Free Republic

Washington seems to be barreling toward a constitutional crisis. Democrats are barraging President Trump with demands for witnesses and documents. Trump has answered by stonewalling, vowing to fight “all the subpoenas.” As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned, Trump seems to be goading the Democratic-controlled House toward impeachment, perhaps because it’s a battle he thinks he can win. Politicians on both sides are repairing to their tribal corners. Is there anyone who can serve as honest referees in this partisan standoff? One answer — don’t laugh — is lawyers. Specifically, Republican lawyers. Even as Republicans in Congress have fallen in line...

The Trump administration on Thursday detailed its plan to open more than a million acres of public and private land in California to fracking, raising environmental concerns at a time when opposition to oil and gas drilling in the state is intensifying. The action would end a five-year moratorium on leasing federal land in California to oil and gas developers. That pause came after a federal judge ordered the Obama administration to halt similar leasing efforts until it could better evaluate the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Trump’s plan – first proposed by the administration in...

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection victory secured, the Trump administration is preparing to roll out Jared Kushner's "peace plan" as early as this month, sources familiar with the plan tell ABC News. President Donald Trump has been briefed on the plan, which Kushner and a small "peace team" have been quietly working on for months. The text itself remains a closely guarded secret -- even within the White House -- and has only been seen in its entirety by four people within the administration, the sources said.

However unlikely it may seem, Trump has good cause to worry about a primary brawl. Since 1968, four presidents have faced serious opponents who sought to wrestle away their party’s nomination: Democrats Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and Republicans Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush. Each was gravely wounded by the fratricidal fighting and all failed to win another term. By contrast, the presidents who avoided strenuous primary opposition — Republicans Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — all won reelection.

Race was front and center on Wednesday night during a meeting coordinated to garner support for just one black candidate in Savannah’s mayoral election. With signs stating “Black press only” on the doors of the church where the meeting was held, white reporters were barred from entry, while black reporters for at least two television stations were permitted inside. The event was coordinated by the Rev. Clarence Teddy Williams, owner of the consulting firm, The Trigon Group, who declined to discuss the entry policy. Former Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson declined to comment before going inside, as did Chatham County Commissioner...

Full Title: Trump campaign sends memo to television producers warning about 'credibility' of six Trump critics who it says spread false claims about collusion Trump's re-election campaign sent a memo to television producers on Monday instructing them to "employ basic journalistic standards when booking" six current or former government officials that the campaign said "made outlandish, false claims, without evidence" while on air. The memo names: Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the chair of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez John Brennan, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency Rep. Adam Schiff,...

President Trump has promised an economic boom that will last for years to come, but he’s unlikely to get one without the help of Congress to pass major new legislation, according to estimates by Trump’s own economic team. To achieve about 3% growth for the next decade, Trump would need a big infrastructure bill, more tax cuts, additional deregulation, and policies that transition more people off government aid and into full-time jobs, according to the 2019 Economic Report of the President, released Tuesday by Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers. There’s skepticism that Trump will be able to get all of...

Are rich people fleeing California to escape astronomical state income taxes? That’s the word. But it’s fake news. In fact, more wealthy people are moving to California than leaving, research indicates. It’s the poor and middle class who are departing. It makes sense. If you’re getting rich in California and can afford to live comfortably here in this balmy climate, there’s little incentive to leave — except to stick it to the tax collector in Sacramento. “If you’ve got your business here and you’re making money, it’s hard to leave,” says Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce....

Obama Scandal: Former President Obama and his political supporters have repeatedly stated that his administration was scandal-free, unlike administrations before and after. "We're probably the first administration in modern history that hasn't had a major scandal in the White House," Obama himself said. A new book puts the lie to that statement. Never mind that the left-leaning big media basically ignored major scandals during the Obama years, ranging from the IRS targeting scandal and the VA's deadly waiting lists for veterans to Hillary Clinton's illegal use of an unsecured, hackable home-brew server for her official duties as secretary of state...

