Free Republic

Lest anyone jump to an erroneous conclusion, I’ll participate in the upcoming presidential election process and vote for Trump. Since Hillary is the sum of every corrupt quality, every character flaw that cannot be allowed in the Oval Office, nothing will keep me from supporting the opponent of this vile traitor. As a registered Republican I receive regular emails from GOP candidates standing for election to Florida’s second congressional district. The candidates appear to be honest men and women of conservative bent who oppose all things Obama. Ditto for the eventual Republican senatorial nominee. Anyone who promises to do his...

Toxic chemicals used in everyday products such as household cleaners, clothing and furniture have been linked to serious illnesses, including cancer, infertility, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. Under current law, only a small fraction of chemicals used in these products have been reviewed for safety. A bill that Congress sent President Barack Obama on Tuesday would set new safety standards for asbestos and other dangerous chemicals, including formaldehyde, styrene and BPA, that have gone unregulated for decades. The bill would update the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act to require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate new and existing chemicals against...

California is on the brink of becoming the first state in the nation to offer illegal immigrants the chance to buy insurance on an ObamaCare exchange — testing what’s being described as a "loophole" in the law. The Affordable Care Act technically bars illegal immigrants from the insurance exchanges. But the California bill, which last week passed the state legislature and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, would allow the state to apply for a federal waiver to open its exchange — Covered California — to undocumented residents.

The defense budget should be used to pay things that make our country more secure and help the men and women in uniform accomplish their mission. Unfortunately, some in Congress use this funding as a piggy bank for their own unrelated priorities. In fact, for the current fiscal year, Congress took almost $500 million from the defense budget to pay for non-military research projects. This is the wrong way for Congress to operate, and is particularly concerning given how seriously underfunded our military currently is. The U.S. military is in rough shape due to crushing budget cuts over the last...

Two weeks ago 42 Republicans voted to endorse President Barack Obama’s transgender agenda. They did it by voting for the Maloney amendment, which affirmed Obama’s 2014 executive order barring “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in the private employment policies of federal contractors. Over the weekend, Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., posted a characteristically thoughtful Facebook post defending his vote for the Maloney amendment. The overarching policy concern is whether the government should elevate “sexual orientation and gender identity” for special legal privileges, especially in terms of laws barring “discrimination.”

Daily Caller News Foundation VA Proposes To Remove Ban On Transgender Surgery For Vets Jonah Bennett National Security/Foreign Policy Reporter The Department of Veterans Affairs has proposed to a rule to remove the ban on transgender sex change surgery for veterans, which has existed since the 1990s. According to the proposed regulation, gender reassignment surgery wasn’t previously considered medically necessary for gender dysphoria, a condition transgender individuals claims makes them feel as though they were born in the wrong body and assigned the wrong gender.

A new batch of evidence from the Congressional panel investigating Planned Parenthood reveals some disturbing exchanges between the buyers and sellers of aborted baby body parts. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, who chairs the Select Panel on Infant Lives, sent the evidence to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this week along with a letter asking HHS to investigate possible violations by Planned Parenthood and the organ harvesting company StemExpress. The newly uncovered evidence points to multiple potential violations of federal laws based on emails between the companies, invoices, contracts for the aborted babies’ body parts and other documents. Some...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly transporting illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to Phoenix and releasing them without proper processing or issuing court appearance documents, Border Patrol sources tell Judicial Watch. The government classifies them as Other Than Mexican (OTM) and this week around 35 were transferred 116 miles north from Tucson to a Phoenix bus station where they went their separate way. Judicial Watch was present when one of the white vans carrying a group of OTMs arrived at the Phoenix Greyhound station on Buckeye Road

Congress is looking into the funding for several Obamacare programs for which no money has been directly appropriated. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that the administration is unlawfully paying insurers who are required to reduce costs for poorer customers on Obamacare’s exchanges. But there are other Obamacare programs that the administration is running for which Congress has refused to fund. ... Subpoenas ignored or willfully unfulfilled, stonewalling witnesses, and lies, lies, lies. Sound familiar? "The most transparent administration in history" has a game plan when dealing with Congress and they play it out to the letter. They even...

