Free Republic

A trillion here. A trillion there. A trillion-dollar deficit as far as the eye can see.But don't worry. You're not talking about real money. This is Trump money, where reality can be manipulated to reflect anything.So Trump can simply claim the latest CBO report showing deficits beginning in 2020 to hit more than a trillion dollars through 2029, to be fake news. Or a Democratic lie.It's certainly more appetizing to ignore reality than to accept it.CNBC: The U.S. budget deficit is expected to hit $960 billion in 2019, and average a whopping $1.2 trillion per year between 2020 and...

The teasing is apparently over for former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper. Even before his presidential bid crashed and burned in spectacular fashion, Democrats had been pleading with him to drop out and take a run at Cory Gardner’s Senate seat. Apparently, Hickenlooper is taking the Vox populi, vox Dei approach because he announced this morning that he will be doing precisely that. (Associated Press)

Gov. Ron DeSantis has agreed to allow Florida to join a national electronic center to exchange voter registration data with other states, an effort long-sought by county supervisors of elections. DeSantis said Wednesday Florida will become the 29th state to participate in the Electronic Voter Registration Information Center, known as "ERIC," a consortium of states known that share voter registration information. DeSantis announced the move during an appearance with county election officials at the Orange County supervisor of elections office in Orlando, saying the effort will ensure the integrity of voter-registration lists. “It’s my judgment it makes the most sense,...

Just over a week ago, market signals and several analysts suggested that the odds were increasing for a recession in 2020. Given that 73% of voters consider the economy a very important voting issue, it's no surprise that the new economic assessment quickly generated an intense political debate. President Donald Trump and chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow both made public statements about the strength of the economy. The political dynamics are pretty straightforward. If the country enters a recession prior to the next election, Trump is unlikely to get reelected, and congressional Democrats could have another big year. On the...

Desperately searching for scraps of bad economic news that could help push the economy into recession, Yahoo News finds one homebuilder in one state, while ignoring the surging market everywhere for previously-owned housing. I read the headline below and almost started to weep because the economy is in such dire straits that luxury home builders are struggling, especially in California. Luxury Homebuilder's Woes Show Mounting U.S. Slowdown Fears Maybe California should raise taxes and increase regulations some more. That will help. Maybe we need a GoFundMe page to raise money for the luxury home builders. Toll Brothers stock is...

A little after 6 p.m., the state of Texas will execute Larry Swearingen for a crime experts believe he was unable to commit. Journalist Andrew Purcell detailed the events leading to Swearingen's impending death in a thorough investigation. A 19-year-old college student named Melissa Trotter disappeared from her Montgomery College campus, north of Houston, in December 1998. Police set their sights on Swearingen, an electrician who was witnessed having a conversation with Trotter in the college library. Montgomery County law enforcement also found a scrap of paper with the name "Larry" and his phone number in one of Trotter's books....

During the course of his remaining five and a half years in office, President Trump will come to an understanding with China. Trade will be only a part of it. There will be established a concord, or state of agreement, between the two most powerful nations in the world. It will result in a peaceful 21st century. Trump will cut the part on trade sometime between now and the election fifteen months from now. He'll time it so he receives the maximum political benefit. It will ignite the markets, and the economy will assure him of re-election. The sticking point...

Today we feature The Singing Ranger, Hank Snow, and his 1955 recording of Would You Mind? THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com

Planned Parenthood routinely claims that abortion makes up only three percent of its services. But its actions say otherwise: abortion is 100 percent its focus. What’s more, it’s a focus that the 2020 Democrats are applauding.On Monday, Planned Parenthood announced that it would rather refuse millions of dollars in federal family-planning funding than stop performing or referring abortions. The decision came after the Trump administration released new regulations prohibiting Title X funding from organizations connected to abortion. According to a New York Times report, Planned Parenthood receives an estimated $60 million annually through Title X. But the nation’s largest abortion provider isn’t hurting...

“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips” (Proverbs 22:17-18).

Rudy Giuliani, who serves as President Trump's personal lawyer, said he spoke with a Ukrainian official about Joe Biden’s possible involvement in an investigation into the former vice president's son’s conduct relating to a Ukrainian-owned gas company. The former New York City mayor’s meeting with Ukrainian officials was first reported by The New York Times. He later confirmed in an interview with CNN that he met with the officials. Giuliani told CNN he spoke with Andriy Yermak, whom he called the lawyer for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, over the phone twice and agreed to a meeting in Madrid last month....

