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Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on Tuesday called for a "purge" of the FBI. During an interview on MSNBC, Rooney said he thinks the American people have "very high standards" for the country's government agencies. He was pressed during the interview on whether he is trying to discredit the Department of Justice, and thus discredit the investigation into Russian election interference. "I don't want to discredit them. I would like to see the directors of those agencies purge it," he said.

I ask this question on occasion, but wanted to hash this out again regarding the schizoid voting trends in some states which elect Presidents of one party, but then elect senators and/or governors of the other party. I cannot wrap my mind around this disparity. And it's not even close on the margins. Montana is one of them, electing Trump, but also electing leftists like Testor and a Democrat Governor. What am I missing?

Two little girls waiting for connecting flight catch the eye of a ground crew member...enjoy

Christmas, we are told, is not all about presents, and thank goodness for that. If our day is to be defined by disappointing knitwear, strangely shaped tea cosies and ghostwritten tomes fronted by egotists with unexpectedly enormous tax bills, then the 25th is hardly worth celebrating at all. However, the giving of gifts is a tradition that most of us observe, even though we’re not necessarily good at it. A 2014 study by Nathan Novemsky and Ernest Baskin of Yale has found that our sentimentality is what leads us to make the wrong choices when buying presents. Rather than offering...

After having packages repeatedly stolen from his porch, a Tacoma, Washington, man came up with a creative way to deter would-be thieves. At first, Jaireme Barrow installed surveillance cameras. However, he told CNN’s Michael Smerconish on Saturday that no arrests were ever made despite footage of “at least 20” suspected thieves in action. That’s when he decided to take matters into his own hands. His solution? An invention he calls TheBlankBox, which features a loud 12 gauge-shotgun blank. “It’s a blank triggering mechanism, only one moving piece,” Barrow told Smerconish. “Unless you count the guy running off your front porch,...

The tensions between the US and North Korea are good for business for the Australian impersonator, and he recently starred as a love-struck Kim in Russian group Little Big’s LollyBomb videoIn a world ever-ready to see the funny side of North Korea’s grim regime, Hong Kong’s most famous Kim Jong-un lookalike is watching his star rise. The resemblance is uncanny: with his distinctive shaved haircut and round chin, the Hong-Kong born Australian known only as “Howard” is a dead ringer for the hermit kingdom’s Dear Leader. This week, he starred in a music video for the Russian rave-pop group Little...

Free - Leonid and Friends

NEW YORK -- Retailers are seeing plenty of green this holiday season. And it's not over yet. Records are falling as sales add up. "This is literally the best season since before the recession," business owner Craig Johnson said. Johnson's company, Customer Growth Partners, analyzes all things retail. He credits low unemployment and a booming stock market for this humbug-free holiday season. "The single biggest drive of retail sales is growth in real disposable income," he said. "And when real income goes up, people have money in their pocket and they're able to spend it."

Three years ago, fans and members of a Las Vegas ska band posted comments on social media ridiculing a Long Beach man for his beliefs and homosexuality. Now, the band says they regret their past actions and are holding a show benefiting gay pride groups, but their victim isn't letting them go quietly. Andy George, the owner of Toxic Toast Records in Long Beach, posted on Be Like Max's Facebook page in July 2014, asking the band to stop referring to women as bitches and sluts in lyrics, as he heard at one of the band's shows. According to screenshots...

First Lady Melania Trump has kept her Christmas wardrobe in the color-theme of her husband’s historic populist campaign: Make American Great Again red. All season long, Melania has opted for fashions dipped in rich reds that complement her Eastern European features and tan skin complexion, while matching the now internationally recognized “Make American Great Again” baseball caps that became the signature political statement of President Trump’s 2016 presidential election. For the White House Christmas tree lighting ceremony, Melania chose a red tweed Chanel coat with pointed nude Christian Louboutin stilettos. This was only the second time the First Lady had...

It’s done. The GOP has passed the most extensive tax reform in the past three decades. The $1.5 trillion cut will benefit America’s working and middle classes. Republicans united, stuck to their guns, and passed it without help from the Democrats, who were not going to lift a finger to help the Trump White House get a key part of its agenda passed. In doing so, they betted against the American worker and hoped that millions of families get screwed to score political points. They thought this bill was Armageddon. It was not. It’ll benefit anywhere from 80-90 percent of...

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations announced Sunday that it negotiated a major reduction in the U.N.'s budget for the upcoming fiscal years. According to a statement from the mission, the 2018-2019 U.N. budget will have a $285 million reduction from the previous two years. "In addition to these significant cost savings, we reduced the UN's bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key U.S. priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system," the statement reads. One of the Trump administration's goals has been to reduce the amount of contributions that the...

It was all about family this Christmas for the Trumps, who gathered at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach to celebrate the holiday. President Trump was spotted smiling while posing for a photo alongside granddaughter Kai and grandson Spencer on Sunday night at Christmas Eve dinner. The following day Don Jr. shared a picture of daughter Chloe and son Donnie enjoying time with their great grandmother Marie Zelnickova at the private club. Marie is the mother of Donald's first wife Ivana, who is believed to be in Palm Beach as well this holiday. President Trump's third and current wife Melania also showcased...

Some of us LOVE getting books, especially for Christmas. There's something special about unwrapping a book on Christmas morning - and enjoy sharing with others. I rarely post anything, (maybe ten articles in 16 years on Free Republic), but thought this would be a good time for book-lovers to share what we received this morning. Merry Christmas!

I'm one of those guys who tend to leave the old Yuletide preparations until around 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve only to discover that half the stores closed early at 1 p.m. and those still open have got nothing left except for massive storewide clearances on Hanukkah wrapping paper. Yet for a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-Santa-suit-pants kind of guy I seem to have acquired over the years an enormous number of books on how to have the perfect Christmas. There's Checklist for a Perfect Christmas by Judith Blahink, and How to Have a Perfect Christmas by Helen Isolde, and The Absolutely Without a...

In what has become an annual, Christmas Eve tradition of sorts, I wonder if anyone else out there is spending your Christmas Eve solo. I suppose we're never really alone if we have FR and the wonderful people who make up the membership here. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Post a seven day forecast for Christmas week at your locale.

Always wanted an old classic, this one has been sitting in a barn for over 30 years.

PITTSBURGH — It’s just after 6 o’clock in the morning, but Joseph Sabino Mistick is already on his second cappuccino and is now buying a round for everyone who just walked into La Prima Espresso coffee shop. “Misticks for all of them!” the former deputy mayor of Pittsburgh says to the barista. (The hot creamy creation with an extra sprinkle of cocoa is named after him.) It’s dark and frigid outside, but inside this tiny espresso bar the room is bursting with rich aromas, chatter and excitement as patrons start planning their traditional day of shopping for cena della Vigilia...

Many years ago, shortly before Christmas, there was a young boy named Ricky. His father had to go away for awhile, and so his family had to move to another part of the city where his mom could be closer to the place where she worked. It was far away from the neighborhood Ricky new and the friends he left behind, but soon he met a new friend who lived near by. It was the day before Christmas, with fresh snow on the ground and Christmas music playing on the radio. His older sisters were helping mom bake Christmas...