Free Republic

Leading figures of both parties pressured President Trump on Sunday to halt his administration’s practice of separating children from their parents when apprehended at the border, as the issue further polarized the already divisive immigration debate in Washington. Republican lawmakers, the former first lady Laura Bush and a onetime adviser to Mr. Trump joined Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton, in condemning the family separations that have removed nearly 2,000 children from their parents in just six weeks. The administration pushed back, arguing that it was just enforcing the law — a false assertion that President Trump has made repeatedly.

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Inside an old warehouse in South Texas, hundreds of children wait in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets.

First lady Melania Trump uncharacteristically waded into a fierce debate around immigration on Sunday, pushing for bipartisan cooperation to end the separation of migrant children from their parents at the border. “Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform," according to a statement from her spokeswoman. "She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.” The first lady's statement stood in contrast to comments made by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who...

There is no visible indication that North Korea has begun dismantling missile launch sites as reportedly promised, according to satellite imagery shared by 38 North. The program, hosted by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, analyzed and posted imagery of the known locations of North Korea’s missile launch facilities on Thursday and Friday. According to the analysis, 38 North reported that it could not identify “any activity associated with the dismantlement” at any testing sites. There are six known launch and engine testing facilities as well as two eject test stands scattered throughout North Korea. "Of these...

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is just about killing it at the global body. In recent remarks to the General Assembly, Haley first condemned the anti-Israel faction of the bunch for using the global body for politics, not peace promotion. And then, dramatically enough, she brought to vote a U.S.-penned measure that explicitly faulted Hamas for violence at the Gaza border — a measure that was tacked on as an amendment to an anti-Israel resolution and that actually received the thumbs-up from the majority of the voting parties. Did you get that? It actually received a majority...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) “Hey, somebody get the Pope on the line – those are not the approved DNC/fake media talking points. Not at all.” – Pope Francis, whose messages have for the past 18 months been pretty much right in line with those of the Democrats and fake news media here in the U.S., told an Italian family association on Saturday that the modern practice of abortion is akin to ‘Nazi eugenics practiced “with white gloves,’ and said the only real families are those based on marriage between a man and a woman.” The Pope’s...

Friday morning Donald Trump said in an interview on Fox News that he would not support a "moderate" GOP immigration bill that would allow most DREAMers to stay in the U.S. and reduce the number of children separated from their parents at the border. The conservative alternative was heavy on border security and enforcement.But later, the White House walked back that rejection, saying the president was "confused" and would sign the bill.The chaos only added to GOP worries about the issue of immigration, which has split the party in two in the House.Associated Press: Earlier this week, House Speaker...

More Americans see themselves aligned with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau than President Trump in the two leaders' conflict over trade policy, a new poll finds. A Global News/Ipsos poll released Saturday finds that Trudeau enjoys a 20-point advantage over the U.S. president among Americans when it comes to which leader respondents think is better handling the discussions over tariffs and other trade issues. Fifty-seven percent of U.S. respondents told the poll they support Trudeau's actions, compared to just 37 percent who said the same for Trump.

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) “Ok, let’s see here guys, we’ve already destroyed the attorney/client privilege in the Cohen case, we’re doing our best to destroy the rules of evidence in the Concorde case, what should we destroy next?” – The obvious answer that came back from one of his evil minions to Special Counsel Robert Mueller was “Hey, let’s kill the bail system!” because that’s what he’s now doing in the case against Paul Manafort. Let’s first note that Manafort, who served as the Trump Campaign Manager for all of 49 days, is not charged with...

This thread is a friendly collaborative place for FReepers to analyze information and share opinons. FReepers have a wide variety of reasons for investigating Q Anon content; this is not the appropriate place to criticize or badger those who choose to use some of their time in this manner. If you are new to Q Anon, the three links below provide overviews to help answer the questions, "Who is Q?" and "Why read Q drops?". Is Trump Staging a Counter-Coup? [Q explained?]> Note: The above thread has been locked for disruptive comments, but post #1 includes a strong, concise...

Thursday's Inspector General's report reviewing FBI and Department of Justice actions before the 2016 election effectively concluded that former President Barack Obama lied to the American people and committed illegal acts in emailing then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private-server email addresses. The IG also found that former FBI Director James Comey scrubbed all hints of Obama's prior knowledge from his July 2016 statement explaining why Mrs. Clinton would not be indicted for her illegal acts. Despite these indisputable facts, reports at the nation's three gatekeeping establishment press outlets have not mentioned Obama's name in connection with any of this. Joy...

