Free Republic

A rally is planned Monday in front of the Sacramento Field Office of US Citizenship and Immigration Services to protest the death of a transgender woman in custody.

“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding” (Proverbs 1:1-2 KJV).

WASHINGTON — Speaker Nancy Pelosi likes to talk about the numbers to defend her go-slow approach to launching a formal impeachment process against President Donald Trump. "I think it's like 35 of them out of 238, maybe its 38 out of 238, have said they wanted to be outspoken on impeachment and many of them are reflecting their views as well as those of their constituents," Pelosi said at a Commonwealth Club of California Wednesday. "Yes, there are some, and the press makes more of a fuss about the 38 than the 200." But there are strong signs that the...

Last week, the House Budget Committee explored establishing a single-payer health care system—a proposal commonly referred to as Medicare for All. The idea enjoys considerable support—including from most Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls.While various versions of the program have been floated, the schemes have at least one commonality: They aim to remove market-based mechanisms from the equation and replace them with government planning. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan even openly acknowledges his proposal will largely eliminate the private health insurance industry.The desire to improve the health care system is not misplaced. The current framework is in much need of reform.For instance, rules...

Chicago's top prosecutor again shifted her explanation for why she recused herself from an investigation into Jussie Smollett's claim that he'd been the target of a hate crime, saying she stepped aside because of false rumors she was related to the "Empire" actor. Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx offered the new public explanation in a statement issued along with the release of 2,000 pages of documents in the case, which also refer to the rumors arising as suspicions grew that Smollett, who is black and gay, staged the attack against himself. Her statement and the documents, which included internal...

Prosecutors just released a lot of the evidence from their investigation that led to 16 criminal charges against Jussie Smollett, the gay black actor and former "Empire" star. Instead of explaining why all 16 of those charges were abruptly dropped all it does is make you go “huh?”A brief recap in case you’ve dropped this gnat from your radar: Jussie staged a phony hate crime attack on himself in order to advance his pitiful career. He claimed two white guys wearing MAGA hats attacked him, tied a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him and then left yelling "This...

In an interview aired Friday on "CBS This Morning," Attorney General William Barr explains why he opened an investigation into the origins of the Russia investigation. He doesn't say what the evidence is, but Barr tells CBS News legal correspondent Jan Crawford that there is evidence that makes him believe senior government officials may have acted improperly to authorize surveillance of President Trump's 2016 campaign. He says that led to "spying" on the campaign. He said the hyper-politicized nature of politics today is a danger to longstanding institutions and he took the job of attorney general because he is at...

A record-breaking number of spellers — 562 — competed their hearts and minds out during this week’s 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. And a record-breaking number beat the bee, with eight contestants crowned “co-champions” at the conclusion of Thursday night’s finale. For the rest though, a word (or words) got the better of them. Whether their elimination was controversial or incontrovertible (both knockout words in round No. 3), whether it left them feeling dubitative, stolid, or even, say, inured (round No. 3 again), these unlucky competitors made a typo, and got dinged for it — literally dinged,...

DeWayne Craddock: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know DeWayne Craddock, a public utilities engineer whose name frequently appeared on city notices, was named as the mass shooter who opened fire “indiscriminately” at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, killing 12 people and wounding others, in the nation’s latest horrific active shooter event. The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported that Craddock was the shooter; Heavy confirmed the name through police scanner audio, which you can listen to later in this article (be forewarned that it is very disturbing). Officers named DeWayne Craddock as the shooter to dispatchers early on in...

“Pope Francis warned against a rise of intolerance and racism as far-right nationalists and eurosceptic parties made historic gains in European elections…"The signs of meanness we see around us heighten our fear of 'the other', the unknown, the marginalised, the foreigner," he said in a message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees,” France24.com reports.“Pope won’t meet with Italy’s Salvini because of his position on migration— Two Italian publications reported that Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini “has attempted to secure a papal audience and been rebuffed each time…Salvini had been told ‘a meeting could not occur if Salvini continues...

Congressional Management Foundation honors six others for behind-the-scenes service The Congressional Management Foundation will honor the late Sen. John McCain and longtime Rep. John D. Dingell, two Capitol Hill legends who died within the past year, with lifetime achievement democracy awards next month. The nonpartisan group, which has been around since 1977 and says it aims to make Congress more effective, also selected a bipartisan slate of six lawmakers to honor for such behind-the-scenes efforts as constituent service. Though not exactly the Oscars for Congress, the awards toast lawmakers and congressional aides for work to improve government transparency and to...

