Free Republic

<p>The economy is booming, with the New York branch of the Federal Reserve now estimating it will grow at the pace of 3.98% in the fourth quarter. That would represent our third straight quarter above 3% economic growth, a feat not achieved in over a decade.</p>

Actor George Clooney and writer Matt Charman are developing a limited Netflix series on the Watergate scandal that engulfed former President Richard Nixon. Bridge of Spies writer Charman has teamed up with Clooney and his production company Smokehouse Pictures to develop the series for Netflix, according to Deadline. The eight-episode series, titled Watergate, will reportedly focus on different individuals involved in the scandal, including former Attorney General John Mitchell and Nixon attorney John Ehrlichman.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had nothing but praise for President Donald Trump even though the U.S. leader’s political views are the polar opposite of his own ultra-liberal stances. “Donald Trump has demonstrated that he’s a bit of a disruptive force. He does unpredictable things,” Trudeau told CTV. “He’s a deal-maker. He’s a negotiator.” Justin Trudeau praised President Donald Trump Proving that the U.S. president doesn’t have to be a conciliatory apologist for American exceptionalism (like Barack Obama was) to be respected by other world leaders, Trudeau said he’s optimistic about his relationship with the tough-talking Trump. Trudeau said he...

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday said he cannot imagine a government shutdown taking place days before the Christmas holiday if Congress cannot strike a deal on a spending bill, adding that he also cannot rule out the possibility that it may take place. "I can’t rule it out, but I can't imagine it occurring," Mnuchin told host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." The finance chief said if Congress cannot reach a deal by Friday, the deadline to pass a spending bill, then they would have to pass a "short term extension" into January in order to gain time...

A rumor purportedly circulating around Capitol Hill that President Trump plans to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller is false, says White House Special Counsel Ty Cobb. “As the White House has said for months, there is no consideration being given to firing the Special Counsel,” Cobb told The Daily Caller on Saturday in response to growing speculation that Mueller will soon be canned. Trump has made no public comments about Mueller over the past week, but Democrats have increasingly speculated that Trump will find a way to shut down the special counsel probe. Republicans have accused Democrats of raising that...

Democracy is just like anything else that's good in life, and that means it has to be moderated. To this a lot of Americans respond that we don't live in a democracy; we live in a democratic republic, and I think saying anything this obvious and unhelpful should disqualify them for the vote. In fact, there are too many voters to keep this republic afloat, too many voters who don't know the difference between a federal and a national system of government, too many who can't tell the difference between the judicial system and the legislature, who honestly believe that...

"The Newark Police Division has been notified by the United States Capitol Police (USCP) regarding a threat on the life of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and his family members," Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement on Saturday, according to ABC News. "As a result, members of the Police Division’s Executive Protection Unit have been assigned to provide security at the Senator’s residence in Newark," Baraka added. The mayor said the city is closely coordinating with USCP “to ensure Senator Booker is able to carry out his duties of serving New Jersey's residents in Congress in a safe manner."

With Thursday's announcement that Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas will not seek re-election in 2018, eight congressional seats in Texas will have a different representative come January 2019. That's the biggest turnover in the state's congressional delegation since 2005, according to data from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. The departure of six Republicans and two Democrats thus far, which represents over 20 percent of Texas’ congressional delegation, has sparked speculation about whether the state could play a key role in the Democratic Party’s quest to retake the House of Representatives in 2018. In addition to...

The federal government’s former ethics czar says he is “stocking up” on “gear” in order to “take the streets” in the event that President Trump removes Robert Mueller as special counsel. “I’m concerned the assault on the rule of law is coming over the holidays when we’re distracted. It‘ll be a defining moment for the Republic,” Walter Shaub wrote on Twitter on Friday.

One week after President Trump won the election, some Washington residents protested against him on the Capitol grounds. One sign, illustrated with an outline of the District of Columbia, read, “Don’t Drain my Swamp.” The federal capital's incestuous network of revolving-door cronies and entrenched bureaucrats have so protected and increased their own power in recent years that the five wealthiest counties in America are all within commuting distance of Capitol Hill. These swamp creatures complain that Trump is bringing in too many outsiders. Beltway insiders consider it a crime that the president has nominated critics of agencies to head those...

Multiple agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have reportedly been told by the Trump administration that they cannot use certain phrases in official documents. Officials from two HHS agencies, who asked that their names and agencies remain anonymous, told The Washington Post that they had been given a list of "forbidden" words similar to the one given to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). A second HHS agency was told not to use the phrases “entitlement,” “diversity” and “vulnerable," in documents. It was also told to use "ObamaCare" as opposed to the "Affordable Care Act" and...

