Free Republic

The White House said Thursday that protesters angered by the fatal police shooting of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina, are raising “legitimate” concerns about racial disparities in the criminal-justice system. “Those are difficult questions that must be confronted,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “They cannot be ignored.” After a second night of rioting and confrontations with police in Charlotte, President Obama spoke by phone Thursday with North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory to receive an update on the situation. Mr. Earnest said the president wants authorities to ensure the safety of protesters.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Thursday that the administration has not seen evidence that Iran's financial support for terrorism has grown since the U.S. paid the regime $1.7 billion in cash in January. "We have not seen an increase in terrorist financing by Iran," Lew told the House Financial Services Committee. But Lew also acknowledged that he wasn't aware if there was any way to trace how Iran uses the cash. Republicans pressed him on whether the U.S. recorded the serial numbers on the bills that were shipped to Iran, but Lew said he did not know. The U.S. arranged...

Members of the House Oversight Committee voted Thursday to hold Hillary Clinton's former IT aide in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with a subpoena for documents and testimony. Bryan Pagliano, the aide who set up Clinton's private email server, failed to appear before the committee on Sept. 13 and declined to provide a copy of the immunity agreement given to him by the Justice Department during the year-long FBI investigation of Clinton's email network. "Subpoenas are not optional," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the Oversight Committee, at a hearing Thursday to consider Pagliano's fate. Pagliano worked...

Left-wing pundits are slamming Donald Trump’s son for using the candy Skittles as a metaphor for Syrian refugees and terrorism — but just a few years ago, these same liberals were more than happy to use bite-sized candy as an illustration of “rape culture” in the U.S.A. Starting Monday night, the left went wild when Donald Trump, Jr., posted a graphic that stated, “If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful?” The image then turned the point to the current crisis saying, “That’s our Syrian refugee problem.”

A controversial “anti-Zionism” class at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) was reinstated on Monday without any substantial changes to the course material, The Algemeiner has learned. Despite claims by UC Berkeley officials that the syllabus of “Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis” underwent revision, a close examination of the new syllabus by The Algemeiner reveals only minor changes and that the same anti-Israel literature will be studied as previously listed. In addition, the language of the course description was modified to remove the admission that the course would be “exploring the possibility of decolonization,” as originally stated. It now...

President Obama on Tuesday will lead a special summit on the need to take in Syrian refugees, just days after weekend terrorist attacks that are raising more questions about whether the U.S. should be cracking down on immigration instead of opening the doors further. Plans for Obama to lead the summit were months in the making, long before Ahmad Khan Rahami allegedly planted a pressure cooker bomb in New York that detonated, injuring 29 people. Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, is also thought to be responsible for bombs discovered in New Jersey. The incident puts real pressure...

The House Oversight Committee is reviewing a Reddit post that alleges an IT specialist who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private server sought advice on how to alter the contents of “VERY VIP” emails, according to Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). Meadows is the chairman of the panel’s Government Operations subcommittee. “The Reddit post issue and its connection to Paul Combetta is currently being reviewed by OGR staff and evaluations are being made as to the authenticity of the post,” Meadows told The Hill. Reddit users appear to have uncovered a two-year-old post from an account believed to belong to Combetta, an...

Breaking: Reddit Users Break HUGE Clinton Email Story – Proving Hillary ORDERED Emails to Be Stripped Jim Hoft Sep 19th, 2016 11:49 am 291 Comments Breaking: REDDIT USERS BLOW HILLARY’S EMAIL SCANDAL WIDE OPEN!— hillary phone Rep. Steven Smith posted this on Monday morning. “BREAKING: Citizen Journalist breaks HUGE Clinton email story PROVING Hillary ORDERED EMAILS TO BE STRIPPED!” BREAKING: Citizen Journalist breaks HUGE Clinton email story PROVING Hillary ORDERED EMAILS TO BE STRIPPED! #MAGA https://t.co/m5fYUmibpT — Rep. Steven Smith (@RepStevenSmith) September 19, 2016 And here is the tweet he links to– “Paul Combetta ASKED TO STRIP OR REPLACE VIP’s...

Syria’s armed forces on Monday announced an end to a week-long ceasefire in the war-torn country brokered by the United States and Russia, blaming opposition groups battling to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad for its failure. “Syria’s army announces the end of the freeze on fighting that began at 7:00 p.m. (1600 GMT) on September 12, 2016 in accordance with the US-Russia agreement,” the statement carried by state news agency SANA said. It said rebel groups “did not commit to a single element” of the deal. After months of negotiations, the United States and Russia agreed on September 9 to...