Like many new dads, Sabastion Sparks knew parenting would come with serious challenges. But most new dads didn't give birth to their child. They didn't breastfeed them. And they don't endure glares from strangers when they go shopping with their wife and their toddler son. Sabastion, 24, is a transgender man who lives with his wife Angel in suburban Atlanta. Assigned the female gender at birth, he began transitioning five years ago . It's a process that felt more complete last month when he had surgery to remove his breasts.

Senior White House officials worked with House Republicans for weeks on a compromise immigration measure, but were careful to avoid saying anything publicly that would sink the measure. That changed Friday morning when President Donald Trump walked out to the White House’s North Lawn. House Republicans reached agreement on a sweeping immigration overhaul measure after conservatives, moderates and leaders negotiated behind closed doors for weeks — with White House legislative affairs director Marc Short also involved. Members said Thursday they had reached a deal to vote on two measures: a measure favored by conservatives and a compromise version in which...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) There really is no mystery here… – Mark Levin was going off on Fox News last night, railing as only he can do in disbelief about the reality that the “greatest threat to our democracy in 2016 was not any foreign country…it was our own government,” which is absolutely true, and that “I can’t believe we don’t have a special counsel…or a blue ribbon commission investigating our own government.” Well, think about why that’s the case – this is very, very important. If we had an overwhelming clamor from the members of...

The new report from the Justice Department’s watchdog covers a lot of ground. It runs more than 500 pages and evaluates investigations that touch both President Trump and Hillary Clinton. As a result, some of the initial news coverage — which has to cram all of the big findings into a few paragraphs — can be a little difficult to follow. If you’re trying to do so, I recommend keeping your focus on the big picture. The report addresses one question that’s more important than any other: Did the Justice Department and F.B.I. use their power, as Trump has repeatedly...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) [Note: The wonderful photoshop that accompanies this piece was constructed by a loyal Campaign Update reader who asked to be credited only as dagalas.] Hey, y’all, so far this week, President Donald Trump has gotten the Democrats and the fake news media to endorse: – War games – Nuclear weapons – Refusing to negotiate with despots (where were they when Obama did that Iran deal?) – Neverending war on the Korean peninsula And it’s only Thursday morning! PSA: Those loud noises you are hearing right now are just the sounds of liberal...

Rhetorical question: if a Hillary-hating Trump supporter had shot and almost killed a Dem congressman, do you think CNN would have mentioned that fact on the one-year anniversary of the event? But in its five-plus minute segment this morning on the first anniversary of a shooting at a Republican practice baseball game in which GOP congressman Steve Scalise was shot and almost killed, CNN failed to even name the shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, and never mentioned that he was a Trump-hating Bernie Sanders supporter. The only reference to Hodginkson was CNN reporter Phil Mattingly speaking of a “lone gunman.”Get the...

The New York Times editorial board claims “at least 700 mass shootings” occurred over the least two years and 96 people are killed by firearms every day. The column was written to correspond with the second anniversary of the June 12, 2016, shooting at the gun-free Orlando Pulse nightclub. The gunman in that attack had a “statewide firearms license” enabling him to serve as an armed security guard and he passed a background check for the handgun and rifle he carried on the night of his attack. Moreover, he passed a waiting a period for the handgun.

Every time the mainstream media touts some “wonderful new economic numbers” I just want to cringe. Yes, it is true that the economic numbers have gotten slightly better since Donald Trump entered the White House, but the rosy economic picture that the mainstream media is constantly painting for all of us is completely absurd. As you are about to see, if honest numbers were being used all of our major economic numbers would be absolutely terrible. Of course we can hope for a major economic turnaround for America under Donald Trump, but we certainly are not there yet. Economist John...

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders hit back Wednesday night against a report that she was considering leaving her role, saying she “loves” her job and is “honored” to work with President Trump. Sanders was replying to an earlier CBS News report that both she and deputy press secretary Raj Shah have considered leaving their positions in the administration. “Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future,” Sanders asked in a tweet. “I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my ‘plans to leave the WH’ without even talking to...