A small group of conservative leaders had gathered in the Trump International Hotel last week for a friendly discussion about the year that was ending and their priorities for the year to come, when Stephen K. Bannon spoke up. “I’m not going to name names,” he snapped, looking around the room as he complained about being left virtually alone to defend Roy S. Moore, accused of sexually molesting and assaulting teenage girls, while the Republican leadership and Democrats bludgeoned the Alabama Senate candidate. “If we want to win,” he added, according to three people who were in the room, “We...

Connecticut has the most underfunded pension system in the nation, amassing more than $127.7 billion in liabilities.. The study entitled Unaccountable and Unaffordable showed Connecticut’s pension system dropping below Illinois and Kentucky when its pension liabilities were calculated with a “risk-free” discount rate equal to the rate of a U.S. Treasury bond. Connecticut’s unfunded pension liability rose from $99.2 billion in ALEC’s 2016 study to $127.7 billion in 2017, leaving the pension system only 19 percent funded. The debt from the public pensions amounts to $35,721 per person in Connecticut, the second highest per capita debt in the nation behind...

An imam from New Jersey who called on Allah to destroy every Jew is in trouble. The Times of Israel reported Aymen Elkasaby apparently is going through a retraining period after making the comment that Allah should “kill them down to the very last one.” He’s from the Islamic Center of Jersey City, and the report says he gave a sermon on November 24 where he called on “Allah to wreak vengeance” on Jews. “That sermon came days after U.S. President Donald Trump defied warnings from the world and recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” the report said.

It's not just the United States that could soon see itself engaged in a deadly conflict with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. China is also at risk of an imminent war with North Korea, warned some of China's most prestigious national security experts at a conference in Beijing this week. “Conditions on the peninsula now make for the biggest risk of a war in decades,” said Shi Yinhong, director of the Center on American Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing and an adviser to the State Council of China on diplomacy issues since February 2011, during the...

WASHINGTON — Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for Congress, will drop out of the race after the Kansas City Star asked her about accusations in a 2005 lawsuit that she sexually harassed and retaliated against a male subordinate who said he had rejected her advances. Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told The Star that the man reached a settlement with LabOne, the company where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources. Court documents show that the man, Gary Funkhouser, and LabOne agreed to dismiss the case permanently after mediation in 2006. Ramsey, a 56-year-old retired business executive...

The far-right Freedom Party has secured the key posts of foreign, interior and defense in Austria's new coalition government for its nominees. Governing with the conservative People's Party, the move makes Austria the only country in Western Europe to have a far-right party in power. Austria's president approved the new coalition on Saturday, two months after inconclusive elections. People's Party leader Sebastian Kurz, 31. will be Austria's new chancellor. He will become the world's youngest head of government...... Although it is the junior coalition partner, the anti-immigration Freedom Party has secured several key posts in the new cabinet. Party leader...

Meryl Streep Admits She Reads Drudge, Watches Fox News By Paula Bolyard December 15, 2017 n an interview to promote her new movie, "The Post," Hollywood legend Meryl Streep discussed her media habits and admitted she reads Drudge and Fox News, along with The New York Times. Streep, along with director Steven Spielberg and several of the film's collaborators, discussed the new movie that tells the story of the Pentagon Papers through the eyes of Washington Post reporter Katharine Graham. Never shy about her left-leaning politics, Streep discussed a wide variety of topics with The Hollywood Reporter, including the recent...

Peter Schweizer talked during his appearance on Friday’s Breitbart News Tonight with SiriusXM hosts Rebecca Mansour and John Carney about the discovery of politically charged text messages between Peter Strzok, an FBI official involved in both the Trump and Clinton investigations, and his mistress. “This is, I think, a huge problem with bureaucrats in Washington, DC. I would point people to a book that was written just a couple of years ago by two Johns Hopkins University scholars, called What Washington Gets Wrong. They did a survey of precisely people like Peter Strzok, thousands of people who are senior government...

Former House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, Saturday called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to be removed from office, saying that may be a cure for the "deep systemic problems" in the Department of Justice. "It pains me to say this a little bit [but] I don't think the attorney general is up to the job he's doing," Chaffetz, now a contributor for Fox News, told the "Fox and Friends Saturday" program. Sessions "had to remove himself from everything" involving President Donald Trump and that led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special investigator in the investigation into Russian...