Free Republic

With Lori Lightfoot’s election as mayor, black women will hold the top political offices in Chicago and Cook County for the first time ever.

Following last week’s egregious non-call of obvious pass interference by a Los Angeles Rams player against a New Orleans Saints receiver, attorney Frank D’Amico, Jr. filed a lawsuit calling for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to use his powers under Rule 17 to reverse the outcome of the game that the Rams eventually won in overtime or schedule a replay of the last two minutes after a pass interference penalty is imposed on the Rams. Goodell is reported to be disinclined to take the action demanded in the suit because “bad officiating has been part of football since the sport was...

The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to question top Obama administration intelligence officials behind closed doors on Wednesday on their explosive assessment that officially accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 presidential election to boost then-candidate Donald Trump.The committee, led by Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., invited former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan, former National Security Agenda Director Michael Rogers (who retired earlier this year) and former FBI Director James Comey. Comey, though, plans to skip the closed-door session Wednesday due to a “previously scheduled engagement,” his...

The 5 ISIS members caught in the coordinated operation by the SDF and the Iraqi army, and details of the operation have been made public. Details from the coordinated operation by the SDF and the Iraqi army that resulted in the capture of the 5 most wanted ISIS members have been announced. The announcement made by the Iraqi Security Press Center lists the 5 captured ISIS members as: İsmail Alwan Salman El-İthawi (Ebu Zeyd el Iraki), Saddam Ömer Yahya El-Jamal (ubu ruqeya ensari), Muhammed Hüseyin (ebu seyf el şeiti), İssam Abdülkadir El-Zobaie (Ebu Abdul Haq el İraqi), Ömer Şihab Hammad...

Washington D.C. government officials are flocking to doomsday camps around the country.  Which of course begs the question: what do they know that we do not?According to the Washington Examiner, a building network of backwoods doomsday camps around the country are pulling in members from affluent areas and even Washington national security officials as the threats grow from nuclear war, an EMP (electromagnetic pulse), or virus attack.  Dubbed Fortitude Ranch, the outposts promise protection and a year’s supply of food for those unable to build their own bunker with preparations for a SHTF scenario. What’s more, until a crisis strikes, the doomsday...

WASHINGTON — Hoping to counter waves of Russian Twitter bots, fake social media accounts, and hacking attacks aimed at undermining American democracy, state election officials around the country are seizing on an old-school strategy: paper ballots. In Virginia, election officials have gone back to a paper ballot system, as a way to prevent any foreign interference. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolfe this month ordered county officials to ensure new election equipment produces a paper record. Georgia lawmakers are considering legislation to replace a touch-screen voting system with paper. Top election officials around the country are growing increasingly alarmed about this fall’s...

WASHINGTON — Expanding and extending Beltway toll lanes over the Potomac River sooner, delays and changes to D.C. Streetcar plans, and changes to widening plans for a number of roads across the region. Those are some of the transportation projects that moved forward to be part of long-range plans that can actually be constructed in coming years. Other projects accepted Wednesday as having the funding to move forward include an additional lane by 2025 on Interstate 95 south just across the Occoquan River to exit 160, and a plan to widen Route 15 from Battlefield Parkway to Montresor Road near...

The attack that left Republican Sen. Rand Paul with six cracked ribs outside his Kentucky home came after a long-simmering disagreement with a 17-year neighbor over grass clippings, according to a report. An acquaintance of both men said the fellow doctors stood in their yards about 10 years ago and shouted at each other about grass clippings that Paul’s lawn mower sprayed onto Boucher’s property, the Washington Post reported. The feds said they are investigating the case, in which Boucher could be charged under federal statutes that include a provision that bars assaults on members of Congress and other high-ranking...

Florida lawmakers demonstrated wisdom, foresight and fiscal responsibility in 2014 when they combined county expressway authorities in Central Florida into a single, regional agency. Roads don’t stop at county lines, and it’s inefficient and expensive to maintain multiple bureaucracies to control separate stretches of pavement. It’s also a problem when neighboring toll-road agencies have conflicting policies and plans for the future. Yet the rationale behind that 2014 law hasn’t been completely realized yet. It’s time for lawmakers to step in again. Dueling road agencies The Central Florida Expressway Authority now owns and operates 118 miles of toll roads in Metro...

As state officials launch a project to add toll lanes to Interstate 270 and the Beltway, they also are exploring the benefits of privatizing maintenance of existing highway sections. The Maryland Department of Transportation last week began soliciting input from businesses on the estimated $7.6 billion plan to expand Interstate 495 through Maryland and I-270 from the Beltway to Frederick. A separate but related $1.4 billion plan calls for adding capacity to I-295. During a Sept. 21 press conference, Gov. Larry Hogan said his idea for relieving congestion on the state’s largest thoroughfares relies on finding a private partner to...

