Free Republic

A growing number of journalists and supporters of the Washington Post are imploring Jeff Bezos, the outlet’s billionaire owner, to stop massive layoffs that are expected to hit the news organization next month. The Post, according to multiple reports, is planning to dramatically reduce the size of its staff in the coming weeks and is reportedly considering making the steepest cutbacks to its foreign desk and sports department. News of the outlet’s plans have roiled staffers and sparked many of them to take to social media to criticize the newspaper’s publisher and CEO Will Lewis, who was hired by Bezos...

DAVOS, Switzerland — President Donald Trump’s demands to take over Greenland, reiterated in an overnight barrage of social media posts, are transforming this week’s annual gathering of the global elite into an emergency diplomatic summit, as European leaders prepared to use the president’s arrival here Wednesday to de-escalate the spiraling crisis. Europe may not have a home-field advantage in Davos. The United States is seeking to dominate this year’s World Economic Forum by sending its largest and most senior delegation in history. Meetings with senior Trump officials are among the most sought-after engagements in town as European leaders, already reeling...

The Catholic archbishop for the U.S. military services said it “would be morally acceptable to disobey” orders if troops considered them against their conscience as the Trump administration intervenes in Venezuela, readies troops for a possible deployment to Minnesota and threatens to seize Greenland.Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio is the latest public figure to suggest that U.S. soldiers could disobey their orders. His comments also underscored the mounting concern being voiced by the first American pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, as well as his top cardinals in the United States, over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.“Greenland is a territory of Denmark,” Broglio...

Remember during Covid when liberals kept insisting that they were the ones who believed in "THE Science?" Well now that "THE Science" has proved to become politically inconvenient for them we see the hilarious spectacle of those same liberals denying basic science such as during a recent Senate hearing when a leftist doctor refused to answer the simple question of "Can men get pregnant?"We can now also see that same pathetic denial of obvious scientific reality taking effect in the current arguments surrounding the Supreme Court case about upholding state bans of biological males aka trans-women participating in women's sports....

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department crossed a new threshold with its criminal investigation of top Democratic elected officials in Minnesota, targeting vocal critics during a moment of crisis in which protesters and federal agents are clashing on icy city streets.The Twin Cities have been a tinderbox for more than a week since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman in her vehicle, with residents confronting ICE agents. Trump has raised the prospect of sending U.S. troops into the state, and the Justice Department escalated tensions Friday as it prepared to send subpoenas to Gov. Tim Walz and...

The FBI searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson Wednesday morning, as part of a classified document leak investigation. Agents reportedly executed a search warrant at her residence in suburban Alexandria, Va., seizing her phone, a Garmin watch, and two laptops (a personal computer and a Washington Post-issued device). Natanson was reportedly told she is not the target of the investigation. The suspected leaker, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, is a Maryland-based government system administrator with top-secret clearance. The Justice Department alleges in its complaint that he took home classified material, including documents found in his lunchbox and basement. Attorney General...

A Washington Post opinion columnist is acknowledging that the Democratic Party pushed “woke” politics too far and paid the price at the ballot box. The piece argued that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani may represent the kind of shift away from culture war politics Democrats need to win back voters. Columnist Shadi Hamid argued that from 2014 through about 2023, peaking in 2020, Democrats embraced “woke” ideas that prioritized divisive cultural issues, including transgender rights and calls to defund the police.

The FBI executed a search warrant on the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of an investigation into the leaking of government secrets. The reporter, Hannah Natanson, was at her home in Virginia when federal agents descended on her home on Wednesday morning, the Washington Post said. The outlet said Natanson was raided as part of a probe into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials, and she had her home and devices searched.

Special counsel's testimony contradicts Supreme Court precedent on protected political speech, constitutional experts argueFor years, some of us have argued that President Donald Trump's January 6th speech was protected under the First Amendment and that any prosecution would collapse under governing precedent, including Brandenburg v. Ohio. I was regularly attacked as an apologist for my criticism of Special Counsel Jack Smith's "war on free speech." I wrote about his history of ignoring such constitutional protections in his efforts to prosecute targets at any cost. I also wrote about how Smith's second indictment (which the Post supported) was a direct assault...

As the U.S. military escalates its posture around Venezuela—with naval deployments in the Caribbean, B-52 overflights, lethal strikes on alleged drug boats, and confirmed CIA covert operations—advocates of regime change are reviving a dangerous analogy. Many have pointed to the United States’ 1989 invasion of Panama and toppling of dictator Manuel Noriega as proof that swift, surgical operations can get the job done. In private conversations with several current and former U.S. officials, they have nodded toward this parallel. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who just last month was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has appealed to the United...

