Free Republic

Newly filed lobbying records show Venezuela’s socialist government previously hired a longtime Democratic Party donor for $6 million at the same time it was lobbying to discourage the U.S. from imposing sanctions on the oil-rich nation. The documents, which were disclosed Thursday, show a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil giant PDVSA agreed to hire Marcia Wiss’ Washington law firm in March 2017. That’s the same month it signed a consulting deal for $50 million with scandal-tainted former Congressman David Rivera. Wiss, an international trade lawyer with a history of donations to the Democratic Party, including a $1,500 contribution to...

“Lindsey Graham tells me that if Trump’s legal team starts trying to “prove” that Georgia/Pennsylvania/Wisconsin were “stolen” from Trump, “that’s when you’re going to lose everybody. That’s when most of us will be ready to move on. “That’s when you’re going to lose everybody.”

Attorneys for Donald Trump said Tuesday the House’s impeachment of the former president “is facially and substantively flawed, and otherwise unconstitutional.”In a response to House Democrats’ brief claiming Trump was responsible for the riots, attorneys Bruce Castor and David Schoen called for either the single article of impeachment against Trump to be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning the case cannot be brought again, or for the Senate to acquit him.Portions of the U.S. Constitution dealing with impeachment require “that a person actually hold office to be impeached,” they write in one of their answers to Democrats’ arguments. While Article II, as...

Sixteen minor tremors (not a big deal for California, I know) in the past 24 hours. But all of them are on or very near the San Andreas fault-line system Between the San Mateo and King City areas. The southern area of the fault in California (Salton Sea vicinity) has its normal cluster of minor events. You need to select "1 day, All magnitudes US" from the settings icon to see this interesting pattern. If you select "7 days, All magnitudes US", the map displays a similar pattern. But activity at the northern end seems to have picked up a...

Seven out of the 10 Republican lawmakers who voted in favor of impeaching former President Donald Trump are already facing primary challenges for their congressional seats. Newsweek indicates that the pro-impeachment GOPers have “been publicly scolded, pushed to resign and warned that local organizations will mount a strong push to oust them from office in the primary.” The report profiles primary challenges already forming for Reps. David Valadao (CA), Liz Cheney (WY), Adam Kinzinger (IL), Dan Newhouse (WA), and Anthony Gonzalez (OH). They add, “Another Republican has created an exploratory committee in a potential bid for Representative Tom Rice’s seat...

A Newsmax anchor walked off the air in the middle of an interview after the show’s guest continued to insist that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Newsmax invited Mike Lindell, founder and chief executive of My Pillow, to discuss Twitter’s decision to shut down the corporate MyPillow account after Lindell used it to tweet allegations about election fraud over the weekend. Lindell’s personal account was previously suspended permanently last week after Lindell, a close ally of former President Trump, posted similar claims about voter fraud. “Well, first mine was taken down because we have all the election fraud with...

Redditors captured national headlines last month by driving the price of GameStop stock over 14,000%, catching bearish institutional investors in a classic “short squeeze.” A spike last Wednesday drove the shares up 40% and sent the broader market into a frenzy. Everyone wanted in on the action. New “meme stocks” like AMC, Nokia, and Blackberry—hot brand names from 2005—percolated up from the online ferment to ride the tail winds of GameStop’s success. Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports purportedly invested a million bucks in a handful of these names. Others followed. I followed. On Wednesday, 1.25 billion shares of AMC were...

Eugenio Martinez, the last surviving Watergate burglar and the only figure in the scandal besides Richard M. Nixon to be granted a presidential pardon, died on Saturday in Minneola, Fla. He was 98. His death, at his daughter’s home near Orlando, was announced by Brigade 2506, a veterans group of Mr. Martinez’s fellow anti-Communist Cuban exiles. Their abortive invasion to overthrow the government headed by Fidel Castro in 1963 at the Bay of Pigs was covertly supported by the Central Intelligence Agency.

