Free Republic

A Florida lawyer whose work for WikiLeaks landed him before the Mueller Commission and a small group of supporters of President Donald Trump just dropped on social media a humorous pro-MAGA video on the riffs of the 1970s disco anthem YMCA. Released about noon Monday, the video starts in the same fashion of The Village People's original song with vintage views of the Manhattan's old YMCA building -except that in his version, the real neon sign was replaced with MAGA. In the parody by the fake band The American People, the faces of the original singers dressed to look like...

Abstract Wind energy has emerged as a promising alternative to fossil fuels, yet the impacts of wind facilities on wildlife remain unclear. Prior studies estimate between 10,000 and 573,000 fatal bird collisions with U.S. wind turbines annually; however, these studies do not differentiate between turbines with a monopole tower and those with a lattice tower, the former of which now comprise the vast majority of all U.S. wind turbines and the latter of which are largely being de-commissioned. We systematically derived an estimate of bird mortality for U.S. monopole turbines by applying inclusion criteria to compiled studies, identifying correlates of...

The Trump administration is reportedly considering another plan to divert billions in dollars in military funding to pay for more border wall construction. The White House is once again (FY 2020) looking to divert $3.6 billion in military funds to pay for more wall construction on the U.S.-Mexico border, according senior administration officials who spoke to the Washington Post... If the administration does not get the $5 billion in wall funding it requested via the Department of Homeland Security budget, officials are reportedly ready to once again reallocate money from the Pentagon construction budget. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives remains...

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — The Bureau of Land Management is moving its headquarters to an office building in Colorado that also houses oil and gas organizations, drawing criticism from environmental groups. The building’s other tenants include two oil and gas companies as well as a state oil and gas association. The BLM regulates oil and gas leases and development on the land it oversees. The Denver Post reports representatives of environmental groups are concerned about the close association between oil and gas interests and the agency.

Published on Sep 23, 2019 Trump Considers Releasing Ukraine Transcript Causing Speculation About "4D Chess." Republican Trump allies have added to the choir of Democrats calling for transparency in Trump's dealings with Ukraine amid the Joe Biden and Hunter Biden scandal. But if it was the case that Trump abused his power to go after political rivals why would they entertain the idea of releasing the call transcript. Why would Trump even admit to the call when it turns out the "whistleblower" wasn't even actually a whistleblower. The news stories have begun shifting to Biden and what he was accused...

1779. Off of Flamborough Head on the Yorkshire coast of England, Captain John Paul Jones commanding Bonhomme Richard engages HMS Serapis in a brutal 4 hour battle. At one point in the battle, Pearson called for the Americans to surrender. Captain Jones answer was "Sir, I have not yet begun to fight." In the end Bonhomme Richard is fatally damaged, but Captain Richard Pearson strikes his colors to the Americans. Jones transfers his surviving crew to Serapis and takes Serapis to the Netherlands. A good short article can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Flamborough_Head 1944: USS West Virginia BB-48 steams into Pearl...

General Motors is playing hardball with striking UAW members. The company is pulling the plug on the healthcare coverage effective Tuesday, Sept. 17. That means the tab will have to be picked up by the union for workers to continue coverage. The same fund that pays workers $250 a week strike pay, and there's a total $750 million in the fund. “How I look at it is, we’re here for the company, we were here for them during all the downturns," said Stephanie Carpenter, a 22-year employee of GM who was picketing in front of the company's headquarters Tuesday. "They...

In an angry and emotional speech at the United Nations climate summit on Monday, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tore into world leaders for failing to act. "This is all wrong," Thunberg said, reading from a piece of paper. "I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean, yet you come to us young people for hope. How dare you." "People are suffering," the 16-year-old continued through tears. "People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about...

'Thieves Steal More than $350,000 in Jewelry from Trump Tower, Suspected to Have Been Inside Job""" Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry has reportedly been taken from apartments in the New York skyscraper that bears President Donald Trump's name. The New York Post reported that more than $350,000 worth of valuables had been taken from two apartments in Trump Tower in two separate incidents. Sources told the paper that they believe the thefts were inside jobs as there were no signs of forced entry and the residences had not been turned inside out. Insurance fraud is also not...

