Free Republic

The Trump administration’s decision to freeze the release of security assistance to Ukraine last year violated federal law, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report Thursday. The independent watchdog said the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) withheld the appropriated funds last summer, not as a programmatic delay but in order to advance the president’s own agenda. Doing so, the watchdog concluded, violates the Impoundment Control Act, a law that governs Congress's role in the federal budget process. “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted...

For his 50th birthday on Sunday, Tommy Fisher got his ultimate wish: His construction crews began building in earnest three miles of border wall on private property in South Texas... “Once you galvanize and put that zinc coating on regular steel, it will bond for 100 to 125 years. And we paved the concrete road, so there’s no dust if you’re driving. So that’s why we like to call our whole system a ‘no rust, no dust’ solution to border security,” Fisher said. Most importantly, Fisher says, building the wall so close to the river creates an immediate barrier to...

It took a while for me to understand the nagging feeling I got from the Democratic debate in Iowa Tuesday night. I kept grappling with my dissatisfaction and could not find the right words. Then I saw a USA Today article that captured my response perfectly – and my feeling was reinforced, because it was articulated by a friend with whom I have worked on criminal justice reform, Van Jones. Before noting that he wanted a Democrat in the White House, Jones told USA Today: “Democrats have to do better than what we saw tonight. There was nothing I saw...

Fellow Freeps, This was made in 1961 and its laws and principles have never changed even though we have EXPONENTIALLY as a nation since 1961. A year after this Moody Documentary was made Prayer was removed from the U.S. schools and we have NEVER recovered or have been the same! As you watch this very insightful doc ask yourself, will America's fate be any different? Be brave and let reality hit you between the eyes! We as a nation need Jesus the ETERNAL Savior and Propitiation for man more than ever (John 1:12, 3:16-17, 1 John 4:10)! for the Kingdom...

JPMorgan is holding its annual health care conference in San Francisco this week. But some attendees -- when gazing out the windows of their $2,000-a-night hotel rooms or past the doors of another champagne-infused party -- have reportedly noticed the city has lost ground in its fight against homelessness. “I feel unsafe walking around at night, especially as a young woman,” Selin Kurnaz, a co-founder of Massive Bio, told Bloomberg. Other executives at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference have gone on social media to voice their concerns about the city's decline and have posted about watching city officials clean human excrement off the streets. The event -- which is expected to bring in about $51 million...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 51% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-seven percent (47%) disapprove. The latest figures include 40% who Strongly Approve of the job Trump is doing and 39% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of +1.

A New York City congressional candidate endorsed by the same progressive group that backed Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) appears to support supplanting jail time with art classes. Democratic congressional hopeful Jamaal Bowman on Wednesday shared an article detailing a New York City program that allows arrestees to avoid prosecution by attending a two-hour art course. Brooklyn district attorney Eric Gonzalez said the program is about "holding people accountable." Any perpetrator who attends the course has their case dismissed with no criminal record registered. Those eligible for the program include shoplifters and trespassers. According to an artist...

Today's American Leftist Secularism - rejects outright the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God! If one is seeking a definition of "American Leftist Secularism, there you have it! The root and source of this rejection is their subjective lawless hatred towards their ETERNAL RIGHTEOUS Creator (Romans 1:18-32)! It is really just that simple! This lawless and base ideology today is greatly expressed, manifested and directed in their disdain and hostility towards the American blueprint drawn up by our Founding Fathers, which was based on the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. This dominant demonic lawless spirit REIGNS over...

Before Robyn Polak attended President Donald Trump's Jan. 14 rally in Milwaukee, she expressed her support for him on Facebook by posting a "MAGA 2020" comment on a news story about the visit. She said that comment, and possibly a few others like it, got her fired from her job. Polak, a South Milwaukee resident who was the only dental assistant at Precision Dental MKE, 6203 S. Howell Ave., said someone found out where she worked, went on her employer’s Facebook page and posted a negative review. The person did not recommend the dental office saying “employees spouting [sic] racist comments on Facebook.” Polak said she didn’t have...

A man visited the drive-thru at a McDonald’s in Pittsburgh, Pa., when he says he saw an employee standing with his hand stuck down his pants. While he didn’t appear to be wearing a uniform, he was standing in the kitchen at the time. “I was with my girlfriend and we were getting food for my daughter,” John Holieb explained to Fox News. “My girlfriend made a comment about how she can’t believe no one is wearing uniforms. Then she notices the guy with both hands down his pants. I looked and said, 'WTF. This is crazy.' There was a few of them just...

