Free Republic

Why does the Never-Trump crowd, the earnest viewers of the Republican primary debate, believe that the tactics used against Donald Trump won’t be used against their preferred candidate? Why can’t they explain how Nikki Haley wins the primary, never mind the general election? Or how does Ron DeSantis overcome the structural fraud problems in every state with a Soros secretary of state? To answer the last question first: Because to acknowledge that the Democrat machine is utterly efficient and capable of manufacturing just enough votes to beat any Republican (including Donald Trump) is to acknowledge that Donald Trump and his...

A federal judge on Wednesday issued a default judgment against former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and imposed sanctions on him in a civil conspiracy lawsuit filed by two Georgia election workers he had claimed mishandled ballots in the 2020 presidential contest. Judge Beryl Howell sanctioned Giuliani for failing to comply with demands for documents and other evidence sought in the case by lawyers for the election workers, Rudy Freeman and Wandrea' ArShaye Moss. Howell also ordered attorneys for Giuliani and the two women to propose three possible dates for trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on the question...

Bidenomics has a new themesong! We got trouble in Potomac City (aka, Washington DC). US Q2 GDP was revised sharply downwards to 2.1% QoQ. Much lower than the expected 2.4% QoQ. Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.1 percent in the second quarter of 2023, according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 2.0 percent. The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the “advance” estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in...

1 of 4 | The last blue moon rises behind One World Trade Center and the Manhattan skyline shorty after sunset on October 31, 2020. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo The last full moon of summer will be the best of the entire season as stargazers witness a rare celestial sight -- one that hasn't been seen in nearly three years. A blue moon will appear Wednesday night with moonlight so bright that it may cast shadows. Despite its nickname, the moon will not emit a blue glow. Instead, the nickname means that it is the second...

The growth of the U.S. economy in the second quarter was revised lower on Wednesday, as weaker business spending more than offset stronger consumer spending. The government said that gross domestic product grew at a 2.1 percent annual pace in the the three months from April through June. The first estimate had the economy growing 2.4 percent in the quarter. Even after the downward revision, the economy is still growing faster than what many economists consider its long-run potential. Officials at the Federal Reserve have said that they thin the economy needs to grow by less than potential—which they estimate...

The Logan City Fire Department in Utah responded when an overturned semi truck spilled its load of baking flour in Logan Canyon. Photo courtesy of the Logan City Fire Department/Facebook Aug. 29 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Utah responded to an unusual roadside mess when an overturned semi truck spilled its load of baking flour into Logan Canyon. The Logan City Fire Department said crews responded to a report of an overturned semi truck in Logan Canyon and arrived to find the vehicle had spilled its load of baking flour next to the road. The department shared photos showing bags of...

Both the Treasury and the BOE knew when the APF was implemented that its early profits (£123.8 billion as of September last year) would become losses as interest rates rose. However, the pace at which the central bank has had to tighten monetary policy in a bid to tame inflation means the costs have risen more sharply than anticipated. Higher rates have driven down the value of the purchased government bonds — known as gilts — just as the BOE began selling them at a loss. uly’s public finances data showed that the Treasury transferred £14.3 billion over the month...

Photo: AlamyAs the 2024 general election marches closer, President Donald Trump is in a dominant position to win back the White House next November.New general election polling shows the 45th president leading Biden nationwide. According to Emerson College, Trump has a 5-point lead in a three-way battle for the nomination between himself, Biden, and Green Party candidate Cornel West.Another new poll from Reuters/Ipsos illustrated Trump’s powerful position looking ahead to the 2024 general election. Their national data found that President Donald Trump had 38 percent support among general election respondents, including Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.Joe Biden had 32 percent of...

(Reuters) - A special legislative session in Tennessee called by the state's Republican governor in response to a deadly school shooting ended on Tuesday with no progress on gun safety laws, capped by a brief scuffle between opposing lawmakers. Governor Bill Lee, in the special session which opened on Aug. 21, asked lawmakers to consider a "red flag" law and a number of other public safety measures he pitched in the wake of the murder of three children and three staff members at The Covenant School in March in Nashville.

After Georgia’s indictment of Donald Trump, our new national poll shows he not only beats Biden, but he would defeat the current president in an electoral landslide.The McLaughlin national survey finds Trump leads Biden 47% to 43% — up 2 points this month alone.Even more remarkable, with our voter model for this poll we assigned 4 more points of Biden 2020 voters than Trump 2020 voters.This means looking to 2024 there is an 8-point turnaround in favor of Trump from the 2020 election. Biden voters are switching to Trump.But here’s the really big news.In the key battleground states Trump leads...

