Free Republic

A newspaper publisher set to stand trial in federal court next week for allegedly promoting prostitution on his now-defunct online classified ads site Backpage has died by suicide, according to local reports. James Larkin, 74, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in Superior, Ariz., on Monday, according to the Superior Police Department. Investigators told the Phoenix New Times, the alternative weekly newspaper that Larkin co-founded, that no foul play was suspected in his death.

The latest indication of the need to drain the judicial swamp comes in the form of Hawaii Judge Derrick Watson’s ruling placing a hold on President Trump’s second executive order placing a temporary immigration ban on six predominantly Muslim countries. It is, as President Trump noted, a classic case of "judicial overreach." Judge Watson’s logic belongs in a parallel judicial universe where judges are allowed to regulate foreign policy, clearly a presidential prerogative defined in both law and the U.S. Constitution. Judge Watson cites no law and, in the case of the Constitution, says the travel ban violates the Establishment...

Donald Trump’s oft-used excuse for not releasing his tax returns is that they are still under audit at the US Internal Revenue Service—no matter that this doesn’t prevent their release—but if his pick for Treasury secretary gets his way, the interminable audit may end sooner. Steven Mnuchin, the investor tapped by Trump for the top job in US economic policy, told lawmakers at his confirmation hearing today (Jan. 19) that he would like to expand the workforce at the IRS and modernize technology there in order to collect more taxes. “The IRS headcount has gone down quite dramatically, almost 30%...