Free Republic

China announced Friday it will impose tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. goods, the latest salvo in the year-plus trade war between the world's two largest economies. The country's State Council said tariffs of 5 percent to 10 percent will be imposed on a variety of American goods in two batches, with the first going into effect next month and a second scheduled for December, multiple media outlets reported, citing state-run media. The second batch of tariffs will reportedly include a 25 percent tariff on all U.S. automobiles.

The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was what we call an “originalist” when it came to interpreting the U.S. Constitution. He believed the only way to read the Constitution was in the context of the times when its provisions were written which formed the intent of those who wrote and later amended it. We could only interpret what they meant by reading what they wrote through the filter of the events of their day, not our day. The issue of the 14th Amendment and whether it conveys birthright citizenship just from being born on American soil has resurfaced in...

Who knew a “peace park” could be so contentious? The Pacifist Memorial in the Boston suburb of Sherborn has been forced to take down a United Nations flag after residents objected. Memorial founder Lewis Randa removed the flag and its flagpole last week because residents of the luxury townhome development where it’s now located say the items violated their property agreement. But Randa says he and others were simply restoring a flag, which he concedes was not part of the original memorial but had flown for decades on the grounds. He said it’s “inexcusable” that the UN flag isn’t allowed...

As gun-related violence spikes in Toronto, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for adding more “common sense” gun restrictions to the country’s already restrictive firearm laws. Toronto enjoys a relatively low gun-related homicide rate compared to many U.S. cities, but that hasn’t stopped Trudeau from blaming guns for the city’s crime. “Recent shootings have underscored the need for common sense firearms policy,” Trudeau said at a press conference after a meeting with Toronto Mayor John Tory. “We need action. But Mayor Tory and I agree that we can’t simply arrest our way out of this problem.” Seventeen people were...

Multiple contractors working for Microsoft explain how they listened to audio captured by Xbox consoles.Contractors working for Microsoft have listened to audio of Xbox users speaking in their homes in order to improve the console’s voice command features, Motherboard has learned. The audio was supposed to be captured following a voice command like “Xbox” or “Hey Cortana,” but contractors said that recordings were sometimes triggered and recorded by mistake.The news is the latest in a string of revelations that show contractors working on behalf of Microsoft listen to audio captured by several of its products. Motherboard previously reported that human contractors were listening to...

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., is dropping out of the 2020 presidential race. “I think it’s evident that this is now a three-way race between Biden, Warren and Sanders, and really it’s a debate about how far left the party should go,” he told The New York Times

He hardly mentions it, while his adversaries are obsessed with ‘whiteness’ and ‘white privilege.’ Long before the El Paso massacre, President Trump’s political opponents accused him of sowing “division” with his “racist language.” Mr. Trump “exploits race,” “uses race for his gain,” is engaged in a “racially divisive reprise” of his 2016 campaign, stokes “racial resentments,” and puts “race at the fore,” the New York Times has reported over the past several months.

CNN has hired fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as a contributor, the network announced Friday morning. (developing)

Bernie Sanders tweeted out today that he wants fossil fuel executives criminally prosecuted over global warming junk science.

Three stories in today’s news–none of them the type of story I would normally write about–illustrate a common theme. The first is from Britain, where eco-crusaders Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are being accused of hypocrisy for repeatedly zipping back and forth to Nice on a private jet. Meanwhile, Prince William booked his family on a £73 commercial flight to Scotland, in what is viewed as a rebuke of his younger brother. But why be hard on Prince Harry? When the world’s leading global warming alarmists gather in ritzy locales to vote on rules that no one will follow, they...

Billionaire globalist David Koch passed away on Friday. He was 79. Koch, who donated to Republicans and conservative causes, was a globalist and fought against President Donald Trump.

Hawaiian Airlines said in a statement tonight it was determined that “a seal failed in the aircraft’s left engine, causing oil to leak onto hot parts of the plane’s engine and air conditioning pressurization system, resulting in smoke in the cabin.” The airline said performance of the engine was not affected. Passengers on a Hawaiian Airlines flight had to evacuate the plane from emergency slides this morning after it landed in Honolulu due to reports of smoke in the cargo hold and cabin. All passengers and crew evacuated the aircraft and seven passengers were taken to hospitals with smoke inhalation...

Thursday on the campaign trail, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) described President Donald Trump’s comments about Jewish people voting for Democrats as “what you might see in the Third Reich.” O’Rourke said, “So this is additional cruelty, another attack on immigrants from a president who has attacked them from the moment he descended the escalator in the Trump Tower, declaring his candidacy for this office, warning about rapists and criminals, which is the way that he described immigrants, and trying to stoke and stir up fear and violence which we have seen perpetrated against them throughout...

A conservative watchdog group is asking the Office of Congressional Ethics on Thursday to review whether 14 Democratic lawmakers and one Republican inappropriately used their office to try to coerce a Las Vegas casino mogul into allowing his employees to unionize. In May, Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan and 13 other Democrats wrote a letter to Frank Fertitta III, the CEO of the Las Vegas-based casino management company Red Rock Resorts Inc., urging him to “respect the rights of employees” at the company “to form a union and collectively bargain.” Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania sent Fertitta a similar letter...

“Joke” should be in quotation marks. There isn’t a shadow of a doubt that he would do that deal if it were on the table. Greenland, for one, was not on the staff’s list of priorities for the week. But while Mr. Trump has long derided nation-building, his flirtation with nation-buying turned out to be more serious than many originally thought. He has been talking privately about buying Greenland for more than a year and even detailed the National Security Council staff to study the idea. At one point last year, according to a former official who heard him, he...

Morning "The voice of weeping shall be no more heard." Isaiah 65:19 The glorified weep no more, for all outward causes of grief are gone. There are no broken friendships, nor blighted prospects in heaven. Poverty, famine, peril, persecution, and slander, are unknown there. No pain distresses, no thought of death or bereavement saddens. They weep no more, for they are perfectly sanctified. No "evil heart of unbelief" prompts them to depart from the living God; they are without fault before his throne, and are fully conformed to his image. Well may they cease to mourn who have ceased to...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Old Testament) 2 Kings 20 Hezekiah’s Illness 20 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 Before Isaiah had...

The latest casting lineup for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue may be its most diverse ever, including women of all shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds. The magazine is using Instagram to share the 17 finalist to make it into their #SISwimSearch this year, and the picks unveiled so far include plus-size models, women proudly displaying their stretch marks and cellulite, and even a 55-year-old rocking a string bikini. Also in the group is Miss Universe runner-up Ariadna Gutierrez, a 37-year-old US Army veteran, and a dancer who suffers from alopecia and is completely bald.

Radio, IR and optical observations show evolution of plumes and their impact on belts and zones Storm clouds rooted deep in Jupiter's atmosphere are affecting the planet's white zones and colorful belts, creating disturbances in their flow and even changing their color. Thanks to coordinated observations of the planet in January 2017 by six ground-based optical and radio telescopes and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, a University of California, Berkeley, astronomer and her colleagues have been able to track the effects of these storms -- visible as bright plumes above the planet's ammonia ice clouds -- on the belts in which...

Delegates to next year’s Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee will be staying as far away as an 80-minute drive south near Chicago, but none will be staying 80 minutes west in Madison. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday reported that 31 state delegations will stay at hotels in the Milwaukee area, while another 26 will stay in northern Illinois, including near O’Hare International Airport. Democratic Party officials declined to provide delegate housing details or explain why Madison was excluded. Madison officials say they remain positive that the July convention’s thousands of visitors will spend some time — and money —...