Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed the repeal of a banking rule that would have allowed consumers to join together to sue their bank or credit card company to resolve financial disputes. The president signed the measure at the White House in private. Journalists were not present to witness the signing.The Republican-led Senate narrowly voted to repeal the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s regulation, which the banking industry had been seeking to roll back. The Trump administration and Republicans have pushed to undo regulations they say harm the free market and lead to frivolous lawsuits. …

Former Taliban captive Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has symptoms similar to schizophrenia and is suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a forensic psychiatrist who testified in the soldier's trial on Wednesday. Bergdahl's lawyers called upon forensic psychiatrist and professor Dr. Charles Morgan, who specializes in working with prisoners of war and examined Bergdahl in 2016, in the trial's third day of witness testimony. Bergdahl, 31, faces up to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy for abandoning his Army post in Afghanistan in June 2009. The closing arguments in the...

One painful aspect of the public debates over the opioid-addiction crisis is how much they mirror the arguments that arise from personal addiction crises. If you've ever had a loved one struggle with drugs -- in my case, my late brother, Josh -- the national exercise in guilt-driven blame-shifting and finger-pointing, combined with flights of sanctimony and ideological righteousness, has a familiar echo. The difference between the public arguing and the personal agonizing is that, at the national level, we can afford our abstractions. When you have skin in the game, none of the easy answers seem all that easy....

The Trump administration will defend America’s decades-old economic embargo on Cuba in a United Nations vote this week, the State Department said Tuesday, in a reversal from the Obama administration that reflects deteriorating U.S.-Cuban relations. Every year the U.N. votes to condemn the embargo, and for years the U.S. predictably voted “no.” But last year, under President Barack Obama, the U.S. abstained for the first time, as Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro moved forward with the historic warming of relations. A “no” vote Wednesday from U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley will return the United States to a...

The Disney Channel is set to introduce the children-oriented cable network’s first-ever gay storyline. The storyline, set to air on Friday, will form part of the second season of the show Andi Mack and will explore the realization of a young male that he is attracted to one of his male classmates

"On October 23, the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education voted to move forward with changing the names of three elementary schools originally dedicated to Confederate leaders: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Isaac Stand Watie. As the district begins the input process to determine the names these facilities will bear moving forward, I hope to use it as a teachable moment for our students and to establish a positive image and a sense of pride for these school communities to carry them into the future," Superintendent Aurora Lora said in a statement.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group, responsible for some of the worst atrocities perpetrated against civilians in recent history, appears on the verge of collapse. After brutalizing residents living under its command for more than three years, the militants have now lost their self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa and are battling to hang on to relatively small pockets of territory in Iraq and Syria, besieged by local forces from all sides. Few, however, expect IS to completely go away, or for the bloodshed in the two countries and the region to end quickly. Here’s a look at the Islamic State...

RICHMOND — Former president Barack Obama took the unusual step of criticizing and mocking Virginia’s Republican gubernatorial candidate for a controversial ad blitz highlighting Latino gang violence. As he rallied for the Democratic candidate Ralph Northam on Thursday night, Obama mentioned that he and his wife, Michelle Obama, have seen Republican Ed Gillespie’s commercials airing on television in their D.C. home. The spots say Northam is “weak on MS-13” as images of tattooed Latino men and the gang motto “Kill, Rape, Control” pop up on the screen.

<p>WHAT’S the most powerful country in the world? There’s a good case to be made that it’s China. There are many kinds of power – diplomatic, cultural, military and economic. So an easier question to ask is: What’s the world’s largest economy? Almost certainly China. Many might protest. After all, the US still produces the most when measured at market exchange rates. But this comparison is misleading, because things cost different amounts in different countries. Gross domestic product (GDP) is supposed to measure the amount of real stuff – cars, phones, financial services, back massages, etc – that a country produces. If the same phone costs $400 in the US but only $200 in China, China’s GDP is getting undercounted by 50pc when we measure at market exchange rates. In general, less developed countries have lower prices, which means their GDP gets systematically undercounted.</p>

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- A transgender woman was denied access to Busch Gardens theme park in Williamsburg because a park security guard deemed her skirt a costume. Bria Gibson's girlfriend was born a male, but identifies as female. The couple went to the park on Saturday to enjoy the Halloween season's Howl-o-Scream event. But their day took a turn as soon as they reached the park's security gate. There, a security guard looked at her girlfriend, who was wearing an ankle length skirt, and began shaking his head, according to Gibson.

