Free Republic

Both sides of the aisle agree that the current US immigration system is broken. It's why immigration's stayed a hot-button political issue and policy debate, and part of what has made Donald Trump the likely 2016 Republican nominee for president. But the system hasn't always been broken. Or rather, it hasn't always been broken in this particular way. Everyone remembers that in 1986, President Ronald Reagan passed an "amnesty" law. But what most people don't know is that in 1996 — fresh off the heels of signing welfare reform, and two years after signing the "crime bill" — President Bill...

Maryland's stepped-up efforts to collect unpaid tolls are raking in millions of dollars for the state - outpacing the growth in toll revenue itself. State lawmakers and consumer protection groups say the crackdown - which includes referring thousands of delinquent accounts to collections - is punitive and predatory and is pushing Marylanders into debt - and in some cases bankruptcy. Transportation officials say they are only enforcing tolls motorists should be paying anyway - a major shift from years past when the state allowed scofflaws to run up hefty amounts in unpaid tolls and fines without consequences. "Certainly, we want...

Americans are stressed out. People are plagued by financial anxiety, according to the results of an annual poll of 1,004 adults conducted by the American Psychiatric Association released Monday. This year’s national anxiety score — derived by mean scores on a scale of zero to 100 — is 51, a five-point jump since 2017. Two-thirds of respondents said they were extremely or somewhat anxious about paying their bills or expenses. Last year, 56 percent of people reported financial worries. But some people are more worried than others about finances. Women are more anxious than men and also had a greater...

A Louisiana House committee voted favorably on four anti-abortion bills Wednesday (April 4). Three of the bills (House bills 287, 273 and 338) are amended versions of three similar proposals that have been tied up in a federal court battle since they were first approved during the 2016 legislative session. House Bill 449, which proposes the Louisiana Department of Health offer information about adoption as an alternative to abortion on their website, was the only new legislation. Proponents of the bills speaking during Wednesday’s house committee on health and welfare meeting said they hoped the clarified language would make it...

In the wake of the recent horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a number of proposals involving federal grant programs have been offered in Congress to try to address the critical issue of school safety. Empowering states and localities to implement evidence-based programs that meet their needs represents a sensible approach. Among the proposals under consideration is the Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Act of 2018, which has been introduced in the House by Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., a former sheriff, and in the Senate by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Both House...

If you’re planning to watch the Super Bowl but you can’t stand the NFL take-a-knee protests, you may want to root for the Philadelphia Eagles. Not a single Eagles player sat or knelt during the national anthem, one of just seven teams with perfect non-kneeling records, in a season that saw 684 such incidents, according to a study released Thursday by Sports Pundit. The other Super Bowl LII team, the New England Patriots, landed in the middle of the pack with 17 incidents of anthem sitting or kneeling, wedged between the Buffalo Bills with 16 and the Cleveland Browns with...

When the Bills took a knee a stadium worker chose to take a walk. New Era Field employee Erich Nikischer quit his job at the stadium after 30 years Sunday after several Bills players knelt during the national anthem and others locked arms in response to President Donald Trump's remarks. "I waited until the National Anthem ended, I took off my shirt, threw my Bills hat on the ground, walked out," Nikischer told WGRZ. He also said he will never go back to New Era Field again and he won't watch another NFL game until protests stop.

President Donald Trump’s outgoing chief of staff Reince Priebus told Breitbart News Satuday SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam that the president’s “amazing” work during his first few months in office includes signing a record number of bills into law. “I could tick of for an entire 10, 20 minutes that facts of what’s he’s accomplished and the amazing amount of work he’s done,” Priebus said. “The amount of bills he’s signed are more than any president in the last 50 years,” Priebus said. Priebus — whose departure from the White House was announced on Friday night — also said that Trump...

Monday on CNN’s “New Day,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the vice chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, said that he foresees some conservatives coming out against a proposed government spending bill set to come out later this week. “I mean, look, money goes to Planned Parenthood as you said,” Jordan said to host Chris Cuomo. “Money continues to go to sanctuary cities but no money for the border wall. I think you’re going to see a lot of conservatives be against this plan this week.”

