Free Republic

During President Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Associated Press reporter Jonathan Lemire asked him about Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump — as he has done many times before — responded with an answer that cast doubt on the U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment of massive Russian election-interference. (Snip) Naturally, all hell broke loose in America’s elite political and media circles. Tom Nichols, a sometime Federalist contributor, said Trump threatened the very safety of America in saying he doubted his intelligence agencies. A group of liberal law professors, who naturally have an affinity toward bending the...

Straining Out Gnats but Swallowing Camels, as Seen in a Commercial Msgr. Charles Pope • July 20, 2018 • In the Gospel of Matthew (Mat 12:1-8), Jesus is rebuked for violating the Sabbath. This reminded me of the video below, which illustrates how we sometimes follow smaller rules while overlooking more important ones in the process.The Lord Jesus was often scorned by the people of His day, who claimed that He overlooked certain details of the law (often Sabbath observances). But those who rebuked Him for this were guilty of far greater violations. For example, [Jesus] went into the...

Former Vice President Joe Biden, mulling a possible 2020 presidential run, ripped into the Trump administration’s immigration policies on Friday -- calling them “one of the darkest moments in our history” at a rally held by a Latino civil rights organization. Biden made his fiery remarks in Phoenix, Arizona, at an event for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). He specifically targeted the Justice Department’s “zero tolerance” policy on prosecuting all illegal border crossers. “Grotesque lies, lies about immigrants, about crime, about costs to the community,” said Biden. “This administration’s policies that literally rip babies from the arms...

With an increasing number of households buying into virtual assistants like Google Home and Amazon Alexa, it’s important to keep in mind that these devices are designed to listen. This includes recording and learning the tone of your voice and improving voice recognition and features for the virtual assistant. It’s supposed to be a feature and not a bug, but it’s landed Amazon’s Echo speakers in hot water after they spontaneously erupted in laughter. Amazon claimed the affected Echo speakers were triggered by false positive commands. If you’re an Alexa user, it’s possible to delete all of your recorded queries....

Hillsborough, N.C. — Under the threat of rain, dozens of people gathered Saturday morning in Orange County to express their support for the Second Amendment and their right to carry guns. Over 200 people had expressed interest in the event, which was publicized by organizers via a Facebook.post. The event was held at the Old Orange County Courthouse and several speakers said they were strong advocates of the Second Amendment, which is enshrined in America's Bill of Rights. "Only the misuse of a gun is wrong," one of the speakers said. "I believe the majority of Americans do not want...

Authorities believe Fragstein was abducted by force outside the TJ Maxx store located at Conway Commons. Investigators said she checked out at 3:42 p.m. and walked out of the store. Surveillance cameras then captured her car speeding through the parking lot.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are worried that Russian President Vladimir Putin may use his one-on-one meeting with President Trump in Helsinki to drive a wedge between NATO allies by claiming secret side deals with the United States. Congressional Republicans are urging the White House to get ahead of the Kremlin by defining what was and wasn’t agreed to. What was said between the two leaders, they admit, remains a disconcerting mystery. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) says he has “no idea” what Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov meant when he said...

Google described the project as letting users “transfer data directly from one service to another, without needing to download and re-upload it.” ... Much of the codebase consists of “adapters” that can translate proprietary APIs into an interoperable transfer, making Instagram data workable for Flickr and vice versa. Between those adapters, engineers have also built a system to encrypt the data in transit, issuing forward-secret keys for each transaction. Notably, that system is focused on one-time transfers rather than the continuous interoperability enabled by many APIs. ... The bulk of the coding so far has been done by Google and...

<p>Hilde Hall says she went straight from her doctor's office in April to a CVS pharmacy in her Phoenix suburb, eager to fill her first hormone therapy prescription.</p> <p>The treatment would spur the physical changes in Hall's body that would reflect her identity as a transgender woman, she said.</p>

PORTLAND, Maine — A week ago, Maine Democrat Zak Ringelstein wasn't quite ready to consider himself a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, even if he appreciated the organization's values and endorsement in his bid to become a U.S. senator. Three days later, he told The Associated Press it was time to join up. He's now the only major-party Senate candidate in the nation to be a dues-paying democratic socialist. Ringelstein's leap is the latest evidence of a nationwide surge in the strength and popularity of an organization that, until recently, operated on the fringes of the liberal movement's...