The leaders of the 28 members of the European Union are showing their support for the Iran nuclear agreement, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s opposition to it. EU spokesman Preben Aaman tweeted that the EU leaders agreed at a summit Thursday to show their joint commitment to the international agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear program. The EU leaders called the 2015 deal a pillar of efforts to reduce the global nuclear threat. Some fear that walking away from the deal could compromise chances of encouraging North Korea to negotiate on its nuclear program. …

As he prepared to collect a $500,000 payday in Moscow in 2010, Bill Clinton sought clearance from the State Department to meet with a key board director of the Russian nuclear energy firm Rosatom — which at the time needed the Obama administration’s approval for a controversial uranium deal, government records show. Arkady Dvorkovich, a top aide to then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and one of the highest-ranking government officials to serve on Rosatom’s board of supervisors, was listed on a May 14, 2010, email as one of 15 Russians the former president wanted to meet during a late June 2010...

Former CIA Director John Brennan said Wednesday that he finds it “implausible” that Americans did not help Russian operatives interfere, either “wittingly or unwittingly,” in the presidential campaign last year. During an event at Fordham University, Brennan was asked by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell whether he believed that Russians could have figured out how to target areas in swing states like Michigan and Wisconsin without the help of Americans, including in the Trump campaign. “Is it your theory of the case that there was some connection between the campaign and the Russian operations?” Mitchell asked. “It’s hard for me to believe...

It turns out the Obama administration knew the Russians were engaged in bribery, kickbacks and extortion in order to gain control of US atomic resources — yet still OK’d that 2010 deal to give Moscow control of one-fifth of America’s uranium. This reeks. Peter Schweizer got onto part of the scandal in his 2015 book, “Clinton Cash”: the gifts of $145 million to the Clinton Foundation, and the $500,000 fee to Bill for a single speech, by individuals involved in a deal that required Hillary Clinton’s approval.

Just days after US President Donald Trump called for further isolation of Iran, a Norwegian solar company signed a deal Tuesday to invest €2.5 billion in the country over the next five years. “Norway is fully committed to the JCPOA (nuclear deal), and this is proof that we have taken the opening very seriously, and we will see more investment very soon,” Norwegian ambassador Lars Nordrum told AFP. He was hosting the signing at his Tehran residence between Norway’s Saga Energy and Iran’s Amin Energy Developers, who will work together to install two gigawatts of solar panels in multiple sites...

Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held as a Taliban captive in Afghanistan for five years, has pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehaviour before the enemy. The 31-year-old Army sergeant entered his plea on Monday before a military judge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Idaho native's lawyers have argued he cannot get a fair trial following criticism from Donald Trump during last year's presidential campaign. Mr Trump had called him "a no-good traitor who should have been executed."

Washington (AFP) - Brick by brick, the demolition job has begun: since taking office less than a year ago, Donald Trump has launched an all-out assault on the legacy of Barack Obama. Climate, free trade, health care, immigration, foreign policy -- the 45th US president has set about undoing just about everything done by the 44th. All new presidents, of course, break with their predecessor once in the Oval Office, especially if they come from a rival political party. But what is striking is how systematic the hammer blows to Obama's legacy have been. And rather than throw his weight...

The German government has warned the US against withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement. US President Donald Trump is expected to decertify Tehran’s compliance with the 2015 deal in a White House speech at 12:45 p.m. (16:45 UTC) on Friday. “We believe this agreement is an important instrument to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday. “If … an important country like the United States comes to a different conclusion as appears to be the case, we will work even harder with other partners to maintain this cohesion,” he said. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel...

African Americans were worse off financially in 2016 than they were in 2000. The median income for an African American household was $39,490 last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last week. It was $41,363 in 2000. (Both figures are in 2016 dollars, so they have been adjusted for inflation). African Americans are the only racial group the Census Bureau identifies that has been left behind. White, Asian and Latino households have all seen at least modest income gains since 2000.

Washington (CNN)With each passing day, President Donald Trump unravels another piece of Barack Obama's legacy. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The Paris climate accords. The Iran nuclear deal. Transgender people serving in the military. And, now, that most personal of policies for the former president: The Affordable Care Act. And yet Obama watches from the sidelines, mostly silent, as Trump punches holes in the dry wall of his freshly finished legacy.