Free Republic

Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhum has blamed the Israeli government as being fully responsible for the violence that is happening in the Arab sector, which is also reflected in homicides. Barhum said in a statement that the crimes of murder and violence in the "occupied Palestinian interior" (the Arab sector in Israel) carry the characteristics of "the Israeli occupation and its security arms that always seek to destroy the social fabric and damage the image of our (Palestinian) people." He said the purpose of these crimes is to engage the Arabs in Israel in a vicious cycle of violence and murder,...

Disparaging comments. Demeaning jokes. As the mogul reportedly considers a 2020 presidential run, it remains an open question whether his long-alleged history of undermining women will affect his chances. If you find yourself seeking, in these turbulent times, evidence of steadiness among the chaos—proof that even as the seas rise and the winds whip and the world that was gives way to the world that will be, some things will remain the same—here is a fact that seems always to be true: Mike Bloomberg is considering a run for president. The newest version of the old truth comes from an...

Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, is preparing to enter the Democratic presidential primary, according to NBC News, which cited a Bloomberg advisor. The move didn’t necessarily mean Bloomberg was announcing a campaign, a source close to Bloomberg told NBC News. Rather, this source said, he’s doing this to keep his options open. Bloomberg is “troubled” by what he has seen in the Democratic primary, the source added. “He’s still not sure,” a source told CNBC. This source also said these are “unprecedented times” and that Bloomberg is concerned about what he’s seeing both from Democrats and...

Disappointed with the leading Democratic candidates in the 2020 pack, Mike Bloomberg is once again considering a run for president, sources tell The Post. “He thinks Biden is weak and [Bernie] Sanders and Warren can’t win,” said a source familiar with Bloomberg’s apparent about-face, which comes just months after the three-term New York City mayor took his name out of consideration. “Mike will be making a decision quickly,” said another source close to the media mogul as other sources said the decision to jump into the crowded Democratic field could come within the next few days. Bloomberg believes the dynamics...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain spoke with President Trump by phone on Tuesday, and to judge by the dueling summaries of the call provided by the White House and 10 Downing Street, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Trump were involved in two completely different conversations.....Such divergent accounts of a leader-to-leader call are not unheard-of, but the timing of this one, on the eve of Britain’s general election campaign, was telling. It shows just how much of a liability Mr. Trump has become for Mr. Johnson. Once, the prime minister talked up the benefits of having a close friend in the...

A Republican district attorney in New York faced a challenger backed by more than $800,000 from liberal financier George Soros, but she came out victorious and mocked him in her victory speech. Soros funded the New York Justice & Public Safety Political Action Committee, which purchased television ads for Democratic candidate Shani Curry Mitchell, the challenger to Monroe County district attorney Sandra Doorley. On Tuesday, Doorley soundly defeated Mitchell soundly with 56 percent in the election, despite the overwhelming financial support from Soros. Doorley gave a tongue-in-cheek "thanks" to him in her victory speech on Tuesday evening. "The Republican Party...

U.S. diplomat Bill Taylor, during his deposition last month, identified the New York Times as the sole source of his claim that President Donald Trump wanted Ukraine to help him get dirt on Joe Biden, transcripts released Wednesday show. Besides a New York Times article, “I have no other information from what the [U.S.] president was thinking,” he declared under questioning by Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) during his October 22 deposition, given behind closed doors. The transcripts of his testimony described the Zeldin-Taylor exchange as follow: Zeldin: What was the goal of requesting investigations into 2016 election and [Ukrainian company...

While Illinoisans will be paying higher taxes, Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s going to give state lawmakers at least a $1,600 pay increase because they’re hard workers. Pritzker said he’ll sign the budget bills being sent his way, despite the ire from taxpayers that lawmakers gave themselves a raise while doubling the state’s gas tax. Pritzker was asked multiple times in Chicago Tuesday if he’d line-item veto more than $280,000 in lawmaker pay increases when he gets the budget that was passed in overtime session. “Look, this was a highly negotiated budget,” Pritzker said. “We had the Republicans and Democrats...

The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service of the University of Virginia analyzed Census Bureau population projections to estimate each state’s likely population in 2040, including the expected breakdown of the population by age and gender ... we see that, in fact, the [US] population will be heavily centered in a few states. Eight states will have just under half of the total population of the country, 49.5 percent, according to the Weldon Cooper Center’s estimate. The next eight most populous states will account for an additional fifth of the population, up to 69.2 percent — meaning that the 16...

