Free Republic

Former President George W. Bush said in a new interview he’s “still disturbed” by the U.S. Capitol riot. “I can’t remember what I was doing, but … I was sick to my stomach … to see our nation’s Capitol being stormed by hostile forces,” Mr. Bush told Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith. “And it really disturbed me to the point where I did put out a statement, and I’m still disturbed when I think about it. “It undermines rule of law and the ability to express yourself in peaceful ways in the public square,” he said. “This was an expression...

Around 10% of voters plan to use their vote in the European Parliament elections to back far-right or right-wing populist parties, according to a study published by the Bertelsmann Foundation on Friday. Most other EU citizens will use their ballots to thwart parties they oppose rather than support a particular group. The researchers said this type of “negative” voting could benefit political movements on the fringes and make it more difficult to form a majority in Parliament. […] The researchers argued that voters who feel the mainstream pro-European parties no longer represent their interests tend to engage with populist messages....

The Trump administration will require 57,000 Honduran people to return to their home country, after having lived in the U.S. with protected status since a 1999 hurricane, according to a report Friday morning. The administration will give Hondurans 12 to 18 months to return home, according to McClatchy. Hondurans are the second-largest national group of people who benefit from TPS. A DHS spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen "has not yet made a decision." But a decision is due by July 6 and the government has yet to formally announce the reported policy change. Elaine Duke, former...

The Environmental Protection Agency has shrunk considerably since Scott Pruitt took over as administrator. In fact, the agency is back to President Reagan-era staff levels. Over 700 EPA personnel have either retired, quit, or taken voluntary buyouts since Pruitt took over...

President Trump has opted to remove Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director, as first reported by The New York Times. Scaramucci's removal comes 10 days after his appointment to the role, a move which caused significant shakeups in Trump's White House. The New York Times reported Monday that new White House chief of staff John Kelly requested Scaramucci's ouster, three people close to the decision told the newspaper. Kelly reportedly made clear to White House staff members that he will be in charge there following Trump's announcement he would be chief of staff last Friday. The Times reported that...

When President Trump ordered a vast overhaul of immigration law enforcement during his first week in office, he stripped away most restrictions on who should be deported, opening the door for roundups and detentions on a scale not seen in nearly a decade. Up to 8 million people in the country illegally could be considered priorities for deportation, according to calculations by the Los Angeles Times... {..snip..}

President Trump is seeking to slash the number of workers at the Environmental Protection Agency by at least half, leaving it significantly gutted as the administration mulls further cuts, the former head of Trump's EPA transition team said Friday. "Let's aim for half and see how it works out, and then maybe we'll want to go further," Myron Ebell said now that he has returned to his position as director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Ebell left the Trump transition team a week ago. Ebell told the Associated Press that Trump is...

Chinese authorities executed on Friday a Japanese man who had been sentenced to death in connection with stimulant drug smuggling, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said. The identity of the man is not immediately known. Kishida told a news conference that while it is up to China to decide what kind of penalty should be imposed on criminals, "We have conveyed to the Chinese side that we have taken a heightened interest in the death penalty handed down to Japanese nationals." China informed Japan of the execution in the morning, Kishida said. A court in Dalian in northeastern China conveyed...

Shots were fired in the area of the 4/20 marijuana rally being held at Civic Center Park in Denver, KDVR.com reports. Denver police say one person has been shot in the leg and another is down with unknown injuries. Witnesses say they heard three or more shots about 20 minutes after 4:20 p.m. Police swarmed the scene, and crime tape was around the pavilion where the celebration was being held. Aerial footage showed the massive crowd frantically running from the park. The pot celebration Saturday was the first since Colorado and Washington made marijuana legal for recreational use. Read more:...

