Free Republic

The upcoming Virginia General Assembly is set to vote on a wide range of gun control bills that Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is pushing now that Democrats hold majorities in the statehouse. Trying to capitalize on that momentum, Delegate-elect Dan Helmer (D), an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, announced on Monday he is introducing three more gun control bills to "reduce gun violence in Virginia." HB567 will implement a ban on indoor shooting ranges in private buildings with "large numbers of employees" because of "recent workplace shootings." The bill would ban the ranges if it is in a building that has...

The numbers: The trade deficit fell sharply in November for the second month in a row and sank to the lowest level in three years, reflecting a decline in Chinese imports and the reemergence of the U.S. as an energy superpower. The trade gap dropped 8.2% to $43.1 billion in November, the government said Tuesday, basically matching the MarketWatch forecast. It’s the smallest deficit since October 2016.Most of the decline recently has been tied to a shrinking deficit with China, whose imports have fallen in the face off stiff U.S. tariffs. Surging U.S. oil exports were another contributor.If the gap...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will not increase its annual low-tariff import quotas for corn, wheat and rice to accommodate stepped-up purchases of farm goods from the United States, local media group Caixin quoted senior agriculture official Han Jun as saying on Tuesday. The report underlines China’s desire to protect its farmers at a time when it is under pressure to buy billions of dollars more of U.S. agricultural goods to calm a prolonged trade war, although its grain imports have been well below quota levels in recent years. Traders and analysts said the announcement appeared to be aimed at local...

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that Democrats will force votes on witnesses at the start of the impeachment trial even as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has secured enough support to delay the decision until mid-trial. "Make no mistake, on the question of witnesses and documents, Republicans may run but they can't hide. There will be votes at the beginning on whether to call the four witnesses we've proposed and subpoena the documents we've identified," Schumer said. He added that "America and the eyes of history will be watching what my Republican colleagues do." "If every Republican...

The left is not going to like this news. In fact, it will just give them one more reason to oppose the Electoral College. Projections for the census indicate that Republicans are going to make gains in 2020. The Blaze reports: Terrible news for Democrats in 2020: Census projections showing Electoral College gains for GOP Census projections have bad news for Democrats. Population estimates show reliably Democratic states, like New York, California, and Illinois will each lose at least one congressional district and representation in the Electoral College. Conversely, states that tend to vote for Republicans—such as Texas, Florida, and...

Tesla Inc. is as big as peak Ford Motor Co., with the Silicon Valley electric-car maker stock poised to hit another record on Tuesday. Tesla TSLA, +2.73% shares traded as high as $462.06, up more than 1% from Monday’s record close, the latest in a series of ever-climbing notches that stretch back to mid-December.

U.S.—CNN has slammed the world's best satire site, The Babylon Bee, after CNN exeuctives realized that "fake news" articles on the website were getting at least as much social media traction as their own. "There ain't room in this internet for the both of us," growled one CNN anchor on the air Monday evening. "There simply aren't enough people out there for us to fool with our fake news stories and The Babylon Bee to fool with their satire. There isn't enough clickbait and outrage traffic to go around." Reporters at the media outlet also pointed out that their news...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A mother of 11 who was laid off before Christmas is unable to find work and is facing eviction. “If I had family to go to -- like immediate family -- I’d go and ask them, but I don’t have any immediate family,” said Jessica Sumlin. “It’s just me and my kids.” The Mid-South mother said she is about to be evicted because she can’t find work. It’s a harsh reality many people in Memphis are experiencing in recent months as several companies have announced layoffs that are carrying over into the new year. Sumlin’s was laid...

'Repercussions mount over U.S. strike, with Iran nuclear deal pullback and Iraq call for U.S. troop pullout,' the Los Angeles Times tells us, waiting 14 paragraphs to explain the resolution is not binding. Millions of casual news consumers began their week believing that over the weekend, Iraq expelled the U.S. military from the country. The United States, they thought, now faced the decision to quickly leave or illegally occupy.Had they flicked through many of the cable or network stations, or read a few headlines on their phones or at the gas station, these Americans had heard the president’s decision to...

Sara Carter held a pod-cast interview with HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes.  At approximately 36:25 of the interview congressman Nunes discusses the testimony of Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson. The transcript from Atkinson’s House testimony has never been released.  Rep. Nunes states the reason HPSCI Chairman Schiff has kept the transcript hidden and classified is because the content is extremely damaging to the origin of the impeachment fraud.  Additionally, the testimony from Atkinson conflicted with evidence which surfaced later: “[Atkinson] is under active investigation. I’m not gonna go any farther than that because you know obviously he has a...