States with high taxes are at risk of losing people, business and money. In fact, conservative economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore argue that up to 1.3 million people will leave California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Minnesota and New York over the next three years and move to states with lower taxes. The impact of tax migration is particularly interesting to examine in a state such as Florida, a low-tax swing state that is expected to pick up two Electoral College votes. While the northern area around Orlando contains large communities of conservative-leaning Midwestern migrants, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton see...

Independent Vermont senator and 2020 presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is not impressed by tech giant Apple’s efforts to increase the supply of affordable housing in California amid a growing crisis. In a statement on Monday evening, Sanders called out the Cupertino, California-based company out for trying to distract from a problem it helped create. “Apple's announcement that it is entering the real estate lending business is an effort to distract from the fact that it has helped create California's housing crisis – all while raking in $800 million of taxpayer subsidies, and keeping a quarter trillion dollars of profit offshore,...

<p>Voters in some states are deciding whether to roll back conservative policies adopted in earlier eras. Ballot measures in Tucson, Arizona and the states of Colorado and Washington gave voters another say on hot-button social issues: immigration, gambling, taxes and affirmative action.</p>

...And She's Bragging About It online (Rest of Title) Senator Rand Paul and his deputy chief of staff Sergio Gor were having lunch in California on Friday when they were verbally assaulted by a deranged democrat. The woman went ballistic as the two men dined, flipped them off and having a general temper tantrum over their differing political beliefs. ...

FULL TITLE: 'We're not putting up with your Republican bullsh*t!': Sen. Rand Paul and staff accosted while having lunch Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was trying to enjoy a meal in public this week, when a couple felt it was the perfect opportunity to yell at him about how they have different political views than he does. On Friday, Sen. Paul's deputy chief of staff posted a video on Twitter with the message, "While having lunch with @RandPaul in California, we got verbally assaulted by these aggressive libs complaining about incivility," with the hashtag, "unhinged." In the clip, a man can...

New York City on Tuesday became the latest and largest city in the nation to adopt ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank their top five candidates based on preference. New Yorkers overwhelmingly approved Ballot Question 1 by a roughly 73 to 17 percent margin, with just over 77 percent of precincts reporting. The ballot’s passage will allow the city’s voters to begin using ranked-choice voting in local primary and special elections starting in 2021. The method allows voters to rank their top five candidates in order of preference rather than picking just one contender. If a candidate wins an...

Rafael Diaz was brutally attacked in the elevator of his Bronx apartment building. The incident was captured on video. (Ellen Moynihan/for New York Daily News) Cops say they’ve captured the bully who beat an elderly man in a brutal caught-on-video assault in a Bronx elevator. Joshua Marrero, 22, was charged Tuesday in the shocking Friday night attack on 67-year-old Rafael Diaz, police said. Chief of Detectives and soon-to-be police commissioner Dermot Shea said tips from the community helped identify the attacker. Video of the attack shows Marrero walking into the elevator of Diaz’s Southern Blvd. building in Belmont ahead...

A large demonstration, numbering around 1,000 people, marched through downtown Brooklyn Friday evening to protest alleged police brutality in the subway system. Protesters chanted familiar slogans such as “No justice, no peace/Fuck these racist police,” and the message was intensified by calls for violence. Choruses of “punch a cop in the face/every nation, every race,” were echoed by large banners reading, “Ante Up! Punch that cop!” Vehicles were tagged “NYPD KKK,” and eggs and garbage were thrown at a police cruiser. The “#FTP” (fuck the police) action was inspired by two recent incidents where police made arrests on subway platforms....

A Twitter user posted a sick promise just before Halloween trick-or-treating started, then followed it up with images of his plans in action. It was a “joke,” one that wasn’t funny, appropriate, or within the terms of service of Twitter. Yet 20 hours later, the Tweets still stand despite likely hundreds of reports of the threat against children. The Tweet was bad enough, including an image of a child dressed like President Trump with red “X”s over his eyes. The comments were even worse. I have no intentions of posting the Tweet here other than the screenshots above because it...

An antifa activist with a history of violence and threatening behaviour across the Pacific Northwest has been arrested on a felony hate crime charge in Seattle for alleged anti-Semitic attacks. Jamal Oscar Williams, 44, is accused by state prosecutors in Washington state of hate crimes and criminal harassment against Schmuel Levitin, a rabbi, and Ephriam Block. According to court documents, Williams “maliciously and intentionally” followed, threatened to kill and assaulted the men in multiple attacks in October because of their perceived religion. Levitin and Block were operating a permitted religious booth for the Sukkot Jewish holiday in downtown Seattle on...

. @IlhanMN and her lover Tim Mynett were part of the violent Antifa mobs outside @realDonaldTrump ’s Minnesota rally. Both covering their faces. See below video too