Free Republic

With a highly contentious election just around the corner, Democrats are continuing to use dire rhetoric against Americans for voting red. Late last week, New York’s Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, an ally of Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, told Republican voters, “You’re anti-woman, you’re anti-abortion, and basically you’re anti-American because you have just trashed American values and what our country is all about over and over and over.” Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) responded to Hochul, “First, they called us ‘Deplorables.’ Then, they called us ‘Nazis.’ Then, Joe Biden called us ‘garbage.’ Then, they said no ‘strong...

On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — who was appearing in her personal capacity as a surrogate for the Harris campaign — stated that she has “not been very focused on” where a potential port strike could have the biggest impact and hasn’t “been particularly involved” in the strike issue that she acknowledged “could be incredibly disruptive to commerce.” Co-host Becky Quick asked, “I realize you’re here as a surrogate for the vice president’s campaign, but there’s so much news of the day that I feel we have to ask you about. I wanted to...

Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday, appeared in a corporate advertisement for BlackRock, according to Reuters. The asset manager ran an advertisement in 2022 that featured a teacher from Bethel Park High School as well as several unpaid students. One of these students was Crooks, BlackRock told Reuters in an emailed statement Sunday. “In 2022, we ran an ad featuring a teacher from Bethel Park High School, in which several unpaid students briefly appeared in the background, including Thomas Matthew Crooks,” the company said. BlackRock went on to condemn the assassination...

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order revoking former President Trump’s ban on Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat. The Verge reports that President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that revokes former President Trump’s ban on the Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat. Biden will instead be instructing the commerce secretary to investigate apps with ties to foreign adversaries that may pose a risk to American data privacy or national security.

An FBI investigation is underway after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo's email was hacked into by Chinese cyberspies. U.S. officials say that Raimondo is the only Cabinet-level official whose account was compromised in the attack, according to The Washington Post – but a congressional staffer, human rights advocate and think tank were also targeted. The State Department discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft's cloud last month. The only two executive branch agencies known to have emails breached are the Commerce and State Departments. The targeted cyber espionage campaign has been mitigated. But not before the hackers had access to the email accounts...

A prominent surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a disturbing rhetoric against former President Donald Trump just two weeks after the second assassination attempt against him. Biden-Harris administration’s commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, appeared on MSNBC to denounce “another lie” she claimed Trump has told about her boss. “Like, how did we get here?” she said. “Let’s extinguish him for good. We have an answer, we have a remarkably talented candidate” in Harris. Watch VIDEOS AT LINK................ However, Raimondo’s choice of words didn’t go down well with critics, who called her remarks the latest example of violent repudiation. “This is...

Joe Biden’s Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo went on MSNBC on Wednesday and begged the far-left audience to “extinguish” Trump for good. This comes ten days after the second assassination attempt on Trump’s life at a golf course on September 15th in West Palm Beach, Florida. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told MSNBC, “He says, he’s the opposite. It’s just another lie. Like, how did we get here? Let’s extinguish him for good. We have an answer. We have a remarkably talented candidate who is sincere, who’s pragmatic, who’s open. Let’s just get it done.” Via Natalie Winters. On September 15th,...

As the belief that Joe Biden is fully equipped to be president dissolves like mist on a Delaware morning, some of his defenders have fallen back on the idea that the American presidency is not really a man but a team. “I would take Joe Biden on his worst day at age 86 — so long as he has people around him like Avril Haines, Samantha Power, Gina Raimondo supporting him — over Donald Trump any day,” a former homeland security secretary, Jeh Johnson, said on MSNBC a few days ago. Don’t think of this as the Biden presidency, in...

The US National Hurricane Center monitoring storm Idalia strengthening into a hurricane... Also out in the Atlantic Ocean causing minor issues for Bermuda and the US East Coast is powerful Hurricane Franklin... Problems this evening around 7 pm or shortly afterwards US Eastern Time for users of the social media platform "X"... Russia says its aerospace forces have attacked terrorist command centers in Syria... The situation in Libya already unstable further destabilized after Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he met Libya's Foreign Minister... Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich saying there can be no concessions to the Palestinians in any...

The email account of the U.S. ambassador to China was hacked by Chinese hackers on a mission to attack several American and global targets in recent weeks, including another account at the State Department, according to reports.China-based hackers breached the email account of US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns as part of a recent targeted intelligence-gathering campaign, three US officials familiar with the matter told CNN.The hackers also accessed the email account of Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of State for East Asia, who recently traveled with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China, the people said.The State Department did...

