Free Republic

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was roasted on social media for creating a fictional Long Island couple called Joe and Eileen Bailey, whom he has based his entire political career on. During an episode of Last Week Tonight, British-born HBO talk show host John Oliver shared several clips of Schumer talking about the fictional couple, describing them as being “middle-class” and having “bought into Reagan Republicanism in 1980.” Schumer has explained that he has “guided” his political career “through the Baileys.” “They’re a middle-class couple in Massapequa, which is a suburb on Long Island,” Schumer said in one clip from an...

President Donald Trump suggested ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this week that Ukraine could cede land to Russia as part of a peace deal — an idea that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky swiftly rejected.“Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier,” Zelensky said in a video address Saturday. The leaders of Britain and the European Union threw their support behind Ukraine’s president, saying a ceasefire must come before any negotiations.Trump had said that “some swapping of territories” could be “to the betterment” of both sides.Ukraine is a vast Eastern European country, covering about...

One of the internet’s most famous fact-checkers, former Washington Post writer Glenn Kessler, was grilled by author and podcaster Mark Halperin on Friday over media bias. The man behind The Washington Post's "Pinocchios" announced in late July he would be leaving the paper without anyone to fill his shoes. Kessler, who reportedly edited more than 3,000 fact checks as editor and chief writer of The Fact Checker, announced that week he had taken a buyout deal, ending his lengthy career at the Post. "After more than 27 years at The Washington Post, including almost 15 as The Fact Checker, I...

Redistricting reform could die as it becomes another polarizing and partisan blood sport.David Daley is author of “Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count” and “Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections.”The 2026 midterms might not be decided by tariffs, President Donald Trump’s approval ratings or even Sydney Sweeney’s divisive American Eagle ad — but by gerrymandering. Just a handful of seats separate the two parties, and first Republicans and now Democrats are angling for more before votes are cast.Texas Republicans stand ready to adopt a new map that could award them as many as five additional...

The president clamors for the Fed to lower interest rates because it serves his wild spending.No one likes to be told no, especially Donald Trump. To refuse the president is to invite a battle that he will pursue to the bitter end. So the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged, at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, was hardly a routine vote. It was a loud no from the majority of voting members — including the president’s designated nemesis, Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell — to Trump’s demand that “interest rates have to come down.”The retributive president...

I’m not a big fan of political labels. They invite people to put you in a box, and the only box I want to be in is one labeled “open-minded.” I don’t think anyone has a monopoly on the truth.But anyone who takes a look at my résumé — I worked at a top Democratic Party-aligned think tank and a left-leaning political action committee, where I helped Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats win elections — would acknowledge that over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time in the progressive movement.And yet, for the past week, the politician I find...

The man behind The Washington Post's "Pinocchios" is leaving the paper without anyone to fill his shoes. Glenn Kessler, the editor of The Fact Checker, announced Monday he has taken a buyout, ending his lengthy career at the Post. "After more than 27 years at The Washington Post, including almost 15 as The Fact Checker, I will be leaving on July 31, having taken a buyout," Kessler wrote on his Facebook page. "Much as I would have liked to keep scrutinizing politicians in Washington, especially in this era, the financial considerations were impossible to dismiss." Kessler said he wrote or...

President Donald Trump made a promise at a reception last week for Republican lawmakers that was as impossible as it was specific: He would drive down drug prices by as much as 1,500 percent — “numbers that are not even thought to be achievable,” he said. A price cannot drop by more than 100 percent, but Trump went on to make several other precise but clearly false numerical claims. The cost of gasoline had fallen to $1.99 a gallon in five states, he said; according to AAA, it was over $3 in every state. Businesses had invested $16 trillion in...

The U.S. DOGE Service is using a new artificial intelligence tool to slash federal regulations, with the goal of eliminating half of Washington’s regulatory mandates by the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and four government officials familiar with the plans. The tool, called the “DOGE AI Deregulation Decision Tool,” is supposed to analyze roughly 200,000 federal regulations to determine which can be eliminated because they are no longer required by law, according to a PowerPoint presentation obtained by The Post that is dated July 1 and outlines DOGE’s plans. Roughly...

The data centers required for Big Tech are driving up electricity demand — and prices.This summer, across a vast stretch of the eastern United States, monthly home electric bills jumped. In Trenton, New Jersey, the bill for a typical home rose $26. In Philadelphia, it increased about $17. In Pittsburgh, it went up $10. And in Columbus, Ohio, it spiked $27.Few customers were happy, of course, but even fewer knew exactly why the rates had climbed so quickly.“I never know why it goes up,” said Vicki Miller, a retired secretary in Columbus. “But I can adjust the thermostat to save...

