Free Republic

President Biden's meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Friday didn't go as planned, with one lawmaker even urging him to drop his re-election bid, according to two sources briefed on the matter. Why it matters: It's a rare instance of a lawmaker actually telling the president in a direct encounter that he should exit the 2024 presidential race. One lawmaker who was told about the meeting described it as going "haywire." The latest: Biden was an hour late to the Zoom meeting with Hispanic Caucus members on Friday, which was held through the group's political arm, BOLD...

One of the nuclear reactors at Hanford has had a scram. That means the cooling failed and the reactor automatically shut down. The news reports say they are checking it out and will restart when it's safe.

Bay Area comedian W. Kamau Bell, a national figure on race and progressive politics, says a Berkeley cafe employee's order for him to 'scram' was likely racially motivated, prompting a strong online backlash against the business.

With all due respect, please go away! I just listened to your drivel and think you're a loon. You're about as Republican as my dog. Wait, I don't have a dog! Seriousy, please quietly exit out the back door and slowly get lost!

America Radio, the liberal news and talk radio network headlined by the comedian Al Franken, has another week to find a buyer. A lawyer for the network, Tracy Klestadt, told a bankruptcy hearing Monday that the company was in "advanced negotiations with a few parties" about a sale, and expected to have more definitive news on a deal in a week. Under its financing agreement, the network had faced a deadline of this Wednesday to have a deal in place for a buyer, but Klestadt said the network's lender had informally agreed to extend the deadline by about a week....

Sen. John Kerry’s mangled anti-Bush joke has metastasized into a week of negative news for liberals hoping to regain control of the Congress. Even his reluctant apology has done little to quash the fires he lit. Significantly, these fires rage because liberals have yet to expunge the scarlet “D” that has adorned them since the Vietnam War -- “D” for disdain of our military. Let’s review the tape. Kerry advised students at a campaign rally in California that they would “do well” if they studied hard and made “an effort to be smart.” If not: “You get stuck in Iraq.”...

Repeat drunken drivers in Sacramento County may find themselves wearing some unfashionable new jewelry -- a high-tech ankle bracelet that can tell if they've been drinking. Sacramento Superior Court officials and the county District Attorney's office will explore requiring some drunken drivers to wear electronic devices called SCRAM -- Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitors. The half-pound ankle bracelet -- now being tried in several California counties and other states -- detects alcohol in the person's perspiration. The results can be monitored daily via computer by court representatives. The ankle device checks hourly for traces of alcohol, and stores data throughout...

False rumors of random federal immigration raids have sent panic through immigrant communities around the country this week, emptying classrooms, work sites and shopping areas and sending thousands of people into hiding. Towns in New Jersey and on Long Island have been among those most affected by the snowballing fear, say immigrant advocates and public officials, who described terrified mothers pulling their children from a Head Start program in Freehold, N.J., and deserted streets in usually bustling areas of West Hempstead, N.Y.

Well, that time has come for me. I’m leaving FR. However, I do not consider this an “opus”, as I am NOT going to use it to rehash old slights or arguments, or to give my personal opinion of what “should be done around here”. As has been so often pointed out, this is Jim Robinson’s site, and he runs it as he sees fit. Rather, all I’m going to do here is give a general reason for my departure, and say a hearty-but-sad “GOODBYE!” to all the folks here who have enriched my life in the past four years....

<p>A booze-sniffing ankle bracelet is changing the way Marion County court officials keep tabs on people convicted of drunken driving.</p> <p>The device detects alcohol in the wearer's sweat. It's a great tool, experts say, for keeping some people away from the drinks that get them in trouble.</p>

On the anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington, former US President Bill Clinton says we can only counter the threat of terrorism by reparing the widening rift between the haves and the have-nots of our planet The central reality of the twenty-first century world, as the spread of terrorism and the vulnerability of the United States to it demonstrate, is that our era is globally interdependent but far from integrated. We learned on 11 September that the very forces of globalisation we helped to create - open borders and commerce, easy travel, instant communications, instant transfers and...

SANTA ANA, Calif., Sept 5 (Reuters) - Former President Clinton warned on Thursday that a U.S. attack on Iraq could prompt Saddam Hussein to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. interests because he would have nothing to lose. Speaking to a group of Democratic Party supporters at a Santa Ana, California fund-raiser for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, Clinton said President Bush had to consider Saddam's reaction to an invasion before taking action. "Saddam Hussein is not a good man by our definition," Clinton said. "There's no question ... he has significant stocks of chemical and biological agents." "I think we...

Fundamental changes are taking place in the historical policies of the United States with regard to human rights, our role in the community of nations and the Middle East peace process -- largely without definitive debates (except, at times, within the administration). Some new approaches have understandably evolved from quick and well-advised reactions by President Bush to the tragedy of Sept. 11, but others seem to be developing from a core group of conservatives who are trying to realize long-pent-up ambitions under the cover of the proclaimed war against terrorism.