Free Republic

Last May, when Trump endorsed Oz for the Republican Senate nomination over David McCormick, many of the state's loyal conservatives balked. Dave Ball, the Washington County GOP chairman who flipped his county from blue to red in voter registration, said at the time, “What the hell was he thinking?” When Mastriano surged comfortably ahead in the polls for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the weeks before the May primary, I reported extensively on the Republicans' fears that Mastriano would drag the party down, including its Senate nominee; within days of that story, Trump endorsed Mastriano.

HUNT VALLEY, Md. (SBG) — UPDATE 10/5/21: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed their 2021 holiday guidance Tuesday and said the update was a mishap. The agency said its recommendations for virtual gatherings that mirrored 2020 guidance does not reflect this year's, and new suggestions are coming soon. Original story from Monday below. Despite vaccinations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends people celebrate Thanksgiving virtually this year. Updated guidance states that attending gatherings for events and holidays still increases the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19, especially with the threat of the highly transmissible delta...

More than 2,000 Americans are predicted to die of COVID-19 on April 12, according to a model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). It's expected to be the most deaths in one day during the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United States, at least through August, although public health officials have raised the possibility of a second wave later this year. If IHME estimates are correct, the day before will have marked the peak use of hospital resources against the coronavirus, including more than 94,000 beds, about 19,500 ICU beds and at least 16,500 invasive ventilators. The...

eter Strzok says he is ready to respond to President Trump's "attacks." The former FBI agent reviled by Trump and his allies tweeted Thursday evening, something he rarely does, to respond to the president who mocked him and fellow FBI alumna Lisa Page hours earlier at the White House. He shared a message from his lawyer, Aitan Goelman, who said: "Angered by the disclosures of yet more instances of his betrayal of our national security in the service of his own political advantage, President Trump raged and threatened those public servants tasked with investigating or testifying about his serial misconduct."...

Taking charge of Group of 77, which encompasses 134 developing countries, Abbas slams Israel’s ‘occupation of the state of Palestine,’ condemns ‘terrorism in all its forms’ Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas assumed the chairmanship of the largest bloc of countries at the United Nations on behalf of “the State of Palestine” on Tuesday in New York City. The Palestinians are slated to serve as the leader of the bloc, known as the Group of 77, for the next year. In a speech at the UN headquarters, Abbas called the task of leading the Group of 77 “a great responsibility.” "I...

President Donald Trump questioned the validity of the ongoing Russia investigation on Wednesday after some of the agents who began the process were fired. “The Rigged Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on as the ‘originators and founders’ of this scam continue to be fired and demoted for their corrupt and illegal activity,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “All credibility is gone from this terrible Hoax, and much more will be lost as it proceeds.” Trump cited former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker, who said that the firing of agent Peter Strzok was a “step in the right direction.” “The action...

On Sunday night, the campaigns for Ohio Governor John Kasich and Texas Senator Ted Cruz released simultaneous statements declaring an alliance of sorts aimed at taking on the runaway frontrunner, Donald Trump. Jeff Roe from the Cruz campaign released the following statement details exactly how the arrangement would work: To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both...

Hillary Clinton wants to create no-fly zones in Syria, splitting with White House on response to Russian airstrikes. Hillary Clinton wants to create no-fly zones inside Syria, splitting with the White House on how to respond to Russia's airstrikes against Syrian rebels who are fighting dictator Bashar Assad. "I personally would be advocating now for a no-fly zone and humanitarian corridors to try to stop the carnage on the ground and from the air, to try to provide some way to take stock of what's happening, to try to stem the flow of refugees," Clinton told Boston TV station WHDH...

The LA Times reported: As they sorted and re-sorted questions, the unpredictability of real estate tycoon and reality-TV star Donald Trump was never far from their minds. “I would say the level is about an eight on the concern meter because of the unknown,” Baier said. Baier even had a “nuclear option” at the ready for Trump if he ignored all protocol. The script — which Baier didn’t have to use — took a page from Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” TV show. It went like this: “Mr. Trump, in your business you have rules. You follow rules. We have rules on...

Laying out a roadmap of long-term strategic partnership between the largest and oldest democratic countries, US Secretary of State John Kerry will deliver a major foreign policy speech here on India.

"I think we are in a dangerous time," Attorney General Eric Holder told ABC News in an interview that aired on Sunday. Holder said he's worried about the estimated 7,000 Americans and Europeans now fighting in Syria, who will return home, intending to wage terror attacks.

Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan are collaborating on an Obamacare alternative and could announce the proposal as early as this month, according to Republican sources. Both Republicans have been regularly engaged in pushing legislation on major issues — and both have made it a habit to form cross-chamber partnerships to further those endeavors. But this particular partnership is notable given the high-profile nature of health care reform and that Rubio, Florida's junior senator, and Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman from Wisconsin, are both considered possible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Aides to Rubio and...

After dropping his push on immigration, Rubio is seeking to rehabilitate his image with much of the GOP base by falling back on his staunch conservative ideology while engaging in a calculated effort to broaden his domestic and foreign policy portfolio. He’s becoming a regular fundraising presence on the campaign trail and plans to play a big role in a handful of key midterm races this fall. A contingent on the right will never forgive him for backing a bill offering a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and his critics say he jettisoned the plan strictly to preserve his...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday said he would like to see a clean funding resolution pass the House to end the government shutdown. McCain expressed hesitancy at criticizing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) or Republicans in the House but said he is trying to convince them to sit down and negotiate. “I would like to see that myself,” McCain said on CNN when asked if he would like to see the House take up the measure. “But also again I really am hesitant to pile on members of the House of Representatives.” “I try to keep in mind that many...

President Obama told reporters in Sweden Wednesday that he never “set a red line” when it came to deciding to intervene militarily in Syria. That claim directly contradicts Obama’s remarks in August of last year, when he announced his “red line” for action in Syria during a White House press conference Video at Link:

Even as President Obama prepares to commit an act of war in Syria, the White House has scaled back the public questioning it will tolerate about what the president is doing, holding only one televised briefing in the past seven days to justify the president’s position to the American people. Has anyone seen this man? Has anyone seen this man? Photo by Keith Koffler White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has all but disappeared, briefing reporters in any forum – televised or not – only once since holding an off-camera “gaggle” aboard Air Force One August 10. Instead, he’s left...

Secretary of State John Kerry says the use of chemical weapons in Syria is "undeniable" and that the U.S. is considering how to respond:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) signaled Tuesday that the dramatic boost in border-security in the Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill could be one of the provisions that may be changed in a potential House-Senate compromise. During an immigration forum hosted by the AFL-CIO Tuesday, McCain – a key Senate Gang of Eight negotiator – said while a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s undocumented immigrants is a “fundamental element” of the bill, the “rest of it could be adjusted.” He singled out the border security parts as an example. “We don’t need 20,000 additional border patrol agents,” McCain said Tuesday. “But what...

We’ve been talking about the enthusiasm problem that the Democrats are facing. While Romney/Ryan events turn away thousands, Democratic events are smaller, and shrinking by the day. The latest example comes from the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, where Elizabeth Warren held a rally, and no one seemed to show up.

In an explosive Newsweek article set to rock official Washington, reporter Peter Boyer and Breitbart contributing editor and Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer reveal how Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice are operating under a “justice for sale” strategy by forgoing criminal prosecution of Wall Street executives at big financial institutions who just so happen to be clients of the white-shoe law firms where Holder and his top DOJ lieutenants worked.