Free Republic

President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team will include Ken Starr, whose investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, whose clients have included notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and O.J. Simpson. The Trump team choices came to light as the president’s impeachment trial is set to begin in earnest next Tuesday in the Senate, where he is accused of abusing power by pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden last summer while withholding military aid to that nation. In addition to Starr and Dershowitz, the lawyer Robert Ray is expected to be...

Is it better to live in a state with no income tax? It’s a great question considering we already have to set aside a portion of our paychecks for the federal government. The case for removing an individual income tax typically goes like this: states that don’t dip directly into their residents’ pay become beacons for growth. They’re better at creating jobs and keeping a core of young, educated workers from moving to other states. The American Legislative Exchange Council reports that over the past decade the nine states without a personal income tax have consistently outperformed – on GDP...

Was it just me or did the march of the ‘peachment remind anyone else of the bar scene in Star Wars?Hakeem Jeffries, Sylvia Garcia, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, Val Demings, Zoe Lofgren and Jason Crow: just as diverse, nearly as weird as the original Cantina patrons. Four men - 1 Muslim, 2 Jews, 1 white guy who could pass as a Native American if need be; Three women - 1 black, 1 Hispanic, 1 suburban white mom. How Democrat of them: much more representative of the Dems victim group patronage than their Presidential debate panel earlier this week.And speaking of Star...

CNN debate moderator Abby Phillip asked Bernie Sanders in the Tuesday debate in Des Moines: Not “did you say that,” but “why did you say that?” Sanders denied it, then listed the many reasons the story makes no sense: He urged Warren herself to run in 2016, campaigned for a female candidate who won the popular vote by 3 million votes, and has been saying the opposite in public for decades. “There’s a video of me 30 years ago talking about how a woman could become president of the United States,” he said.

Not to brag or anything but this arrest was HUGE. Not much of a flight risk, this one. Even if he CAN make it up to his feet, how fast could his mobility scooter possibly go? ___________________________________________________________________ Ali Y. Al-Baroodi @AliBaroodi Latest photos for #ISIS Mufti. He was the strongest supporter of demolishing Mosul heritage. He used to give the Friday Sermon in my neighborhood. He cheered up in the very Friday after the blowing of Prophet Jonah Mosque in the early days of their invasion. 📷 Social media https://twitter.com/AliBaroodi/status/1217752217639362561 … View image on Twitter View image on Twitter Ali...

A few weeks ago, I met an old friend who is a professor. We discussed various issues, but when the subject of Antifa came up I was surprised by what he said. He stated that the acts of violence committed by Antifa are justifiable because we know what fascists have done and should do anything to prevent that from happening again. When I mentioned that some of the people being assaulted are ordinary Americans wearing MAGA hats, he merely said maybe Antifa should be more specific about whom they target. Justifying Antifa’s violent actions is nothing new. I have heard...

A house in England where famed Christian thinker and writer G.K. Chesterton used to live could be demolished and replaced with apartments if it's not saved.Octagon Developments, Ltd recently applied for permission to demolish the Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire home, known as Overroads. A decision about the property's future is expected later this month.The Beaconsfield Society, the residents’ society formed in the 1960s with the goal of preserving the area’s past, told The Christian Post that "two applications have been submitted to the council" requesting permission to build on the site. "The first is for permission to build nine apartments,” the...

Those switching between coverage of the impeachment proceedings on Fox News and the signing of the Phase 1 China trade deal saw the stark election choice between the two parties and their priorities, between President Donald J. Trump and those Lilliputian Democrats who would remove him from power. Trump offers continued growth and prosperity freed from the power of government and the shackles of a command economy. The comedy team of Pelosi, Nadler, and Schiff offer a palace coup to undo the hopes and free choice of the American people and lead to economic collapse and a Third World justice...

Just how serious a threat to the Iranian regime are these street protests? They have not abated since the regime finally admitted lying about the shootdown of Ukraine International Flight 752. Time Magazine reports today that the tenacity of the outrage represents a serious threat to the mullahs, although they still take the protests over the death of Qassem Soleimani at face value: Days earlier, millions of Iranians had gathered in grief and rage after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani on Jan. 3. But the feeling shifted when it seemed Tehran was trying to cover up...

No excerpt allowed, story here. It refers to a blog post Creating ‘Gainful Employment Equivalent’ Thresholds for the New College Scorecard Data.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Psalm 89 Psalm 89[a] A maskil[b] of Ethan the Ezrahite. 1 I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever;     with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known     through all generations. 2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,     that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. 3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,     I have sworn to David my servant, 4 ‘I will establish your line forever     and make your throne firm through all generations.’”[c] 5 The heavens praise your wonders, Lord,     your faithfulness...

