Free Republic

House Republicans have finally unveiled their new tax reform bill. Despite some delays, Republican leadership insists they are still on schedule to have the bill on President Trump's desk by the end of the year. "Our goal in the House is to get this bill out of the House, passed on the floor by Thanksgiving," House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers told CBN News. The hold-up centered on a proposal to end the federal income deduction for state and local taxes utilized by high tax states like New York and California. GOP lawmakers in those states are hesitant...

One of the last survivors of the Dambuster missions has lashed out at revisionist historians who criticise Britain's tactics of razing German cities to the ground. Johnny Johnson MBE, 95, hit out at historians who were not there at the time, telling them to 'keep your bloody mouth shut,' as he demands bomber crews are finally recognised with a medal. The former bomb aimer for a Lancaster bomber was a part of the top-secret Operation Chastise, that sought to breach dams and flood munitions factories in the Ruhr valley.

The Soviet Union theorized that President Lyndon B. Johnson could have been behind JFK’s assassination — and also feared Moscow could be blamed and attacked, according to documents in a major release of files related to Kennedy’s slaying on Thursday. The Dec. 1, 1966, FBI memo, which relayed unconfirmed speculation, noted that sources said the KGB “was in possession of data purporting to indicate President Johnson was responsible for the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy.” The memo, which was forwarded to the White House by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover with the all-caps title “REACTION OF SOVIET...

I’ve been hearing from news reporters for major news organizations, who ask, “What’s in the new JFK files? Is there a smoking gun?” The answer is no. There is no one piece of evidence in the 113,00 pages of JFK records scheduled to be released by October 26, 2017, that will change people’s minds... But the new JFK files, if released in their entirety, will fill in the two key gaps in the JFK assassination story that have long been obscured by government misconduct, official secrecy, and lazy journalism. Think of the JFK assassination story as an incomplete mosaic. The...

A Florida woman is grieving the loss of her husband Army Sgt. La David Johnson. She's thinking about the orphaned children her husband left behind, probably wondering how she will parent a six-year-old, a toddler, and an unborn child who will never know her father. But down in Florida, Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson is enjoying her newfound fame after she politicized the president's call to the widow. According to a local news report, Wilson is even laughing. "You mean to tell me that I've become so important that the White House is following me and my words?" she said laughing,...

The US knew people were being "delivered for slaughter" during a political purge in Indonesia during the 1960s, declassified documents reveal. At least 500,000 people were killed between 1965 and 1966, after the army and local Muslim militia went on a rampage following an attempted coup. It was one of the worst massacres of the 20th century, but, at the time, Washington remained silent. But these newly released memos reveal they had detailed knowledge of events. The documents show US staff describing them in telegrams as "slaughter" and at times "indiscriminate killings", exposing an intimate knowledge of the Indonesian army's...

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has fueled speculation that he hopes to eventually succeed Prime Minister Theresa May by spelling out his Brexit goals days before her major policy speech on the topic. Johnson, a former journalist, wrote a 4,000-word article in the Saturday edition of The Daily Telegraph newspaper to explain how Brexit can bring a “glorious” future to Britain and help it become “the greatest country on Earth.” He says Britain shouldn’t seek to stay in the single market or the customs union, and should seize the opportunity to make its own way. The timing of his Brexit...

Boris Johnson says immigration brings "energy and dynamism" to the economy - but stresses that people want it controlled.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson testified Wednesday that the Democratic National Committee last year turned down his agency's offer to help protect its network despite being warned about a hack. He also confirmed that while Russia, at the direction of President Vladimir Putin, orchestrated cyberattacks on the United States to influence the 2016 presidential election, Moscow was unable to actually alter ballots. “To my current knowledge, the Russian government did not through any cyber intrusion alter ballots, ballot counts or reporting of election results,” Johnson said during his opening statement before the House Intelligence Committee. Johnson, who served in...

These are strange days. I seem to have been caught up in the so-called “travel ban” litigation challenging President Trump’s executive orders “Protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.” Yesterday I was served with a letter and draft subpoena from one Tana Lin of the Keller Rohrback law firm’s Seattle office alerting me to my “document preservation obligations with respect to documents that are relevant or potentially relevant to this litigation.” Lin represents plaintiffs in Doe v. Trump, venued in the federal district court for the Western District of Washington. Although this action has been stayed...

