Free Republic

The United States has already struck 200 trade deals, President Donald Trump said in an interview this week — but he refused to say with whom. Trump’s comments come just two weeks after he announced a 90-day pause on most of the sweeping global tariffs he imposed earlier this month to allow time for trade negotiations with hundreds of countries slugged by the punishing levies. Only China was exempted from the 90-day pause. “I’ve made 200 deals,” Trump told Time Magazine in a wide-ranging interview published Friday, “100%.” Pressed on which countries he had made deals with, Trump refused to...

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked on Thursday about comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting the US and France’s proposal for a ceasefire in Lebanon. “We would not have made the statement if we had doubts that the talks with the Israelis were positive,” Kirby stated. “Netanyahu should be asked if he retracted his agreement. I can only say that, based on the conversations last night, we had every reason to believe that he was sincere in his intentions,” he added. Earlier, after landing in New York ahead of his address to the UN General...

The Hamas terrorist organization responded to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement outlining Israel's red lines in the negotiations with Hamas for the release of the hostages. "At a time when we are showing flexibility and a positive approach to facilitate reaching an agreement to end the aggression, Netanyahu is placing additional obstacles before the negotiations, escalating his aggression and his crimes against our people and continuing his attempts forcibly displace them in order to thwart all efforts to reach an agreement," the Hamas statement said. The terrorist organization continued, "We demand that the mediators intervene to put an end to...

Former President Donald Trump reportedly rejected suggestions from his attorneys to arrange a settlement with the Justice Department to avoid federal charges and instead, he listened to the advice of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, a conservative legal activist, and others who said he could legally keep the classified documents and should fight government prosecutors. Trump attorney Christopher Kise wanted to see last fall if he could quietly approach the Justice Department to negotiate a settlement with the hopes that Attorney General Merrick Garland and the agency would want to avoid bringing charges against the former president, The Washington Post...

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has called for a cease-fire between the two sides and for peace talks to commence as part of a 12-point plan to end the war. On the eve of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has called for a cease-fire between the two sides and for peace talks to commence as part of a 12-point plan to end the war. China’s Foreign Ministry revealed the plan on Friday, Beijing time, and also called for the end of Western sanctions on Russia, measures to ensure...

Under three of the last four presidents, including now Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin has chosen to take military action against Russia’s neighbors. There has been only one exception, namely Donald Trump. A big part of Biden’s pitch to voters in 2020 was that he would bring a return to foreign relation norms. America would be back, the adults would be in charge, etc., etc. Well, here we are, norms and all, and yet Putin is still on the verge of an incursion into a U.S. ally, Ukraine. Another way of saying normal is predictable. Norms are after all a set...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to go all Hulk on Brexit. “The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets,” ​Johnson told the Sunday Mail. “Hulk always escaped, no matter how tightly bound in he seemed to be – and that is the case for this country. We will come out on October 31 and we will get it done.” ​Johnson’s comments were published a day before he is scheduled to meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Luxembourg.

Outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to stop the UK leaving the EU without a deal by aligning with Remainers in the Tory Party including Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond. Sources close to Mrs May told The Mail on Sunday that despite her failure to pass the EU-approved withdrawal treaty, she has “not budged” from her position that UK should not leave the bloc unless it has an exit deal. One ally told the Sunday newspaper: “She made little secret of the fact that she did not want...

The armed forces have activated a team in a nuclear-proof bunker under the Ministry of Defence as the government prepares next Monday to enter "very high readiness mode" for a no-deal Brexit, Sky News can reveal. A number of war games have been conducted to help ready commanders for dealing with a range of possible eventualities in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

**SNIP** Now the Sunrise Movement, likely the nation’s fastest-growing climate advocacy group, is planning a 14-stop tour meant to drum up grassroots support for a Green New Deal across multiple states, HuffPost has learned. It’s the first leg of the group’s effort to make the policy the defining issue of the 2020 election. “We’re launching the Road to a Green New Deal Tour to activate the millions of Americans who are ready to fight for a Green New Deal but haven’t heard of it yet,” Varshini Prakash, co-founder of Sunrise Movement, said by email. “When you come out to a...

