Free Republic

Congress can end the war in Ukraine and win a Nobel Peace Prize by enacting a statute withdrawing the United States from NATO — transforming it from a mighty offensive oak into a tiny acorn unalarming to Russia. As early as 1798, Congress nullified a defense treaty with France by statute. A congressional end to United States participation in NATO would be no constitutional novelty. At the very latest, NATO became obsolete in 1991 when its raison d’etre — the Soviet Empire — dissolved. By remaining in NATO and spearheading its expansion to Russia’s borders with 30 members, the United...

The Securities and Exchange Commission was seeking information from collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX earlier this year, the Prospect has confirmed, bringing a new perspective to an effort by a bipartisan group of congressmembers to slow down that investigation. The March letter from eight House members—four Democrats and four Republicans—questioned the SEC’s authority to make informal inquiries to crypto and blockchain companies, and intimated that the requests violated federal law. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), whom the Republican caucus just elected as majority whip, the number three position in the House GOP leadership, led the letter. In a contemporaneous Twitter thread, Emmer...

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Russia's parliament approved on Thursday a bill that widens a prohibition of "LGBT propaganda" and restricts the "demonstration" of LGBT behaviour, making any expression of an LGBT lifestyle almost impossible. Under the new law, which still needs the approval of the upper house of parliament and President Vladimir Putin, any action or information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality - whether in public, online, or in films, books or advertising - could incur a heavy fine. Previously, the law had outlawed only promotion of LGBT lifestyles aimed at children. The new bill also...

New York Times economics columnist Paul Krugman has a knack for propping up President Joe Biden's atrocious economy at the expense of making himself look foolish. Krugman belched up another word salad worth 846 words with a blaring headline: “How Democrats Can Fight This G.O.P.” After haranguing Republicans for supposedly not having “policy ideas,” Krugman bleated that a GOP-controlled House of Representatives with a narrow majority will be more “destructive” in part because the “economic environment, which was a headwind for Democrats this year, will probably (although obviously not certainly) begin to look better heading into 2024.” Inflation, praised Krugman,...

Now that the Republicans have a slim majority in the House, they need to use all the powers available to them to slow down the Dems’ abuse of power and assault on the Constitution. This means both now and next term, no “bipartisanship,” no preemptive cringes to ward off media attacks, and no “negotiations,” over raising the debt ceiling, for example, that don’t get some substantive concessions for pruning back the Democrats’ fiscal excesses. Come January, the most obvious actions are House committee hearings and investigations. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, along with Jim Jordan (Ohio), James Comer (Ky), and other...

As Republicans make plans for taking control of the House of Representatives in January, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are warning that Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who won the GOP’s nomination for Speaker of the House last week, may not actually have enough votes to earn him the Speaker’s gavel.Just because he won the Republican nomination doesn’t mean Kevin McCarthy automatically becomes Speaker; he essentially needs the backing of every GOP House member when the entire chamber votes early next year. Here are the numbers:219: The projected number of seats that Republicans will hold in the new Congress.218: The...

"We’ve all heard of people being cancelled, thrown off social media, even fired from jobs … But how many years before a Christian minister [who speaks] on marriage and sexual orientation is reported [to] a government anti-terrorism program?"For Reverend Dr. Bernard Randall, that time has already come. The chaplain of a Church of England School was suspended, fired for gross misconduct, and reported to child protective services simply for restating what the Church of England believes. If his story sounds like a distant outlier, it’s not. Randall’s nightmare will be every Christian’s nightmare if our Senate passes the Respect for...

Republicans have secured a U.S. House majority, barely. Barely is better than not at all. But a slim margin will pose daunting challenges to Republicans, who will be led by Kevin McCarthy. The Californian will win the speaker’s gavel with the full backing of his conference. He’ll notch a win because the stakes are enormous. Even, finally, tough-nosed conservative Matt Gaetz knows this. McCarthy wins because he’ll cut a deal with Freedom Caucus members who backed Arizona’s Andy Biggs for speaker. Biggs won 31 votes to McCarthy’s 188. Biggs was trounced but really not, because those 31 votes loom large....

Now that Republicans have officially captured majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives and will soon assume control of powerful House committees with subpoena power, there’s much work to be done.Given the party deadlock that will likely prevent any significant legislative accomplishments, Republicans are expected to launch a series of investigations that could eventually lead to impeachment proceedings, but not necessarily against President Joe Biden, USA Today reported.Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas would likely be at the top of the list for potential impeachment targets since Republicans will probably focus heavily on the crisis at the southern...

