Free Republic

Potential Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said Friday that Donald Trump’s presidency “cannot be helped” and was “dangerous” for the country. The former New York City mayor also described the partial government shutdown, now at a record 35th day, as “a complete failure of presidential leadership.” The billionaire businessman said that for fellow New Yorker Trump, “the art of the deal is simply cheating people and not caring about how badly they get hurt and now he’s doing it to the American people.” …

Popular fact-checking site Snopes.com confirmed Wednesday they are debuting a new "Factually inaccurate but morally right" fact check result for claims they don't want to debunk because they coincide with Snopes editors' worldview.

In a series of tweets, Trump chastised Democrats for dismissing his plan, and attempted to assuage immigration hard-liners who likened the administration's latest proposal to amnesty for immigrants already in the country illegally. "No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer," Trump tweeted. "It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy!"

Former White House political strategist Karl Rove warned Senate Republicans in a meeting this week not to become overly reliant on their conservative base as they head into what could be a tough 2020 presidential election. Rove, who served as former President George W. Bush’s top political strategist, was brought in by Senate GOP leaders to speak to the 22 Republican incumbents up for reelection at an all-day planning session Thursday hosted at Nationals Park in southeast Washington, D.C. GOP lawmakers are getting nervous about next year’s election as polls show President Trump’s approval rating dropping during the 28-day government...

Half or a quarter of the way through this interesting experiment with an incessantly splenetic presidency, much of the nation has become accustomed to daily mortifications. Or has lost its capacity for embarrassment, which is even worse. If the country’s condition is calibrated simply by economic data — if, that is, the United States is nothing but an economy — then the state of the union is good. Except that after two years of unified government under the party that formerly claimed to care about fiscal facts and rectitude, the nation faces a $1 trillion deficit during brisk growth and...

Former Attorney General Eric Holder called for impeachment proceedings to begin if a report from Buzzfeed News saying President Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign are true. “If true - and proof must be examined - Congress must begin impeachment proceedings,” Holder tweeted Friday. “[William] Barr must refer, at a minimum, the relevant portions of material discovered by Mueller. This is a potential inflection point,” he added, referring to Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Holder, who is reportedly considering a 2020 presidential run, has...

President Donald Trump directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter. Trump also supported a plan, set up by Cohen, to visit Russia during the presidential campaign, in order to personally meet President Vladimir Putin and jump-start the tower negotiations. “Make it happen,” the sources said Trump told Cohen. And even as Trump told the public he had no business deals with Russia, the sources said Trump and his children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr.,...

John Kasich's time as Ohio governor just came to an end. And his time as a CNN commentator just began. On Tuesday morning CNN announced that Kasich is the newest addition to the network's stable of commentators. He will appear as a guest across an array of CNN programs. Kasich's first appearance will be on "Cuomo Prime Time" on Tuesday night. His hiring was first reported by Axios on Tuesday morning.

I hoped for a long time for him to do this address, but I thought, while okay, it could have been better in terms of detail. I was hoping for something longer and infused with stats. I'm afraid what we heard was general comments usually made. I would have had border patrol there if I could have & local sheriffs - have a couple step forward & give their experience at the border & the impact a wall has had in the places where it is and would have. I guess the format I'd have used is: ~Number of illegal...

Doctors, staff and patients at a hospital in Alaska’s largest city got the surprise of a lifetime when a large moose wandered inside for a quick snack. Video footage captured Monday by a worker at Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage shows the moose poking around some greenery near an entrance before it starts gazing in the camera’s direction. “Didn’t think we’d have a pet moose,” Stephanie Hupton, who works in billing at a physical therapy office inside the hospital and captured the footage, told the Associated Press. She told KTUU that she started recording after a patient mentioned to security...

