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. . . That possibility is underscored by the Times report, a chronology of Trump’s decision to withhold aid to a vulnerable ally under assault while he and his henchmen extorted Ukraine into carrying out his corrupt designs. The report demonstrates in striking detail that inside the administration, the consternation over the legality and propriety of the aid freeze — and confusion over Trump’s true motives — ran much deeper than previously known, implicating top Cabinet officials more deeply than we thought. Among the story’s key points: As early as June, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney worked...

(nip) I doubt there was a single reason for the chief justice’s evolution (I know, conservatives hate that word in the context of Supreme Court justices’ ideological trajectories), but let me suggest one: the breathtaking radicalism of the other four conservative justices. The opinion pointedly signed individually by Justices Kennedy, Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Samuel A. Alito Jr. would have invalidated the entire Affordable Care Act, finding no one part of it severable from the rest. This astonishing act of judicial activism has received insufficient attention, because it ultimately didn’t happen, but it surely got the chief justice’s attention as...

I want to take your guns away from you. Yeah, you heard me right. I want to take guns away. All the guns. Not just the automatic weapons that can mow down dozens of students at a time, such as the ones used in the Virginia Tech shootings. Not just your 15th and 16th gun in your massive collection. I want them all. The little guns, such as the one that was used in “Back to the Future III” to kill Doc Brown. The buckshot guns, such as the one former Vice President Dick Cheney used to shoot his friend...

Why do we -- men and women, gay and straight -- find Rachel Maddow sexy? Daphne Merkin's "Butch Fatale" about the newly minted MSNBC icon, hidden among the overpriced handbag porn and fluffy profiles of last weekend's New York Times T style magazine, is more complicated than it appears. As Merkin writes, it isn't often that mainstream culture celebrates the attractiveness of butch lesbians. Sure, we admire femmes like Portia de Rossi and Lindsay Lohan. But for the most part, lesbians who wear suits, cut their hair short or otherwise don't conform to traditional standards of beauty -- the Ellen...

President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden are supposedly very different pieces of the Democratic puzzle. Obama is the relative newcomer to Washington, the change agent. Biden is the senior "man of Washington," the old hand who can make change a reality. But Obama and Biden have one thing in common: They've both done stints as constitutional law professors. Obama taught at the University of Chicago Law School -- along with brilliant former jurist and liberal Congressman Abner Mikva -- while Biden has for many years taught at Widener Law School in Delaware. This unique pairing intrigues New York...

The historical analogies for the phenomenon that is Barack Obama have already stretched credibility. For a while pundits likened him to the effete loser Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic party’s 1950s version of Labour’s Hugh Gaitskell, the greatest prime minister we never had. But Obama doesn’t seem like such an airhead after his gritty, crushing defeat of Hillary Clinton in Iowa. I long thought he’d win; but I never thought it would be by eight points, or that he’d push Clinton into third place. So now the favourite analogy is JFK: the young, hopeful rhetorician urging a New Frontier after two...

The world is dissatisfied with American leadership. Shocked and frightened after 9/11, we put forward an angry face to the globe, not one that reflected the more traditional American values of hope and optimism, tolerance and opportunity. This fearful approach has hurt the United States' ability to bring allies to its cause, but it is not too late to change. The nation should embrace a smarter strategy that blends our "hard" and "soft" power -- our ability to attract and persuade, as well as our ability to use economic and military might. Whether it is ending the crisis in Pakistan,...

The widespread destruction of a defenseless Lebanon-its civilians, its life-sustaining public services, its environment - is a grim and indelible testament to your consummate cruelty and ignorance. Nearly two weeks ago when your tardy Secretary of State met with the Israeli Prime Minister, the message she carried was summarized in a large headline across page one of an Israeli newspaper, "TAKE YOUR TIME." Yes, take your time, says George W. Bush, pulverizing fleeing refugees in cars full of families, bombing apartment buildings, hospitals and the poor huddled in large South Beirut slums. Take your time, says George W. Bush, in...

One of the most frightening places I've been in the middle of a power outage is a tiny room inside the walls of San Quentin State Prison. I was padlocked inside the small room with a man I had never met before, a man who was to be executed within days for the brutal murders of four people. I was there to interview Stanley Tookie Williams. He shook my hand, introduced himself and we began to talk. An hour later, a heavy storm felled a power line and the lights in the visiting area suddenly went off. My first reaction...

