Free Republic

**SNIP** Even among backers of the nonbinding resolution introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., its broad strokes could sow disputes about what the Green New Deal means in practice. Ocasio-Cortez herself described the resolution as a "request for proposals" designed to elicit legislation from multiple lawmakers. "This is the first chapter of the book," said Elizabeth Gore, senior vice president of political affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit advocacy group. "Where you start out on these proposals is not where you end up." POTENTIAL FOR CONFLICT One area where the Green New Deal...

Congratulations, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez! You just killed 25,000 jobs for urban Democrats in one of the most racially and ethnically diverse areas in the entire world! Congresswoman AOC, the thought leader of the Democratic party, was the loudest and feistiest political opponent when Amazon announced it would build (half of) its second headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, promising to create 25,000 jobs and generate some $27.5 billion in tax revenue over the next 25 years. Amazon employs a range of people from unskilled workers to tech geniuses and would have pumped large amounts of money into the city economy. It...

When an interview surfaced this week that brought Sen. Cory Booker’s vegan lifestyle to the forefront, it seemed like the New Jersey senator would be forced to do the first damage control of his nascent presidential campaign. Iowa ranks as the No. 1 pork-producing state in the nation, after all, and the state Farm Bureau reports that 95 percent of Iowans eat meat at least weekly. **SNIP** Booker is already looking ahead: He told “The View” this month that while he won’t be eating pork chops on a stick at the Iowa State Fair, “There will be lots of deep-fried...

We’ve had some conflicting headlines this week when it comes to the 2020 Democratic nomination race. One of the more excitable notes from The Hill indicates that Kamala Harris has seen a “notable rise” in the polls since announcing her candidacy. That may be true, but the notable rise in question still only puts her at around 13%. In the meantime, two men who haven’t even decided if they want to run are still lapping the rest of the field. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are the most popular potential Democratic presidential candidates, but...

The national debt hit $22 trillion this week. You won’t find many in either major party who think this is a healthy development. But isn’t part of the reason people vote Republican because that party presents itself as fiscally responsible compared to Democrats? For as long as the debt has grown, Republicans have been promising to stop it. Yet, in 1981 the national debt topped $1 trillion after former President Ronald Reagan’s first year. When former President George H.W. Bush left office in 1993, it was more than $4 trillion. His son, former President George W. Bush, would push it...

by Brian Hayes What is wrong with Nancy Pelosi?The House Speaker held a public bill signing on Thursday, and during her remarks, she wished reporters a “Happy Thanksgiving.” It was Valentine’s Day. She was a mere 84 days late. Watch:

President Trump has demanded that Ilhan Omar voluntarily resign. The idea of impeachment of another Muslim Democratic congresswoman – Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) is also being actively promoted. The events surrounding Ilhan Omar, of course, are a shame for America. The anti-Semitic focus of her recent statements is obvious. However, this does not mean that President Trump has an urgent need to intervene in the process of natural political selection and demand the resignation of an anti-Semitic congresswoman. Trump's intervention in the natural self-destruction of the Democratic Party is a strategic mistake. People who in some exceptional circumstances make not rational,...

Given Congress’ provision of only a small token appropriation of $1.4 billion to fund a mere 55 miles of border barriers, President Trump used his constitutional designation as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and statutory authority under the National Emergencies Act of 1976 to declare the continuing invasion of the United States by millions of illegal aliens a “national emergency.” The President announced he will use funds appropriated for national defense to build border barriers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) denounced the President’s action as “unlawful. To characterize the migration of millions of...

What’s the next possible course of action? Is it over for the wall? I don’t trust that guy and it’s obvious that everybody in Washington DC saved for a small group is trying to do everything within their power to deny Trump his key signature issue. They’re determined that he loses the election next year

Faced with a huge shortfall between revenues and expenditures, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is putting together a "Strike Team" to seize the bankrupt PG&E utility. As Newsom sees it, "expropriation will help reduce the State's budget deficit. First, upon taking ownership we will repudiate the debts of this corporation and relieve ourselves of the obligation to pay back money lent to the company. Second, we will then breakdown and sell all the assets for cash. Friends tell me that the copper wires that carry electricity to homes and businesses bring a good price in the resale market." The Governor said...

Nine Democrat presidential hopefuls took to Twitter to express opposition to securing the southern U.S. border with Mexico through the declaration of a national emergency, ranging from claiming climate change is a greater threat than illegal immigration to saying President Trump is the real problem. After signing the so-called compromise border funding bill, Trump announced he would declare a national emergency to use funding from several federal resources to pay for the wall construction.

