in her amateur category last year, after discovering the sport aged 40. But now the Muslim convert fears she will no longer be able to compete as the French government is pushing for a new law to ban the headscarf in domestic sports competitions. "It feels like they're trying to limit our freedoms each time a little more," said Eberena, a passionate athlete who trains five days a week. "It's frustrating because all we want is to do sport." Under France's secular system, civil servants,...

A Democrat Seattle council member’s recent resolution may end commitments to defund the police, a movement that was fueled by leftist protests. Councilmember Rob Saka recently introduced Resolution 32167 that includes measures to appreciate first responders, police accountability, a diversified public safety response, and consent decree progress, Fox News reported on Saturday. In addition, Saka on Tuesday told the Seattle City Council’s public safety committee, “This resolution reverses any prior commitment or pledge by past councils to defund or abolish the police. We know that these statements were routinely cited by departing police personnel as a reason for leaving. We...

Speaking of climate change fanaticism, the folks in the epicenter of hysteria – California – may be having second thoughts. Several cities have dropped planned bans on the use of natural gas for heating, hot water and cooking. A “freedom of heating” ballot initiative is planned for 2026. A January poll found the idea favored by 67% to 18% by voters. A recent survey by pollster David Wolfson found that nearly half of likely California voters are considering voting for a Republican to be their next governor. That’s amazing, because more than 1.5 million mostly Republican voters have fled the...

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made commendable progress in identifying areas of waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government. But failure by congressional Republicans to codify cuts to these items and other wasteful spending into law threatens to jeopardize the watchdog group’s success.Amid the backdrop of DOGE’s fraud-finding expedition are ongoing negotiations among House and Senate Republicans to pass a budget reconciliation package that includes President Trump’s legislative priorities, such as tax cuts and resources for border enforcement. As defined by Ballotpedia’s Briana Ryan, “Budget reconciliation is a term for the legislative process that bypasses...

The House floor was the scene of some drama tonight—what else is new?—as Republicans launched a last-minute push to drag a few GOP holdouts over the finish line to pass the budget resolution. Earlier in the night, Republican leadership brought the resolution to the floor, only to pull it back before voting could be completed, reportedly because the GOP had a few more votes to whip. Once those were secured, the resolution came to the floor again. The party-line vote was 217-213 in favor, with three House members abstaining. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) was the lone Republican holdout. He had...

House Republicans adopted the budget resolution that will lay the foundation for enacting President Trump’s legislative agenda Tuesday night, just minutes after they initially pulled the measure from the floor. The legislation— which provides a framework for Republican priorities on tax, border, and energy in “one big beautiful bill” — was approved in a 217-215 vote. It now heads to the Senate. It capped a wild evening in the House chamber that saw Republican leaders hold open an unrelated vote for more than an hour to buy time to win over holdouts, announce they were canceling a vote on the...

Meta Platforms META -0.45%decrease; red down pointing triangle has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, the latest step by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to bolster his once-fraught relationship with the incoming president. The donation, confirmed by the company, is a departure from past practice by Zuckerberg and his company, and comes after an election campaign in which Trump threatened to punish the tech tycoon if he tried to influence the election against him. The contribution and efforts to court the incoming administration are emblematic of the balancing act for technology CEOs whose companies have often been the...

It was 6:29 p.m. on the last Wednesday in May 2020, when Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey phoned Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Riots had erupted the day before over the police killing of George Floyd, and the city was overwhelmed. Frey pleaded with Walz to call in the National Guard. Less than three hours later, the city made a written request to Walz’s office for 600 guardsmen to help quell the chaos that was engulfing the Twin Cities. Rioters were burning buildings. They were shooting at police officers and attacking them with Molotov cocktails, fireworks, bricks, and bottles filled with cement....

(this ad is from Desantis campaign).

Fear the talking Fed! Various Fed Presidents are talking this week and when they do. WATCH OUT! The latest fear mongering will be … inflation is persistent and they might have to keeep raising rates. The two-year Treasury remains above 5% and the 10Y-2Y T-Curve remains inverted. The likelhood of another Fed rate hike is growing. While inflation is cooling (but still elevated), The Fed could choose to rate hikes again. Best picture of Lael Brainard, Director of the National Economic Council of the United States and former Federal Reserve member and talking head. Or screaming head.

A San Francisco public safety meeting descended into chaos on Tuesday after a woman threw a brick at Mayor London Breed and other city lawmakers. The Mayor was hosting a rare open-air hearing at United Nations Plaza to discuss the city's drug crisis before it had to be cut short following shouting and heckling from residents. But when city officials were preparing to leave, a woman threw a brick towards Breed's podium and it struck a high school student who was presenting flags for the meeting. San Francisco police arrested the suspect, later identified as 26-year-old Elysia Katet, and she...

FIRST ON FOX – Some southern Target stores were forced by the corporation to move LGBTQ Pride merchandise away from the front of their locations after customer "outrage" to avoid a "Bud Light situation." Many Target locations across the country feature massive June Pride month displays on an annual basis, with items this year ranging from "tuck friendly" bathing suits for transgender people to mugs that say "gender fluid." But the retail juggernaut has been criticized by some conservatives for the displays, with children’s items particularly irking many customers. A Target insider told Fox News Digital that many locations, mostly...

A top-level security source has just confirmed to me that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will be traveling to East Palestine, Ohio TOMORROW. The source tells me this move is intended to directly overshadow Donald Trump's visit. This source tells me that high-ranking members of city hall, police, fire and wastewater are aware of Pete Buttigieg's last-minute visit but are refusing to meet with Buttigieg if Trump is there. The trip is specifically planned to take media attention away from Trump. "The [Biden] Administration is scared sh**less that Trump will turn this thing into a circus and make it our Katrina"...

The U.S. has destroyed a Chinese balloon that had been floating over the continental United States over the past several days. Footage on social media showed the balloon exploding during flight and beginning to fall toward the earth.

Ukrainian authorities launched criminal cases against six former defense-ministry officials and raided the home of a former political backer of President Volodymyr Zelensky Wednesday, amid a flurry of attempts by Mr. Zelensky to show Western governments that he is serious about an anticorruption drive.

CNN medical analyst and Washington Post columnist Dr. Leana Wen admitted in a column, Friday, that the medical community is "overcounting" the amount of "COVID deaths and hospitalizations." Wen, who writes an occasional Washington Post column providing her observations on the pandemic, masking and other COVID-related subjects, cited sources claiming that most "patients diagnosed with COVID are actually in the hospital for some other illness." The article is titled, "We are overcounting COVID deaths and hospitalizations. That’s a problem." Wen’s observations prompted readers on Twitter to complain, stating that it's "two and a half years late."

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to conduct a signature audit of the state's 2020 election results Thursday, calling some of the testimony to come out during that day's state Senate Oversight Committee hearing "concerning."While it is unclear to what degree a signature audit can still be conducted in the state since mail-in ballots are separated from their signed envelopes before they are counted, the call matches what President Donald Trump has been asking for since counting was completed earlier this month showing Democratic nominee Joe Biden edging the incumbent in the state by...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that Vice President Kamala Harris is “dead wrong” in her insistence that the border is secure, and stated that “we need the wall and a lot more, technology, more agents.” Manchin also said that the 2013 immigration bill “would have corrected everything we have going wrong.” Host Bret Baier stated, [relevant exchange begins around 9:55] “Vice President Harris said this weekend the southern border is ‘secure.'”