Free Republic

The electric car company founded by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, blaming in part a wave of negative coverage by a conservative news website for its financial woes. GreenTech Automotive's bankruptcy petition cites 76 articles by the website Watchdog.org it says "negatively affected governmental, investor and public perception of GreenTech" and prompted investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Homeland Security. GreenTech in 2013 sued Watchdog.org, operated by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, for $85 million. A judge dismissed the case in 2014. McAuliffe resigned from GreenTech...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 50% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Forty-eight percent (48%) disapprove. By comparison, President Obama earned 43% approval on this date in the second year of his presidency. The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the way the president is performing and 39% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -4.

In the past, when we studied the collapse of civilizations, we learned about Barbarian invasions and slave revolts. When our history is written, I suspect it will include peacocks on airplanes and emotional support hamsters. So how did we get here? How are farm animals such as pigs getting into first class to keep their owners soothed and sedate? That's what the Jack Daniels was supposed to do. As we’ll see in a moment, we can blame the unhinged era of Eric Holder at the Justice Department. In case you missed it, Spirit Airlines is getting grief for advising college...

Think about it...could he have won the rats primary....and the election...

Called "disgraceful," "third-rate," and "not nice" by Donald Trump, NBC News correspondent Katy Tur reported on—and took flak from—the most captivating and volatile presidential candidate in American history. Katy Tur lived out of a suitcase for a year and a half, following Trump around the country, powered by packets of peanut butter and kept clean with dry shampoo. She visited forty states with the candidate, made more than 3,800 live television reports, and tried to endure a gazillion loops of Elton John’s "Tiny Dancer"—a Trump rally playlist staple. From day 1 to day 500, Tur documented Trump’s inconsistencies, fact-checked his...

Once again, the president has pried behind the stucco of the Deep State's institutional edifice and shown that the pillars are termite-ridden. Over at Instapundit, law professor Glenn Reynolds said it most succinctly: FL Shooting Survivor Colton Haab: CNN Told Me I Needed To "Stick To The Script"; Entire Town Hall Scripted. Trump's luck is pretty amazing. The entire media sets up a week-long hatefest aimed at the NRA, culminating in that shameful fake "Town Hall," and then the very next day it comes out that there was a police officer there who was too cowardly to do anything, and...

Two people who work to prepare food for students at New York University have lost their jobs for serving a meal featuring food and beverages believed to be stereotypically associated with black cuisine. The New York Times reports: On Tuesday, a dining hall at New York University advertised a special meal in honor of Black History Month. On the menu? Barbecue ribs, corn bread, collard greens, and two beverages with racist connotations: Kool-Aid and watermelon-flavored water. Nia Harris, a sophomore in N.Y.U.'s College of Arts & Science, sought an explanation from Weinstein Passport Dining Hall's head cook. The cook dismissed...

The senior couple fought the man, shooting him several times after he broke into and assaulted them in their home in Echo Hills Mobile Estates in the 1700 block of South State Street shortly after midnight Tuesday, Feb. 13. “People need to be aware and be ready,” Jeff Sagmeister said from an easy chair in his living room Friday, Feb. 17. “If we didn’t have our guns and have them loaded, we’d be telling a different story.” Jeff Sagmeister, 71, was watching TV a little after midnight. Von, 75, his wife of 32 years was in bed. She came out...

By letter to Susan Rice dated February 8, 2018, Senators Grassley and Graham posed 12 numbered questions. I posted the Graham/Grassley letter in “Rice papers the file.” By letter dated February 23, 2018, attorney Kathryn Ruemmler has now responded to the Grassley Graham letter. I posted Ruemmler’s letter nearby this morning in “Susan Rice responds, sort of.” Let’s take an inventory. I have italicized my accounting below, subject to further thought and analysis: Question 1. Did you send the email attached to this letter to yourself? Do you have any reason to dispute the timestamp of the email? Answered. Question...

I’m normally slow to criticize law enforcement, but this is ridiculous. In addition to the FBI’s already well-publicized failure to follow up when a YouTube video producer alerted the bureau to a comment by Nikolas Cruz about wanting to be a school shooter, we have this, courtesy of Ed Driscoll of InstaPundit: “I don’t know how he got the debit card, but he did,” she said. “And he took it, and he bought all these rifles and ammunition and he posted pictures of them on the Instagram.” Another of the woman’s stunning revelations: Cruz was obsessed with ISIS. “He’s so...

