Free Republic

PARIS -- Nine months into his mandate to investigate possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, special counsel Robert Mueller has finally found some actual Russians to indict. Unfortunately, by pointing the finger at these Russians, he has exposed hypocrisy within the U.S. system. Last year, Mueller's investigation produced indictments against four former Trump campaign advisors who had dealings with Russians during their international business careers before joining the campaign. Most of what those indictments covered could have fallen under the purview of the Internal Revenue Service and seemed out of place in a multimillion-dollar investigation into alleged...

**SNIP** The first one is that they knew Christopher Steele, the author of the infamous Russia-Trump dossier, was a foreign citizen. According to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s press conference on the indictments, the Russians “used stolen or fictitious American identities, fraudulent bank accounts and false identification documents” to hide their activities. The next potentially criminating thing is that the Clinton campaign “knew, and paid, Steele to influence an election.”

“Teen Vogue” Columnist Lauren Duca responded to news of Rev. Billy Graham’s death by telling him to, “Have fun in hell, bitch.” Taking to Twitter after news broke that the world-renowned and beloved evangelist had died Wednesday at age 99, Duca mocked Graham’s longevity and hurled her insult: “The big news today is that Billy Graham was still alive this whole time. Anyway, have fun in hell, bitch.” After receiving backlash on Twitter for her hateful irreverence, Duca doubled-down on her comment, declaring that “Respecting the dead” only applies to people who weren’t evil pieces of sh*t while they were...

It happened in the midst of America's 2012 election year. Then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia for the third time that March. When he was inaugurated that May, he would replace his protege, then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who, in turn, would succeed Putin as prime minister. President Barack Obama, up for re-election in the United States that same year, phoned Putin to congratulate him on his election victory. "President Obama called Russian President-elect and Prime Minister Putin to congratulate him on his recent victory in the Russian presidential election," said the White House "readout" of that call....

As fun as it is to ridicule the FBI for devoting massive resources to chasing down Hillary Clinton’s oppo research while blowing off repeated, specific warnings about school shooter Nikolas Cruz, we’ve put a lot on the agency’s plate. We’re hauling in nearly 2 million manifestly unvetted Third World immigrants every year, leading to a slew of FBI “Watch Lists” with a million names apiece. In 2015, Director James Comey said that there were ISIS investigations in all 50 states — even Idaho and Alaska! And that’s just one terrorist organization. Maybe the FBI brass would still be a bunch...

Of all the desperate and futile attempts at revisionist history, few are as careless as the attempt to destroy the reputation of one of the finest Supreme Court justices this country has ever produced. Now comes another volley. New York magazine has assembled "The Case for Impeaching Clarence Thomas." The author is longtime anti-Thomas journalist Jill Abramson. For more than 4,000 words, Abramson labors to relitigate Thomas accuser Anita Hill's dramatic loss in the court of public opinion. According to one poll at the time, 58 percent believed Thomas; only 24 percent believed Hill. Again the argument falls on its...

Fifty years ago, in the wake of the hard-fought 1968 presidential election, the nation faced what many assumed would be a turbulent transition. But it did not turn out that way. Whatever happened later, the country moved from what had been one of the most divisive campaigns in our history, to a comparatively calm and remarkably orderly (considering the times) transfer of power. This was due, in large part, to the combined and concerted efforts of two savvy politicians and a preacher. His name is Billy Graham, and he was born just four days before the guns fell silent ending...

A recent article in The Guardian dons the foreboding title "Robots will destroy our jobs -- and we're not ready for it." The article claims, "For every job created by robotic automation, several more will be eliminated entirely. ... This disruption will have a devastating impact on our workforce." According to an article in MIT Technology Review, business researchers Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee believe that rapid technological change has been destroying jobs faster than it is creating them, contributing to the stagnation of median income and the growth of inequality in the United States. If technology is destroying jobs...

The stronger economy we’re enjoying now is no accident. Lower taxes, more jobs and fewer regulations are creating a much-needed boost. So why do we still have one foot on the brake? I’m referring to trade. Protectionist measures act as a drag on our progress. Indeed, they threaten to undo much of it. Consider the tariffs and quotas that the Trump administration recently slapped on imports of solar cells and modules, large residential washers, and washer parts. The price? As researcher Tori Whiting notes in a Daily Signal article, we get fewer jobs (roughly 23,000 American jobs this year, according...

Opera has it all. Love. Murder. Rape. And most fascinating, in the case of Puccini’s “Tosca” a peek into the rapist’s thinking. In fact, he tells all. In church. Every day headlines tout another soldier in the vast army of rapacious men advancing sexually on some hapless woman. Normal, nice people, cannot help wonder: “What was he thinking?” Well, Giacomo Puccini’s 1900 masterpiece, “Tosca,” lavishly displays such devilish desires. “Tosca” is a passionate love story interfaced with political intrigue. In fact, the plot hinges on villain Baron Scarpia’s botched rape of Floria Tosca, the brave heroine of the story, madly...

