Free Republic

Around the world, leaders and health authorities were struggling to try to get a handle on the rapidly spreading coronavirus. But in the United States, President Donald Trump seems to have thought it would be a great time to hit the links with professional baseball players. On Sunday, the commander in chief played golf with current and former Washington Nationals players at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. The White House doesn’t normally release details about the president’s golf outings but on Sunday, pitcher Patrick Corbin posted a series of photos on his Instagram of the game with...

Over 14 years later, former Congressman Rick Renzi is still fighting for his innocence. He was wrongly imprisoned during the Obama administration by prosecutors and FBI agents who are part of the deep swamp. They got him convicted of attempting to conduct a land trade while in Congress that would have allegedly benefited him — but he didn’t even propose the trade and the judge ruled the land trade was in the “public interest.” Renzi served a 3-year prison term and was released, but he is not giving up on clearing his name. A few months ago, his attorneys filed...

Count the state of Georgia as yet another this year moving to shine much-needed light on how pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) operate. On Thursday, Georgia’s state Senate unanimously (52 – 0) passed SB 313, a bill that restricts the business practices of PBMs just a day after the House voted 165 – 1 to pass other consumer-friendly PBM measures. The Georgia House approved bills that would penalize PBMs for violating the state’s department of insurance regulations and direct them to expand generic and lower cost drug options for consumers.  SB 313 compels PBMs to report the rebates they receive from...

In November of 2019 buried deep in the congressional budget Continuing Resolution (CR) was a short-term extension to reauthorize the FISA “business records provision”, the “roving wiretap” provision, the “lone wolf” provision, and the more controversial bulk metadata provisions [Call Detail Records (CDR)], all parts of the Patriot Act. As a result of the FISA CR inclusion the terminal deadline was pushed to March 15, 2020. ~ Something has to happen this week The Senate is scheduled to recess March 13, 2020. Additionally, the DOJ/FBI response to the FISA court order (due February 5th) has still not been made public....

In February of 1862, Ulysses S. Grant forced the surrender of Confederate forces at Fort Donelson in Kentucky. His demands shocked his Confederate opponents and military observers from across the world accustomed to more chivalrous commanders. That demand was for a simple unconditional surrender. Turn your army over to the mercy of the victor with no guarantees of treatment. Two years later General Grant turned his two most celebrated subordinates, William Tecumseh Sherman and Philip Sheridan, loose on the remaining sources of supplies in the South. By 1865, the heart of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, plus Georgia and the Carolinas were...

Benjamin Jakes-Johnson was a rising Albany Democrat before he was arrested twice for watching child pornography.

WASHINGTON - - Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. Booker announced on Twitter early Monday that Biden will “restore honor to the Oval Office and tackle our most pressing challenges.” Booker ended his own presidential bid in January, pledging to do “everything in my power to elect the eventual Democratic nominee for president.” “The answer to hatred & division is to reignite our spirit of common purpose,” Booker tweeted. His decision follows recent Biden endorsements by several failed Democratic presidential candidates, including Sen. Kamala Harris of California and former...

Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein injured himself in Rikers Island jail when he fell while trying to walk on his own, according to a Page Six report. Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told the New York Post Post gossip section that Weinstein fell on his head Saturday and may have suffered a concussion as a result. Weinstein, 67, had a heart procedure last Wednesday during which doctors inserted a stent, Engelmayer told CNN. He was moved Thursday to the infirmary unit at Rikers Island, New York's main jail complex, Engelmayer said. He's expected to be sentenced March 11 in New York State...

A year after the “London Patient” was introduced to the world as only the second person to be cured of H.I.V., he is stepping out of the shadows to reveal his identity: He is Adam Castillejo. Six feet tall and sturdy, with long, dark hair and an easy smile, Mr. Castillejo, 40, exudes good health and cheer. But his journey to the cure has been arduous and agonizing, involving nearly a decade of grueling treatments and moments of pure despair. He wrestled with whether and when to go public, given the attention and scrutiny that might follow. Ultimately, he said,...

... The race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, after its traumatic defeat in December’s general election, has largely been conducted in the spirit of bury-the-hatchet pragmatism, to the point of tedium. The three candidates have promised, however sincerely, to maintain the general thrust of the party’s policy platform; divisions have mostly been a matter of tone, style and subtle implication. Rancor and controversy have been restrained among the candidates as well as the 500,000-strong membership. Except in one area: trans rights. A contentious row began last month, when the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights announced...

