Free Republic

SACRAMENTO, California — California Attorney General Rob Bonta assailed the Trump administration’s edict to halt federal funding as imprecise and frustratingly vague on Tuesday. But among the dozens of programs that could be cut, the state’s top law enforcement official pointed to one with certainty: money to help fire-scorched Los Angeles rebuild. “We need it now. We needed it yesterday and without conditions,” Bonta said at a virtual news conference Tuesday with five other Democratic attorneys general, where they announced their legal challenge to the memo. “And it’s unfortunate that it’s being put at risk, not just from potential conditions...

The influx of millions of migrants has shifted political power in the nation to Democrats, even though they are not allowed to vote... While they may be considered noncitizens, illegal and legal migrants are counted by the census, and those numbers are used to shift congressional districts, which affect electoral votes, according to two new studies from the Center for Immigration Studies.... “Immigration shifts political power in the United States — without a single immigrant having to vote. Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and thus votes in the Electoral College are apportioned among the states based on each...

The Biden-Harris administration is giving Israel 30 days to improve humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza or else the US could halt military assistance, according to a letter sent to the Israeli military. The letter, penned by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, threatens to pause the delivery of US weapons and aid to Israel unless the Jewish state provides assurance that humanitarian aid is flowing into Gaza unhindered, according to Ynet News reports.

Former President Donald Trump revealed Wednesday the latest request President Joe Biden’s team is apparently making ahead of the candidates’ head-to-head match up on the debate stage. After Trump’s campaign continuously pushed Biden to debate, the president proposed the candidates debate twice, though there were a list of non-negotiables the Biden team wanted to make the event happen. Among Biden’s proposed standards were no live audience, a select variety of networks to host and only two candidates on stage. Now there appear to be more. Trump told John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby on 77 WABC AM that the Biden campaign...

Joe Biden's debate challenge to Trump was a joke. Despite his projected confidence in his video statement directed at Trump, the terms proposed by the Biden campaign are extremely telling, as they indicate Joe Biden is pushing for debates that are incredibly controlled. For starters, the Biden campaign is demanding no live audience, which strikes me as odd. Generally speaking, candidates prefer having an audience they can feel like they're addressing directly. Another demand is that microphones be off when it's not a candidate's turn to speak and that they be cut when they go over their time limit. Oh...

Biden 2024 campaign co-chairman Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) said Thursday on CNN that he now wants the United States to put conditions on military aid to Israel. Host Sara Sidner said, “You’ve had words with Benjamin Netanyahu. The president has had words with Benjamin Netanyahu. At what point does the policy change? Do you support a change in policy instead of a carrot, instead of words, a stick up saying to Israel that in order to get military aid, you have to change your tact? When does that happen?” Coons said, “I think we’re at that point. I think we’re...

France announces it will provide over 30 million euros to UNRWA while ensuring the agency fulfills its mission "in a spirit devoid of incitement to hatred and violence".

US Border Patrol agents found 54 illegal migrants “living in deplorable conditions” at a stash house near El Paso, Texas, officials said over the weekend. Six of the migrants had “prior removal orders” against them and will be prosecuted, El Paso Sector Chief Anthony Good said Saturday.

The White House on Friday called for the debt limit to be raised without conditions, laying down a marker ahead of what is likely to be a bruising fight with House Republicans in the coming months. “We believe, when it comes to the debt limit, it has been done in a bipartisan way over the years and decades. And it should be done in a bipartisan way. And it should be done without conditions. That is important here,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. Jean-Pierre’s comments came shortly after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to warn...

After all of the talk about sticking it out in Ukraine for as long as it takes and Mad Vlad threatening to unleash some nukes, could Russia actually be ready to negotiate with Zelensky and the west to seek an end to the invasion of Ukraine? We probably shouldn’t get our hopes up too high just yet, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled that there might be an offer on the table over the weekend. Considering how bombastic Lavrov generally is, this would indicate a serious change in his attitude if it turns out to be more than just...