President Trump’s disruptive style of politics was never going to be an easy sell in Washington. In a city where ossified norms are treated like monuments to American politics’ former glory, the president’s rebellious, smash the idols style, to say nothing of the fact that his agenda aimed to smash all the idols of DC groupthink, was anything but an obvious fit. Making the process even more difficult was the fact that any administration will have its policy defined by its personnel, and the number of personnel available who could both pass a Senate confirmation, and who would be...

MTV is breaking down barriers regarding sexuality and has announced its dating show cast this year will be the first ever in United States to all identify as sexually fluid. In June, the broadcast network will air another season of 'Are You The One?' — which stars 16 men and women in their 20s, who will be dropped off in Hawaii in hopes of finding the 'perfect match' while also competing for a $1 million grand prize. The cast members this year, though, are exclusively singles who identify as sexually fluid, meaning gender does not limit their options when finding...

At first glance you might think that the Democratic presidential campaign is boiling over with one new idea after another. Free health care. Free education. No more carbon emissions. There have been so many pronouncements, it’s hard to keep track of them.But that’s just at first glance. If you delve deeper, you will discover these are not ideas at all. They are feelings. Strongly held feelings, mind you. But feelings, nonetheless.Take health care. There is only one interesting public policy question there: If we paid for care in a different way (for example, through taxes instead of fees for services...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) condemned President Trump's new tariffs on Mexico late Thursday, calling the move a "misuse" of presidential tariff authority and cautioning the levies could derail passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). "Trade policy and border security are separate issues. This is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent," Grassley said in a statement. The lawmaker cautioned that following through on Trump's tariff threat "would seriously jeopardize passage of USMCA," a revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). "I support nearly every one of President Trump’s immigration policies,...

The European club season reaches the climax this weekend with the Champions League final between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. It is the first all-Premier League Champions League final since Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties in Moscow in 2008. Liverpool finished 2nd in the Premier League with 97 points, just one fewer than champions Manchester City. Tottenham stumbled into 4th position with a haul of 71 points, one point less than Chelsea and one point more than Arsenal. Liverpool and Spurs played each other twice in the Premier League with Liverpool winning 2-1 each time.

Was there ever a more useless press conference than that convened yesterday by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller? Words that came to mind as I watched the travesty were: unnecessary, irresponsible, and perhaps calculating. The first words out of Mueller’s mouth indicated that he had nothing to say that hadn’t already been said in his 400-plus page report. Well, then why did he organize a press conference? If everything he had to say had already been said, then there was absolutely no reason for him to jump in front of the media. If he had a presser, he should have...

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd is calling for the hiring of “babysitters” to take care of migrant children after revealing that border agents have been forced to look after illegal immigrant minors while in custody. Judd spoke with The Daily Caller and said, “I was just in the RGV [Rio Grande Valley]. I did a 30-day deployment to RGV and one of the assignments that we had was babysitting. Border patrol agents were babysitting children, and so do we need to hire people so that we can free up our law enforcement agents and officers to do their...

... Only months ago Mr. Trump signed a new trade pact with Mexico and Canada to replace Nafta. The deal reassured financial markets. But now he whacks Mexico with unilateral tariffs that violate Nafta and World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. Other national leaders can be forgiven for concluding that any trade deal with Mr. Trump is subject to revision on his personal political whim. The tariffs could also complicate passage of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada deal in Congress. Mr. Trump is invoking a 1977 statute—the International Emergency Economic Powers Act—to impose the tariffs after declaring an emergency. The Congressional Research Service...

In the course of the past few weeks, Thom Tillis has worked to solidify his standing amongst the Trump wing of the Republican Party, insofar as there is any other wing at this point. Unfortunately for him, it looks like a lost cause. Mark Walker, the prominent conservative North Carolina Congressman, is openly weighing a primary. Some folks on the inside say he isn’t going to do it, and others say he’s 100% in. So time will tell. Either way, politicians enjoy attention and sometimes, enough chatter about a potential run leads one into the race. Mark Walker is the...