The National Right to Work Foundation (NRTWF) is demanding the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) refund up to $100 million in union fees to California state workers. The move follows the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision banning unions from automatically deducting fees from non-members’ paychecks. The NRTWF announced that the Janus decision strengthens its class-action suit, titled Hamidi et al. v. Service Employees Union International, Local 1000, filed on behalf of 40,000 California state employees. The lawsuit seeks refunds for non-union workers whose pay was seized by SEIU officials who have claimed since 2012 that only public workers who...

Screaming that Trump’s Supreme Court nominee is evil incarnate may make folks feel good. But it doesn’t make it true. And it’s surely not effective.There’s an episode in the fifth season of the classic TV sitcom Happy Days in which one of the main characters jumps over a shark while waterskiing. This implausible scene, which marked a turn in the show toward farce and signaled its impending decline, spawned the phrase “jumping the shark.” To jump the shark is to descend from seriousness to absurdity in a desperate attempt to retain relevance and attention. President Trump nominated widely respected D.C....

Teenage black conservative activist CJ Pearson came to Judge Jeanine Pirro’s defense in a viral video posted to his Twitter account Friday. “@JudgeJeanine, America stands with you,” he wrote above the video. “If you’re a black and conservative, they call you an Uncle Tom. If you’re female and conservative, you’re called things that I’m not sure my mom would be ok with me repeating. There is no group in America more bigoted than Leftists.”

The Pentagon is sending $200 million to Ukraine to assist the country with its self-defense capabilities. The Defense Department issued a statement Friday, saying the move reaffirms the country’s relationship with Ukraine. The funds bring the total aid to Ukraine up to $1 billion since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. must take action against Russia’s destabilizing activities, including its illegal occupation of Ukraine.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) is making it clear that even if Russian President Vladimir Putin pays a visit to Washington in the fall, he is not welcome in Congress. “The notion that President Trump would invite a tyrant to Washington is beyond belief," Pelosi said in a statement on Friday, referring to Putin as a "thug." "Putin’s ongoing attacks on our elections and on Western democracies and his illegal actions in Crimea and the rest of Ukraine deserve the fierce, unanimous condemnation of the international community, not a VIP ticket to our nation’s capital," she continued. “President Trump’s...

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) described last week’s grand jury indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence operatives — via allegations and information presented by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team — as part of “a game to get the public to see something that isn’t there.” Issa said, “The premise of the Russian probe is all about a collusion for which there’s not one piece of evidence after a year and a half, and the original investigation was tainted by Peter Strzok and his activities....... A lot of people missed it, but it’s not an accident that the downgrading of the offense...

The widely hailed, broadcast, heralded campaign trek of Democrat Party, Socialists/Communists,Bernie Sanders & the new Democrat bright star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez into the state of Kansas, has clearly revealed that Sanders & Ocasio-Cortez are far from ready for prime time campaigning. Both them made off-course, conflicting comments and certainly, none of their campaign stops were anything to write home about. Their biggest rally attendee numbers were quoted by different Kansas media at 1000, 2,000, 3,000 or 4,000 (Choose your choice). Their performance was poorly flat as compared to a usual, routine, massively attended, great positive energy, POTUS, Donald J.Trump rally (Expect...

I earnestly hope and pray that every child and adult struggling with gender identity issues will find wholeness, peace, and happiness from the inside out. I earnestly hope and pray that we will live to see the day when every person who feels trapped inside the wrong body will find internal resolution without hormones and radical surgery. At the same time, I wholeheartedly oppose the transgender revolution and predict that, ultimately, it will fail. Here’s why. 1) The transgender revolution is oppressive. As reported on July 16 on Lifesite News, “Failing to refer to a gender-confused student, professor, or staffer...

California's Employment Development Department announced on Friday that unemployment held steady in June at 4.2%.  That's the good news.  The astonishing news is that the largest state in the union created a net gain of only 800 jobs. L.A. Times: The June numbers represent a pullback from May, when the Golden State added 7,200 jobs.  And the gains in May were much smaller than April, when employers boosted payrolls by nearly 26,000. The slowdown could signal that California is simply reaching full employment.  Employers are struggling to find workers.  Or it could be a sign of sagging confidence among executives.  A growing trade war with...

The Helsinki summit is over, and the major story – surprise, surprise – is more tiresome drivel about Russian election meddling. The most amazing thing about this narrative is that the who can be talked about endlessly with little to no mention of the what and the how. The what at the center of it all is that the Democratic National Committee, including Hillary Clinton and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, rigged their party's primary in favor of Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders. This is not speculation or the result of a political witch hunt – as is true...