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov say Russia will halt military action if Kiev meets four conditions. In an interview on Monday, Peskov said Moscow could “end war immediately” if Ukraine agreed to sign a neutrality agreement that would bar it from entering NATO, recognized Crimea as Russian, recognized the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent, and ceased all military action.

Dozens of athletes thrown into virus isolation at China's zero-Covid Winter Olympics have laid bare their misery - describing 'crying like crazy' after being hauled out of bed at 3am before being fed miserable food in rooms too small for exercise. Beijing is attempting to hold a virus-free event in the midst of a pandemic, cutting off competitors and their teams in a bubble where tests must be taken every day, with anyone who tests positive dragged off to isolation. But conditions in isolation are reportedly dire. Valeria Vasnetsova, a Russian biathlete, claims she was served the same inedible meal...

The latest coronavirus numbers from the CDC raise more questions on the seriousness of the China virus. According to the CDC there were 26,557 heart attacks listed as Coronavirus deaths. ... And there were 7,919 accident and poisoning deaths listed as Coronavirus deaths. ... The CDC also revealed in their latest numbers that hospitals have been counting patients who died from serious preexisting conditions as COVID-19 deaths.

Senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Saeb Erekat on Friday set conditions for the Palestinian Authority (PA) renewing its ties with the United States, saying these ties can be resumed on condition that Washington commits itself to the peace process. "If the current US government wants to resume political contacts with the Palestinian leadership, it should announce that East Jerusalem is occupied and terminate the decision of annexing the city to Israel," said Erekat, secretary general of the PLO Executive Committee, in a statement quoted by the Xinhua news agency. He also asked the United States to declare the two-state...

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that the main subject of the meeting between the terrorist organization and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov was the treatment of Hamas members held in Israeli prisons. According to the Islamic Jihad-affiliated website PALTODAY, Haniyeh told Mladenov that there is a Palestinian Arab consensus on the issue of the security prisoners. In addition, letters were sent from the leadership of the security prisoners, in which the "grave situation" was noted in the prisons because of the measures taken against them. The Hamas leadership asked the UN Secretary-General's envoy to...

**SNIP** “Today is more than about Democrats and Republicans, it’s about restoring the constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration,” Pelosi, 78, said at the election night party in Washington D.C. “It’s about stopping the GOP and Mike—Mitch—McConnell’s assaults on Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the health care of 130 million Americans living with pre-existing medical conditions.” Then, raising her fist in the air, Pelosi declared: “Let’s hear it more for pre-existing medical conditions!”

According to an email sent by Ford's lawyers and obtained by The New York Times, she would appear as long as senators provide “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety." In the letter Thursday, Ford's attorneys wrote that it “is not possible" for Ford to testify on Monday. The lawyers added that "the Committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event.”

Hamas and Egypt are at odds over an unconfirmed cease-fire deal with Israel, Walla! News reports Tuesday—after Cairo refused to add to the terms of its mediation unprecedented “conditions” tempering the move. Hamas, which has rejected not one, but three separate ceasefire attempts, called on Israel over the past week to submit to a number of “conditions”—or demands—in return for an end to the violence against Israelis. The calls were accompanied by threats against the Israeli people, made through a series of weakly-worded text messages. These “conditions” include, among other things, greater access to international waters, reopening of border crossings,...

A new nationwide effort to provide health coverage to uninsured Americans with preexisting conditions is off to a slow start, largely due to high costs and a lack of awareness. As of Nov. 1, only 8,011 people were enrolled in the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, numbers from the Dept. of Health and Human Services show. People who have been denied coverage by private insurers because of a preexisting condition and who have been uninsured for at least six months are eligible to participate in PCIP. The idea is to give patients who have no access to private coverage because of...

The Obama administration issued new rules Tuesday that require insurance companies to cover people with preexisting conditions — one of the most popular provisions of President Obama’s healthcare law. The Health and Human Services Department also began to implement other popular, but expensive, parts of the Affordable Care Act. Regulations released Tuesday will prohibit insurers from charging women a higher premium than men, and will require plans in every state to cover certain services.