A man used stolen money to gamble on in a bet. After he won over 100 times the amount of money he gambled on, he refused to give the person he stole from their fair share of the money. Now he is at risk of losing his relationship. The man allegedly stole 10K from his girlfriend to use in a bet and ended up winning 100M. In 2021, the man from Nigeria allegedly stole the money after his girlfriend had left it on his shelf while visiting him. While she took a trip to the salon, he took the 10K...

Former President Donald Trump leads Ron DeSantis by nearly 40 percentage points in the race for the Republican presidential nomination even after declining to debate the Florida governor and other rivals, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed Friday.The survey found that half of Republican respondents who followed the party's first debate on Wednesday were more open to DeSantis' bid — good news for a campaign banking on the event boosting his profile after a summer slide in opinion polls.But it showed DeSantis remained stuck in distant second place with 13% of support of Republican respondents while Trump, the former...

The federal judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's trial on charges of election interference has set a trial date that will line up perfectly to interfere with the 2024 presidential election."This certainly is the most appropriate date," said U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in her announcement. "Mr. Trump is not above the law, and holding this trial to determine if he is guilty of interfering in the 2020 election gives the federal government its best chance of interfering in the 2024 election."The trial start date, March 4, falls just one day before the "Super Tuesday" primaries, which a spokesperson...

Before the salmon season, harbors like this one in Dillingham were filled with boats and crews anticipating another large season. (Brian Venua/KMXT)Kodiak fisherman Mike Friccero has fished for salmon for over four decades. He said he was expecting a low price for Bristol Bay salmon this summer, but didn’t think rumors were true about how low it would drop. “Our processor gave us a letter, a narrative before the season started, saying that pricing conditions weren’t great but that they were going to go after it with all the resources that they utilized last year as far as tendering and...

My appearance on NTD TV: “I don’t know how [the Judge] justifies the day before Super Tuesday. Clearly that puts the defense under enormous burden to prepare their defense…. I think this really does deprive Trump of his right to a fair trial.”Trump’s lawyer has said the date deprives Trump of effective assistant of counse:Lauro: “We will certainly abide by your honor’s ruling, as we must. We will not be able to provide adequate representation.” Warned that the “trial date will deny President Trump the opportunity to have effective assistance of counsel.”Retired criminal defense lawyer Leslie McAdoo Gordon, who has...

COVID cases are on the rise in Illinois and across the U.S., and while that has led some to bring back mask requirements or mandates, could public health guidance soon follow? Already, some U.S. schools and businesses have started bringing back mask mandates. Morris Brown College in Atlanta announced last week that it was reinstating its mask mandate "due to reports of positive cases among students." A mask mandate was also reinstated for several employees at Lionsgate headquarters in Santa Monica, according to an internal memo obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The Illinois Department of Public Health warned Friday...

Independent news anchor star Tucker Carlson has broken the media’s code of silence and come clean about former President Barack Obama. Carlson dropped a bombshell during an appearance on Adam Carolla’s show, He revealed that the media has known for years Obama had “been having sex with men” and covered it up. According to Carlson, the former president’s relationships with other men as been an open secret in Washington D.C. and corporate media circles. “In 2008 it became really clear that Barack Obama had been having sex with men and smoking crack and a guy came forward, Larry Sinclair, and...

House investigators probing alleged influence peddling involving President Biden are seeking his travel records from his time as vice president to determine whether the trips aided his son’s foreign business deals. In a letter to the National Archives and Records Administration, members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee requested unrestricted access to Mr. Biden’s travel aboard the vice presidential jet, Air Force Two, and helicopter, Marine Two. Lawmakers on the Oversight panel said the president’s son, Hunter Biden, may have traveled to 15 countries with his father while he was vice president and that during that time, Mr. Biden...

New data shows that buying a home requires a large slice of income in 2023, and thus it has become the most unaffordable housing market since 1984. In order to compare home affordability over time, researchers at Black Knight, a mortgage technology and data provider, analyzed home prices, interest rates and income levels in each month dating back to 1975. They calculated the mortgage payment required at each point in time to purchase the median-priced home using a 20% down 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. To provide a relative comparison, the company then calculated the share of median household income needed to...

I wonder if Biden will use his writeboard to brag about the 30-year mortgage rate rising 157% under his economic Reign on Error? Aka, Bidenomics. Mortgage applications increased 2.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 25, 2023. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 3 percent from the previous...