Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on the announcement of Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s resignation: “During Director Clapper’s tenure, senior intelligence officials engaged in a deception spree regarding mass surveillance. Top officials, officials who reported to Director Clapper, repeatedly misled the American people and even lied to them. In 2012 you saw the Director of the NSA make statements like ‘we don’t hold data on US citizens’ and ‘the story that we have dossiers on millions or hundreds of millions of people is absolutely false.’ These statements deceived the American public in...

President Barack Obama signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill into law yesterday after the U.S. Senate voted for an extension of the President George W. Bush-era spy bill 73-23. The FISA bill gives the government clearance to tap into American citizens’ communications with people outside of the U.S. without a warrant, so long as it is done in the name of collecting foreign intelligence. Obama has previously stated his approval of the bill, saying that the U.S. needs such measures when dealing with national security. More specifically, it means that government entities such as the National Security Agency are...

I guess they’re not called the fake news media for nothing. In what reads like a satirical opening paragraph, a reporter named Kelly Cohen of the Washington Examiner breathlessly writes, “The White House on Monday admitted that President Trump Sunday actually played more than “a couple” of holes of golf in Florida, as the White House originally claimed.”

George Soros' alleged meddling in European politics has caught the attention of Congress. Concerns about Soros' involvement most recently were raised by the Hungarian prime minister, who last week lashed out at the Soros "empire" and accused it of deploying "tons of money and international heavy artillery." But days earlier, Republican lawmakers in Washington started asking questions about whether U.S. tax dollars also were being used to fund Soros projects in the small, conservative-led country of Macedonia.

With the ascension of former Sen. Jeff Sessions to attorney general and several of his former staff installed at the White House and federal agencies, immigration policy experts are sensing a sea change in Washington. Advocates and policy staff of both parties half-jokingly refer to the "Sessions cabal" that has now found power in President Donald Trump's Washington -- a group that for years has found itself outside the mainstream on immigration policy in Washington and faced ire from their Republican and Democratic colleagues for what one sparring partner called "strident" positions.

President-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Fox News analyst Monica Crowley as his press secretary, according to Politico. Crowley, who is also a regular columnist for the Washington Times, was an early and vocal supporter of Trump. Politico noted that she warned Fox not to underestimate Trump when he launched his presidential bid last year.

WASHINGTON - Tulsi Gabbard is willing to go out on a limb. The Democratic U.S. congresswoman from Hawaii was one of the first Democrats to support Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and now she is one of the first Democrats to meet with President-elect Donald Trump. Gabbard met with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Monday morning, but Trump spokesman Jason Miller said it was “premature” to discuss Gabbard’s potential role in the Trump administration.

People once confined to the political fringes will be at the center of power in Donald Trump’s White House. Liberals and even some moderate Republicans are shuddering at the prospect. But it is a source of delight among conservatives who believe the GOP establishment has drifted too far from its core principles. Of the people tapped so far by President-elect Trump, only one — Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus — is identified with the party’s mainstream. Priebus will be chief of staff in the Trump White House.

Not sure why a picture of me going to lunch with my brother made the cover of The NY Times. Decent pic though.

Now that the American people have hired Donald Trump and the Republicans to right the ship of state, it's time to get to work Trump’s stunning win on Election Night defied the pollsters’ expectations, conventional wisdom about how campaigns must be run, and even the Washington Establishment’s narrative about what it is, exactly, that American voters want. That last point is of particular interest to Tea Party conservatives. We have long argued that the Washington Establishment is disconnected from (and sometimes simply disinterested in) the issues that are most pressing to American voters.

Retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn believes some of the people protesting President-elect Donald Trump are “paid anarchists,” he explained Saturday at a gathering for the Young America’s Foundation. Flynn elaborated that the explosion of protests to Trump’s election nationwide represent a “sickness in our system,” and emphasized that a defining characteristic of the U.S. is the “rule of law.” He lampooned protestors labeling themselves progressive, telling the audience “progressive equals socialism.”

Donald Trump is seeking quick ways of withdrawing from a global agreement to limit climate change, a source on his transition team said, defying widening international backing for the plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Since the U.S. President-elect was chosen, governments ranging from China to small island states have reaffirmed support for the 2015 Paris Agreement at 200-nation climate talks running until Nov. 18 in Marrakesh, Morocco.

NIgel Farage, the interim leader of the UK Independence Party, is expected to meet with Donald Trump for the first time since he was elected president.

WASHINGTON — Like no other part of the Republican establishment, the party’s foreign policy luminaries joined in opposition to the idea of a Donald J. Trump presidency. Loyal Republicans who served in the two Bush administrations, they appeared on television and wrote op-eds blasting him. They aligned under a “Never Trump” banner and signed a letter saying they were “convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.”

(REUTERS) Americans who had cast their votes for the next president early on Tuesday appeared to be worried about the direction of the country, and were looking for a “strong leader who can take the country back from the rich and powerful,” according to an early reading from the Reuters/Ipsos national Election Day poll. The poll of more than 10,000 people who have already cast their ballots in the presidential election showed a majority of voters are worried about their ability to get ahead and have little confidence in political parties or the media to improve their situation. A majority...

Next POTUS @realDonaldTrump departing Albuquerque, NM rally tonight w/ a fist pump to the #TrumpTrain. We're in MI for two rallies tomorrow.

First lady Michelle Obama´s speech this week slamming Donald Trump´s comments about women was "the most effective political speech since Ronald Reagan," according to right-wing commentator Glenn Beck. On his TV program Friday, Beck said his viewers should watch Obama´s speech to see its "devastating effects. And I don´t mean on Donald Trump. I mean on the conservative movement." "We had been talking about, ´there is no war on women.´ You just handed them a war on women," Beck said. "And if you listen to her words carefully, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, they are coopting women and it...

Have you interacted with Donald Trump? What was your experience? How can we reach you to hear more and to discuss how we might confirm your account?

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a lovely duet

Madonna spanks CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and gives him a banana as a prize during Unapologetic Betch Tour in Brooklyn, New York.