In Part I we explained why President Trump has not received any legislation: To Wit: President Donald Trump winning the election threw a monkey wrench into the entire DC system…. The modern legislative machine is frozen in place. The “America First” policies represented by candidate Donald Trump are not within the legislative constructs coming from the authors of the legislation. Congress has no bills to advance because all of the myriad of bills and briefs written are not in line with President Trump policy. That’s why congress has not passed any legislation for President Trump to sign. There’s no entity...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is pushing an alternative ObamaCare repeal bill amid growing opposition to the House GOP leadership's plan. Paul introduced a bill - known as the ObamaCare repeal bill - mirrored off a 2015 bill that cleared the Senate along party lines. "The Republican Party is unified on Obamacare repeal," Paul said in a statement. "We can honor our promise right away by passing the same language we acted on in the last Congress."

President Trump has a beef with NATO. He's called the alliance "obsolete" and accused other members of not spending their fair share. "We are spending a tremendous amount in NATO and other people proportionately less," he said during the campaign. "No good." When it comes to costs, Trump has a point. Only five of NATO's 28 members -- the U.S., Greece, Poland, Estonia and the U.K. -- meet the alliance's target of spending at least 2% of GDP on defense.

Marv Levy is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his work as head coach of the Bills from 1986 to 1997. And if given the opportunity, he’d be up for trying to get them back to the Super Bowl. Levy told 104.5 The Team in Albany that he thinks he’d be up to the task, even though he’s now 91 years old. “I might do it,” Levy said. “It was one of those things where after forty seven years of coaching I really needed to get that deep breath to step aside but after a couple of years...

We sat down across the table from each other and I saw the two pieces of paper: my college bills created by my father. Dad slid the first one across the table, calmly stating this would be the amount I’d owe if I went to College A. Then he slid the second paper across explaining and this is what I’d need to pay for College B. The first bill said $80,000. The second said $0. Sounds like a no-brainer – but keep in mind I was a 17-year-old who fantasized about a very specific type of college experience. I immediately...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Before San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem of Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills, a loud chant of "USA, USA" rang out at New Era Field. ... As Kaepernick, who made his first start since week 8 of last season, led the offense on to the field, he was greeted by a loud chorus of boos from Bills fans. Those boos continued for the first couple of snaps before dissipating into cheers of encouragement for Buffalo's defense. ... Kaepernick's first drive as the starter ended in a punt. He ran for...

Just read that the 49rs are starting Colon Kaepernick against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. While I am a Dallas Cowboys fan living here in TX, I was once a season ticket holding Buffalo Bills fan during the Jim Kelly days back in NYS. It would bring me great pleasure to see the Bills - in their Red, White, and Blue uniforms, welcome Mr. I Hate America back to the NFL! Go BILLS!

(CNSNews.com) – The Unites States should phase-out all denominations of the U.S. dollar larger than a $10 bill to thwart money launderers and tax evaders, Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff told attendees at a Council on Foreign Relations event this week in Washington, D.C.“Cash is not used in ordinary retail transactions. It’s used by tax evaders and in a lot of crime of all types, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion, racketeering, you name it,” said Rogoff, a member of the economic advisory panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and author of The Curse of Cash.“Cash is being used...

A former Chicago transportation official was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for taking bribes to steer $100 million in red-light camera contracts to a company in Phoenix. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall sentenced John Bills, 55, in Chicago moments after he apologized for his actions. Federal prosecutors had asked the judge for at least a 10-year prison sentence. The former second-in-command at Chicago's Department of Transportation was convicted in January of bribery, conspiracy and extortion. Bills was accused of accepting envelopes stuffed with cash, along with gifts — including condos in two states and a Mercedes — to...

CLOVEDALE (CBS SF) — The Mayor of Cloverdale hopes it’s just a misunderstanding, but the Bernie Sanders campaign appears to have left her small town with $23,000 in unpaid bills after it hosted their ‘A Future To Believe In’ rally last June.

A new book threatens to blow the lid off of Congress as a legislator has penned a tell-all about the worst parts of serving in the House of Representatives – saying that his main job is to raise money for re-election and that leaves little time for reading the bills he votes on. Mill City Press, a small Minnesota-based 'vanity press' publisher describes 'The Confessions of Congressman X' as 'a devastating inside look at the dark side of Congress as revealed by one of its own.' 'No wonder Congressman X wants to remain anonymous for fear of retribution. His admissions...