Free Republic

In the past, scientists were reluctant to attribute particular extreme weather events to climate change. But for the second consecutive year, they have done so with confidence. Thanks to improved modeling, increased computer power, and better skill in interpreting data, attribution science – a young branch of climate science – has been blossoming, says Jeff Rosenfeld, editor-in-chief of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS). Based on the research of 120 scientists in 10 countries, the report comprises 18 peer-reviewed chapters; each deals with a particular weather phenomenon during 2017. “The studies look at what the climate is now,...

Climate change – arguably humanity’s most existential challenge – requires urgent global action. As the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report 2019 will show only too clearly, environmental crises – notably a failure to tackle climate change – are among the likeliest and highest-impact risks that the world faces over the next decade. Indeed, 2018 saw record levels of costs due to extreme weather events. The urgent scientific message on climate change finds it hard to cut through the news cycle and the competing agendas of our ever more complex world. The effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the...

President Trump ran in 2016 as a populist, not a conservative - and that's why he won. Populism is popular. At its best, it's also positive, and that's what we argue for on this show. Positive populism - pro-worker, pro-family, pro-community. Those were the themes of my book, “Positive Populism.” But President Trump needs to be careful. Some leading Democrats are trying to steal his winning populist message. Look at Elizabeth Warren. Yes, it's easy to knock her on her dubious claim of Native American ancestry. But if you listen closely, she's basically running on the Trump message from 2016....

Once again, House Republican leaders last week found themselves having to answer for the offensive statements of Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. This time King further confirmed his insensitivity and evidently racist approach to public policy. The New York Times quoted King asking, "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how did that language become offensive?" In a frank Washington Post op-ed, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., asked, “Why are Republicans accused of racism? Because we’re silent on things like this.” To their credit, many Republican office holders were quick to condemn the provocative remarks, with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst tweeting, “I...

President Trump declines to answer a final question from the press as he departs the White House Jan. 14, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump is digging in his heels on his demand for a border wall, telling aides and allies that he believes he is winning the battle for public support. Over the last 24 hours, Trump has privately touted a Washington Post-ABC News poll indicating that public support for a border wall has increased to 42% from 34% last year, a source familiar with his comments told CNN.

Advancing on gains made last year, Democrats in Virginia are pushing for another big play. After last year’s success pulling in soft Republicans to help pass their agenda, Democrats are eagerly asking for more. This year they’ve announced a bold agenda to import California-style voting laws into the Commonwealth with Governor Northam confident he has all the votes he needs. Northam Announces His Plan to End Voter ID and Usher-in Early Voting California’s voting laws caused a flurry of conservative outrage after the Midterm elections last year. On election night the Republican party was down just 26 seats. But when...

A stench has been emanating from the J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI headquarters) for over two years. It landed Saturday on the front page of the New York Times in an article citing “former law enforcement officials” claiming they had to deal with “explosive implications” that President Donald Trump was “knowingly” or “unwittingly” working for Russia. Thus, the story goes, there was a basis to begin the Russia collusion investigation. In fact, “The Gray Lady” was covering the derrieres of the Obama administration officials involved in the cabal to frame Trump, who now fear an imminent Special Counsel finding that...

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - Food stamp recipients in Florida will get their February benefits early due to the partial government shutdown. The Florida Department of Children and Families made the announcement Monday, saying eligible recipients will receive their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for February on Jan. 20. As a result, DCF said there will not be any additional deposits in the month of February.

President Trump on Monday denied that he has been trying to conceal details about his discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a pair of explosive press reports over the weekend. "I never worked for Russia," Trump told reporters. "It's a disgrace that you even asked that question because it's a whole big fat hoax. It's just a hoax." Trump also said he doesn't know anything about what happened to the notes taken by an interpreter when he met with Putin last summer in Finland or after other meetings with the Russian leader. The Washington Post reported that Trump has...

“Jennifer” Pritzker is playing macho hardball with the GOP, issuing an ultimatum: Change the GOP positions on all matters related to deviant sexuality or he’ll take his ball of money and stomp home. And by home, I mean the Democratic Party. As most Illinoisans know, the billionaire cousin of our loo-less billionaire governor J.B. Pritzker is “Jennifer” Pritzker, a husky 69-year-old man who, after retiring from his 27-year Army career now pretends to be a woman—a Republican woman. Last week, in a commentary replete with overheated rhetoric that appeared in the Chicago Tribune and Washington Post, Pritzker (falsely) accused the...

