Free Republic

More than four months before voters handed Republicans control of the House of Representatives, top White House and Department of Homeland Security officials huddled in the Roosevelt Room to prepare for that very scenario. .... ...White House officials believe Republicans are bound to overstep and that their investigative overreach will backfire with the American public. In the meantime, they are prepared to push back forcefully...

Patriot Front, the White Supremacist group that loves to get attention with their odd choice of clothing and face coverings, is back in action. And as usual, conservatives on Twitter are calling them out as feds. The reality is this: They really are a white supremacist group. There really are feds among them, as there are among just about every political group in America. There just happen to be more of them in this particular merry band of idiots They’re marching again, this time in Boston:

-Because their technology is already obsolete Navy will decommission its entire fleet of Freedom-class combat warships Four of the $3.2bn fleet set for scrap heap were commissioned in 2019 and 2020 Anti-submarine system 'did not work out technically', naval operations chief said Ships 'incredibly expensive and [lack] the capabilities we expected': Rep. Smith Added: 'They're not ready to do anything... When they are, they still break down' USS St Louis, launched in August 2020, will serve just three years of 25-year life Scrappings will save $391 million as US Navy plans new shipbuilding program Crews at Naval Station Mayport, Florida...

Taliban fighters can be seen in recently released video​s​ celebrating the seizure of US Humvees, tanks and assault weapons from Afghan security forces as the Biden administration begins its troop withdrawal​ before the Sept. 11 deadline. The Taliban have been capturing key districts in the northern part of the war-torn country — including Kandahar and Badakhshan — with little or no resistance from Afghan national forces​ since the US announced the timetable for the departure in April. They are extending their control of Afghanistan from their southern strongholds by filling the void left by the departing US forces. More than...

The 30 second advert produced by the NFL, which was described by TMZ as being a “powerful video,” declares in white text on a black background that “football is gay,” in a move apparently designed to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. Further descriptors of what the NFL claim football is then pop up on screen, including “lesbian,” “queer,” “exciting,” “transgender,” “heart,” “power,” “bisexual,” and finishes by saying that football is “for everyone.”

As scammers bilked millions from Ohio’s unemployment benefits system during the initial months of the coronavirus crisis, State Auditor Keith Faber says system officials withheld the extent of the problem from his office and dawdled on installing anti-fraud measures. In an interview with cleveland.com, Faber said that officials with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services told auditor’s office officials conducting a routine annual audit last year that there was no unemployment fraud outside of “ordinary scope stuff.” When representatives from Faber’s office asked if ODJFS was being hit with fraud on the same level as the state of...

Justice Department had ceased the practice early in President Trump's administration President-elect Joe Biden is calling for the Justice Department to look into reinstating a controversial Obama-era practice that allowed prosecutors to make settlement agreements that resulted in defendants paying outside groups instead of victims or the government. The Trump administration had put an end to these payments following a 2017 memo from then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions which was reflected in the Justice Department's manual. "When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer, any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American...

Curators are gathering posters and banners from the riot and the protests that preceded it to “help future generations remember” Jan. 6, a museum director says. A sign that reads, “Off with their heads — stop the steal” and a small handwritten poster with the words “Trump won, swamp stole” are among dozens of objects and ephemera from pro-Trump rallies and the Capitol takeover Wednesday that are heading to the National Museum of American History, collected by curators from the division of political and military history. The museum, a branch of the Smithsonian Institution, announced Friday that it has begun...

Pennsylvania’s Department of General Services website advertises an “anti-Trump press conference” where a Trump 2024 flag is set to be burned. Scheduled for January 5th at 11:00 am, the press conference is set to take place on state property at Soldier’s Grove, a memorial located behind the Pennsylvania State Capitol meant to honor the state’s Medal of Honor Memorial recipients. A historical marker at the protest locations also “commemorates the United States Colored Troops Grand Review,” according to the memorial’s official description. A “press conference against trump and burning a trump 2024 flag in a fire safe container” will occur,...

School says the policy violates the First Amendment A university professor said that she will dismiss students from her class if they argue against abortion or the Black Lives Matter movement. Iowa State University professor Chloe Clark released a syllabus for a 200-level English class instructing students that they cannot argue against abortion, Black Lives Matter, and a number of other leftwing causes. It includes a "GIANT WARNING" that contradicting certain viewpoints may result in dismissal from class. "Any instances of othering … are grounds for dismissal from the classroom," the syllabus obtained by Young America's Foundation reads. "The same...

