Free Republic

When recently asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos what he would do if presented with foreign opposition research, President Trump responded: “I think you might want to listen. I don’t — there’s nothing wrong with listening. If somebody called from a country — Norway — ‘We have information on your opponent’ — oh, I think I’d want to hear it.” The president, of course, was wrong to be so cavalier about foreign meddling in the domestic affairs of the United States — be it by a docile Scandinavian ally or anyone else. The political firestorm that followed his ­remarks, however, is...

Let’s say you hated Donald Trump. First for personal reasons. He embodies everything that you at once detest and envy: The tan, confident jock guys in high school who dated the really hot girls. You pretended not to care, as you sat veal-white under the flickering fluorescent library lights, fiercely underlining passages in Ayn Rand, Nietzsche, or Trotsky. The business majors in college, who yawned through the Humanities classes which you found so fascinating, you sometimes out-talked the professor. The hedge fund managers and real estate magnates those same guys became, showing up at your ten-year reunion in their $1000...

Implementing Occam's Razor: The so-called logic behind keeping and maintaining sanctuary city designations, in defiance of what Trump has been calling for - and his suppport for what Governor Ron Desantis (R) did in signing the bill banning sanctuary cities in the state of Florida - is that sanctuary cities allow law-abiding illegal aliens to report crime(s) committed by non law-abiding illegal aliens with out fear of reprisal. Problem is, illegal aliens (even if they somehow do commit less crimes on average than U.S. citizens do and the jury may be out on that on many crimes) still lead to...

The Case for Trump, Victor Davis Hanson. Basic Books, 2019. 372 pp. As the title suggests, The Case for Trump, balances a clinical approach to our currently incendiary politics alongside a brief for Donald Trump’s presidency. Of course, the success or failure of this attempt is a subjective matter though it seems to me that any reader of this book of whatever political stripe would concede that, for its length, it is thorough if not encyclopedic in its presentation of facts and its historical depth. All of which is not surprising in that Victor Davis Hanson, occupies a unique position...

The illegal alien population has boomed in at least three red states won by President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, new analysis reveals. Pew Research Center analysis finds that in Louisiana, North Dakota, and South Dakota — three states that went overwhelmingly for Trump over failed Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election — the illegal alien population has increased over the last ten years. Between 2007 and 2017, Louisiana — which went nearly 60 percent for Trump in the 2016 election — has an illegal alien population that has grown by 15,000. In North Dakota, where...

This will be a weekly post. Count is now at 119 judges confirmed. 76 District Court judges 41 Circuit Court judges 2 Supreme Court justices The Senate also confirmed two Court of Claims (Article I) judges, who serve for a term of 15 years. Also this week Michael Bogren withdrew his nomination to be a district judge after senators Hawley, Cruz and (trying to be MAGA) Tllis said they'd vote no in committee. Bogren was a liberal "republican" nominee recommended by Debbie Stabenow. We'll now he'll be just a lawyer. And this week the President nominated Halil Ozerden to be...

Both my native country, India, and my adopted country, America, are liberal democracies that are right now in the thrall of right-wing populist demagogues -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India's case and President Donald Trump in America's. Few would deny that between the two, Trump is the crazier one -- a showboat with impulse control issues. Modi, by contrast, a humble tea stall owner once, is a veritable picture of discipline and restraint. Yet Modi, who got re-elected by a landslide last month, is potentially more dangerous because Indian democracy lacks strong institutional checks on his illiberal ambitions. In...

Natalie Harp, who's fighting stage 2 bone cancer, says she's not dying anymore from the disease but living with it thanks to President Trump's policies. ...

Joe Biden hasn't changed. After several women said earlier this year that Biden had touched them in ways that made them uncomfortable, the former vice presiudent and 2020 Democratic candidate promised to be "much more mindful" of people's personal space. But recent incidents tell a different story. Last month, he called a 10-year-old--girl "good looking" at a campaign event. ... And in an exchenge that went viral on Twitter, he wagged his finger at an activist, K.C. Cayo, who asked him about abortion rights. ... Biden has long been known for touching and standing close to women, earning the nickname...

