Free Republic

It is “hard to exaggerate how bad” Vice President Kamala Harris’s proposal to implement government-enforced price control on groceries is, according to a Washington Post essay slamming the plan as both vague and harmful, and cautioning those labeled “communist” by their opponents should think twice before pushing such radical economic policies. In a piece published Thursday, titled “When your opponent calls you ‘communist,’ maybe don’t propose price controls?” Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell argues that it’s difficult to overstate just “how bad” Harris’s plan is. “It’s not hard to figure out where this proposal came from,” the essay states. “Voters...

An estimated 1.5 million taxpayers will be notified of their automatic eligibility for a new round of state-funded Anchor property-tax relief benefits starting next week, state Treasury officials said Tuesday. The benefits, intended to help offset the state’s high local property taxes, will once again total as much as $1,750 per household. Those eligible for automatic enrollment will see letters notifying them that their applications for Anchor benefits will be filed with the state automatically beginning Aug. 19, the officials said. Later this month the Department of the Treasury’s Division of Taxation will also be sending out information via mail...

The numbers: Construction of new homes fell 6.8% in July compared with the previous month, as builders scaled back new projects. Housing starts fell to a 1.24 million annual pace from 1.33 million in June, the government said Friday. That’s how many houses would be built over an entire year if construction were to continue at the same rate each month as in July. The data fell short of Wall Street’s expectations of a 1.34 million pace. All numbers are seasonally adjusted. Housing starts fell to the lowest level since May 2020. Outside of the pandemic, new-home construction was at...

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a big promise when he launched his war on Ukraine: conscripts would not be involved in combat. But as Moscow struggles to contain Ukrainian advances deeper into its territory, families of young soldiers deployed in the area are raising the alarm about their loved ones. Messages shared in Russian Telegram channels and other social media over the past few days have revealed how unprepared Moscow was for this kind of attack, including the fact that its military had left poorly trained conscripts in charge of defending the border with Ukraine – the country Russia has...

Vice President Kamala Harris supports a parent tax credit, her campaign announced Friday, the same policy the Trump-Vance ticket advocates. It is not the first time Harris copied Trump’s populist agenda. She also copied Trump’s no tax on tips policy, a popular idea among service industry workers. “Kamala Harris copied President Trump on No Tax On Tips,” Republican communications guru Steve Guest posted on X. “Now she is copying JD Vance on a child tax credit”: Kamala Harris copied President Trump on No Tax On Tips. Now she is copying JD Vance on a child tax credit: pic.twitter.com/MR7bGKENtm — Steve...

Lawyer for Mostafa Eldidi, 26, says he’ll defend his client’s innocenceA 26-year-old Toronto man accused of plotting a deadly ISIS-inspired rampage previously lived in Egypt and once studied at a U.S. university, CBC News has learned. Mostafa Eldidi and his father, Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, were arrested last month and charged with terrorism offences over what police described as a plan to carry out "a serious, violent attack in Toronto." On Thursday, Mostafa Eldidi's lawyer, Nate Jackson, appeared in court on his behalf for the first time. He told the court he would be meeting with his new client in...

North Korea's supreme leader has reiterated his country's support for Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and expressed his intention to foster closer ties between the two regimes. "I express firm belief that the strong and brave Russian people will firmly defend the sovereign right and security interests of the state and surely win victory in the sacred war for regional peace and international justice," Kim Jong Un said on Thursday, according state news agency KNCA.

Standing next to a spread of coffee, cereal and breakfast meats at his New Jersey golf club on Thursday, former President Trump started what he billed as his second news conference in as many weeks by highlighting increased costs of everyday foodstuffs due to inflation — a major issue for voters in November.Then, he veered off into a rambling 40-minute speech — uninterrupted by media questions — in which he aired old political grievances and debunked conspiracy theories, and lied, repeatedly, about the state of the economy, the safety of the nation and the policies of Vice President Kamala Harris,...

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order last week preventing dead people and illegal immigrants from voting in his state. Codifying election integrity measures is the sort of routine work every state’s chief executive is supposed to undertake with an important election less than 90 days away, but failure to do so has consequences. Last year, the Old Dominion identified and deleted the names of 79,867 dead people from the state’s voter rolls. Likewise, between January 2022, when the Republican took office, and last month, 6,303 noncitizens were on the voter list. They’ve been purged. A handful of ineligible...

The Secret Service is providing Kimberly Cheatle, its former director who resigned last month, a security detail in an unprecedented effort to protect a former agency chief amid lingering national anger about the myriad security lapses under her watch that led to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and the killing of firefighter Corey Comperatore, according to three sources in the Secret Service community. Cheatle has faced an ongoing firestorm of fury from Americans citizens, and even rank-and-file Secret Service special agents and officers, over the agency’s failures that created an opening for shooter Thomas Crooks to open...

