Free Republic

Senators aim to limit Trump's ability to remove troops from Germany BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 06/29/20 03:19 PM EDT A bipartisan group of senators is trying to place limits on President Trump's ability to remove troops from Germany unless the administration is able to meet a slew of requirements. The proposal, spearheaded by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), would prohibit the administration from reducing the number of active-duty troops in Germany below 34,500 unless the Pentagon can certify to Congress that it is in the national security interest of the United States and would not negatively undermine European alliances or NATO....

Clay County, Florida, Sheriff Darryl Daniels is not messing around with rioters and looters. He put out a video on YouTube warning potential trouble-makers that his county will not be a playground for foolishness. “If we can’t handle you, I’ll exercise the power and authority as the sheriff and I’ll make special deputies of every lawful gun owner in the county and I’ll deputize them to this one purpose: to stand in the gap between lawlessness and civility,” said a white cowboy hat-wearing Daniels while flanked by his deputies. Do not mess with this Sheriff “If you come to Clay...

Gulf County veterans memorial nearing completion by: Madalyn Bierster Posted: Jul 1, 2020 / 09:48 PM CDT / Updated: Jul 1, 2020 / 09:48 PM CDT GULF COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) — A local veterans memorial in St. Joe Beach is nearing completion. The Beacon Hill Veterans Park has been undergoing construction for some time now, and will be open to the public in just a few short months. ‘The Honor Walk’ has been a collaboration by the Honor Walk Committee and Gulf County Commissioners. The walk will feature several different aspects including a memorial for each branch of the military....

House panel votes to constrain Afghan drawdown, ask for assessment on 'incentives' to attack US troops BY REBECCA KHEEL - 07/01/20 11:24 PM EDT House panel votes to constrain Afghan drawdown, ask for assessment on 'incentives' to attack US troops © Getty The House Armed Services Committee voted Wednesday to put roadblocks on President Trump’s ability to withdraw from Afghanistan, including requiring an assessment on whether any country has offered incentives for the Taliban to attack U.S. and coalition troops. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment, from Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), would require several certifications before the U.S. military...

(CNN)A half dozen new swing-state polls released Thursday morning suggest that not only would President Donald Trump lose if the election were held today, he would lose in a landslide. The surveys, conducted by The New York Times and Siena College, show Trump trailing former Vice President Joe Biden by double digits in Michigan (Biden +11), Wisconsin (Biden +11) and Pennsylvania (Biden+ 10) and by mid-single digits in North Carolina (Biden +9), Arizona (Biden +7) and Florida (Biden +6). Trump won every one of those states in the 2016 election. Switch them from red to blue and you can quickly...

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels issued a warning to people who may be thinking of bringing violent protests to the area. In a video posted on social media, Daniels said the statement is in response to the nationwide conversation about the strained relationship between police and the community. “Is it a threat? Absolutely not, but somebody has to step up in front of the camera and say enough is enough. Tearing up Clay County? That’s not going to be acceptable and if we can’t handle you, you know what I’ll do? I’ll exercise the power and...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Without fanfare, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law an expansion of Florida's use of a federal database to verify an employee's immigration status. But it's far from the sweeping change he sought: Influential industries lobbied to make it optional for private employers. In a presidential election year, the issue could loom as a point of contention amid clashing ideologies over immigration. Supporters see E-Verify as a tool to keep people who are in the United States illegally from getting jobs. The Republican governor asked lawmakers to require all employers in Florida — public and private —...

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem confirmed that her state will move forward with plans for a large Independence Day celebration at Mount Rushmore on July 3 .. free masks will be given out to those who desire to wear them, there will be no social distancing. Thousands are expected at the festivities that will be attended by none other than President Donald Trump. The event will feature fighter jets soaring over the 79-year-old monument, along with the first fireworks display at the site since 2009. Noem, a Republican, made clear that they would not impose coronavirus restrictions on the crowd....

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a Senate hearing Tuesday that people should stop going to bars “right now” — just as states like Texas and Florida, both of which have seen a dramatic uptick in the number of cases, were recently forced to close their bars a second time to stem the spread of the virus. “Congregation at a bar, inside, is bad news,” Fauci said. “We really got to stop that right now.”

Because of COVID-19, beaches in Miami-Dade County will be closed for the 4th of July weekend: ... But you can still get a lap dance at a strip club: ... For real. Confirmed via an email with Deputy Mayor Jennifer Moon: ... If you want people to stop taking everything the government says on corona seriously, well then, this is a pretty good place to start.

