Free Republic

During a fundraiser on Monday evening, former Vice President Joe Biden reference James Bond and the use of "smart guns" as a means of achieving gun control in the United States. “If I get elected president of the United States of America with your help, if that happens, guns, we have the capacity now in a James Bond-style to make sure no one can pull a trigger unless their DNA and fingerprint is on it," Biden said, according to the Washington Examiner. "We have that capacity to do it now. You know it." "But what happens? The gun manufacturers, when...

Democrats should not delude themselves: unless they shape up – and fast – the president is heading for four more years On Tuesday night President Trump launched his re-election campaign with a by now classic rally in Orlando, Florida. It was a “Greatest Hits rally” in which he accused the Democrats of undermining democracy (by trying to impeach him), talked about the many threats to “this country as we know it”, and even railed against Hillary Clinton (for old time’s sake). In short, Trump’s message for 2020 is: “I made America Great Again, now vote for me so I can...

President Trump is within his rights to invoke executive privilege, including when it comes to former White House communications director Hope Hicks, according to Alan Dershowitz. Congressional lawmakers often claim presidents are not "above the law" in many of these cases, but Congress itself is also not "above the law," Dershowitz told host Laura Ingraham on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle." "Each branch of the government has a form of executive privilege," Dershowitz said Wednesday night. "The president is perfectly entitled to invoke executive privilege. If they think it goes too far ... let the courts decide.

No matter how reprehensible one considers former US president Bill Clinton’s actions to have been in the Monica Lewinsky case, they dwarf in comparison to the actions of Donald Trump. The Republicans impeached Clinton and then moved to remove him from office. Hasn’t Pelosi heard of tit for tat? Similarly, Mitch McConnell, Republican leader of the Senate, has stated that if a Supreme Court vacancy occurs in 2020, the Republicans would fill it — the exact opposite of what the party did in 2016, with the argument that regardless of who former president Barack Obama chose to fill the court’s...

PARIS (AP) — A revolver believed used by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh to kill himself has sold for about $146,000 at an auction in Paris. An individual buyer whose name was not released bought the 7mm pocket revolver for 130,000 euros plus taxes on Wednesday. The weapon was discovered in the 1960s in fields in the northern French village of Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh is widely believed to have shot himself in the chest there in 1890. The family of former owners of the inn where the painter died two days later decided to sell the revolver after it was...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) joked about his multiple homes during a hearing Wednesday in arguing against a provision that would tie lawmaker pay to Congress's ability to pass a budget. The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 GOP presidential nominee argued that the “No Budget, No Pay” proposal would not affect him personally, but could hurt lower-income legislators. When he noted that he personally would not be affected, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who supports the proposal and offered an amendment at the hearing, joked, “We’re all just moving into your house.” “You’re welcome,” Romney quipped. “Which one?”

It happened last Friday at a Walmart location in Cypress, northwest of Houston, according to KTRK-TV. The greeter, Mohinder Randhawa, told the station he just wanted to check that a customer had paid for a case of Gatorade being carried out of the store. That’s when the suspect, identified as Craig Valentine, 42, of Hockley, got angry, started yelling, and then cold-cocked him, Randhawa said. "He punched on my face with a closed right hand," Randhawa told KTRK. "I fell down on the ground." "My left upper lip was broken from here, blood started out, and inside also there was...

President Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner met privately on Tuesday with the longtime Senate architects of plans to provide citizenship for those brought to the country illegally as children. The meeting has raised concerns among immigration hardliners that Trump's immigration policy is being "watered down," will give Democrats an upper hand and alter the focus of the debate from strictly enforcement to a deal that would include legalization.

A old straight white male Joe Biden? It doesn't matter that he was Barack Obama's VP, or he represented a fairly black state, Delaware. He's imploding with the segregation stuff. Bernie? Too socialist. Warren? School teacher. Booker? Harris? Been there done that. All the others look like jokers. Hillary? Michelle? No. They're done with politics. Who else? Evan Bayh? John Kerry? Tim Ryan? I think the Democrats have a lackluster field, but Trump doesn't have it in the bag, the MSM hates Trump and the electorate listens to the MSM more than anything. Who does the Democrats have for 2020,...

While the truth might be out there, technological aliens don't seem to be — at least not yet. New results from the most comprehensive Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program ever undertaken — which surveyed 1,327 nearby stars for signals from intelligent beings — have turned up empty. "There's certainly nothing out there glaringly obvious," ... lead author of a paper about the results, which were published in The Astrophysical Journal, told Live Science. "There's no amazingly advanced civilizations trying to contact us with incredibly powerful transmitters." While the team didn't find anything this time around, Price said that there...

