Free Republic

The crippled and corrupted Department of Veterans Affairs is the ultimate evidence of why government-run healthcare will never work. The Republican-held House of Representatives passed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 on Tuesday 386 to 55. This is a breath of fresh air during these divisive days in that poor performing and incompetent government workers are going to be held accountable, assuming President Trump signs the bill into law. The Senate passed the bill on June 6th and Trump is expected to sign it into law, tweeting last week that “we can’t tolerate substandard...

Law James Comey Has A Long History Of Questionable Obstruction Cases From Martha Stewart to Frank Quattrone to Steven Hatfill, former FBI director James Comey has left a long trail of highly questionable obstruction of justice cases that he used to make a name for himself. Mollie Hemingway By Mollie Hemingway June 12, 2017 Following countdown clocks on cable outlets and dramatic claims in the media about what devastating testimony to expect, James Comey sat down before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. The hearing ended up being a bit of a let-down for critics of President Trump who hoped...

The Supreme Court heard arguments in March and considered the principle of patent exhaustion. This idea stipulates that a patent owner’s rights over a product should vanish once the patent owner sells the product to a consumer. By attaching a post-sale restriction to its single-use cartridge, Lexmark aimed to create a zombie patent that’s never exhausted. You may have bought that cartridge, but Lexmark still controls it. The justices agreed 7-1 that Lexmark can’t do that. (Justice Neil Gorsuch was appointed after the court heard the case.) The court held that Lexmark exhausted its patent rights when it sold its...

The Constitution was written with the intent that it must endure for ages to come and be adaptable to the various crises of human affairs. Edmund Randolph, one of the five men charged with drafting the document, observed that it was necessary to stick to basic, “essential principles only; lest the operations of government be clogged by rendering those provisions permanent and unalterable.” The Framers knew that principles of liberty remain constant throughout time, so they provided this foundation for altering future law. Let’s continue our study of the U.S. Constitution with Article I. Article I, Sec 1 basically set...

Officials in Corpus Christi, Texas just discovered that one on their Municipal Court Judges is not a United States citizen. And how was the situation handled? Well, “Judge” Young Min Burkett was placed on unpaid leave, after which “the city council [gave] her 90 days to become a citizen and keep her job.” Yep. An illegal alien has been passing judgement on the activities of actual Americans in a Texas town. But it's OK, because Corpus Christi Mayor Pro-Tem Lucy Rubio said that city officials “never asked during the qualification process to become a municipal judge whether Burkett was a...

"A U.S. judge ruled on Thursday that a transgender woman could move forward with a sex discrimination lawsuit against her employer under the Americans with Disabilities Act, even though it explicitly excludes transgender people from protection. The plaintiff, Kate Lynn Blatt, becomes the first transgender person to be allowed to sue under the ADA for gender dysphoria, according to her Philadelphia-based lawyer, Neelima Vanguri. But U.S. District Judge Joseph Leeson avoided ruling on the constitutionality of the ADA, as the plaintiffs had sought, under the legal principle that courts should avoid decisions on constitutional grounds if possible. Being transgender is...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Dumb-Mass) took multiple swipes at the Trump administration during a commencement address Friday, days after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. Warren pivoted to Trump during a speech at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, offering suggestions for specific causes graduates could get more involved in. "I'm trying to keep this apolitical but I can't help myself ... the principle that no one, no one in this country is above the law and we need a Justice Department, not an obstruction of justice department," Warren said. Democrats have honed in on Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions' office sent out a letter late Thursday to the nation's federal prosecutors instructing them to pursue the most serious charges possible against most criminal suspects. The move will send more people to prison and for much longer terms by triggering mandatory minimum sentences. Officials at the Department of Justice said the new guidelines are a direct rebuttal of policies implemented under President Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder. The memo is already being referred to as “the Sessions Memo.” The 94 U.S. attorneys were instructed in the memo to “charge and pursue the most serious and readily...

LITTLE ROCK —Arkansas put convicted killer Kenneth Williams to death Thursday night— the last of a controversial series of executions carried out as the state moved to carry out the sentences before its supply of a lethal injection drug expired. Arkansas Department of Correction Spokesman Solomon Graves said that the lethal injection was administered at 10:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. ET) and Williams was declared dead at 11:05 p.m. Williams, 38, was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET) via lethal injection at the Cummins Unit, where the state's death chamber is housed, about 75...

Trump is asking everyone to forward this email to a minimum of 20 people, and to ask each of those to do likewise.c In three days, most people in the United States will have the message. This is an idea that should be passed around. The TRUMP Rule Let's see if congress understands what people pressure is all about. Salary of retired US Presidents .. . . . .. . . . . .. . $180,000 FOR LIFE. Salary of House/Senate members .. . . . .. . . . $174,000 FOR LIFE. This is stupid Salary of Speaker of...

