Free Republic

On Tuesday evening, in his first State of the Union address, President Trump defended the “American way” and offered a four-point plan on immigration. Trump’s proposal “offers a path to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents at a young age,” known as DREAMers; includes implementing his signature campaign promise to build a wall on America’s southern border, ending the visa lottery, and ending chain migration. Trump unequivocally extended a hand of bipartisanship. But Democrats were furious over the president’s words, saying he has only made a bipartisan deal harder to reach. Given the...

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, would you be surprised to learn that many think — not all, but there are some who blame me for being where the country is right now. I’m holding here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers a printed copy of a piece in the New York Times from yesterday by a woman by the name of Michelle Goldberg. It is entitled, “Don’t Believe the Liberal FBI.” Don’t let the headline confuse you. This is a prerelease memo piece. “In the 1960s and 1970s, the American right set about undermining trust in the mainstream media, which it saw...

Failing to get traction on their Russia “collusion” front, Sen. Mark Warner and other top Democratic inquisitors now suggest President Trump is obstructing justice by forcing a shake-up at FBI headquarters. But FBI sources tell me the pressure to clean house is also coming from inside the bureau, and it’s based on real concerns over malfeasance by top brass there. In a healthy sign, new FBI Director Christopher Wray is slowly but surely sweeping partisan operatives out of the bureau’s executive suites all on his own. On the job just a few months, Wray told Congress in December he wanted...

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party chairman says he’s acceding to Gov. Tom Wolf’s request that he resign in the wake of his comments to a columnist about the party’s responses to sexual misconduct allegations against politicians. In a statement Friday, Marcel Groen said he didn’t agree with Wolf’s assessment, but didn’t want to be a distraction to the party. At one point in The Philadelphia Inquirer’s column , Groen says Wolf is already unhappy with him.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — President Trump tried to fire up congressional Republicans at the Greenbrier resort here Thursday, using a lunchtime speech at the GOP’s annual policy retreat to tout their accomplishments in 2017 and spur them to action in what could be a tough election year. “Working together, we’ve accomplished extraordinary things for the American over the last year, and I really believe this is just the beginning,” the president said. “You folks have done well,” he told Republican leaders gathered onstage. “We’re now in battle together.”

Hey, remember when Obama closed Gitmo? Remember how he couldn't stop telling us how great it was that he'd closed Gitmo? He actually listed "closing Gitmo" as one of his achievements. To him, making a promise was the same as keeping it. And if he didn't actually keep it, so what? All because on January 22, 2009, two days after being sworn in, Obama signed the first of his many executive orders: Before Obama even knew how to find all the bathrooms in the White House, he'd signed that executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. It was...

Now that Democrats have fled from their ill-fated Schumer Shutdown, tail between their legs, attention now shifts to the ongoing talks over a possible DACA agreement on immigration.  Lawmakers find themselves up against two deadlines: (1) The March cutoff established by the Trump administration after the president announced his cancellation of his predecessor's legally-dubious executive amnesty, and (2) the February 8 time limit just set by Mitch McConnell, after which he'll move to the introduction of bills and amendments on various legislative solutions to the DREAMer situation.  As various 'gangs' and working groups on Capitol Hill power through their negotiations, it's...

Illegal alien activists say they are “outraged” after Senate Democrats did not leave the federal government shut down in order to force a deal whereby millions of illegal aliens are given amnesty at the expense of American citizens.In a protest outside of the U.S Capitol, open borders advocates and illegal alien activists slammed Democrats after they originally shut down the federal government to push amnesty for illegal aliens, but then caved to President Trump and voted to reopen the government without an amnesty attached to the funding bill. Illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood...

Speaking at Stanford University after being introduced by former top diplomat Condoleezza Rice, Tillerson said the Trump administration was determined not to repeat President Barack Obama's "mistake" when he withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011. Republicans for years have argued the withdrawal created the opening for IS' rapid expansion.... Securing a successful U.N. peace process, getting Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power, ridding Syria of Iran's influence and eradicating all weapons of mass destruction in the country.

President Trump either incautiously or brilliantly said during his opening negotiating session with Congressional leaders that he would sign whatever immigration agreement they brought to him. There has been plenty of hand-wringing over that statement from those supporting Trump based on his promises to build the wall and control immigration. And of course since then, there has been the meeting where Trump might have said a bad word, or might not have. So that was a big deal over maybe something else, or maybe not something. Just in case, CNN said it 195 times in one day. Media in 2018....