It turns out that when suburban mothers buy American Girl dolls that look and dress exactly like their own little girls, they may unwittingly be purchasing tiny, lesbian partners for their children.... It turns out that when suburban mothers buy American Girl dolls that look and dress exactly like their own little girls, they may unwittingly be purchasing tiny, lesbian partners for their children. At least, that is the fear of the wacko, right-wing watchdogs who keep track of exotic threats to our children that most of us are too naive - or not nearly psychologically twisted enough - to...

If I gave you $7,000 to spend on whatever you wanted, what would you buy? Seven thousand dollars may not be a huge sum of money, but it is still a significant chunk of change. I mean, you could buy a car, pay your room and board at EMU for the year, or have 70% of the buy-in for the World Series of Poker main event. The list is almost endless, but there is one item in particular that really struck me as surprising when I learned that my gift money could purchase it. It is the Barrett M82A1 sniper...

<p>I hate to wade back into the culture wars forced upon us by Bill Clinton's unjustified impeachment, but since many right-wingers have leapt to pummel the former president on his book tour, those of us not blinded by hate, ideology and a lust for power should at least pitch in with a rebuttal. To that end, here's a short list of better ways to think about Clinton's tenure. Post it on the fridge for handy reference.</p>

<p>Can you feel the machismo? Can you feel the pulsing manly manhood just throbbing there in your hand, ready to silence a playground full of children or drop a charging elephant at 50 yards or annihilate a few hundred tofu-suckin' liberal jackass pacifist commie tree-huggers, protesting out there in the street? Mmm, phallic.</p>

Yep, it's TODAY! Later this afternoon, I will be making my promised trip down to the local Chinese restaurant, and will attempt to eat 100 or more mussels. Why? To raise money for Free Republic, of course! You can still help, too. Here's how. So far, dozens of FReepers have pledged to donate a set amount to FR for every mussel I eat. Some have pledged .10 cents a mussel, some .25 cents, $1.00, and more. What can you pledge? To date, I believe we have a total of $16.05/mussel. If I reach my goal today of 100 mussels, that...

I'm EATING my way to FReedom self | 01/25/03 | dware Posted on 01/25/2003 8:00 PM EST by dware That's right, I'm eating for FReedom. And I need your help. I know, the FReep-a-thon is over, and was a huge success. I extend my personal gratitude to everyone that contributed to help keep the lights on here at Free Republic. You are a force to be reconned with. Now, here's the deal: I have been doing research into the funding of the leftist extremist organizations (such as ANSWER) that have been supporting and even organizing the anti-war and pro-terrorist efforts...

That's right, I'm eating for FReedom. And I need your help. I know, the FReep-a-thon is over, and was a huge success. I extend my personal gratitude to everyone that contributed to help keep the lights on here at Free Republic. You are a force to be reconned with. Now, here's the deal: I have been doing research into the funding of the leftist extremist organizations (such as ANSWER) that have been supporting and even organizing the anti-war and pro-terrorist efforts here. One thing is certain - they have more than enough funding to 'keep the lights on'. In fact,...

Beware of adventurers, Hassan Nafaa* argues as he reviews the exploits of the 'great men' of 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2000 was the year of George W Bush, a man of little intelligence and less knowledge, brought to power on the shoulders of the ultra-right in one of the most open democracies in the world following the strangest presidential election ever. 2001 was the year of the enigmatic Osama Bin Laden, leader of an underground organisation of limited means and capacities who successfully masterminded the most stinging slap in the face to the most powerful nation in the world through an attack...

New Republic Editor Peter Beinart couldn't resist smearing 99-year-old retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-SC, on Sunday, contending that his most memorable political accomplishment was to turn the Republican party into "the anti-black party." Appearing as part of CNN's "Late Edition" round table, Beinart was asked by host Jonathan Karl what he thought Sen. Thurmond's legacy would be. "Let's call a spade a spade here," Beinart snarled. "His legacy is white supremacism. His legacy is the rise of the Republican Party in the South based on the backlash against civil rights on the Republican Party becoming the anti-black party." Not content...