Houston-area officials on Monday defended the decision not to issue mandatory evacuations ahead of Harvey, which inundated the region with life-threatening floods. Five people were dead and 14 people injured with the number expected to rise sharply as search and rescue missions continued, officials said. Fifteen to 25 inches of additional rain were expected on the Texas coast and southwestern Louisiana. Officials released 5,000 cubic feet of water from Houston-area reservoirs Monday, hoping for relief from the storm's devastation. The plan was to increase that to 8,000 cubic feet by noon. “If they don’t release it, it will go around...

In an interview with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC Tuesday, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice broke her silence over this week’s stunning reports that she requested the names of Trump campaign and transition officials be “demasked” from National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts. It was an awkward interview. Rice confirmed that she requested the demasking of Americans while she was National Security Adviser. While Rice would not deny that she asked that names of Trump officials be demasked, she insisted the Obama administration did not spy on Mr. Trump or his staff for political purposes. As a former CIA analyst who...

The law imposes criminal sanctions on government officials who “engage in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized” by statutes and governing regulations implementing those statutes. This same criminal law makes a person “guilty of an offense” if she intentionally “discloses or uses information obtained under color of law by electronic surveillance, knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained” in a manner “not authorized” by law. According to both FBI Director Comey and NSA Director Clapper, no warrant ever authorized the intercepts and electronic surveillance on a member of Trump’s team. Susan Rice, and...

The U.S. intelligence official who “unmasked,” or exposed, the names of multiple private citizens affiliated with the Trump team is someone “very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world,” a source told Fox News on Friday. Intelligence and House sources with direct knowledge of the disclosure of classified names told Fox News that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., now knows who is responsible -- and that person is not in the FBI. For a private citizen to be “unmasked,” or named, in an intelligence report is extremely rare. Typically, the American is a suspect...

The Washington Post's Bob Woodward warned on Wednesday that there are people from the Obama administration who could be facing criminal charges for unmasking the names of Trump transition team members from surveillance of foreign officials. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said earlier that he had briefed Trump on new information, unrelated to an investigation into Russian activities, that suggested that several members of Trump's transition team and perhaps Trump himself had their identities "unmasked" after their communications were intercepted by U.S. intelligence officials. The revelation is notable because identities of Americans are generally supposed to remain...

The immediate text of the orders wasn't immediately available, but a senior administration official said one was expected to outline a plan to reorganize the National Security Council. Trump said another order dealt with a 5-year lobbying ban on administration officials. The senior administration official said it also included a lifetime ban on administration officials lobbying for a foreign country. The third executive order gives military leaders 30 days to construct and present a report outlining the U.S. strategy for defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the official said.   

Mike Cernovich broke this story this morning at Danger and Play:A massive voter fraud operation was discovered in Democratic Broward County, Florida.According to a former Secretary of Elections Department employee, there is a secret room where Democrat insiders fill out those absentee ballots.The woman provided her sworn testimony via affidavit. Secretary of Election employees in Broward County, FL caught filling out absentee ballots! #FloridaFraud pic.twitter.com/MqjmFtDXHX — Mike Cernovich Here is the document: Here is the full document – THIS IS STUNNING: Affidavit Election Fraud charges Broward County FLA, criminal investigation is underway #FloridaFraud #SpiritCooking https://t.co/LfT0qn0K9l pic.twitter.com/r7IbVk283h — Handcuff Hillary (@russellwiley)...

Senior FBI officials were told of new emails in early October but wanted more information before renewing Clinton probe Senior FBI officials were informed about the discovery of new emails potentially relevant to the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server at least two weeks before Director James B. Comey notified Congress, according to federal officials familiar with the investigation. The officials said that Comey was told that there were new emails before he received a formal briefing last Thursday, although the precise timing is unclear. The information goes beyond the details provided in the letter that Comey sent to...

NASB Version: Ecclesiastes 5:7 For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God. Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight, for one official watches over another official, and there are higher officials over them. Ecclesiastes 5:9 After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land.

A Chinese official referred to a statement last week from China's foreign ministry spokeswoman. Asked whether China was concerned about Trump's proposal to place high tariffs on Chinese goods, Hua Chunyin declined to comment on specific candidates. But she said "I want to stress" that China and the United States have "major responsibilities" in maintaining international political and economic stability. Representatives of other countries publicly attacked by Trump, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam either had no comment or did not respond to requests for comments. Several American foreign policy experts said foreign diplomats have complained to...