Free Republic

Congressional Republicans were one step closer to realizing their hopes for tax reform on Thursday as it appeared as though the House and Senate had reconciled nearly all of the legislation. Hearing the recommendations and concerns of the public, the Republicans preserved the current tax codeÂ’s deductions for student loans, medical bills, and added a $10,000 cap for state and local taxes. But of the three major network news outlets, NBC was the only one that left them out of their evening broadcast. Instead of reporting what was known to be in the GOP tax reform bill, NBC Nightly News...

December 15, 2017 Friday of the Second Week of Advent Reading 1 Is 48:17-19 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer,the Holy One of Israel:I, the LORD, your God,teach you what is for your good,and lead you on the way you should go.If you would hearken to my commandments,your prosperity would be like a river,and your vindication like the waves of the sea;Your descendants would be like the sand,and those born of your stock like its grains,Their name never cut offor blotted out from my presence. Responsorial Psalm Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6 R. (see John 8:12) Those who...

A Long Island woman was indicted Thursday after she allegedly laundered more than $85,000 through Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies overseas to the Islamic State. Zoobia Shahnaz, 27, of Brentwood, was charged in federal court with bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Shahnaz, between the months of June and July, allegedly used 16 credit cards that were fraudulently obtained to purchase nearly $63,000 in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. She was also allegedly able to obtain a loan from a Manhattan bank for approximately $22,500 in June.

The 8th Congressional District of Arizona is holding a special election for the U.S. House of Representatives on April 24, 2018. Primary elections will be held on February 27, 2018. Candidates have until January 10, 2018, to file nominating papers.[1] The election is being held to replace Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who resigned on December 8, 2017, after acknowledging that he had discussed possible surrogacy arrangements with female staffers.[2 ] Democratic Party Democrats Brianna Westbrook[3] Republican Party Republicans Chad Allen[4] Travis Angry[4) Bill Harbeck[4] David Lien[5] Phil Lovas - Former State Representative[6] Steve Montenegro - State Senator[7] Christopher Rippey[4] Jon...

Americans should have the courage to ignore their written laws, to amnesty DACA illegals and accept an open-borders world, says an op-ed by two wealthy CEOs who stand to gain more wealth in a labor market flooded by low-wage migrants. The op-ed by Tim Cook (CEO of Apple, wealth $800 million and growing) and Charles Koch (Koch Industries, $49 billion and growing) was posted in the Washington Post newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos (owner of Amazon, $98 billion and growing). Under the headline “Congress must act on the ‘dreamers,’” it declared: We must do better. The United States is at...

Full Title: 12/14/2017 -- Alaska's Cleveland Volcano sends off 20,000 foot high blast -- West Coast be on watch The video at link is 18 minutes 17 seconds in length but the part about Cleveland Volcano begins at the 10:55 mark. An island volcano in the Aleutian Island chain sent ash to a height estimated to be "Flight level 200" (20,000 feet according to the vlogger?).

The #MeToo moment has now morphed into a moral panic that poses as much danger to women as it does to men. #Metoo, of course. Women are not going nuts for no reason. We’re fed up with feeling prickles down our spine as we walk alone on dimly lit streets. Fed up with thinking, “If he feels entitled to send me that message, what might he feel entitled to do to if he knew where I lived?” Fed up with strangers who smack their lips and murmur obscenities at us. Fed up with thinking, “No, I don’t want to go...

Microsoft has quietly added beta versions of an SSH client and server to the next major update of Windows 10. The SSH client and server will allow admins and developers to securely connect to other systems without needing a third-party app like the popular PuTTY. Over the years we have seen Microsoft transform from a fairly closed company to one that embraces and supports open source software and standards. This move isn’t unexpected but is another step in that direction. With OpenSSH baked in, it becomes for developers to create secure connections between systems for transferring data and issuing commands....

By effectively deeming the internet a utility, former chairman Tom Wheeler turned the FCC into a political gatekeeper. The rules prohibited broadband providers from blocking, throttling and favoring content, which Mr. Wheeler ostensibly intended to help large content providers like Google and Netflix gain leverage against cable companies.

Back in November, shortly after Trump ignited a war with the NFL over player protests of the National Anthem, Papa John's insisted that their sales were getting crushed by a backlash from fans who decided to boycott games (we covered it here: Papa John's Pulls NFL Ads Due To "Negative Consumer Sentiment"). That said, the complaint from Papa John's was seemingly discredited as a convenient excuse for poor earnings the very next day when Pizza Hut said they had seen no impact from the NFL protests. Of course, with all of the noise of seasonality, weather and random accounting games...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia should introduce a law forcing religious leaders to report child abuse, including Catholic priests who are told of abuse in the confessional, according to a report into institutional child abuse released on Friday.