The View host Joy Behar claimed Democratic voters would prefer to vote for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who recently suffered a heart attack, instead of a woman. Her comments came in response to co-host Sunny Hostin saying the previous 45 presidents have "all been men." "They'd rather vote for a 78-year-old socialist, who just had a heart attack, than a woman," said Behar. "I think that's probably accurate," replied Hostin. Sanders, 77, has found himself in the middle of a heated feud with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren after his campaign team released an internal document that instructed attacks on Warren's...

A fateful step. Having raised the hopes of anti-Trumpers back home in Maine this way, she’ll annoy them even more now if she changes her mind and votes not to call anyone. She has to follow through.Trump fans will be angry, of course, but she has two trump cards (no pun intended) she’ll play for them. One is that she’ll vote to let the president call a witness or two as well. And the second is that she will, in the end, vote to acquit him. She’s trying to walk a tightrope here. Agreeing in principle to call witnesses...

On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ruled that Trump violated the law by temporarily withholding aid to Ukraine. But, if the Trump administration broke the law, then Joe Biden (and the Obama administration) broke the law, too.Remember that $1 billion loan to Ukraine in 2014 that has come under scrutiny since Democrats started their whole impeachment nonsense? Remember how in January 2018, Biden spoke at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting in Washington, D.C., during which he bragged about how he threatened to withhold that $1 billion loan to Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor who was investigating...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has added Zakhar Prylepin, Russian writer and Donbas fighter to the so-called 'working group' for the constitutional amendments he announced on 15 January. Prylepin's inclusion is a grave affront to all Ukrainians, however the changes Putin is planning are likely to have even more serious ramifications for Ukraine. While well-known Ukrainian journalist Vitaly Portnikov is doubtless correct in saying that Putin's plans are akin to a declaration of war against Ukraine, they are also an assault on international law and, therefore, a challenge to the European structures and leaders who are increasingly seeking so-called 'dialogue' with...

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D. Somalia) exploded on the national political scene in 2018, when she ran for and won a seat in the House of Representatives. Born in Somalia, she and her family had escaped that war-torn country when she was a small child and spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. Omar came to America in 1992, when she was 10. Omar was a perfect candidate to take over the seat that Keith Ellison vacated when he moved on to become Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee. As was Ellison, Omar is a Muslim representing Minnesota’s...

In his recent defense of the Islamic doctrine of taqiyya (dismantled here), Usama Hasan of the UK think tank Quilliam made the following admission: It is true that hardened islamist terrorists, such as the Al-Qaeda & ISIS supporter Usman Khan who murdered two people at Fishmongers’ Hall [after pretending to have been “rehabilitated”], do misuse the principle of taqiyyah in order to further their cause. However, the charge that all Muslims are generally religiously obligated to lie, and do so routinely, is both dangerous and untrue. However true this may be, it is also irrelevant.  After all, how is...

Germany announced on Thursday that it would spend $44.5 billion to quit coal — but not for another 18 years, by 2038. The move shows how expensive it is to stop burning the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, despite a broad consensus that keeping coal in the ground is vital to averting a climate crisis, and how politically complicated it is. Coal, when burned, produces huge amounts of the greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for global warming. Germany doesn’t have shale gas, as the United States does, which has led to the rapid decline of coal use in America, despite...

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) on Thursday was caught flashing a large grin before lamenting the transfer of two impeachment articles to the Senate as a “solemn, serious moment” in an interview with MSNBC. Harris, who recently ended her ill-fated presidential campaign, is seen smiling at someone in the room before host Kasie Hunt questions her about the Senate’s upcoming impeachment trial against President Donald Trump. Once she realizes she is on a live shot, Harris’ demeanor swiftly changes. “This is a solemn, serious moment,” she says of the impeachment process. “These are the most serious charges brought in the history...

... Wall Street’s disdain for the bottom-up populist campaigns of Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont has gotten a lot of attention. The candidates’ full-throated attacks on corporate greed, extreme wealth and banking excesses are backed up by ambitious plans to upend the industry’s everyday operations. Wariness extends far beyond an elite financial fellowship, though, to many small and medium-size businesses whose executives are not reflexively Republican but worry that the ascendancy of a left-wing Democrat would create an anti-business climate. In their view, sweeping plans to remake the health care system or slash the cost...