Free Republic

Fresh off the seeming success of the smear campaign against Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), a liberal feminist group is attempting to connect Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the sexual harassment of his former boss.

As Donald Trump abdicates U.S. leadership and dismantles the democratic international order, prospects for global cooperation look bleak. Fortunately, America is more than Washington and the United States is more than the federal government. Around the nation, governors are going global. In states both red and blue, they are engaging governments abroad, partnering with foreign provinces, and promoting cross-border trade and action on climate change. The White House may be in retreat, but statehouses are not about to turn their back on globalization. At the forefront of this activism is the National Governors Association (NGA), which begins its annual summer...

The corporate media has overwhelmingly praised Barack Obama’s speech in Johannesburg on Tuesday at an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela, calling it an “impassioned” defense of democracy, tolerance, equality and the liberal capitalist world order established after World War II. The reports have singled out Obama’s muted and indirect criticisms of Donald Trump’s “strongman politics” and the “utter loss of shame among political leaders” who are “caught in a lie and just double down and lie some more.” No notice is being taken in the press reports of two points in the rambling, 90-minute...

The Republican Party has become the party of blue-collar America. After the 1992 election, 15 of the 20 most manufacturing-intensive Congressional districts in America were represented by Democrats. Today, all 20 are held by Republicans.

The vast majority of Republicans support the way President Trump handled his first summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to a new Axios poll. The poll said 80 percent of Republicans approved of Trump’s performance, while only 8 percent of Democrats feel the same way. The partisan split could be seen in other things the poll measured. For example, 85 percent of Republicans think the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections is “more of a distraction,” while on the other side, 85 percent of Democrats feel that the possibility of coordination between the two...

I don't know what Trump said during that two hours when he met privately with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but like so many in the media, I know what I hope he said: Mr. Putin, I need you to publicly admit your complicity in our illegal alien problem. Only if Putin owns up to deploying a vast network of Russian assets to personally direct the movements of millions of illegal aliens across the Sonoran Desert, through dozens of checkpoints and into our country, in fulfillment of his master plan to attack America's financial viability, national security and future prospects, will...

On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said China, not Russia is the “most significant” long-term threat facing the US today. Wray sat down for an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt at the Aspen Security Forum Wednesday to discuss many different spy threats facing the US. The Democrat-media complex is obsessed with Russia, however; Wray clearly states the FBI has economic espionage cases open in all 50 states that trace back to China. “It covers everything from corn seeds in Iowa to wind turbines in Massachusetts and everything in between,” Wray said of China’s espionage efforts. Of course Lester Holt wanted...

President Trump on Thursday said he wants to have a second meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as he endures days of stark, bipartisan criticism over his performance at his first summit with the Russian leader Monday in Helsinki, Finland. Trump, who at the summit appeared to put equal weight in Putin's denial of involvement in the 2016 election with the findings of his intelligence agencies that Russia did interfere in the election, pronounced the summit a huge success and said he was looking forward to meeting Putin again. "The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with...

“BOTH CHAPLIN and Trump are iconic clowns,” New Yorker cover artist Barry Blitt told Comic Riffs last year, when describing his political spoof of the silent comedian’s classic film “Modern Times.” Once again, with the magazine’s latest cover unveiled Thursday, Blitt is rendering President Trump as a cartoon buffoon who is still stymied and embarrassed by moving parts. For the new cover, titled “Thumbs-Up,” Blitt employs a visual callback to when the president-to-be descended a Trump Tower escalator during the event to announce his run for the White House. In the wake of Monday’s controversial Helsinki summit with Russian President...

The European Union says it is already preparing measures to retaliate against the United States if President Donald Trump puts tariffs on imported cars and auto parts. The auto industry is a big employer and exporter in Europe, and the new tariffs could hit the region hard, as well as consumers and manufacturers in the U.S., where prices would rise. ...snip For Europe, there is a lot at stake as companies like BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, and Fiat Chrysler send $46.6 billion worth of vehicles every year to the U.S. Some 13.3 million people, or 6.1 percent of the employed population...

