Free Republic

Wall Street Journal editorial board member Bill McGurn discusses the report that the Obama administration gave Iran brief access to the U.S. financial system. A Senate subcommittee report alleges that the Obama administration secretly sought to give Iran access to U.S. financial systems by sidestepping sanctions kept in place after the 2015 nuclear deal. The report claims the Obama Treasury Department issued a license to Bank Muscat to authorize "conversion of Iranian assets worth billions of U.S. dollars using the U.S. financial system." “I think it’s part of a larger fraud of the Iran deal where it was presented as...

Intelligence professionals warned Friday that President Donald Trump’s decision to give his loyal attorney general carte blanche to disclose still-secret material from the Russia investigation will let William Barr cherry-pick intelligence to paint a misleading picture about what started the probe. The president claims his campaign was spied upon, though Trump administration officials have said they have no specific evidence that anything illegal was done when the campaign came under FBI surveillance that was approved by a court. On Thursday, Trump gave Barr full authority to publicly disclose information about the origins of the investigation the president has repeatedly dismissed...

Security tightened in France on Friday after a package bomb detonated outside a bakery in Lyon. Police and soldiers cordoned off the area and are telling people to stay away. Christophe Castaner, the country's interior minister, ordered security increased around sports, cultural and religious sites. Officials fear there could be more bombs. Police are hunting for a man believed to be in his 30s. Security camera captured him pushing a bike with a bag while wearing a mask and sunglasses. Authorities are asking the public's help in identifying him.

After centuries of tradition, it has become somewhat controversial for a woman to take the last name of her husband. Apparently some woman believe that is is demeaning to take the surname of the man she is marrying. This results in the husband and the wife having different surnames - which seems awkward to me. It would be even more awkward if the husband took the surname of his wife. Right or wrong, the man would have his masculinity questioned and would be the butt of jokes. Nobody ever makes fun of a woman because she changed her surname to...

In Manhattan federal court, District Judge Edgardo Ramos dismissed Trump's lawyers' objection to breaching his privacy and ordered Douche Bank and Capital One to turn over his records to two House of Representatives committees. Douglas Letter, general counsel for the House of Representatives, praised the decision, calling it "integral to proving that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. Admittedly, the Mueller investigation failed to find any evidence that Trump colluded with Russia, but that effort was rushed, under-manned and under-funded. That's why we must take over and ensure that no stone is left unturned in pursuit of...

The INS Magen, the Navy’s first Sa'ar 6 corvette, was officially named at a ceremony held at the Kiel shipyards in Germany. The ceremony was headed by Navy Commander Maj.-Gen. Eli Sharvit, Defense Ministry Head of Procurement Avi Dadon, Navy Material Command head Yossi Ashkenazi, project head Brig.-Gen. Erez, as well as the Commander of the INS Magen Lt.-Col Baruch. Commanders and soldiers who took part in the project and shipyard employees also attended the ceremony. The ceremony included the customary breaking a bottle of champagne on the ship's bow by the navy commander's wife, Etti Sharvit. The construction of...

Considering the upcoming declassification window…between Trump’s state visit in Japan (5/25 – 5/28) and the state visit with the U.K (6/3 – 6/5). Bucket Five – Intelligence documents that were presented to the Gang of Eight in 2016 that pertain to the FISA application used against U.S. person Carter Page; including all exculpatory intelligence documents that may not have been presented to the FISA Court. Presumably this would include the recently revealed State Dept Kavalac email; and the FBI transcripts from wiretaps of George Papadopoulos (also listed in Carter Page FISA). Now that we have significant research files on the...

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President Trump has signed a memorandum enforcing a provision requiring sponsors of legal immigrants to pay back the government for any social services used by the immigrant. The provision was part of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) and Welfare Reform laws enacted by then-President Bill Clinton. The law stated that immigrants should “not depend on public resources to meet their needs.” However, the provision has not been enforced. (continued at source)

In a remarkably quick turn from the recent “unity, unity” rhetoric, a notable group of liberal United Methodists leaders, from Alaska to Florida to Germany, has declared in no uncertain terms that they “cannot” remain in the same church with Christians who support the traditional standards of the United Methodist Book of Discipline. And they are apparently not sure whether or not they can continue to tolerate the presence of Methodists who have not yet settled what they believe about matters related to homosexuality and transgenderism. In the last year, “Mainstream UMC” emerged as the major factional caucus (other than...

