Free Republic

Former Vice President Joe Biden predicted that Democrats will win the majority in both chambers of Congress in the midterm election. "We're going to win back the United States House of Representatives, I promise you. And I predict we'll win back the Senate, too," he said during an interview at the Biden Cancer Summit on Friday alongside his wife, Jill Biden. When Mrs. Biden was asked how she would react if her husband said he wanted to run for president in 2020, she replied, “I would say, Joe, you would make a great president but let’s think about it.” When...

Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Willie Geist discussed Brett Kavanaugh’s potential confirmation to the Supreme Court, saying if confirmed, the judge would “have an asterisk next to his name as long as he’s there” because of his sexual misconduct accusations from over 30 years ago. According to Geist, Kavanaugh should want an “independent body in the FBI” to investigate the allegations to prevent the possible asterisk. “I think there are so many people behaving so badly right now, there’s so much willful dishonesty, there are so many people who have made up their minds and there are people on the...

President Donald Trump says the political and economic chaos in Venezuela is unacceptable. But he’s avoiding commenting on questions about whether the U.S. would ever intervene in the South American country. Trump notes that the country — once one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere — is spiraling downward. Venezuela’s inflation and homicide rates are among the highest in the world and more than 2 million people have fled the violence and conflict in recent years. The Trump administration on Tuesday slapped financial sanctions on four members of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s inner circle, including his wife and the...

North Carolina resident Tammie Hedges had the impertinence to rescue 27 cats and dogs during Hurricane Florence. Providing round-the-clock care in a makeshift shelter, she provided safety from the storm, food, and medication to those sick or in pain. Apparently Hedges, who runs a non-profit animal rescue organization that relies on foster homes, didn't realize that such a display of humanity and compassion in the midst of an emergency is not the kind of thing the state takes lightly. Common sense and kindness: out. Bureaucratic fools: in. After the worst of the storm passed, Hedges handed the animals over to...

Today's post is in honor of U.S. Army 1st Lt. Andres Zermeno, who gave his life for our country on this date in 2011. The 26-year-old native of San Antonio died of wounds received from a rocket-propelled grenade attack on his unit in Afghanistan's Wardak province. He was serving with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. 1775: A small force of American and Canadian militia led by Ethan Allen attempts to capture the British-held city of Montreal. British Gen. Guy Carleton quickly gathers a force of British regulars and Canadian militia, scattering Allen's...

Bill Clinton spokesperson-turned ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos has been called out for hypocrisy after a combative interview with press secretary Sarah Sanders on Tuesday, when the “Good Morning America” star accused President Trump of always siding with men when it comes to sexual misconduct claims. "It is absolutely amazing that Stephanopoulos has the gall to say it seems like President Trump is always siding with the men when it comes to accusations of sexual impropriety and sexual assault given his work in the Clinton administration,” conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News. The interview started off with a series...

Our politics aren’t broken, they’re fixed. Indeed, one of my very favorite political junkies just told me she’s decided to skip the race for governor. She can’t bring herself to cast a vote, this time, for the lesser of the evils. It probably wouldn’t bother the candidates’ campaigns to hear that. They’re not really out to serve average voters. Politicians of one or the other major party draw legislative boundaries that are rigged to the advantage of their party’s incumbents. Major-party politicians have created complex rules and hurdles for candidates to get on the ballot. Outsiders who try to run...

FBI crime statistics place Baltimore's homicide rate above that of any other U.S. city with a population over 500,000. Citing crime data released Monday, The Baltimore Sun reports that the 342 homicides in the city last year yielded a homicide rate of 56 per 100,000 people. Among big U.S. cities, Baltimore was followed by Detroit, which recorded a homicide rate of 40 per 100,000 people; Memphis, Tennessee, with a rate of 28 per 100,000 and Chicago, with a rate of 24 per 100,000. But some smaller cities reported a higher homicide rates. St. Louis has a population of slightly over...

President Donald Trump has signed the first trade deal of his presidency: a revamped version of the six-year-old KORUS agreement with South Korea. “From day one, I promised the American people that I would renegotiate our trade deals to ensure that our agreements were fair and reciprocal,” said Trump after the signing. “The new U.S.-Korea agreement includes significant improvements to reduce our trade deficit and to expand opportunities to export American products to South Korea. In other words, we are now going to start sending products to South Korea.” As with many other countries, Trump had been incensed at the...

