Free Republic

Former Vice President Joe Biden has been signaling to aides that he would likely serve only one term in office if elected president in 2020, according to a report on Wednesday. Campaign advisers and some top Democrats have been debating whether he should publicly announce his intention not to seek a second term, but Biden is concerned that going public could make him a lame duck and rob him of political capital, Politico reported. “If Biden is elected,” a prominent adviser to the campaign told the news website, “he’s going to be 82 years old in four years and he...

A funny thing happened on the way to President Trump’s impeachment. Somewhere along the way, House Democrats lost the support of the American people. When they announced Articles of Impeachment against Trump on Tuesday, they did so with the support of just 48% of the American people (a number that is dramatically skewed by the fact that a near-unanimous 87.3% of Democrats want him impeached and removed from office), while the RealClearPolitics average of polls finds that 46.2% of the country does not want the President impeached and removed. Amazingly, support for impeachment has gone down as impeachment hearings have...

The shooting that unfolded at a kosher market in Jersey City, N.J., was a "targeted" attack, according to officials who say at least one of the suspects had published anti-Semitic and anti-police posts online before opening fire Tuesday. Mayor Steven Fulop would not commit on Wednesday to calling the shooting an anti-Semitic attack, but said after reviewing surveillance footage, investigators believe the attack was plotted against the Jewish deli. He told reporters footage shows the gunmen passing by other shops before getting out of a van and aiming for the market.

Oracle Corp. is pulling the plug on its annual San Francisco technology convention, relocating the event to Las Vegas in a major blow to the city's hospitality industry. The Redwood Shores company has signed a three-year agreement to bring its OpenWorld convention to the Caesars Forum in Las Vegas, citing rising hotel rates throughout the Bay Area as well as poor street conditions in San Francisco. An Oracle spokesperson confirmed the deal, first reported by CNBC.

A Naval air station in Texas is on lockdown and a suspect is in custody, officials said Wednesday, nearly a week after a Saudi national opened fire at a base in Pensacola, Florida, killing three and wounding eight more. Naval Air Station Corpus Christi issued a warning Wednesday morning at around 7:30, urging members of the base to “remain in place.”

The New York Yankees are back. Back to free-agent excess. Back to blowing away the rest of the market for free agents. Back to being at the head of baseball’s tycoon-class. And — pay attention because this is now the most pressing part — back to skyscrapers-sized expectations. Agreeing to a reported nine-year, $324 million contract with top free agent Gerrit Cole on Tuesday night signaled both a record free-agent deal for a pitcher (Stephen Strasburg’s record lasted a whole day) and a new reality for these Yankees. After a couple years of uncharacteristic scrappiness, in which they won despite...

The Inspector General’s Report, into the Trump-Russia investigation includes more than its fair share of bombshell revelations. They’re not revelations the Democrats were hoping for, however. Quite the opposite. Inspector General Michael Horowitz revealed that the investigation uncovered 17 “inaccuracies and omissions” that the FBI neglected to include in its applications for a FISA warrant against Carter Page. As you may recall, Carter Page was a Trump campaign staffer accused of “colluding” with Russia during the 2016 election. Getting a FISA warrant to surveil and wiretap Carter Page meant they had a direct way of monitoring and surveilling the...

Le’Veon Bell was too ill to bowl over Dolphins defenders on Sunday afternoon, but not to knock down some pins late Saturday. The Jets running back, who missed Sunday’s win because of the flu, spent Saturday night at a New Jersey bowling alley, according to sources. One source also had photos that show Bell at his lane. Bell missed practice Thursday and Friday and was ruled out of the game on Saturday because he was dealing with the flu. Jets coach Adam Gase said the team sent him home Friday to avoid getting other players sick. Gase also said Bell...

Today’s Cryptogram From today's Arkansas Gazette, a challenging puzzle. Anything under five minutes is good, under four excellent and under two minutes exceptional. D ZDVVT VKQFJH LF HJC D VKQFJH LH D GKQCDLH FKC JR GLQGIYFCDHGKF, AIC QDCZKQ D VKQFJH OLCZ D GKQCDLH FKC JR DCCLCISKF.---ZIMZ SJOHF 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...