Joe Biden's Commerce Secretary admitted Tuesday that the administration can't do anything to help relieve the surging price of gas – instead placing the blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine at the end of February. 'Unfortunately, that is the brutal reality,' Gina Raimondo told CNN when asked what President Biden can do to relieve Americans' wallets at the gas pump. 'You know,' Raimondo added, 'this is, in large part, caused by Putin's aggression. You know, since Putin moved troops to the border of Ukraine, gas prices have gone up over $1.40 a gallon, and the President is...

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday blamed America’s struggle with inflation on “Putin’s war in Ukraine.” Anchor Jake Tapper said, “You heard Secretary Yellen say this week she got it wrong about inflation. In July, you told Bloomberg that inflation would be temporary about a year ago. As recently as six months ago, you were calling inflation, quote, a short-term problem, not a long-term problem. so, you got it wrong, too.”

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is backing up a Jewish congressman’s incendiary claim that he heard protesters scream “Jew!” at him during a September event in New Jersey. Garden State Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer caused a stir during a Dec. 13 speech at Rutgers University in which he said he was set upon by anti-Semitic protesters on Sept. 20 as he and Raimondo made a series of stops in Bergen County promoting President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. The pair were greeted by around 100 hecklers in Glen Rock — most of whom, Gottheimer claimed, came from the local chapter of the...

Reps. Roger Williams and August Pfluger of Texas led a letter with 61 of their House GOP colleagues to Secretaries Jennifer Granholm and Gina Raimondo."President Biden’s war on American energy continues with his Administration’s latest discussions to reinstate the export ban on crude oil, which was repealed in 2015 on a bipartisan vote," Williams said in his official statement."From canceling the Keystone XL pipeline to halting new oil and gas leases on federal lands, no Administration has ever gone to such drastic lengths to destroy good paying jobs and make the United States more reliant on foreign energy," he continued....

The US and EU have agreed to end a festering dispute over US steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by former president Donald Trump in 2018, removing an irritant in transatlantic relations and averting a spike in EU retaliatory tariffs, US officials have said. Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on Saturday that the deal would maintain US section 232 tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% aluminium, while allowing “limited volumes” of EU-produced metals into the US duty free.... ...EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis confirmed the deal, writing on Twitter that “we have agreed with US to pause” the trade...

OCT. 12, 2021 What: The U.S. Census Bureau will hold a briefing for the National Urban League plaintiffs in the case of NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE, et. al., v. GINA RAIMONDO et. al. The Census Bureau agreed in a Joint Stipulation in settling this lawsuit to brief plaintiffs every two months to allow an opportunity for questions and answers regarding the status of census processing, forthcoming data quality metrics, and assessment of released data quality metrics. A final briefing will occur after the release of the Post-Enumeration Survey final results. When: Friday, October 15 10 a.m. EDT Who: Michael Bentley, assistant...

GOP Governors Slash Unemployment Benefits as Businesses Plead for Workers By Updated: May 10, 2021 biggersmaller Print Expanded federal unemployment benefits that were implemented during last year’s pandemic relief efforts are ending earlier than scheduled in Arkansas, Montana, and South Carolina—and Florida is expected to follow suit as Republican governors nationwide respond to pleas from businesses to encourage Americans to return to work. “We absolutely can put more people to work,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told reporters during a press conference Wednesday, announcing that Floridians receiving the $300 weekly extra payments will soon have to provide proof that they’re...

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Sunday said the federal government is working to avoid supply disruptions after Colonial Pipeline, the operator of the country’s largest fuel pipeline, temporarily suspended all operations due to a ransomware attack on Friday. “This is what businesses now have to worry about,” Raimondo said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Unfortunately, these sorts of attacks are becoming more frequent. They’re here to stay.” President Joe Biden has been briefed on the ransomware attack and the F.B.I. said it’s working closely with Colonial Pipeline and government partners to address the situation. The Department...

More than a dozen House Republicans Friday are questioning Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on whether there "was any political interference" in the final census numbers used to decide how many House members each state will get for the coming decade… The Republican House members cited gaps between the number of House seats some right-leaning states were projected to gain -- or some left-leaning states were projected to lose -- and the final results announced this week. They told Raimondo, overseeing the Census Bureau, that they "have questions about the methodology and the role the Biden White House may have played...

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and her husband own a financial stake in WeChat parent company Tencent Holdings, even as the Commerce Department reviews a ban of the Chinese tech giant. Raimondo and her husband Andrew Moffit own a stake worth between $21,500 and $44,500 in Tencent Holdings, according to a financial disclosure filed Jan. 19 with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). The recently-confirmed commerce secretary promised to divest from other financial positions, citing potential conflicts of interest, but did not mention divesting from her stake in Tencent Holdings. President Joe Biden’s administration is conducting a broad review of...