Free Republic

The Trump administration will reverse course from previous Obama administration policy, eliminating climate change from a list of national security threats. The National Security Strategy to be released on Monday will emphasize the importance of balancing energy security with economic development and environmental protection, according to a source who has seen the document and shared excerpts of a late draft. “Climate policies will continue to shape the global energy system,” a draft of the National Security Strategy slated to be released on Monday said. “U.S. leadership is indispensable to countering an anti-growth, energy agenda that is detrimental to U.S. economic...

There is a strong argument to be made that Sen. Al Franken's central reason for resigning is he knew he would be reduced to being shunned by his peers and the press if he were to continue representing Minnesota in the congressional upper chamber. In short, he would have become a joke, an afterthought, a pariah, a no one. For the egocentric Minnesotan who was courted by everyone in the Democratic Party to headline their fundraisers -- both for their re-elections as well as their state party's coffers -- and fawned over for his Hollywood pedigree and admired by progressives...

Republicans are hesitant to switch from our winner-take-all state laws allocating electors to the electoral college to using the National Popular Vote. The National Popular Vote Plan would award all of a state’s electors to the candidate who wins the most popular votes in all fifty states. There is a fear that such a move will benefit Democrats, since Democrats won the popular vote even though they lost the elections in 2000 and 2016. But the truth is, Republicans are likely going to lose their ability to win the necessary swing state of Florida in the future, and they can...

Dr. Larry Nassar, who was accused of sexually molesting hundreds of gymnasts, including Olympians McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, and Gabby Douglas, has pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a separate case involving the sexual abuse of three gymnasts at the Twistars USA Gymnastics Club in Lansing, Michigan. One of the girls was under the age of 13. Nassar had previously pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. At his second trial, he apologized to his victims and admitted that what he did was not a legitimate form of medical treatment. Nassar molested...

Now, new data reveal the interstellar interloper to be a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue. The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated—perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date. While its elongated shape is quite surprising, and unlike asteroids seen in our solar system, it may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed. The observations and analyses were funded in part by NASA and appear...

It has not been a good week for serial groper Al Franken. The Democratic senator from Minnesota is facing multiple bombshell accusations of unwanted groping and sexual misconduct against female reporters and constituents alike. Last week, Franken was accused of groping and kissing broadcaster Leeann Tweeden while on an overseas trip with her. An image of the groping was then released. Franken issued an apology after the incident, saying: “I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann. As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be...

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) called the concerts "a propaganda gift to Israeli apartheid.” Despite the best efforts of Roger Waters, Brian Eno, Thurston Moore, TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe and other Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) supporters, Nick Cave has played one concert in Tel Aviv and is scheduled to play another tonight. The dates are a continuation of an otherwise-Euro tour, and the Israeli headlines praising Cave are already flooding the internet with joy at the artist’s sanction breakthrough. The prince of darkness appeared at a press conference yesterday to explain...

ATLANTA - A popular deduction targeted in the GOP's overhaul of the tax code is used by more than a quarter of all filers in a majority of states, including many led by Republicans where some residents eventually could see their federal tax bills rise. The exact effect in every state isn't known, in part because of differences in the Senate and House versions of the bill. But the change to the deduction for state and local taxes could alter the bottom lines for millions of taxpayers who itemize. Residents in high-tax, Democratic-led states appear to be the hardest hit....

Hezekiah’s religious reforms sought to centralize worshipA millennia-old latrine discovered at Tel Lachish in Israel might reveal some interesting insights into Biblical history. According to Sa’ar Ganor and Igor Kreimerman, who conducted the excavations on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the latrine could be evidence of King Hezekiah’s religious reforms enacted throughout the Kingdom of Judah in the eighth century B.C.E. The archaeologists detail their discovery in the article “Going to the Bathroom at Lachish” in the November/December 2017 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The latrine discovered in what may be a shrine at Lachish. Photo: Courtesy of...

