Free Republic

Violent Crime Drops, Trump Gets No Credit On September 30, the FBI released its annual report on crime for 2018. It showed that violent crime declined over 2017 in every category except rape, where a revised definition was applied. The number of homicides declined by 6.1%; the rate went down by even more than that, to 5.0 per 100,000.The FBI’s good news about crime got very little publicity, and I can’t find a single publication that gave the Trump administration any credit for the trend. Why should they, you might ask, since homicide and other violent crimes have been declining...

Have you wondered what the difference between a whistleblower and a leaker is? Or indeed, the difference between “blowing a whistle” and conducting a soft coup?  Allow me to explain by way of two simple illustrations:1. On the one side you have reality, which is generally what you see reflected in a mirror:2. On the other side you emerge in Wonderland…where everything is curiouser and curiouser. Which is to say, fake news and all the requisite Red Queens, Mad Hatters, Tweedledees and Tweedledums.And here I thought we would exit Wonderland once Obama left office. Obviously it’s a bit more complicated....

In an unusual move, Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday ordered the White House to preserve records of President Trump’s dealings with foreign leaders.  Jackson, an Obama appointee, issued the order on Thursday and demanded the White House not destroy records of “meetings, phone calls, and other communications with foreign leaders.”Jackson’s order is in response to a lawsuit brought by radical left-wing watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.  The order by Jackson appears to cover President Trump directly, although it doesn’t mention Trump by name, it covers all “defendants,” and President Trump is one of the two defendants...

As President Trump faces an impeachment inquiry over how he handled a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin said he wants to see former President Barack Obama's calls with world leaders for a proper comparison. "There's a lot about these calls that are strange, in the sense that we have no basis for comparison. We don’t know what presidents say to foreign leaders," he told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday. "Only under Donald Trump have we gotten these transcripts either released or leaked. And I would love to know what did Barack Obama...

As Donald Trump began his meteoric rise to the presidency, the Obama White House summoned Ukrainian authorities to Washington to coordinate ongoing anti-corruption efforts inside Russia’s most critical neighbor. The January 2016 gathering, confirmed by multiple participants and contemporaneous memos, brought some of Ukraine’s top corruption prosecutors and investigators face to face with members of former President Obama’s National Security Council (NSC), FBI, State Department and Department of Justice (DOJ). The agenda suggested the purpose was training and coordination. But Ukrainian participants said it didn’t take long — during the meetings and afterward — to realize the Americans’ objectives included...

Tucked inside a narrow wedge of a traditional open-air market is one of Mexico’s most dangerous black market operations. It’s known as the Tepito. It’s a barrio where even the police mostly remain outside. Inside, it’s under the tightly controlled thumb of the Union de Tepito, otherwise known as the Union Cartel – one of the capital city’s most violent and well-financed criminal players. ... And, the ATF itself became a contentious piece of that puzzle between 2009 and 2011 in what became known as “Operation Fast and Furious,” when the ATF’s Phoenix Field Division allowed illegal gun sales in...

How far will Elizabeth Warren bend to get that coveted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsement? Apparently, to some amazing ends. The fake Indian Democratic presidential frontrunner, who's already surging past scandal-mired Joe Biden among the young, now says she endorses Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's plan for every illegal immigrant to get the full panoply of U.S. welfare benefits. That's in addition to the 'free' health care benefits they're in line to get from Democrats: According to the Washington Free Beacon: Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren endorsed a Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) policy proposal that includes taxpayer-funded welfare benefits for illegal immigrants. Ocasio-Cortez's proposal, dubbed "A Just...

Pretty good mashup video of what a Trump vs. Obama debate would look like.

44's wardrobe passes the litmus test for a third term Heads were scratched when George W. Bush rode to a second term in 2004. Despite Iraq, and despite having the linguistic capability of a GCSE creative writing class, the 43rd president clung onto another four years. That's because, allegedly, he was the man most voters would prefer to have a beer with: 57 percent of them according to a Zogby/Williams poll in the autumn of that year. And though his time in the White House is up, Barack Obama is still dressing the part of post-office beer buddy, too. At...

President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani defended his investigation of Democrats, including Joe Biden and Ukraine, while pointing a finger at the Obama administration and its potential involvement in corruption. "My role is very, very simple. I'm a lawyer defending a client," Giuliani told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," stating that he was exploring a lead on information that he claimed not only could vindicate Trump regarding claims that he colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, but that could show that it was Democrats who colluded with Ukraine to hurt Trump's campaign. "If you can prove...

