Free Republic

Open thread to write the 2017 stimulus act. Republican and Democrat versions welcome.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Gov. John Kasich (R-OH), a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, reacted to the claim that he is a so-called establishment candidate, given his finish in New Hampshire and compared to two of the front-runners, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), that he is running against. Kasich dismissed the label of “establishment” and touted his record in Congress as proof that he didn’t go along to get along as an establishment politician might do. “I’m not establishment,” Kasich said. “Sean, I make the establishment upset. ...

Sunday, Feb 7, 2016 08:01 PM +0900 It’s almost over for Hillary: This election is a mass insurrection against a rigged system Sanders has ended the coronation and fired up the grass roots. Now Clinton's electability argument is crumbling too Bill Curry It would be hard to overstate what Bernie Sanders has already achieved in his campaign for president, or the obstacles he’s had to surmount in order to achieve it. Not only has he turned a planned Hillary Clinton coronation into an exercise in grass-roots democracy, he’s reset the terms of the debate. We are edging closer to the...

I have been a consistent nay sayer when ever the idea of Hillary Clinton facing justice comes up. I have been harshly critical of the house committees and their inability to bring about any action on the email server or Benghazi. I am down to my last nerve on this whole affair taking so damn long. BUT...

When you were a rowdy teen, your parents were the Establishment. Now that you're a parent, what are you? The anti-establishment, cool parent? Not likely. Rather, you're a grownup who tries to keep the peace in your discordant household; who tries to negotiate among self-interested, imperfect family members who have competing goods and goals; and who tries to instill a long-range vision for the future in your desire-ridden family who wants instant self-gratification. Welcome to the Establishment. You're a bona fide member now. Here's a defense of the amorphous, notional Establishment, as I see it, if it even exists in...

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives Purchasing Mini Caliber Robot 10--Mini-Caliber Robot Solicitation Number: DJA-15-ANCE-PR-1110 Agency: Department of Justice Office: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Location: Administrative Programs Division (APD) This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice.The solicitation number is DJA-15-ANCE-PR-1110 and is issued as an invitation for bids (IFB), unless otherwise indicated herein.The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-84. The associated North American Industrial Classification System...

The Obama administration is expanding a data collection program aimed at ferreting out abuses of equal pay laws. President Barack Obama in 2014 directed the Labor Department to collect data from federal contractors about what they pay employees, sorted by gender, race and ethnicity. Obama's new proposal will cover all businesses with 100 or more employees, regardless of whether they contract with the government. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will collect the data. ...

The government wants to make it easier for you to buy and use cable boxes from companies other than your cable provider. This could help companies like TiVo, Roku and Apple deliver a cable feed, too, as part of their video recorders or streaming-TV devices. Introducing competition could also help lower people's cable bills. The Federal Communications Commission says that 99 percent of cable and satellite TV customers rent boxes from their cable providers, and that the price of cable boxes has nearly tripled since 1994. Meanwhile, prices of common consumer electronics like cellphones, TVs and computers have fallen sharply....

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has announced that the U.S. House of Representatives is postponing votes it had expected to hold on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and will not hold votes until Monday, Feb. 1--as a result of the heavy snowstorm that hit Washington, D.C. on Friday and Saturday. ...

President Barack Obama told members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in a speech at the White House on Thursday that "government generally is something" we have to "fight for." "Unlike, sometimes, government officials at other levels, mayors understand that the services and the effectiveness of local government and government generally is something that we can't take for granted, that we have to work for and fight for and invest in every single day," Obama said. "Mayors can't wait for Congress," Obama said in the speech. "Mayors can't get stuck in partisan gridlock." ...

Donald Trump is no conservative. That's not a crime, it's just a reason to vote against him. Many fine people are not conservatives. But the reason Trump's candidacy should worry the Right runs much deeper than that: He poses a direct challenge to conservatism, because he embodies the empty promise of managerial leadership outside of politics. Trump's diagnoses of our key problems - first and foremost, that America's elites are weak and unwilling to put the interests of Americans first - have gained him a hearing from many on the right. But when he gestures toward prescriptions, Trump reveals that...

The chatter continues this morning about Donald Trump’s call for raising taxes on the rich.

I consistently state our government is too big and it cannot handle all the responsibilities it continues to take on itself. President Obama has stated we, the American citizens, keep asking the federal government to do more. Even if you believed that, he could Just Say No. After you read this you will understand why. My friend Steve received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It stated that the five-figure amount of money he had overpaid on his 2014 tax return and had asked to be applied to his 2015 return was being confiscated for child support payments...

Seven years ago in his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama declared that he did not believe in “bigger government.” “As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President's Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets, not because I believe in bigger government--I don't--not because I'm not mindful of the massive debt we've inherited--I am,” said Obama in his Feb. 24, 2009 speech to a joint session. A week before this speech, Obama had signed the American Recovery and...

<p>As the U.S. engages in a national debate over the militarization of the police, federal data shows that government agencies charged with largely administrative roles are spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase SWAT and military-style equipment.</p> <p>Since FY 2006, 44 traditionally administrative agencies have spent over $71 million on items like body armor, riot helmets and shields, cannon launchers and police firearms and ammunition, according to federal spending data from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com.</p>

Leadership: "In this present crisis," Ronald Reagan said at his inauguration, "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." But it took Barack Obama to get the public to believe it.

Many people do not understand the inability of the Republicans to accomplish more in Washington. They can certainly put a stall on many of President Obama's appointments, especially judges who will outlast this president's term, but the president has too much power. If we look forward to the next president, who will be a Republican -- short of a fit of stupidity -- that person will have a lot to do and it is clear what their second task will be. The obvious first task is to review all of Mr. Obama's executive orders, many of which are lawless, and...

The Obama administration's decision to extend Endangered Species Act protections for two breeds of lions is a turning point for the lions now roaming Africa, advocacy groups say. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signaled in a document obtained by the Associated Press that it would classify the lion as threatened or endangered across its entire range in Africa. The agency has scheduled a noon conference call to discuss its findings. The Humane Society of the United States projects that American trophy hunters imported 5,647 lions in the past decade. The group's president and CEO, Wayne Pacelle, said he expects...

It’s terrible for a number of reasons, but it’s on the way to the Senate anyway. A bipartisan vote closes out the House effort on the FY2016 budget, with the same kind of bloated and opaque legislation that Republicans were supposed to stop supporting: The House has passed a $1.14 trillion spending bill to fund the government through next September. It’s a peaceful end in the House to a yearlong struggle over the budget, taxes, and Republican demands of President Barack Obama. … Senators are expected vote on the budget measure in combination with a year-end tax plan that gives...

Private Ryan failed miserably on his first assignment. The troops are demoralized, but very much used to it. Instead of growing a set of balls, he grew a beard. As if growing a beard makes you a man. Like I’ve told my 20-year-old son on more than one occasion, just because you can grow a beard doesn’t mean you have a set of balls, doesn’t make you a man. Indeed, Private Ryan doesn’t have a set of balls. But he does have a beard. What an effort it takes to grow a beard. Growing a beard is something post-adolescent guys...