Free Republic

Donald Trump’s gotten under his skin. Mayor Bill de Blasio grew hoarse shouting over the cranked-up crooning of Frank Sinatra tunes playing in the Trump Tower lobby as he tried to promote his “Green New Deal.” The mayor had planned a press conference outside the tower that houses president’s Manhattan residence, but Mother Nature forced him to relocate the event into some very unfriendly territory—the gilded building’s public lobby. “Had the weather cooperated we would have been outside,” the mayor admitted.

Feast of Saint Matthias, ApostleLectionary: 564 Reading 1 Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers and sisters(there was a group of about one hundred and twenty personsin the one place).He said, "My brothers and sisters,the Scripture had to be fulfilledwhich the Holy Spirit spoke beforehandthrough the mouth of David, concerning Judas,who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.Judas was numbered among usand was allotted a share in this ministry.For it is written in the Book of Psalms: Let his encampment become desolate,and may no one dwell in it.and:May another take his office. Therefore, it...

Brian Sims is having his 15 minutes of fame – or notoriety, depending on your point of view. A Pennsylvania state representative, Mr. Sims, a Democrat, distinguished himself on June 19, 2018 by “welcoming” Vice President Mike Pence to Philadelphia with a tweet featuring a photo of himself, grinning, with middle finger extended. “Let me be the first to officially welcome you to the City of Brotherly Love and to my District!,” he wrote. “We’re a City of soaring diversity. We believe in the power of all people: Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Atheist, & Immigrant. So...get bent, then get out!”...

Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is standing by her latest hate-filled statement, which is based on a monstrous falsehood. She said that she has a "kind of calming feeling" when she thinks about the Holocaust because her Palestinian "ancestors" tried "to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time." In the same interview by hosts Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman, Rep. Tlaib complained, according to her one-sided Palestinian victimhood narrative, “that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives,...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Who is John Durham and why should you care? – Good question, and certainly not one I’d ever thought about before last night. That was when the New York Times published an article that appears to be actually true – who’d ‘a thunk it? – containing the news that Attorney General William Barr has appointed Mr. Durham, the U.S. Attorney from Connecticut, to oversee the origins of the Obama Administration’s multi-faceted spying operation targeting the Trump Campaign Here’s an excerpt from that piece: WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned...

It's a funny thing about "culture." It changes. That's because people die and new ones get born, and along the way, Things happen, events of one kind and another -- wars, elections, recessions, new inventions. The so-called culture bounces off these various events in surprising ways. Which is another way of saying I don't think Doris Day -- sad to say, the late Doris Day -- would make it in today's culture, the culture of Lady Gaga and the "Avengers" series and, let us not forget (as if the media would allow it), "Game of Thrones," to whose coming demise...

Jesus was not born in a stable. That's not to say the birth wasn't attended by farm animals — the Gospel of Luke tells us twice the baby's first bed was a feeding trough — but rather that the animals lived in the house. Peasant homes in first century Bethlehem were designed with what we would today call an "open concept." They typically had one large room with the nicer living space in an open loft or on the roof, while the main floor area was where the family's animals would be brought for safekeeping at night. The guestroom that...

Throughout history despots had effective ways of reducing dissension in the ranks. Inquisitors burned heretics. Nazi’s burned books – before taking far more extreme measures. Soviets employed famines, gulags, salt mines and executions. ChiComs and other tyrants starved, jailed and murdered millions. Today’s Green New Dealers and their allies have mapped out their own totalitarian strategies.They proclaim themselves socialists, but their economic policies and tolerance for other viewpoints reflect a different form of government – fascism: A political system in which authoritarian government does not own businesses and industries, but strictly regulates and controls their actions, output and rights – while...

As tensions rose over the weekend between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf, several vessels were “sabotaged” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Both Iranian media and the UAE reported the incident, but 24 hours after it happened, much of what occurred was still shrouded in mystery, with allegations of “explosions” and questions about how severe the “sabotage” actually was. The Saudi energy minister confirmed that two of its oil tankers were targeted in a “sabotage attack.” It took place as the tankers were “on their way to the Arabian Gulf” via the Emirate of Fujairah,...

As far as the Democrats are concerned, the Russia collusion witch hunt is too big to fail.After their two-year, $35 million investigation of the Trump Campaign failed to take down President Trump, they’ve grown increasingly desperate to continue earning returns on their political investment in national division, strife, and false accusations.Ever since Special Counsel Robert Mueller determined that there was no collusion with Russia and declined to charge the president with obstruction of justice, the Democrat Party came up with yet another shady plan to undermine the administration — trying to lure civilians on the sidelines, including President Trump's eldest...