The day has arrived in the Democratic party when Sherrod Brown is a kind of moderate. The impeccably progressive Ohio senator who has occupied a spot on the left flank of the Democratic caucus for a very long time is declining to sign up for the fashionable radical causes of the hour. Brown has not endorsed the Bernie Sanders “Medicare-for-all” plan that contemplates the end of private insurance in America, nor for the outlandishly expensive and eminently mockable Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “Green New Deal.” The question is whether the Democratic party is leaving behind Brown’s style of politics. The Left’s disdain...

Amid all the hoopla about Democrats wanting to raise taxes on the rich, they are quietly working on a bill that would increase taxes on every working family in America. Why? To fund expanded benefits for baby boomers hitting retirement. The Social Security 2100 Act would hike the combined payroll taxes paid by workers and their employers from 12.4% today to 14.8% by 2043. The bill would also apply the payroll tax on incomes over $400,000. According to the Social Security Administration, in the first 12 years alone, this would amount to a $1.5 trillion tax hike. Once the tax...

When Democrats unveiled their “Green New Deal” to fight climate change, the Republican response was swift and strikingly uniform. “A socialist wish list,” said a spokesman for the national party. “The socialist Democrats are off to a great start!” exclaimed a spokesman for the GOP’s congressional campaign committee. “Socialism may begin with the best of intentions, but it always ends with the Gestapo,” chimed in Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, invoking Winston Churchill. The echo was no accident. Rather, it marked a purposeful shift in rhetoric and political strategy as President Trump and his party increasingly focus on his...

WASHINGTON — What is happening to the Democrats? Captivated by a handful of liberal superstars, they are venturing where the party has long feared to tread: Steep taxes on the rich. Abolishing an immigration enforcement agency. And proposing a sweeping Green New Deal that calls for an “economic transformation” to combat climate change. On Thursday, newly-elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a chorus of cheers as Amazon announced it was abandoning plans to build a sought-after headquarters in New York City. Activists berated the online giant for a $3 billion package of tax breaks she said the city could better invest...

one of the great things about the internet is that we can hear from an actual expert in destructive testing of gas cylinders in a controversy where condition of gas cylinder is of critical importance. Not just from NGOs and neocon think tanks. Dan Rather's downfall came because (as I recall) a typewriter specialist was able to recognize that fonts in forged document were not available in 1970s. An expert in relevant narrow topic observed detail that eluded the news reporters and think tanks. outing of Dan Rather was cool and one of first examples of outside eyes on establishment...

Beto O'Rourke says he would 'absolutely' tear down Trump's wall, along with 600 miles of existing barriers at the US-Mexico border Beto O'Rourke denounced President Trump's proposed border wall in an interview Thursday after Congress passed a spending bill allocating $1.4B for it The former congressman from El Paso said: 'Absolutely, I'd take the wall down' He asserted that the 600 miles of barriers currently at the border haven't made America safer, but have led to the deaths of 4,000 migrants 'We have walled off their opportunity to legally petition for asylum' O'Rourke said Beto O'Rourke said that he would...

The impending demise of the Democratic Party would be a thing of joy to behold if we could be certain that its end is actually near. It should be. Any Democrat who thinks the abolition of air travel, all use of fossil fuels (cars), and the mandated retrofitting of every building in America are legitimate, doable transformations of every aspect of American life is a moonbat of inexplicable proportions. In short, such people are delusional. All of the declared Democrat candidates for president in 2020 have endorsed this bit of nonsense. They are apparently unaware that fossil fuels are the...

Over the past 40 years, the federal government has shut down 21 times due to political disagreements over funding. Most of America, including the government itself, goes largely unaffected by a government shutdown. But for federal workers who are furloughed or required to work without a paycheck, a lapse in government funding can cause financial problems, leading some to default on debt or miss rent payments. This can result in real hardships up to and including eviction. The blame for this rests squarely on the lawmakers who fail to fund the government. Remarkably, though, some Democrats in Congress believe that...

Illinois legislators moved quickly Thursday to deliver one of new Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s top campaign promises, a gradual hike in the statewide minimum wage from $8.25 to $15 an hour — more than double the pay floor that most of its Midwestern neighbors require. The state House voted 69-41 to send the Senate-approved plan to Pritzker, who watched the roll call from the House floor. He’d urged lawmakers to send him the legislation before next Wednesday, when he announces his first budget plan. Republicans lashed out at Democrats for refusing to compromise and pushing too fast, particularly because the...