Free Republic

Lisa Dornell loved her job. For 24 years, she sat on the bench in Baltimore’s immigration court, hearing hundreds of cases of immigrants trying to stay in the United States. “It was an honor. It was a privilege to be able to preside over so many different cases and be able to grant relief to people who needed relief,” Dornell told CNN in an interview. But she walked away from that job in April — a decision that still invokes a wave of emotion when she recalls it. “The toxic environment made it both harder and easier to leave,” Dornell...

Rank-and-file workers are getting bigger raises this year—at least in percentage terms—than bosses. Wages for the typical worker—nonsupervisory employees who account for 82% of the workforce—are rising at the fastest rate in more than a decade, a sign that the labor market has tightened sufficiently to convey bigger pay increases to lower-paid employees. Gains for those workers have accelerated much of this year, a time when the unemployment rate fell to a half-century low. A short supply of workers, increased poaching and minimum-wage increases have helped those nearer to the bottom of the pay scale. Pay for the bottom 25%...

The topic of God is among the plethora of topics that I’ve enjoyed discussing over the last few months with a new friend of mine. She has only recently attended to the question of God’s existence. Up to this point she had been, if not an avowed atheist, then an agnostic who, as such, was an atheist in practice. Today, though, she has concluded that God does exist. However, as to what else this entails, it’s clear that she is still very much uncertain. It also appears that she is certain that she will remain uncertain. “We can’t ever be...

What a great holiday season it is. Know why? Congress is on vacation, which means all the rest of us get a break from politics. We're in the middle of what amounts to a national Christmas ceasefire in our never-ending, 24/7 political civil war. Political bombshells, childish name-calling, stupid tweet battles, partisan posturing, congressional hearings, Democrat primary debates, FBI leaks, trade wars, Brexit, Jeffrey Epstein's "suicide" ... all are almost totally absent from the news media. The best present I received this year was that no one talked politics at my house all Christmas day. The "Trump" word was never...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2008, the Newseum — a private museum dedicated to exploring modern history as told through the eyes of journalists — opened on prime Washington real estate. Sitting almost equidistant between the White House and the Capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue, the glass-walled building became instantly recognizable for its multi-story exterior rendition of the First Amendment. Eleven years later that experiment is coming to an end. After years of financial difficulties, the Newseum will close its doors Tuesday. “We’re proud of how we did our storytelling,” said Sonya Gavankar, the outgoing director of public relations. “We changed the...

As we end another year, our popular culture still revolves around President Donald Trump, and our news and entertainment conglomerates continue to be outraged that conservative Christians stick with him, so much so they are summarily ignored. Support him as, say, Franklin Graham and a vast majority of evangelicals have done and ... crickets. But what happens when evangelicals don't? Happy days are here again. The left has lunged to promote an editorial by Christianity Today magazine that insists Trump must be removed from office. What the left understands -- and some on the right still ignore -- is that...

You won't hear young Democrats deride Bernie Sanders with the "OK, boomer" dig. At 78, he's actually too old for the cohort, but that's not why he won't get dinged. He's the most popular Democrat among the under-35 crowd, and judging by recent polling, he's the second-most popular Democrat overall. Sanders has raised nearly twice as money as the frontrunner, Joe Biden, and seems to have scooped up support from a declining Elizabeth Warren in the past 60 days. Despite a heart attack that sidelined him for a week, he marches on, now buoyed by a poll showing that in...

The deep state and the Democrat party have, from the moment Donald Trump announced his candidacy, set out to destroy the man, his candidacy, and then his presidency. They did this, as the Horowitz report has shown and the Barr/Durham report will expand upon, by attempting to frame Trump with a despicable, treasonous plot that would, they were certain, invalidate his campaign and subsequently his presidency. When Trump won, their plot became both plan B and a cover-up of their pre-election illegal, unconstitutional activities. Talk about abuse of power! This bunch, from Brennan, Comey and Clapper and all those who...

The report of the I.G.'s findings on the use of FISA in the FBI Crossfire Hurricane investigation is an outrage. As a 22 year FBI Agent, I have personally conducted multiple investigations using both Title III "wiretaps" and FISA authorized intercepts. From this perspective, I can only see two possible interpretations of the actions of the FBI and DOJ. Either scenario should anger and frighten every fair minded citizen who takes the time to read the report and understand its implications. . . snip If the heinous abuses documented in the I.G.s report result in a weakening or loss of...

