Free Republic

The State Department’s controversial Global Engagement Center (GEC) shut down this week after congressional lawmakers nixed reauthorizing the agency in spending legislation to keep the government open. “The Global Engagement Center closed on December 23, 2024,” read a message on the agency’s website. The GEC came under fire from House Republicans after journalist Matt Taibbi uncovered evidence that it pressured US social media platforms early in the COVID-19 pandemic to censor Americans online, purportedly to counter “disinformation,” such as theories that the virus leaked out of a laboratory in China. “We learned Twitter, Facebook, Google, and other companies developed a...

NEW YORK, Dec 26 (Reuters) - New York state will fine fossil fuel companies a total of $75 billion over the next 25 years to pay for damage caused to the climate under a bill Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law on Thursday. The law is intended to shift some of the recovery and adaptation costs of climate change from individual taxpayers to oil, gas and coal companies that the law says are liable. The money raised will be spent on mitigating the impacts of climate change, including adapting roads, transit, water and sewage systems, buildings and other infrastructure. "New...

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How does a man end up in a women's prison in California? Thanks to progressives in the state legislature, all it takes is for the man to declare himself a woman. Three years ago, Democrats enacted Senate Bill 132, also known as "The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act." As one prosecutor explains, the law requires no medical transition, no psychological evaluation, and no other medical assessment. What happens when this law gets put into effect in prisons? Pretty much what everyone would expect. Tremaine Carroll impregnated one fellow inmate after declaring himself a woman and then allegedly raped two...

Merry Christmas FReepers Santa is already is already left the North Pole and is headed for Taiwan in several minutes. Merry Christmas!!

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) commended President Biden Monday for commuting the sentences of 37 federal inmates on death row, arguing that capital punishment is “racist.” *** Pressley, 50, described the 82-year-old commander in chief’s decision to spare dozens of convicted murderers and rapists from death as a “historic and groundbreaking act of compassion that will save lives, address the deep racial disparities in our criminal legal system, and send a powerful message about redemption, decency, and humanity.” “The death penalty is a racist, flawed, and fundamentally unjust punishment that has no place in any society,” the congresswoman argued. “For far...

Allies of Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are urging President-elect Trump to publicly reaffirm support for the House GOP leader to avoid a messy, protracted battle that could delay the certification of his own victory. "If we have some kind of protracted fight where we can’t elect a speaker — the speaker’s not elected; we’re not sworn in. And if we’re not sworn in, we can’t certify the election," Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital. House lawmakers are returning to Washington, D.C., for a chamber-wide vote to elect the speaker on Friday, Jan. 3. Just days later, on Monday,...

The Talk Shows December22nd, 2024 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FACE THE NATION (CBS): Margaret Brennan anchors: Roger Carsten, Biden administration's top hostage envoy; DHS Secretary Alejandro Ma-jerk-ass; Sen. Joe Manchin (I (trade votes for cash!)-W.Va.); Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas); Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), House Chairman of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion. FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Anchor Shannon Bream: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.); Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.); Dallas Jenkins, creator, director, co-writer and executive producer of The Chosen, the first multi-season series about the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Panel: Gay...

President-Elect Donald J. Trump will be the keynote speaker at Turning Point USA’s AmFest 2024 conference on Sunday, December 22, 2024. Watch LIVE on RSBN starting at 9 a.m. EST. President Trump’s remarks are scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. EST.

We're a month away from the ignominious end of the Joe Biden administration. After four years of scandal, economic hardship, and international strife, we're not sad to see him go. But as Inauguration Day approaches, it appears the media have decided certain things that were 'disinformation' and 'deep fakes' just a few months ago are actually news stories they can talk about now. Like Biden's declining mental acuity. https://x.com/WSJ/status/1869763274805477662? More from The Wall Street Journal: To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, they told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and...

