Free Republic

American politics have borrowed a lot of ideas from sports. Nowadays, everyone has become familiar with certain phrases that we use in everyday life, often without even thinking about their origins. For example, the phrase "pull no punches" originated in boxing, and the proverbial "drop the ball” came from football. The well-known rule of "three strikes and you're out" came from baseball. The latter is the best way to characterize President Trump's attitude toward Vladimir Putin. It seems that leftists in America still cannot forgive Putin for the destruction of the ideals that were nurtured in the West by the...

The Israeli Air Force launched a "wide-scale attack" against Hamas military targets in Gaza on Friday, after an Israeli soldier died after being hit by gunfire from the coastal enclave, according to the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the shooting attack took place Friday during a Palestinian protest along the fence separating Gaza and Israel. It's the first Israeli soldier killed along the Gaza fence since the last war between Israel and Hamas in 2014, the army said. The IDF responded first with tank and artillery fire, killing four people according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health....

In an open letter to the United States Senate, abortion provider Dr. Willie Parker explains why Judge Brett Kavanaugh should be blocked from joining the Supreme Court of the United States. Dear Senators of the United States of America, My name is Dr. Willie Parker and I am an ob-gyn and abortion provider. You must forgive this letter to all of you at once, but you see, it would be difficult to just address this plea to “my” senators. This is because over the course of my 28-year career as an ob-gyn, I have lived and worked to serve the...

Llano residents showed just how caring their community is by stepping up and donating much-needed supplies to the crews tirelessly fighting a large brush fire. During the early morning hours Thursday, the Llano County Office of Emergency Management said it needed more than 500 gallons of gasoline for the firefighters. Craig Wade and many of his neighbors fulfilled that request in a matter of hours, dropping off containers of gas to the Llano Volunteer Fire Department. "I figured if they're out there doing the hard work and volunteering, the least we could do is bring them some gas or water...

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration may have declared it over, but a new War on Poverty is coming anyways. It will be fought largely over the "work requirement" -- should the government require welfare recipients either to get a job or to train for one? It's a philosophical as much as a practical question. A work requirement addresses a dilemma of all welfare programs. If you make eligibility and benefits too generous, you destroy the incentive to work. People will just collect their welfare checks. But if the program is too stingy and strict, many genuinely needy people may lack...

Freepers are the best and know everything! I need some prescription meds that my insurance co. will not pay for. My doctor suggested getting from Mexico or Canada! I searched and found too many Canada Pharmacies on the net, great prices. But I don't know whether to trust any of them. I hate to risk $100+ to find out. Would appreciate any tips if you have ordered RX from Canada.

Lanny Davis is a lawyer and public relations consultant who is best known for serving as public counsel in the Clinton White House. Earlier this month, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, hired Davis to represent him. Cohen is under investigation by federal prosecutors for his business dealings, as well as for a payment he made to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who once had a relationship with the president.

Melania Trump spent part of Thursday listening to more than a dozen teenagers talk about their best practices to be civil online, while her husband was doing the opposite. The first lady made a brief trip to the Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center in Washington as part of a national child welfare campaign launched this year called "Be Best", which includes teaching children and young people to be good citizens online. Digital courtesy is one of the elements of the first lady's "Be the best" campaign, although her husband is regularly criticized for his own online practices and has turned...

It's a busy life for a congressman who is up for re-election in November, but it wasn't too busy for U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, to jump on a plane and head to South Korea earlier the month. Bergman, a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general, is the highest-ranking combat veteran ever elected to Congress. He said because of that, he is often consulted on matters of the military. "It's a chance for me to be a resource, a mentor for folks who want to make a good vote and have questions about the military," he said. His expertise meant...

Nine members of the same family are among the 17 people who died on Thursday night when a duck boat capsized in a Missouri lake. The family were from Indianapolis, but have not yet been named. Two other members of the family, who were also on the boat, survived. Bill Asher and his girlfriend Rose Hamman were also identified as among the dead by friends on Facebook on Friday afternoon. Bill and Rose had been on a week-long holiday in Branson, and had spent their last evening away on the duck boat, friend Mary Ogborn Kientzy said. Family confirmed the...

