Free Republic

Remember in 2017-2018 when the media hyped every special election as a disaster for the GOP. Remember when certain Freepers would post "THE SKY IS FALLING" on every special election? Well... Two GOP won two state legislative special elections tonight by crushing margins: Republican David Rowe Defeated Democrat Jennifer Rager-Kay in the 85th Legislative District in Pennsylvania by a 62.62%-37.38% Margin. This is a R+18 seat, and Rowe won by 25 points. Republican Patrick Haddon defeated Democrat Carrie Counton 60.99% - 39.01% in South Carolina Legislative District 19. This is a R+13 seat, and Haddon won by 21 points. While...

The construction of Walmart’s new corporate campus in Bentonville will take years to be achieved, and is just now in the early stages of development. On Wednesday (Aug. 14), company officials provided a glimpse into what some elements of that design may one day look like. Walmart held a grand opening for its new contact center at 2800 S. Thompson St. in Springdale. Employees have been working there for the past three weeks, following the completion of a massive remodel of a 130,000-square-foot building that was once a Sam’s Club store. It was most recently a layout center for Sam’s...

They came face-to-face with a bear while they were on a sofa watching TV, but a deputy came to their rescue. "And I said my mom would not be aggressively opening Tupperware at 12:30 in the morning,” Hayes Sherman said. The trespasser helped itself to some taco meat and chowed down in the living room. The 15-year-old boys vacationing from San Francisco said they were nearly frozen in fear. “It looks us both in the eyes, and it started coming towards us, and that was one of the scariest moments, coming face-to-face with the bear,” “The bear was shaking the...

"Matrix 4" has officially been greenlit! Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity while Lana Wachowski, who co-created the original trilogy, is also attached to the project. Lana will co-write, direct and produce the film. She will be joined by writers Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell, as well as producer Grant Hill, according to Variety. Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich announced the news on Tuesday.

Samsung may be in the race to develop a graphene-based alternative to lithium-ion batteries for its phones. Rumors are going around claiming that the Company hopes to have at least one phone with a graphene battery ready next year or by 2021. The word is that these graphene-based batteries will be capable of a full charge in under a half-hour, but they still need to raise capacities while lowering costs. In 2017, Samsung said its researchers developed a "graphene ball" material that enables five times faster charging speeds than standard lithium-ion batteries. Samsung may be looking into battery alternatives following...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that the Islamic State remains a “complicated” foreign policy challenge and is actually stronger in some corners of the world today than it was before having its self-proclaimed “caliphate” decimated by U.S.-backed forces in Syria and Iraq. “There are certainly places where ISIS is more powerful today than they were three or four years ago,” said Mr. Pompeo, who asserted that President Trump “is very focused on making sure that we apply the right resources against the problem.” Mr. Pompeo’s rare acknowledgment of the Islamic State’s threat, a group President Trump has claimed...

Heritage Foundation chief economist Steve Moore reacted to the high numbers of New Yorkers who are fleeing to Florida because of high state taxes. “This is the big demographic story of our country that may be the biggest economic story,” Moore said on "The Daily Briefing." He said there are “four states of the apocalypse” – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Illinois – which have the most residents fleeing over high taxes and huge budget problems. They are leaving for Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and North Carolina. “You can buy a house just with the money you save on...

Jaime Caudillo and Steven Rincon smiled and laughed Monday as a judge sentenced them to serve life sentences in connection with the 2015 shooting of a Merced police officer. Merced Police Officer Ryan Rasmussen read an impact statement, nearly four years and five months after he was shot by the 35-year-old Caudillo during a traffic stop in Merced.

But some birds risk their lives by snuggling up to conserve energy. If they sleep with their head tucked in the scapular feathers, they enter a sort of deeper sleep that is associated with lower energy consumption but exposes them to a higher predation risk If they sleep with their head tucked in the scapular feathers, they enter a sort of deeper sleep that is associated with lower energy consumption but exposes them to a higher predation risk. When the birds were presented with the sound of crunching leaves, they were slower to respond than the forward-facing birds.

San Francisco’s struggle to address its overwhelming homelessness problem is growing ever more dire, and residents don’t know what to do. Last week a homeless man by the name of Austin Vincent attacked 26-year-old Paneez Kosarian just outside her condo. He claimed he would save her from “robots,” and offered to kill someone else to secure her trust. Against the objections of the District Attorney, Superior Court Judge Christine Van Aken released him. On Monday, Vincent was arrested for another assault. City officials have watched the problem escalate by 17% in the last two years alone. Hundreds of millions of...