The American Deep State has now taken control of school children From his well hidden role as undercover “Resistance” leader of the USA, Barack Obama has unleashed an Army of Indoctrinated School Children on a largely unsuspecting world. Brainwashed children can easily be coached to stay on point. The excitement of the protest is not much different than the excitement of schoolyard games. Grade school children can scream much louder than the campus ‘Snowflakes’ who were out there first.

LOS ANGELES - A U.S. judge on Friday blocked new Trump administration rules that would enable the government to keep immigrant children in detention facilities with their parents indefinitely. U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles said the rules conflict with a 1997 settlement agreement that requires the government to release immigrant children caught on the border as quickly as possible to relatives in the U.S. and says they can only be held in facilities licensed by a state. Gee said the Flores agreement — named for a teenage plaintiff — will remain in place and govern the...

Scrutiny of business deals by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s son Hunter now includes his joint venture with a Chinese government entity to buy a U.S. automotive technology company with potential military applications. The ease with which the 2015 transaction was approved by the Obama administration alarmed Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who is looking into whether the Obama-Biden White House intervened in the process. One of the companies in the 2015 deal was Bohai Harvest RST (BHR), a billion-dollar investment fund backed by China that was formed by Hunter Biden and Chris Heinz, the stepson of then-Secretary...

Former president, and current Netflix TV show producer, Barack Obama mocked President Trump’s TV viewing habit, calling it “unpresidential and unnecessary. Presidents have a multitude of aides and advisers whose jobs are to keep him informed about all the important things going on. Trying to go it alone is wasted effort. He should just sit back and enjoy the perks. The government can pretty much run on its own without the president having to lift a finger.” Obama also admitted that “I don’t watch TV. Most of it is crap. The so-called news shows are as phony as WWF wrestling....

InterContinental New York Barclay New York, New York 2:19 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, everybody. We’re with the President of Ukraine, and he’s made me more famous, and I’ve made him more famous. (Laughter.) I will say he’s got a great reputation. He’s very, very strongly looking into all sorts of corruption and some of the problems they’ve had over the years. I think it’s one of the primary reasons he got elected. His reputation is absolutely sterling. And it’s an honor to be with you. And we spoke a couple of times, as you probably...

As Donald Trump began his meteoric rise to the presidency, the Obama White House summoned Ukrainian authorities to Washington to coordinate ongoing anti-corruption efforts inside Russia’s most critical neighbor. The January 2016 gathering, confirmed by multiple participants and contemporaneous memos, brought some of Ukraine’s top corruption prosecutors and investigators face to face with members of former President Obama’s National Security Council (NSC), FBI, State Department and Department of Justice (DOJ). The agenda suggested the purpose was training and coordination. But Ukrainian participants said it didn’t take long — during the meetings and afterward — to realize the Americans’ objectives included...

Ukrainian prosecutors say they have uncovered evidence of corruption and wrongdoing by American Democrats, including their involvement with Ukraine's efforts to meddle in the 2016 election in favor of Hillary Clinton, John Solomon reported at the Hill. The officials claim they have evidence of "contacts between Democratic figures in Washington and Ukrainian officials that involved passing along dirt on Donald Trump," according to Solomon. Additional evidence includes a Ukrainian natural gas company's suspicious $3 million in payments to American accounts tied to Joe Biden's youngest son, and the then-vice president's efforts to quash the investigation. Unfortunately, the Trump Justice Department...

Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill) says he wants to give voters who, like himself, have given up on America a choice in the 2020 election. “The Republican Party has become unrecognizable to me since Donald Trump has become president,” Walsh complained. “He has turned the venerable party of convivial losers into bare-knuckle brawlers vying for control of the government against our estimable friends on the other side.” Walsh says he is “particularly disturbed by the interruption of the transformation set in motion by former President Obama. Trump has unleashed an uncomfortable acceleration in economic growth that threatens to scramble social...

We have seen you fake outrage over a supposed whistle blower document about Trump. I call it a fake, because it lead me to think about all the scandals you chose to ignore over the last decade. There are no discussions about these issues, no investigation, no outrage, no impeachment.The only reason you chose to ignore these scandals is because the administration was your party and your man Barry, at the center of them. Let me list a few of them here to help with your memory.- Did you speak out against this when it came to light that Barry...

Democrats are having a wonkish but important debate right now as they pick their next standard-bearer: Should they try to persuade voters who supported President Barack Obama for two terms and then left them in 2016? Or should they mobilize the tens of millions of Americans who stayed home in 2016 and would seem to have a natural home in the Democratic Party in 2020, including people of color and single women? The debate tends to track along ideological lines. Progressives pushing socialized medical insurance are ready to forgo any attempt to win back Trump voters. Doing so allows them...