Free Republic

Skeptics who believe a border wall will not stop illegals from entering the United States may want to look at what’s happening in Hungary. On the day its border fence was completed, the influx of illegals entering Hungary went down from 6,353 one day to 870 the next. For the remainder of that month, illegal border crossings were steadily below 40 per day, officials said. Border patrols prevent dozens of crossings every day and catch migrants who make it into Hungary within the first few miles of the border, according to authorities. /Reuters “They don’t even try,” a local border...

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) - North Korea’s top diplomat will attend an annual Asian security conference in Manila, where concern over the North’s nuclear weapons program is expected to be high on the agenda, Philippine officials said. A North Korean delegation led by its vice foreign minister flew to Manila on Wednesday to discuss the participation of North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho in the ASEAN Regional Forum, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. Ri’s attendance at the meeting is definite, Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told a news conference. The meeting is scheduled on Aug. 7, the department said.....

FULL TITLE: 'I would like to see them try to kick me out of my military': Transgender service members remain defiant in the face of Trump's ban Dozens of Transgender members of the US military have spoken out after President Donald Trump said they would be barred from serving 'in any capacity' on Wednesday. 'I would like to see them try to kick me out of my military,' US Air Force Staff Sgt. Logan Ireland told the Air Force Times. A Marine military police officer who asked not to be named also told the Times: 'I have never described myself...

Question to freepers it just occurs to me that LGBT movement has a lot of money funding them and now I am wondering if most of it is Soros money.

When my name was thrown out there for US Senate I decided to launch kidrockforsenate.com. I was beyond overwhelmed with the response I received from community leaders, D.C. pundits, and blue-collar folks that are just simply tired of the extreme left and right bullshit. As part of the excitement surrounding this possible campaign, I decided to take a hard look to see if there was real support for me as a candidate and my message or if it was just because it was a fresh new news story. The one thing I've seen over and over is that although people...

The weight of a heavy sentence landed in the quiet federal courtroom Wednesday morning, leaving Gregory Burleson occasionally stroking his graying beard and his attorney pleading unsuccessfully for leniency. The 53-year-old Burleson was the first to be sentenced for his role in the 2014 standoff between federal agents and supporters of Cliven Bundy near his Nevada ranch. He got 68 years in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro did take into account his blindness and frailty – he sat in a wheelchair during the hearing – but she also reminded Burleson of his crimes, which included threatening a federal...

It's his "Free Bird." The American Legion boys erupted in ecstatic cheers when President Donald Trump couldn't resist taking a dig at the "fake news" press while taking a photograph with them. Trump addressed the American Legion Boys Nation and Auxiliary Girls Nation on Wednesday at the White House, taking a more hopeful and inspirational tone than in his politically loaded speech to the Boy Scouts this week. Before his speech, he posted for pictures with the both groups. After the picture with the boys, Trump said he'd be returning shortly to make his televised remarks. "We'll say a few...

It’s a big day for the 2,500-pound Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile, LRASM. This morning, contractor Lockheed Martin announced an $86.5 million contract to build the first 23 production missiles – as opposed to test weapons – for use by Navy Super Hornet fighters and Air Force B-1B bombers. Lockheed also announce this afternoon that it had, for the first time, successfully test-fired a modified LRASM from the kind of launchers used on Navy ships. Ship-borne launchers dramatically expand the ways the US military can use the missile. LRASM has come a long way from its origins in the air-to-ground JASSM program...

Judiciary Republicans adopted an amendment offered by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) - that completely struck the content of the bill and substituted a request for information on a wide range of subjects... LYNCH COMEY GPS SCHMIDT ABEDIN ETC ... SPECIAL COUNSEL

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, big banks paid tens of billions of dollars to settle state and federal fraud investigations, yet not one top bank executive was prosecuted. One investigator calls it the "immaculate corruption." But buried in recently unsealed documents is a revelation: major bank executives WERE referred to the Justice Department for possibly violating the law. A key whistleblower, Richard Bowen, is asking why none of them was charged. Richard Bowen knew where the figurative bodies were buried at banking giant Citigroup, once the largest company in the world. Richard Bowen: Over 60% of these...

President Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday morning to ban transgender individuals from serving in the military “in any capacity” has the potential to save taxpayers up to $8.4 million dollars per year, according to a RAND study. […] This decision comes two weeks after the House of Representatives failed to pass the Hartzler Amendment, which would have prohibited the Pentagon from using taxpayer funds to pay for sex reassignment surgeries. 23 Republicans joined 190 Democrats to vote down Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s (R-Mo.) amendment. The RAND Corporation, a public policy research organization, conducted a study last year to “assess the implications...

His first dulcimer wasn’t great but, nearly 11-thousand instruments later, Masterworks lives up to Russell Cook’s nameBacks, braces, sound boards and pin blocks. The raw pieces of what will become a hammered dulcimer look like any other blocks of wood, but they're all carefully chosen by Russell Cook. "I put my name on all of them," he chuckles. It's been more than 35 years since he took an abandoned piano and went to work building his first dulcimer. "And, it was absolutely horrible," Cook recalls. The second one was better, and he kept after it, making and playing, winning awards...

A funny thing happened on the way to the circus: Tim Tebow, it turns out, can play a little. This probably comes as a surprise to you, because it almost certainly comes as a surprise to the Mets. The only people this doesn’t surprise, in truth, are those Tebow acolytes willing to believe he’s capable of just about anything. [cut] What if Tebow really is what these last 28 games and 92 at-bats have hinted at? In the Florida State League, the most advanced level of Class-A ball, he’s hitting .315 after going 3-for-5 against Bradenton Wednesday night, with an...

PRAGUE (Reuters) - During the last days of the Cold War in 1988, Czechoslovakia's Aero Vodochody's factory outside Prague produced a record 250 of its Albatros L-39 training jets for Soviet bloc air forces. Those customers disappeared with the collapse of Communism as successive governments focused on building a market economy and steered away from arms exports, sending the industry into a tailspin. Numerous comeback attempts sputtered for Aero, which halted jet production between 2003 and 2015. Now a growing number of conflicts around the world is helping to fuel demand for arms, providing Czech firms an opportunity to sell...

In the 50 foot high wake following President Trump’s decision to ban transgenders from serving in the US military, criticism has come from the typical liberal media outlets and LGBT mouth pieces. Jumping on the bandwagon was former Navy SEAL, Kristin Beck, who at one time was a man named Chris Beck. There is no doubt that Beck is a patriot and certainly someone who served their country honorably and with valor for 20 years, including service with SEAL Teams 1, 5 and 6 in 13 separate deployments. Beck was awarded the Bronze Star (for Valor) and the Purple Heart....

Let’s face it, this has hardly felt like summer. Now we’ve got the numbers to prove it. According to the Danish Meteorology Institute (DMI), July is likely to end without a single “summer day”, which is defined as any day in which temperatures top 25°C (77°F) at least somewhere in Denmark. If the next five days come and go without hitting 25°C as predicted, it will mark the first time that Danes will have suffered through a summer-less July in nearly four decades. […] The warmest day thus far this month was July 19th, when an almost-yet-not-quite-there 24.6°C was recorded....

A longtime IT staffer for Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former leader of the Democratic National Committee, was arrested Monday while allegedly trying to flee the country and charged with bank fraud, the latest development in an increasingly odd story. On Tuesday, Imran Awan, who was trying to fly to Pakistan when the FBI nabbed him, was charged with defrauding the Congressional Federal Credit Union for lying on an application for a $165,000 loan. According to court documents, Awan and his wife lied about an Alexandria property being their primary residence, instead of a rental. They then wired the $165,000...

Sources familiar with the President's thinking tell CNN that he is being urged by some associates that a recess appointment is an option worth pursuing in order to avoid a messy confirmation process in the short term. Although there are multiple political and procedural road blocks, the theory, if he could find a way to pull it off, would be to install a new attorney general while the Senate is in recess, which would allow that person to stay in place through 2018. A new attorney general might be willing to more aggressively oversee Mueller's probe into the Trump campaign's...