Free Republic

Aconsortium of political advocacy groups are pushing for an investigation into allegations that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) has had staffers running her personal errands and performing sundry household tasks on the taxpayer dime. As first reported in December by The Daily Beast, Sinema aides are bound by a 37-page memo that lays out a very specific set of demands: the senator’s groceries are to be picked up promptly, her hour-long massages are to be booked weekly, and her internet service at home in D.C. must always be in working order. (If not, an assistant “should call Verizon to schedule a...

As the late great poet Maya Angelou might have said had she thought it was necessary, “When someone shows you over and over and over again that they are a traitor, believe them.”For further, completely appropriate emphasis, she might have elaborated: “When someone shows you over and over and over again, for their entire lives, in business and in government, that they are not only traitors, but corrupt, ignorant, pathologically dishonest, coup-plotting, racist, misogynist traitors, then seriously, I’m not kidding about this, believe them!”But, of course, as we have all witnessed during the past half-century of Donald Trump’s life (unless...

Even the brand donning the name and iconic visage of the Grateful Dead’s weed-loving Jerry Garcia can’t seem to survive California’s rocky legal pot market. Garcia Hand Picked has pulled out of the state, a company representative confirmed to SFGATE, as weed farms across the state struggle to survive amid taut regulations and high taxes. Industry experts predict a “mass extinction event,” .....

On Friday night, a viral video depicting the extrajudicial police killing of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old unarmed Black man from Memphis, prompted helicopters in Philly to hover near my house in West Philly. The reason? Media and police were preparing for potential mass protests following the public outcry. The situation was infuriating. There was so much premeditated presumption of a potential riot, damaged property, and another racial uprising. I began to be triggered by the last time such a viral traumatic video caused an uproar. In 2020, the extrajudicial police killing of George Floyd, another unarmed Black man, led to...

Shocking news about secret arms-for-hostage deals rocked Washing­ton in late 1986. The first hint came with a White House announcement on November 2, that David Jacobsen, an American held hostage in Lebanon by Iranian-directed Islamic forces, had been released. As Secretary of State George Shultz read a draft White House statement about the development, he noted that it referred to freed “hostages,” with the “s” crossed out. That told him that the White House had expected Jacobsen would not be alone. Shultz suspected that the news meant that clandestine White House efforts to free captive Americans in the Middle East...