Free Republic

Until a month or so ago, virtually no one outside of the seven circles of hell that is the State Department had heard of Marie Yovanovitch. Even the intrepid John Solomon had not heard of her until March of this year. He had interviewed Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko who told him that Yovanovitch gave him a "do not prosecute" list the first time he met with her. He was angered by her list which he justifiably saw it as interference in Ukraine's government. He felt she was meddling in their anti-corruption investigations by telling him who should not be...

Now comes a whopper: much of what the American public has been told about birthright citizenship is wrong. The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) recently filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Fitisemanu v. United States, a case of birthright citizenship currently before the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. In its brief, IRLI attorneys did not take a position on the primary issue in Fitisemanu: whether American Samoa is part of the United States for purposes of citizenship. The brief instead examined the overarching matter of birthright citizenship. Namely, does the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution grant automatic citizenship...

The lion’s share of so-called ‘caravan migrants’ are said to have broken into the U.S. Homeland Security officials say up to 450 illegal aliens from the group have arrived in the U.S. Officials say at least 200 intruders will be released under the ‘catch-and-release’ program. Some 1,500 migrants traveled with the caravan from Central America through Mexico. 330 of them are said to have entered the U.S. through border checkpoints, while 122 illegals jumped the border. Officials said they can only press charges against several dozen of the illegals due to weak immigration laws. “Entering this country illegally is a...

Former FBI Director Comey and acting attorney general Yates were fired for essentially the same reason, namely, usurping authority they did not have. Comey assumed the judgment, authority, and prerogatives of the attorney general to address Hillary Clinton’s crimes last July, only to exonerate her. Even if he had recommended an indictment and prosecution, he would have been wrong to hold that press conference. His job was to investigate and put his findings quietly in the AG’s inbox. But not only was he wrong to hold that press conference, his recommendation not to indict was wrong as well. k

Democrats think they have set the stage to block President Trump’s legislative priorities for years to come by winning major concessions in a spending bill to keep the government open. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) secured nearly $5 billion in new domestic spending by exploiting disagreements between Trump and GOP lawmakers over spending priorities. Democrats’ lopsided victory on the five-month deal, which is likely to be approved this week, means it will be very difficult — if not impossible — for the GOP to exert its will in future budget negotiations,...

Trump is asking everyone to forward this email to a minimum of 20 people, and to ask each of those to do likewise.c In three days, most people in the United States will have the message. This is an idea that should be passed around. The TRUMP Rule Let's see if congress understands what people pressure is all about. Salary of retired US Presidents .. . . . .. . . . . .. . $180,000 FOR LIFE. Salary of House/Senate members .. . . . .. . . . $174,000 FOR LIFE. This is stupid Salary of Speaker of...

President Trump's promise of increased enforcement of immigration laws is already having an effect. Mexican restaurants are experiencing a downturn of business. Cesar Rodriguez, who runs a tamale restaurant on Staten Island with his mother, says customers are staying away. On a good Sunday, the Staten Island tamale restaurant run by Cesar Rodriguez and his mother makes $3,000. Since the start of the year, it has averaged only $1,500, and this past Sunday only $700. Mr. Rodriguez, who was brought to New York when he was 13 and has temporary protection from deportation under an Obama-era program called Deferred Action...

The Democrat-Media Complex has gone all in on the propaganda campaign to convince Americans that Donald Trump’s election is illegitimate because “Russia hacked the election.” Even if a majority of voters reject the unconvincing case being made, Team Hillary and Team Obama both know that they must keep their own supporters engaged in outrage against the victorious party. Because they believe they are the only legitimate custodians of power in America, any Republican who wins must have gained victory through illegitimate means. But they may have made a fatal overstep with the release of the top-secret report on Russian influence...

Members of the Lexington Militia, Massachusetts Colony, lined up in formation on the town green and waited. When the British Regulars marched into town and saw them they rushed over and squared off facing them, ready for a fight. No one knows who fired the first shot. It was the beginning of a very long day, the first day of our American Revolution, April 19, 1775. To what extent revolution is in the air today is a matter of perspective. But the parallel here, with the possibility of armed clashes, cannot be missed. Resistance to the gun registration laws of...

Donald Trump on Tuesday named Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) when asked about his possible running mate in 2016. “Ted Cruz is now agreeing with me 100 percent,” he said when asked about his vice presidential pick, according to Lifezette. “Well, I like him,” Trump told radio host Laura Ingraham during her broadcast. "He’s backed everything I’ve said.” Unlike most of the Republican presidential hopefuls, Cruz has mostly refrained from attacking Trump, even appearing alongside him at a rally in September against the Iran nuclear deal. The pair has also struck similar tones on topics such as border security and illegal...

