Free Republic

The agencies said their needs are too different and manufacturers are not yet ready to build trains that can run on both Amtrak's 100-year-old rail lines and the high-speed corridors planned for California's system. ... Several unfavorable court rulings have also delayed work. In the most high-profile case, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge halted the sale of $8.6 billion in state rail bonds and ordered the state to write a new funding plan, delaying work on the first 28-mile segment from Madera to Fresno. The state has appealed. But the $108 billion budget that Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Saturday night accused President Barack Obama and other Democrats of waging wars against religious liberty and education and said that a rebellion is brewing in the U.S. with people ready for “a hostile takeover” of the nation’s capital. […] The governor said there was a “silent war” on religious liberty being fought in the U.S.—a country that he said was built on that liberty. “I am tired of the left. They say they’re for tolerance; they say they respect diversity. The reality is this: They respect everybody unless you happen to disagree with them,” he...

Top GOP officials are concerned that missing among the IRS’s internal emails are communications with Sen. Mark Udall and a dozen other Democrats who received campaign contributions from the federal agency’s union. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) first issued Freedom of Information Act requests to the IRS last year seeking all electronic and written documents between top officials there and the Democrats who received the campaign funding, but the attempts have been repeatedly stonewalled. Udall has accepted $13,000 in donations from the National Treasury Employees Union that represents IRS employees ... This is just another instance of Mark Udall...

mainstream media reporter Glenn Thrush revealed that a former editor of his at Newsday in 2008 delayed and buried his story on Hillary Clinton's defense of a child rapist because "it might have an impact." When Thrush wrote the story on February 24, 2008, Clinton was battling Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. The more things change, the more they stay the same. ... Newsweek had killed the story to protect its ally Clinton in the White House. ... Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has pioneered the use of social media to further level the playing field, said,...

After the regime issued its latest diktat Wednesday via a three-judge panel at the Patent and Trademark Office, which ruled 2-1 to withdraw trademark protection for the Washington Redskins, Rush Limbaugh was pretty much spot-on when he noted, “This is Barack Obama.”Actually, this goes beyond Obama (as the Patent and Trademark Office has tried this before). This is liberalism. This is what happens when liberals have power. Take note of those who cheered the decision: “The writing is on the wall,” said a jubilant Harry Reid.Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell said, “We're so excited to know that finally people are recognizing...

Elaine Soto and her family left New Jersey at 3 a.m. on Thursday to come to the March for Marriage in Washington. She brought her four children to “open their eyes to the fact they don’t have to shrink. They don’t have to be embarrassed or ashamed even if what they believe is not politically correct.” Jack McGill of Detroit, Mich., along with his wife of 22 years, Diane, and their two children drove 600 miles to D.C. for the second time this year to attend a protest—the first was the March for Life. In both cases, McGill said he...

<p>Currently, federal trademark law does not allow the registration of any names that bring individuals or groups into contempt or disrepute. The PTO cited this rule in their decision regarding the Redskins’ name.</p> <p>Here are twelve other trademarked names that apparently didn’t come up on anyone’s offense radar.</p>

Hey Mississippi. You know Michael Bloomberg right? He’s the guy who wants to take your guns away. He’s the guy who created a non-profit group to agitate against the second amendment. He’s the guy spreading lies about the number of school shootings in the country. Michael Bloomberg is also the guy who just gave a pro-Thad Cochran Super PAC $250,000.00. Gun grabbing Michael Bloomberg is trying to buy Thad Cochran’s re-election. Who do you think Thad Cochran will stand with the next six years if he gets re-elected. You people or the man who bought his re-election? That’s 250,000 reasons...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken advocate for gun control, recently gave $250,000 to help re-elect a Mississippi Republican with an A+ rating from the NRA. According to the latest campaign finance filings, Bloomberg gave $250,000 to Mississippi Conservatives PAC, a group aiming to re-elect veteran Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, who is in the fight of his political life against his primary rival, Chris McDaniel. Bloomberg, a billionaire, has contributed heavily to groups pushing for more firearm regulations. In April, Bloomberg launched a $50-million campaign to counter the NRA. As a result, Bloomberg's political brand has become...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $250,000 to the pro-Thad Cochran super PAC “Mississippi Conservatives” in late May, Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings the organization provided show. Bloomberg’s donation to the Super PAC supporting Cochran could end up becoming a kiss of death for Cochran in the heated runoff against conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who bested Cochran in the popular vote in the primary a little over a week ago, forcing a runoff a week from Tuesday.

