Free Republic

Don Blankenship, who was defeated in his maverick bid for the Republican nomination to run for Senate in West Virginia, said Monday he’ll run as a third party candidate in November, tossing the race in turmoil. Mr. Blankenship said he has accepted the nomination of the Constitution Party, saying it was a natural fit for his views — and suggested he was out for vengeance against President Trump’s political team. “This time, we won’t get surprised by the lying establishment,” he said. “We were assured by White House political staff that they would not interfere in the primary election. Obviously,...

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will “demand” this week that the Justice Department open an investigation into whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign for political purposes and whether any demands or requests for such action originated with the Obama administration. Trump tweeted: “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” The Justice Department declined to comment. […] Trump did...

President Donald Trump on Saturday called for his Justice Department to allow members of Congress to review documents related to an FBI informant who spoke to some of Trump's advisers during the 2016 presidential campaign. "If the FBI or DOJ was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, that is a really big deal," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Only the release or review of documents that the House Intelligence Committee (also, Senate Judiciary) is asking for can give the conclusive answers. Drain the Swamp!" The tweet, which fosters an unsupported theory circulating on Capitol Hill and conservative media...

First Lady Melania Trump is in recovery after undergoing a “successful” kidney surgery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Her communications director, Stephanie Grisham, released a statement Monday saying that the first lady will likely remain hospitalized for the rest of the week as she recovers. “This morning, First Lady Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure to treat a benign kidney condition,” the statement said. “The procedure was successful and there were no complications. Mrs. Trump is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and will likely remain there for the duration of the week. The...

China said on Tuesday that President Xi Jinping had met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a northern Chinese port city. The unannounced meeting, held Monday and Tuesday in Dalian, was the second between the two men in recent weeks, following Kim's March visit to Beijing, his first since taking power six years ago. China is North Korea's only major ally, although trade between them has plummeted in recent months as Beijing enforces United Nations economic sanctions in response to the North's nuclear bomb and ballistic missile tests. The meeting between Xi and Kim comes as the North...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was prepared to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first U.S.-North Korea summit, marking a potentially dramatic breakthrough in nuclear tensions with Pyongyang.

Full Trump speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npz2zEJt2pc

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was forced to resign Monday, just as the House Intelligence Committee is expected to vote on the public release of a classified memo this afternoon revealing extensive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse under the Obama administration, sources told this reporter. McCabe apparently lashed out to his colleagues when he was told he would be asked to resign, according to sources. FBI Director Christopher Wray viewed the four-page memo on Sunday, sources familiar with the discussions said. McCabe, who is facing three federal inquiries for conflicts-of-interest during his time at the FBI, is one of the...

The so-called "lost" text messages between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, covering the time period between December 2016 and May 2017, aren't missing after all. Strzok and Page both served on the Special Counsel led by Robert Mueller, but were dismissed when a series of anti-Trump and pro-Hillary text messages between them were revealed by the Inspector General. When the FBI claimed over the weekend the messages could not be located due to a computer glitch that failed to backup the data, Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed to get to the bottom of the situation. It appears he...

According to Representative Dave Joyce (R-OH14) the House Intelligence Committee will hold a vote on the release of the four page Nunes memo that reveals systemic corruption within the DOJ and FBI including the unlawful use of FISA-702(16)(17) data searches which were part of an elaborate DOJ-FBI surveillance program on the political campaign of Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump has said he was "totally misrepresented" by those saying he used the term "shithole" to describe African nations last week. Mr Trump also said the allegation was hurting efforts to strike a deal to protect so-called Dreamer immigrants. The president was responding to a claim by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin that he used "vile and racist" language during a meeting on immigration reform. The alleged remarks sparked global outrage and demands that he apologise. "There is no other word one can use but racist," said a UN spokesman. On Monday, two senators who said he did indeed...

The National Rifle Association, in its first statement on the Las Vegas shooting and in a rare break from its traditional opposition to gun-related regulations, called Thursday for a federal review of so-called bump stocks...On Thursday, the NRA called on the ATF to review that assessment...the National Rifle Association is calling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to immediately review whether these devices comply with federal law.”...Even the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, opened the door to new restrictions.

At least five people died in a historically massive earthquake that struck the southern coast of Mexico early Friday, toppling hotels and houses and prompting tsunami waves and power outages. The United States Geological Survey said that a magnitude 8.1 quake hit about 73 miles off Tres Picos, Mexico, along Mexico's southern coast. Its epicenter was 102 miles west of Tapachula in southern Chiapas state and had a depth of about 21 miles. The quake was so powerful, it sent people fleeing from buildings 650 miles away in Mexico City.

John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has been floated for a possible role in Donald Trump’s State Department, questioned reports of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. “It is not at all clear to me, just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC was not a false flag operation,” he told Fox News’ Eric Shawn on Sunday. When pressed about his use of the phrase “false flag” and whether he was accusing an entity in the U.S. of involvement, Bolton said, “We just don’t know.” “But I...

A federal judge has found parts of President Obama's immigration executive actions unconstitutional, in an opinion delivered as part of a separate immigration case not directly tied to the policy changes. The opinion filed Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Schwab, in Pennsylvania, still marks the first court opinion to tackle Obama's immigration announcement. He said Obama's immigration actions are invalid and effectively count as "legislation" from the Executive Branch.

Tomorrow night, at 8 p.m. EST, President Obama will address the nation on his coming executive amnesty. "Our immigration system has been broken for decades -- and every minute we fail to act, millions of people who live in the shadows but want to play by the rules and pay taxes have no way to live right by the law and contribute to our country," says the White House press secretary in a blog post. "So tomorrow night, President Obama will address the nation to lay out the executive actions he’s taking to fix our broken immigration system. You can...

There were two soldiers standing guard at the war memorial in Ottawa near Parliament, and a gunman shot one of them, a witness told CNN on Wednesday. Peter Henderson, a journalist, said other soldiers doing drills nearby ran to help the fallen soldier. Henderson said he knew the person shot was a soldier because of the ceremonial uniform the soldier was wearing. There were "several shooting incidents in downtown Ottawa" on Wednesday morning, police said on Twitter. "Incidents occurred at National War Memorial, near the Rideau Centre and Parliament Hill." All Ottawa police buildings remain on lockdown and are closed...

U.S. military forces attacked the extremist al-Shabab network in Somalia Monday, the Pentagon said, and a witness described ground-shaking explosions in a strike that reportedly targeted the group’s leader. Al-Shabab had attacked the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, killing at least 67 people a year ago this month and the U.S. had targeted planners of the bloody assault. There was no immediate comment from al-Shabab and U.S. commanders were waiting to determine the attack’s outcome. “U.S. military forces conducted an operation in Somalia today against the al-Shabaab network. We are assessing the results of the operation and will provide...

In a country often stereotyped for being too genteel, the Canadian city of Moncton prides itself on a special distinction: It was named the most polite. So what happened here Wednesday seems unimaginable to residents. A man dressed in fatigues and carrying a rifle went on a rampage, killing three police officers and wounding two others. 3 officers wounded in Canada shooting Police posted to social media a photograph of a man dressed in fatigues, carrying what appeared to be a rifle. Thursday morning, the shooter was still on the loose. Residents were asked to keep their doors locked and...