Democrats outspent and outpolled Republican novice Matt Bevin, and expected their candidate, Attorney General Jack Conway, to keep the Kentucky governorship in Democrat hands, where it had been for all but one term of the last half century. Instead, Tea Partier Bevin, who had previously challenged Mitch McConnell for the GOP nomination for Senator and lost big, pulled off a near landslide victory with an 85,000 vote margin. Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Alan Blinder of the New York Times: In beating his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, by almost nine percentage points, Mr. Bevin, 48, shocked people in his...

On Monday, the Court of Appeals for the Second U.S. Circuit issued a long awaited decision on the constitutionality of the most drastic gun control law in U.S. history, the New York SAFE Act of 2013. The Second Circuit ruled that nearly all of the law does not violate the Second Amendment. The SAFE ("Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement") Act was presented to the New York State Senate and passed into law in 15 minutes. No debate was allowed, and senators did not have time to read the bill before voting it into law. The SAFE Act is a complete...

A Colombian-born woman who exclaimed her support for Donald Trump alongside the GOP presidential candidate at a campaign event said on CNN that she had never spoken with Trump or his campaign staff before the encounter Thursday. That is, aside from in her dreams. "Three nights before he came to Las Vegas I told my husband, 'Oh I have a dream, you cannot imagine, I saw Mr. Trump in my dreams,' and I saw him, like I had the opportunity to give him a hug," Myriam Witcher told CNN's Brooke Baldwin on Friday. Witcher had repeatedly written on Trump's Facebook...

Kentucky’s nonprofit health insurer set up under ObamaCare is shutting down because of financial problems, the latest in a string of closures for the nonprofit plans around the country. Kentucky Health Cooperative, a nonprofit insurer known as a co-op, explained that it could not stay financially afloat after learning of a low payment from an ObamaCare program called “risk corridors.” That program was intended to protect insurers from heavy losses in the early years of the health law by taking money from better-performing insurers and giving it to worse-performing ones. However, the Obama administration announced on Oct. 1 that the...

For Western countries now facing the onslaught of refugees from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and other unstable regions of the world, a simple test should be given to determine who is allowed in and who is not. Call it the Koran test. It is a simple entrance exam that would be scored as either Pass or Fail, and it is inspired by a recent incident at a migrant shelter in Suhl, Germany. In that incident, one of the migrants tore up a Koran and threw the pages into a toilet. When this was discovered, all hell broke loose. A...

Now that Donald Trump is talking about ending birthright citizenship, other candidates who have never mentioned it before like Scott Walker are as well. But contrary to what the media would have you believe, the Constitution doesn't have to be amended to end birthright citizenship. All it would take would be an act of Congress. If an illegal alien has a child on American soil, the Constitution does not require the child be granted American citizenship. Congress can give citizenship to anyone it wants, but the Fourteenth Amendment only commands citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil to parents who...

Ever get the feeling that you went to sleep one night and awakened to find somebody stole your country and replaced it with an insane asylum? We trust our warriors with weapons in foreign countries but not on their home turf? This is what’s flying over the D.C. cuckoo’s nest. Imagine that you’re being held hostage by the “Death to America” Islamic Republic of Iran. Your president negotiates a nuclear “agreement” with the regime, but he’s too needy and impotent to secure your release as part of the agreement. Is there any message that would bring more joy to your...

Capitol Hill Republicans are demanding Secretary of Defense Ash Carter make changes to the policy of prohibiting personal firearms on Department of Defense property. U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va., penned a letter signed by 67 other members of the House as well as Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark. Wednesday to Carter calling for the change in light of the attack in Chattanooga last week that left five service members dead. “The American people want to know what we are doing to give their sons and daughters the highest probability that they can go to work in...

I know, I know. As a veteran political activist, I am supposed to be extremely upset with Donald Trump, out there saying what some on both sides of the political aisle consider to be outrageous things. But folks, I cannot help myself. It is thrilling to watch someone in the arena of ideas not playing the game according to the dictates of the Left. For far too long, our anti-America enemies on the Left have been allowed to set the rules of engagement. The Left dictates what truths we can say out loud, what words we are permitted to use...

Gallup published in late July a poll that showed that Republicans strongly disapprove of the Supreme Court, in stark contrast with Democrats. This ought to be a rallying cry for Republicans going into the 2016 election. No institution in American government has been as destructive and arrogant as the Supreme Court. Until we unwind the anti-constitutional arrogance of power this court has seized for itself, the problems of our political system cannot be solved. The problem of a Supreme Court that takes upon itself paramount power in our constitutional framework goes back to the early days of the republic. None...