Free Republic

By ALEX ISENSTADT 01/18/2019 05:04 AM EST Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is acting a lot like a guy who wants to run against Donald Trump in 2020 — and the president's reelection team is taking notice. The second-term Maryland governor has been implicitly going after Trump in speeches, meeting with Never Trump Republicans, and planning a March trip to Iowa as vice chair of the National Governors Association. It’s all fueling speculation that Hogan, a 62-year-old cancer survivor who coasted to reelection in liberal Maryland and remains one of the most popular governors in...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court took no action on Friday on the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It now appears likely that the court will not take up the issue during its current term, which would require the government to keep the program going for at least ten more months. The Trump administration urged the justices to hear appeals of lower court rulings that prevent the government from shutting DACA down, but Friday was the last day for adding cases to the current term's docket, barring unusual circumstances. Any cases accepted in subsequent weeks won't...

There is no legitimate source of information available to the public (and I don't have any inside information) about the current health status, actual prognosis, or future plans of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While all the inferences posters keep making about what is PROBABLE are well-founded, the truth is, no one knows anything except that she has cancer, she was surgically treated in the third week of December 2018, and that her return to work is taking longer than was originally hoped for by her supporters and friends in the media. That's all anyone who is a legitimate source...

.. so much worse than previously thought. A scathing internal Navy probe into the 2017 collision that drowned seven sailors on the guided-missile destroyer Fitzgerald details a far longer list of problems plaguing the vessel, its crew and superior commands than the service has publicly admitted. Obtained by Navy Times, the "dual-purpose investigation" was overseen by Rear Adm. Brian Fort and completed 11 days after the June 17, 2017 tragedy. Their report documents the routine, almost casual, violations of standing orders on a Fitz bridge that often lacked skippers and executive officers, even during potentially dangerous voyages at night through...

On Tuesday, Islamist terrorists affiliated with the Somali group al-Shabaab attacked an upscale hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 21. It wasnÂ’t the groupÂ’s first attack in Kenya. The radical group, which at one point was affiliated with al Qaeda, has used KenyaÂ’s heavy Somali refugee presence as cover for a number of attacks in Kenya and against Kenyans, most famously at the Westgate Mall in 2013. That Kenya remains a contributor of both soldiers and police to AMISOM, the African Union Mission in Somalia which seeks to defend the country against al-Shaabab, only puts it further in the...

Washington (CNN) -- Over the past few days, the political gridlock that's led to the longest government shutdown in US history has devolved into a tit-for-tat between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, Pelosi all but disinvited Trump from giving the State of the Union address in the House chamber, initially citing security concerns and suggesting the President wait until the shutdown was over. On Thursday, Trump hit back and canceled Pelosi's undisclosed plan to visit US troops in Afghanistan along with a congressional delegation, effectively blowing the cover for what is normally a secret trip....

Starting up an online biz. Guess you could call it an e-commerce site. I know there are a lot of IT guys, coders, etc here so thought I’d ask. What I need: Professional host for website with managed (?) database, ease of use Medium traffic with traffic spikes Process credit cards and PayPal Email for company use and marketing I’ve looked until I’m totally confused now. I want it to be a clean, professional company that once the website is set up I and my 2 daughters can manage the site...add campaigns, remove campaigns, etc. I also want to be...

My S&P500 account has gone up pretty good in the last few weeks after a bigger hit prior. If the price of gas is going more towards $2/gallon and China is backing down on trade I certainly see it as a cause and effect The only other big thing on the horizon I see is the prospect of a big beautiful wall. Too much collateral damage without one. I'm talking drugs, violence, hit and run vehicle accidents. Gotta get better if Trump is in office for 6 more. Things will never be perfect but tell me how much China and...

Among the tens of thousands assembled in Washington for the 46th annual March for Life was conservative pundit and headliner Ben Shapiro. Shapiro’s speech started with highlighting the noteworthy American ideals of “life and liberty,” urging Americans to move forward by protecting such values for the unborn. “America was founded on the promise of God-given rights. Chief among them was life and liberty,” Shapiro said. “While America has imperfectly fulfilled that promise, we always move forward to for the perfection of that promise.” “We built the country for our children,” Shapiro added. “We built our lives for our children. And...

