Free Republic

Actress Debra Messing is the latest prominent liberal to blame President Donald Trump for the coronavirus by repeating false allegations that the president enacted drastic budgetary cuts on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Debra Messing launched into an unhinged tirade Friday claiming that President Trump “puts Americans in mortal danger,” citing a two-year-old Washington Post article about proposed budget cuts to the CDC. The Will & Grace star failed to mention that those cuts never went into effect and that Congress has actually increased funding to the CDC and National Institutes of Health. “THIS is why Trump MUST GO!...

While on air during a Trump rally in South Carolina, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews confused S.C. Democratic senate candidate Jamie Harrison with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), both of whom are black. “I see you standing there next the guy you’re going to beat maybe,” Matthews said to Harrison, while the camera was on a frame of Scott and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Matthews, the host of “Hardball,” was immediately corrected by other anchors before realizing he had mixed up the two S.C. politicians. “Big mistake, mistaken identity, sorry,” Matthews said. Matthews has stirred controversy in recent weeks leading to several calls...

A Bloomington, Illinois man was sentenced today to 30 years in prison followed by lifetime supervised release for production and possession of child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John C. Milhiser of the Central District of Illinois. U.S. District Court Judge James E. Shadid pronounced the sentence.Tyler Watson, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan E. Hawley on Aug. 19, 2019.According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea,...

Anming Hu, a  an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) was arrested today on a federal indictment and charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements.“Hu allegedly committed fraud by hiding his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving funding from NASA,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.   “This is just the latest case involving professors or researchers concealing their affiliations with China from their American employers and the U.S. government.   We will not tolerate it.”“The United...

So, our Coronavirus Czar is going to be … Mike Pence. Feeling more secure? “I know full well the importance of presidential leadership,” the vice president said as soon as he was introduced in his new role. Totally qualified. First criterion for every job in this administration is capacity for praising the gloriousness of our commander in chief. Yeah, when you think of Mike Pence you maybe don’t think about Pandemic Fighter Supreme. But as President Trump pointed out repeatedly, he has already run Indiana. Well, it probably could have been worse. Having a czar does make you feel there’s...

Defendant Alleged to Have Prohibited Financial Transactions Related to Drug Cartel A dual U.S.-Mexican citizen had her initial appearance in federal court in the District of Columbia Wednesday on charges related to her alleged involvement in five business entities designated by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) as providing material support to the international narcotics trafficking activities of the Mexican narcotics trafficking organization known as the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge William Bodner of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Los Angeles Field Division made the announcement.Jessica Johanna Oseguera Gonzalez,...

The Wisconsin Appeals Court has overturned a ruling that sought to purge more than 200,000 people from state voter rolls, according to court documents. “In interpreting the Wisconsin Statutes, courts may not rewrite the plain language of the statutes the legislature has enacted,” the appeals court said. “Acceptance of the arguments of Plaintiffs would cause us to rewrite statutes enacted by the legislature, and that we cannot do.” It added that the ruling has been “reversed, and this matter is remanded to the circuit court for dismissal of plaintiffs’ complaint.” The conservative group that filed the lawsuit, Wisconsin Institute for...

A former associate scientist was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison in federal court today for stealing proprietary information worth more than $1 billion from his employer, a U.S. petroleum company.In November 2019, Tan pleaded guilty to theft of a trade secret, unauthorized transmission of a trade secret, and unauthorized possession of a trade secret. From June 2017 until December 2018, Tan was employed as an associate scientist at the petroleum company and was assigned to work in a group with the goal of developing next generation battery technologies for stationary energy storage, specifically flow batteries. In his...

Ankara’s official death toll stood at 33 on the morning of Feb. 28, with 60 other troops wounded, among them 16 with serious injuries. It was still unclear whether any soldiers could be still trapped under the rubble. According to unconfirmed information obtained by Al-Monitor, the actual death toll is somewhere between 50 and 55. What caused Russia to react so violently and provocatively while a Russian delegation was holding talks in Ankara in a bid to ease the tensions in Idlib? The battlefield had grown highly explosive since Feb. 20, when two Turkish tank crewmen were killed in an...