If your workplace is a union shop, are you forced to pay union dues? This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments about that. When I worked at CBS and ABC, I was ordered to join the American Federation of Radio and TV Artists. That union had won a vote that gave them the right to speak for all reporters. I said, "I'm no 'artist.' I'm a reporter! I won't join!" But my bosses said they couldn't pay me unless I did. In right-to-work states, unions can't force people to join. But only 28 states are right to work. Aging socialist...

Columbia, SC Once again, a group of obstructionists who like to call themselves environmentalists is trying to steal opportunities away from South Carolina. The Coastal Conservation League and Southern Environmental Law Center filed a suit in federal court a week before Christmas to halt the construction of Interstate 73, highlighting their continued disregard for the public good. These groups say the environmental impact of I-73 is too high. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The federal government requires that any new highway be constructed along the least environmentally impactful route. Fifteen state and federal agencies have spent 16 years...

An Ohio court has removed a teenaged girl from the custody of her parents because they refused to consent to dangerous and experimental medical treatment. The teenager wants to undergo irreversible treatment (hormones and probably sex-reassignment surgery) that she hopes will alleviate the depression associated with her gender dysphoria based on 1) the scientific facts that such treatment will convert her into a lifelong medical patient and probably fail to alleviate her suicidal tendencies, 2) their religious belief that created reality is unalterable, and 3) their fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their minor child, the parents said no. But...

Where are all the grown-ups in times of crisis and grief? Don't bother searching America's prestigious law schools. Two adult men, occupying lofty perches as law professors, argued this week that the voting age in the U.S. should be lowered to 16 because some high school survivors of the Parkland, Florida, shooting who want gun control "are proving how important it is to include young people's voices in political debate." That was the assertion of University of Kentucky law professor Joshua Douglas on CNN.com. He praised some student leaders at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who've been making the rounds...

The gun control debate is complex. It pits rights against duties. It pits individualism against communitarianism. It pits gun owners against anti-gun activists, and law-abiding citizens against one another. Most of all, it pits "common sense" against evidence. The vast majority of gun control proponents keep talking about "common sense" gun control, as though Americans could simply blue-sky some ideas about curbing highly sporadic acts of violence and fix the problem immediately -- and as though Americans were suffering from lack of will, rather than disagreement about method. That's simply not the case. But there are things we can do....

Our democracy is in serious danger. President Donald Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians, is a towering fool, or both, but either way, he has shown himself unable or unwilling to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.

RUSH: I’m looking at the clock. I don’t have sufficient time. We have a Marie Harf sound bite is what’s coming up, and it’s awesome. The only thing it’s missing… She was on Fox a couple hours ago, and the only thing that’s missing is her pronunciation of the word “admini-shration,” and it was all of this sound bite, and it was hoping when I requested this that it would be in there, but it didn’t fall within our allotted time. But it was… No, Michelle Obama. We’re down for the sh’truggle, “admini-shtration.” It’s almost now a required pronunciation technique...

RUSH: I’ll holding here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers a printed piece from the recent issue of The Politico magazine, and the headline: “Why the NRA Always Wins.” And in the second paragraph is their answer: Rush Limbaugh. “Rush Limbaugh went on Fox News, right after an interview with several Parkland [student] survivors critical of the gun lobby” but of course they’re not political, you see “to scold those who ‘bash the NRA’ and insist the only solution to school shootings is ‘concealed carry in the schools.’ … “Why does the NRA always win, despite the repeated national traumas, and...

RUSH: Florida school shooting survivors to head to Tallahassee, Florida, state capital, to press lawmakers on gun control. But it’s not political, you see. It isn’t political, but they’re going up there to the state capital. It isn’t political. The students, They’re not political. They’re the ones that were shot at. That means they’re the only ones we should listen to. And they’re on their way to the state capital to talk to lawmen, lawmakers, but it isn’t political. You see, this is exactly how it happens. Greetings, my friends. Great to have you here, Rush Limbaugh raring and loaded,...

Our nation’s Founding Fathers - were geniuses. They overcame the unbelievable handicaps of being white, male and by nigh all accounts all heterosexual - to create the greatest form of government in the history of personkind. Amongst their very many brilliances - was federalism. The concept of a very limited federal government with expressed powers - leaving the unexpressed and all the rest to the states and the people. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments to our Constitution help lock down this federalism. The Founders knew they weren’t perfect (though they came exquisitely close). Their federalism allows states to experiment with...