Free Republic

I’m going to miss Lord & Taylor like mad when the Fifth Avenue flagship closes next year. It isn’t only because of the unlikely bargains I scored on its often-deserted men’s floors — a red vinyl Perry Ellis-label jacket, marked down from $79.95 to $39.95 that strangers hilariously mistake for Armani, and a wool winter coat as good as any for $49.99. I won’t miss the once-charming but more recently cheap-looking holiday windows that weren’t worth waiting on line for. But Lord & Taylor, like every big department store, offered a welcoming civility that softened the city’s rough edges. New...

The New York Police Department (NYPD) reportedly announced that Monday that the police officer accused of choking to death Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, will face a disciplinary hearing. White NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo could face dismissal nearly four years after Garner’s death, the Associated Press reported. The lawyer for the NYPD criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) for dragging its feet on whether it will bring about a federal criminal case. “Based on our most recent conversations, it has become clear that a definite date by which time a final decision by the U.S. DOJ will be rendered...

President Donald Trump became outraged back in March after Russian President Vladimir Putin showed a video of nuclear weapons hitting South Florida amid his reelection campaign, a new report says. •South Florida doesn't have a ton of military value, and it's likely that Russia showed the video as a direct threat to Trump, who owns property there. •The news website Axios says Trump snapped on Putin in a phone call, saying that if he wanted an arms race, the US would beat him. •The call was reportedly the same one in which Trump is believed to have congratulated Putin on...

There may be more than a quadrillion tons of diamond hidden in the Earth's interior, according to a new study from MIT and other universities In the new study, scientists estimate that cratonic roots may contain 1 to 2 percent diamond. Considering the total volume of cratonic roots in the Earth, the team figures that about a quadrillion (1016) tons of diamond are scattered within these ancient rocks, 90 to 150 miles below the surface. However, in using seismic data to map the Earth's interior, scientists have been unable to explain a curious anomaly: Sound waves tend to speed up...

HELSINKI, July 16 (Reuters) - Standing side by side with Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump refused on Monday to blame the Russian leader for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and sparking a storm of criticism at home. Although he faced pressure from critics, allied countries and even his own staff to take a tough line, Trump spoke not a single disparaging word in public about Moscow on any of the issues that have brought relations between the two powers to the lowest ebb since the Cold War. Instead,...

President Trump on Monday evening blamed special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference for driving a “wedge” between Washington and Moscow. “It’s driven a wedge between us and Russia,” Trump told Fox News’s Sean Hannity in his first one-on-one interview since meeting face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, earlier in the day. “Maybe we’ve just knocked down that wedge.” Trump sparked broad criticism — including from Republicans — earlier Monday by casting doubt on Russian interference in the 2016 election at a press conference alongside Putin following their meeting. The Russian president has repeatedly denied...

A sculpture of the Virgin Mary that appeared to be crying at a church in New Mexico is being investigated after it was determined her tears were olive oil. The statue, which is located at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Hobbs, underwent a chemical analysis that was determined to be “a scented olive oil.” “Some of the witnesses claimed it smelled of roses,” said Bishop Oscar Cantu of the diocese. “So something similar to the oil I bless and consecrate each year that we use for baptism, for confirmations and for ordination of the priests.” An investigation...

“With respect to John H. Schnatter," the board of directors at Papa John’s says “Papa John” Schnatter will no longer have a work space at the company headquarters in the wake of his latest controversy. On Sunday, Papa John’s International, Inc. issued a press release stating that the company will be terminating a sublease agreement with Schnatter, which had allowed him the use of office space within the building. The decision came following the board’s previous actions toward terminating Schnatter’s “founders agreement,” and removing his likeness from marketing materials after he admitted to using the N-word during a conference call...

The primary guardian and gatekeeper of the DC Swamp, Chris Wallace, sits down for an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (and check out the comments..)

Our Lady and the Scapular: The most extraordinary event in English history The Mother of God and her Divine Son appear to Saint Simon Stock in Cambridge -- 767 years ago today, in 1251: has there been any other moment in English history whose consequences have aided so many souls throughout the world achieve and keep holiness, reaching final perseverance? Men and women, made of flesh, need material reminders of the presence of God in their lives -- and what could be more profitable than the blessed physical sign that Our Lady's Mantle covers us at all times, that Her...