Former CIA Director Michael Morell sat down with Politico’s Susan Glasser, where he admitted that he and others from the intelligence community didn’t think through the consequences of them becoming political last year. Last year, Morell wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. Within the agency, Morell sharked his way up the halls of the CIA becoming the chief intelligence briefer to President George W. Bush, and then acting director twice. Intelligence analysts serve the country. There is no politics involved in any of their analyses—at least not until Trump was elected....

The device enters rooms and chambers through a 3.5 centimetre hole drilled through a wall by researchers outside. It is made up of two robots, a tubular machine equipped with a high definition camera and a probe that explores the structure via a small, inflatable blimp. After the first robot has taken a series of reconnaissance images, the drone is pushed through the drilled hole before inflating itself within the chamber. Packed with an array of sensors and cameras, the remote-controlled device collects data and takes photos or video without causing damage to the fragile building. After it has completed...

Has North Korean leader Kim Jong-un executed one of his top aides? By Nicola Smith 14 December 2017 • 3:24am One of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s top aides has disappeared from public life, prompting speculation that he may have been executed. General Hwang Pyong-so was once at the heart of Kim’s inner circle within the Workers’ Party Central Committee. As a Vice-Marshall he also held the most senior military position after the supreme commander. Before he reportedly fell out of favour Mr Hwang was one of only four people pictured standing next to Kim in state propaganda vaunting the...

Kim Jong UnÂ’s obsession with developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching American territory has absorbed the worldÂ’s attention for the better part of a year. It also may have diverted the worldÂ’s attention from North Korean WMD, or weapons of mass destruction, that are not nuclear. Recent reports have highlighted the dangers posed by the hermit kingdomÂ’s chemical and biological agents. Chemical Weapons: A Murder with a Message In February of this year, the North Korean dictator had his half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, murdered in the Kuala Lumpur airport. Two teams of assassins were standing ready, but it took...

Former Vice President Joe Biden offered up some praise for the way the Trump administration is handling North Korea’s nuclear proliferation. During an interview with CBS’s Gayle King, who asked if there was anything he believed the Trump administration is doing well, Biden pointed to North Korea. “I do think they are doing a decent job at the U.N. with regard to North Korea. I think there’s a number of things that are on the cusp of doing good things with,” Biden answered. "This is the time to engage and have more diplomacy," he suggested. Nikki Haley, United States Ambassador...

DENVER (AP) — Denver authorities shut down 26 legal marijuana businesses Thursday and arrested 12 people suspected of illegal distribution of pot after a yearlong criminal investigation. Potential charges relate to marijuana sales exceeding limits set in state law, police said. Colorado allows people 21 and older to possess an ounce or less of marijuana under a measure approved by voters in 2012. The city department that regulates marijuana businesses issued the order to close the businesses based on the police investigation, spokesman Dan Rowland said. It marked the first time the city has issued an open-ended suspension to any...

it turns out the cake pie isn't a lie after all. After being accused of using a stock photo of a pecan pie by journalist April Ryan (in what was dubbed "piegate" and likely resulted in Ryan not being invited to the White House Christmas party), Sanders proved once and for all that yes, she can actually bake. Pretty well, as it turns out. In case you missed it, here was the original exchange, where Ryan insisted that the pie Sanders tweeted was not made by her.  Show it to us on a table. https://t.co/ifeSBlSZW7— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) November 24, 2017 Golly. In the...

Doug Glanville was the first-round Draft pick of the Cubs in 1991 and went on to have a nine-year Major League career that included stints with the Phillies, Rangers and Cubs. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an engineering degree. Since retiring, he's worked for ESPN and written for a variety of prestigious publications. Beginning next month, he'll be teaching a class on "Communication, Sports and Social Justice" at Penn's Annenberg School for Communication. Glanville, who is African-American, developed the concept for the course guided by his own experiences with racial profiling. Four years ago, he was shoveling...

This is a good time to take a good look at the texts sent by Peter Strzok, the actions of James Comey and how they dovetail with the official actions of the FBI. Over at The Daily Caller Chuck Ross has integrated the dossier timeline with the texts, but here we will examine events from a slightly different perspective then we'll circle back.. August 6, 2016: In one exchange from August 2016, the FBI’s Lisa Page forwarded a Donald Trump-related article to Peter Strzok, writing: “And maybe you’re meant to stay where you are because you’re meant to protect the...