Free Republic

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday sidestepped a question about reports that he declined a call from then-President Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, emphasizing that the last time he spoke to the former president was in December 2020. “I've said repeatedly the last time I spoke to the president was the day after the Electoral College declared President Biden the winner. I publicly congratulated President Biden on his victory and received a phone call after that from President Trump and that's the last time we’ve spoken,” McConnell said when asked why he did not take Trump's calls the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under growing pressure, the administration refused repeatedly to state a position Tuesday on legislation formalizing President Barack Obama's oft-stated promise that people who like their existing coverage should be allowed to keep it under the new health care law. Senate Democrats spoke dismissively of the proposals, signaling they have no intention of permitting a vote on the issue that marks the latest challenge confronting supporters of "Obamacare." An earlier controversy appeared to be ebbing on a law that has generated more than its share of them. Even so, one strong supporter of the health care law, Sen....

Absurd Laws: The nannies of San Francisco tried to take the fun out of McDonald's Happy Meal. But enterprising managers found a way to bring joy to the kids anyway. A city ordinance that prohibits fast-food restaurants from giving away toys with children's meals went into effect Thursday. San Francisco — of course — was the first big city in the country to pass such a law. The intent, according to the supervisor who sponsored the prohibition, was to increase awareness of the nutritional makeup of children's meals. That's Eric Mar's story and it seems he's sticking with it. But...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backtracked on Friday from her previous pledge that “Israel’s right to exist in safety as a Jewish state, with defensible borders and an undivided Jerusalem as its capital, secure from violence and terrorism, must never be questioned.” Despite her three-year-old promise during her unsuccessful campaign to win the Democratic party nomination to run for president, she did not give a direct answer to a question Friday concerning her stand on the “undivided capital.”

The administration has shown no deference to the rule of law while trying to close Yucca Mountain and halt deepwater drilling. It is disturbing, to say the least, how little deference the president and the administration give to the strictures of the Constitution and existing law. Whatever suits Obama’s partisan political interests takes precedence, regardless of the cost to us. However, it is heartening that judges are increasingly unwilling to let this rampage continue. The most recent example involves the planned nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Almost everyone acknowledges that nuclear power is clean and safe, even though...

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - The African Union on Friday sidestepped international demands to act against a so-called urban renewal campaign in Zimbabwe that has left as many as 1.5 million people homeless, while President Robert Mugabe defiantly congratulated police on the operation. Police have torched and bulldozed tens of thousands of homes in the monthlong drive to destroy shantytowns, street markets and even vegetable gardens planted by impoverished city dwellers at a time of acute food shortages. Addressing a police graduation ceremony Thursday, Mugabe said the campaign known as Operation Murambatsvina, or "Drive Out Trash," was wiping out havens for...