Summer is here. This means warmer, muggier months, especially in the Sunshine State. It means fun at the beach, swimming, grilling, and enjoying the outdoors. But it also means dealing with pesky mosquitos.This year in particular, these annoying bugs are a major concern. This year, we are faced with the Zika virus.Zika, in part, is still a mystery we’re gradually learning about. We’re gathering details about where this comes from, how it’s dangerous, and what we can do to prevent an outbreak.My district in Florida has seen at least 4 confirmed cases in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. The Florida Department...

The liberal publication Huffington Post removed an article on its website Sunday claiming that the FBI plans to pursue an indictment against Hillary Clinton on Federal Racketeering charges

Will these social-conservative turncoats face real political consequences? I was up in the wee hours after midnight Thursday when Daniel Horowitz’s tweet crossed my radar: The GOP-controlled House had just voted in the dead of night to write into law Obama’s executive order banning federal contractors who “discriminate” against transgendered individuals. We all know now what that means: If you refuse to let anatomical males into your women’s dressing rooms, locker rooms, or bathrooms, you are just a bigoted hater, end of story. Just ask Representative Zoe Lofgren (D., Calif.), who descended, Trumplike, to insults when challenged by a witness....

An LGBT measure derailed a $37.5 billion House energy and water spending bill and now threatens to bring the entire appropriations process to a grinding halt in the House. The amendment from Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., would codify a 2014 executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Opponents characterize the Maloney amendment as a violation of conscience rights. They fear that the failed amendment could require federal contractors to provide special status to members of the LGBT community or lose their business with the federal government. With the support of...

On January 13, 1947, U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall stated: "The choice before us is plain: Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights... The time is come to hear about responsibilities... America's future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God's government."

A new immigration bill under consideration by the House Judiciary Committee would impose unprecedented restrictions on U.S. citizens seeking to sponsor the immigration of their family members, requiring that all parties submit to mandatory DNA testing as part of their visa applications. H.R. 5203, the Visa Integrity and Security Act of 2016, would require that “a genetic test is conducted to confirm such biological relationship,” adding that “any such genetic test shall be conducted at the expense of the petitioner or applicant.”

For Fattah's failed bid in 2007 to become mayor of Philadelphia, Naylor said, he distributed $200,000 in cash on Election Day from a fund that now lies at the heart of the Justice Department's racketeering conspiracy case. Another top strategist on the campaign, Thomas Lindenfeld, already has testified that he took out a $1 million loan from then-Sallie Mae CEO Al Lord at Fattah's encouragement. Because the donation exceeded city campaign-contribution limits, the loan was made to Lindenfeld's Washington political consulting firm and did not appear on the congressman's campaign filings.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) unveiled what he called the Republicans“ “policy agenda” for 2017 on Wednesday, including a plan to regain the legislative power granted to Congress in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. “Article One,” Ryan said at a pen and pad briefing with reporters at the Capitol, “this is something that our members are very animated about because this has gotten out of control. This is about the separation of powers, about the Constitution, and wresting control away from decades of executive overreach and giving it back to Congress,” he said. Ryan noted that President Barack Obama...

George Jepsen and 13 other state attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday asking them to direct funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the causes and prevention of gun-related injuries and death. "There is no time to waste," they wrote. "As the chief civil or criminal law enforcement officers of our respective states, we are charged with keeping our communities safe, and we need evidence-based strategies to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is ravaging our families and communities."

The lid may finally blow off the Fast and Furious cover-up by the Obama administration, as a federal judge ordered the release of thousands of emails showing how then-attorney general Eric Holder obstructed, stonewalled, and misdirected congressional investigators looking into the program. People in the Nixon administration went to jail for less. ... The documents reveal how senior Justice Department officials — including Attorney General Holder — intensely followed and managed an effort to carefully limit and obstruct the information produced to Congress,” he asserted. They also indict Holder deputy Lanny Breuer, an old Clinton hand, who had to step...

Last week, the Senate passed legislation to address and prevent the spread of the Zika virus. However, the Senate failed to pay for it, and instead approved a $1.1 billion “emergency” spending supplemental bill that is not subject to the budgetary caps that were agreed to last year. (Snip) In March, President Obama gave the United Nations $500 million out of an account under bilateral economic assistance to fund the U.N.’s Green Climate Fund. Congress refused to allocate funding for the U.N. Climate Change Fund last year, so the president used this account designated for international infectious diseases to pay...