The Supreme Court denied an effort to strip acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s name from a pending case, swatting down a push to force the justices to send a signal that President Trump’s temporary pick is illegal. Lawyers had asked the justices to remove Mr. Whitaker and substitute Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, arguing that he should be the rightful head of the Justice Department under the law, after former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was ousted last year. The request came in a case involving Barry Michaels, who is challenging a law denying him the right to purchase a firearm...

The Daily Caller is taking the rare step of publishing this anonymous op-ed at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose career would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here. As one of the senior officials working without a paycheck, a few words of advice for the president’s next move at shuttered government agencies: lock the...

Imagine all the House Democrats watching the clip below this morning, feeling their first-ever twinge of identification with Trump. It was Ocasio-Cortez (and probably Rashida Tlaib) whom he had in mind when he said the following on Thursday, no?

Would a declaration of an emergency to build a border wall create a bad precedent? At the end of the last week, much of the political discussion here in Washington, D.C. in talk shows, statements from Congressmen and in conservative publications focused on warnings of how a future Democrat President might abuse a similar process to push left-wing policies. If Trump can declare an emergency to build the border wall, could a future Democrat President Chelsea Clinton declare an emergency and take people’s guns or force or enact legislation to fight the myth of man-made climate change. No, “that’s not...

Not so long ago, left-wing activists were dismissed as fringe or even kooky when they pressed for proposals to tax the superrich at 70 percent, to produce all of America’s power through renewable resources or to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Then along came Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — and her social-media megaphone. In the two months since her election, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has had the uncanny ability for a first-term member of Congress to push the debate inside the Democratic Party sharply to the left, forcing party leaders and 2020 presidential candidates to grapple with issues that some might otherwise prefer to...

Newly minted House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff hinted over the weekend that he could subpoena notes or testimony from the interpreter in several meetings between President Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin, a move that would dramatically escalate majority Democrats' investigations into the Trump administration. The chamber's newly empowered Democratic committee chairmen already are probing a range of Trump controversies, including calling a hearing with ex-fixer Michael Cohen who has detailed Trump's alleged role in making hush-money payments to mistresses. But a move to obtain interpreter details from Putin meetings would trigger a major confrontation between the executive and legislative...

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) predicted President Donald Trump would go down as the worst negotiator in history. While discussing the government shutdown, Warner said, “I think history will show that Donald Trump, the supposed great dealmaker, and I’m working on a piece on this, that business schools and management consultants will look back for years and say this was the most in inept negotiation. He boxed himself in a corner. He didn’t empower his negotiators like the vice president or Lindsey Graham or Mitch McConnell. He’s not allowed any win-win circumstance....

Howard Buffett, Warren’s oldest son, has become a crusader at the border, using his organizations and wealth to boost security efforts of local authorities and volunteer groups, according to a recent report. While his interest in border security may seem odd, a closer look at the 64-year-old billionaire and philanthropist reveals he’s no stranger to the issue. Buffett owns a ranch in Cochise County, Arizona, that sits just 300 yards from the U.S.-Mexico border. In addition, a report by The Phoenix New Times indicated a close relationship between Buffett and law enforcement, with the former reportedly gifting $30 million to...

Andrew Weissmann, the lead prosecutor for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, has a history of questionable conduct. But the full extent of Weissmann’s alleged prosecutorial misconduct is unclear because some of the most serious charges were hidden behind redactions and secreted in sealed court filings. Two months ago I sued to have these records released, but late Friday federal Judge Sim Lake’s case manager confirmed that several of the sought-after documents are missing from the court record. In early November, Houston attorney Kevin Fulton of the Fulton Law Group filed a motion in a Texas federal court to unseal and unredact...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- "Hamilton" star and writer Lin-Manuel Miranda on Monday praised a delegation of congressional Democrats for traveling to Puerto Rico, despite criticism over their trip's timing during a partial government shutdown. "I'm very proud to work with the Latino Victory Fund because you're here to work, despite what anyone might claim," said Miranda during a speech at the progressive organization's summit. "I know you all saw the blue tarps when your plane landed in Puerto Rico," Miranda told the members of Congress in the audience, referring to temporary roof coverings provided by the Federal Emergency Management...