Recently, the United Methodist Women (UMW), the official organization for women within the United Methodist Church (UMC), published a statement in response to anti-abortion measures signed into law in Alabama and other states. The May 17 article title states that United Methodist Women are “[decrying] the attack on women’s reproductive health.” This is a bold statement because while the UMW was once a large organization that spoke for women in the church, a dramatic decline in numbers means that they cannot speak for the majority of women within the UMC anymore. The UMW was once one of the largest women’s...

Joint Christian-Jewish Bible Study at Knesset Underscores Power of Faith in Politics By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz May 15, 2019 , 8:49 am “And the many peoples shall go and say: “Come, Let us go up to the Mount of Hashem, To the House of the God of Yaakov; That He may instruct us in His ways, And that we may walk in His paths.” For instruction shall come forth from Tzion, The word of Hashem from Yerushalayim.” Isaiah 2:3 (The Israel Bible™) (Credit: Ellie Rudee/Breaking Israel News) FacebookTwittergoogle_plusPinterestEmailWhatsAppCopy LinkShare566 Approximately 120 people – composed of Christians, Druze, and Jews –...

It is a potentially explosive development for the historically solid US-Australian alliance and the first time Trump has publicly named Australia while discussing what he calls the “Russia hoax” and “witch hunt”. Trump said on Friday he had declassified “potentially millions of pages” of intelligence documents related to surveillance activities on his campaign and Barr would be in charge of analysing it. “So what I’ve done is I’ve declassified everything,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday before leaving on a trip to Japan. “He can look and I hope he looks at the UK and I hope...

[Barf Alert] Listen to young climate strikers-Vatican (ANSA) - Vatican City, May 24 - The Vatican on Friday called on international leaders to listen to the young people in Italy and around the world who staged the latest in a a series of school strikes on Friday calling for action to address the climate crisis. "We need to appeal to political leaders to be far more courageous and to listen to the dramatic cry raised by the scientific community and the climate youth movement," said Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development....

Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts and the Idaho State Police, collectively referred hereinafter as the Ministry of Vice and Virtue, continue to defend the arrest and prosecution of truck drivers who were innocently transporting non-narcotic hemp through the state. Bennetts and the ISP keep up the persecution despite an onslaught of criticism, public outcry, and a rare appeal by the public and legislators to drop the charges. “Those of us who enforce Idaho’s laws are bound by the laws which currently exist, not those which may exist at some future date,” the Ministry of Vice and Virtue said in a...

President Trump is officially on the warpath. After literally years of talk about the Mueller report, the document has come and gone. Its conclusions were a resounding win for this President, and, in the minds of many Americans, the democrats are again acting like sore losers. This accusation is particularly pointed given their behavior back in November of 2016. Trump is now pushing forward with his investigation of the investigators, aimed at getting to the bottom of why and how the entire debacle began.

Iran sees the escalating tensions with the U.S. as extending to include Saudi Arabia and Israel. And on Thursday, an editorial in Saudi Arabia's Arab News demanded: "Iran must not go unpunished... In [our] considered view, there has to be deterrent and punitive action in order for Iran to know that no sinister act will go unpunished; that action, in our opinion, should be a calculated surgical strike."

When the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) was audited recently, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale discovered that more than $4.25 billion in Motor License Fund money that was supposed to go toward the repair, construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of roads and bridges had been transferred to the state police, beginning in the 2012-13 fiscal year, Transportation Today News reports. The General Assembly, reportedly, has not put a cap on the amount of money being transferred to the state police, having transferred $789.6 million during the 2017-18 fiscal year. “More than 2,800 state-maintained bridges across Pennsylvania are structurally deficient, and our bridges...

The FBI is Has a Chart of Hillary Clinton’s Potential Law Breaking Look for Our Expert Panel Presentation: ‘Investigating the Investigators’ Antifa Activist Ordered to Pay JW Legal Fees for Her ‘Frivolous’ Suit Honoring the Fallen on Memorial Day The FBI knows a lot more about Hillary Clinton than it is willing to let us know. We have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice seeking draft copies of FBI charts containing information on potential “statutory violations” committed by Hillary Clinton in the former secretary of state’s use of a non-secure, non-government email...

The Trump administration will soon make it easier for adoption agencies to reject same-sex couples, senior administration officials told Axios. Why it matters: President Trump is steadily rolling back Obama-era nondiscrimination policies across the entire federal government — including health care, housing and the military. Details: Former President Obama banned adoption and foster-care agencies from receiving federal funding if they refused to work with same-sex couples. Religious organizations have consistently bristled at that policy, arguing that they're being forced to contradict their beliefs. Administration officials said the White House is weighing two options: either rescinding those rules altogether, or adding...