Free Republic

President Trump on Monday rolled out a White House budget that includes deep cuts to some federal agencies, an increase in funding for the Pentagon and $18 billion for a wall on the Mexican border. It includes proposals to cut deficits by more than $3 trillion over a decade and lower debt levels as a percentage of the gross domestic product, but does not balance by doing away with annual deficits.

Senators went into a recess skeptical over whether they could agree to legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare. They will return on Monday more doubtful than ever. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) most loyal allies, said Thursday that it’s “unlikely” the GOP will get a healthcare deal. “I don’t see a comprehensive healthcare plan this year,” he told a local news station. Senate Republicans hoped to have a draft bill this week, but it now looks like there will at best be an outline.

Here’s a simple question that desperately needs an answer. Donald Trump won the Arizona primary in a landslide, 47.1 percent to Ted Cruz’s 24.9 percent, giving the GOP front-runner all 58 of that winner-take-all state’s delegates. Right now, the Cruz campaign is engaged in a “furious” on-the-ground campaign in Arizona – and in other states won by Trump, including Louisiana, Georgia and Tennessee – to convert Trump delegates into Cruz delegates on a second ballot, should there be a contested GOP convention this summer. The question is: Is this moral? Trump calls it “crooked as hell.” But let’s back up...

The attorney general appears to be a caring lady. She said to the officers, "You have picked a noble profession. Despite how people may want to portray it, you [should] hold on to that every day." Ms. Lynch is so steeped in anti-police racism that she is oblivious that what she said to the police is called triangulating, reminding them that "the people" are against them. Her message, though she probably doesn't understand it, is "though 'people' think you are evil-doers, I think they are wrong and your profession, at least, is noble." The majority of the American people support...

As Arnold Schwarzenegger exited the governorship, he left behind a brief video showing himself chomping on a cigar and turning off his Capitol office lights. He also left behind a foul stench – and not from one his stogies. It came from a last-minute flurry of appointments of ex-legislators and other insiders to high-paying state boards and, most of all, from his indefensible decision to lower the prison sentence of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez's son for his role in a senseless slaying. The appointments were outrageous, giving out-of-work politicians seats requiring little work but paying over $100,000 a year...

Republicans shouldn't engage in personal attacks against President Obama or other Democrats on the campaign trail, a top House Republican said Wednesday. Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) pressed his party to attack ideas with which they disagree, but to avoid attacking opponents during an election cycle that has been noted for its heated rhetoric.

I just heard Martha McCallum on FOX News interview JD Hayworth who is running against (RINO) John McCain in Arizona. Martha said that Sarah Palin will be in Arizona throwing her support behind John McCain in a few months in an effort to defeat conservative JD Hayworth. Is this all about GRATITUDE? Does Sarah feel if it were not for John McCain picking her for the VP position that she would not be in this position today. And what does this say about Sarah Palin and politics in general? Has anything REALLY CHANGED?

Let's dispose of one thing right off the bat: Whether the Democratic-controlled Legislature confirms Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado as lieutenant governor will have nothing to do with fitness, or lack thereof, for the job. It will be purely political. Insiders don't call the office's holder the "light governor" for nothing. He or she has only one real official job: Filling the governorship if the governor dies, resigns or is impeached. The last time that happened was nearly 60 years ago, when President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Gov. Earl Warren as U.S. chief justice and Lt. Gov. Goodwin Knight became governor. Otherwise,...

Politics is a back-scratching business. And after last month's budget vote, there's a lot of itching going around the Capitol. On Thursday, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg rearranged offices in the upper house (made necessary by Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth's selection as GOP leader). Not surprisingly, Sen. Dave Cogdill, the ousted Republican chief who voted for the budget, didn't end up in the smallest of digs. That honor went to Sen. George Runner, an outspoken member of the anti-tax faction of the caucus. Cogdill also was handed the chairmanship of a select committee on surplus property this week. We're hearing...

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, is on TV explaining the (at this point the congregation shall fall to its knees and prostrate itself) “stimulus.” “How,” asks the lady from CBS, “does $335 million in STD prevention stimulate the economy?” “I’ll tell you how,” says Speaker Pelosi. “I’m a big believer in prevention. And we have, er, there is a part of the bill on the House side that is about prevention. It’s about it being less expensive to the states to do these measures.” Makes a lot of sense. If we have more STD prevention, it will be safer...

