Free Republic

The promise of higher education has become a trap for tens of millions of Americans. The promise: Every one of us and our children could go to college, earn a degree, and set off on a good career, secure in the knowledge that we had gained the tools necessary for a productive life. The trap: Years (usually more than the advertised four) of indoctrination in the classroom and, more harshly, the dormitories, followed by decades of crushing debt, all made far worse by the realization that our degrees have qualified us for very little. It wasn’t always like this. Supporters...

Editor's note: This piece may have language that is offensive to some readers.In the Trump era, the media not only made the late John McCain a sainted figure. They made his entire family saints. Attacking them was like an attack on the best that humanity has to offer. When reports emerged that then-White House aide Kelly Sadler said in the senator's last weeks that his opposition to CIA director nominee Gina Haspel was no longer relevant since he was "dying anyway," there was about a week of teeth gnashing and garment rending for political blasphemy. Sadler was tarred, feathered and...

In the early stages of the 2020 presidential campaign, even as Democrat hopefuls have tried to distinguish themselves from their many rivals, one ideal they all seem to embrace is a disdain for wealthy people—other than themselves, of course. They consistently pander to the growing progressive base’s desire to lurch toward socialism; in the process they show an embarrassing ignorance of how a modern economy actually works.Bernie Sanders is notorious for his double standard on the wealthy. A centerpiece of his surprising 2016 campaign was his criticism of “millionaires and billionaires,” yet he owns three houses and has earned over a...

A senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders and a member of the negotiating team that recently drafted his presidential campaign’s staff union contract was convicted in 2013 of embezzling funds from a steel workers union. On Wednesday, the Sanders’ campaign announced it had reached an agreement on its historic union contract with United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400. Following the announcement, Charles Rocha, a senior adviser who helped orchestrate the agreement, announced on Twitter he was “proud to have been on the negotiating committee” that worked on the contract for Sanders’ campaign staff. Rocha, who also worked for...

A man smelling of booze and cigarettes sat down on a subway next to a priest. His tie was stained, there was red lipstick on his collar and face and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, "Tell me Father, do you happen to know what causes arthritis?" The priest replies, "My son, it's caused by loose living, consorting with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes...

Many Democratic voters are worried that a female candidate cannot win the presidency in 2020. "I don't think they're strong enough to carry it for themselves," an Iowa voter told The Washington Post. Amber Phillips reports that "female politicians are held by voters to a much higher standard than men," and points to polls showing that today's support for Elizabeth Warren (12 percent) and Kamala Harris (8 percent) drops to low single digits when voters are asked who is likely to defeat President Donald Trump. Without denying that some people may harbor misogynistic feelings, and that many Democrats may indeed...

Former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who was being detained for refusing to testify before a grand jury, was released on Thursday and immediately summoned to appear before a new grand jury next week, her lawyers said. Manning was released after the term expired for the previous grand jury in Virginia that was seeking her testimony in connection with what is believed to be the government’s long-running investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. She was simultaneously subpoenaed to appear before a different grand jury on May 16, meaning she could be found in contempt again for refusing...

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), former Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams (D) and several presidential candidates are among the big names in politics addressing students at graduations this year. Along with traditionally in-demand speakers like President Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, this year's crop of commencement speakers reflect a country inching closer to the highly anticipated 2020 presidential race. A number of universities have already announced Democratic presidential candidates as commencement speakers in recent months, picking from a field that has now grown to more than 20. Two Democratic presidential hopefuls — New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and...

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How nauseating that RINO Sen. Richard Burr, as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is doing the bidding of vindictive Democrats in issuing a subpoena to Donald Trump Jr. Burr has joined the Democrats' investigatory vendetta against President Trump, most recently exemplified in the House Judiciary Committee's vote to hold Attorney General Will Barr in contempt of Congress. Democrats claim Barr is in contempt for failing to release an unredacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller, allegedly lying twice to Congress and refusing to appear before the committee. All three claims are absurd on their face and, if heard by...

