Free Republic

Washington, DC — Today, Chairman Adam Schiff released his opening statement for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s first open hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald J. Trump. Full statement below as prepared:In 2014, Russia invaded a United States ally, Ukraine, to reverse that nation’s embrace of the West, and to fulfill Vladimir Putin’s desire to rebuild a Russian empire. In the following years, thirteen thousand Ukrainians died as they battled superior Russian forces.Earlier this year Volodymyr Zelensky was elected president of Ukraine on a platform of ending the conflict and tackling corruption. He was...

Video Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to the press following a congressional delegation's visit to the Clint migrant facility in Texas. The congresswoman railed against conditions at the Texas facility and said she herself did not feel "safe" in the presence of border patrol officers. "In that last facility, I was not safe from the officers in that facility," Ocasio-Cortez said Monday afternoon. AOC talked about "abuse in the facilities" and how people were told to drink water out of the toilet. The Congresswoman drove off as a reporter asked if she witnessed the atrocity: Video

Judge Brett Kavanaugh & Professor Christine Blasey Ford Testify The Senate Judiciary Committee hears testimony from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Professor Christine Blasey Ford about her allegations that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while the two were teenagers.

We’ve all been reading and talking about Brett Kavanaugh and the allegations he’s facing of sexual assaults committed in high school and college. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, the nomination of a judge to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court is something to be taken seriously and should not be rushed.I have called on Senators to have the FBI fully investigate each allegation before they move forward with the confirmation process. The allegations against Judge Kavanaugh are serious and should not be brushed aside.Beyond my concerns about the rush to confirm Kavanaugh, for me as a mom, grandmother, and...

How did Salem, Massachusetts become a Halloween destination? For centuries, the New England town avoided any association with its infamous Puritan ancestors, who executed 19 people under suspicion of practicing witchcraft. The surprising answer, author Stacy Schiff writes for The New York Times, has a lot to do with the sitcom "Bewitched." These days, Salem is rife with kitschy witches and Halloween attractions. But before the late 20th century, town citizens rarely acknowledged the Puritan trials. When playwright Arthur Miller visited Salem to research "The Crucible" in 1952, locals refused to help him. "You couldn't get anyone to say anything...

Canadians are dead, and so is satire. Six Quebeckers get slaughtered by Islamic terrorists in Burkina Faso, and to honor their memory Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leads a moment of silence ...at a mosque. Speaking of prime ministers, having spent his entire premiership assuring us that whatever happens in the news headlines is nothing to do with Islam, David Cameron has suddenly discovered a few things that are to do with Islam. The opening paragraph from Mr Cameron's column in the London Times: Where in the world do you think the following things are happening? School governors' meetings where male...

October 17, 2015 is the centenary of the birth of Arthur Miller, one of the literary left’s shining lights and righteous crusaders against some of liberals’ worst demons: Joe McCarthy, “HUAC,” and, more generally, anti-communism. Yes, anti-communism. As often noted by Harvard’s Richard Pipes and the Hoover Institution’s Robert Conquest, few things have animated liberal animus quite like anti-communism. It’s not that liberals have been pro-communist so much as they are anti-anti-communist. They dislike anti-communists more than they dislike communists. Their preferred demon isn’t Joe Stalin but Joe McCarthy. As James Burnham, the great ex-communist, put it, “for the left,...

Bonnie Thompson's Hicksville house is bedecked with all kinds of witch decorations. There are witch-on-broomstick weather vanes staked in her flower beds and witch chimes dangling below her mailbox. Sitting atop the sill of her bay window are small iron cauldrons and witch figurines. But none of these objects is there because Halloween is coming. Thompson is a real witch, or wiccan to be more exact, who follows the concepts and rituals taught by Richard and Gypsy Ravish. The Salem, Mass., couple are head priest and priestess of the Temple of Nine Wells and initiated Thompson into wicca. As the...

It looks as if the media will have to find another pretentious intellectual to refer to as “the conscience of the American theater” (according to The Boston Globe), “the moralist of the American theater” (The New York Times), and, most gratuitously, “the moralist of the past American century” (The Denver Post). In fact, given their track record, elitist intellectuals should probably refrain from using the word “moralist” altogether. Those words were written about Arthur Miller, the playwright who became famous by penning dreary plays about America’s alleged failures. Miller’s pompous liberalism has been forced upon high school and college students...