U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) has filed a bill that he said would further develop the aquaculture industry in the country. S. 3138, named the “Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture Act,” calls for the creation of the Office of Marine Aquaculture within NOAA Fisheries. That office would oversee regulatory issues within NOAA and push for development opportunities to spur aquaculture’s growth, especially within the country’s exclusive economic zones. “Aquaculture is the fastest-growing sector of the agriculture industry,” Wicker said in a press release. “This bill would give farmers a clear, simplified regulatory path to start new businesses...

<p>The Senate majority leader privately told senior Republicans on Wednesday that if Democrats keep pushing for access to upwards of a million pages in records from President Donald Trump’s high court pick, he’s prepared to let Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote slip until just before November’s midterm elections, according to multiple sources.</p>

In retrospect, the events surrounding the Foster homicide showed the overwhelming power of the Deep State to cover up a shocking crime which occurred 25 years ago today. They simply called it a "suicide" and left it at that. The credible evidence overwhelmingly suggested "homicide," yet no perp nor perps were ever brought to justice. No perps of a serious crime brought to justice? Sounds familiar?

A CVS customer snub initially characterized as a racial incident now appears to be more complicated than that. An Edgewater resident who was at CVS when a white manager called the police on a black woman after rejecting her coupon, says customer Camilla Hudson was “going off loudly,” refusing to leave, and following the other manager when he went into the employee-only part of the store. On Friday, Hudson, 53, posted on Facebook the now-viral video of CVS employee Morry Matson calling the police to remove her from the CVS Pharmacy at 6150 N. Broadway. “I had the police called...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Washington (CNN) -First lady Melania Trump has been working behind the scenes at the White House for the past several days encouraging President Donald Trump to keep families at the US border from being separated, a White House official told CNN Wednesday. Melania Trump has had several private conversations with her husband, the official said, pushing the President to do all he can stop children from being taken from their parents upon illegal entry into this country. The first lady encouraged a swift legislative solution, yet she also advocated for the President to act alone to sign an executive order...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says the darndest things. Since her surprise primary victory over 10-term Congressman Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th District, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been promoted by the legacy media as the prototype of a new generation of young progressives destined to replace the leadership of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately for her media boosters, however, she keeps blowing her lines. It’s not just her rote advocacy of single-payer healthcare and guaranteed government jobs, or even that she backs wacky ideas like abolishing ICE and occupying airports — Ocasio-Cortez is genuinely clueless. She outed herself, in several recent interviews, as functionally...

It's been three weeks since Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the bench and just 10 days since President Trump named U.S. Circuit Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his replacement. Since then, Kavanaugh has been meeting with a number of Senators on Capitol Hill, shepherded by Vice President Mike Pence and former Arizona Senator Jon Kyl. According to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who will oversee the upcoming confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh should be fitted for his robe and confirmed to the Supreme Court within 70 days. "Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most respected jurists in...

The federal government has finally recognized the obvious – that sharing instructions on how to make guns with 3D printers counts as constitutionally protected speech. Despite little fanfare, this is an important victory for First Amendment rights. It also represents a real blow to the increasingly futile cause of gun control. The U.S. Justice Department announced a legal settlement and its surrender to the First Amendment arguments July 10 made in a case brought by Cody Wilson, founder of Defense Distributed. Wilson, 25, created a ruckus in May 2013 when he announced his successful design of a plastic gun. In...

Last week, Roseanne Barr told her fans to sign up for her YouTube channel. TV interviews were “too stressful & untrustworthy,” she tweeted. She was going to film her “entire explanation of what happened and why” and post it to YouTube(snip) Barr’s YouTube channel has been around for a while, although it has been dormant for months. After these tweets, she revived it with a flurry of videos, including one late Thursday that has gotten some attention. The minute-long video feels behind the scenes, as Barr does a sound check into a mic and sighs, exasperated, as a man off...

The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared a handful of President Donald Trump’s circuit and district court picks Thursday, teeing them up for consideration on the Senate floor. The panel voted along an 11-10 party-line split to approve Britt Grant, who was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and David Porter, who was tapped for the Third Circuit. Porter’s nomination was heavily opposed. Senate Democrats and opposition groups had zeroed in on the Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney shareholder’s previous writings and associations. During his confirmation hearing, he attempted to downplay that past, but also picked up criticism...