Mueller’s garbage report was released two months ago and his investigation into ‘Trump-Russia’ began over two years ago yet we still have not seen the unredacted ‘scope memo’ Rosenstein penned in August 2017. Shortly after Rosenstein hijacked the Justice Department from Jeff Sessions and became the de facto Attorney General, he penned his first scope memo on May 17, 2017 authorizing Robert Mueller to investigate the so-called (non-existent) Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, authorized Mueller to investigate three areas: “i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the...

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy issued his strongest threat yet Wednesday to New Jersey’s Democratic-controlled state Legislature: Without tax increases, I’m prepared to slash spending items you want. In a letter to lawmakers, Murphy warned that if they continue with their current plan to send him a state budget that lacks his proposal to increase income taxes on the state’s millionaires, or if they don’t agree to raise any other taxes, then he’ll consider line-item vetoes on the Legislature’s $38.7 billion proposed budget.

by Sheri Urban A congressional hearing erupted when black Quillette writer Coleman Hughes trashed a bill to study slavery reparations as a “moral and political mistake,” forcing the chair of the hearing to tell the audience to “chill” several times. The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties held a hearing Wednesday entitled “H.R. 40 and the Path to Restorative Justice,” at which witnesses testified about reparations for slavery. HR 40 is a bill which proposes a commission to study reparations. Hughes testified for the minority and delivered a lengthy opening statement against the...

New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger slammed President Trump for accusing his paper of committing "treason" in an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal late Wednesday. Sulzberger wrote that Trump's attack crossed "a dangerous line" in his "campaign against a free and independent press." "He’s gone from misrepresenting our business, to assaulting our integrity, to demonizing our journalists with a phrase that’s been used by generations of demagogues," Sulzberger wrote of Trump. "Now the president has escalated his attacks even further, accusing the Times of a crime so grave it is punishable by death." Sulzberger's remarks came after Trump...

President Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations has broken with his viewpoint on climate change, saying it "poses real risks". Kelly Craft told lawmakers at her confirmation hearing she would "be an advocate for all countries to do their part in addressing climate change". In the past, she had claimed to believe "both sides" of the climate debate. Mr Trump has previously called climate change a "hoax" and questioned the scientific consensus on the matter. Earlier this month, Mr Trump said climate change "goes both ways" and blamed other nations for worsening air and water quality. In...

President Trump said House Democrats are handing out subpoenas "like they're cookies" in a Fox News interview Wednesday night. The comment came in a wide-ranging interview during which he railed against the investigations into his administration and the media's treatment of his campaign. Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) "hands out subpoenas like they’re cookies." Democratic leaders have issued a series of subpoenas to compel the administration to release disputed documents and witness testimony, an effort the White House has fought. As speaker of the House Pelosi does not need to approve subpoenas requests...

LAPD officials confirmed that Caplette was assigned to the department’s employee relations group and serves as a department chaplain. Caplette is also involved in the Bigs in Blue, a law enforcement partnership with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. He was recognized in 2017 as Big Brother of the Year. A representative of the LA chapter of the organization confirmed Caplette had one “little brother match” which is being “closed right now.” They would not comment further on the allegations. Caplette was arrested after he was spotted using his cell phone to record inside a men’s bathroom. When...

week of June 17-21 Tuesday June 18 2. Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #22, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas 3. Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #28, Allen Cothrel Winsor, of Florida, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Florida 4. Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #50, James David Cain, Jr., of Louisiana, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana 5. Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #118, Greg Girard Guidry, of Louisiana,...

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday dismissed calls to apologize for invoking his working relationships with two segregationist senators as an example of "civility," saying that his Democratic colleagues knew better. Asked by a reporter outside a fundraiser in Maryland whether he'd apologize for his Tuesday remarks, the Democratic presidential candidate responded, "Apologize for what?" "He knows better," Biden added, referencing Sen. Cory Booker's (D-N.J.) call to apologize for the remarks. "There’s not a racist bone in my body. I’ve been involved in civil rights my whole career. Period. Period. Period." Biden has faced mounting backlash in the past...

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — Mass was interrupted Sunday at a church in Riverside when a man came rushing in saying he was going to shoot everyone. Video showed a woman racing in and saying, “We’re all going to die” in Spanish, causing even more panic. Predictably, people got scared, authorities said. Officials said the woman ran into the Queen of the Angels church believing the man was armed. Moments later, witness Michelle Cardona said everyone in the back of the church began sitting and ducking down. At this point, a man ran in saying, “Everyone down, there’s someone in the back...