Free Republic

WHAT: Bernie Rally WHERE: TACOMA Dome, Tacoma, WA WHEN: Feb 17, 2020 How Many: 17000 in attendance, capacity: 25000

Bernie Sanders leads the race for the Democratic nomination. He may become America's first self-described "democratic socialist" president. What does that mean? Today, when Sanders talks about socialism, he says: "I'm not looking at Cuba. I'm looking at countries like Denmark and Sweden." But Denmark and Sweden are not socialist. Denmark's prime minister even came to America to refute Sanders' claims, pointing out that "Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy." Both Denmark and Sweden do give citizens government-run health care and have bigger welfare programs than America has. However, recently, they've moved away from socialism. Because their socialist...

SYDNEY - Global warming was leading to an “irreversible” mass melting of the Antarctic ice and purging carbon from the atmosphere was the only solution to slow the process, an Australian climate scientist told Reuters on Wednesday. Recent human activity has intensified global warming, which could result in a mass melting of Antarctica, said Zoe Thomas, a research fellow at the University of New South Wales who was part of an international team of scientists that recently published a paper on Antarctic ice melting. The study showed the world could lose most of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which rests...

On February 12, three female high school students in Connecticut filed a federal lawsuit against the participation of transgender athletes (with male anatomy) in female track and field events. The three students, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, have a fairly simple and straightforward argument: They claim allowing biologically male students to compete against biologically female students is unfair and runs afoul (no pun intended) of their basic civil rights. They also argue, quite convincingly, that allowing biologically male students to compete against them has undermined their ability to win races as well as opportunities for scholarships. Alanna Smith, who...

The battle of the Democrat money men running for president is playing out in high-roller Las Vegas as billionaire Mike Bloomberg replaces billionaire Tom Steyer on the debate stage Wednesday night. Steyer did not meet the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) threshold by the Tuesday midnight deadline. And while voters can cast their ballot for Steyer in Nevada, Bloomberg’s name is not one of the candidates on it. Steyer, who took part in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth debates is not happy about the development, Politico reports: Steyer’s campaign has cried foul at his likely exclusion, arguing that his...

From legiscan.com: The Iowa legislature has introduced a bill, SF 459, to allow employees and volunteers who have carry permits, to keep firearms in their locked vehicle, in parking lots, even if the employer forbids firearms on their property. The bill passed out of the Senate subcommittee on 23 January 2020.The benefit in the bill, for the employer or lawful owner or possessor of the property, is they are held immune for any actions that may have allegedly caused harm due to the presence of the firearm in the locked vehicle. From legiscan.com:2. An employer shall not prohibit an...

The Washington Post is taking criticism for an op-ed published Tuesday by Marquette University political science professor Julia Azari, titled: “It’s time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president.” Citing the “rocky start” to the Democratic Party’s presidential primary, Azari suggests that the process of choosing the nominee be taken from the people and returned to the politicians: The current process is clearly flawed, but what would be better? … A better primary system would empower elites to bargain and make decisions, instructed by voters. One lesson from the 2020 and 2016 election cycles is that...

TEHRAN -- Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that he believes his recent meeting with a U.S. senator had spooked the Trump administration because it was an opportunity to talk directly to “the American nation.” Mohammad Javad Zarif met last week with Sen. Chris Murphy on the sidelines of an international security conference in Germany. The Connecticut Democrat defended the meeting on Tuesday after his actions were questioned in conservative media, and as President Donald Trump suggested they may have violated U.S. law. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped anyone who meets with Zarif would be reflecting the U.S....

... The youngest voters haven’t always leaned left. In 1984 Ronald Reagan won 61% of voters under 25, more than his 59% of the popular vote. Something deeper, specific to our time, is at work. Consider the formative experiences of adults 30 and younger. For them, the Cold War exists only in history books—which they didn’t necessarily read. High schools in only 31 states require a yearlong U.S. history course. Throughout their adolescence and young adulthood, they have seen their country embroiled in Middle Eastern wars triggered by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Intelligence shortfalls and security failures...

Why do politicians want to take away our plastic bags and straws? This moral panic is intensifying even as evidence mounts that banning plastic is both a waste of money and harmful to the environment. If you want to protect dolphins and sea turtles, you should take special care to place your plastic in the trash, not the recycling bin. And if you’re worried about climate change, you’ll cherish those gossamer grocery bags once you learn the facts about plastic. During the 1970s, environmentalists wanted to restrict the use of plastic because it was made from petroleum. When the “energy...

