Free Republic

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) issued an emergency order on August 3 ensuring non-public schools, including Catholic schools, can make their own decisions regarding reopening for in-person instruction in the coming academic year. The order, issued Monday, came after Montgomery County, the most populated county in the state, issued an order on July 31 prohibiting all non-public schools from opening for in-person classes before October 1. Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles said in Friday evening’s statement that “At this point the data does not suggest that in-person instruction is safe for students or teachers,” and that forcibly closing...

"The first time Representative Karen Bass heard Joe Biden talk about the car crash that killed his wife and infant daughter, she dropped into her chair, overwhelmed. It was 2008, and Bass was watching the Democratic National Convention video introducing Biden as the party’s vice-presidential nominee. Less than two years earlier, Bass’s daughter and son-in-law had died in a car crash on the 405. Bass, then in her 50s, had thrown herself into her job as the speaker of the California assembly and hoped to get past the pain. But there was Biden, 36 years after the tragedy that shattered...

The Navy will not reinstate the fired commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier following an investigation of leadership’s handling of a coronavirus outbreak onboard in March.

Just heard on Hannity's show, McCabe is OUT...no emails, no access to files...out.

CNN reporting on Nunes memo

The Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications will lay off almost 6 percent of its workforce — between 200 and 250 people — after it slipped into the red last quarter, the company announced Wednesday. The layoffs, along with a planned restructuring, “are in response to difficult times, challenging times,” Isaac Lee, Univision’s digital, entertainment and news chief, told The Washington Post in his first public comments on the moves. “We need to position ourselves for the future.”

For months, Donald Trump's antagonists in rival campaigns, in the GOP establishment and in the punditocracy have believed the time would come, someday, when Trump would say something so outrageous, so over-the-top, so out there that the scales would finally fall from his supporters' eyes and the Trump candidacy would collapse. The South Carolina campaign, some believed, would be that time.

"He's hijacked my party," Jeb Bush said of Donald Trump on Tuesday on CBS's "This Morning." "Someone has to take a stand." Bush has deputized himself to take that stand in South Carolina, which will hold its Republican presidential primary Saturday and which is regularly referred to by his supporters as "Bush country." He has brought his mother and brother, the former president, into the state to help with this job -- believing that South Carolina's Republican Party will return logic back to the nominating process. I wouldn't bet on it.

The GOP presidential race is moving to South Carolina, which hosts its primary on Saturday, February 20. A lot can and will change before then, but one thing is clear when looking at polls in the Palmetto State: Donald Trump entered Tuesday as the frontrunner in South Carolina, and he’ll remain the frontrunner after his dominant performance in New Hampshire.

WASHINGTON — Of all the voters who might be expected to resist the charms of Donald J. Trump, the two million members of the Service Employees International Union would most likely be near the top of the list. The union, which endorsed Hillary Clinton in November, is widely regarded as one of the more progressive in the labor movement. It skews female and racially diverse — roughly the opposite of a Trump rally, in other words. But the union’s president, Mary Kay Henry, acknowledged that Mr. Trump holds appeal even for some of her members. “There is deep economic anxiety...

A new Iowa poll finds Donald Trump with a strong seven point lead, less than one week from caucus day. Ted Cruz is in second and Marco Rubio is in third, the poll finds.

Earlier this month, Fox News released a poll showing Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump by four points. The two had a sizable lead over everyone else in the state, and the poll was confirming what others were showing: Cruz had an advantage. On Sunday, Fox released another Iowa poll, with substantially different results. Now, Trump is up by 11 points, a 15-point swing in the two weeks between surveys. This poll, too, mirrors the recent trend: Trump has regained the advantage.

In a brand new Zogby Analytics poll of likely GOP caucus and primary voters, Donald Trump receives 45% of the total vote, with Ted Cruz in a distant second place at 13%, followed by Marco Rubio with 8%, Jeb Bush 6%, Ben Carson 4%, Carly Fiorina and John Kasich tied with 3%, and Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum all tied with 2%. Ten percent are undecided.

Support for Trump unchanged following his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S.

The political operative behind the nonprofit that just began attacking Ted Cruz in Iowa is a Marco Rubio backer who served as a co-host of a fundraiser for the Florida senator last week. Sean Noble is the founder of American Encore, a 501(c)4 nonprofit, which is paying $200,000 to air an ad in Des Moines that accuses Cruz of voting to “weaken national security” and urges him to “stop leading from behind.” Noble said that while he personally is backing Rubio — he served as a co-host of scotch and cigars fundraiser in Arizona last week — his group is...

We could use a few more journalists like Ben Swann. “The Second Amendment is not about hunting, or even just about defense of your own home. It was written by men who ultimately believed that governments and armies would turn on their own people. The Second Amendment was written to guarantee that would never happen.” Video here http://patriotpost.us/posts/38682

Macy's Inc. on Wednesday cut its sales guidance for the year after reporting steeper-than-expected slides in sales and profit in its second quarter. Chief Executive Terry J. Lundgren said the company was disappointed with its second-quarter results, but said Macy's expects improvement in the second half of the year.

Every year the Fourth of July is marked by ringing affirmations of American exceptionalism. We are a special nation, uniquely founded on high ideals like freedom and equality. In practice, however, much of what sets the United States apart from other countries today is actually Southern exceptionalism. Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/how-the-south-skews-america-119725.html#ixzz3evoOFM1c

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham will call Monday for the removal of the confederate flag from state grounds, a source familiar with the decision told CNN. Graham, a 2016 presidential candidate, will make his announcement during a press conference with South Carolina's Republican governor, Nikki Haley, at 4 p.m. Monday.

Last week, Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin convened a focus group of Iowa Democrats to discuss Hillary Rodham Clinton. They were Ready for Hillary. Indeed, they were enthusiastic about the prospect. But when Halperin asked them to name an accomplishment of Hillary as secretary of state, they couldn’t come up with one. Nor, for that matter, could they have named an accomplishment of Hillary as senator. Nor as first lady. Nor as Arkansan.....