South Korea confirmed 594 more coronavirus cases on Saturday, the biggest increase to date for the country and taking the national total to 2,931 infections with three additional deaths. (Please see link, for full article)

Five sanctuary bills are currently under consideration by the Maryland state legislature. HB 677 and its Senate companion, SB 850, would prohibit state and local detention facilities from entering into agreements to house ICE detainees. These bills will force ICE to send many immigration detainees far away from their families and lawyers, potentially to remote areas where ICE is able to secure detention space. SB 649 would prevent any of the state's MVA custodians of records from providing ICE access to any such "public record that contains personal information unless the custodian is provided with a valid warrant or valid...

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon has its first presumed case of novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. State officials will hold a news conference at 6 p.m. Friday to provide more details on the case. You can stream it live on KGW.com or watch live on The Story with Dan Haggerty on KGW.

Fresh off years of drug addiction, a presidential impeachment saga that involved his work in Ukraine, and agreeing to pay child support to an Arkansas stripper he impregnated, Hunter Biden is pursuing a career in painting. In a pool house-turned-art studio behind his 2,000-square-foot Hollywood Hills home, Biden, dressed in work boots and a pearl snap button-down shirt, is painting psychedelic florals in ink. The New York Times featured the son of former Vice President Joe Biden in a lengthy profile in which Hunter Biden said painting is "literally keeping me sane." “For years, I wouldn’t call myself an artist....

The Left has long lost this debate, but they keep trying to relitigate it on the campaign stump. The Second Amendment grants the individual right to keep and bear arms. That was the landmark D.C. vs. Heller decision, though it applied only to federal enclaves. The McDonald v. Chicago decision extended this right to the states proper. But the Left is obsessed with the militia portion of the amendment: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” The Atlantic has a good...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ECONOMIC POLICY THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY SUBJECT: The Effect of Titanium Sponge Imports on the National Security By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862) (the “Act”), it is hereby ordered as follows:...

Since my election, the United States economy has experienced a historic revitalization. Americans across our country have been the beneficiaries of and the driving force behind this extraordinary resurgence. Wages are growing at their fastest rate in a decade; the unemployment rate has reached its lowest level in half a century; and for the first time on record, there are more job openings than unemployed Americans. The vitality of our economy has led to high levels of consumer confidence. Even as we grow more prosperous, however, we must remain vigilant for bad actors seeking to harm and exploit honest and...

The Ninth Circuit’s decision, another reckless nationwide injunction threatening our constitutional structure, obstructs the Executive Branch from faithfully executing the immigration laws passed by Congress and from protecting American citizens and legal immigrants. The Immigration and Nationality Act, in 8 U.S.C. 1225(b)(2) provides that, when an alien is arriving “from a foreign territory contiguous to the United States” and is found by the Department of Homeland Security not to be “clearly and beyond a doubt entitled to be admitted,” the Department “may return the alien to” the contiguous territory of arrival pending a removal proceeding. Using the express authority that...

South Lawn 4:30 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. I’m going to South Carolina, a big rally. A lot of people — thousands of people outside and it’s going to be very exciting. We have a big day tomorrow, in terms of the Democrats watching. See what happens. And then, on Tuesday, you have a very big day, so it will be interesting to see. We’re at the same number. A lot of people are getting better. Very much better. The 15 number. Plus we took in, as you know — from Japan, we took in some great American people...

Greece has completely shut down its borders Friday, sending dozens of naval vessels to patrol the Greek islands after Turkey announced it would allow all Syrian migrants to head to Europe. A government representative, who wished to remain anonymous, told German media that Greece has closed its entire land and sea border with Turkey and will allow no one to cross the border at all, German tabloid Bild reports. Citing sources, the newspaper claimed 50 naval ships — likely predominantly patrol vessels — of the Hellenic Navy supported by helicopters were being sent to the European Union’s external border. The...

Cabinet Room February 27, 2020 5:22 P.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to thank you very much. We’re here with some of the black leaders of our country and — people that are highly respected and people that have done a fantastic job and, for the most part, have been working on this whole situation with me right from the beginning. And we’ve done a lot. We’ve done Opportunity Zones. We’ve done criminal justice reform. We’ve done things that people didn’t even think possible. Criminal justice reform — we’ve let a lot of great people out of jail. (Applause.)...