DURHAM, N.C. — Disgraced former prosecutor Mike Nifong acknowledged Thursday there is "no credible evidence" that three Duke lacrosse players committed any of the crimes he accused them of more than a year ago, offering for the first time a complete and unqualified apology. "We all need to heal," Nifong said. "It is my hope we can start this process today." Nifong's apology came as a judge began considering whether to hold the former Durham County district attorney in criminal contempt of court for his handling of the case. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III has already concluded there...

WASHINGTON - A group of Senate Democrats called Wednesday for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales perjured himself regarding the firings of U.S. attorneys and administration dissent over President Bush's domestic surveillance program. "We ask that you immediately appoint an independent special counsel from outside the Department of Justice to determine whether Attorney General Gonzales may have misled Congress or perjured himself in testimony before Congress," four Democratic senators wrote in a letter Wednesday, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press. "It has become apparent that the Attorney General has provided at a minimum...

<p>Judge dismisses Valerie Plame's lawsuit accusing members of the Bush administration of leaking her identity... Developing..</p>

July 11, 2007 One Haditha hero cleared David Allender The Investigative Officer in in the LCpl. Sharratt Article 32 hearing has recommended that murder charges be dropped. This clears one of the defendants in the so-called "Haditha massacre." One innocent man and brave soldier has been spared further agony in this disgraceful prosecution. I posted a copy of the IO's report here. LCpl. Sharratt was charged with three murders in house number four (Sgt. Wuterich was charged with a fourth murder in that house). The four dead Iraqis, the Ayed brothers, were described by Iraqi "witnesses" as having been herded...

`Suspicion' about Libby's commutation By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago The Democrat probing President Bush's decision to erase the prison sentence of a former White House aide said Sunday there is "the suspicion" the aide might have fingered others in the Bush administration if he served time. The House Judiciary Committee chairman spoke of "the general impression" that Bush last week commuted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 2 1/2 year sentence in the CIA leak case to keep Libby quiet. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has scheduled a committee hearing Wednesday on the matter. Bush contended Libby's sentence was...

While governor of Texas, George W. Bush reviewed 153 writs of execution. He let executions proceed 152 times.How lucky for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby that Bush has suddenly discovered his mercy gene.On Monday, Bush commuted the 30-month prison sentence that Libby, former top aide to Vice President Cheney, received for perjury, obstruction of justice, and lying to FBI agents in the strange case of the outed CIA agent.In a half-a-loaf gambit, Bush let stand the conviction, two years of probation, and a $250,000 fine. Bush said that the sentence, while within guidelines for the crimes, was "harsh."He also opined -...

From NBC's Mike Viqueira The House Judiciary Committee is planning a hearing next week into the commuting of Libby's sentence. They don't yet know who they are going to call, but as of this morning they are thinking that they may not have enough time to call Libby himself and properly prepare. That could change. Henry Waxman's staff over at Government Oversight and Reform is still pursuing Peter Fitzgerald. Recall that Fitzgerald has already declined an invitation to testify, citing the ongoing appeals process. Though that process continues, Democrats on the committee think that the time may be now right...

Statement of Hillary Clinton on Libby Commutation Senator Clinton issued the following statement on President Bush’s decision to commute the sentence of Scooter Libby: "Today's decision is yet another example that this Administration simply considers itself above the law. This case arose from the Administration's politicization of national security intelligence and its efforts to punish those who spoke out against its policies. Four years into the Iraq war, Americans are still living with the consequences of this White House's efforts to quell dissent. This commutation sends the clear signal that in this Administration, cronyism and ideology trump competence and justice."

Apparently, gay rights activists aren’t serious about their demand that government “stay out of the bedroom.” Instead of advocating privacy for homosexuals, at least one gay man is making a career out of destroying it. Yahoo! News began an article about Mike Rogers, owner of BlogActive.com, with the words “Members of the 110th Congress, consider yourselves warned: Mike Rogers is making his list.” Called “the most dangerous man in Washington,” Rogers uses his blog to “out” gay conservatives who don’t want to be outed. His victims include Dan Gurley, the former field director for the Republican National Committee, Senators Larry...

<p>Nifong Accepts Disbarment David Freedman, Mike Nifong's attorney, has just announced that Nifong has accepted that disbarment is an "appropriate" penalty, and has accepted both disbarment and waived the right to appeal.</p>

Either the concept of "special prosecutor" needs to be done away with once and for all, or we need to agree that in cases where one is appointed trials should be separated from investigations in terms of both personnel and geography. *** The Libby case reflects poorly on both the inquisitor and the judge and has resulted in a true and literal miscarriage of justice. The prosecutor investigated until he had helped generate a crime where none was before. The judge excluded witnesses and evidence until the "crime" reached a mass where a DC jury could legitimately seem to find...