Today’s Cryptogram ZMQ VLPKZREP EV TQHJQGNMRY RN ZE YGEJLKQ SEGQ TQHJQGN, PEZ SEGQ VETTECQGN. ---GHTYM PHJQG You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general comments, but DO post your time and any tips you might give the group on how you...

Getting Beyond Darwin by George Weigel Bishop Robert Barron and others working hard to evangelize the “Nones”—young adults without religious conviction—tell us that a major obstacle to a None embracing Christianity is the cultural assumption that Science Explains Everything. And if science explains it all, who needs God, revelation, Christ, or the Church? To be even more specific: If Darwin and the Darwinian theory of evolution explain the origins of us (and everything else), why bother with Genesis 1–3 and Colossians 1:15–20 (much less Augustine’s “Thou hast made us for Thee and our hearts are restless until they rest in...

The devil exists as a symbolic reality, not as a personal reality,' Fr Arturo Sosa claimed The superior general of the Society of Jesus has said that the devil is a symbol, but not a person. The devil, “exists as the personification of evil in different structures, but not in persons, because is not a person, is a way of acting evil. He is not a person like a human person. It is a way of evil to be present in human life,” Fr Arturo Sosa, SJ, said Wednesday in an interview with Italian magazine Tempi. “Good and evil are...

Barack and Michelle Obama may soon become Kennedy adjacent because we've learned they're in escrow for a remarkable, mega-expensive, Martha's Vineyard estate. Multiple island sources tell us the Obamas are in escrow for the estate owned by Boston Celtics owner, Wyc Grousbeck. The former Prez and First Lady have been renting the house this summer and loved it so much, we've learned they made an offer. The property is listed at $14,850,000. Our sources say they're paying less, but we don't know how much. The estate -- incredible. It's 29 beachfront acres. The main residence is just shy of 6,900...

Cindy McCain said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that when she listens to the political discourse of the hour she hears no “voice of reason.” McCain talked about the political legacy of her husband, the late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, in an interview with ABC News. McCain died Aug. 25, 2018 of a brain tumor. He was the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2008.Describing today’s Republicans as “not the party of Abraham Lincoln … nor the party of Ronald Reagan,” McCain said the political characteristic that most defined her husband — bipartisanship — is virtually absent from the American political...

My pantry is out of control. I’ve known this for a long time but have been unable to muster up the motivation to tackle the job.Noooooooooo! Not today!And trust me, it’s bad:Really bad, check out the bottom half:Time to summon  Mrs. Tittlemouse: But the untidiness was something dreadful—"Never did I see such a mess—smears of honey; and moss, and thistledown—and marks of big and little dirty feet—all over my nice clean house!" As you will note I no longer have a floor in the pantry. It’s been replaced by wine, booze (for extreme emergency purposes), a case of Bundaberg gingerale...

A New York Times political editor has a years-long history of antisemitic and racist comments on his Twitter page, a Breitbart News investigation has found. Tom Wright-Piersanti, who has been a Senior Staff Editor at the New York Times for more than five years according to his LinkedIn page and according to his Twitter page oversees the newspaper’s political coverage, has made a series of antisemitic and racist tweets over the years. Many of them are still public on his Twitter page as of the publication of this article, but some have since been deleted.

Were you able to sit through all seven episodes of Showtime's "The Loudest Voice" about Roger Ailes without falling asleep? Well, good news! This December a movie will be released on the exact same subject called "Bombshell." Not only will it cover the same ground again, but we can be pretty sure that it will repeat the slam on Fox News for daring to not fall in line with the strictly liberal agenda that has been tightly embraced by much of the rest of the media.  One bit of good news is that you don't have to wait for its release date...

Thai officials glimpse a silver lining in the U.S.-China trade war as companies such as Sony Corp. move production to Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. At least 10 firms are in the process of relocating some production to Thailand from China, according to the National Economic & Social Development Council. More than a dozen others could potentially choose Thailand, it said in a statement. “We may not see the impact on the economy now, but in the second half of 2019, it could become a positive factor for growth,” the agency’s Deputy Secretary-General Wichayayuth Boonchit said Monday.Trade tension is sapping growth...