Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Marianne Williamson, the self-help guru who warned of the “dark psychic force” unleashed by Republican President Donald Trump, suspended her quixotic outsider campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination on Friday. Williamson won admirers if not voters with a spirituality-focused campaign that promoted a politics of love and of conscience. She advocated a Department of Peace and embraced an economic justice agenda to repair damage done by so-called trickle-down economics. “I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible effort to share our message. With caucuses and primaries now about to begin, however, we will not...

Overblown alarm over reasonable gun-control laws proposed in statehouses across the country has led to a movement by various local governments declaring themselves Second Amendment “sanctuaries” — vowing to establish local jurisdictions where state gun laws that they view as unconstitutional will not be enforced. These resolutions, to the extent they conflict with state law, lack legal effect: In Tazewell County, Va., for example, the “Sanctuary Resolution” approved by the board of supervisors purports to prohibit any county employee from enforcing, and any county funds from being used for the enforcement of, new state gun laws the county deems unconstitutional....

Grasses, shrubs and mosses are growing and expanding around Mount Everest and across the Himalayan region as the area continues to experience the consequences of global warming, researchers have found. Scientists from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom used satellite data to establish increases in subnival vegetation -- plants that grow between the tree line and the snow line -- in the Himalayas. Using NASA Landsat satellite data from 1993 to 2018, remote sensing scientists measured "small but significant" increases in vegetation cover across four height brackets between 4,150 and 6,000 meters (13,615-19,685 feet) above sea level. "There...

Is the federal government a disinterested player in the debate on climate science? Not based on an impressive video that outlines some of the shenanigans of government agencies, which supposedly watch the matter. Composed of 13 federal agencies that conduct research on global changes that impact society, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is a federal project that issues periodic reports about the climate in the United States. In 1989, the year it was established, USGCRP was mandated by Congress to coordinate federal research related to the human and natural forces that affect the global environment. Billed as the...

In his exit from the University of Alabama, Tua Tagovailoa made one thing clear at the podium: there is still another Tagovailoa at the program. With his brother pursuing the NFL Draft, Taulia Tagovailoa carries the mantle in fighting to be the starting quarterback for the Crimson Tide. Since the younger Tagovailoa thrives so much on competition, the idea of having his brother already at Alabama never deterred his decision to come. His arm talent and his influence may not be at the elite level yet; however, his toughness is. Tagovailoa played through injuries at Thompson High School (Alabaster, Ala.)...

Patrick Stewart returns to Star Trek and the role of Jean-Luc Picard in a new CBS streaming show, but the reason it exists at all is, unsurprisingly, political. The liberal actor told Variety this week that Picard is “me responding to the world of Brexit and Trump.” He also said that the United States (under Trump) and Britain (under Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson) are “completely f****d.” Talking to Variety’s Daniel Holloway, Stewart explained why his character is getting a revival: Trump seemed to be responsible for a lot of old TV shows coming back. In 2018, the creator of...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday defended her decision not to pay dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), saying she would instead seek to funnel money directly to Democrats in tough races. Asked by The Hill if she intended to pay dues to the House Democratic campaign arm this cycle, Ocasio-Cortez replied, "I don't think so." Ocasio-Cortez, whose unexpected win in a 2018 primary against longtime incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) propelled her to political stardom in progressive circles, has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s most prolific fundraisers in the House. In the third quarter of...

Video at link. The Trump administration announced new sanctions on Iran Friday targeting the country’s metals sector and several of its government leaders following Tehran’s missile attacks on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops earlier this week. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin held a press conference at the White House to detail the new measures, which President Trump promised were coming earlier in the week. The new sanctions target the Iranian aluminum, copper, iron and steel industries. The U.S. is also sanctioning eight senior Iranian officials who were allegedly involved in Tuesday’s missile attacks against U.S....

Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson announced that she is officially suspending her campaign. "I ran for president to help forge another direction for our country. I wanted to discuss things I felt needed to be discussed that otherwise were not. I feel that we have done that," she wrote to supporters on her website in an entry published on Friday. The best-selling self-help author vowed to stay in the race following a mass lay-off her national campaign staff, leaving her with just a "skeletal staff "and her long-time assistant who stepped in to be her Interim campaign manager.

