Free Republic

Even before the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the U.S., fears and uncertainties helped spur misinformation’s rapid spread. In March 2020, schools closed, employers sent staff to work from home and grocery stores called for social distancing to keep people safe. But little halted the flow of misleading claims that sent fact-checkers and public health officials into overdrive. Some people falsely asserted COVID-19’s symptoms were associated with 5G wireless technology. Faux cures and untested treatments populated social media and political discourse. Amid uncertainty about the virus’s origins, some even proclaimed COVID-19 didn’t exist at all. PolitiFact named downplay...

The event marked the third cancellation on the book tourStranger Things star Brett Gelman has spoken out after a third bookstore cancelled his signing event, following backlash surrounding his views on Israel. Book Soup in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, was set to be the next stop on the star’s debut book tour, promoting his short story collection, The Terrifying Realm Of The Possible: Nearly True Stories (set for release on March 19). However, similarly to bookstores in San Francisco and Winnetka, Illinois, Book Soup have cancelled his appearance. The decision comes after Gelman has been outspoken in support of Israel,...

When U.S. news outlets' lucrative peddling of Chinese propaganda was exposed in 2019 and 2020, it was a scandal. Human rights groups condemned the practice, and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal swore off Chinese Communist Party money. In the years since, however, a number of major U.S. newspapers and magazines have kept at it—accepting hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars from the Chinese Communist Party in exchange for publishing content by China Daily, a state-owned English-language paper. China Daily's Foreign Agents Registration Act filings show that between October 2020 and October 2023, the CCP mouthpiece paid...

Joe Biden is old. Like each of us, he comes from a particular place in history, in his case the LBJ years. And that’s one big reason why his first term has been so full of accomplishment: His age, often cited as the greatest obstacle to his reelection, is actually his superpower. The first presidential election in which Joe Biden was eligible to vote featured Lyndon Johnson beating Barry Goldwater. History remembers LBJ’s presidency as chaotic because of his tragic adventuring in Vietnam, but in other respects it was remarkable. His Great Society echoed Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal (FDR was...

Megyn Kelly is joined by Andrew Klavan, author of "The House of Love and Death,” to discuss major layoffs at the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated potentially shutting down, media outlets losing audience and money after going woke, and more.

The Los Angeles Times announced over 100 journalists would be laid off Tuesday as the media outlet lost as much as $40 million a year, according to multiple outlets. The newspaper will reduce its newsroom staff by 20%, one of the biggest cuts in its 142-year history, the outlet’s Meg James reported. Among those who were axed included the chief and deputy chief of the paper’s Washington, D.C., bureau, along with its business editor, the music editor and books editor. Two of the paper’s four managing editors resigned prior to the announcement of the layoffs, adding to the uncertainty around...

The Los Angeles Times, the largest newspaper in California and one of the biggest by circulation in the entire United States, was hit with a heavy round of layoffs Tuesday. The move to terminate more than 110 positions within the company has been widely rumored for several weeks — even prompting a one-day walkout protest from the newsroom last week — but the scale of the layoffs, and when those layoffs would happen, was not widely known until Tuesday morning.

For the first time since record keeping began, Earth has surpassed a critical temperature threshold that scientists have long warned could unleash the worst effects of climate change. On Friday the planet soared 2.07 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, or the 1850 to 1900 average, according to Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Not all hope is lost, however. The Fifth National Climate Change Assessment, released last week by the White House, underscored that every fraction of a degree of warming added or averted will make a difference.

“I can’t believe I have to say this,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) said during the debate over the motion to censure her in Congress this week, “but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else.”

Dueling demonstrations outside the Museum of Tolerance became heated on Wednesday night. Inside, a private screening of video of atrocities from the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel was underway. Outside, horns were blaring, flags were waving, and shouting matches were erupting. About 50 protesters gathered outside the museum prior to the start of the 47-minute film titled “Bearing Witness.” The film is a compilation of video from the attacks, gathered by the Israeli military. An estimated 1,400 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attacks. In response, Israel has bombarded the Gaza Strip...

Democratic congressman lashed out at New York Times and Los Angeles Times for pushing false narratives on Palestinian hospital strikeRep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., accused The New York Times of doing something far "worse" than making a mistake, after the outlet quoted Palestinian claims blaming Israel for the explosion that rocked the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City earlier this week. President Biden said that U.S. intelligence confirmed Israel was not to blame for the attack and backed up Israel's military investigation, which found the strike was caused by Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad. Users on X roasted the paper for...

