Free Republic

KYIV — At the heart of the impeachment saga that ended on Wednesday in Donald Trump’s acquittal was $391 million in US military assistance for Ukraine that the president ordered be withheld. But that aid package, which was eventually released last September, wasn’t the only US arms transfer meant for the war-torn country that was held up. Several direct commercial sales of arms and ammunition to Ukraine faced significant delays at the same time — and they remain mysteriously frozen months later, BuzzFeed News has learned. Now, after a lengthy wait and down payments in the tens of millions of...

Democrats have a Senate problem, and not just in the sense that Republicans currently hold the majority or that the prospect of that changing in 2020 is relatively slim. The problem is that the odds of ever changing it are slimmer than is generally realized. Data for Progress, a progressive think tank and advocacy organization, is trying to raise alarm bells about the issue. In a new memo, co-founder Colin McAuliffe writes that “the Senate is an irredeemable institution” that’s biased 3 percentage points in the GOP’s favor and systematically underweights the interests of nonwhite Americans. Of course, the fact...

Deborah Ramirez had the grades to go to Yale in 1983. But she wasn’t prepared for what she’d find there. A top student in southwestern Connecticut, she studied hard but socialized little. She was raised Catholic and had a sheltered upbringing. In the summers, she worked at Carvel dishing ice cream, commuting in the $500 car she’d bought with babysitting earnings. SNIP During the winter of her freshman year, a drunken dormitory party unsettled her deeply. She and some classmates had been drinking heavily when, she says, a freshman named Brett Kavanaugh pulled down his pants and thrust his penis...

‘I Have a Moral Responsibility to Come Forward’: Colonel Accuses Top Military Nominee of Assault Trigger Warning: This article contains information and details about sexual assault and/or violence, which may be upsetting to survivors. WASHINGTON — Col. Kathryn A. Spletstoser of the Army says she had returned to her hotel room and was putting on face cream on the night of Dec. 2, 2017, after a full day at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California, when her boss, Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten, the commander of United States Strategic Command, knocked on her door and said he...

They hope to learn the best strategies for responding to a potential strike, starting from the moment a threatening asteroid is first detected by astronomers. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office will team up with other partners to perform a “tabletop exercise” on how they’d handle the news of a (fictional) asteroid on a collision course with Earth. On March 26, 2019, astronomers discover an asteroid in the night sky, far dimmer than Pluto to their telescopes. They name it 2019 PDC. Initially, it appears that the asteroid’s eccentric orbit bring it within approximately 18 times the Moon’s distance from the...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insurance claims from California’s deadly November 2018 wildfires have topped $11.4 billion, making the series of fires some of the most expensive in state history, officials said Monday. The latest tally adds to growing concerns about the future availability of home insurance in wildfire-prone areas. More than $8 billion of the November 2018 losses stem from the fire that leveled the town of Paradise, killing 86 people and destroying roughly 15,000 homes. The other $3 billion in losses are from two Southern California wildfires that ignited the same week. The numbers were expected to rise, though...

The House on Thursday rejected a hardline immigration bill — introduced by Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) — after leadership postponed a second vote on a compromise measure written with centrists. The 193-231 vote came a day after President Trump signed an executive order ending the controversial practice of separating children from parents who cross the border illegally. No Democrats voted in favor of Goodlatte's bill. House leadership had expressed pessimism on the chances for either Goodlatte’s legislation or a second compromise bill written with centrists, both of which come as the growing crisis at the border dominated headlines. The...

Attorneys for three Democratic National Committee hack victims urged a federal judge Thursday to allow a new investigation of possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia, alleging a "conspiracy" involving President Trump's associates. U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle considered the case on the first anniversary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which is looking into the same matter. The hearing, which took place in the same building where Mueller has witnesses testify to a grand jury, lasted nearly four hours, with the judge pressing each side on complicated jurisdictional and case law issues. The hearing began with about three dozen people...

A confident Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday the Senate will take a final vote on a $1.4 trillion tax package as soon as Thursday night or by Friday at the latest. "We are on the cusp of a great victory for the country and particularly small business," McConnell said at an event featuring small business owners praising the GOP tax plan.

In addition to the fact that Amazon.com is now the world’s largest marketplace of contaminated, untested dietary supplements and food, a Natural News investigation confirms that Amazon.com has rolled out a “gun-running” sting operation to get its own customers charged with felony crimes by the ATF. Amazon.com, which has always prohibited the sale of firearms, has been openly selling a Glock-compatible full auto conversion device that turns a pistol into a fully automatic weapon. We are not linking to the purchase page for the simple reason that Amazon.com is running a trap, and we don’t want anyone to accidentally fall...