What in the world … ?Apparently, to use Dave Wasserman‘s phrase, Adam Frisch has seen enough — even though the state of Colorado by statute has not. While his challenge to Lauren Boebert for the CO-3 race will have to undergo a mandatory recount, Frisch has decided to throw in the towel. He conceded to Boebert a few minutes ago:“The voters have spoken and while we showed great progress, I remain down by a few hundred votes. This small margin triggers an automatic recount in Colorado’s election system. This recount is what Colorado voters have asked for in order to...

WASHINGTON — Republicans managed to make their victory in the House seem like a loss by underperforming so badly. But while they did not win control by anywhere near the margin that they anticipated, they did win. And in the House, even the barest majority can work its will if it can hold together to produce 218 votes. The main question going forward is whether Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who was nominated Tuesday to lead the new Republican majority, can achieve the unity necessary to perform fundamental tasks such as funding the government, or whether unyielding far-right members will...

More than four months before voters handed Republicans control of the House of Representatives, top White House and Department of Homeland Security officials huddled in the Roosevelt Room to prepare for that very scenario. .... ...White House officials believe Republicans are bound to overstep and that their investigative overreach will backfire with the American public. In the meantime, they are prepared to push back forcefully...

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, whom House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer endorsed for Democratic leader, is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer are both declining to run for Democratic leadership posts in the next Congress, passing the baton to a new generation of leaders, which could signal further leftward migration by the party. Hoyer, 83, threw his support behind New York Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for Democratic leader on Thursday after announcing his decision not to seek a leadership role in the caucus. Hoyer said...

If the 2022 midterm election taught Americans anything, it’s that every vote counts. That lesson comes after many political races have come down to only a handful of votes or fewer — and now another Democrat has eeked out a victory after a recount. Sarah Keitt, the Democratic candidate for the state’s 134th House district who previously conceded to Republican Meghan McCloat, won her seat in the race for Connecticut state representative by only 10 votes, the Trumball Times reported. The Keitt campaign released a statement after the procedure wrapped up, noting that the outcome “demonstrates the truth of the...

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) says it is “imperative” for Democrats and Republicans to ram an amnesty for millions of illegal aliens through Congress before the GOP becomes the House majority. During a press conference this week, Castro urged House and Senate Republicans to sign onto any one of the various amnesty bills specifically geared to provide visas, green cards, and eventually naturalized American citizenship to millions of illegal aliens enrolled and eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Few Americans—thanks to our fine history instruction these days—know what the Credit Mobilier scandal was. From 1864 to 1867, a company called Credit Mobilier was created by executives of the Union Pacific Railroad. It was a railroad construction company that overcharged on construction costs and manipulated contracts. Its founder was Thomas Durant, and the company worked with American Congressmen, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi… Oh, sorry, Schuyler Colfax and Congressman Oakes Ames who were given low-price stock options and payouts in return for no federal oversight of the company and for subsidies and favorable regulations that would otherwise...

Now that Democrats have lost the House, longtime House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she is reassessing her future and will make an announcement today. According to the Daily Mail:With Republicans set to take over the House of Representatives and Democrats slated for leadership elections at the end of the month, outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's will tell people her plans on Thursday.Pelosi, 82, announced through a spokesperson that she'll 'address her future plans' later today with speculation already having begun as to whether she'll remain the leader of the Democrats. Instead of passing the gavel in...

<p>One month after leaving the Democratic Party, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is joining Fox News as a paid contributor.</p><p>A representative for the conservative-leaning cable channel confirmed Gabbard signed a deal Monday and will start appearing on its programs next week.</p>

Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) plans to introduce legislation that is meant to prevent Donald Trump from holding office again. He sent a letter to his Democrat colleagues in Congress on Tuesday night, the night that Trump announced his candidacy for President in 2024. Cicilline’s letter previewed the bill for his colleagues but didn’t say when he plans to introduce it. He listed a deadline of Thursday at noon for lawmakers who wish to cosponsor the bill.Cicilline is not exactly an impartial observer. He was a House impeachment manager for Trump’s second impeachment trial. He is citing the 14th Amendment to...

Republicans have secured a House majority in the next Congress, Newsmax can officially project. The GOP clinched its 218th seat — posting plus-9 in these midterm elections thus far — a tally that earns a majority. Democrats are projected to win 203 seats, with more than a dozen races still undecided. California District 3 going to Republican Kevin Kiley was the 218th seat to be clinched at 6:13 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.