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There are alarming new details from the MTA about doors opening on some moving subway cars, prompting the MTA to order that each train car to be inspected. The MTA says it was forced to pull its entire fleet of R179 subway cars, the newest model, the over ongoing door problems. Both of the incidents happened on the southbound C train less than two weeks apart. The first was December 24 on a C train heading south of High Street, and the train's doors opened about four inches while the train was moving. Bombardier, which made...

When the CNN moderators gave Sanders the Trump treatment, the outraged ululations of the Left could be heard from sea to shining sea. Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi tweeted, “This is an unusually vile performance by CNN.” The Nation’s Elie Mystal raged, “Jesus Christ I hate these biased questions from the moderators. ‘How would you keep your plan from bankrupting the country?’ JUST ASK THE KOCH BROTHERS TO MODERATE NEXT TIME!” HuffPost’s Zach Carter griped about CNN’s post-debate panel discussion, “CNN’s crew is just straight bashing Sanders post-debate.” The New Republic’s Libby Watson whined, “CNN is truly a terrible influence on...

In the 1970s, San Francisco, as was true for most major American cities, had gotten very shabby. While tourists still flocked to the neighborhood directly north of Market Street, where they could find Union Square, fancy stores, and upscale hotels, those who crossed Market Street and headed south found themselves in a four-block-square area of unpleasant squalor. There were always a handful of drunken men sleeping it off in the doorways of decrepit buildings and the sidewalks stank of urine. By the end of the 1970s, San Francisco began a massive plan to revitalize that area. It tore down the...

If you listen to Republicans, the impeachment of President Trump is a “bizarre strategy,” a partisan political blunder by the Democrats, doomed to fail in the Senate, and already backfiring. As evidence, the “hit job” has energized the Republican base, boosted GOP fundraising and, come November, will cause House Democrats in Trump districts to lose re-election. To think House Democrats actually believe Trump committed impeachable offenses grossly underestimates their political acumen. The Democrats regularly run circles around the Republicans. While the latter jumps pieces on a checkerboard, the Democrats are thinking three steps ahead, looking to checkmate the king. The...

What if in November enough black Americans voted for Donald Trump to re-elect him into the presidency? This unlikely straw has been in the political winds recently because in three opinion polls—Emerson, Marist and Rasmussen—President Trump registered about 30% support among black voters. Asked to respond by InsideSources.com, former Hillary Clinton adviser Joel Payne said: “I have a better chance of jumping center for the Celtics tonight than Donald Trump having 30% support in the African-American community.” He may get the call. The reason this unlikely 30% number breaks the seals in Democratic heads is that for years it has...

I came across this while searching for a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. I enjoyed the music even more, seeing their interpretation and the Russian crowd’s enthusiastic response. Ilinykh – Katsalapov, Swan Lake, 2014 Olympics

Not only has the “Phase One” trade deal now been signed by the United States and China, but official texts have now been released. And my initial read indicates that the Trump administration just might have come up with an effective enforcement regime – though success here will depend on U.S. governments (including this one) displaying nerves of steel. At the same time, the enforcement terms raise the question of why the President felt the need to reach this point via a treaty, rather than simply punish China unilaterally for economic transgressions – as his tariffs on hundreds of...

=================================================================== The odds of a brokered convention are greater than most think. Five Significant Changes 1> The superdelegates do not get to vote in the first round this year unless a candidate has a majority. Unlike 2016 when they all went to Hillary, this year they don’t vote until round 2 unless it is already decided. 2> California is now part of Super Tuesday. In 2016, the California primary was held on June 7. This year, the survivor bias bandwagon effect will be significantly reduced and possibly eliminated. 3> Following NH there will be two debates, and likely 4 candidates...

Current link. CSPAN says impeachment hearings will start at 11am. Will try to try and watch this off and on & change links if/when that happens www.c-span.org/video/?468210-1/senate-session-part-1&live

It’s no question MSNBC has been begging for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. So, how does MSNBC legal analyst Jill Wine-Banks handle the issue of impeachment? By giving money to a Democratic Party House member who would later vote for impeachment.FEC records revealed that MSNBC Legal Analyst Jill Wine-Banks gave $500 to Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL.) on May 13, 2019. Underwood voted for Trump’s impeachment in December, though she represents a district in Illinois that backed Trump in 2016.