Free Republic

Russia's government has resigned, hours after President Vladimir Putin proposed sweeping constitutional changes that could prolong his stay in power. PM Dmitry Medvedev said the president's proposals would significantly change Russia's balance of power. Mr Putin asked Mr Medvedev to become deputy head of the National Security Council, which is chaired by Mr Putin. The president later nominated tax service chief Mikhail Mishustin to replace Mr Medvedev as prime minister. The unexpected announcement comes four years before Mr Putin's fourth term of office is due to end. Under the existing constitution, he would not be entitled to another term. The...

All thinking people in this country have concerns about the moral state of our nation -- the rampant sexual promiscuity and perversity, our willingness to accept lying, our lack of concern about drug abuse, to name a few examples. We know in our bones that no society can succeed in that state -- no society ever has. So we are thrilled to see Trump successfully holding the ship of state steady through this storm of anti-God ideas and behavior. The abortion rate is going down and abortion clinics are closing. People are beginning to register disdain for blatant political prevarications....

Roger Scruton passed away on Sunday, January 12, 2020. Scruton was among the most original and perceptive conservative thinkers of our time. In over forty books and countless articles and posts, he worked to defend the ideas of national sovereignty, individual privacy, religious culture, and human freedom. His death is a great loss to conservatism and to the cause of freedom in general. Among Scruton's best known books are An Intelligent Person's Guide to Modern Culture; The West and the Rest; and Gentle Regrets: Thoughts from a Life. In these and so many other books, he presented a coherent vision...

San Francisco, CA – San Francisco’s new district attorney fired several senior prosecutors on Friday, just two days after he was sworn into office. Chesa Boudin, who ran on a platform to fix the city’s “broken justice system” and put fewer people behind bars, was sworn into office as district attorney on Wednesday, according to KTVU. "I had to make difficult staffing decisions today in order to put in place a management team that will help me accomplish the work I committed to do for San Francisco,” Boudin said in a written statement released after the terminations became public. The...

Involuntary Celibates.Texas Officials: Involuntary Celibates Constitute ‘Emerging Domestic Terrorism Threat’‘Involuntary Celibates’ Are an ‘Emerging Domestic Terrorism Threat’: Texas Warns of ‘Incel Rebellion’Texas DPS Threat AssessmentAs they fret about cyberattacks from Iran, Texas officials also say homegrown ‘incels’ pose threatMore....  

Every human seems to need some cardboard villain to blame for all the sorrows of the world. Zman makes the point that, in the dystopias imagined by George Orwell, it is not just enough to have an enemy, but a possibly unconquerable supernatural force: the very devil himself. And our liberal friends have Donald Trump, the enemy of the ages. But then there is the experience of women, and I am inclined to believe that the enemy of woman is the whole world. Thus Greta Thunberg: “You have stolen my dreams.” Who is “you?” Answer: everyone. And the blessed AOC:...

FRESNO, Calif. -- A Visalia couple is accused of planting bikes in front of their home to lure thieves - and then beating them with aluminum bats, police say. The couple allegedly bragged about their escapades to neighbors and posted videos to YouTube, officials say. "They would run out, chase down that subject, assault that subject and recover their bike, but they would never call us," said Visalia police Lt. Ron Epp said. Investigators say Corey Curnutt, 25, and Savannah Grillot, 29, had been victims of car break-ins themselves. That's when they decided to take the law into their own...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced seven impeachment managers Wednesday morning in advance of a House vote that will move the articles onto the Senate for a trial of President Trump. Pelosi made official that House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff would lead the effort, along with Judiciary Committee Chairman Nadler. In the House, Schiff and Nadler's committees handled impeachment, which Pelosi called Wednesday, 'an impeachment that would last forever.' The speaker also named the No. 5 Democrat in the House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, as a manager. Jeffries is a member of the Judiciary Committee. As are Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Val Demings...

During CNN’s coverage of Tuesday’s CNN Democratic presidential debate, CNN Political Commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones said that the debate was “dispiriting” because he didn’t see anything that would be able to defeat President Trump. Jones said, “As a progressive, to see those two [2020 Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT)] have that level of vitriol was very dispiriting. And I want to say that tonight for me was dispiriting. Democrats are going to have to do better than what we saw tonight. There was nothing I saw tonight that would be able...

