Free Republic

Using NASA’s Van Allen Probes, new research reveals that the Van Allen radiation belts contain a nearly impenetrable barrier that prevents the fastest, most energetic electrons from reaching Earth.The Van Allen belts are a collection of charged particles, gathered in place by Earth’s magnetic field. They can wax and wane in response to incoming energy from the sun, sometimes swelling up enough to expose satellites in low-Earth orbit to damaging radiation. The discovery of the drain that acts as a barrier within the belts was made using NASA’s Van Allen Probes, launched in August 2012 to study the region. A...

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who was on the House select committee that probed the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, weighed in on and welcomed potential House Republican plans to investigate Jan. 6 for themselves now that they control the lower chamber. “If @HouseGOP wants new Jan 6 hearings, bring it on. Let’s replay every witness & all the evidence from last year,” Cheney said on Twitter. “But this time, those members who sought pardons and/or hid from subpoenas should sit on the dais so they can be confronted on live TV with the unassailable evidence,” the...

President Biden tried Wednesday to downplay House Republican investigations of his embattled son Hunter and the rest of the first family — claiming that voters just won’t be interested. In an interview with “PBS NewsHour” host Judy Woodruff, Biden was asked how he planned to deal with the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into his son’s shady business interests in China and Ukraine. “The public is not going to pay attention that,” Biden, 80, insisted. “They want these guys to do something. If the only thing they can do is make up things about my family, it’s not going to go...

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden took out a $250,000 line of credit against their home in the Delaware beach town of Rehoboth – as federal investigators probe both the president and his son, Hunter, a new report reveals. The Bidens secured the loan – which allows them to borrow the quarter of a million dollars against the home’s equity – on Dec. 5, according to county records reviewed by Fox News. It’s unclear from any paperwork why the couple took out the line of credit on the home, reportedly purchased in 2017 for nearly $3 million. The White...

Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume said Wednesday on FNC’s “Special Report” that House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is making too many television appearances “hyping” his investigations into President Joe Biden. Hume said, “If these House investigators want to proceed judiciously, they might want to think about Mr. Comer. And it might be a good idea for him to get off television awhile, delve into the material here, and when he finds something, maybe tell us about it then. So far what he’s doing basically is hyping these investigations. He runs the risk of appearing to...

A majority of independents want congressional investigations into the Biden family business prioritized, a Sunday CBS/YouGov poll revealed. Top Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has launched nine investigations into the Biden family business for potential violations, including money laundering, wire fraud, and tax evasion. The probes are separate from the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into Hunter Biden for tax and gun-related violations.

First son Hunter Biden has added a high-profile Washington defense attorney whose client roster includes a who’s-who of embattled politicians to his legal team as House Republicans plan to launch investigations into his overseas business dealings as soon as next month. Abbe Lowell will be responsible for coordinating the 52-year-old Hunter’s defense during the congressional probes that will begin after Republicans take over the House in the new year. “Hunter Biden has retained Abbe Lowell to help advise him and be part of his legal team to address the challenges he is facing,” Kevin Morris — another Hunter Biden lawyer...

(CNN) Members of the far right are already agitating to launch impeachment proceedings against resident Joe Biden if the GOP is in power in Congress next year. Some leading Republicans want to spotlight former President Donald Trump's false claims of voter fraud. And key House and Senate Republicans are vowing to probe the security failures surrounding last year's January 6 attack on the US Capitol -- and turn the attention to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. With Republicans on the cusp of taking back the House and Senate, the GOP is plotting an onslaught of investigations into the Biden administration and...

Attorney General William Barr’s decision to have the Department of Justice (DOJ) probe any "substantial allegations" of voter fraud has triggered a wave of backlash that he is seeking to breathe life into President Trump’s unfounded claims of a stolen election. Barr’s announcement Monday quickly sparked fallout at the agency, with the top official in charge of voting crimes investigations saying just hours later that he would step down from his role. In a carefully worded memo, the attorney general authorized federal prosecutors to take investigative steps on “specific instances” of abuse “prior to the certification of elections” in their...