Hurricane Irma Advisory Number   6 NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL       AL112017 500 PM AST Thu Aug 31 2017 ...IRMA BECOMES A CATEGORY 3 HURRICANE OVER THE EASTERN ATLANTIC... SUMMARY OF 500 PM AST...2100 UTC...INFORMATION ---------------------------------------------- LOCATION...17.3N 34.8W ABOUT 720 MI...1160 KM W OF THE CABO VERDE ISLANDS ABOUT 1780 MI...2865 KM E OF THE LEEWARD ISLANDS MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...115 MPH...185 KM/H PRESENT MOVEMENT...WNW OR 290 DEGREES AT 12 MPH...19 KM/H MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...967 MB...28.56 INCHES   WATCHES AND WARNINGS -------------------- There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.   DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK ------------------------------ At 500 PM AST (2100 UTC),...

Thousands in California, many of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan, called on to return enlistment bonuses amid reported ‘widespread overpayments’ Thousands of soldiers in the California national guard, many of whom served active duty tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being asked to pay back large enlistment bonuses they received as much as 12 years ago. The Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday that nearly 10,000 soldiers may be affected by the demands, after audits “revealed widespread overpayments by the California guard at the height of the wars last decade”. Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former army captain and...

The Republican Party is launching a campaign to try to derail President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, teaming up with a conservative opposition research group to target vulnerable Democrats and impugn whomever Obama picks. A task force housed within the Republican National Committee will orchestrate attack ads, petitions and media outreach to bolster a strategy that Senate Republicans adopted as soon as Justice Antonin Scalia died last month: refusing to consider an Obama nominee out of hopes that the next president will be a Republican. The RNC will contract with America Rising Squared, an outside group targeting Democrats...

Cable and telecom industry lobbyists are launching an effort to convince lawmakers to support new legislation that replaces federal Internet regulations. 
After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued its new regulations to treat the Web like a public utility, major companies are now sensing an opening to escape what they consider crushing net neutrality regulations. “The 400-page order really is starting, to us, a process on the hill,” said one telecommunications industry lobbyist who was granted anonymity in order to speak freely about the plans. “Our focus and our priority [is] to makes sure everyone understands what the FCC did,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Americans will soon be able to buy a home with a down payment as low as 3 percent, compared with the current minimum of 5 percent, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say. The new lending guidelines announced by the companies Monday are designed to help more low-income and first-time buyers afford homes. Millions of Americans lost their savings or no longer had the income needed to set aside money for a home in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. That has held down the sales of houses and...

A week before a self-imposed deadline for a review of National Security Agency programs, President Barack Obama sought Friday to assure leading Internet and tech executives that his administration is committed to protecting people’s privacy. CEOs from Facebook, Google, Netflix and others spent more than two hours with Obama in the Oval Office discussing their concerns about NSA spying programs, which have drawn outrage from tech companies whose data have been scooped up by the government. Joining Obama and the CEOs were Obama’s commerce secretary, homeland security adviser, and counselor John Podesta, whom Obama has tasked with leading a review...

Eckert's attorney, Shannon Kennedy, said in an interview with KOB that after law enforcement asked him to step out of the vehicle, he appeared to be clenching his buttocks. Law enforcement thought that was probable cause to suspect that Eckert was hiding narcotics in his anal cavity. While officers detained Eckert, they secured a search warrant from a judge that allowed for an anal cavity search.

BOSTON (AP) — She's yet to say whether she'll run, but a group working to support Hillary Rodham Clinton's prospective presidential bid raised more than $1 million in June alone. The Ready for Hillary super PAC has accepted donations exceeding $1.25 million since beginning to raise money in earnest this spring, an official with the group confirmed Tuesday. The figure includes more than $1 million last month as the operation begins to ramp up.

There are many immigration reform proposals floating about. Many have merits. But whether you agree with the concept or the mechanism, there is one question no one seems to ask. Each and every one of the immigration reforms pushed forward requires one thing. That one requirement is a "sign up" or a "coming forward" by the illegal immigrant to enter the program or to initiate some type of process. The "coming forward" by the illegal immigrant is a convenient assumption, which leads us to the question. IF the illegal immigrant does not come forward, does not enroll in the immigration...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- House Speaker John Boehner will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. Eastern to discuss the across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester, his office said. Without a deal, $85 billion in gradual budget cuts will begin on Friday,