There is now less than three months until the Brexit deadline in Great Britain. (The lights go out on March 29th absent some drastic change of course.) The deal that Theresa May cut with the EU Parliament has pleased pretty much nobody and shows no signs of being able to be approved in the House of Commons. An effort by the Prime Minister’s own party to remove her from office failed, largely because nobody else really wanted the job. So we’re heading for a No Deal Brexit, right?Perhaps not. Lara Marlowe, a correspondent for the Irish Times in Paris and...

....NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been open about his willingness to embrace the practice. He wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in 2014 in which he advocated for the legalization of sports betting. "In light of these domestic and global trends, the laws on sports betting should be changed," Silver said, citing sports betting’s popularity both among fans in the United States and throughout the world. "Congress should adopt a federal framework that allows states to authorize betting on professional sports....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic leaders believe they lost to President Donald Trump partly because voters don't know what the party stands for. So they're trying to rebrand themselves with a new slogan and a populist new agenda as they look ahead to the 2018 midterms. It's called "A Better Deal" and House and Senate Democratic leaders are rolling it out Monday afternoon in Berryville, Virginia. They're intentionally traveling outside the Beltway, and into the district of one of the GOP House members they hope to defeat next year, Barbara Comstock. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, House Minority...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's official IRNA news agency is reporting the deputy transport minister as saying that his county will only pay half of the announced price for 80 new Boeing planes, given the reductions in its purchasing options. According to the Sunday report, Asghar Fakhrieh Kashan says that despite an initial $16.8 billion deal with Boeing to purchase 80 passenger planes, "Regarding the style of our order and its options, the purchase contract for 80 Boeing aircraft is worth about 50 percent of the amount." He did not elaborate. Boeing has made no immediate comment. Iran announced earlier...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker appears to have an early edge in Iowa. Craig Robinson, founder and editor of TheIowaRepublican.com, calls Walker the “clear frontrunner” following the weekend Faith and Freedom Coalition event in that state, which hosts the country’s first caucuses. A number of the potential GOP presidential candidates attended the summit and addressed an audience of Iowa voters. Sen. Marco Rubio delivered “one of the best-delivered speeches of the night,” Robinson writes. The political observer added that Sen. Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina got people talking. Fiorina “is going to be a surprise on caucus night if she keeps...

President Barack Obama rejected the GOP’s short-term debt limit plan because it does not also end the partial government shutdown, the New York Times reports. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reportedly left Thursday’s meeting at the White House with Obama without issuing a public comment to the press. Even though House Republicans softened their long-standing demands, Obama’s rejection isn’t entirely a shock given that Senate Democrats had already declared it unacceptable on Thursday. “Not going to happen,” declared Majority Leader Harry Reid, standing outside the White House after he and fellow Democrats met with President Barack Obama. Reid referred to...

The Department of Justice told Republican House leadership in a Tuesday letter that it hopes to reach an agreement with congressional overseers on how much information about Operation Fast and Furious it is required to hand over. Congressional Republicans have threatened to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for not fully complying with a 22-part subpoena served last October. The letter comes amid reports that House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa has obtained evidence proving that senior Justice Department officials approved Operation Fast and Furious gunwalking tactics. The Justice Department letter was in response to a...

In a disappointing decision for nationalists, the High Court Sunday threw out a compromise deal between the government and the residents of Migron, and set a new deadline for the eviction of the residents. The three judge panel is headed by Supreme Court President Asher Grunis, and includes judges Miriam Naor and Salim Jubran. They gave the government until August 1 to evict the residents. "Now the petitioners are entitled to enjoy the fruits of the verdict," the judges wrote. "They have the right to see the ongoing disruption of their rights end. The public interest in enforcement of the...

The Foreign Ministry Wednesday issued a situation assessment to Israeli embassies worldwide that lambasts Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen) and says that an agreement between Israel and the PA "will not be possible as long as Abu Mazen leads the PA." The document comes on the heels of remarks by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who labeled Abbas “the biggest obstacle to an agreement between the Palestinian Authority and us.” "It is clear today that chairman Abbas is motivated primarily by his will to leave behind a historic legacy and achieve personal gains," the document says. "In...

House Speaker John Boehner says congressional leaders and President Barack Obama did not reach a budget agreement following a White House meeting. Boehner says Republicans are rallying behind a short-term cure. Obama met with Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the top House and Senate appropriators Tuesday in hopes of breaking an impasse in talks to set spending levels through the end of September. Without an agreement by Friday, the government would be forced to shut down. Boehner said he told Obama that House Republicans are preparing a short-term measure that would keep the government running for another week...