SACRAMENTO — The Republican Party will hold a presidential candidate debate at the Ronald Reagan library Wednesday. It’s a bad fit. The GOP’s modern idol is exactly the opposite of Reagan in personality and character. For upbeat Reagan, America was a “shining city on the hill.” For whining Donald Trump, it’s a waste bin for venom and lies. Reagan’s soaring rhetoric made people feel good about themselves. There was “always a bright dawn ahead” — “Morning in America.” Yes, maybe that was a tad naive and corny, but it brought a collective smile — and won over many Democrats.

Show more sharing options Tucked into a state Senate bill revising aspects of the Medical Board of California is a brief but unambiguous clause undoing a controversial law that was intended to curb “dissemination of misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19.”If the bill passes as expected this week, it will put an end to the saga of Assembly Bill 2098, a well-intentioned, poorly worded and ultimately doomed effort to curb the most flagrant cases of COVID-related falsehoods by people wielding medical licenses. “We are happy that the Legislature is attempting to address the defects in last year’s legislation,” said Chessie...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is eyeing a change to the United States Constitution. The state's legislature on Thursday approved a resolution in support of Newsom's call for a 28th Constitutional amendment, according to the Los Angeles Times. The amendment would enshrine a list of Democratic gun-control policy priorities into federal law. California is requesting a Constitutional convention to enshrine the amendment. For the amendment to be considered, two-thirds of state legislatures would have to vote in favor of a convention, according to the Times. The proposed "Right to Safety Amendment" would limit legal gun ownership to adults 21 and older,...

Police discovered the naked body of a 32-year-old man inside a barrel at Malibu Lagoon State Beach on Monday. Authorities identified the deceased victim as Javonnta Murphy, an aspiring musician from Sylmar, California, according to the Los Angeles Times. A lifeguard allegedly discovered the 55-gallon drum in the lagoon at around 10 a.m. Monday, according to Lt. Hugo Reynaga. Upon inspection, Murphy’s body was found sealed within the barrel, showing no signs of decomposition, the Times reported. While the origins of the barrel remain untraced, detectives observed distinctive markings that may link it to a printing company, the outlet noted....

A 71-year-old Los Angeles man died in California’s Death Valley National Park on Tuesday, likely due to heat, as the afternoon high recorded in the park was 121 degrees, officials said. The Inyo County Coroner identified the deceased as Steven Curry. Curry fell to the ground outside the restroom at the Golden Canyon trailhead, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office and the national park wrote in a news release. Before collapsing, Curry had been interviewed in the early morning by a Los Angeles Times reporter at Zabriskie Point; he had hiked about 2 miles from Golden Canyon to the point. “It’s...

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has the Leftist political and media elites deeply rattled, and that’s utterly delightful. Imagine this scenario: a wildly unpopular and manifestly incapable president is running, however haltingly, for reelection. Initially he seemed like a lock, but then he encountered an unexpected challenge from a scion of an old American political family, a man who defies all the conventional categorization of political candidates and has set the establishment on its ear by challenging not only the superannuated corruptocrat in the White House but many of that establishment’s most cherished assumptions. It would make a great novel, but...

Gregory Yee, a hard-charging breaking news reporter for the Los Angeles Times, died unexpectedly Wednesday at the Hollywood bungalow where he lived. His family said the cause appeared to be complications from a respiratory issue. He was 33. ... Hired during the pandemic, he worked from home and did not have a chance to meet many of his co-workers in person. Colleagues said he enjoyed the adrenaline rush and constant novelty of breaking news, and studied the paper’s online analytics to gauge how much time readers were lingering on his stories.

On Monday afternoon, just before 3:30 p.m., the couple heard their animals making the kind of noises that might warrant an inspection. According to Lieutenant Michael Arens of the San Diego County Sheriff's San Marcos Station, the couple went outside for peace of mind, but instead saw 36-year-old Alexander Belinksy attempting to abscond with one their goats. The couple attempted to intervene, but Belinsky allegedly threw them to the ground. The 79-year-old may have regarded goat theft to be a matter suited to remedy by bare hands, but an assault on his wife was apparently cause for a constitutionally-protected riposte....

One way to do that would be to restructure some food companies, distribution warehouses and retailers as a public utility, like how the energy grid, sewers and water delivery are managed. If some processing plants, distribution warehouses and retailers were owned by government, they could use subsidies to buy grains, legumes like beans and meat directly from farmers, and the resulting goods could be made available free to everyone. Programs could alternatively take the form of universal school meals and open-to-all cafeterias that serve meals throughout the day.