“Pop” was the guide. At 5:00 pm we’d sit before the black & white TV and watch the news. After the local news—less a crime report than today—it was on to the national news on NBC, CBS and ABC. We’d watch each channel for a few minutes, and then shift to a second. Then the third. This was during the golden era for the news face-men—no women allowed. Cronkite, Huntley/Brinkley, Jennings, Brokaw, Reasoner, Koppel, Chancellor, et al. Edward R. Morrow was Dean Emeritus of the News School. Morrow came to fame in the radio era with his reporting from London...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican - Bishops, Get Ready: The Amazon Fake-Synod Bomb is Coming Up! (Confidential Letter) "...with the guidance of the Holy Spirit..." Vatican City, 13 January 2020 Your Eminence, Your Grace, Your Excellency: The Holy Father is preparing a new Apostolic Exhortation to present the New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology as developed with the guidance of the Holy Spirit during the Synod on the Amazon in October last year. The draft is currently being reviewed and corrected and then needs to be translated. Pope Francis hopes to promulgate it by the end of this...

The Vermont Governor’s annual “State of the State” address was interrupted this year by a loud group of protesters, who refused to stop screaming bizarre slogans until the Vermont State House session was closed so they could be physically escorted from the building. Amidst their shouts of “I’m afraid I’m going to die!” and “Climate justice is migrant justice!,” were repeated condemnations of Vermont’s “dairy industry.” This vague “industry” boogeyman is actually nonexistent in Vermont. The state’s dairy farms have steadily declined, and even its largest operations are puny in contrast to the mega-dairies elsewhere.

Nearly 60 police departments and sheriff’s offices in New York state don’t have access to important records from the state Department of Motor Vehicles because they haven’t agreed the records won’t be turned over to federal immigration, state officials said.

Democrats might wield power in the Old Dominion, but gun rights backers haven’t given up the fight. As lawmakers met Monday to consider a slew of gun control bills, they were greeted by “thousands” of Second Amendment supporters determined to voice their opposition, The Washington Free Beacon reported. Even in the face of that kind of popular discontent, four measures moved forward in the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee, thanks to a Democratic majority, though some were in slightly weakened form, The Free Beacon reported. But one bill, known as SB 16, a controversial measure that would have “effectively” allowed authorities...

A good election topic Trump should run on. Peel off more of the gummers. Clinton got away with raising the tax in 93'. That was 3 years before the following election. It will mostly benefit those with retirement accounts already but it could add $4k/yr to a whole lot of seniors. Trump will win anyways. I say apply the couple gras. The whacko left needs to be put out off it's misery now not in 2024.

The Senate is weighing significant restrictions on reporters covering the upcoming impeachment trial, including limiting the movements of reporters and upping security screenings for the press. The Standing Committee of Correspondents, an elected body of journalists that govern and advocate for print media, wrote to Senate leaders on Tuesday "vigorously" objecting to the proposed restrictions, which the group said included forcing reporters into penned areas and barring them from walking freely around outside the Senate chambers. They said it was not clear how the proposed rules added to safety "rather than simply limit coverage of the trial." The group's chair,...

Pope Francis Convenes ‘Anti-Capitalism’ Summit Leading pro-abortion economist, population control guru to speak VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis is convening an international summit of young economists in Assisi to re-examine the current model of capitalism — what he terms the "economy of exclusion" — and to "find answers to the structural problems of the global economy." Modeled on the example of St. Francis of Assisi, the pontiff wants the conference to work towards creating "a different kind of economy: one that brings life not death, one that is inclusive and not exclusive, humane and not dehumanizing, one that cares for the environment and does...

Trump to Sign Phase 1 of China Trade Deal (watch Live)

The plot thickens with the 2A battle in Virginia. West Virginia is now early in the process of inviting Virginia’s counties to secede and be annexed to West Virginia. WSET reports that the first official invitation has been delivered to Frederick County, VA. The West Virginia Senate adopted a resolution by voice vote Monday to remind residents of Frederick County, Virginia, that the county has a standing invite — from 1862 — to become part of West Virginia. It now goes to the House of Delegates.

President Trump has locked down the defense team that will be representing him during his impeachment trial, as House Democrats move Wednesday to send the articles of impeachment against him to the Senate. The four-person legal team is made up of several top White House attorneys, with an administration official telling Fox News that other lawyers could cycle through or be on the floor in a support capacity during the Senate trial. Here are the four main attorneys that will make up Trump’s defense team: Pat Cipollone Cipollone, the White House counsel, will take the helm in commanding Trump’s defense....