In an entertaining conversation, President Lyndon Johnson calls his tailor in Dallas to describe somewhat graphically exactly how he wants his pants made. Language warning- it's a little blue

Britain’s foreign secretary says Brussels may have to pay Britain for its exit from the European Union, rather than the other way around. Boris Johnson says Britain’s share of EU assets is so valuable that the EU may have to end up paying Britain when it leaves the bloc. He spoke to The Telegraph newspaper. […] The outspoken politician called Brussels “ruthless in its negotiating techniques” and said “they are going to play dirty.” …

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the two-time Libertarian Party presidential candidate, says he’s lost faith in the electoral process and vowed never to run again. He will now focus all his efforts on legalizing marijuana. Govs. Johnson and Weld became the first ticket of any party to feature two governors since the 1948 presidential election and ended up receiving nearly 4.5 million votes nationally, far more than his 2012 popular vote total. While still not a viable electoral force, the 2016 presidential election marked the Libertarian Party’s most successful presidential run to date and the most successful third-party candidacy...

President Trump is following through with one of his promises to let churches participate in political activity. Sources tell the Washington Post that the repeal of the "Johnson Amendment" is being written into tax legislation that is currently developing in the House of Representatives. This repeal that would end a six-decade-old ban on tax-exempt organizations, such as churches and universities, from endorsing political candidates. Lyndon Johnson first introduced it in 1954, nine years before he became president. Trump said this would happen at the National Prayer Breakfast in February, stating: "I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson...

< snip > After enjoying the inauguration and our nation's peaceful transfer of power, we attempted to make our way to a parade viewing party on Pennsylvania Avenue. What should have been a painless trip across town quickly became a prime example of how unhinged the far left has become. Along the way we witnessed smashed cars, broken windows, a fire, and were called names and threatened simply because of how we were dressed; so much for tolerance and acceptance. After arriving at the parade, we had the pleasure of running into former Massachusetts Republican Governor William Weld. Governor Weld,...

War hero and long-serving Congressman Sam Johnson will retire in 2018, he announced Friday morning. Johnson, an Air Force veteran known for his time as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict, has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1991. The Plano Republican is 86 years old. In a letter to his constituents on Friday, Johnson wrote “it has been a great honor to serve you and strive to be the kind of representative the people want, need and deserve.”

Democratic media mogul Bob Johnson told CNBC on Monday that fellow African-Americans should give Donald Trump "the benefit of the doubt," and hope common ground can be reached with the incoming Republican administration about issues facing the black community. The BET founder — who met with Trump on Sunday at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey — described the sit-down as a "great chat" about "business solutions to social problems." During the campaign, Trump made the case to African-American voters that Democrats let them down, and argued repeatedly "what do you have to lose" by voting for...

Triumph Forsaken The Vietnam War, 1954-1965 by Mark Moyar Cambridge, 542 pp., $32 In the late summer of 1963, President John Kennedy dispatched two observers to South Vietnam. Their mission was to provide the president an assessment of the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, the president of the Republic of Vietnam. The first, Major General Victor Krulak, USMC, the special assistant for counterinsurgency for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited some ten locations in all four Corps areas of Vietnam. Based on extensive interviews with U.S. advisers to the South Vietnamese army, Krulak concluded that the war was going well....

Foster Campbell has no chance of winning next month’s U.S. Senate runoff unless he unifies the fractured state Democratic Party, and he took a step in that direction Thursday by holding his first post-primary phone conversation with Caroline Fayard, the Democrat who finished fourth Tuesday and out of the money. ... Political pros call Kennedy the clear favorite in the Dec. 10 runoff election because of inherent advantages. About 60 percent of voters in the primary voted for one of the Republican candidates while only about 36 percent voted for a Democrat. ... The state and national Republican parties want...

Here’s the astonishing truth the media’s not talking about and Democrats refuse to believe — Donald Trump is getting more than double, and sometimes more than triple, the black vote Romney got 4 years ago. Recent polling by Remington Research shows Trump getting 22% in Florida, Romney got 5 percent. In North Carolina, Trump’s getting 19%, Romney got 4 percent. Trump’s getting 22% of black voters in Wisconsin compared with Romney’s 6% 4 years ago. And in Pennsylvania, Trump scores an astounding 29% against Romney’s 7% share in 2012. Nationally, Romney received less than 7% of the black vote in...