A major reason for moving the bulk of the Republican National Convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida, was the north Florida city's intent to make the renomination spectacle for President Trump mask-free. Until Monday, when, according to Politico, Republican Mayor Lenny Curry was finalizing a citywide mask order amid a spike in COVID-19 cases across Florida. That new rule would extend to indoor events as well. The GOP convention is slated to be hosted at Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena on Aug. 25-27. The GOP initially had planned to host its gathering in Charlotte but ultimately moved its location...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police have charged a 19-year-old man they say fatally shot two teens in the South Shore neighborhood after they asked how tall he was. Police say Laroy Battle, 19, opened fire on two teens in an alley in the 7900-block of South Luella Avenue around 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 20. According to Deputy Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan, the shooting took place after the two teens and a friend had a brief encounter with Battle, whom they did not know, in a corner store. "The victims commented, because, since Battle is quite tall, and they...

An Englewood man is accused of killing two teenagers last weekend after they noted how tall he was while they bought candy at a gas station in South Shore. Laroy Battle, 19, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and possession of a controlled substance, Deputy Chief Brendan Deenihan said at a news conference Thursday. Jasean Francis, 17, and Charles Riley, 16, were “very good kids from really excellent families,” Deenihan said. They had gone to a gas station Saturday afternoon in the 7900 block of South Luella with a third friend to buy candy when they ran into...

As a Pasco County Sheriff’s Deputy, Sean Kennedy spent 25-years following the law and enforcing it. Now he’s found himself in a position where he feels he must break the law. More specifically, a by-law for his community association. Kennedy lives with his wife and children in the Foxwood subdivision in New Port Richey. It’s a deed-restricted community where lawns are neatly mowed and cars are parked in garages. Over Kennedy’s garage flies a blue lives matter flag, the homeowners association recently told him he had to take it down. Kennedy lives with his wife and children in the Foxwood...

As anti-Trump media seeks to widely disseminate data on the COVID-19 case increases in red states Florida, Arizona, and Texas, they are selectively ignoring data on hospitalizations and mortality rates compared to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's New York, according to Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, on Newsmax TV. "That's what they do: They lie, they misrepresent, and they've taken their lead – well, I'm not sure if they've taken their lead from the Democrats or the Democrats took their lead from the media, but either way they work together and they misrepresent the facts," Gohmert told "Saturday Report."

President Trump removed Sunday his retweet of a protest video that showed a supporter yelling “white power,” a comment that the White House said he never heard. “President Trump is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video,” said White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere. “What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.” The two-minute video taken at The Villages, a retirement community in Florida, showed anti-Trump protesters yelling at Trump supporters as they rolled by in golf carts decorated with pro-Trump signs and American flags. After...

As the Northeast, the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. for months, has seen steep, persistent declines in confirmed cases, other parts of the country have spiked. A month or so ago, most of the increased cases were a function of increased testing. Now, states like Florida, Texas, and Arizona have seen worrying increases in their positivity rates — the percentage of tests that are positive — in a sign of accelerating community spread. The media’s tone about this trend is, of course, apocalyptic, with many commentators portraying the Republican governors of these states as callous extremists hell-bent on...

At an anti-deportation march in Irving on Saturday, one of the leaders told the mostly Hispanic crowd, "We want to send a message that there is no division in our community. We are one." But some Hispanics were there to undermine that statement and demonstrate a sticking point in the immigration debate: Many Hispanics are among the strongest opponents of illegal immigration. "We've been here 38 years, and we deserve to be here, not some illegal immigrants," said Eva Hinojosa, whose parents were from Mexico. "They should go back to their own country; they don't belong here." She and her...

The Trump administration doesn't have the authority to divert Pentagon funds to construct additional barriers on the US-Mexico border, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, days after President Donald Trump's visit to a section of the wall in Arizona. In a 2-1 ruling, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said that the transfer of $2.5 billion circumvented Congress, which holds the authority to appropriate money.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Wednesday that "everyone" should be wearing a mask to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus as states across the country report troubling surges in confirmed cases and hospitalizations. "The area where I think we have to definitely really surge on is nursing homes, ALFs [assisted living facilities], congregate living facilities that have a high number of people or obviously populations of people that are high risk. Those are the places where you're really going to cut down the death rate if you can prevent outbreaks ... and that's where I hope we focus both our...