Free Republic

We’ve seen politicians go to jail. We’ve seen a vice president of the United States — Spiro Agnew — resign to avoid any chance of going to jail. We have seen President Richard Nixon pardoned in order to keep him out of jail. What we have never seen is a former president of the United States in jail. But now that is a real possibility, because Donald Trump can’t shut up and abide by a simple gag order. Justice Juan Merchan has repeatedly tried to enforce his gag order with fines. Trump pays the fines and keeps violating the gag...

New York City's Rikers Island is prepared if former President Donald Trump is ordered to serve time in jail amid his unprecedented trial in Manhattan, Mayor Eric Adams said Tuesday. "Our amazing commissioner … is prepared for whatever comes on Rikers Island," Adams told the media Tuesday when asked if Rikers, New York City's largest prison, is prepared if Trump is ordered to jail for violating a gag order imposed during the trial. "I'm pretty sure [the Department of Corrections commissioner] would be prepared to manage and deal with the situation. As you see what's happening with Harvey Weinstein, we...

I said over and over again, Bidenomics will be a drag.Larger cracks are appearing in the US commercial real estate market at a time when uncertainty around the regional bank industry flashes red. The latest report from real estate data provider ATTOM shows CRE foreclosures topped 625 in March, up 6% from February and 117% from the same period last year.Last month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified on Capitol Hill, “We have identified the banks that have high commercial real estate concentrations, particularly office and retail and other ones that have been affected a lot,” adding, “This is a...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Thursday said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is “not ready for the responsibility he has” and argued his Cabinet position would be better filled by someone else as Buttigieg comes under fire over the recent toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. “He’s not ready for the responsibility he has. He was a fine mayor, from what I understand, but the position he’s got really would be better served by a person who’s managed a large enterprise, a state, or something of the scale he’s now dealing with,” Romney said, responding to a question from The...

CNNs Jake tapper speaks to Illinois governor about gun legislation in his state.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the NATO alliance is “ready” for conflict with Russia if necessary after the US Embassy in Ukraine accused Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday of committing a war crime by ordering an attack on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. “Ours is a defensive alliance,” Blinken said prior to a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels. “We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us, we are ready for it, and we will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — American cities erupted in violence and destruction in a seventh straight night of unrest, with several police officers shot or run over, amid boasts and threats from President Donald Trump to send in troops to “dominate the streets.” In New York, nonviolent protests Monday night were punctuated by people smashing shop windows near Rockefeller Center and breaching the doors of Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street, littering the pavement with broken glass. A vehicle plowed through a group of law enforcement officers at a demonstration in Buffalo, injuring at least two. Demonstrations also broke out in such...

With gun ownership on the rise and the numbers of those with concealed carry permits exploding, a new poll shows that Americans are ready to use those weapons if threatened.In a survey for Insurancequotes.com, 78 percent said that they are mentally and physically prepared to kill an intruder. And even those armed with less lethal weapons, such as pepper spray or a golf club, would kill if they had to.    Some 44 percent of homes have a gun, according to the Pew Research Center.The thrust of the survey was to see how well prepared Americans are to handle an...

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said late Wednesday that she is “still ready” to be president of the United States. Clinton made the comments during an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” after host Trevor Noah displayed several clips of conservative pundits, including Fox News's Sean Hannity, mistakenly referring to her as president. “I’ve noticed this seems to be a theme with them, yes,” Clinton said, referring to the pundits. “And I can only say, if they want to make that world a reality, I’m still ready,” she said. Clinton has been hitting the speaking and television circuit...

China has reportedly put its military on alert for a possible crisis in Korea. Beijing is calling for calm, but the situation on the peninsula is extremely tense. Evidence suggests that North Korea may be preparing for a sixth nuclear test, and President Donald Trump’s posture in the wake of the recent strikes on Syria has the Chinese concerned. The USS Carl Vinson, accompanied by several guided-missile destroyers and cruisers, is on its way to Korea. “If Pyongyang conducts its sixth nuclear test in the near future, the possibility of US military action against it will be higher than ever,”...

