Free Republic

On Monday, Andy Ngo, editor-at-large at The Post Millennial, testified before the House Oversight Committee, powerfully rebutting Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-N.Y.) insistence that when it comes to the protests and riots spreading across America after the horrific police killing of George Floyd, the presence of antifa instigators is “imaginary.” Ngo, who has suffered serious injury from antifa attacks, is a living rebuke to such claims. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) noted that Ngo’s name did not appear on the Democrats’ web page for the hearing. “Mr. Ngo, why do Democrats try to ignore you?” Jordan asked. “I don’t know if it’s...

Talk to any D.C. denizen about the actual close-up view of the federal government they get, and inevitably something like the following question will come up: “Surely, people in politics know the system is broken? Why isn’t anyone doing anything to fix the numerous manifest failures of governance/policy/spending, etc?�  And inevitably, if your interlocutor is honest, they’ll be forced to give something like the following answer: “Yes, things are broken, but they’re not broken enough for anyone in D.C. to care, yet. Too much money is riding on all sides of every policy question for truth to prevail until it...

The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act on which the Democratic-led House is scheduled to vote Thursday does not ban chokeholds on the state and local level. The bill defines a “chokehold or carotid hold” as “the application of any pressure to the throat or windpipe, the use of maneuvers that restrict blood or oxygen flow to the brain, or carotid artery restraints that prevent or hinder breathing or reduce intake of air of an individual.” According to the bill’s text, “a state or unit of local government may not receive funds under the Byrne grant program or the COPS...

A House Judiciary Committee hearing erupted in bickering on Wednesday as lawmakers heard testimony from a pair of Justice Department whistleblowers and two former senior officials over allegations that the Trump administration has politicized the agency. The fracas began as former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer was delivering an opening statement. As Ayer ran over his allotted five minutes, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) began making a tapping noise to drown him out. Gohmert's behavior angered the Democrats on the committee and prompted one to call for the sergeant-at-arms to intervene."Mr. Chairman, I would ask that the sergeant-at-arms be called upon...

Good news, sorta. Looks like we’ll have AOC to kick around for another two years. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez buried her Democratic primary challenger Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former CNBC reporter who tried to unseat the frosh Representative after her “fluke” election in 2018. After winning 72.6% of the vote in NY-14, Ocasio-Cortez wants her props for a “mandate”: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said her reported results of about 70% of the vote, which put her far ahead of challenger Michelle Caruso-Cabrera in the Democratic primary election, would be a ‘transformative’ mandate https://t.co/RNnk2PyljQ pic.twitter.com/m2HqKjIu2H— Reuters (@Reuters) June 24, 2020 When I won in...

The coronavirus shutdown has flattened multiple industries across America -- everything from airlines and manufacturers to hospitals, retailers, oil and gas producers, and restaurants. Many of the 30 million small and large businesses in the country have reported a 30% reduction in revenues. Amid the carnage, one sector of the economy is thriving like never before in the history of the republic: the government. Congress has already spent more than $2 trillion on phases one, two, three and 3 1/2 of coronavirus relief packages. The irresponsible bill from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would raise that spending total to $5 trillion,...

“We do need, I think, to expose the length and breadth of this president’s depravity and how much it is endangering the country. So those facts are going to need to come out, and we are discussing with the speaker and my fellow chairs just how to do that,” Mr. Schiff said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “I don’t think we should wait [until November] if we conclude that there are important things that he says that need to be exposed to the public. The public needs to know exactly what they have in this president,” he added.

On Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ordered the removal from the Capitol Building of four portraits of former Democratic House speakers who had ties to the Confederacy. Robert Hunter of Virginia, James Orr of South Carolina, Howell Cobb and Charles Crisp of Georgia. The removal of the portraits is the latest meaningless gesture from the speaker and Democrats following the death of George Floyd. Pelosi sent a letter to House Clerk Cheryl Johnson ordering the removal of the four portraits in observance of Juneteenth, an unofficial holiday commemorating the Republican's emancipation of the last slaves in the Confederacy....

The COVID-19 pandemic lifted the veil separating China from the rest of the world, and exposed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) duplicity. Undoubtedly, U.S. lawmakers and officials will find more widespread acceptance of these revelations helpful as we rethink our country’s relationship with Beijing. The CCP’s response to the initial COVID outbreak in Wuhan closed a bridge that the United States should have dismantled a long time ago. We know for a fact that the Chinese government waited 51 days before warning the public about the dangerous new virus they had discovered. High-level Party officials terrorized doctors and journalists who...