We’ve already seen that repealing Obamacare is politically perilous. Now there’s a new complication: It may also violate international law. The United Nations has contacted the Trump administration as part of an investigation into whether repealing the Affordable Care Act without an adequate substitute for the millions who would lose health coverage would be a violation of several international conventions that bind the United States. It turns out that the notion that “health care is a right” is more than just a Democratic talking point. A confidential, five-page “urgent appeal” from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner on Human...

Judge Gorsuch ... has recently been confirmed as Justice Gorsuch of the United States Supreme Court. Since then, there have been laments in the pages of [left-wing media] that the Supreme Court is “broken,” ... [snip] [W]hat’s needed [to fix the Court] is . . . a recommitment on the part of the nation as a whole to understanding the proper scope of the Court’s authority and its role in our constitutional republic. ... [T]he Court is not the last word on the Constitution and ... to make it so is fundamentally opposed to the rule of law, the principle...

Taiwan has outlawed the consumption of dog and cat meat, as the island’s legislature on Tuesday passed a landmark amendment to its animal protection laws. The island’s official Central News Agency (CNA) said the revision showed the transition “from a society in which dog meat was regularly consumed” to where “many people treat pet cats and dogs as valued members of their families.” Previously, the Animal Protection Act only covered the slaughter and sale of dog and cat meat. Individuals who eat or trade dog or cat meat can now be fined between $1,640 to $8,200. The amendment also bans...

Judge Neil Gorsuch has been confirmed as an associate justice to the United States Supreme Court. Americans on both sides of the aisle should be pleased and proud of the Senate’s confirmation. Sophisticated arguments have been levied back and forth over the propriety of Judge Gorsuch, and liberals and conservatives both claim their support or opposition are in accordance with the “rule of law.” What does the “rule of law” actually mean? It means, simply, that we are a nation of rules not of rulers. This philosophy and understanding is a hallmark of American government. Consider this analogy: When playing...

A Washington state man is facing a possible first-degree murder charge after shooting an intruder he found taking a shower in a property he owned — in a case authorities and legal experts said appeared to go beyond self-defense laws. Bruce Fanning, 59, is accused of fatally shooting Nathaniel Rosa, 31, after he discovered Rosa bathing early Saturday morning in Belfair, Washington, according to the Mason County Sheriff's Office. Authorities say Fanning discovered his place of business, which is near his home, had been broken into and found Rosa in the shower. Fanning told investigators he confronted Rosa, who responded...

In “A History of American Political Theories,” Charles Merriam stated, “The Revolutionary doctrines of an original state of nature, natural rights, the social contract, the idea that the function of the government is limited to the protection of person and property - none of these finds wide acceptance among the leaders in the development of political science.” To illustrate this erroneous line of reasoning, New Zealand’s legislators recently passed a law giving the Whanganui River the legal status of a “PERSON.” The river now has its own rights and the ability to represent “itself” through human representation. Although New Zealand’s...

Since when is moving to another country against the law? And since when do we enforce the laws we have on the books? I thought I knew, but I’m not a judge like this lady is, so I guess I was wrong. **SNIP** Got that? If you move to another country illegally, and that country tries to make you leave, that’s a challenge to the rule of law. You see, “rule of law” means we can only enforce the laws that Tani Cantil-Sakauye wants to enforce, in the exact manner she wants to enforce them. She’s the one who decides,...

Requires Law Enforcement To Obtain A Warrant In Most Cases The West Virginia Senate has passed and sent on the House of Delegates legislation that will regulate how drones can be used in the state. Under the provisions of the law, it would be illegal for anyone to use a drone to: •Intentionally take photographs or other types of images or publish such photographs or images of another person without the other person’s permission where the person being photographed or whose image is being captured has a reasonable expectation of privacy. •Physically harass another person or surveille another person without...

>Last night on his eponymous Fox News program, Tucker Carlson interviewed David Moyse, an attorney hired to defend 18 year-old Henry Sanchez-Milian, who is in this country illegally, against a charge of rape against a 14 year old girl in a bathroom at a Rockville, MD, high school. Moyse is one of those youngish (in his 30s) lawyers who gets himself on lists of up-and-comers, like this one, and is a name partner in a criminal defense firm. In going on TV to make the case for his client, Counselor Moyse found himself being cross-examined and saying something he soon...

When the University of Arizona started accepting a generic graduate school exam for law school applicants last year, the national group that oversees such admissions chastised the university and threatened to oust it from its membership. But now that Harvard, the gold standard, is following suit, there is growing hope that dropping the traditional Law School Admissions Test as a requirement for applicants across the country could lead to a larger and more diverse group of lawyers entering the field.