The history of impeachment proceedings in the modern era, from Nixon to Clinton to Trump, shows that a successful impeachment needs three things: it must be bipartisan, it must be about something Americans think is important, and Congress must strike while the iron is hot. In Trump’s case, Democrats have botched all three. First, this impeachment inquiry is an entirely partisan affair. The public hearings of recent weeks have made this undeniable, but even before the hearings it was obvious that Democrats alone were going to conduct this impeachment. The House’s impeachment inquiry resolution passed last month without a single...

Does it really? Naah, but it makes for a good sound bite the day after your political opponents finally get their hands on subpoena power. Donald Trump greeted the new House majority this morning by suggesting that he’d order investigations of House Democrats if they go overboard on oversight: If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game!— Donald J. Trump...

Clinton’s wrongdoing was established fact from the start — whereas Trump's investigation attempts to find out if there was any wrongdoing. TIMELINE--The House Select Committee on Benghazi started asking questions after a hacker unveiled Clinton’s e-mails with Sidney Blumenthal. Some e-mails were related to the 2012 Benghazi attack yet had never been handed over to investigators. It was soon revealed that Clinton used a private account at the State Dept — leaving the government with no records of her work (contrary to law). That forced State to start collecting Clinton’s communications — and word leaked to the NYT, which broke...

(CNN)The FBI is investigating a possible ISIS-inspired terrorist threat in the United States, law enforcement officials said Saturday. The investigation originated from intercepted chatter and other intelligence information that led officials to believe a possible plot could be in the works, the officials said. No arrests have been made. It's not clear whether the threat is real or aspirational. The exact nature of the threat couldn't be learned. One official said it focused on parts of California where officials stepped up security, a U.S. official said.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday said the Obama administration had made “extraordinary efforts” to work with congressional committees probing the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya. “When it comes to oversight and Benghazi, as you know, the administration has made extraordinary efforts to work with seven -- seven, rather, different congressional committees investigating what happened before, during and after the Benghazi attacks,” Carney told reporters. “That includes testifying at 13 congressional hearings, participating in 40 staff briefings and providing over 25,000 pages of documents.” His comments came in response to a question about

"If a dry run is occurring, the attack will shortly follow." That's according to Wolf Koch, a Boeing 767 pilot for Delta Airlines and an official at the Air Line Pilots Association International, who was discussing common terrorist tactics in the run-up to devastating attacks like those on 9/11. That is an extremely worrying thought given a memo leaked this week from the U.S. Airline Pilots Association, which warns of "several cases recently…of what appear to be probes, or dry runs" of such attacks.

With apologies to Sheriff John* and “The Birthday Party Polka,” it’s time to sing the Scandal Song: Put another candle on the scandal cake … another week starts today. CBS News reports that the State Department has interfered in internal investigations into criminal conduct and wrongdoing by high-ranking officials, including one ambassador who prowled public parks for prostitutes. A very familiar name appears in this exposé, too:

The recent assault on the National Security Five is only the most recent example of the fear our elites have about discussing and understanding radical Islamists. When an orchestrated assault is launched on the right to ask questions in an effort to stop members of Congress from even inquiring about a topic — you know the fix is in. The intensity of the attack on Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) as well as Republican Reps. Trent Franks of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Tom Rooney of Florida and Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia is a reminder of how desperate our elites are...

Washington -- House minority leader Nancy Pelosi is bracing for a report on the stock investments of members of Congress that is to air Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes." The San Francisco Democrat and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, were questioned separately at their weekly news conferences Nov. 3 by reporter Steve Croft. Neither had granted Croft's previous requests for interviews. Croft asked both leaders about stock transactions they made while Congress was considering legislation that could affect the financial and insurance industries. Pelosi and Boehner vigorously denied any connection. Laws against insider trading - making stock bets based on...

IBD has received a letter from Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting information on “the improper inclusion of a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning in a Medicare regulation in the fall of 2010.” Late last year, a controversy erupted when in November a set of final regulations for Medicare contained a provision enabling Medicare to pay for “end-of-life” counseling.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The New York Times is conducting an investigation after a Wall Street and finance reporter was found to have improperly used wording and passages from other news organizations. Zachery Kouwe, who joined the Times in 2008 from the New York Post, "reused language from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and other sources without attribution or acknowledgement," the Times said in an editors' note. The Times said Kouwe appeared to have "improperly appropriated wording and passages published by other news organizations" in a number of business articles over the past year and in posts on NYTimes.com's DealBook blog....