Steve Hilton spent much of his opening monologue Sunday slamming Democrats and the media, saying they've been stoking the flames of coronavirus panic with the country at risk of a "catastrophic overreaction." "Of course, no one should minimize it, and we must do all we can to stop preventable deaths -- but it seems to me that we’ve got a bunch of people in leadership positions in the media and business and Congress who are running around maximizing coronavirus without a thought for the harm they may be causing," Hilton said on "The Next Revolution." Hilton pointed to a recent...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem (Music in The Bible) Psalm 119 Psalm 119[a] ת Taw 169 May my cry come before you, Lord;     give me understanding according to your word. 170 May my supplication come before you;     deliver me according to your promise. 171 May my lips overflow with praise,     for you teach me your decrees. 172 May my tongue sing of your word,     for all your commands are righteous. 173 May your hand be ready to help me,     for I have chosen your precepts. 174 I long for your salvation, Lord,     and your law gives me delight. 175 Let me live that I may...

MEXICO CITY — Women filled the streets of the world's largest cities Sunday to protest gender violence, inequality and exploitation on International Women’s Day, with the mothers of murdered girls leading a march in Mexico City and participants in Paris inveighing against the “virus of the patriarchy.” While many protests were peaceful celebrations others were marred by tension, with security forces arresting demonstrators at a rally in Kyrgyzstan and police reportedly using tear gas to break up a demonstration by thousands of women in Turkey. “In many different ways or forms, women are being exploited and taken advantage of,” Arlene...

Any ranking of congresspersons’ national-security expertise would put Michael McCaul near the top. A Republican who represents the 10th District, an area spanning from Austin to the Houston suburbs, he served as a deputy to future U.S. Sen. John Cornyn when he was state attorney general. After 9/11, the Dallas-born McCaul became chief of the Terrorism and National Security Section of the west Texas federal attorney’s office. In 2004, the prosecutor won his seat in the U.S. House where he chaired the Homeland Security Committee for the full term limit of six years; he is now the ranking member of...

The old geezers get to sit now. – Catering to every whim of their chosen candidate, the DNC and CNN announced on Sunday that tired, obviously declining Quid Pro Joe Biden will get his wish for the next Democrat debate later this week. He and his fellow, much healthier septuagenarian, Bernie Sanders, will be seated at a table with the moderators. The debate, which oddly takes place on Sunday night, will present a radically changed format from previous debates at which all the candidates stood at podiums for two hours. For the remaining “hey you kids, get off my lawn!”...

On a joyous California stage late on Super Tuesday, former Vice President Joe Biden declared to a cheering crowd that reports of his campaign’s death had been greatly exaggerated. The legacy of the “Obama-Biden” democrat was alive and ready to make a second run at the White House. The past four years have seen an inner-party struggle for the soul of the Democratic party between Sanders/Warren socialism and the traditional party establishment. With one fell swoop, Uncle Joe had put himself back in the game.   Pushed by the growing public concern of climate change, Democrats during this cycle have...

An immigrant from Egypt has been accused of murdering a 19-year-old girl and her 21-year-old boyfriend in southern Virginia last month, Breitbart News has exclusively learned. Last month, 18-year-old Mohamed Aly was arrested for the alleged murder of 19-year-old Ayanna Maertens-Griffin and 21-year-old Joel Bianda, her boyfriend, WUSA9 reported at the time. The bodies of Maertens-Griffin and Bianda were found by on a highway median in Tuberville, Virginia, next to a silver Nissan Maxima. From the start of the investigation, Virginia State Police believed the couple’s deaths were the result of murder, not a car accident.

DUBAI - Iran has released approximately 70,000 prisoners because of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, Iranian judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi said on Monday, according to Mizan, the news site of the judiciary. “The release of the prisoners, to the point where it doesn’t create insecurity in society ... will continue,” he said. Raisi did not specify if or when those released would need to return.

President Abraham Lincoln promotes Major General Ulysses S. Grant to the rank of Lieutenant General. As such, Grant will command the 860,000 men of the Union Army.

During the impeachment trial, House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) admitted on the floor of the U.S. Senate that President Trump’s political fate cannot be decided at the ballot box. Rep. Schiff said: “As we will discuss, impeachment exists for cases in which the conduct of the president rises beyond mere policies, disputes to be decided otherwise, and without urgency at the ballot box. Instead, we are here today to consider a much more grave matter and that is an attempt to use the powers of the presidency to cheat in an election. For precisely this reason, the president’s...