A strange thing happened today. I agreed with Nancy Pelosi and disagreed with George Bush. Today Nancy Pelosi said this "If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China and the Chinese in Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak out on human rights," It is a sad day when a Liberal Democrat does the right thing while conservatives sit on the sideline and watch

While Texan Ron Paul’s stock is soaring nationally, there is trouble on the home front. In September, Paul finished third in a straw poll of 1,300 Texas Republican activists who had been delegates to recent Republican conventions. The congressman corralled just 17 percent of the votes cast, trailing California’s Duncan Hunter with 41 percent. This outcome says Texas Republicans aren’t terribly concerned about viability. Otherwise, one of the national front-runners like Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney would have beaten these long-shots. But if they were willing to “waste” their votes on Hunter, why didn’t most back a fellow Texan? The...

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) -- Gas escaping from the ocean floor may provide some answers to understanding historical global warming cycles and provide information on current climate changes, according to a team of scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The findings are reported in the July 20 on-line version of the scientific journal, Global Biogeochemical Cycles. Remarkable and unexpected support for this idea occurred when divers and scientists from UC Santa Barbara observed and videotaped a massive blowout of methane from the ocean floor. It happened in an area of gas and oil seepage coming out of small volcanoes...

GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Year of Reform" came and went without any discernible change to the status quo in 2005. The state Legislature remains unduly polarized, captive to special interests and unwilling to take on many of the most complex and daunting problems facing California. Schwarzenegger's "reform" effort morphed into a piecemeal package of worthy (independent redistricting), seriously flawed (a rigid budget formula) and transparently politically motivated (restrictions on union fundraising) measures that were all shot down by voters in November. There were two overriding messages from the electorate. One was disenchantment with Schwarzenegger and his "I-am-king'' bravado of the moment....

Well, it seems as if the rank and file elitist Country Club Republicans are flexing their muscles in the High Desert, not to mention down the hill, too, when it comes to who backs whom for the 59th assembly district race and why. When it comes to the two most likely frontrunners in the Victor Valley—encompassing Hesperia and Apple Valley—longtime GOP grass-roots crusader and people’s champion, Barry Hartz, versus government bureaucracy insider and recipient of Supervisor (San Bernardino County First District) Postmus’ back-scratching political favors, Anthony Adams, the battle lines have clearly been drawn and it’s easy to see, when...

Everyone seems to agree that Congress needs to clean up earmarks, the special pork projects members of Congress secure often without hearings, notice or even disclosure of the direct recipient. Rep. John Boehner, the new House majority leader, laments that Congress has "become addicted to earmarks as if it were opium." President Bush belatedly told the nation in his State of the Union address that "the federal budget has too many special-interest projects." Fine rhetoric, but if something drastic isn't done, earmarks will largely survive the calls for reform. Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens, who has spent 37 years in Congress...

Louisiana survived Earl Long's trip to the nuthouse, so maybe New Orleans can survive Mayor Ray Nagin's apparent descent into lunacy. But Long managed to put his eccentric episodes behind him and remained a political force, going on to win a congressional election just before he died. Nagin may not be so lucky. It will be hard to recover from his Martin Luther King Day tirade, because it was not just insane. It was stupid. The mayoralty is there for any credible candidate who wants it, because Nagin just threw away the white vote that got him into office in...

Can we see the problem here? While our congressmen are trying to convince their peers that Louisiana government officials are honest enough and skilled enough to handle billions of dollars of hurricane aid money for New Orleans and elsewhere, the congressman who represents the Crescent City is trying to explain away a bundle of cash investigators found in his freezer. At the same time, a huge fight is erupting in Baton Rouge among politicians over who will get to touch the federal money as it passes into the state. The cynical reading of that scenario is, of course, that money...

[ Headline only at this point ... Stay Tuned for More Details ... the link takes you to an article already posted on Free Republic about politicians, other than Landrieu, who have benefitted from Abramoff's largesse] LANDRIEU AMONG DEMS WHO TOOK ABRAMOFF MONEY

On Aug. 1, I wrote about the legislators renting apartments at the newly renovated Pentagon Barracks in Baton Rouge at an unfair price. I sent letters to Gov. Blanco and Sen. Donald Hines, president of the Senate, but because of Katrina and Rita, I never received an acknowledgement. It is time to bring up this abuse again when every penny counts. Every taxpayer is going to paying for these two hurricanes for decades to come. It is fair and just for the people we elect to pay the market price of real estate. And, I guess I should remind them...