A Newsmax host on Tuesday walked off camera in the middle of an interview with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell after the businessman and vocal supporter of former President Trump refused to stop voicing unsupported claims of fraud in the 2020 election. Anchor Bob Sellers and fellow host Heather Childers attempted to interview Lindell on conservative complaints of "cancel culture" after Twitter permanently suspended his account last week over his continued efforts to advance allegations that the vote was rigged in favor of President Biden. Twitter on Monday also officially banned the MyPillow company account after Lindell utilized it to make...

We had a 'snow day' yesterday. It used to be that snow days were an unexpected and very welcome respite from the workday routine, perhaps coming along once or twice per year here (though I remember one year when we were 'locked down' for over a week with huge snow, and then rain on top.) But yesterday, we were still expected to 'telework', since we'd been doing it for a year anyway; and it wasn't quite the same :-( I haven't been eating well, during the past year of lockdown. It's been too easy to just order lousy food for...

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) wants lawyers who looked into 2020 election fraud to be disbarred, claiming they misused their law licenses. Joined by her secretary of state and attorney general, Whitmer filed bar grievances in Michigan and Texas against four lawyers, including Texas-based pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, Michigan attorney Greg Rohl, Scott Hagerstrom and Stefanie Junttila.Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) wants lawyers who looked into 2020 election fraud to be disbarred, claiming they misused their law licenses. Joined by her secretary of state and attorney general, Whitmer filed bar grievances in Michigan and Texas against four lawyers, including Texas-based pro-Trump attorney...

The Trump era has spawned an abundance of show clowns clowning either for or against the president. One can’t help but wonder what the country did to deserve the likes of Anthony Scaramucci, Michael Avenatti, and Ana Navarro all foisted upon us at the same time.

Bye!

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said he does not support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, throwing a major wrench in Democrats’ already fraught hopes of giving workers a major pay raise. Manchin, who is among the most moderate of the Senate Democratic Caucus, did, however, open the door to a more narrow increase in the minimum wage from its current $7.25. “I’m supportive of an increase that’s responsible and reasonable, and in my state that’s $11,” Manchin told congressional reporters, adding that the rate should account for inflation. Manchin is bucking his own party’s leadership. House Democrats have...

Let’s face it. So far, Jen Psaki has not covered herself in glory in her performance as a press secretary. Occasionally, you do have to answer a question, you can’t just say, “I’ll circle back” to everything (and then not do so). People will notice and talk. It hasn’t taken long, https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/02/02/320769-n320769 I asked @PressSec if President Biden planned to keep the Space Force, or its scope, and she declined to say.(She poked fun at the question about an entire branch of the military as the "plane of today," referring to when she'd been asked about the Air Force One...

Last September, India was confirming nearly 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day. It was on track to overtake the United States to become the country with the highest reported COVID-19 caseload in the world. Hospitals were full. The Indian economy nosedived into an unprecedented recession.But four months later, India's coronavirus numbers have plummeted. Late last month, on Jan. 26, the country's Health Ministry confirmed a record low of about 9,100 new daily cases — in a country of nearly 1.4 billion people. It was India's lowest daily tally in eight months. On Monday, India confirmed about 11,000 cases."It's not that...

Explanation: Meteors can be colorful. While the human eye usually cannot discern many colors, cameras often can. Pictured is a Quadrantids meteor captured by camera over Missouri, USA, early this month that was not only impressively bright, but colorful. The radiant grit, likely cast off by asteroid 2003 EH1, blazed a path across Earth's atmosphere. Colors in meteors usually originate from ionized elements released as the meteor disintegrates, with blue-green typically originating from magnesium, calcium radiating violet, and nickel glowing green. Red, however, typically originates from energized nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. This bright meteoric fireball was gone...

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us.( I John 4:15-19)And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God...

Just silence, awaiting the next devastating Executive Order from an illegitimate President. Our elected Republican leaders that we sent to DC to represent us might as well come home. There is no voice, no debate, and no representation.

“I think we should have nothing to do with Marjorie Taylor Greene, and think we should repudiate the things she said and move away from her,” Romney told reporters… Asked if he was surprised by McConnell’s comments, Romney said it was important for the Republican Party to “separate ourselves from the people in the wacky weeds.” “If we don’t, then our opposition tries to brand us with their image and with their point of view, which has been detrimental to any party that doesn’t do that,” Romney said.