Free Republic

CNN anchor Don Lemon allegedly sent disgraced actor Jussie Smollett texts during the Chicago Police Department’s investigation of his alleged hoax hate crime. Testifying at his own trial on Monday, the former Empire star Jussie Smollett reportedly said under oath that he received a text message from Don Lemon informing him that Chicago police did not believe his account of what happened the night he claimed to have been the victim of a hate crime by two white Trump supporters. According to the Daily Mail, Smollett’s remark “was presented and then struck from the record.” “He said things began to...

A lawyer with ties to the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign passed on documents about Russian election meddling to the FBI’s general counsel during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to a report Thursday.James Baker, who was formerly the top lawyer at the FBI, told congressional investigators about the exchange in a closed-door deposition on Wednesday, the Daily Caller reported.Mr. Baker said he received the documents as well as computer storage devices on Russian hacking from Michael Sussmann, an attorney with Perkins Coie. Testifying before a joint session of the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, Mr. Baker said Mr....

A fired-up Sen. Cory Booker praised GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville for forcing a vote Tuesday in the Senate on defunding the police, saying he wanted to "hug" his GOP colleague for putting to rest "scurrilous" accusations that Senate Democrats want to strip law enforcement of money. Tuberville, R-Ala., authored an amendment to Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget resolution that would decrease federal funds to localities that defund the police. In teeing up the politically charged vote, Tuberville said in a floor speech that "opposing my amendment is a vote in support of defunding the police and against the men and women...

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton will join Sen. Cory Booker, famed chef Jose Andres, and other speakers next week to address inequality and systemic racism during the fifth annual No City Limits conference, hosted by the poverty-fighting Robin Hood foundation. The 2021 event will take place virtually amid the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and will bring together leading national voices from non-profit organizations, philanthropy groups, the government, and other community groups, who will speak out about ways to address poverty across the country and its roots in systemic racism.(snip) "COVID-19 and the failure to protect public health have been...

Two young men grow up in the same neighborhood and spend four years together at the same high school taking the same classes from the same teachers and playing on the same winning football team. Both are good students and dedicated, hardworking athletes. But one is a journeyman offensive lineman, while the other is an all-state quarterback. In their senior year, they both decide they want to attend the same prestigious private university that plays in the Football Bowl Subdivision -- and where the tuition and board and room exceed $60,000 per year. The university accepts them both. But the...

US Senator Cory Booker (D, Thrace) has introduced a bill to “solve” the problem of college athletics, in much the same way that a healthy dose of arsenic might be proposed to solve a stomach ache. We have over 5000 colleges and universities in the United States. Every college, public and private, has a somewhat different approach to finance, with varying balances between tuition and endowments, scholarships, government grants and all kinds of partnerships. The colleges that offer competitive sports teams include the costs (coaching staffs, facilities, travel, player scholarships) and the profits (ticket sales, advertising and broadcast rights) of...

Three Democrat senators have introduced a bill that would reform the U.S. Department of Agriculture and create a system of land grants to transfer millions of acres to Black farmers at no charge. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the lead sponsor of the bill, tweeted Tuesday, "I'm proud to team up with @ewarren and @SenGillibrand to introduce the Justice for Black Farmers Act. We need to balance the scales after decades of systemic racism within @USDA have harmed Black farmers." The bill was announced on Nov. 19 by Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and is set...

Persistent use of methamphetamine is the single biggest risk factor for HIV seroconversion among gay and bisexual men, according to a new study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Using subjects from across the U.S., including Puerto Rico and Guam, researchers found that over 12 months of follow-up, 14% of study participants reported using meth, and 2.5% tested positive for HIV (115 new infections). More than a third of study participants (36%) seroconverting for HIV were persistent users of methamphetamine.

Rarely has our nation seen a judge more competent and qualified to serve on the Supreme Court than Amy Coney Barrett. During her confirmation hearing, she held me in thrall with the magnificence of her mind. Only once before has anyone inspired the thought, "Greatness walks amongst us." His name is Trey Gowdy. In Amy Coney Barrett, I feel the same awe and chills once again. With Amy's confirmation, Lady Justice will no longer peek from underneath her blindfold. No longer will there be a finger surreptitiously pushing down on one side of her Scales of Justice. When Barrett's Senate...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Democrats have blasted Amy Coney Barrett for showing up to a Senate hearing concerning her nomination to the Supreme Court and constantly responding to their questions instead of letting them give their campaign speeches for political clout. "Excuse me, ma'am, I'm trying to grandstand for my political base!" shouted Cory Booker, pointing at her as though he were Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney. "How dare you, ma'am!" Judge Barrett looked at him in surprise. "I thought this was about my nomination."