**SNIP** Pelosi's best option would be a "pocket veto." Legislative leadership, of course, can't execute a "pocket veto." That's an executive function. But something very much like a "pocket veto" would serve Pelosi and her party's interests well. She could say: "I'm not sending these articles of impeachment over to the Senate. There's no point in doing so. The majority leader has made it clear that he has no interest in a 'fair trial.' There's no point in wasting everyone's time and taxpayer money to arrive at a decision that Republican senators have already made. Everyone, including each and every...

... The new ruling prevents the government from slashing more than 30% of an unemployed person's benefits under the program. That guarantees unemployed residents at least 300 euros ($333) per month. Even then, the punishment can be waived if it threatens to cause extreme hardship. The three-month suspension can also be shortened if an individual works with their government-appointed adviser to seek employment or enroll in a training program. Housing and healthcare assistance will continue to be provided under the new policy. The decision followed a complaint from a resident who turned down a warehouse job because he wanted to...

Police have developed a laser-based defense system, similar in essence to the Iron Dome system and intended to thwart incendiary balloons and drones launched from Gaza toward Israel, Yisrael Hayom reported. The laser system is known as the "Light Blade", and police say it is the first in the world to demonstrate operational capability to blast balloons and drones. The balloons and kite threat from Gaza that sparked fires in the south and hilly localities and that have the capability to carry payloads and other explosive devices, led the Border Patrol and the Police Means Development Department - in collaboration...

Today the DC U.S. Attorney requested a one week delay prior to submitting a second briefing for the sentencing of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. According to the filing, the DOJ is seeking a one week delay, from Dec 30th to January 6th, in order to gather more material for a new sentencing memorandum. Due to Flynn’s non-cooperation, it is anticipated the DOJ will enhance the prior memo from December 2018 and ask for a more severe sentence.

Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson revealed in a new book titled, “Crime in Progress” which is set to be released next month that he was first hired to investigate Donald Trump “in the fall of 2015.” Simpson also claims that memos from the Christopher Steele dossier paid for by Hillary Clinton and her camp made its way directly “to President Obama.” Hillary Clinton and the DNC during the 2016 presidential election hid their payments to oppos research firm Fusion GPS and Steele through their law firm Perkins Coie. Perkins Coie paid Fusion GPS who then paid former British spy Christopher...

A new paper by three top researchers has revealed public health researchers are “are much more supportive of gun control than are either criminologists or economists.” The report, authored by John R. Lott, Arther Z. Berg. MD, and Gary A. Mauser, is headlined “Expert Views on Gun Laws.” Lott is founder and president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, Berg is at the Harvard University Department of Psychiatry and Mauser is with the Simon Fraser University Beedie School of Business. The eight-page report appears in the Winter edition of Regulation, the Cato Institute’s review of Business and Government. The trio...

FORT RUCKER — Those who know him best in Army Aviation refer to him as a “national treasure.” Jack Holmes, a Vietnam veteran who retired from the Army as a Chief Warrant Officer 4, has been the G-3 installation air traffic and airspace official for the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker for 30 years. After half a century of combined active duty and Department of the Army civilian service, Holmes made his final flight, landing on Howze Field Dec. 19, closing the chapter in his life marked “federal service.” “Today we witnessed the culmination of 50...

(CNN)At least nine people have died after a plane carrying 95 passengers and five crew members crashed shortly after takeoff near the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan on Friday morning. The plane "lost altitude after takeoff and broke through a concrete fence," before colliding with a two-story building at approximately 7:22 a.m., local time, according to Almaty aviation authorities. The domestic flight, operated by Kazakhstan-based Bek Air, was scheduled to fly from Almaty, the country's largest city, to the capital Nur-Sultan.

In a stunning takedown of MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple wrote Thursday that the liberal cable news star “rooted for” British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier, which served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign official Carter Page, to be the smoking gun that would force the president out of office. In an op-ed titled, “Rachel Maddow rooted for the Steele dossier to be true. Then it fell apart,” Wemple wrote, “She seemed to be rooting for the document.” He added, “As part of her Russianist phase, Maddow became a...

S&P 500 has surged 50%, while average is only 23% Got money in a mutual fund? Have a bit of a stock portfolio? Those shares your aunt left you? Even a retirement or pension plan? You gotta like President Donald Trump. A report from CNBC explains that the stock markets under Trump stack up "well" against the majority of his predecessors. "The S&P 500 has returned more than 50% since Trump was elected, more than double the 23% average market return of presidents three years into their term, according to data from Bespoke Investment Group dating to 1928," the report...

Glossary Term | Motion to Table/motion to table -  Used in both the Senate and House, if adopted a motion to table PERMANENTLY KILLS a pending matter and ends any further debate on the matter.  Searched For: tabling a resolution Results 1 - 25 of 3517.