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, freed from prison Tuesday, heaped "profound and everlasting gratitude" on President Donald Trump for commuting his sentence. "President Trump is the one who did this, and I'm ... profoundly grateful," Blagojevich, who was a Democrat, told reporters Tuesday night at Denver International Airport. "He's got obviously a big fan in me," said Blagojevich, who has gone totally gray since entering prison. "And if you’re asking me what my party affiliation is, I’m a Trump-ocrat." "He didn't have to do this. He’s a Republican president; I was a Democratic governor," Blagojevich said. "My fellow Democrats have...

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When residents of this city’s impoverished West Side reflect on Pete Buttigieg’s two terms as mayor, a few things come to mind: A spike in violent crime, development that largely ignored the African American community and how their only well-lit street is the one that leads to Notre Dame University. So how, they wonder, can Buttigieg possibly be trusted to run the country? “If he’s the next president, I fear for our country. He couldn’t run our city. How can he run the United States?” said Michelle Burger, 42, a stay-at-home mom who lives in South...

NEW YORK - As Republican President Donald Trump seeks a second term in November, Americans’ interest in voting is growing faster in large cities dominated by Democrats than in conservative rural areas, according to an analysis of Reuters/Ipsos national opinion polls. If the trend lasts until Election Day on Nov. 3, it would be a reversal from the 2016 election when rural turnout outpaced voting in urban areas, helping Trump narrowly win the White House. The finding, based on responses from more than 88,000 U.S. adults who took the online poll from August to December 2015 or from August to...

China's coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) continues to take human lives. The Chinese people have suffered the most in terms of total cases and lives lost. The epidemic began in Wuhan, capital of the Hubei province. As I write this column, Hubei has had 60,000 confirmed cases and almost 1,800 deaths. Covid-19, however, has escaped China's political borders. The World Health Organization's Feb. 18 Covid-19 "Situation Report 29" declared that 25 countries have clinically diagnosed Covid-19 cases, and many are laboratory-confirmed. As of Feb. 17, WHO had sent virus laboratory testing kits to 34 countries. Eventually, 56 countries will receive them....

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday that the Fessenheim nuclear reactor, on the border with Germany, will be shut down at the end of June, with one of its reactors to be closed this weekend. A statement on Wednesday called the decision “the first phase” of France's energy strategy set out in 2018 by President Emmanuel Macron. The plan calls for a re-balancing of nuclear-produced energy and electricity derived from renewable sources. Coal plants are to be closed by 2022 to reduce greenhouse gases, the statement said. Reactor No. 1 will be halted on Saturday and the entire...

Sen. Bernie Sanders manifestly fears that if he succeeds in becoming president and enacting his economic plan, some Americans may seek to flee the country. How do we know this? His plan imposes a severe penalty on anybody who tries to leave to avoid paying his "wealth tax." "The wealth tax includes a 40 percent exit tax on the net value of all assets under $1 billion and 60 percent over $1 billion for all wealthy individual(s) seeking to expatriate to avoid the tax," it says. Under the current tax system, the United States does impose an "expatriation tax" on...

(For those of you who don't know who Carol Rosenberg is, she is the Miami-Herald's beat reporter on Club Gitmo and knows everything about what is happening related to the facility. These are her Tweets today about the ongoing trial of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh) Good morning from Guantanamo Bay. Here at Camp Justice, the 9/11 trial lawyers return to court at 9 a.m. to hear what the judge is going to do about the capital defense lawyer whose "trial days are over" -- and the Yemeni man he represents, shown here. (snip) The 9/11 hearing is...

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it sometimes rhymes,” Mark Twain is reputed to have said. My first job after law school was as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. I reported for work September 1974, just weeks after Richard Nixon resigned. In the years leading up to his resignation, Nixon turned the Justice Department and FBI into his personal fiefdom, enlisting his political appointees to reward his friends and penalize his enemies. Reports about how compromised the Justice Department had become generated enough public outrage to force the appointment of the first Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox.

On Nov. 18, 2019, The Hill announced it was reviewing John Solomon's opinion columns on Ukraine after State Department diplomats criticized several of those columns during House impeachment hearings. This review was conducted independently by The Hill’s news staff under the direction of Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack. The Hill established working panels for each of 14 relevant pieces that appeared on TheHill.com. These working groups analyzed and discussed the columns at length, looking at possible corrections and/or context that could have been added at the time of the writings. In addition, The Hill reviewed congressional testimony and other public documentation related...

A woman who severed nearly a decade behind bars for her role in a health care and money laundering scheme returned to Miami-Dade County early Wednesday morning. President Donald Trump on Tuesday commuted the prison sentence of Judith Negron, who was serving time for her role in a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme back in 2011. Negron, now 48, was found guilty of numerous felony counts....