Another day, another leak. CNN and The Washington Post on Wednesday reported that sources say the Pentagon Inspector General has ‘evidence’ that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Signal chat included classified information from Central Command. The Pentagon Inspector General expanded his investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the double-encrypted app Signal in May. Steven Stebbins took over as Acting Inspector General after President Trump fired the previous IG and 17 other inspectors general. Stebbins was first appointed to his position in 2015. Pete Hegseth has been under heavy attack since before his confirmation hearing and the leaks keep coming....

History forgot the horrors endured by laborers on the automaker’s massive cattle ranch in the Brazilian Amazon. But a priest had recorded it all. SANTANA DO ARAGUAIA, Brazil When Ricardo Rezende Figueira saw the headline, he felt a chill run through him. It was about Volkswagen. The company said it was finally ready to atone for its past. After admitting that its staff had cooperated with Brazil’s military dictatorship to target workers for political persecution, the automaker had begun to negotiate reparations. Rezende read to the bottom of the article, then sat for a moment, quiet. The story didn’t say...

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — She hadn’t seen cracks like that since the earthquake. Now they snaked up her buttercream dining room walls and etched tiny ravines in the ceiling. “Crazy,” Fernande Vital said to her husband as they eyed the damage. “They’re driving me crazy.” Clearly, they’d spread. Like the scars on all those buildings back home, she told a construction-worker friend who, as a fellow Haitian, understood. He’d also survived the 7.0 mega-tremors that once leveled much of their island nation. Fernande had figured calamity wouldn’t trail them to America, land of the free, home of the Kardashian opulence on...

New Jersey’s federal judges declined Tuesday to appoint Alina Habba, President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney in the state, to continue serving in that role, delivering a resounding rebuke to one of his administration’s most polarizing Justice Department appointees.The state’s U.S. district court judges made the announcement in a brief order that did not offer any explanation for their decision. The order — signed by Renee Marie Bumb, the chief federal judge for the District of New Jersey — appointed Desiree Leigh Grace, a career prosecutor who Habba had named as her first assistant U.S. attorney as her replacement...

Last week saw a massive document dump that reconfirmed what we knew about the Russian collusion hoax. It was a deep state, legacy media, and Democrat plot to undermine the first Trump presidency. Former CIA Director John Brennan and ex-FBI Chief James Comey are now subjects of investigation over their conduct regarding their operation. The next question is when James Clapper and Barack Obama will be roped into that probe. Obama especially since his fingerprints are all over this mess.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ousted another senior adviser amid a staffing shakeup at the Pentagon.Justin Fulcher, who started at the Defense Department as a member of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency and was promoted to senior adviser in April, left the department on Saturday, reported CBS News.His departure comes after Fulcher found himself at the center of two Pentagon controversies, according to the Washington Post.Fulcher claimed that his departure is 'perfectly amicable' and he only planned to work in the government for six months.'Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Department of Defense has been incredibly...

Since his arrival at the struggling newspaper, Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis has fought to reverse the plunge in revenue and readership to save this great American newspaper. His greatest challenge has been the staff itself, which seems willing to embrace bankruptcy rather than give up its bias. This week, Lewis sent another warning to his intransigent staff: get on board or get out. I have written about Lewis’s fight to save the Post from itself over the years. Many writers and editors seemed to believe that owner Jeff Bezos would run the newspaper as a type of...

Trump has largely shut down the southwest border by ending asylum programs and deploying troops. But those moves have shrunk the pool of easy-to-deport migrants.TIJUANA, Mexico — When President Donald Trump pledged to launch the “largest deportation operation in American history,” this border city swung into action. The local government declared a state of emergency. Federal authorities built a shelter for up to 2,600 deportees, complete with beds, showers and white-coated chefs. It was, one local official said, the “zombie apocalypse scenario.” But five months after Trump took office, the shelter is nearly empty. So few deportees have arrived —...

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos' A-list guests like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner were forced to take cover on Thursday as the couple's pre-wedding party was hit by a huge freak thunderstorm. The lavish event held at the Madonna dell Orto cloisters marked the start of the billionaire couple's lavish three-day wedding in Venice, Italy, which will come to a close on Saturday. However, Thursday night's star-studded soiree was brought to an early end due to the intense downpour. Guests dived for cover under the vaulted cloisters as lightening bolts flashed across the sky and thunder rumbled overhead at the...

A new culture of secrecy in government is taking root – among career staffers and new political appointees alike.At the Department of Veterans Affairs, some employees had to sign nondisclosure agreements before reviewing plans for firings and organizational shake-ups. At the Administration for Children and Families, career staff were told not to respond in writing to panicky grant recipients whose funding had been shut off to avoid a “paper trail,” one employee said.And at the Environmental Protection Agency, several months after Elon Musk began requiring federal workers to submit weekly emails detailing five things they’d accomplished, some managers began calling...