Free Republic

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday unveiled a plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion and cut federal spending by three times that amount, laying out an opening position in what is likely to be a tense partisan debate over government borrowing. McCarthy's proposal, which he unveiled on the floor of the House of Representatives, would cut the total amount of domestic and military spending to 2022 levels and cap growth at 1% annually in years to come. It would not touch retirement and health programs that are projected to expand dramatically as the population ages. President...

Fox News anchor Eric Shawn floated the possibility that former President Donald Trump may have tried to "sell" classified documents to Russia or Saudi Arabia. The FBI executed a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort residence on Monday in search of top secret and sensitive compartmentalized information, as well as other classified documents. The Washington Post reported Thursday that information regarding nuclear weapons was believed to be among the documents sought by federal agents, and a Russian-state television host said officials in Moscow have already studied the records. Trump described the report regarding nuclear weapons documents as a "hoax." In...

Friday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg addressed President Joe Biden’s next big focus after signing the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, which appears to be passing an infrastructure bill. Buttigieg pointed out on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that the gas tax has not been changed since 1993, meaning it has not been adjusted for inflation. He suggested it is a “medium-term solution” to pay for infrastructure

But giant inflatable unicorns are proving less popular with coastguards after a woman was blown out to sea and had to be rescued from one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. She was one of 15 people rescued along the south coast by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in just one evening after their inflatables veered off course. A pink flamingo and a swan were also involved.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday publicly floated the idea of getting Attorney General Jeff Sessions to take his old Senate seat, as Republicans continue to seek alternatives to Judge Roy Moore. McConnell made the comments to the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council while talking about who could mount a successful write-in campaign, like Sen. Lisa Murkowski did in Alaska in 2010. McConnell said she was popular in the state and was universally well-known, qualities that Sessions has in Alabama. "The name being most often discussed may not be available, but the Alabamian who would fit that standard would...

Do you and one friend need to go anywhere — right now? You'll need the Sherp ATV. It's a two-passenger, diesel-powered wilderness-squasher with patented self-inflating tires. With those massive chunks of rubber at each corner, and nearly encompassing the entire side of the truck, the Sherp can easily roll over obstacles as big as 27.5 inches tall. Although it has a small 1.5-liter diesel engine that produces a minuscule 44 horsepower, the Sherp weighs about as much as a Toyota Corolla, so it's just enough to get it up to its 28 mph top speed on land. On water it'll...

U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said on Wednesday he has been "assured" that if workers at the Volkswagen AG plant in his hometown of Chattanooga reject United Auto Worker representation, the company will reward the plant with a new product to build. Corker's bombshell, which runs counter to public statements by Volkswagen, was dropped on the first of a three-day secret ballot election of blue-collar workers at the Chattanooga plant whether to allow the UAW to represent them. Corker has long been an opponent of the union which he says hurts economic and job growth in Tennessee, a charge...

The Internal Revenue Service quietly proposed new regulations aimed at 501(c)(4) organizations during the Thanksgiving recess that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, called "a crass political effort by the Administration to get what political advantage they can, when they can." Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations were apparently singled out by the IRS starting in 2010, and the heavy hand of government suppression of these groups may have greatly attributed to Obama´s re-election, an American Enterprise Institute study revealed in October. The Washington Post reported last week the Treasury Department said the new rules...

Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee where Attorney General Eric Holder testified on Thursday, suggested that impeachment of administration officials involved with Operation Fast and Furious may be the only way to bring the scandal to a close. In a heated exchange between Sensenbrenner and Holder during Thursday’s Judiciary Committee hearing, Sensenbrenner said impeachment is one option on the table if Holder and the Justice Department continue to withhold information from congressional investigators. Sensenbrenner didn’t specify which administration officials he thinks could face impeachment proceedings, or if Holder is among them. But he...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Republican floated a tax compromise on Wednesday that could revive hopes for a budget deal as President Barack Obama warned the United States could spiral back into recession if an agreement is not reached soon. Rep Eric Cantor, the No. 2 official in the Republican-led House of Representatives, said that his party could agree to close some tax breaks in a trillion-dollar budget deal as long as they were offset with tax cuts elsewhere. "Any discussion about loopholes must be accompanied by offsetting tax cuts," Cantor said at a news conference one day before he...