January 10, 2020 Dear Friend, I ran for president to help forge another direction for our country. I wanted to discuss things I felt needed to be discussed that otherwise were not. I feel that we have done that. I stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible effort to share our message. With caucuses and primaries now about to begin, however, we will not be able to garner enough votes in the election to elevate our conversation any more than it is now. The primaries might be tightly contested among the top contenders, and I don’t want...

‘Whistleblower’ calls out John Kerry, says he ‘knows for fact’ Obama admin sent multiple letters directly to Soleimani Middle East expert Michael Doran slammed former Secretary of State John Kerry in a series of tweets exposing the Obama administration’s dealings with Iran. “I must become a whistleblower,” Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute specializing in Middle East security issues, tweeted Friday in response to a self-serving opinion piece by Kerry published by The New York Times. Doran called out Kerry for his op-ed and the “ludicrous and reckless contention” that “diplomacy” with Iran and the nuclear deal negotiated...

Can you have a job with high satisfaction that also pays six figures? What about first-time job hunters? The answer to both questions is, “Yes.” If you choose wisely. The jobs environment is getting rosier, at least judging by the latest jobs figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5% in December and remained near a 50-year low. The labor force participation rate was 63.2% in December, unchanged from the previous month, helped by an increase in women aged 25 to 34 looking for work and/or getting jobs. The 2019 best job for college...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly surpassed 29,000 on Friday for the first time, setting a new record. The index hit the record earlier in the session following a moderate December jobs report, which found 145,000 new jobs created in 2019 and the unemployment rate staying unchanged at 3.5 percent, the lowest level in nearly 50 years. The Dow then retreated and was down slightly as of late morning. President Trump has frequently touted strong stocks as a sign of a booming economy, which he has made a central theme in his case for reelection. He has also cited the...

Rod Rosenstein Led Task Force that Spied on Attkisson’s Computers A former federal agent has stepped forward to admit illegal spying on Attkisson’s computers, and has implicated colleagues. In a federal lawsuit filed this week, Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein has been implicated in yet another improper government spy operation. In the new complaint, Attkisson v. Rosenstein et.al., investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson names former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosentein and four other Justice Department officials as the government agents who of illegally survielled her electronic devices. According to the complaint—filed in United States District Court in Baltimore, Maryland—Rosenstein led...

My 2620 will not send a fax. Rings fine but will not connect to other end. Any ideas on a fix? Thanks.

Far Outweighs the Firepower in Trench Warfare - You would think having extreme fire power would be the ideal thing to have when entrenched in a world war. However, in trench warfare during World War I having medieval/zombie types of weaponry was a better choice and more effective while fighting in the trench at close quarter. Trench raiding clubs were homemade melee weapons used by both the Allies and the Central Powers during World War I. These raiding clubs were used during night time trench raiding expeditions as a quiet and effective way of killing or wounding the enemy. The...

The outpouring of grief over the death of Qasem Soleimani is overwhelming. Protests are happening in many places. There is open weeping on TV. There are comparisons to the loss of great historical figures. And that's just the democrat party. There's almost as much sadness in Iran. When you see a Wounded Warrior Project commercial, you are looking at the handiwork of Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani killed over 600 soldiers and Marines and maimed thousands more with the EFP's he furnished to Iraq and Afghanistan. Limbs were blown off, eyes destroyed, lungs burned. Soleimani helped plan the attack on Benghazi- you...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that she expects to send the articles of impeachment against President Trump over to the Senate next week to launch his long-awaited trial. The move comes more than three weeks after the House passed two articles of impeachment against Trump over his dealings with Ukraine, and amid increasing pressure on the Speaker to drop her hold on the articles. "I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the Floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate," Pelosi wrote in a...

To say that conservative talk radio host Mark Levin isn't happy with Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee would be an understatement of epic proportions. The reason? Their decision to stand in front of leftwing-media cameras to blast the Trump administration after they were briefed on the decision to take out Iranian Terror General Qasem Soleimani. "Code Pink Republicans," as Levin called them, misinterpret the United States Constitution by pretending it's a libertarian or even populist document, which it is not. "The briefing lasted only 75 minutes, whereupon our briefers left," Lee said afterward. "This, however, is not the biggest...

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has told the U.S. secretary of state to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq, according to a statement released Friday. The statement, from the office of the Iraqi caretaker prime minister, said the request came in a telephone call between Abdul-Mahdi and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday night. It says Pompeo called the Iraqi premier. The prime minister said Iraq rejects all violations against its sovereignty including the attacks carried out by Iranian forces against U.S. troops in Iraq and...