Free Republic

President-elect Donald Trump has said he intends to cut government spending by reasserting the presidential power of impoundment, a move certain to spark a court battle and one that could redefine presidential power for decades to come. Impoundment occurs when the president chooses not to disburse funds authorized by Congress; instead leaving them unspent in the U.S. Treasury.This power is not mentioned in the Constitution but has been employed by presidents since Thomas Jefferson. Congress enacted limits on the practice 50 years ago.Now, Trump intends to challenge the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA), which he believes is unconstitutional.“I will...

It was one of the driest, sunniest and warmest summers in the 20th century, although the summer of 1995 is now regarded as the driest. The Government had begun to panic previously about low water levels in April and May, and water restrictions were introduced. And by the summer months, the heat was so intense that the government introduced a Drought Act. They also appointed a minister for Drought - Denis Howell - who was in charge of encouraging the public to use less water.

Today marks the 145th anniversary of Custer's infamous "Last Stand". He always had his detractors and worshippers. Especially among his contemporaries. Major James Brisbin (2nd US Cav) is quoted as saying he was an "insufferable ass". While we all know the woke folks will refer to him as either a "colonizer", "genocidal maniac", or worse - a "racist", his portrayal and legend is a story that will probably not die in this century or even the next. I wanted this thread to be about him, and his massively compounded errors that led to his death and the annihilation of his...

Democrats criticized [Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes] even more vigorously than is the usual custom on the part of the opposition. Favorite Democratic names for him were "the de facto President," "Old Eight to Seven," "The Usurper," and "The Boss Thief," while their newspapers never lost an opportunity to refer to the "Great Steal." To a crowd of admirers assembled in front of his house at 15 Gramercy Park, in New York City, [Democrat Samuel J.] Tilden declared that he had been cheated out of the presidency by a "political crime," which the American people would not condone "under any...

2020 is shaping up to be the most hotly contested presidential election since 1876. In that inauspicious year, as you may recall, Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but after a protracted Electoral College battle, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was declared the winner in exchange for his promise to end Reconstruction and remove federal troops from the South.The Compromise of 1877 – as it was called – was a historical tragedy which paved the ways for decades of Jim Crow. However, the precedent it set could be used for nobler purposes today. Donald Trump should take a leaf from...

Joseph Stalin, a man many Democrats have admired over the years, once said this about elections, “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” The original “Florida 2000” was perpetrated in 1876. During the attempted theft of the presidency by Al Gore in 2000, remember how the Democrats kept fraudulently referring to the Republicans having stolen the election of 1876? They knew the public schools run by their pals in the various teachers unions didn’t teach the truth and they rightly...

RICHMOND, Va. - An outbreak of smallpox was the furthest thing from historian Dr. Paul Levengood's mind when his staff at the Virginia Historical Society put together an exhibit of "bizarre bits" that were added to the society's collection since its founding in 1831, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. There was Confederate president Jefferson Davis's cigar, confiscated by Union troops. There was a fungus carving of Robert E. Lee on his horse, Traveller, and a wreath made of human hair. Then someone mentioned a letter, handwritten and dated 1876, with what appeared to be a smallpox scab pinned inside...

Intelligible human speech is heard over the telephone for the first time when Bell calls to Watson, "Mr. Watson -- Come here -- I want to see you."On this day, the first discernible speech is transmitted over a telephone system when inventor Alexander Graham Bell summons his assistant in another room by saying, "Mr. Watson, come here; I want you." Bell had received a comprehensive telephone patent just three days before. Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1847, was the son of Alexander Melville Bell, a leading authority in public speaking and speech correction. The young Bell was...

November 2: The election is close. Across Ohio, Florida, Pennesylvania and perhaps other states, the margin of victory is slim; perhaps o­nly 1-2,000 votes each. Both sides claim victory. Both sides can show evidence of voter fraud where they lost. Lawsuits start flying, and recounts begin. (Start flying? They are already!) The rules for counting votes change daily according to which judicial authority is consulted. The election becomes a toss up, Florida 2000 times ten, or a hundred. Public backlash begins against both sides over the election being decided in the courts again...what happens? What can happen? If you look...

Indians finally recognized at battlesite By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press writer Monday, June 23, 2003 LITTLE BIGHORN BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT, Mont. -- The words were angry, ugly. But to Tim Lame Woman, they were truth, and they nagged at him to be spoken whenever he passed the grassy battlefield where Lt. Col. George Custer became a legend. On a June day in 1988, Lame Woman marched with other members of the American Indian Movement to the monument to the 7th Cavalry atop Last Stand Hill. They placed at its base a crudely engraved plaque honoring the "Indian patriots who fought...