Er … Qassem Soleimani was an American dissident? This is a peculiar way to double down on a bad argument, even for one of the more peculiar figures on the Left. After Michael Bloomberg rebuked Bernie Sanders and others for calling the strike on the Iranian commander of the Quds force an “assassination,” Sanders defended himself on CNN, calling the strike “in violation of international law.” And once you start violating international law by taking out the man planning terrorist attacks American assets, it’s only a hop, skip, and a jump before you’re herding Uighirs into concentration camps, Sanders...

The Godfather of the left George Soros was recognized as Inside Philanthropy’s “philanthropist of the year.” Is that because of his history of bankrolling leftist causes? The liberal publication recognized Soros during its Inside Philanthropy’s Philanthropist of the Year Awards (IPPYs), lavishing propaganda-based praise on the billionaire: “[N]o donor is doing more to push back against the rising tide of authoritarianism worldwide.” They must have forgotten that Soros is currently supporting Big Government causes in the U.S. such as gun-control and a wealth-tax.

Months after it was first reported that Colin Farrell will be playing The Penguin in Warner Bros.' The Batman, director Matt Reeves has confirmed the news. The director took to Twitter on Monday to confirm that Farrell is indeed playing the Penguin, sharing a GIF of Farrell from the 2008 movie In Bruges with the caption, 'Wait - Is that you, #Oz?' along with a bat emoji. 'Oz' is a reference to The Penguin's given name, Oswald Cobblepot, and the tweet comes hours after the first photos of Farrell leaked from the London set.

A Louisiana man has been arrested for allegedly holding a loaded gun against his 9-year-old son's head after becoming angry that the child drank the last Dr Pepper in the house. According to an arrest report, an officer met with the mother of the boy after she arrived at the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's office annex to make a domestic aggravated battery complaint. The 9-year-old boy, with his mother present, also spoke to the officer. He said that on December 28, his father, Chad Kinnaird, became angry at him because he consumed the last Dr Pepper in their home. Kinnaird, 39,...

As much as I hate putting any dollar into Jeff Bezos' pocket that I don't have to, Sister Babe's insistence on subscribing to The Washington Compost so she can read it over breakfast is a phenomenal source for blog fodder. The latest example appeared when I opened the paper a few Sundays ago to be greeted by the headline, "Please stop making jokes about gender pronouns when people tell you theirs" with the Subhead, "They might hurt people more than you realize." The story proceeds to open with the anecdote about how Fredo Cuomo was forced to grovel before the Gaystapo...

Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex) proposed a four-page Personalized Care Act that would replace the 955-page Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The gist of this legislation would be to put individuals in charge of their own health care choices. Unlike Obamacare, individuals would be permitted to choose coverage more suitable to their needs instead of being forced to buy coverage for procedures they don't need. Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass) blasted Cruz's proposal. Sanders called it "entirely antithetical to the concept of the common good. Individuals will selfishly buy only the coverage they...

Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour on July 20 entered a dry dock at the Taranto navy yard to receive upgrades that will allow it to operate F-35B jets. The 244-meter Cavour is currently undergoing an extensive overhaul after ten years of service. All works on the ship are expected to be completed by the spring of 2020, when the ship’s crew is set to start training for a summer deployment to the US East Coast and shipboard trials with the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. In addition to the F-35A version, Italy...

As U.S. officials defended the decision to kill Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, Iranian leaders have stepped up calls for revenge against the United States on Tuesday. The calls for retaliation came as Iranian authorities prepared to bury Soleimani in his hometown in Kerman, a city in the southeast of the country. Early on Tuesday authorities had been forced to halt the burial proceedings after a deadly stampede killed scores. Here’s what we know so far: ● Iranian state news agencies reported that at least 50 people died and more than 200 were injured in a stampede during funeral...

All eyes are on Iran after the elimination of high-value terror target Qassem Soleimani, and not without reason. What they decide to do (or perhaps more importantly, not do) will no doubt have a major impact on how President Trump decides to move forward from here. The media has been highlighting the various responses of other world leaders, paying particular attention to those who are either condemning the strike or at least “urging restraint.” But largely lost in this ongoing conversation is the response – or at least until now, the lack of one – from North Korea.The hermit...

Breaking a 5-day silence over its response for the US killing of General Qassem Soleimani, on Tuesday Iran said it was assessing 13 scenarios to inflict a "historic nightmare" on the US. "Even if the weakest of these scenarios gain a consensus, its implementation can be a historic nightmare for the Americans," Ali Shamkhani, the head of Iran's national security council, was cited by Fars news agency, adding that, "For now, for intelligence reasons, we cannot provide more information to the media." Iranian officials previously said that U.S. forces in the region will be targets, and overnight the Iranian parliament...