It’s baaack. Creating a public health insurance option — perhaps the most contentious idea of last year’s health overhaul debate — is among the possible solutions for reducing federal spending outlined in today’s debt commission report. The draft by the co-chairmen of the White House-sponsored National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform calls for, among other things, increasing cost sharing for enrollees of Medicare and Medicaid, lowering payments to health-care providers that participate in Medicare and cutting payments to lawyers as part of an effort to curb medical malpractice lawsuits. The plan sets a long-term goal of containing the growth...

Journalism can reinvent itself without government 'help' The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking ways to "reinvent" journalism, and that's a cause for concern. According to a May 28 draft proposal, the agency thinks government should be at the center of a media overhaul. The bureaucracy sees it as a problem that the Internet has introduced a wealth of information options to consumers, forcing media companies to adapt and experiment to meet changing market needs. FTC's policy staff fears this new reality. "There are reasons for concern that experimentation may not produce a robust and sustainable business model for commercial...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has floated the idea of a carbon emissions tax to fight global warming, in an interview with The New York Times Thursday. During the US presidential campaign, the notion was kept largely on the back burner as candidates were reluctant to promote the idea of costlier energy at a time when gasoline prices were soaring. But since President Barack Obama's administration took office in January, Congress has been working on setting up a system for swapping greenhouse gas emissions quotas similar to the one used in the European Union. And Chu said...

(IsraelNN.com) The US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, began her term Monday by dropping a not-unexpected bombshell in the UN chambers. The new US administration, she said, would engage in "direct diplomacy" with Rice's statements at the UN were in accord with President Obama's foreign policy. Iran. Such a policy shift away from isolating Iran, as under the previous administration, is a touchstone of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also made that position very clear at her confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill. "We look forward to engaging in vigorous diplomacy that includes direct...

Parents seek to stop candy throwing at parades Some British Columbia in are trying to end the practice of throwing candy from floats during parades.   DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Some British Columbia in are trying to end the practice of throwing candy from floats during parades.The campaign in Dawson Creek is the latest effort by people concerned about children bolting into the parade to scoop up the sweets. Efforts to end candy tossing have been adopted in Kamloops, Prince George and Fort St. John.A Fort St. John town council member and parade marshal, Larry Evans, says float drivers...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration floated elements of an immigration plan on Wednesday that would make it harder for millions of illegal immigrants to gain citizenship than under legislation passed by the Senate last year, according to officials in both parties. These officials said the administration also suggested barring future guest workers who enter the country legally from bringing family members with them ? a proposal unlikely to survive intact. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss about elements of a plan that was not yet public. President Bush and Democratic leaders of...

LONDON - Two designers have come up with an unusual way of escaping a flash flood: a dining table that can quickly be converted to a life raft. The table, entitled Either Oar, has removable legs that convert into paddles and a built-in buoyancy tank. It is part of a series of designs created "as a response to climate change and natural disasters of recent times," an apparent reference to crises such as Asia's tsunami in 2004 and last year's Hurricane Katrina in the United States. The table will be on display as part of the Design Museum's Design Mart...

LOS ANGELES - The police chief and sheriff of Los Angeles could be candidates to become the next secretary of homeland security, outgoing secretary Tom Ridge says  but both men say they're not interested in the job. Ridge praised Police Chief William Bratton and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, saying they understand how to protect large cities from terrorism. "These two are doing this for their entire careers, so it's no surprise that their names are being publicly mentioned and maybe even privately discussed," Ridge said Wednesday at a news conference to announce $282 million in homeland-security money for...

BEIRUT (CSM) - NATO's recently announced plan to spread its influence into the volatile Middle East is likely to face deep suspicion from the larger Arab states, even as the wealthy but vulnerable countries of the Gulf signal approval. The organization views the region as key to global stability and hopes to develop a security dialogue with willing Arab countries. Still, analysts say, NATO's ambitions remain limited, given the Arab perception that the alliance is little more than an extension of U.S. military policy. Commitments elsewhere and internal rifts over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iraq also will ensure a low-key...

The Daily Imus 7:27 am ET, Laura Ingraham, Political Analyst 8:27 am ET: Ken Auletta, The New Yorker, His latest article, “Beauty and The Beast” about Harvey Weinstein is not available online but is in the latest edition of The New Yorker From the Imus Website: Imus: “We want ugliness. If you want to sit down and listen to reason or something watch “Meet The Press”... We’re trying to cause problems. We have some yuks and we cause problems. Don’t write me anymore if you don’t understand it. Don’t listen! It’s not going to help you. You’re too damn...