Beyond Parody

I am leaving New York next week. Add me to the list. Another tick in the “New York is dead” column. Or maybe in the “Cowards who can’t wait out the pandemic” column. Wag your finger at me or shake your head in disgust. Tut tut. Tsk tsk. Don’t worry. I’m already doing it to myself. Let me backtrack. I was born at Mount Sinai on the Upper East Side. I spent my childhood in 20 different apartments across the Upper West Side and beyond, shuttling between my mom’s and my dad’s. My dad moved to Connecticut, then Montreal, then...

WASHINGTON—Today, Rep. Omar, along with U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) and a coalition of grassroots groups; labor unions; Black, Brown and Indigenous leaders from across the country to introduce a bold plan for economic renewal known as the Agenda to Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy, or THRIVE Agenda. In the Senate the resolution is led by Senator Markey, Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), and...

All but three Senate Democrats now openly support infanticide of babies who manage to be born alive despite an attempted abortion.  A total of 60 votes were needed to overcome a promised filibuster, and the measure gained only 53 votes.  But the field of presidential contenders from the Senate are now all on the record.  As the Washington Post notes: All of the announced 2020 Democratic presidential candidates — Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — voted "no." Senator Ben Sasse's sponsorship of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and Mitch McConnell's...

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is at it again; injecting race into the presidential campaign in order to redirect focus from failed leftist policies. In a recent tweet, President Trump suggested that a Biden administration would oversee an expansion of unsafe, low-income housing in suburbia, with Booker leading the charge. Booker countered with his own tweet, claiming that the President’s “racism is showing,” followed by an email calling Trump’s tweet “blatantly racist.” Trump’s tweet contained no mention of race, but since it was critical of Booker, and since Booker is African-American, that is the only qualification needed to justify launching an...

Applications for first-time gun owners in New Jersey have surged fourfold during the national race riots of summer 2020, with residents of the notoriously anti-gun state looking to arm themselves in response to national events. New Jersey arguably has the most restrictive and draconian state gun control laws in the country. The state requires permits for gun ownership that are submitted to towns and cities, with the state police having the authority to deny gun ownership on critics argue are simply arbitrary grounds. The Burlington Country Times is reporting that some New Jersey municipalities have reported a whopping 1,000% increase...

Actress Rosario Dawson said she voted for Bernie Sanders on the same day her boyfriend and former presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker endorsed Joe Biden. In an Instagram post on Monday night, the “Men in Black II” actress and activist, who was a surrogate for Sanders in 2016, said she was proud to support the 78-year-old socialist senator from Vermont. “I got to vote for Bernie again and I did,” Dawson wrote in the lengthy post. “Whoever it is that you’re supporting I hope that you are doing it consciously, with heart and with a ballot. Talking about things helps...

Mayors back reparations that could cost $6.2 quadrillion, or $151M per descendant" The nation’s mayors on Monday backed a national call for reparations to 41 million black people, a program that could cost taxpayers $6.2 quadrillion. The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a letter backing a Democratic plan to form a reparations commission to come up with a payment for slavery. “We recognize and support your legislation as a concrete first step in our larger reckoning as a nation, and a next step to guide the actions of both federal and local leaders who have promised to do better by...

Nearly half of all deaths from the coronavirus in the United States have occurred at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to new reports. The rate of cases to deaths from such facilities has been disproportionate: while only 11 percent of positive cases – around 282,000 – have occurred at nursing homes and long-term care facilities, about 43 percent of deaths – or 54,000 deaths – have come from the same, the New York Times reported. The Times cited its database for the numbers, arguing that some states and the federal government have not provided comprehensive data. The...

Following accusations of widespread fraud, voter intimidation, and ballot theft in the May 12 municipal elections in Paterson, N.J., state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal (pictured) announced Thursday he is charging four men with voter fraud – including the vice president of the City Council and a candidate for that body. With races still undecided, control of the council hangs in the balance. Paterson is New Jersey’s third largest city and the election will decide the fate of a municipal budget in excess of $300 million, in addition to hundreds of millions more in education spending and state aid. In...