Free Republic

Graphic by Dave Scott, Courtesy Dean Weingarten The National Instant background Check System (NICS) numbers for November of 2019 are a new record, 2,574,752. The previous record was in November 2016, at 2,556,281. The numbers for NICS in 2019, through the end of November, are 25,432,856. Those numbers, by themselves, would make 2019 the third-highest year on record. But December numbers are yet to be added to the year's total. December has the highest number of checks of any month of the year for 17 of the last 20 complete years of NICS checks.Last year, the December NICS checks were...

"Jaw-jaw is better than war-war," is attributed, wrongly, say some historians, to Winston Churchill. Still, the words lately came to mind. While last week ended with a hopeful U.S.-Iranian prisoner exchange that was hailed by President Donald Trump -- "Thank you to Iran for a very fair negotiation. See, we can make a deal together" -- a few days earlier, the week produced more ominous news. In a startling front-page story Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. is to send 14,000 troops to the Middle East, in addition to the 14,000 we have sent since May. The...

As negotiations with China over a “phase one” trade deal continue, the critical 15% December 15th tariffs on about $165 billion of Chinese imports (covering products like iPhones, apparel, and toys) near. While it certainly seems financial markets are rooting for President Trump to postpone the tariffs, this ongoing conflict with China is more important than a few Dow points. And despite all the doomsday proclamations, the stock market is near an all-time high while over $350 billion of Chinese imports face tariffs. That is why Trump should feel no pressure to strike a deal and should implement these tariffs.Ultimately,...

Democrats are apparently going to drop accusations of “bribery” and “obstruction of justice” from their articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, which are expected to be delivered on Tuesday, according to reports. As Breitbart News’ Joshua Caplan noted Monday evening, the Washington Post broke the story that Democrats “will focus on abuse of power and obstructing Congress.” The House Judiciary Committee’s recent Democratic staff report on the legal and constitutional basis for impeachment, argued that “abuse of power” was impeachable, even for “legally permissible” actions, if the president also had “illegitimate motives.” The report cited the much-criticized impeachment of...

The House Judiciary Committee’s latest hearing on the Donald Trump impeachment inquiry came to a grinding halt when Congressmen Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY) had a dust-up over the hearing’s proceedings. The hearing was stopped when Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) accused the Judiciary chairman of breaking House rules and not letting Republicans hold a minority hearing day. Nadler responded to the complaints of Biggs and Ranking Republican Doug Collins (R-GA) by saying their point of order was out of place in today’s hearing, and as he tried to move things along, Gaetz started haranguing the chairman and accusing...

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The IG report is expected to be released Monday at 1 PM ET, however sources have told John Solomon that the lies and omissions were so egregious that Attorney General Bill Barr may actually withdraw the FBI’s application for the FISA warrants on Carter Page that began in October of 2016. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/john-solomon-ig-report-lays-out-incontrovertible-evidence-obama-fbi-misled-fisa-court/

President Donald Trump said the results of the Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report was ‘far worse than I would have ever thought possible.’ “It’s an embarrassment to our country,” he added. “It’s dishonest, it’s everything that a lot of people thought it would be, but far worse..it’s a very sad day when I see that… they had nothing it was concocted. It’s probably something that never happened in the history of country.” President Trump on Justice Department IG Report: “It’s a disgrace…it’s incredible, far worse than I would have ever thought possible. It’s an embarrassment to our...

The jig is up. The Democrats have now actually admitted—in writing—that their sad little attempt at impeachment is entirely baseless. The House Judiciary Committee Report was released Saturday and admitted two very critical points: First, the Democrats are trying to change the standard of impeachment. They are literally changing the rules to fit their theatrical story. Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler wrote in the preface that the previous reports on grounds for impeachable offenses in the Nixon and Clinton eras “remain useful points of reference, but no longer reflect the best available learning on questioning relating to presidential impeachment.” Why, Jerry?...