PBS NewsHour stands up to presidential diatribes and viewer complaints A global pandemic demands tough questions from journalists. Amid the coronavirus crisis, journalist Yamiche Alcindor has delivered robust and sober reporting that some PBS NewsHour critics mistake as political bias. On March 29th, in this Year of the Pandemic, the nation had ground to a halt. We were heeding orders and pleas to stay home and collectively disrupt deadly waves of COVID-19 infection. With the crisis deepening, President Donald Trump was on television, live, launching verbal salvos at the media. Once again, he’d been set off by a hint of...

HOUSTON – Following 20 months of construction of the new Ship Channel Bridge along the Beltway 8, the county has issued a pause. Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia said the decision was made following the discovery of a design flaw with part of the bridge. “I want to make sure that we are doing everything on behalf of public safety to ensure that everything is well,” Garcia said. “This was obviously concerning and alarming for me." John Tyler, the deputy director of engineering with the Harris County Toll Road Authority and in charge of the project, said the flaw was...

A public library in the Midwest has invited a drag queen known for his adult entertainment show titled “Gender Fluids” to read to toddlers during its Saturday story hour on multiple occasions. Billing himself as “Miss Richfield 1981,” Russ King is a drag artist who has previously been photographed in a sacrilegious pose, spread eagle on top of what looks like an altar beneath a large cross at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in San Francisco. King’s website and Facebook page display many disturbing photos of him dressed in garish clothing in exaggerated feminine poses, sometimes with nearly naked or naked...

'Why Don't We Murder More White People?' 'Why Don't We Murder More White People?' is a gallery installation + film displayed at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California, at their annual pop-up, Public Square! From the Public Square program: "Why Don’t We Murder More White People? is an examination on whiteness, its unassailable immortality, and how it permeates our daily lives. Communicated through installation and film both centered in living spaces, WDWMMWP aims to interrogate empathy and morality as a fulcrum of identity. As we watch the death of black and brown people become normalized...

If you were shocked by the images of the Mexican flag flying over an Aurora, Colorado, immigration detention center this weekend, you'll be appalled at an even more disgusting spectacle: One of the top promoters of the so-called Lights for Liberty nationwide protests by Trump-hating, ICE-bashing radicals was a nonprofit religious organization known as the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. As a designated "host," LIRS played a key role in publicizing, organizing and participating in demonstrations against President Donald Trump's deportation enforcement actions targeting some 2,000 illegal immigrants and their families who have ignored removal orders or skipped out on...

After reading a “guidance reminder” posted last week by NPR, it’s become even more obvious why those in favor of abortion and those opposed to it are increasingly at odds with one another. Mark Memmott, supervising senior editor of standards and practices for NPR, put together the guide after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed into law the most stringently pro-life legislation in the country and not long after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a bill into law barring abortion after a heartbeat is detectable, which usually occurs around six weeks into pregnancy. The style guide makes one thing...

(Reuters) - The “great majority” of solar cells being produced at Tesla Inc’s factory in upstate New York are being sold overseas instead of being used in the company’s trademark “Solar Roof” as originally intended, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. The exporting underscores the depth of Tesla’s troubles in the U.S. solar business, which the electric car maker entered in 2016 with its controversial $2.6 billion purchase of SolarCity. Tesla has only sporadically purchased solar cells produced by its partner in the factory, Panasonic Corp, according to a Buffalo solar factory employee speaking on condition of anonymity. The rest...

PBS Kids decided to drop a bombshell on unsuspecting viewers. During the 22nd season of Arthur, the episode rolled out a sociopolitical shocker: Mr. Ratburn is gay. But the shock drops didn’t end there, PBS decided to push even further… Mr. Ratburn got married to his gay partner. The news has gone viral online following an article from TVLine.com, which recounts how the moment occurs, writing… "[…] the gang spots Mr. Ratburn having lunch with an uptight woman (voiced by special guest star Jane Lynch), who tells Mr. Ratburn that he’s “too soft” and needs to “toughen up.” They decide...

​”​This is about stealing. This is about fraud. This is about people saying they work and charging the taxpayers when they didn’t work. It’s stealing. It’s criminal​,” the governor said during a news conference at his midtown Manhattan office. “​So this has nothing to do with overtime. It has to do with theft and fraud, and that’s criminal.​”​ ...Recently retired LIRR employee Thomas Caputo claimed he worked an additional 3,864 hours to rake in $344,147 in overtime pay in 2018 for a grand paycheck of $461,646, according to the Empire Center. Another LIRR worker, Marco Pazmino, put in for 4,157...

Longstanding U.S. tradition sees champions in many sports visit the White House as a celebratory honor. But in this bitterly polarized era, meeting the president is no longer a routine practice. Many star athletes have opted out of the experience based on their political and philosophical perspectives. Yamiche Alcindor talks to Kevin Blackistone of The Washington Post and ESPN about the divide.