Free Republic

A Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy is on paid leave after apparently leaving his badge and a loaded gun that were found by a child at a South Lake Tahoe rental home. Josh Segarra, 9, found the gun in a bedroom drawer 10 minutes after arriving at an Airbnb rental near the Heavenly ski resort over the weekend, the boy’s father, Jon Segarra of Hayward, told KTVU-TV. At first, the family thought the items were fake. They didn’t touch the gun — a Ruger .380 handgun — but contacted local police.

A Wisconsin judge held three state election commissioners in contempt on Monday and ordered them to proceed immediately with purging more than 200,000 people from the state’s voter rolls. The ruling by Judge Paul V. Malloy of Ozaukee County Circuit Court doubled down on his finding last month that thousands of voters who are believed to have moved should have their registrations canceled in Wisconsin, a narrowly divided state that has become a focal point of the 2020 presidential battle. The debate over whether voters should be purged from the rolls has become a proxy for the state’s tense partisan...

The good folks at ReasonTV put together this 15-minute highlight reel of Bernie Sanders’s greatest socialist hits, and I expect we’ll see parts of this rolled out by other campaigns—especially Bloomberg but ultimately Trump’s campaign—if Bernie does well in the early primaries. Worth it alone for the quote at the very beginning on the virtue of food lines in socialist countries. That one quote alone ought to kill Bernie’s campaign cold. P.S. In case you didn’t already know, Bernie is an actual Communist. Chaser: Bernie Sanders Despised Democrats In 1980s, Said A JFK Speech Once Made Him Sick Vermont senator...

LONDON — Iran is caught in a wretched economic crisis. Jobs are scarce. Prices for food and other necessities are skyrocketing. The economy is rapidly shrinking. Iranians are increasingly disgusted. Crippling sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have severed Iran’s access to international markets, decimating the economy, which is now contracting at an alarming 9.5 percent annual rate, the International Monetary Fund estimated. Oil exports were effectively zero in December, according to Oxford Economics, as the sanctions have prevented sales, even though smugglers have transported unknown volumes. The bleak economy appears to be tempering the willingness of Iran to escalate...

<p>DONALD JOHN TRUMP Coalition forms to back Trump rollback of major environmental law Canadian CEO blasts Trump over downed plane in Iran: 'I am livid' Business groups worry they won't see a Phase 2 Trump-China trade deal MORE plans to divert $7.2 billion from the Pentagon to go toward border wall construction this year, an amount five times greater than what Congress authorized in the budget, the Washington Post reported.</p>

Lovers of Champagne and other French sparkling wines should brace for big cost increases if the United States makes good on a threat to impose 100% tariffs on French goods in a dispute over the country’s planned digital services tax. A $70 bottle of Moet & Chandon Grand Vintage could surge to $130, for example, said David Parker, chief executive of Benchmark Wine Group, the largest U.S. supplier of fine and rare wines for wine retailers. The U.S. government said in December it may slap duties of up to 100% on $2.4 billion in imports from France of Champagne, handbags,...

[Catholic Caucus] Critics Slam Benedict for New Book Defending Priestly Celibacy The retired pontiff breaks his silence — and not all are happy DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Critics are slamming Pope Benedict XVI and Cdl. Robert Sarah for defending clerical celibacy in their forthcoming book, From the Depths of Our Hearts. Scheduled for release in February, the collaboration is a timely work that tackles the crisis in the Church, especially in relation to the priesthood, with a key focus on the question of priestly celibacy. Father Joseph Fessio, founder and editor of Ignatius Press, described the book as about "the lasting crisis that the...

Donald Trump’s military strike against terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani hasn’t led to war with Iran but it has opened up hostilities in the Democratic presidential race. Bernie Sanders wants to use the tension in the Middle East to tar Joe Biden for his 2002 vote authorizing war in Iraq, in contrast to Mr. Sanders’ opposition to the use of American military power. In Tuesday night’s debate, Mr. Biden will need better responses. [CUT] Mr. Biden can start with the truth, which is that in 2002 the intelligence was wrong that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Even Mr. Sanders,...

What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they...