A 28-year-old Afghani native wanted in connection with blasts in Manhattan and New Jersey that left 29 wounded has been caught after shooting at a police officer in New Jersey, according to a report. Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested after firing at the cop in Linden, WNBC reported. Rahami, whose fingerprint was found on an unexploded device, was hunted in connection with the explosions that sparked fears of a local terror cell, according to federal officials. Earlier Monday, FBI agents raided the Elizabeth, New Jersey, home of Rahami, a naturalized US citizen who was deemed armed and dangerous, Mayor Bill...

Over at The Tower, San Diego State University student Anthony Berteaux describes the experience of two Jewish undergraduates who attended the University of California's Students of Color Conference—a self-branded "safe space"—only to be met with overpowering anti-Semitism. The conference, Berteaux writes, turned out to be a breeding ground for anti-Israel rhetoric, where progressive activists devoted to fighting discrimination "whitewashed" the history of the Jewish people with "no mention of the Holocaust" and made claims that "the state of Israel pays Jews to move to Israel to join the army and kill Palestinians." "I was made to feel uncomfortable and unwanted...

The bomb that rocked a New York City neighborhood on Saturday night contained residue of an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores, a federal law enforcement official said Sunday, according to The Associated Press. The discovery of Tannerite in materials recovered from the explosion that injured 29 people may be important as authorities probe whether the blast was connected to an unexploded pressure-cooker device found by state troopers just blocks away, as well as a pipe bomb blast in a New Jersey shore town earlier in the day. New York...

JERUSALEM (AP) — In his landmark speech to the Arab world seven years ago, President Barack Obama warned that Israeli settlements on occupied territories were undermining hopes for peace. “It is time for these settlements to stop,” he declared. As Obama heads into the home stretch of his presidency, he leaves behind an unfulfilled vision. Not only did he fail to stop it, but he watched Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem thrive — despite repeated White House condemnations. According to Israeli government data obtained by The Associated Press, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed a wave...

A cancelled event advocating for economic boycotts of Israel has been rescheduled down the street from its original location in one of the House of Representatives office buildings, according to an invitation obtained Thursday by THE WEEKLY STANDARD. The briefing, sponsored by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, is being billed as a "Capitol Hill event" about the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, but will be occurring at the United Methodist Building. TWS reported Monday that Texas congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee was listed as the anonymous sponsor of the event when it was scheduled to occur in...

A man has reportedly been shot by police after hitting a police officer in the head with a meat cleaver near Macy's flagship store in New York. Police had been called out to deal with a cleaver-wielding attacker in Manhattan's Koreatown; the man refused to drop the weapon and the officers gave chase when he fled, police said. Cops say he then attacked one officer, causing a laceration to his head or face, and police opened fire - at which point another cop was struck in the back, authorities said.

The Clinton Foundation is a national and international scandal. It’s under investigation by the FBI, but not by the Attorney General of New York, who is instead targeting the Trump Foundation. The media has spent weeks suggesting the existence of an inappropriate political relationship between Trump and Florida AG Pam Bondi. And yet it’s cheering the wildly inappropriate relationship which has resulted in a member of Hillary’s leadership council investigating her political opponent. Some months ago, the spokesman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had defended the trip he made to Miami Beach using donor money because he was fundraising for...

The news wires have been ablaze with stories about Hillary Clinton’s private email server — production of some emails during a protracted government investigation and the destruction of other emails which Clinton deemed unrelated to the investigation. While pundits and supporters construe conclusions based on their political affiliation and beliefs, most do not have the knowledge and experience related to destruction of records and recordkeeping systems to clearly identify the legal and recordkeeping issues related to this matter. This article is not meant as a political tirade, but rather an objective analysis of the laws related to the known facts...

DETROIT (AP) — Ford Motor Co. says it's moving all of its U.S. small car production to Mexico. Ford CEO Mark Fields confirmed the long-expected move Wednesday during an event for investors and Wall Street analysts. Ford currently makes its Fiesta subcompact in Mexico, but its Focus and C-Max small cars are made in suburban Detroit. Making them in Mexico would boost company profits because of low wages there.

During Donald Trump’s visit to Flint, Michigan on Wednesday, the Republican nominee commented on how the automobile manufacturing industry has moved to Mexico — impacting trade — and how people in Flint can’t drink the water, much like the water in Mexico. “It used to be cars were made in Flint, and you couldn’t drink the water in Mexico,” Trump stated. “Now, the cars are made in Mexico and you can’t drink the water in Flint.” “That’s not good,” he added, as people chuckled in response.

After addressing a cybersecuirty conference in London, notorious hacker 'Guccifer' shared over 500Mb of documents detailing 100,000 DNC donors contact info and donations. A large number of the largest donors received senior diplomatic or political positions following thge donations, ranging from UK Ambassador to Assistant Attorney General. The DNC released a statement pre-emptively claiming that this was the work of Russia (and reigniting Trump's links to Putin). Probably just coincidence...