Last Friday, in a carefully timed construct, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein delivered a purely political statement to the media under the auspices of indictments against 13 Russians. Make no mistake, the entire construct of Mueller’s team project; and the enabling of Rod Rosenstein; was intended to do what it has been doing for over a year, diminish, disrupt and eventually stop President Trump. President Trump remains an existential threat to the business interests within the apparatus of professional politics. Additionally, candidate Trump defeated the professional political class despite the stunningly Machiavellian surveillance schemes of the deep administrative state which...

During the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the top of the Republican Party and the presidency, the media has devoted plenty of attention to the in-fighting in the GOP. Trump overthrew the establishment by defeating 16 Republican challengers and winning the nomination. Ever since then, a dedicated band of GOP “Never Trumpers” has criticized the President’s every move and given plenty of support to the media and Democrat opponents of his agenda. Fortunately, President Trump has marginalized this group and solidified his support among Republicans. Recent polls have shown the President maintaining an astounding 90% approval rating among Republican voters....

A man on the run was identified Monday evening by authorities as being responsible for a week-long crime spree that includes a shooting, a home invasion and that has so far left three people fatally shot in the Houston area. That suspect is Jose Gilberto Rodriguez, 46, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said at a press conference. He is a 5'7", 135 lb. Hispanic man who should be considered "armed and dangerous," Acevedo said. At the press conference,Gonzalez was asked if Rodriguez is now considered a serial killer. He said yes.

President Trump held an interview Monday with Sean Hannity from FOX News after his meeting and press conference with Vladimir Putin. President Trump: Before I won he said this is nothing and it can’t happen. It’s a very dishonest deal. We have to find out who did Peter Strzok report to because it was Comey and it was McCabe and there was also probably Obama. If you think Obama didn’t know what was going on, when you watch, and I said it today when you watch Peter Strzok’s performance, the lover of Lisa Page, the FBI, I tell you I...

A Massachusetts police officer, Army veteran and father of two who died this weekend after being shot by his own weapon would have marked his six-year anniversary on the force Monday, authorities said. Weymouth police officer Michael Chesna and a local resident died in the incident Sunday. The alleged gunman, 20-year-old Emanuel "Manny" Lopes, is in police custody but has not appeared in court.

I am a member of the New/Paleo Right, as are many here on Free Republic. And I know many of us wonder: Where are the neocons? Where are those who will force us to engage logically as we, jointly, refine our perspectives of the day? What is YOUR opinion of the events of the last week and what do you think the rest of us are missing? With all sincerity, Mariner

Police in New Jersey have officially crossed the [thin blue] line and literally attempted to confiscate guns from an army veteran without a warrant. But it didn’t go as planned, because Leonard Cottrell Jr. refused to comply with the orders of the cops. Eventually, all gun confiscation will be carried out by the police; who of “don’t make the laws, they just enforce them,” and Cottrell found this out the hard way. After serving two tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom overseas, Cottrell found himself at end of the state’s tyrannical oppression and gun elimination scheme.

With jury selection slated to start next Tuesday, US District Judge Robert E. Jones suddenly moved today to dismiss two of the five counts against FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita. Astarita is accused of lying about shooting at Oregon Standoff protestor LaVoy Finicum moments before Oregon State Police killed him. Jones dropped one of two counts of making a false statement saying Astarita's flippant remark to a supervisor who asked "Did you shoot?"...

CNN analyst and former CIA intelligence official Philip Mudd wondered aloud Monday when a shadow government will emerge to oppose President Donald Trump following a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland.

Just how laughably pathetic do the leftwing Democrats who loudly introduced a bill to abolish ICE appear after they now have to backtrack in embarrassment to oppose it since Republicans agreed to bring it to the floor of the House for a vote? So pathetic that even the leftist website Vox is mocking the Democrats for putting themselves in such a bind as to look completely foolish.  This mockery of the 'Abolish ICE' Democrats by Ella Nilson and Tara Golshan appears in the July 13 Vox as Democrats aren’t ready to actually vote for an “Abolish ICE” bill. The subtitle summarizes...