Three out of four college-educated Democrats seem to believe that a man can be a woman if he just says so, regardless of his biology, genetics, and genitalia, according to a skewed survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

Banks may just be a target of the past after a South Texas man allegedly stole $1.2 million worth of fajitas over nine years. According to The Brownsville Herald, Gilbert Escaramilla was arrested after authorities found packages of the food in his fridge. Investigators say Escaramilla was intercepting county-funded food deliveries, and then going on to deliver them to his customers. The scheme imploded when he missed a day of work and 800 pounds of fajitas were delivered to his former job at the Juvenile Justice Department. Escaramilla has been arrested on felony theft charges.

The founder and publisher of Hustler, Larry Flynt, is offering a $10 million reward to anyone who can come forward with dirt that could lead to the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Fox Business anchor Liz Claman tweeted a photo of the full-page ad that is set to run in Sunday’s Washington Post, which was subsequently retweeted by Flynt. “Impeachment would be a messy, contentious affair, but the alternative—three more years of destabilizing dysfunction—is worse,” notes the ad. “Both good Democrats and good Republicans who put country over party did it before with Watergate. To succeed, impeachment requires unimpeachable evidence....

It’s a nightmare scenario for a 21-year-old mother – a court has granted joint custody to a man accused of raping her when she was 12. The rape allegedly occurred in September 2008, according to a press release by the woman’s attorney, Rebecca Kiessling. Christopher Mirasolo was charged with raping the woman when he was 18 and she was 12, which is a first-degree felony in Michigan. “The sentence ‘for a violation that is committed by an individual 17 years of age or older against an individual less than 13 years of age’ should have been a mandatory ‘imprisonment for...

Will & Grace star Debra Messing insists she did not realize she was going on a program hosted by Megyn Kelly when she appeared with cast and creators of the returning NBC comedy on the debut of Megyn Kelly Today, and she regrets doing so. The actress was responding to a perplexed commenter on her personal Instagram page, who asked, “Why did you guys do the Megyn Kelly show? That’s a fail!” “Honestly I didn’t now it was MK until that morning. The itinerary just said ‘Today Show’ appearance. Regret going on. Dismayed by her comments.”

As a taxpayer subsidized organization, the National Football League (NFL) and its members should not be permitted to publicly insult veterans, first responders, families of those who have sacrificed their lives for this country, and any patriotic American with its public displays of sitting, kneeling, exercising or other disrespectful behavior during the performance of our national anthem or flag ceremonies. We the people petition the Federal Government and the United States Air Force to abstain from providing the traditional "flyover" aerobatic display performed during the opening ceremonies of the NFL Superbowl, beginning immediately, until representatives of the NFL publicly apologize...

The New Yorker on Wednesday released the cover that would have been published if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 election. It is titled "The First" and was created by artist Malika Favre. snip The New Yorker published the cover to promote an interview the magazine's editor, David Remnick, conducted with Clinton. The actual cover of the magazine after the election pictured a rising brick wall created by artist Bob Staake—an obvious shot at Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/09/report-general-kelly-blocking-trump-negative-reports-daca/

Trump just showed why even some Republicans question whether he has the temperament and the capacity to serve as President. In an incredible performance at a raucous Arizona rally Tuesday, Trump rewrote the history of his response to violence in Charlottesville and reignited the culture wars. Trump in effect identified himself as the main victim of the furor over the violence in Virginia, berating media coverage for a political crisis that refuses to abate over his rhetoric on race. "They're trying to take away our culture. They're trying to take away our history," Trump said, blaming "weak, weak people" for...

Fox News host Eric Bolling reportedly sent unsolicited lewd photos to female co-workers several years ago via text message, according to The Huffington Post. “We were just informed of this late Friday afternoon via a Huffington Post inquiry and plan to investigate the matter," a Fox News spokesperson told The Hill. A dozen sources told Huffington Post that at least two of Bolling’s female colleagues at Fox Business and one at Fox News received the photos of male genitalia from Bolling. The women who received the photos said they knew the messages were from him because they recognized his phone...

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