CHICAGO — Ever since he was a child actor growing up in a show-business family, Jussie Smollett’s life blended activism with the make-believe worlds of television and movies. ..." He spoke of his mother’s closeness with the Black Panthers and prominent civil-rights leaders, and how she had encouraged Mr. Smollett and his brothers and sisters to create art and live out their beliefs. ..." For Mr. Smollett, arts and activism were intertwined throughout his childhood. His parents met while campaigning for civil rights in the Bay Area of California, and his mother had worked with the founders of the Black...

....As journalists, we’re supposed to sort through press releases, talking points and propaganda, using them only to the extent they enlighten us as to what special interests want to believe: Is it true? Is it the whole story? Who wants you to think it and why? Are they trying to deflect attention from other facts or a more important story? Finding these answers is a basic part of our job. Instead, we’re willing repositories for all kinds of narratives. We report — as if news — press releases from the government, corporations, special interests or nonprofits (that are often undisclosed...

Two U.S. immigrant rights attorneys and two journalists who have worked closely with members of a migrant caravan in Tijuana said they had been denied entry into Mexico in recent days after their passports were flagged with alerts by an unknown government.

OAKLAND — Sen. Kamala Harris began her Democratic campaign for president Sunday with an attack on President Donald Trump and a promise to unify a country deeply riven along social, cultural and political lines. Speaking from the steps of Oakland’s City Hall plaza to a crowd that spilled over several downtown blocks, Harris depicted her candidacy as a fight against those “trying to sow hate and division.” “We are here at this moment in this because we must answer a fundamental question,” Harris said. “Who are we? Who are we as Americans? So let’s answer that question, America. We are...

After news came out about mass layoffs at HuffPost, Buzzfeed and Gannett -- in the midst of the media's relentless smear-job against the Covington Catholic students -- right-wing Twitter had a field day. Tons of leftist journalists announced they were laid off on Twitter and the top meme was telling them to "learn to code" -- which is the same advice the media gave middle Americans whose jobs are being taken in traditional industries. Talia Levin, who was hired by Media Matters last year after being fired by the New Yorker for smearing an ICE agent as a Nazi because...

Here's the video - There's some pretty interesting discussion at CFP https://youtu.be/yRaylhZ0GEQ

Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, promised “action” after the latest racist remarks by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). “Action will be taken,” McCarthy said Sunday of King on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I’m having a serious conversation with Congressman Steve King on his future and role in this Republican Party."

Members of Congress will have to pay out of their own pockets to settle sexual and other harassment claims made against them under compromise policies that lawmakers announced Wednesday. Currently taxpayers cover the cost of settling harassment claims made against elected officials. The new policy, a bipartisan response in the #MeToo era after nearly seven months of negotiations between the House and Senate, could get a Senate vote by the end of the week, said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). Blunt said he had spoken with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Ryan told him that he would bring the...

Defying President Trump, senators sent a strong signal Wednesday they want to punish Saudi Arabia for its role in the slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Senate voted 63 to 37 to move forward with legislation calling for an end to U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. The vote was a rebuke not only to Saudi Arabia but to the Trump administration, which has been clear it does not want to torpedo the long-standing U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia over the killing.

Department official who oversees the immigration courts as head of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, announced a mandate imposing individual quotas on all the judges. Each judge would be required to decide 700 cases per year, he said. With these new quotas, which went into effect on Oct. 1, immigration judges must now decide between three and four cases a day — while also reviewing dozens of motions daily and keeping up with all their administrative duties — or their jobs will be at risk. The announcement of the quotas in March was the first in a series of...

The federal government has been grossly irresponsible in its neglect of mounting immigration problems, even as these problems place unbearable burdens on states like California. It is regrettable that states have reached a point where the only avenue they have for justice is the courts. It is even more regrettable that this Administration and this Congress stand by and allow the federal courts to decide the nation's immigration policies. Taxpayers simply cannot continue to sustain new populations the size of San Diego or the state of Nevada every year. California is sending up the red flag tat Washington should heed.Unprecedented...