Free Republic

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan is scheduled to sentence General Mike Flynn on Tuesday morning, and there’s a lot at stake. To begin with, there’s the future of a fine man who transformed the way we do battlefield intelligence and the ensuing operations against our enemies in Iraq, where we won in large part because Flynn’s (and General Stan McChrystal’s) new tactics, and then in Afghanistan, again in tandem with McChrystal.

The secret ballot hasn’t always been a staple of American politics, but it was wisely instituted by most states around the 1890s as a way to forestall voter fraud via intimidation, vote buying, and blackmailing. Since then, it’s become ubiquitous not just in the United States but in most democratic countries, and one of the first things most people associate with the very concept of free and fair elections. After all, there’s something uniquely special about the fact that, no matter one’s identity or position in society, everyone has the right to vote for the candidate of his or her...

Put this into the category of delusional thinking... CNBC chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood with a well-known antipathy towards Republicans and President Donald Trump stated on Sunday on the MSNBC Weekends with Alex Witt that via what he claims he was told by a No Labels founder that it is possible that the Senate could convict Trump on impeachment charges. That would mean that even if every Democrat voted to convict, they would still need 20 Republicans to vote that way for the requisite two-thirds of the Senate.Mark that up to a personal fantasy of Harwood especially considering and it is hard...

"Moynihan and Doyle argued that according to their research, the Clinton Foundation was acting as a foreign agent, not a 501c3 non-profit organization yet never registered under FARA. PAGING AG WHITAKER! The witnesses also told the committee today they had to send their evidence to the Huber investigation THREE TIMES because they kept losing it. Meadows lost his patience and became furious after Mr. Doyle and Mr. Moynihan refused to give him their documents. “If you’re not going to share your information with this Committee, my patience is running out,” Meadows said giving the witnesses some time to consult with...

British ex-spy Christopher Steele, who wrote the Democrat-financed anti-Trump dossier, said in a court case that he was hired by a Democratic law firm in preparation for Hillary Clinton challenging the results of the 2016 presidential election. He said the law firm Perkins Coie wanted to be in a position to contest the results based on evidence he unearthed on the Trump campaign conspiring with Moscow on election interference. His scenario is contained in a sealed Aug. 2 declaration in a defamation law suit brought by three Russian bankers in London. The trio’s American attorneys filed his answers Tuesday in...

Emmet Sullivan has always been a no-nonsense judge. He was no-nonsense in the late 1980s when, in his capacity as a D.C. Superior Court judge, he presided over a case I was handling. He didn’t preside long. Instead, he tossed the case on our motion for summary judgment. His opinion was brief, to the point, and affirmed unanimously by the D.C. court of appeals. Judge Sullivan was no-nonsense in his treatment of the prosecutors in the case of Sen. Ted Stevens. He took the extraordinary step of dismissing the ethics conviction of Stevens and naming a special prosecutor to investigate...

A shift in the balance of power at the state Capitol has boosted the odds of lawmakers passing bills to reduce gun violence during the upcoming legislative session. The Democratic takeover of the Minnesota House includes so many freshmen who support tougher gun laws that staunch gun control opponents now consider the chamber to be hostile territory. The Senate, where the GOP maintains a one-vote majority, remains a question mark, though the chamber's top Republican, Majority Leader Paul Gazelka of Nisswa, has signaled "some openness" to discussing gun proposals that got blocked in previous sessions . Sen. Ron Latz, a...

Last week, both special counsel Robert Mueller’s office and former national security adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s defense team submitted dueling memorandums to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is preparing to sentence Flynn on Dec. 18. Flynn’s filing brought up the subject of FD-302 forms, which are the official records that FBI agents file following interviews with subjects of interest. In its memo, the defense noted that a 302 form provided by Mueller’s office was dated Aug. 22, 2017, more than six months after the FBI’s interview with Flynn actually took place. Since FBI rules and regulations state that...

Former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Robyn Gritz has asked SaraACarter.com to post her letter to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan in support of her friend and colleague retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who will be sentenced on Dec. 18. In her letter to Judge Sullivan Special Agent Gritz describes an FBI culture immersed in corruption, bias and fear. Gritz is also no fan of Andrew McCabe and describes him s vindictive, power-hungry, aggressive and unethical.

DePaul University freshman David Krupa scored an impressive victory in Chicago politics on Saturday: Boss Madigan — the most powerful Democrat in Illinois — backed out of a challenge to Krupa’s candidacy for alderman in the Southwest Side’s 13th Ward. “I am truly humbled to be the first candidate on the ballot to challenge the 13th Ward since 1991,” Krupa, 19, told me at the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners offices. A few political guys mumbled privately that Madigan must be so angry that he might as well fill a burlap bag of the severed heads of a few of...

