Free Republic

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pressuring Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign after this week’s tumult at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that saw top officials depart after the agency director was ousted. Sanders, the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said that he agrees with President Trump and Kennedy on making the public “healthy again,” but warned that the problem is that “since coming into office President Trump and Mr. Kennedy have done exactly the opposite.” “Despite the overwhelming opposition of the medical community,...

During Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that scientists are saying that “if we don’t get our act together within the next eight or nine years,” major cities will go underwater because of climate change. Sanders said, “We don’t have decades. What the scientists are telling us, if we don’t get our act together within the next eight or nine years, we’re talking about cities all over the world, major cities going underwater. We’re talking about increased drought. We’re talking about increased extreme weather disturbances. The United Nations is telling us that in...

Democrats are tortured by what they should stand for now and heading into the 2028 elections. But a number of current trends suggest a likely answer: their own version of a populist, anti-establishment, MAGA-like makeover.Why it matters: The debate is usually framed as liberal vs. centrist, Rahm versus AOC. But big, fast changes in AI, media habits and general public angst point to a more sweeping shift in ideas and attitude.Four megatrends that are already shaping Democrats' efforts to remake their image and rewrite their agenda:Media: MSM is fading in its mesmerizing hold over liberals. At the same time, the...

The Justice Department is seeking the death penalty for the transgender vegan cult member who was charged with killing a border patrol agent back in January. Teresa Youngblut was hit with a new indictment on Thursday charged with four federal counts for killing Border Patrol Agent David Maland in Coventry, Vermont. Youngblut is reportedly a member of the ‘Zizian’ cult run by leader Jack ‘Ziz LaSota – Ziz is a radical group linked to at least six murders in three separate states. Jack LaSota, the alleged leader of a vegan transgender cult tied to several crimes across the country, reportedly...

Republican Sen. Tim Scott's goal in next year's midterm elections is not only to defend the GOP's 53-47 margin in the Senate, but to expand the majority. Scott, the conservative senator from South Carolina, told Fox News Digital soon after taking over late last year as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) that he aimed to increase the GOP's control in the chamber to at least 55 seats. And he's standing by his goal. "The bottom line is, I believe that we can defend our current seats while adding at least two more seats to our numbers," the...

Senate Democrats have undergone a steady tonal shift on Israel, with a recent vote to block arms sales to the Jewish State giving a glimpse at the evolution on the Hill. More Democrats in the upper chamber than ever before voted alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to halt the $675 million sale of thousands of bombs and guidance kits for the bombs and to block the sale of automatic rifles to Israel. […] “What’s going on is unacceptable, and Israel has the power to fix it,” Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told Fox News Digital. Like Sanders, King typically caucuses with...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was asked on Sunday whether he is considering running for president again in 2028, but pointed to the fact he will soon turn 84 years old. During an interview with CNN, Sanders was asked “Is there another presidential run in you?” to which he replied, “Let’s not worry about that,” according to Fox News. He then said he will be 84 in September and he felt “that speaks for itself.” Sanders said he wants to see “the most progressive candidate that we can have” but what he thought was more important than him running for the...

The family of a Newbury homicide victim is calling on Vermont officials to do more when it comes to protecting communities from those who suffer from mental illness and commit a crime. It comes after James Perry Jr. -- who admitted killing his own daughter in 2021 -- was found not guilty earlier this summer by reason of insanity. The Orange County Courthouse in Chelsea was packed Friday as loved ones of Karina Rheaume expressed their grief to the court over her tragic death at the hands of her own father. “The process never ends. Every hearing, every update re-traumatizes...

Restorative Justice is a state-funded program that helps people who commit crimes avoid jail time, fines and criminal records. Our Laura Ullman investigates how the program works and whether it’s successful. “I’ve lost a lot of trust, burned a lot of bridges and I can only pray over time that people can see change in me,” said Travis Merritt, a Restorative Justice client. Merritt went through the Restorative Justice program that gives people a second shot at freedom. Some 4,272 offenders were sent to Restorative Justice in 2023, the latest number on record. About 28,000 crimes are reported in Vermont...

All detainees had previously attempted illegal border crossings and are now awaiting deportation proceedings.. A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesman confirmed Tuesday that five Iranians were arrested while attempting to illegally cross the U.S. northern border with Canada. "On July 1, Border Patrol Agents from the Champlain, New York Station, responded to suspicious activity near Mooers Forks, NY," CBP's Swanton Sector said on Facebook. "Agents located a minivan occupied by five citizens of Iran and two citizens of Uzbekistan." The Champlain Station is part of the Swanton Sector. Swanton is a rural town in Vermont near Highway 89 just...