The time is right for a payroll tax cut. The Trump administration has reportedly considered implementing a temporary cut to payroll taxes in an effort to push economic growth higher and ward off fears of a recession. This would reduce or eliminate the 6.2 percent tax American workers pay into the Social Security system, immediately raising take-home pay by reducing withholding. It is likely that such a tax break would significantly boost consumer spending, particularly if implemented as we head into the holiday season. This kind of fiscal stimulus would be more effective in the near term than a Federal...

A citizen reported the suspicious man next to the vehicle near Felipe Road and Barbadanes around 6 a.m. When deputies arrived, they found both driver’s side tires were flat and a 26-year-old man trying to repair them using gauze and Band-Aids. The man was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, deputies said. The suspect’s identity was not released.

President Trump suggested Democrats have given up any defense of the Second Amendment and pledged that he will not allow Americans’ gun rights to be swept away on the “slippery slope” of gun control. Trump made the comments while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. He said, “We have very, very strong background checks right now. But we have, sort of, missing areas and areas that don’t complete the whole circle. And we’re looking at different things.” He added, “And I have to tell you that it is a mental problem. And I’ve said it a hundred...

[Catholic Caucus] BREAKING: Cardinal Pell to remain in jail as appeal falls on deaf ears  MELBOURNE, Australia, August 20, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Judges of the Victorian Supreme Court in Australia ruled that Cardinal George Pell, convicted of and jailed for child sex abuse, will return to prison after they upheld his conviction, dismissing his appeal. The state of Victoria’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Anne Ferguson, Justice Chris Maxwell, the president of the Victoria Court of Appeal, and Justice Mark Weinberg handed down the 2:1 decision. Ferguson read a summary of their conclusions.  In her statement (read full summary judgment...

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Chantilly, Virginia 9:59 A.M. EDT THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Dr. Stofan. Thank you for that kind introduction. And thank you for your tremendous stewardship and your tremendous leadership. Would you join me in thanking Dr. Ellen Stofan for her outstanding leadership? (Applause.) To all of the members of the National Space Council, to our User Advisory Group — all of whom very quietly came onstage — I think they all deserve a big round of applause. These are extraordinary Americans that are making a difference for American leadership in space. (Applause.) Would you join...

Former Vice President Joe Biden got shutdown on Tuesday when attempting to brag about the size of the crowds his campaign was drawing in Iowa. Biden, who returned to the campaign trail this week after being waylaid by a string of gaffes, told voters during an event in the early caucus state he was not worried about the crowds his more liberal opponents were drawing. “What I’m trying to do is go around from town to town. And I’m drawing as big of crowds — bigger than anybody,” he said. “Have you seen anybody draw bigger crowds than me here...

President Trump will tighten rules for a federal parole program that has allowed thousands of foreign nationals, who would otherwise be deemed inadmissible to the United States, to take jobs in the U.S. An order issued this week by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) gives guidance to federal adjudicators to only consider providing foreign nationals who are paroled into the country with work permits after “all relevant factors” are considered “on a case-by-case basis.” “USCIS will only consider employment authorization for parolees when, based on the facts and circumstances of each individual case, USCIS finds that a...

SEATTLE: Boeing Co said on Tuesday it plans to add extra staff and hire "a few hundred" temporary employees at an airport in Washington state where it is storing many grounded 737 MAX jetliners, a key step in its best-case plan for resuming deliveries to airline customers in October. The world's largest planemaker, burning cash as one of the worst crises in its history stretches into a sixth month, said the workers will assist with aircraft maintenance and customer delivery preparations at Grant County International Airport. The hiring plans are the first publicly detailed steps Boeing will take as it...

FULL TITLE: Pollak: Trump Just Told Liberal Jews What They’ve Been Telling Conservative Jews for Years About Disloyalty Conservatives are often puzzled about how the majority of Jews can still vote Democrat even though the party has become so anti-Israel, and tolerates antisemitism from the likes of Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Christian conservatives also ask me, politely, why Jews are liberal. Jewish conservatives are less restrained, and often express outright frustration. Norman Podhoretz even wrote a book about it: Why Are Jews Liberals? For most Jewish conservatives, the question is as much about pain as politics....

Jon Voight’s message of peace and love.