Free Republic

WASHINGTON — When Michael D. Cohen admitted this past week to lying to Congress about a Russian business deal, he said he had testified falsely out of loyalty to President Trump. When he admitted this summer to lying on campaign finance records about payments to cover up a sex scandal during the campaign, he said it was at Mr. Trump’s direction. Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, former senior Trump campaign officials, lied to cover up financial fraud. George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide, lied in hopes of landing an administration job. And Michael T. Flynn, another adviser, lied about...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador was sworn in Saturday as Mexico’s first leftist president since the 1970s, railing against the “neoliberal” economic policies of recent decades and calling on the U.S. to support regional development as a way of discouraging migration. In a ceremony in the lower house of congress, Mr. López Obrador donned the presidential sash before a sea of lawmakers and some 400 foreign guests, including U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s daughter and adviser. Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, came to Mexico but at the last minute canceled his attendance at the inauguration. Mr....

The failures of the Nevada GOP are lessons for Republicans across the country. Avoid the same mistakes as the Nevada GOP, or all of America will turn blue. Nevada GOP candidates had no life, no energy, no personality. Not all of them, but most of them. They also failed to the do the basic work of campaigning. Many state Republican candidates are afraid to spend time with the voters or allergic to voters -- maybe they just don't like them very much -- or allergic to hard work. No candidate can win an election without campaigning day and night for...

Christmas Carol Flash Mob at Chick-fil-A Lake Brandon Village in Brandon, Florida.

Our gospel tune this week is Sleep, Little Moses by Rex Allen. The tune is on his 1959 album Mister Cowboy. The Westerner http://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Patti Davis is the author of, most recently, “The Earth Breaks in Colors” and is the daughter of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. On June 11, 2004, President George H.W. Bush walked slowly down the center aisle of Washington National Cathedral to eulogize my father. Outside, gray mist fell. We had walked in somber procession into the cathedral, light rain mingling with tears, my father’s flag-draped coffin carried by uniformed pallbearers. Presidents are laid to rest with great ceremony and tradition, but they are still human beings who left imprints on other people’s lives. That day, Bush told us about the...

President Trump has become “the face of climate denial,” global warming activist and former Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday night, telling The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah that the 2020 election will provide the opportunity for voters to “make a statement — that we want to get back on the track to the real America.” After Noah had some fun with Trump’s comment, during a recent Washington Post interview, that U.S. air and water were “at a record clean,” Gore turned serious. “It’s really significant, Trevor, that Donald J. Trump is now the face of climate denial,” he said. “His...

A Recipe for Readiness – A Homily for the First Sunday of Advent Msgr. Charles Pope • December 1, 2018 • As we begin the Advent Season, we are immediately drawn into its principal theme of preparation and readiness for the coming of the Lord. His first coming has already been fulfilled at Bethlehem, and while we should prepare spiritually for the coming Christmas Feast, these first weeks of Advent bid us to focus even more on His second coming in glory.As the curtains draw back on the opening scene of Advent, we are warned by the Lord that...

Vice Adm. Scott A. Stearney, commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, was found dead in his quarters in Bahrain on Saturday, according to a statement from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. While an investigation is ongoing, the death of Stearney will almost certainly be ruled a suicide, a U.S. defense official told USNI News. An official determination on the cause of death is expected by mid-week, USNI News has learned.

Berry was also known for roles on “Mayberry RFD,” the spinoff of “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “Mama’s Family,” a spinoff of “The Carol Burnett Show.” But he first achieved fame on “F Troop,” which ran on ABC from 1965 to 1967. Berry’s character was the ill-prepared commanding officer of the fictional Fort Courage during the 1800s, and dealt with scheming subordinate officers as well as a local Indian tribe called the Hekawis. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Berry was born Nov. 3, 1933, in Moline, Ill., and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. His turn toward...

GOODBYE TO CALIFORNIA Written by Dr. Ron Martinelli (Dr. Martinelli is a renowned forensic criminologist and retired police detective with the San Jose Police Department). As I sit in the LAX terminal after concluding business in downtown Los Angeles for the past two days, I cannot help but reflect upon my journey from a once California native to a new resident of the Great State of Texas and why. You see, in my personal and professional opinion, the once great State of California has in essence become a third world country. “The concept of the “third world” has evolved to...

Kirk Lacewell has lived in Langley, Wa. for approximately six years, part of that time with his dog, Scout. But when Scout began to dig into the backyard, it wasn't just any old rock he was uncovering — it was a woolly mammoth tooth. "I saw him with what looked like a rock to me one day a couple months ago and I didn’t think anything of it," Lacewell told Fox News. "And then the next day he had that rock again. He was just carrying it around the yard." Initially, Lacewell thought it was just a rock, but it seemed...

Among the most pressing questions looming over him are how willing he would be to pay a political price to make hard decisions and whether he will respect the country’s institutions that could try to rein him in. AMLO is promising a “fourth transformation” inspired by three previous political, economic and social disruptions credited with changing the course of Mexican history. His sweeping victory in July earned him the soaring clout most politicians can only dream of. His newly formed Morena party took both the House of Deputies and the Senate, giving him the ability to pass budgets, modify laws...

How long can tiny gears and other microscopic moving parts last before they wear out? What are the warning signs that these components are about to fail, which can happen in just a few tenths of a second? [R]esearchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a method for more quickly tracking microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) as they work and, just as importantly, as they stop working. [U]sing this method for microscopic failure analysis, researchers and manufacturers could improve the reliability of the MEMS components that they are developing, ranging from miniature robots and drones to tiny...

Listen at LINK. This is being broadcast live and also available for a month. Order of Service is here: https://www.sjcchoir.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/advent_carol_service_2018.pdf A Service for Advent with Carols from the Chapel of St John's College, Cambridge.

JUNEAU, Alaska — Republican Bart LeBon has won an Alaska state House race by one vote after a ballot recount, officials said. Before Friday’s recount, LeBon and Democrat Kathryn Dodge were tied with 2,661 votes apiece. Recount results showed LeBon with 2,663 votes while Dodge had 2,662 votes, after LeBon picked up two votes and Dodge picked up one, according to the Alaska Division of Elections. A much talked about mystery ballot found weeks ago on a table in a voting precinct ended up playing no role in the race outcome. The ballot was tossed Friday after officials said it...

Human rights groups working with the caravans in Tijuana, Mexico, have raised the alarm after discovering that the groups have been infiltrated by far-left agitators who are calling on migrants to make a second attempt at storming the US border. BAMN members have taken to social media to encourage other protesters and members of the migrant caravan along with posting the information on their website.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Officials from the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse will "cooperate fully" with a subpoena by the New York state Attorney General's Office which is investigating whether dioceses across the state covered up sexual abuse.

WASHINGTON - Two police departments in the northeastern United States decided over the past week to cancel their participation in a program that involves visiting Israel and meeting Israeli police officers, due to public pressure by a coalition of progressive organisations, including a number of groups affiliated with the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement (BDS).