Joe Rogan had a big chat with Senator Bernie Sanders about climate change, and it got pretty spicy! Bernie told Joe that climate change is real and switching to things like wind and solar power could make lots of jobs. But Joe wasn’t having it. He pointed out that the Earth’s temperature has always gone up and down. There have been ice ages and hot times before.Joe even mentioned an article from The Washington Post saying that we might be in a cooling period now, contradicting Bernie’s idea that the last ten years were the hottest ever.Joe backed it up...

Too many Democratic party leaders would rather be the captains on a sinking Titanic than change course The Democratic party is at a crossroads. It can continue to push policies that maintain a broken and rigged economic and political system and ignore the pain of the 60% of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck. It can turn its back on the dreams of a younger generation which, if we don’t change that system, will likely be worse off than their parents. It can continue to depend upon billionaire donors and out-of-touch campaign consultants and spend huge amounts of money on...

The Biden administration and the Saudis are reportedly cooking up a deal.Under the terms of the agreement, the Saudis will get nuclear capability, defense guarantees and a terrorist state inside Israel. And what will the United States get? Temporarily lower prices.The Saudis are not offering to boost oil production to bring down prices as a favor to America, but to Biden. And it’s an election quid-pro-quo that may cost millions of Americans their lives.After draining the strategic petroleum reserve ahead of the midterms, Biden has been unable to refill it because his environmentalist allies and the Saudis have kept prices...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are co-sponsoring a bill that would ban discrimination against transgender military members.The Fit to Serve Act would prohibit the Department of Defense from banning transgender service members from the military and would ban the department from listing gender identity as a qualification for service.The Fit to Serve Act was led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and co-sponsored by other senators, including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) has come under fire for suggesting President Trump’s immigration crackdown will leave Vermonters without “anyone around to wipe our a–es.” The congresswoman made the outrageous claim — which she herself called “crude” — during a town hall in Newport, Vt., last week, in response to a question about US immigration policy. “Our economy is completely bound up in immigration and migrant labor,” Balint told her constituents. “We have to come to a place in Congress where it is no longer a political issue, but we see it as an existential issue for the country.” “If we...

The Supreme Court unanimously decided on Thursday to limit environmental reviews for major infrastructure projects in a case that will have sweeping impacts on President Donald Trump’s energy agenda. In a move that will restrict power of federal judges, Thursday’s decision reduces the scope of reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to focus solely on immediate impacts. Under NEPA, federal agencies are required to study any potentially significant environmental consequences of federal permits for infrastructure projects. “NEPA does not allow courts, ‘under the guise of judicial review’ of agency compliance with NEPA, to delay or block agency projects...

The state of Vermont has amended an anti-pregnancy center law that censored centers’ ability to advertise their services and counsel women against abortion. KEY TAKEAWAYS: In 2022, Vermont became the first state to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right. In 2023, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed SB 37 into law, which targeted pro-life pregnancy centers with the threat of fines of up to $10,000 if they did not advertise their services in a way approved by the state attorney general. Several pro-life organizations sued the state with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys. This week, Vermont amended the law,...

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) vowed Wednesday to veto a proposal to ban in guns in bars if it reaches his desk. VTDigger reported that the proposal is a charter change for Burlington contained in S.131 and it cleared the Vermont Senate in April. However, S.131 only passed the Senate by 17 votes, which is not enough to overcome the veto Gov. Scott promises to use against it. Gov. Scott believes the ban would be onerous on bar owners as it would put them in the position of enforcing it. He said, ““Like, who’s going to stand at the door...

Vermont Governor Phil Scott paused the state’s electric vehicle sales requirements for passenger cars and medium and heavy-duty trucks on Tuesday, amid broader concerns about the feasibility of zero-emission vehicle rules pioneered by California. Vermont is one of 11 states including New York, Maryland and Massachusetts that have adopted California’s zero-emission vehicle rules, which seek to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035. California’s rules require 35% of light-duty vehicles in the 2026 model year to be zero-emission models. Scott, a Republican, cited warnings from automakers that they could limit supply of gas-powered vehicles to dealers in the state...

That’s rich! Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders refused to apologize for chartering private jets to ferry him across the country as part of his campaign to rip the wealthy — snapping, “You think I’m gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United … while 30,000 people are waiting?” Sanders (D-Vt.) defiantly defended his mode of transport after he was widely ridiculed for opting to fly private during his recent “Fighting Oligarchy” tour alongside far-left New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “No apologies for that,” Sanders, 83, told Fox News’ “Special Report” late Wednesday when asked about the backlash. “That’s what campaign...