 A recent video posted this week shows Islamic Republic strategist, Hassan Abbassi, discussing the destructive potential of Iran’s hidden army within the US. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Abbassi admitted to having terror cells situation and ready to strike in the United States. Abbassi: I’ll be brief. We have two million Iranians there. Be certain that I will raise a guerilla army from amongst them against you. You know this well. Look how vulnerable you were on 9-11 when four Arabs who don’t know how to fight managed to endanger your foundations.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxYJWXxW9tc

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. presidential campaign (all times EDT): ___ 5:41 p.m. President Barack Obama is reviving his own campaign call-and-response of "Fired up, ready to go" at a rally for Hillary Clinton. Obama is getting nostalgic at his rally in Durham, New Hampshire, as he tells the story of how the chant came about in 2008. He says when he started running he was just a "skinny guy with a funny name." Obama says a woman in a church hat in the back of a room at an obscure campaign event randomly started the chant,...

Beijing must prepare to make the US “pay a cost it can’t stand” if it intervenes in the South China Sea dispute by force, a state newspaper editorial has warned, days before a court at The Hague rules on the territorial row between China and the Philippines. The American military build-up in the South China Sea, including the deployment of two carrier strike groups, comes in defiance of China’s vital interests and represents “a direct threat to national security,” the state-run Global Times said in strongly-worded editorials in its Chinese and English editions on Tuesday.  Beijing should accelerate developing its...

Muhammad Ali is in "grave condition" in a Phoenix-area hospital, a well-informed source tells NBC News, as the boxing legend continues to battle a respiratory condition. The 74-year-old former heavyweight champion's family has gathered by his bedside just a day after he had been hospitalized in what spokesman Bob Gunnell said Thursday was to be a "brief" stay.

President Barack Obama on Thursday spoke to American rabbis in a pre-Rosh Hashanah phone call, and told them that security talks with Israel had resumed and he hoped to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu by early next month, The Forward reports. In his annual pre-High Holidays call to the rabbis, Obama said that he was ready to meet with Netanyahu during the United Nations General Assembly opening session, which starts next week and runs through October 6. “Our consultations have already begun with Israeli military and intelligence officials,” Obama said, according to The Forward. “My hope is to have...

Hillary Clinton’s running mate. The ideal candidate would be someone clearly equipped by experience to handle the presidency at a moment’s notice, and who was held in high esteem by the public; maybe even someone who exemplified a time when Americans felt better about their country’s prospects. By that measure, there is at first glance one obvious choice: Bill Clinton. He would be by far the most clearly qualified candidate for the job. More than two-thirds of Americans look on him favorably, and last year, 55 percent told Gallup they saw Clinton as an outstanding or above-average president.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered an extraordinary floor speech last week in which he essentially auditioned for the job of Majority Leader – the one currently held by Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada. For 40 minutes, the Kentucky Republican who is up for reelection this year railed against Reid and the Democratic majority for a take-it-or-leave it brand of governance akin to a “permanent sort of shirts-against-skins contest.” McConnell outlined three main reforms the Republicans would adopt if they were to win control of the Senate in November: allowing a “more robust” committee process, permitting more amendments on the...

OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has told U.S. President Barack Obama that he's ready to work on joint plan between the two countries to reduce carbon emissions in the energy sector in an effort to secure approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday. The CBC, citing unnamed sources, said Mr. Harper wrote to Mr. Obama in late August, signaling he is ready to accept carbon-reduction targets proposed by the U.S. and prepared to work with the White House to address concerns raised about Keystone and its impact on greenhouse-gas emissions. A spokesman for Mr....

Britain is planning to join forces with America and launch military action against Syria within days in response to the gas attack believed to have been carried out by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against his own people.

Considered an Effective Witness to the Sanctity of Human LifeWASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 9, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Following Vatican approval, the “Rite for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb” is now available for use by dioceses in the United States. The text of the blessing in English and Spanish is posted online and is being published as a booklet addendum to the Book of Blessings/Bendicional. The blessing will be included in future editions of those liturgical volumes. “We hope the use of this blessing will provide not only support and God’s blessing for expectant parents and their child in the...