Question: If someone sells you on something with false advertising and it does the exact opposite of what was promised, are you not entitled to return the product and get a refund? In fact, if the product caused you harm, should you not in addition be compensated for damages? Consider that when Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) was pushing the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965 (S.500) on the Senate floor, he said, "First, our cities will not be flooded with a million immigrants annually." Actually, he was right. We now absorb more than a million immigrants annually. Kennedy next stated,...

Everyone knows something has to be done for America's DACA kids. Everyone with a good heart or a working brain knows it's not their fault their parents sneaked them into the country when they were kids under 16. It's true that by law they are illegal immigrants. But most DACA kids have grown up to become good, law-abiding Americans. They've gone to school here. They've worked and paid taxes here. They've even served in our military. Everyone except a few people on the far fringe knows it'd be wrong to deport these 800,000 so-called "Dreamers" -- now or in the...

RUSH: This is the reason he got elected, folks. This is where we’re gonna lose or keep the country is illegal immigration. Would you like some stats on this? This is nothing you haven’t heard before. But, you know, this story goes in waves and cycles, and it’s always dominated by the latest iteration of this story of the day. I want to go back and remind you of some things. “Modern Immigration…” This is a headline from the Pew Research Center, and this is from September 28, 2015. So we’re going back here, a little bit of a flashback....

Earlier today President Trump held a meeting today with Democrat and Republican Senators surrounding one of the most controversial issues in the current body politic. The DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and immigration reform, to include a border wall and an end of chain-migration policy, is a hot button issue on both sides of the political aisle. President Trump surprised the entire MSM by allowing the media to stay in the meeting for an hour and hear the arguments/positions from all participants at the meeting. Extreme transparency.

Donald Trump is entering the second year of his presidency, but he and Republicans in Congress will need to govern as though it's his last. After months of inaction on the top items in their shared legislative agenda, they closed out 2017 with a bang. A tax reform bill that also repealed Obamacare’s individual mandate and allowed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge became law in December, capping a busy year of deregulation, military gains against the Islamic State, and successful conservative judicial nominees. Trump and congressional Republicans won’t have the luxury of a late legislative windfall in 2018....

January is traditionally the time to put the past behind us, turn over a new leaf, and make plans for what’s to come. Many indicators show the country’s economy has been pumping on all cylinders this past year. Stocks are at record highs and the unemployment rate is at its lowest point in 17 years. Many would agree that the economy is moving in the right direction, which is excellent news. Unfortunately, this optimistic news is somewhat undercut by worsening financial trajectories at the state government level from coast to coast. The nation is not in as good a shape...

The Talk Shows Jan 7, 2018 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): CIA Director Mike Pompeo; Corey Lewandowski, onetime manager of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; author Michael Wolff.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Pompeo; Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; former Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss.THIS WEEK (ABC): To be announced.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

President Trump emerged Saturday from a meeting with Congress’ Republican leaders at Camp David and outlined an ambitious legislative agenda for 2018, including the budget, infrastructure, a border wall, immigration and beefing up the military. He called the agenda setting sessions “great meetings” that had been “transformative in certain ways.” The president said it would be “hard to top” the accomplishments of his first year in office, but they were going to try. “We are very well prepared for the coming year. We finished very strong,” he said, mentioning the tax cuts, ending the Obamacare individual mandate and opening the...

WASHINGTON – Health insurance premiums in Virginia’s individual marketplace are set to rise as high as 265 percent in this new year. According to the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Affordable Care Act filing data, the maximum allowable premium hike for Optima Health Plan customers is 265.5 percent, which represents the largest increases in the Virginia individual market next year. Some Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company health plans on the individual market are set to rise 168.6 percent in 2018.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. has swelled to more than 42 million today. As a result of Obama Administration’s policies, the number of Americans on food stamps is now 'greater than the population of Canada.' Nationwide spending on the program is roughly $70 billion annually —20 percent of which is wasted on junk food, candy, soda, and other sugary drinks. Consider California, which spent more than $1 billion on food stamp benefits in August and September alone. The good news is that President Trump has a chance to take on food stamps in the upcoming Farm Bill, which funds...