**SNIP** REP. MARK MEADOWS: In the coming days -- and by days, I mean just a few days -- we will start to see a lot of this unravel. But as it unravels, part of why you are seeing Jerry Nadler and others go crazy because they know that the truth is coming out. And for as passionate as they were today, and my good friend Jim Jordan did a great job in that committee hearing, but as passionate as they were today, they haven't been passionate when we've been in the privacy of those rooms, asking those questions like...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in hot water this week over a “disturbing” tweet that she sent about abortion. In response to Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signing legislation known as the “heartbeat bill,” which bans abortions in the state when the unborn child’s heartbeat can be detected, Ocasio-Cortez proved she knows absolutely nothing with her response. “‘6 weeks pregnant’ = 2 weeks late on your period. Most of the men writing these bills don’t know the first thing about a woman’s body outside of the things they want from it. It’s relatively common for a woman to have a late...

CLEVELAND — For North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard M. Burr, 2016 will be his final election for the Senate. Burr told the Tar Heel State GOP delegation Wednesday morning that he would not be running again for the Senate after this November. He spoke at the delegation's breakfast, ahead of the third night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Burr said he looked forward to someday calling freshman GOP Sen. Thom Tillis the senior senator from North Carolina. The decision to not run again after 2016, Burr said, came down to his age and a desire to eventually return...

The United States escalated a tariff war with China on Friday by hiking levies to 25% for $200 billion worth of Chinese goods in the midst of last-ditch talks to rescue a trade deal. But even as Beijing threatened retaliation, negotiators in Washington agreed to stay at the table for a second day, keeping alive hopes of an eventual agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has adopted protectionist policies as part of his “America First” agenda, issued orders for the tariff increase, saying China had “broke the deal” by reneging on commitments made during months of negotiations.

Iran will not engage in talks with the US, a senior Iranian official said Friday, adding that the United States would never “dare” to attack the Islamic republic. Yadollah Javani, the deputy leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ political bureau, told the Iranian Tasnim outlet that Iran will not negotiate with the US, according to a report released Friday. “We will not negotiate. There will be no negotiations on any issue with the US,” Javani said, adding “and the US will not dare to attack Iran.” “We will not surrender.” Javani went on to say that Iran was not suffering...

Today’s Cryptogram OKMF TBV DBIM WB S GBYZ PF WKM YBSA, WSZM PW. ---TBUP NMYYS You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications, unfortunately they are copyrighted so we can't use them here. So, we're just going to make up our own. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in...

The Logan Act (1 Stat. 613, 18 U.S.C. § 953) criminalizes negotiations by unauthorized persons with foreign governments having a dispute with the United States — the purpose of the Logan Act is to prevent an unauthorized person (John Kerry) from undermining the government’s current position. “John Kerry violated the Logan Act,” Trump said. “He’s talking to Iran and has been, has many meetings and many phone calls and he’s telling them what to do. That is a total violation of the Logan act.”

Tariffs on some goods imported from China were raised from 10 to 25 percent effective at 12:01 AM Eastern US time Friday morning.... "America stands with the GREAT PEOPLE of Venezuela for however long it takes!" President Trump tweeted late Wednesday night just hours after secret police in Venezuela arrested the Vice-President of the country's National Assembly..... North Korea conducting missile tests Thursday.... The US seizing a North Korean cargo ship...... Russia urging other nations to keep doing business with Iran in spite of new sanctions announced this week by the United States and Iranian moves to operate outside the...

RESTON, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - A Fairfax County children’s entertainer – who goes by the stage name “Mr. Knick Knack” - is under arrest after detectives allegedly found multiple child pornography files in his possession. Steven Rossi, 58, of Reston is charged with 10 counts of felony possession of child pornography. Police began investigating Rossi on April 18 after the Fairfax County police department received a tip.

Former FBI Director James Comey described deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as not having “strong character” Thursday while appearing on a CNN town hall telecast. “I think people like that, like Rod Rosenstein, who are people of accomplishment but not real sterling character, strong character, find themselves trapped. And then they start telling themselves a story to justify their being trapped which is, 'Yeah, he's awful but the country needs me,’” Comey told host Anderson Cooper. Cooper brought up Rosenstein as Comey was responding to a question about a recent op-ed he penned, in which he wrote that the president...