When the people vote against democracy.The social media hashtag #NeverTrump first appeared in June 2015, days after Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy. For the balance of that year, social media derision attracted less attention than Trump himself, mostly due to the widespread belief that Trump’s campaign was self-extinguishing, which argued against pointless efforts to bring about an already inevitable defeat. In election cycles since Ronald Reagan’s 1984 landslide victory, unlikely protest candidates for the GOP presidential nomination—Pat Robertson, Ron Paul, Herman Cain—had briefly surged in the polls, only to give way to a conventional politician who ended up as...

Justice Department lawyers said Tuesday that a recent ruling barring their access to key evidence has effectively crippled their efforts to reindict former FBI director James B. Comey, two weeks after their original case against him was dismissed. The concession came in a court filing urging a federal judge in Washington to lift a temporary order she imposed Saturday restricting the government’s ability to review or use emails and other electronic communications seized as part of an investigation more than five years ago involving Comey confidante Daniel Richman. Richman’s records had played a central role in the Justice Department’s effort...

The Washington Post @washingtonpost and Dan Lamothe @DanLamothe used to occupy this desk inside the Pentagon Press room. Now it’s mine!

Sometimes leftist media outlets try to out-dumb themselves like it’s some sort of prestigious competition for who can churn out the most ignoramus hot take of the year. The Washington Post is definitely in the running for first place with its latest stupidity about inflation. Post reporter Julie Zauzmer Weil published a piece of propaganda with a headline that defied any modicum of common sense: “Why you may not want lower prices as much as you think you do.” Her sub-headline was just as bad: “Though Americans might be clamoring for relief on groceries, housing and energy costs, economists say...

In late December 2020, President Trump made a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to look at some of the items that were uncovered by his auditor. There was plenty of evidence for a competent auditor or any man of integrity to know that the election was uncertifiable. Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger’s office secretly recorded the phone call with President Trump, then lied about it to the far left Washington Post. Raffensperger’s office later ran to the Washington Post and leaked a fraudulent transcript of the call. After they were caught lying to the America...

Trump grew the conservative coalition in 2024. Carlson and Fuentes would shrink it.Tucker Carlson’s effort to bring neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes into the mainstream of the conservative movement is not only morally reprehensible, it is a path to political suicide for the right. Those defending or excusing Carlson’s sane-washing of Fuentes need to ask themselves a simple question: Do they want to be a majoritarian movement or not?Conservatives cannot build a lasting majority without appealing to minority voters — and that won’t happen if they embrace White nationalists.It is true that Democrats have a problem with White men. In 2024, Democrats...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March seeking to close the department, but only Congress has the power to do that. The Education Department plans to announce Tuesday that it will move multiple parts of the agency to other federal departments, an unprecedented and unilateral effort to dismantle an agency created by Congress to ensure all Americans have equal access to educational opportunity and better coordinate federal programs. The move was described by three people informed of the plan ahead of the announcement. Two of these people said six offices within the department would be shifted elsewhere; the...

It’s unclear whether the measure will pass after administration officials tried to reassure Republicans who signaled they may support the effort.The Senate will vote Thursday on a bipartisan measure to block President Donald Trump from attacking Venezuelan territory in a new test of Republicans’ willingness to oppose his use of military force in Latin America. It is unclear whether the largely symbolic effort will attract enough GOP support to pass, or whether a recent push by the administration to walk back Trump’s repeated threats of escalation has reassured those lawmakers who have suggested they might join the effort. On Wednesday,...

It’s too good. It’s beyond comical. For the past week or so, liberal America has been apoplectic over President Trump’s new addition to the White House. He’s renovating the East Room so that a proper ballroom can be on the grounds, a venue that can accommodate at least 650 people. The president of the United States will forever have a place for official state dinners and other events—no more tents on the lawn. And yet, you’d think Trump ordered a slash-and-burn of the entire residence. Other presidents have done this—it’s not a big deal. The project is being funded by...

The White House announced plans to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom that will cost approximately $200 million. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said construction will begin in September. “President Trump, and other patriot donors, have generously committed to donating the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million dollar structure. The United States Secret Service will provide the necessary security enhancements and modifications,” the White House said in a release. 🚨Just in: The White House has announced plans to construct a new 90,000 sq. ft. ballroom, with construction set to begin in September. The $200 million project will be fully...