The Supreme Court has suspended scheduled oral arguments on the Trump administration’s plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Oral arguments were to be held February 19, the day Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was expecting to return to the bench, after missing the past two weeks of the public sessions, while recovering from recent lung cancer surgery. But in a brief order on Friday, the justices decided to put matters on hold after a federal district court judge on Tuesday ruled the government could not proceed with its plans. Challengers to the census question then asked the...

“President Pelosi” trended on Twitter on Friday as President Donald Trump’s haters fantasized about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) becoming the next president after BuzzFeed reported that Trump ordered his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a proposal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Pelosi is third in line to the presidency, and the Buzzfeed report, which was based on anonymous sources, caused left-wing activists to dream about Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both getting removed from office or resigning.

How Do We Measure the Cost of Effectiveness? Illegal immigration prompt discussions about increasing border security. If the lack of adequate border control is the problem then increasing border security would seem the solution. Many people are against added border security simply because President Trump feels he needs it to enforce immigration law. These people have to rationalize that it cost too much because they already know barriers work. The empirical information regarding the effectiveness of a border barrier is clear but information on the cost effectiveness is missing. How is the cost effectiveness of a barrier determined? One way...

It took 14 months for the noose to show up. Fourteen months where Marcus Boyd says he endured racist comments, slights, even threats in a hostile workplace run by General Motors. A workplace where people declared bathrooms were for "whites only," where black supervisors were denounced as "boy" and ignored by their subordinates, where black employees were called "monkey," or told to "go back to Africa." A workplace where black employees were warned a white colleague's "daddy" was in the Ku Klux Klan. Where white workers wore shirts with Nazi symbols underneath their coveralls. In Ohio. In 2018. All those...

The question remains: Can we believe our Bishops? January 17, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Two recent stories have shocked Catholics in the United States and around the world. First, on December 4, Msgr. Edward Weber, “director of priest personnel” (whatever that might be) in the Archdiocese of New York, wrote a formal letter of recommendation for a priest, Fr. Donald Timone, who wished to spend some time at a Catholic college in California. The letter affirmed (according to CNA) that Fr. Timone had “never been accused of any act of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct involving a minor,” and “manifested...

Erin Brockovich, the activist whose crusade against PG&E spawned a hit movie, will appear with wildfire survivors at the Capitol in Sacramento to protest the utility’s plans to file for bankruptcy. The rally is set for noon Tuesday on the south steps of the Capitol, according to an announcement Friday by a consortium of law firms suing PG&E on behalf of wildfire survivors. PG&E announced it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of January because it doesn’t have the money to pay an estimated $30 billion in potential liabilities from the 2017 wine country fires...

Every year, the World Health Organization puts out a list of the most pressing issues that face global health. They change a bit each time as the WHO tries to emphasize where we need the most progress to be made, and the lists are always enlightening. Here’s what the world’s foremost experts think are the top threats in 2019: Air pollution & climate change Every time we burn fossil fuels we contribute simultaneously to these two problems. The emissions exacerbate global warming, but they also enter our lungs—where minuscule particles can damage our organs. WHO notes that 9 out of...

On Friday the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services finally announced that it found California violated the federal conscience protection laws. This is the first time since the launch of the new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division one year ago that OCR has found a violation under these laws. Several pregnancy resource clinics in California complained that the state of California had fined them for refusing to refer others to, and advertise, abortion clinics. In 2015, California adopted the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act, which required pregnancy resource centers to essentially...

President Trump on Friday tweeted that he’ll make “a major announcement” Saturday afternoon concerning the ongoing partial government shutdown and the “humanitarian crisis” on the southern border. The announcement will occur at 3 p.m. at the White House, the president said. Funding for a barrier at the nation's southern border has been a point on contention between Republicans and Democrats during negotiations about the partial shutdown. Trump has demanded almost $6 billion in funding for a wall or barrier, but Democrats have balked at that request. Earlier in the day, the president tweeted that the GOP was "so unified" and...

Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, delivered pizzas to Secret Service members on Friday, calling for lawmakers "on both sides" to end the ongoing partial government shutdown.