Free Republic

A Department of Defense adviser resigned, effective immediately, from the military's science board citing what he believed to be a violation of conduct from Defense Secretary Mark Esper. In his resignation letter, James Miller Jr., the former under secretary of defense for policy from 2012 to 2014, recalled that he swore an oath of office to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States ... and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same," similar to what the defense secretary had done before he took office. "On Monday, June 1, 2020, I believe that you violated that oath,"...

Stooges for Secularism The hierarchy defers to the state. Donald Trump wants to open up churches more than some church leaders do. No sooner had he proposed that churches be deemed “essential” services than some church leaders began criticizing him. At CNN, Father Edward Beck quickly penned a column saying “Mr. President, we don’t need to open churches to practice our faith.”Beck argues: No one is prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Though we are in the teeth of a pandemic, in which a very dangerous coronavirus can be transmitted by, among other things, close physical proximity, people can and...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—After House Republicans formally called for an investigation into the investigators investigating the Trump campaign, congressional Democrats quickly responded by calling for a new investigation into the investigators investigating the original investigators. The investigation will center around claims that the investigators assigned to investigate the investigators may show significant bias, with the new investigators investigating the investigation investigators attempting to determine if there has been any prejudice or corruption in the investigation investigation. “We now know who will investigate the investigators, but who will investigate the investigators investigating the investigators?” Senator Chuck Schumer said in a press conference. “We...

A California County Sherrif said the police department is not cracking down on residents who break social distancing rules, saying officers are too busy re-arresting those who were released under the state’s zero-dollar bail policy. The story: Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims made the comments in an interview with Trevor Carey on the “Trevor Carey Show.” “I’ve heard multiple sheriffs around the nation state they will not enforce their governors’ shelter-in-place orders. Is that your position?” Carey asked. “That is my position. We do not stop the public to find out what they’re doing when they’re not sheltering in place....

Due to the threat from the coronavirus, the Oakland, Calif., Police Department has closed its registry unit where many of the city’s sex offenders are required to check in every month, officials said.

There is no shortage of examples nationwide that confirm illegal immigrant sanctuary policies endanger communities and this month we have a case that should serve as the poster child. Not surprisingly, it comes out of California but even for a notorious sanctuary state it seems excessive. An illegal alien with a lengthy criminal history that includes convictions for felony sex with a minor and battery was released by San Francisco authorities six times despite his violent history that also includes a domestic violence arrest. The 25-year-old Honduran man, Kristian Jonas Gamez-Trejo, has long appeared on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE)...

* Official figures show offending in women's prisons by criminals born male * Male-born trans prisoners were first allowed to transfer to women's jails in 2016 * Attacks at HMP Low Newton, Foston Hall, Peterborough, Bronzefield, New Hall Transgender prisoners have carried out seven sex attacks on women in jail, it can be revealed today. Official figures show for the first time the true scale of offending by criminals who were born male but were allowed to move into female jails after changing gender. Yet despite the risks, prison governors are still allowing trans inmates to move into the...

Most of us have been in lockdown for about six weeks. The objective was to flatten the curve and reduce the total number of victims of COVID-19. Well, the curve has been flattened indeed, but how is it six-weeks later there are 25,375 new cases in a single day? With all the laws and policies implemented to knock out this virus, I expected we’d be on the last leg of the downward curve by now. But, instead of a peak and decline, we’ve had three peaks and shallow valleys between them. If people are staying at home, practicing social distancing,...

Many on the left have accused originalism of being nothing but a cover for conservatives’ preferred policy outcomes, but Vermeule’s proposal illustrates how restrained originalists have been. “The Republic” often alarms first-time readers. Not only is Plato’s dialogic style foreign to us, the character of Socrates makes bizarre and even wicked proposals as he outlines a supposed ideal polity, such as a communism not only of property, but also of wives and children. Many readers, including some philosophers, have taken Plato literally and seriously, and therefore condemned him as a proto-totalitarian. Something similar seems to have happened in response to...