Columbia University’s new school year starts Sept. 3 — and some professors are already worried about another semester of chaotic protests, after activist groups have declared they “will be back.“ And with news on Wednesday that university president Minouche Shafik has stepped down to be replaced by interim president Katrina Armstrong, the next semester is even more uncertain. Last spring, raucous protesting, an illegal encampment and an occupation of Hamilton Hall sent classes remote and upended final exams and the main commencement. In a July statement, Minouche Shafik said the university is undertaking “community-building” efforts to quell the tensions —...

House Oversight investigating Walz over 'longstanding connections' to China [08/16/2024]Kamala's Last Walz? [08/16/2024]10 Things To Know About Tim Walz And His Ties To Communist China [08/15/2024]Tim Walz LIED for 20 years and ALMOST Got Away With It. [even worse that previously reported] [08/15/2024]"Like, I Have White Guy Tacos" – Tim Walz and Kamala Harris Release Racist, Cringey Chat on YouTube (VIDEO) [08/15/2024]Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Interview Each Other and Copy the Trump-Vance Campaign… Again [08/15/2024]Kamala / Tim Walz Phone Call PARODY [08/15/2024]Stolen Valor Walz Strikes Again With Misleading Congressional Challenge Coin [08/15/2024]When the Twin Cities Burned, Tim Walz Dithered...

A reputed Peruvian gang leader suspected in nearly two dozen killings in his home country was arrested Wednesday in New York by U.S. immigration authorities. Gianfranco Torres-Navarro, the leader of “Los Killers” who is wanted for 23 killings in his home country, was arrested in Endicott, New York, about 145 miles (233 kilometers) northwest of New York City, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday. He is being held at a federal detention facility near Buffalo pending an immigration hearing, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. Torres-Navarro, 38, entered the U.S. illegally at the Texas-Mexico border on May 16. He was...

One of the hallmarks of the Biden/Harris administration has been its insistence on denying reality. We fled Afghanistan and left a security vacuum into which all the Islamic terrorist organizations on the planet flooded. The results will be catastrophic for the entire world. Joe and Kamala never speak of it and do nothing to stave off what is at this point the inevitable. The Afghan Taliban are working hand in glove with their brethren in the Pakistani Taliban. An army of jihadists is being armed and trained and is already waging war inside Pakistan. The goal is to topple the...

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS), run by the FBI, shows July of 2024 is the fifth-highest July for both firearm sales and NICS background checks. According to the adjusted figures put out by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), July of 2024 is the 60th month in a row where over a million firearms were sold in the month. NICS has recorded five straight years where over a million firearms were sold through the NICS system in the United States each month. The number of firearms over the five years has been much more than the 60 million...

Video: This is disgusting. The Taliban held a MILITARY PARADE with the equipment that the UNITED STATES left during the horrific withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden’s disastrous retreat from Afghanistan has left our enemies with the impression that they defeated America. On the third anniversary of America’s withdrawal, the Taliban hosted a massive parade touting the billions worth of military equipment left behind by Biden and Harris. Riding on American military Humvees with American military helicopters above, the terrorists began the 40-kilometer parade in Bagram. Thousands of men showed up to watch top Taliban leaders speak of their victory over America....

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday unveiled an aggressively populist economic agenda, providing the most detailed vision yet of her governing priorities since becoming the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. Ahead of Harris’s speech in North Carolina, her campaign announced her support for more than a dozen economic policies aimed at “lowering costs for American families,” including some that went beyond what President Joe Biden had promised. The most striking proposals were for the elimination of medical debt for millions of Americans; the “first-ever” ban on price gouging for groceries and food; a cap on prescription drug costs; a $25,000 subsidy...

Republicans Must Make a Laser-Focused, Issues-Based Case to the People If Republicans can successfully frame the 2024 election as boiling down to the actual issues—the economy, inflation, immigration, and crime—then they stand a strong chance of prevailing.One of my favorite bits of ancient wisdom, which I have quoted many times over the years, is the Chinese military theorist Sun Tzu’s adage that a battle is won before it is fought because it is won by choosing the terrain on which it is fought. Accordingly, as I noted in a column a few months ago: “If former President Donald Trump...

BOSTON - A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's case to be returned to a lower court to probe claims of juror bias and determine whether his death sentence should stand. Tsarnaev's death sentence holds for now The ruling from the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals keeps intact Tsarnaev's death sentence for now. But the judges found that further investigation is needed to determine whether two jurors should have been stricken for biases. If the lower court's investigation reveals either person should have been disqualified, the court should vacate Tsarnaev's death sentence and...

An excellent roundtable discussion among five military veterans involved in the communication security and communication exploitation aspects of communication tradecraft. The discussion focuses on how modern electronic devices can be used against citizens by unscrupulous actors and governments. This video will help people recognize vulnerabilities in their everyday habits when using computers, smart phones and even vehicles. Many people will be surprised. Length is 1:35:36, bookmark and watch on your schedule.