Gov. Jerry Brown today issued a 12-point pension reform agenda his office says he will introduce in the Legislature "with or without Republican support." The first seven items seek to end abuses or tighten pension funding rules. The last five involve more systemic changes and are listed as "under development." PENSION REFORM PROPOSAL APPLIES TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 1. Eliminate Purchase of Airtime. Would eliminate the opportunity, for all current and future employee members of all state and local retirement systems, to purchase additional retirement service credit. (RN 14777) (Note Walters, SB 522, would eliminate Air Time) 2. Prohibit...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Campaigning for president, Barack Obama pledged to bring greater transparency and openness to the White House and to use technology to reboot government. One hundred days has not been nearly enough time to achieve his ambitious goals, but academics, technology analysts and nonpartisan groups say the man billed as the first "tech president" is off to a good start. On January 21, his first full day in office, Obama issued a memo informing the heads of agencies and departments that making government "transparent, participatory and collaborative" was a top priority of his administration. The primary vehicle for...

State and federal authorities said they are investigating the deaths of six sea lions found dead at the Columbia River traps. They appeared to have been shot. The bodies of four California sea lions and two Steller sea lions were found at the traps early Sunday afternoon. There were two California sea lions and one Steller sea lion at each of two traps just below the Bonneville Dam. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and federal investigators are treating the area as a crime scene. Both species of sea lion are federally protected but Oregon and Washington state are...

A record 7 million people - or one in every 32 American adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 per cent over the previous year, according to a report. More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more. Men still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing faster. Over...

This is true Professor Wichman E-mail Claim: A Michigan professor sent an e-mail telling Muslim students to leave the country Status: True. Professor Wichman E-mail Hooray for Michigan State University (The Spartans) and Professor Wichman! Well, what do we have here. Looks like a small case of some people being able to dish it out, but not take it. Let's start at the top. The story begins at Michigan State University with a mechanical engineering professor named Indrek Wichman. Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student's Association. The e-mail was in response to the students' protest of the Danish...

PETALUMA -- Rat lovers were furious Wednesday that a Petaluma animal shelter had euthanized more than 1,000 of the rodents taken last week from a man who had been hoarding the creatures inside his home. Roger Dier, 67, was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty last week after animal control officers found hordes of squealing rats inside his dingy one-bedroom house in Petaluma. Nancee Tavares, the city's Animal Services manager, had promised to find homes for as many rats as possible but admitted Wednesday that some 1,020 of them had to be put down. "We euthanized all of the adults except...

AL-HERI, Syria -- A Syrian general told reporters touring the border with Iraq on Friday that U.S. forces fired across the frontier five months ago and killed a Syrian soldier during an American military operation. The Syrians organized the rare tour along the 370-mile border in an apparent attempt to mute U.S. and Iraqi criticism that Damascus had done too little to stop foreign fighters from slipping into Iraq to join the insurgency — a charge Damascus has denied. At the Pentagon, Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable did not comment on the allegation that a Syrian soldier was killed by...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to provide prescription drug discounts to the uninsured "provides a reasonable starting point," the Legislative Analyst's Office said Thursday, but the report suggests stiffening his voluntary approach with drug manufacturers. Lawmakers should add an automatic trigger replacing Schwarzenegger's voluntary rebate proposal with mandatory incentives if drug makers fail to keep promises to cut prices significantly, the analyst said. That alternative would likely bring consumers larger discounts on more drugs, but result in a lengthy court challenge, the analyst said. A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman praised the report for recognizing that the administration is offering "the...

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas fired his top Gaza security commanders after militants launched a massive shelling attack on Israeli targets around the Strip, Palestinian security officials said late Thursday afternoon. PA officials said Abbas dismissed Brigadier General Abdel Razek al-Majaydeh, chief of public security, police chief Saeb al-Ajed and three other senior commanders. Also, several lower-ranking officers lost their jobs. Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Hassan Abu Libdeh said Abbas took "punitive measures against officers who did not undertake their responsibilities, which led to the latest developments in Gaza," dismissing several commanders and accepting the resignations of others. "These are very...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli tank opened fire and killed three Egyptian troops Thursday on the sensitive border between the two countries, mistaking them for Palestinian militants on the way to carry out an attack, Israeli media said. The army was checking the report and could not immediately comment on the Egyptian soldiers' condition. Israel Radio and Army Radio both carried reports of the incident which occurred in the early hours of Thursday. Israel Radio said the shooting was under investigation by top military ranks. Army Radio said the Israeli tank was stationed along a stretch of the border just...