With President Trump facing an impeachment trial over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his son Hunter Biden, Russian military hackers have been boring into the Ukrainian gas company at the center of the affair, according to security experts. The hacking attempts against Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company on whose board Hunter Biden served, began in early November, as talk of the Bidens, Ukraine and impeachment was dominating the news in the United States. It is not yet clear what the hackers found, or precisely what they were searching for.

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Fort Chaffee, ArkansasFort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center is an Army National Guard installation in western Arkansas, adjacent to the city of Fort Smith. Established as Camp Chaffee in 1941, renamed to Fort Chaffee in 1956, Fort Chaffee has served as a United States Army base, training camp, prisoner-of-war camp, and refugee camp. The base was closed following the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission round. Since that time, the Arkansas National Guard has been using 66,000 acres as a training facility.Fort Chaffee is utilized by all Department of Defense components and...

American history textbooks can differ across the country, in ways that are shaded by partisan politics

Low tides have left canals in Venice almost dry, just two months after severe flooding left much of the Italian city under water. Boats have been seen almost beached as water levels dip drastically. The canals look more like mud trenches and getting around has become a problem for many in the city. In November, Venice experienced its highest water levels in more than 50 years in what some said was a direct result of climate change. Climate change behind highest tide in 50 years, says mayor More than two thirds of the city was underwater then, with the mayor...

Attorney General William Barr announced Monday that he would raise the threshold for opening counterintelligence probes into presidential campaigns after accusations that the investigation into President Trump’s 2016 campaign was flawed. Now, investigations into presidential candidates will require the signature of the attorney general and the head of the FBI, Barr said in a news conference with FBI Director Christopher Wray. “One of the things that we agreed on is that the opening of a counterintelligence investigation of a presidential campaign would be something that the director of the FBI would have to sign off on and the attorney general,”...

SAN DIEGO -- A federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration is operating within its authority when separating families stopped at the Mexican border, rejecting arguments that it was quietly returning to widespread practices that drew international condemnation. The American Civil Liberties Union argued that the administration was splitting families over dubious allegations and minor transgressions including traffic offenses. It asked the judge in July to rule on whether the government was justified in separating 911 children during the first year after the judge halted the general practice in June 2018.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican members of the U.S Senate, poised to begin an impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the coming days, voiced opposition on Monday to any attempt to dismiss the charges against him without a trial.

Obama’s True Legacy… The seemingly inexplicable mourning of leftists and mainstream media over liquidated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is slowly beginning to make sense. It is increasingly clear that Iran has infiltrated the U.S. government on various levels, including the very top, and it’s not a new problem. When it comes to the intelligence community, no one is handing out secrets, but the picture painted by what is known is disturbing enough to warrant investigation. Iran is the next chapter in the unfolding saga of the Democratic effort to sell and tear down America. We know about other brought-to-you-by-Democrats infiltrators:...

May 14th: Restoration Date of the Kingdom to Israel The traditionally accepted date* of the Crucifixion is Friday, April 3, A.D. 33. This is according to the Gentile calendar of the time (Julian, Roman). The Hebrew date was the 14th of Nisan, the eve of the Passover. It follows that Resurrection Sunday was April 5, and the date of the Ascension, May 14th [Iyar 25]. ASCENSION DAY. This day, also called Holy Thursday, is that on which the church celebrates the ascension of our Saviour, the fortieth day after his resurrection from the dead, May 14, A.D. 33; first commemorated...

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by three women arrested for violating a New Hampshire city ordinance by exposing their breasts in public as part of the so-called "Free the Nipple" movement. The rejection leaves in place a 2019 ruling by New Hampshire's top court that upheld their convictions for violating a Laconia, N.H., measure that prohibits female toplessness in public. The women -- Heidi Lilley, Kia Sinclair and Ginger Pierro -- argued the ban violates the Constitution. The ordinance makes it illegal to uncover female breasts “with less than a fully opaque covering of...

Jarvis Murphy tried to get away. He joined a fleeing crowd, heard gunshots echo on the stadium concourse, felt a bullet pierce the ground a few inches from his left shoe. He kept running — toward the exit, toward his car, willing himself forward even as he got a jolt in one leg, then the other. Outside the stadium, Mr. Murphy fell to the ground. When he rolled up his jeans, he found a gunshot wound below each knee. And the worst pain he had experienced in his 18 years. “I was scared. I was really scared,” said Mr. Murphy,...