The Panama Canal is considered a VITAL National Asset for the United States, due to its critical role to America’s Economy and National Security. A secure Panama Canal is crucial for U.S. Commerce, and rapid deployment of the Navy, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and drastically cuts shipping times to U.S. ports. The United States is the Number One user of the Canal, with over 70 percent of all transits heading to, or from, U.S. ports. Considered one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the Panama Canal opened for business 110 years ago, and was built at HUGE...

The House passed the bill Friday evening following a 366-34 vote with one Democrat voting “present.” The Senate voted 85-11 shortly after midnight Saturday. President Joe Biden signed the bill Saturday morning. The legislation did not include any language either raising or suspending the debt limit, rejecting a demand by Trump that it be addressed. Congress and Trump will have to deal with that next year when they control the House, Senate and the White House. The 118-page bill will extend programs in the five-year farm bill through September, giving the House and Senate more time to broker a deal,...

The Yemeni channel Al-Masirah, affiliated with the Houthi rebel group, reported a strike in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen. According to reports, the international coalition is behind the strike. CENTCOM reported: "US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by Iran-backed Houthis within Houthi-controlled territory in Sana'a, Yemen, on Dec. 21 Yemen time." "CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden. "During the operation, CENTCOM...

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“The rewriting of the history of Jan. 6, 2021, is incredibly disturbing,” Judge Beryl Howell said U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan says she has often reassured police officers traumatized by the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, that “the rule of law still applies.” But as President-elect Donald Trump — once a defendant in Chutkan’s very court — prepares to retake the White House and pardon many Jan. 6 perpetrators, Chutkan now says, “I’m not sure I can do that very convincingly these days.” Chutkan’s comments, delivered this week as she sentenced another member of the Jan. 6 mob to eight...

President Trump has filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit by Texas and Missouri to stop the Biden Regime’s auctioning of border wall materials. As The Gateway Pundit reported, the Biden Regime is using its final weeks in power to auction off massive amounts of unused border wall materials that have been left sitting in the Arizona desert since Biden took office. Every day, an amount of materials that could build up to half a mile of wall are being transported north to be sold starting at $5 for each “32.91’ X 7.91’ Steel Bollard Wall Sections w/Grout,” according to...

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled House on Friday evening passed a short-term bill to avert a government shutdown, just hours ahead of a deadline that would force U.S. troops, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers and millions of other federal workers to work without pay during the holidays. The vote was 366-34, with one member voting present, capping a tumultuous week in the House that foreshadowed how the new Congress in January might deal with a mercurial Donald Trump back in the White House. A two-thirds vote was needed because the bill came to the floor under a fast-track process. The...

Michael Tomasky was back on Morning Joe today, beating his dour, one-note samba: right-wing media is the root of all evil. Last month, we caught New Republic editor Tomasky blaming conservative media for Kamala Harris's defeat. He even claimed that right-wing media is more powerful than the MSM. As we wrote: "If only!"Today, Tomasky blamed right-wing media, singling out Rupert Murdoch for particular opprobrium, for Trump's current popularity, as reflected in majority support for his handling of the transition. Trump has nominated "unqualified extremists" across the board, and yet the public approves of the transition. He doesn't blame "people," he...

House Republicans are planning to move forward with a last-ditch effort to avoid a government shutdown by voting on Friday afternoon to extend current government funding levels until mid-March, dropping a demand from President-elect Donald Trump to attach a debt limit increase to the spending package. The House will vote on a clean continuing resolution to maintain current spending levels until March 14 combined with $110.4 billion in disaster aid and economic assistance for farmers, according to lawmakers familiar with the plans. The spending package is the same bill that was shot down by the House on Thursday but excludes...

President-elect Donald Trump blasted Democrats on Thursday night, accusing them of voting for a shutdown. In a brief statement, Trump said "Nearly every single House Democrat just voted against government funding and to shut down the government." These 197 Democrats voted against keeping the government open, disaster relief, and aid for farmers," he added. Democrats voted overwhelmingly against the second attempt at a continuing resolution Thursday evening, joining a few dozen Republicans in the process. This CR was backed by Trump, who called for the new bill to include suspending the debt ceiling. This bill would have done so until...