I have no idea how well Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will perform as a member of Congress. But her election is already serving a valuable purpose. You see, the mere thought of having a young, articulate, telegenic nonwhite woman serve is driving many on the right mad — and in their madness they’re inadvertently revealing their true selves. […] The controversy of the moment involves AOC’s advocacy of a tax rate of 70-80 percent on very high incomes, which is obviously crazy, right? I mean, who thinks that makes sense? Only ignorant people like … um, Peter Diamond, Nobel laureate in economics...

As we close out 2018 with a partial government shutdown merely adding some extra spice to the monotonous stew of political rage served daily, it's worth noting that the primary sticking point isn't an ideological split over border security, nor is it the recalcitrance of the president or the Democrats. It's about symbolism, for want of a better word. I am in no way trying to minimize the disagreement. We often dismiss controversies or concerns by waving our hands and saying something like, "Oh, that's merely symbolic," as if the meaning we give to symbols is somehow irrelevant compared with...

Angelina Jolie has not ruled out a move into politics — and has joked that she might be tough enough to take the rough and tumble that comes with it. The American actress and U.N. envoy told BBC radio she “can take a lot on the chin” — a possible reference to her bitter divorce from Brad Pitt. […] Jolie is a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency. She used her slot as a “guest editor” on the BBC to highlight refugee issues in the Middle East. …

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D.-Texas) took to the House floor on Dec. 12 to explain why, especially in the Christmas season, a shutdown of the federal government should be avoided. “This is a season where many in our Nation draw together with families and worship and celebrate,” Jackson Lee said. “It is a very honored time,” she said. “People of the Christian faith are engaged in the recognition and acknowledgment of the birth of baby Jesus. It is a holy time. It is a time when families need resources. Government workers need to ensure that their families are provided for,...

Student vending machine project comes to a closeThe Vending Machine It is with great sadness that we must announce the passing of the Ohio Pork Council's bacon vending machine after an all-too-short sojourn at the Meat Sciences Department of Ohio State University.The vending machine allowed hungry students to sate their penchant for porcine produce with just a $1 bill. Alas, all good things must come to an end and, as scheduled, the plug has been pulled on the pilot piggy project that ran from the 6th to 13th December.The OPC pitched the wonderful machine as a way of "giving back...

California ranks No. 1 among the 50 states for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 50th for the percentage who have graduated from high school, according to new data from the Census Bureau. Texas ranks No. 2 for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 49th for the percentage who have graduated from high school. 9.7 percent of California residents 25 and older, the Census Bureau says, never completed ninth grade. Only 82.5 percent graduated from high school. 8.7 percent of Texas residents...

PARADISE (CBS SF) — Three employees of a San Leandro construction company were fired Saturday for posting insensitive photos on social media from the wreckage left behind in Paradise by the deadly Camp Fire...Paradise officials posted on Facebook that police were looking into charges against the three workers...Several images were posted including a photo of someone’s beloved burned deceased cat with a beer bottle placed up to its mouth with this caption: “Dude… I was just chilling with my homies, having a couple of cold ones, and BAM… damn fire breaks out.”

The Bush family has taken great care to assure that services being held to honor the life and legacy of former President George H.W. Bush do not become a political platform for anti-Trump swipes. Such rhetoric was prominent in services for the late Sen. John McCain three months ago. But with the Bush family patriarch's casket lying in State at the U.S. Capitol this week ahead of Wednesday services in Washington, efforts have been made to avoid a politicized funeral. The family already contacted the White House this past summer saying that President Trump would be welcome at H.W. Bush’s...

Two Minnesota cops were placed on paid leave Friday after a photo of a Christmas display with “racist” ornaments outside a precinct surfaced on social media. The tree, displayed outside the Fourth Precinct of the Minneapolis Police Department, was littered with police tape, an empty can of Steel Reserve malt liquor, a cup from Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, bags of Takis chips and packs of Newport cigarettes, CBS reported. Black Lives Matter Twin Cities posted the photo online last week and it quickly spurred outrage from members of the black community as well as local officials. “These pieces of trash were...

.