Justice Democrats, the progressive insurgent group that recruited and helped elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), has found its first Democratic primary challenger to support during the 2020 cycle. The group is supporting immigration and human-rights attorney Jessica Cisneros in her attempt to unseat Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) in Texas’ 28th Congressional District. Cisneros formally launched her campaign on Thursday with a platform of ending family separation, Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and a rejection of all corporate PAC and lobbyist contributions. “Our congressman claims to be a Democrat, but he’s voted with Trump nearly 70 percent of the...

Democrats are beginning to question whether former Vice President Joe Biden is too old to be president, Politico is reporting. ... "It's the 78-year old elephant in the room," said political consultant Fernand Amandi, who worked for the Obama-Biden campaigns in 2008 and 2012. ...

Judge Carlos Bea, a Bush appointee, will take senior status on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, though a date has not been set. The opening will give Mr. Trump his ninth slot to fill on the court — six of his picks are already sitting. Some conservatives say that seat should be earmarked for Patrick Bumatay, an openly gay Filipino man whom Mr. Trump had eyed for the 9th Circuit before, but ended up nominating him for a district judgeship instead as part of a deal with California’s two Democratic senators. “Patrick Bumatay is a former colleague and...

A veteran jurist on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has informed President Donald Trump that he plans to take senior status, potentially opening up another seat on the court for the president to fill. Ninth Circuit Judge Carlos Bea, 85, informed the president via letter that he intends to take senior status “upon the nomination, confirmation and appointment of his successor,” according to a statement from a court spokesperson. Although Bea intends to remain active on the court, the move would open up a spot on the court’s 29-seat bench of active judges. The court now...

Wednesday on ABC’s “The View,” co-host Joy Behar said it would be hard for 2020 presidential hopeful and former Vice President Joe Biden’s initiative to find a cure for cancer because “a lot of cancer is environmentally caused.” Co-host Meghan McCain said, “Vice President Biden said he’s going to promise to cure cancer if he’s elected. It’s one of his big promises.” She continued, “He already had a big initiative that he helped government for brain cancer. This should be at the forefront. I don’t know why curing cancer hasn’t been.” Behar said, “To that statement, I would say that...

... In a general election matchup, Clinton...leads other top Republicans - 50 to 32 percent over Trump.

Liberal dark money groups are working to come up with a secret list of progressive judges who will fill the courts if a Democrat wins in the 2020 presidential election. Building the Bench, an initiative sponsored by The Alliance for Justice and other liberal organizations, seeks to identify progressive judges suitable to fill potential judicial vacancies. SENATE REPUBLICANS ENACT PROCEDURAL CHANGE TO SPEED CONFIRMATION OF TRUMP JUDICIAL PICKS “It is essential to be ready on Day 1 of a new administration with names to fill every vacancy,” Nan Aron, the president of the Alliance for Justice, told the New York...

Yet, conservatives are growing concerned over the possibility of the remaining vacancy on the Firth Circuit being filled by Halil Suleyman (“Sul”) Ozerden, a current federal district judge in the Southern District of Mississippi. President George W. Bush nominated Ozerden to the seat in 2007. According to Ken Klukowski of Breitbart, “rumors are circulating in D.C. that some establishment politicians are pressuring the president to appoint a judge who has a mixed record and no true conservative credentials.” He writes, “Ozerden’s time on the federal trial bench shows a consistent pattern of refusing to lead or to take a stand...

"I don't think 500 billionaires are...why we're in trouble," says the ex-VP... ... adds he would shrink Social Security and Medicare.

Loudoun County Supervisor Geary Higgins handily defeated his board colleague Ron Meyer in the 13th Senate District Republican primary on Tuesday. Higgins claimed 65 percent of the vote to Meyer's 35 percent. The 13th Senate District seat is being vacated by the retiring Dick Black, who supported Higgins in the primary. Black won his 2015 contest by nearly 5 percent of the vote over Democrat Jill McCabe. Higgins will face state Del. John Bell (D-87th) in the general election. Addressing supporters Tuesday night, Higgins said he will fight to "protect liberties and quality of life." "No one in this room...

President Donald Trump is nominating a federal district judge from southern Mississippi to serve on one of the nation's most conservative federal appeals courts. The White House on Tuesday announced the nomination of 52-year-old Halil "Sul" Ozerden to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The New Orleans-based court handles cases from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Judicial nominations must be confirmed by the Senate. With Ozerden, the 5th Circuit would be back to its full contingent of 17 judges. Ozerden was confirmed as a district judge for the southern half of Mississippi in 2007 after being nominated by Republican President...