In the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 1993 – eight days before the famous Battle of Mogadishu that will claim the lives of 19 Americans – an enemy rocket-propelled grenade slams into an COURAGE 53, an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter conducting a night reconnaissance "Eyes Over Mogadishu" mission. The grenade blast ignites the aircraft’s fuel, killing three soldiers on board. Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Dale Shrader and copilot CWO Perry Alliman fight to keep the helicopter in the air long enough to reach friendly lines at the port, but the helicopter crashes into a building and slams into...

“This Is All I Can Do Now” - Applying a Practice of St. Catherine of Siena to Our Current Crisis Msgr. Charles Pope • September 24, 2018 • St Catherine before the Pope at Avignon, Giovanni di Paulo (1460)Many Catholics have struggled to find a voice that has been nearly washed out of us by our training. We remember a time when it was unthinkable to criticize a priest; those who did were quickly rebuked, with little opportunity for explanation. Bishops and especially the Pope were not to be questioned let alone criticized. We have now seen the sometimes-horrifying...

Republican Rep. Dave Brat is trailing Democrat Abigail Spanberger by five points in a Virginia district that hasn't sent a Democrat to the House in more than 45 years, according to a new poll. Spanberger has the support of 47 percent of potential voters, compared to Brat's 42 percent, according to a Monmouth University survey released Tuesday. Spangberger's lead is just outside the poll's margin of error, which is 4.9 percentage points. Virginia's 7th Congressional District used to be solidly red, but courts forced the state to redraw it shortly after Brat was elected in 2014 following a shocking GOP...

An oil price spike is starting to look increasingly possible, with a rerun of 2008 not entirely out of the question, according to a new report. The outages from Iran are worse than most analysts expected, and bottlenecks in the U.S. shale patch could prevent non-OPEC supply from plugging the gap. To top it off, new regulations from the International Maritime Organization set to take effect in 2020 could significantly tighten supplies. Put it all together, and “the likelihood of an oil spike and crash scenario akin to the one observed in 2008 has increased,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch...

Hey, Harry Reid, you pulled a real great one with ending the filibuster. Can't thank you enough. Yes, you were so glib, you were wo smart. The sunglasses made it even better. Bottom line: we'll get thru the low time here, and your party will again pay in the end. Brett Kavanaugh will serve with distinction, and the next time an opening comes up, it will be a Catholic and a female nominee with whom you'll not lay a glove on. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Harry Reid. You did practically nothing but obstruct the Conservative agenda,...

In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country,” Trump proclaimed. There was a smattering of audible laughter from the assembled diplomats, representing 193 countries. The president paused his prepared remarks. “So true,” Trump said with a tight-lipped smile, adding: “Didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK.”

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Adult film actress Stormy Daniels took a back seat to her attorney Michael Avenatti’s newest high-profile client, a yet unnamed woman who is accusing embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. She is the third woman to do so in recent weeks. “She is 100 percent credible, and when the American people hear from her, they will determine, as I have, that she is to be believed,” Avenatti told reporters outside a downtown L.A. courthouse Monday. Avenatti said his client is a “contemporary” of Kavanaugh’s who went to the same public school in the...

Anita Hill is coming to Elon University. The ol' alma mater already lost my contributions earlier this year – a consequence of Wired revealing that one of Elon's computer professors is an Antifa activist who has been compiling a massive database of anyone she deems Lebensunwertes Leben. That means "Republicans," "conservatives," "Alt-Right," "white supremacists," and pretty much everyone listing starboard of Friedrich Engels. Megan Squire is not only still employed at Elon, but applauded. Last week Squire delivered a "Distinguished Scholar Lecture" about her work supplying the Southern Poverty Law Center with information about their common enemies. This is the...

"Q Proof discovered last night. During Q&A Anon asked "Can POTUS tweet a misspelling with Q?" Yesterday that happened."

Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, drew double-takes on the right Monday after insisting that the burden of proof lies with Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to prove his innocence. Ms. Coons said that Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez “have nothing to gain” and have put themselves “at legal risk” by accusing Mr. Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct in his teen years. “It is Judge Kavanaugh who is seeking a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court and who I think now bears the burden of disproving these allegations,” said Mr. Coons in a Monday interview on MSNBC, “rather than...

"...as has been the theme throughout much of the first three weeks of the NFL season, roughing the passer penalties were a significant storyline from Monday’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bucs, Steelers set new mark for roughing penalties Officials called four roughing penalties during Pittsburgh’s 30-27 win on Monday, which is tied for most in the league in one game since 2001, according to ESPN. While a couple of them were fairly clear violations of contact with the quarterback’s head, others appeared to fall into the vague new definition of the foul that penalizes defenders...