How much would you pay to own the world's oldest Porsche? Auto valuation experts believe some enthusiastic soul with deep pockets will fork over $20 million for the antique collectible known as the Type 64 #3. If it happens, it would be the most expensive Porsche purchase in world history, according to Road and Track. The one-of-a-kind antique Porsche is scheduled to be auctioned RM Sotheby's in August during the 2019 Monterey Car Week in Monterey, California.

A video recorded inside a classroom at an Alabama high school shows the moment a teenager pulls a wig off of his substitute teacher's head. The incident reportedly happened at the LeFlore High School in Mobile, Alabama, in March. In the video, the unidentified teacher is telling a boy to go back to his seat and sit down.

Nike contracts for its sponsored athletes have financially penalized women for decreases in performance while they were pregnant. The sports giant admitted to past 'performance-based payment reductions' in a statement on Monday, after the New York Times published an op-ed by professional track star Alysia Montaño. Montaño grabbed attention in 2014 for running in the US Track and Field Championships in Sacramento while eight months pregnant to national praise, but she didn't much have a choice as she private struggled to keep money coming in. 'Sports take a heavy toll on the human body, and sponsors accommodate this with time...

As his limo carried him to work at the White House Monday, Larry Kudlow could not have been pleased with the headline in The Washington Post: "Kudlow Contradicts Trump on Tariffs." The story began: "National Economic Council Director Lawrence Kudlow acknowledged Sunday that American consumers end up paying for the administration's tariffs on Chinese imports, contradicting President Trump's repeated inaccurate claim that the Chinese foot the bill." A free trade evangelical, Kudlow had conceded on Fox News that consumers pay the tariffs on products made abroad that they purchase here in the U.S. Yet that is by no means the...

Twitchy has been having fun with this since the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones aired yesterday. (There will be spoilers so if you care about that, this is your one warning.)

Touting his ability to pass a progressive agenda in a conservative state, Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana announced his candidacy for president on Tuesday. Bullock, who won re-election to a second term in 2016 at the same time as PresidentTrump carried Montana by 20 percentage points, highlighted in a video launching his White House campaign that “I don’t have the luxury of just talking to people who agree with me.” “I go all across our state’s 147,000 square miles and look for common ground to get things done,” Bullock emphasized. “That’s how I was able to bring Democrats and...

During the 2016 election, President Trump made plenty of campaign promises, as does any candidate. But this president has done what his predecessors often fail to accomplish: he has kept his promises. Perhaps the president’s most important accomplishment so far is his restoration of the judicial branch—a big reason many otherwise wary voters supported him in 2016. You probably already know about his two appointees to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, who are poised to make sure that the Constitution isn’t a rubber stamp for progressive policy preferences but a document whose meaning endures over time. But...

Farmers say Beijing's growing presence in Kenya is having a negative impact on their lives, culture, and ability to make ends meet. ...Munyua, 38, and other local farmers say they are being undercut by producers who ship garlic almost 7,000 miles by sea from the world's most populous country. They accuse Beijing of "garlic dumping" and say they can't compete. "If you go the markets you will see that 80 percent of garlic is from China," said James Kamau, who runs a support group for fellow farmers.... In recent years, China has offered African countries loans, development aid and vast...

And then there were 50. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra launched another lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday, raising the state’s legal battles with the White House to more than four dozen filings... Monday’s lawsuit builds on a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ruling from earlier this month that removed a state’s authority to pay third parties for Medicaid provider costs, including health insurance, skills training and employee benefits. During a press conference to announce the new filing, Becerra said the latest lawsuit aims to preserve $6.5 billion in federal funding that helps support in-home services to...

PHILADELPHIA -- When Brian Sims first ran for state representative in 2012, he ran as a new pro-business voice. He was going to be a bridge builder, brimming with common-sense ideas on pocketbook issues. He never met that promise. Instead, he became many other things: an outdoor adventurer who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro; a partisan attack dog who accused fellow state Rep. Martina White of saying she wanted to deport all immigrants, something his staff had to admit she never said; and a celebrity activist whose lucrative, nationwide speaking circuit earned him an ethics investigation. He also became the guy who...