For years I have railed against the dysfunctional federal student loan program. The availability of cheap federal student loans has enabled universities to increase tuition fees aggressively, helping fund an unproductive academic arms race that, among other things, has led to sizable administrative bloat on most campuses. The proportion of recent college graduates from the lowest quartile of the income distribution is lower than it was in 1970, suggesting that student loans have not been a successful vehicle for providing college access to those from low-income backgrounds—a primary program goal. Default rates on student loans are high because standard commercial...

Rob Reiner, the Hollywood filmmaker turned full-time left-wing agitator, is encouraging people to take to the streets to show their support for House Democrats’ effort to impeach President Donald Trump. Reiner tweeted Tuesday that he wants to see people demonstrating in the streets, exhorting his millions of followers to join a series of nationwide rallies sponsored by the far-left MoveOn the night before the House of Representatives votes on impeachment.

BOSTON (WHDH) - Here in Washington, the “I” word is “impeachment.” But, on the presidential trail, there’s another “I”– Iowa. And the vote there that’s now less than two months away. Tonight, our exclusive 7NEWS-Emerson College poll shows impeachment isn’t hurting former Vice President Joe Biden or President Trump in the Hawkeye State. “We’re on a ‘No Malarkey’ tour,” said Biden, who may owe his election to his bus if he becomes president. Biden was slipping in Iowa when he took an eight-day ‘No Malarkey’ tour through the state. It made a big difference.

If the report released Monday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz constitutes a “clearing” of the FBI, never clear me of anything. Holy God, what a clown show the Trump-Russia investigation was. Like the much-ballyhooed report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the Horowitz report is a Rorschach test, in which partisans will find what they want to find. Much of the press is concentrating on Horowitz’s conclusion that there was no evidence of “political bias or improper motivation” in the FBI’s probe of Donald Trump’s Russia contacts, an investigation Horowitz says the bureau had “authorized purpose” to conduct.

In the 36-years since Bob Clark’s A Christmas Story first appeared on the big screen, the movie has become as much a part of the Christmas season as Santa himself. More than just a charming holiday movie, A Christmas Story captures a time in America where kids could be kids; free to roam, daydream, tussle, and yes, even nearly lose an eye, without them (or their parents) being thrown into handcuffs or hauled in front of a family court magistrate. But no longer. Today’s child-rearing environment, dominated by a combination of helicopter parents and overzealous nanny staters, allows no such...

“The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth" (Proverbs 11:6-7).

Three men were arrested today in connection with a cryptocurrency mining scheme that defrauded investors of $722 million, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Matthew Brent Goettsche, 37, of Lafayette, Colorado, and Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, 38, of Arvada, Colorado, are charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and Goettsche, Weeks, and Joseph Frank Abel, 49, of Camarillo, California, are charged by indictment with conspiracy to offer and sell unregistered securities. Goettsche was arrested in Colorado, Weeks in Florida, and Abel in California. All three are scheduled to have their initial appearances in the districts of their arrests. Two defendants...

Greta Thunberg sits in silence in the cabin of the boat that will take her across the Atlantic Ocean. Inside, there’s a cow skull hanging on the wall, a faded globe, a child’s yellow raincoat.

TIME Magazine is expected to name Eric Ciaramella, the anti-Trump CIA “whistleblower” as their Person of the Year on Wednesday.

On Tuesday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View,” co-host Meghan McCain argued President Donald Trump’s rhetoric clouded the issues regarding the FBI’s Russia probe. McCain said, “They said there were 17 inaccuracies and omissions in the process and there was some FBI misconduct and plenty of wrongdoing in the FISA process. I think part of the problem with this is you will see it through whatever lens your political bias is at. As you were pointing out, people make makes mistakes.”

Who said Joe Scarborough was consumed with hatred of President Trump? Take it back! Because on today's Morning Joe, Scarborough showed such remarkable restraint, saying Trump should only "maybe" be compared to the perpetrators of genocide and gas chambers.Ed Luce of the Financial Times had mentioned that the UN had observed World Genocide Day earlier this week, and that the Secretary-General had issued a statement saying that "the Holocaust didn't begin in the gas chambers. It began years before with hate speech." Luce gave the standard liberal disclaimer, claiming he wasn't suggesting "for a moment" that America's heading toward genocide....