Former CIA Director John Brennan lashed out at President Trump Monday evening after DOJ IG Michael Horowitz released his 476-page report on FISA abuse. The report revealed what we knew to be true all along — the FBI defrauded the FISA court and purposely omitted exculpatory information from the FISA judges in order to obtain FOUR FISA warrants on Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/12/brennan-lashes-out-at-president-trump-after-ig-horowitz-releases-report-on-fisa-abuse/

Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, tapping a federal prosecutor and a conservative appellate lawyer for the west coast court. The nominees, Patrick Bumatay and Lawrence VanDyke, are likely to elicit strong opposition for Democrats. If confirmed, the pair would raise the number of Trump’s 9th Circuit appointees to nine, with one other nomination pending. Trump has clashed frequently with the 9th Circuit, which upheld injunctions against top administration policy priorities like the travel ban. His criticisms drew a rare rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts, who rejected Trump’s charge that judges are sometimes motivated by politics. Friday’s nomination is...

If you've ever wondered what Judaism is, here is a list of its principle beliefs. This is not not an official list, but these beliefs have been widely held by religious Jews for thousands of years. As for my background, I have taught Judaism all of my life including two years as a member of the Brooklyn College Department of Judaic Studies; written two books and hundreds of articles on Judaism; and written two volumes -- Genesis and Exodus -- of a projected five-volume commentary on the Torah (called "The Rational Bible"). I am publishing this list because fewer and...

It turns out that the most revealing aspect of the long-awaited Justice Department’s inspector general’s report on the origins of the Russia collusion hoax comes from Attorney General William Barr’s damning assessment of it. In unmistakably terse language, Barr denounced “a small group of now-former FBI officials” for their “misconduct,” “malfeasance and misfeasance,” and “clear abuse of the FISA process.” Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz, issued a 476-page report Monday that broadly examined: (1) how and why the FBI initiated an investigation of candidate Donald Trump and his campaign in July 2016; and (2) the decision to seek a Foreign...

Liberals do not use language the way everyone else does. Normal people use it to communicate, to convey thoughts and feelings to other people. Liberals use it as a weapon, a means of control – stray from their accepted terminology and word usage and prepare for hell. To the left, words mean whatever they need them to mean and can, at any given moment, be redefined on a whim. The left is no longer burning books, they’re now only burning the dictionary, one word at a time. With that in mind, it has become necessary to let people know which...

The supreme court of world trade, otherwise known as the “appellate body” of the World Trade Organization, will cease functioning on Wednesday. The court is supposed to have seven members but it currently has four vacancies, with two more members retiring on Tuesday. That leaves one active judge, two short of the number required to rule on international trade disputes. Those vacancies haven’t been filled thanks to the Trump administration’s war on the WTO. The president has criticized the WTO for allowing China to retain its special status as a developing nation (though it's now number two in the world...

To understand just how shoddy the FBI’s work was in securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant targeting the Trump campaign, you only need to read an obscure attachment to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report. Appendix 1 identifies the total violations by the FBI of the so-called Woods Procedures, the process by which the bureau verifies information and assures the FISA court its evidence is true. The Appendix identifies a total of 51 Woods procedure violations from the FISA application the FBI submitted to the court authorizing surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page starting in October...

President Donald Trump likes to say he’s going to win so much, you’ll get tired of winning. Maybe Democrats have taken the president too literally. The Democratic Attorneys General Association is leading the charge to excise all abortion moderates from the good graces of the party. It announced it will not endorse or assist any candidates who do not support unfettered abortion access. While state AGs may not seem incredibly relevant, they are an important stepping stone toward governors’ mansions in many states. So, considering the Democrats’ weak bench for plausible candidates in red states, the decision not to compete...

[The Patriots] -- still trying to distance itself from the 2007 Spygate scandal -- had to deal with a new report that said a video crew working for the team filmed the Cincinnati Bengals sideline during Sunday's game. The latest allegations came to light when Bengals coach Zac Taylor, whose team plays New England on Sunday, confirmed that the league was investigating the crew's activities.

Four people were killed and two seriously wounded on Tuesday in a shooting at a hospital in the northeastern Czech city of Ostrava. Police are searching ...

UN chief Michele Bachelet said on Dec.6: the picture now emerging from Iran is extremely disturbing, One of the worst incidents took place in the city of Mahshahr in southwest Iran on Nov. 18 when security forces fired at protesters with machineguns, killing at least 23 and possibly many more. The city of Mahshahr is one of Iran’s important ports for the export of crude oil and oil-related products. Crude oil extracted from the Province of Khoosestan is transported to the Abadan refinery and the final products are destined to the city of Mahshar for export. This makes Mahshar an...