2020 Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney claimed Monday the party's front-runners are at risk of losing to President Trump in the general election and said they must scale back their rhetoric to win over moderate voters. "Our three front-runners... most Democrats know, are inherently vulnerable," he said on "America's Newsroom." "And that’s a real problem... Our top three candidates, I think, have significant weaknesses in a general election." Delaney said the candidates' platforms are moving too far left and will end up scaring away voters who favor private insurance and economic growth. "Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are fundamentally running...

   Judge Tammy Kemp took the rare step of sequestering the jury, shielding them from outside influence and local news coverage. Photograph: Tom Fox/APThe judge in the murder trial of a former Dallas police officer charged with shooting and killing a black neighbor has taken the rare step of sequestering the jury.Former officer Amber Guyger, who is white, has told investigators in Texas she mistook Botham Jean, 26, for an intruder after she mistakenly entered his central Dallas apartment one floor above hers.The shooting in September last year, one of a series of high-profile killings of unarmed black men and teens...

The whistleblower who sparked a mounting controversy over President Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine’s president did not have “firsthand knowledge” of the conversation, a person familiar with the situation told Fox News -- even as the issue fuels impeachment calls from Democrats. The source said that it is made clear in the complaint itself that the whistleblower did not have direct knowledge of the July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. * * * Hunter Biden was hired by Burisma in April 2014, two months after Ukraine's Russia-friendly president was ousted by protesters and as his...

In one corner, we have Ivanka Trump and Attorney General William Barr. And in the other, we have Donald Trump Jr. These are the two sides warring for Trump's favor in an ongoing debate over gun restrictions, Politico reports. Ivanka Trump's faction is reportedly looking for increased restrictions on gun sales and stronger background checks, while Donald Trump Jr.'s is warning him against it — but neither side seems to have curried the president's favor just yet. As more and more mass shootings make headlines, and as gun violence continues to be an epidemic across the U.S., two sides have...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that a fourth summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “could happen soon” amid stalled nuclear diplomacy. Trump didn’t elaborate in comments to reporters ahead of the start of U.N. meetings in New York, and it was not clear if concrete plans were in the works for another meeting meant to address a growing diplomatic impasse over the North’s development of nuclear-armed missiles targeting the U.S. mainland. The stalemate comes despite past high-profile meetings between Trump and Kim. Trump has played down a series of recent North Korean tests...

The co-founders of Home Depot believe if Bernie Sanders were president when they tried to open their business in 1978, the home-improvement retailer may never have existed. In an exclusive interview with Neil Cavuto, Bernie Marcus and Ken Langone explain why. "Home Depot is the poster child for capitalism," Marcus said. The two admittedly said they never thought about giving up on their business, even amid the economic downturn in the late 70s when the company was born. Marcus pointed out, "people needed product. People still had to build houses, fix plumbing." When asked about Bernie Sanders' plan to have...

Democratic Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee claimed that an AR-15 fired .50-caliber rounds and weighed more than “ten boxes.” In a video Nicholas Ballasy posted on YouTube last week, Jackson Lee claimed that Democrats were going to have to do more than just push stricter gun-control measures in the House. Jackson Lee asserted that she had held an AR-15 and the experience shook her. “I’ve held an AR-15 in my hand, I wish I had it. It is as heavy as 10 boxes that you might be moving and the bullet that is utilized, a .50 caliber, these kinds of...

'I would be surprised if they didn't double that in the not-too-distant future' Chick-fil-A is the left's most-hated fast-food chain. Progressives routinely boycott the chain for being "anti-gay" despite never turning away LGBT customers. New data reveals the LGBT boycotts have actually been ineffective – in fact, the chain's sales have more than doubled in the wake of the protests.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) struggles to appeal personally to voters despite her popular policies, Axios reporter Alexi McCammond said on MSNBC Monday. McCammond discussed her article arguing that voters find Warren's left-wing policies appealing but have "qualms" about the Massachusetts senator's personality. Voters "liked things like canceling student loan debt, they liked the idea of taxing corporations and the wealthy because they feel like it will help people like them personally, but they didn't like Elizabeth Warren's personality," McCammond said.

Wartime propaganda gone bad.

NEW YORK, NY—Climate activist and adolescent Greta Thunberg gave a passionate speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, declaring, "How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing." "This is all wrong," she declared, clearly on the verge of tears. Savvy viewers, however, noticed there were marionette strings attached to the 16-year-old throughout her speech. "Hey, wait a minute!" one attendee shouted. "Those are puppet strings, kinda like on Thunderbirds!" This caused some...