Thousands of foreign workers, many living overseas, are receiving stimulus checks designated for U.S. residents due to an unforeseen glitch that funneled taxpayer dollars to other countries, according to tax consultants and the recipients themselves. College-age workers who spent time in the U.S. in the last two years - some of whom returned home long before the coronavirus pandemic - have been surprised to find $1,200 checks deposited into their bank accounts. And with no clear guidance on how to return it, they’re holding onto the money or racing to spend it before the Internal Revenue Service realizes the mistake....

It is interesting, if nothing else. – One interesting aspect of U.S. Attorney John Durham’s decision to bring the Chief of the violent crimes and narcotics trafficking section for the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., Anthony Scarpelli, onto his investigation team is that Scarpelli has been a specialist in RICO-type investigations over the last decade. His job has been to identify domestic and international drug trafficking networks and bring the major players to justice, as he and his team did in the example described at this link. In response to the piece on this that I posted last night,...

Back in WWII, when we were still looking to win wars and solve things, our military and civilian leadership recognized that a certain number of peacetime generals and admirals were going to fail when the bullets started flying. History is replete with leadership failures on all levels when push comes to shove. Even taking out the subversive nature of many of today’s politicians, many otherwise good people are better than others at certain things. TV Streaming Plus Watch Your Favorite TV Channels For Free In WWII when military leaders failed, or didn’t meet expectations, basically two things happened: Culpable inefficiency...

The Bureau of Prisons failed to adequately monitor thousands of communications from more than 500 inmates with ties to terrorism, according to a Justice Department inspector general report released Wednesday. In the nearly 70-page report, Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz wrote that the Bureau of Prisons did not take appropriate steps to review the mail, email, phone calls, video sessions and cellblock conversations of domestic and international terrorist inmates. For example, the bureau failed to flag a letter that a high-risk inmate received from his wife detailing her intent to compromise a staff member at his prison. The BOP also...

I am getting vague remembrances of something called The Cloward and Piven Strategy that was making the rounds about 10 years ago. If I remember correctly, the Strategy involved creating as many government dependents as possible so-as to overload the system, foment unrest and ultimately "nudge" people into calling for government to take control of every aspect of their lives. Anybody else remember any particulars?

The Boy Scouts of America have filed for bankruptcy protection. While they may survive in some revised form, smaller and weaker than before, the Boy Scouts of old, as a great institution in American life, may be no more. Frankly, they have been on a downward trajectory for some time. In a world in which consumer-electronics, from cell phones to game consoles, have taken over the entertainment options for children, modernity itself contributed greatly to the Boy Scouts’ decline. But there is a difference between a weakening and a destruction… a difference between the natural loss of popularity and a...

Over 1,000 former justice department officials say AG Barr should resign--which is actually a great sign that he's doing an effective job. When you start draining the swamp, it's only natural that the swamp critters are going to complain.

Boy Scouts bankruptcy filing expected within hours, victims’ lawyers say The Boy Scouts of America, after decades of being crippled by child sex abuse claims, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy by early Tuesday, the Daily News has learned.

... Late last year, US Attorney General William Barr called the growing disrespect for law enforcement a contributing factor to the dangers that cops face. Most important, Barr noted the justice system’s persistent failure to keep dangerous repeat offenders off city streets. The Bronx suspect, Robert Williams, like many attempted cop killers, is no stranger to the justice system. Last week, The New York Times reported that he has multiple arrests dating to the mid-1990s, including a robbery charge when he was just 14. After his sentencing in 1995, he was paroled twice. He subsequently returned to prison for violating...

Think about it… – Michael Avenatti is that coke-head guy in “Die Hard” who sits down in front of the head terrorist and says, “Hans, bubby…I can give ‘im to ya.” Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, sitting, beard and text Get used to hearing the name “Jensen.” – I really really really hate to quote Andrew Weissmann, but, the former lead prosecutor for American Gestapo Chief, er, ‘special counsel’ Robert Mueller basically confirmed what I told you here after hearing the news that Andrew McCabe would not be prosecuted for lying to investigators: That doesn’t mean that McCabe just...

Mayor Pete is actually a well groomed Marxist by his father. Gramsci sought the overthrow of America by the “long march thru the institutions” and especially Christianity. Now we see an emerging Mayor Pete waxing poetic about his Christian ideals.