New claims for unemployment benefits fell 8,000 to 207,000 in the second week of July, the Department of Labor reported Thursday morning, the lowest such number since 1969. Forecasters had expected new jobless claims to edge up to around 220,000. Instead, fewer people sought unemployment insurance than anytime in 48 years. Thursday's benchmark is especially impressive given that the labor force is twice as large as it was in late 1969. Then, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent, Richard Nixon was president, and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" was the top song in the country. Low claims are...

Watch the interview at the source if you missed it. But from my perspective this is a most brilliant manner of contending with the media and the deep state: Agree with them. This was the result of the one-on-one with Putin.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are scrambling to distance themselves from President Trump’s controversial comments on Russia earlier this week. With less than four months before the election, Senate Republican leaders say they will likely act on legislation sponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) this year. That measure would impose stiff economic penalties on Russia if it meddles in a U.S. election in 2018 and beyond. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has indicated to colleagues that he may bring the bill straight to the floor, skipping the committee process to save time. White House press...

Flying home Monday after the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump and his senior aides recognized that he had made a mistake that risked lasting damage and needed to be fixed quickly, people familiar with the matter said. Playing on a loop on television was footage of the president standing next to Mr. Putin, casting doubt on the U.S. intelligence community’s finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and aligning himself with Moscow’s denial of any meddling. Mr. Trump, aboard Air Force One, spoke to his staff about how best to correct what they knew was...

19 Jul 20181 President Donald Trump said he looked forward to running against former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020, calling him a “dream” opponent. “I dream about Biden. That’s a dream,” Trump said in an interview with CBS anchor Jeff Glor. Trump said that Biden ran for president three times and never won more than one percent of Democratic support in the primaries. “President Obama took him out of the garbage heap, and everybody was shocked that he did,” Trump said, adding that Biden was able to do “fine” as a vice president.

For over a year and a half, Rush Limbaugh has been saying "the only person who can separate Trump from his voters is himself." I know---because he mentioned it on air---that only recently did he read "The Great Revolt" by Salena Zito and Brad Todd, but he had certainly accurately stated the views of most of the people they interviewed. Salena Zito was one of the very few reporters in the 2016 election who captured the mood of the country that the rest of the media missed. She did this largely because instead of staying with the press gaggle---as did...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Today’s news from California. Oh, my. – A scheme to infest the U.S. Congress with an additional four nitwit senators from California by splitting the state into three parts was slapped down by the California Supreme Court on Wednesday: The court said in an en banc decision Wednesday that “significant questions have been raised regarding the proposition’s validity” and that “the potential harm in permitting the measure to remain on the ballot outweighs the potential harm in delaying the proposition to a future election.” So, the Republic is safe for now, though...

The companies said they were sending female Democratic senators urine absorbent underwear to "prepare them for hearings and other potential roadblock attempts in efforts to stop Kavanaugh's confirmation." The underwear will help them "protect women's rights" by blocking Kavanaugh's appointment, according to the press release. The "Endurance Packages" include one pair of Icon "moderate absorbency underwear," which holds between six and eight teaspoons of urine.

It can't happen here. That’s more than just the title of a suddenly highly relevant Sinclair Lewis novel about the rise of an American dictator, written in 1935 — another era when despots were on people’s minds, for some weird reason. No, “it can’t happen here” long been the national motto of a United States of America that has long thought itself immune to the slings and arrows of everyone else’s world history. An authoritarian president with nothing but contempt for 242 years of democratic norms, a free press, and a judicial system untainted by political interference? It can’t happen...

Leo Hickman, the founder of Classy Hippie Tea Company, has been in business for seven years. Hickman said under the current economy, “there is monetary value, even if you are losing” because Trump “just put in tax breaks for owners,” the American Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that can be written off. The American Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in December and will have some benefits to small business owners. The National Federation of Independent Business  says small business owners will be able to file as “pass through entities,” which allows owners to file and pay as an individual. In addition,...