Free Republic

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...

Bernie Sanders offered a bizarre defense for using private jets while traveling the country to speak on his 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour, during which he slammed billionaires. The democratic socialist and environmental campaigner said he should not be expected to 'wait in line' for commercial flights. Sanders, 83, a longtime Vermont senator and two-time presidential candidate, said he made 'no apologies' for the trips. He told Fox News that 'you run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week, the only way you can go around to talk to 30,000 people,' is by private jet....

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told FOX News host Bret Baier on "Special Report" that he has no apologies for using private airplanes to travel to his "Fighting Oligarchy Tour" rallies. BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS: Alright, last thing. You know, Elissa Slotkin, Senator from Michigan, she said you shouldn't be using oligarch, it's over people's head. You've gotten criticized from other people. Free Beacon says Bernie Sanders spent $221,000 on private jets fighting the oligarchy tour, paid for by friends of Bernie Sanders. That you've spent millions of dollars in campaign funds on private jet travel over the years. How do...

The founders learned this week they aren't getting their business back and their foundation is getting audited. There is a battle under way over the ownership and identity of the iconic ice cream brand Ben and Jerry's — and its radical leftist founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, appear to be losing badly. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal indicated that Cohen was trying to gather investors to buy back the brand that he and Greenfield sold to Unilever 25 years ago. This buyback initiative came just weeks after Unilever removed the company's anti-Trump CEO Dave Stever, allegedly on...

BURLINGTON, Vt. - Vermont’s consumers are not buying electric vehicles as fast as the state’s rules require, according to data collected by the Vermont Vehicle Distributors Association. “We’re between a rock and a hard place, quite frankly,” says Vermont Vehicle and Automotive Distributors Association representative, Matt Cota To meet goals in Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act, the Agency of Natural Resources set standards for the number of electric vehicles that should be on the road by 2035. “We’re showing exponential growth, but we’re not showing the type of growth as required by law. The law requires 35%, we’re only at...

Vermont socialist has spent millions on private jet travel over the years.. Sen. Bernie Sanders has crisscrossed the country on his nationwide Fighting Oligarchy Tour to rail against billionaires and supposed "oligarchs" like Elon Musk—while traveling like an oligarch himself. Campaign expenditures released Tuesday and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show Sanders's main campaign committee, Friends of Bernie Sanders, spent $221,723 chartering private jets during the first quarter of 2025, with the first payment coming just days before the launch of his tour in February. "We will not accept a rigged economy where working people struggle while billionaires become...

Mahdawi was arrested after arriving at a citizenship center in Vermont, The Intercept reports. ICE’s database appears to confirm Mahdawi’s detention. The database says Mahdawi is in ICE custody, listing his birthplace as Jordan. Mahdawi was born in the West Bank, but the ICE database does not have a category for the Palestinian territories. Several Columbia University anti-Israel activists have been targeted by the Trump administration, starting last month with protest leader Mahmoud Khalil. Mohsen Mahdawi’s Calls for Israel’s Destruction, Justification of Hamas Terrorism and Support for the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia). Mohsen Mahdawi’s Calls for Israel’s Destruction,...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) assured attendees at one of his “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies Saturday they are “making Donald Trump and Elon Musk very nervous” as he laid out a string of grievances with the current Washington administration. The 83-year-old senator spoke to his supporters as they gathered in the Gloria Molina Grand Park in Los Angeles alongside guests including politicians, union representatives and musical acts.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont - champions of the left - repeatedly targeted President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk as they kicked off a three-day swing through three electorally important western states. But Sanders, and especially Ocasio-Cortez, also trained some of their fire on the Democratic Party, with the best-known member of the so-called "Squad" of diverse and progressive House members urging her own party to have "the courage to brawl" against Republicans. And Sanders and Cortez took to the stage at their first stop in Las Vegas, Nevada, while...

When culture warriors become literal corporate sell-outs, they shouldn’t be surprised when the laws of economics come and bite them in the ass. There’s a reason ‘go woke go broke’ has become axiomatic. Even institutions as big as Disney and Bud Light have learned they are not too big to feel the sting of a spurned public returning the favor. As for politics, there aren’t many corporate political attention whores louder than Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s sold their company to Unilever in 2000, with the expectation that they could continue their political grandstanding. It looks like,...

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York went off on members of her own party Thursday amid a looming government shutdown, saying, "American people, whether they are Republicans, independents, Democrats, are up in arms about Elon Musk and the actual gutting of federal agencies across the board." snip AOC: It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect social security, protect medicaid, and protect medicare

Senator Chuck Schumer’s sudden decision on Thursday to support a Republican-written bill to avert a government shutdown so enraged his fellow Democrats that some were already talking about primary challenges to the 74-year-old Democratic leader from New York. The eruption of anger about Mr. Schumer’s seeming surrender thrust into public view a generational divide that has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s deepest and most consequential rifts. Younger Democrats are chafing at and increasingly complaining about what they see as the feebleness of the old guard’s efforts to push back against President Trump. They are second-guessing how the party’s...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is postponing several planned events this week to promote his new book, “ Antisemitism in America: A Warning,” after some liberal groups had planned to stage protests The cancellations of events in Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and other cities came amid widespread criticism from the party’s liberal base over Schumer’s vote to move forward with Republican spending legislation last week. Risa Heller, a representative for Schumer’s book, said that the tour would be rescheduled “due to security concerns.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was found to “best reflect the core values” of the Democrat Party in a new CNN poll, narrowly beating failed presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The poll, conducted March 6-9 among approximately 500 Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents, resulted in the far-left congresswoman coming out on top with ten percent of the vote for representing the party’s “core values”

Several provocatively dressed, dancing transgender activists broke into an informational parents' meeting at the Vermont State House on Wednesday, disrupting the event and forcing the parents to seek another space for their event. The activists played loud music and shouted as event organizers attempted to speak. The Vermont State House Sergeant of Arms refused to remove the trans activists, claiming they had a right to be there