A leading Democratic candidate in a closely watched House race brushed off looting and arson that occurred during nationwide unrest during protests about racism and police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd. “What the hell you got snipers on the roof for in a peaceful march? Even if people loot, so what? Burn it to the ground, you know, if that’s what it’s going to take to fix our nation,” retired Air Force Col. Kim Olson said during a live digital event on Tuesday, shown in a clip obtained by the Washington Examiner.

The sister of a federal protective officer in Oakland who was fatally shot during a protest for George Floyd that turned violent told Congress on Wednesday calls to defund the police are "ridiculous". "It is a ridiculous solution to claim that defunding police departments is the solution to police brutality and discrimination because it's not a solution. It gets us nowhere as a nation and removes the safety net protection that every citizen deserves from their communities elected officials," Angela Underwood Jacobs said at the House Judiciary Committee's hearing on proposed changes to police practices on Capitol Hill. Jacobs' brother,...

After kneeling for close to nine minutes before the cameras Monday morning, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the Justice in Policing Bill of 2020. Following bipartisan support for reforms, some including Black Caucus Chair Rep. Bass (D-Calif.), hoped for a cooperative tackling of the issue. First steps by Pelosi, however, suggest that this attempt is falling into the same partisan trap previous attempts at reform have. Rumors began swirling the morning of Pelosi’s announcement that Republicans had been blocked from contributing to the immense bill. Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) confirmed that was the case. “As a Member of...

Listening to him is tiresome.

Rep. Al Green (D., Texas) said Tuesday that a new cabinet-level position should be created to "eliminate racism and discrimination in all its forms." "We ought to have a secretary of reconciliation who reports directly to the president of the United States, whose job it will be to eliminate racism and discrimination in all of its forms," Green told MSNBC's Craig Melvin.

The brother of George Floyd, the black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, is expected to testify before Congress on Wednesday in a hearing on police practices and accountability, according to reports. Philonise Floyd is scheduled to speak before the House Judiciary Committee – though it remains unclear if he’ll appear in person on Capitol Hill or virtually due to new social distancing restrictions in place meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus, The Hill reported. His testimony will come after House Democrats plan to unveil new legislation pushing...

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley are refusing to testify to the House Armed Services Committee on how the military has responded to police brutality protests around the country, a House aide told the Hill. “Staff was advised that [Department of Defense] leadership has refused to testify next week as requested,” the aide said. “In addition, an informal briefing with the secretary of the Army was cancelled for today.”

Democratic lawmakers in both chambers are sounding alarms about President Trump's continued threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to deal with the protests over the death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of police while in custody in Minneapolis. The centuries-old law allows the president to deploy U.S. military domestically to suppress civil disorder. Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced legislation to rein in the president's authority when implementing the Insurrection Act after a heavy militarized presence was seen in Washington, D.C., to control protestors around Lafayette Park near the White House. Blumenthal sees the action at the park...

A senior Army chaplain earlier this month emailed other chaplains the text of “Coronavirus and Christ,” a brief book by famed author, podcaster, and pastor John Piper. The command chaplain of U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea, Col. Moon H. Kim, wrote in his email: “This book has helped me refocus my sacred calling to my savior Jesus Christ to finish strong. Hopefully this small booklet would help you and your Soldiers, their Families, and others who you serve.”This email and the attached book have led to complaints from 22 other chaplains, who’ve enlisted the help of the Military...

We’ve been down this road before: Washington seems to agree broadly on legislation to revamp the nation’s infrastructure, only to get hung up on pesky details. An example was the recent exchange between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR). McConnell reiterated his reservations – already in clear view after President Trump called for a $2 trillion package last month – about huge deficit-financed federal spending on infrastructure. DeFazio responded by doubling down on a “massive investment� in public works “[j]ust like the New Deal of the 1930s�. Unfortunately, there is...

At a time when huge spending bills marked “coronavirus relief” are easily passing Congress with little scrutiny, poorly run states are asking unscrupulous members of Congress to slip in taxpayer bailouts to rescue them from years of their own fiscal mismanagement. In response, the House of Representatives recently passed a coronavirus relief bill that includes a half trillion dollars (trillion with a “t”) in unrestricted funds to bail out state governments for years of reckless expenditures entirely unrelated to the pandemic. I have the same reaction to these proposals that I had when I worked in government and people were...