Federal officials excluded the public when they created a program to help U.S. companies hire hundreds of thousands of foreign graduates in place of American graduates, a D.C. Appeals Court judge said February 20. Law360.com reported the comment, which came during a hearing against the Optional Practical Training outsourcing program: The judge also challenged [Justice Department lawyer Scott] Stewart … that the latest tweak represented the first time the government actually opened its considerations of the program to public comment. “The public wasn’t involved” in earlier considerations on statutory authority for the program, Judge Edwards told Stewart. Federal law requires...

Last night CNN took up the 2018 children’s crusade that is intended to produce gun control where previously there has only been left-wing frustration. We are counseled to “do something” in a tone of unanswerable indignation. The volume is turned up to ear-shattering levels in lieu of traditional means of persuasion. In Minneapolis, students badly in need of the tools of critical thinking took the day off from school to wave slogans such as “Regulation isn’t scary, getting shot is.” The mayor joined the parade. On CNN, Senator Rubio faced up to the mob while Senator Nelson showed that he...

In a bizzare twist, a 17-year-old girl is being accused of formulating a plan to carjack her own father at gunpoint — with assistance from two males — over the weekend. At first, authorities believed Susan Mize was just a victim. The teen and her father reportedly were held at gunpoint shortly before midnight Saturday at an intersection in Spring, Texas, by two male suspects who demanded cash. The suspects climbed into the vehicle and demanded the dad drive them to his home so they could obtain more money, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter. When the father arrived...

This is the relevant language of 52 U.S.C. §30121, which covers “meddling” in U.S. elections by foreign nationals: (a) Prohibition: It shall be unlawful for— (1) a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make— (A) a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State, or local election; (B) a contribution or donation to a committee of a political party; or (C) an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication (within the meaning of section 30104(f)(3) of...

Surely, Russian efforts were inconsequential in 2016. As John noted, at the height of the presidential campaign, the Russia campaign budget was only $1,250,000 per month. This pales in comparison to what the major candidates and their parties were spending. It isn’t enough to turn even a close election. Suggesting that Russia’s efforts affected the outcome of this election is like saying that dropping a bucket of water into the sea affected the tide. In any event, what’s the point of indicting Russians over whom we have no jurisdiction? Doing so serves no apparent preventative or punitive purpose. If we...

The indictment states that the Russians supported Trump in the Republican primaries and Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries. They supported Trump in the presidential campaign. They obviously thought that their candidacies “sowed confusion” in the ways that became obvious to us all. They were outrageous. They were not meant to be. By the same token, the Russians viewed Trump’s presidential campaign as doomed — just as I and everyone else did. They supported American chaos and hysteria and demoralization. Supporting Trump or other actions to detract from the magnitude of Clinton’s victory might weaken Clinton when she ultimately won....

So, apparently, the Russians were organizing these rallies against Trump to help Trump… or something. In fact, the Russians were working as they always do, to divide the country. Something that Mueller has now apparently decided to help them with. How you ask? Oh, by getting children, leftists and low-information voters (yeah, I know, I DO like to repeat myself) to believe that “indictments were handed down” and it’s therefore proven that Trump had Russian help. By the time the court throws these out on the basis of “First Amendment, morons,” everyone who is very young or on the left,...

Raley said she’ll “take all the criticism and attacks” for her opinion because, as a teacher with two decades of experience, she has to worry about an active-shooter situation on a daily basis. The middle school teacher said over her almost two decades as an educator that she’s seen an increase in violence and a lack of compassion among students. “Until we, as a country, are willing to get serious and talk about mental health issues, lack of available care for the mental health issues, lack of discipline in the home, horrendous lack of parental support when the schools are...

60 Democrats and business-first establishment Republican Senators blocked President Donald Trump’s populist immigration reform agenda, pushing the hot-button topic towards the November election. Democratic leader Chuck Schumer used his brief speech before the vote to blame President Donald Trump for the Democrats’ refusal to accept a reform-for-amnesty deal, saying: President Trump created this problem by terminating the DACA program last August. Since then, President Trump has stood in the way over every single proposal that could become law … President Trump has failed his test of leadership spectacularly. The Trump-backed bill, led by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, lost by 39...

The report, from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), found that 52 percent of able-bodied parents on food stamps were not working, even though they had no disabilities precluding them from seeking employment. FGA’s report, which cited the most recent USDA data from fiscal year 2015, added that more than 12 million able-bodied parents use food stamps—nearly three times the number of people in this group who enrolled in food stamps in the year 2000. The current federal policy states that able-bodied adults without children can only receive benefits from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—the program in charge of food...