With Russia making waves on the world stage and Marxism resurfacing in some academic circles, those who survived communism say it’s time to get serious about building a museum to honor the victims of such governments and warn of the dangers of a relapse. The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation wants to break ground on a museum in Washington in October 2017, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution that created the Soviet Union. “What we see in Ukraine and Russia grappling with and dealing with the toxic legacy of Soviet communism in that part of the...

This is a disturbing statement from a woman who’d like to head the federal government. Noah mentioned this quote in his commentary on the room to Hillary’s left. Gun control is one of few issues where she sent a signal to the party’s liberal base that she might be more boldly liberal than Obama. But this isn’t just an appeal to the Left on policy. It’s an appeal to the Left’s routine and increasing tendency to equate political speech they don’t like with physical violence. See, bothersome political speech with which you disagree is prized and protected. But violence against...

In a defiant statement issued Wednesday, the Washington Redskins said the team would appeal the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to revoke the trademark to the team's name and logo on the grounds that they are offensive to Native Americans. The professional football team added that in the meantime, the ruling would have "no effect at all" on its trademark rights while the case is on appeal. The press release even put that in boldface and underlined it. "We are confident we will prevail once again, and that the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s divided ruling will be overturned...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Redskins' trademarks. The petitioners, consisting of five Native Americans, sought to cancel the trademarks based on a section of the Trademark Act that "prohibits registration of marks that may disparage persons or bring them into contempt or disrepute."

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Patent Office ruled Wednesday that the Washington Redskins nickname is "disparaging of Native Americans" and that the team's federal trademarks for the name must be canceled. The 2-1 ruling comes after a campaign to change the name has gained momentum over the past year. The team doesn't immediately lose trademark protection and is allowed to retain it during an appeal.

ISIS supporters mocked First Lady Michelle Obama today. Of course, this is a play on Michelle Obama’s famous tweet in support of the kidnapped Nigerian Christian schoolgirls in May. The girls were kidnapped by Islamic Boko Haram terrorists.

ABERDEEN, Md. (WJZ)—Soon, Maryland will be the home to a couple of new landmarks. Actually, sky-marks. As Mike Schuh reports, two large blimps will soon rise over Harford County and stay put. Radar blimps like these have been used on the battlefield to track the enemy, and in the Caribbean to intercept drug runners. Testing in Utah is complete. Now they’re being packed up and sent to Maryland. “There is some equipment already on grounds, yes,” said Kelly Luster, a spokesman for Aberdeen Proving Ground. What will they be looking for? Anti-ship cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft and swarming boats. These...

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team’s name “disparaging to Native Americans.” The landmark case, which appeared before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, was filed on behalf of five Native Americans. It was the second time such a case was filed.

Hardly anyone accepts the IRS’ claim to have lost two years of Lois Lerner’s emails. Those most familiar with government record retention requirements, and the technology used, probably are the most skeptical. The supposedly lost emails cover January 2009 to April 2011, the period when Lerner is suspected of targeting conservative groups with heightened and invasive scrutiny. Those emails also pertain to communications Lerner may have had with agencies other than the Internal Revenue Service. That’s key, because many suspect that the Obama White House knew about, and may have coordinated, the targeting. Democrats in Congress including Rep. Elijah Cummings...

The percentage of Americans approving of President Barack Obama’s handling of foreign policy issues has dropped to the lowest level of his presidency as he faces multiple overseas challenges, including in Iraq, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Additionally, the public is evenly split on whether Obama is a competent manager of the federal bureaucracy. And a majority of respondents – 54 percent – believe the term-limited president is no longer able to lead the country. Obama Calls on Iraq’s ‘Neighbors’ to Help Contain TerroristsNIGHTLY NEWS “This is a bad poll for President Obama, and not a...