In a split decision, a three judge panel at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals effectively ruled the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights is a second-rate right, not entitled to the full protections of other enumerated rights.  The opinion was filed on 5 December, 2018. The case is Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, Inc. v. Attorney General New Jersey, No. 18-3170 (3rd Cir. 2018). The two majority judges followed the trend of other Circuits where the Second Amendment is being degraded and reduced to second-rate status.  Only a month ago, the First Circuit ruled...

... A large amount of domestic coverage this week involves the ongoing Mueller fiasco, in which it appears that the legal theories under which he is operating have been concocted by nitwits, and the processes he’s employed are nothing short of Beria-like (“show me the man, and I’ll show you the crime”) stuff. Space constraints allow me to discuss but a few of the matters in which politics posing as law enforcement captured this week’s news. Michael Flynn caught a break when his case was assigned to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, who was monstrously played by a corrupt band of...

... GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel wrote ... senator [Kamala Harris ] was either “lying or grossly incompetent.” “No one is buying Kamala Harris’s claim she didn’t know her top aide of 14 yrs was accused of sexual harassment, resulting in a $400K settlement,” .... ... the department was alerted on Oct. 3, 2016 that Hartley will pursue legal action. Hartley had also already requested the right to sue from ... . Her complaint ... detailed the allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation – naming Wallace and “those who worked for him” as the culprit. The lawsuit ... alleged...

In 2012, Venezuela’s dictator-for-life President Hugo Chavez had his rubber stamp legislature pass the Control of Arms, Munitions and Disarmament Law. The public generally supported it at the time. The law stripped law-abiding Venezuelans of every firearm and round of ammunition they could legally own. As the country and its citizens have increasingly benefitted from the wonders of Bolivarian socialism, it appears that the public now regrets their support for total civilian disarmament. “Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” Javier Vanegas, 28, a Venezuelan...

With a number of probes moving closer to the Oval Office, President Donald Trump and his attorney unleased a fresh series of attacks Sunday on the investigators, questioning their integrity while categorically ruling out the possibility of a presidential interview with the special counsel. Trump and Rudy Giuliani used Twitter and television interviews to deliver a series of broadsides against special counsel Robert Mueller and federal prosecutors in New York. Giuliani said he was “disgusted” by the tactics used by Mueller in his probe into Russian election interference, including in securing guilty pleas from the president’s former national security adviser...

Markers are already being laid down along racial and gender lines that could restrict Dem options for assembling a 2020 ticket. On Joy Reid's MSNBC show this morning, guest Jason Johnson warned: JASON JOHNSON: What's the most important constituency for Democrats in 2020? Black women. And I've heard plenty of black women say, if there's not a black woman on this ticket, I'm not voting, I'm not excited, I'm not enthusiastic."If the Democratic party wants to run seriously in 2020, they can't relegate black women to second class. They can't relegate black women a consolation prize. Not-so-joyous Reid then established...

We’ve been covering some of the early 2020 polling here recently and the same group of names keeps coming up for the Democratic nomination. At the top, we find Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders in almost every survey. More recently, Beto O’Rourke has climbed into the mix (somehow). In this Age of Diversity and Year of the Woman, doesn’t something seem to be missing? That’s what Kirsten Gillibrand suggested when she sat down for an interview with Van Jones on Friday night. Does it bother her that the frontrunners are, not to put too fine of a point on...

Christine Blasey-Fraud is out there trying to remain relevant. But whatdaya know, she doesn't talk like a high school cheer leader any more.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge’s ruling that the Obama health law is unconstitutional has landed like a stink bomb among Republicans, who’ve seen the politics of health care flip as Americans increasingly value the overhaul’s core parts, including protections for pre-existing medical conditions and Medicaid for more low-income people. While the decision by the Republican-appointed judge in Texas was sweeping, it has little immediate practical impact because the Affordable Care Act remains in place while the legal battle continues, possibly to the Supreme Court. HealthCare.gov , the government’s site for signing up, was taking applications Saturday, the deadline in most...

WASHINGTON — After months of negotiations, lawmakers in the House and Senate have reached an agreement on Wednesday on legislation that would address how sexual harassment claims are dealt with in Congress, it was announced Wednesday. The legislation would hold members of Congress personally liable for awards and settlements stemming from harassment and related retaliation they personally commit, including those who leave office. They can no longer pay out settlements with taxpayer funds and would be required to foot the bill within 90 days or their wages could be garnished.