Free Republic

Sen. Kamala Harris, California Democrat, said Thursday she will not vote for William Barr, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general. Ms. Harris, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is the first prominent Democrat to officially announce her intent to vote against Mr. Barr.

The 2018 midterms were a disaster for House Republicans. Democrats gained 40 seats, retook the majority, and, to our horror, Nancy Pelosi is speaker again. They were elected to stop Trump, to block him at every turn, and lead the effort for his impeachment and removal from office. Any Democrat who says otherwise is lying. The base demands Trump go at all costs. The younger, feistier Democrats say that openly. The older crew tries to downplay it, but ultimately that’s their goal. They’re banking heavily that the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the DOJ’s Russia probe,...

A new poll by the Pew Research Center shows a big part of the reason why the standoff over funding President Trump's border wall has been so impossible to solve: Republican support for the wall is higher than at any time since Trump's election, while Democratic support has dwindled to almost nothing. The big picture: When the divide has gotten this big, it's hard to see how the government shutdown ends. Although a majority of the public still opposes the wall, Republican support is so high that Trump and GOP leaders would face a furious backlash if they reopen the...

President Trump hosted a number of Republican and Democratic House lawmakers at the White House Wednesday to negotiate over border security and end the ongoing government shut down. “The President and his team had a constructive meeting with bipartisan members of the problem solvers caucus. They listened to one another and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants. We look forward to more conversations like this,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said about the meeting.  These House Democrats in the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus met today with @realDonaldTrump in the Situation Room to discuss the shutdown: Josh...

Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard, has died.

We all knew that there would be zero bipartisanship this Congress. We started the year with the government in a shutdown over border security. House Democrats retook the majority in 2018. They’re in no mood to play ball with the Trump White House. The fight is over a mere $5 billion for part of the border wall. Reportedly, Trump offered to re-open the government if he got some of the money. Democrats rejected it; they’re more concerned with scoring points. Yet, as the Democrats suit up for battle against the Trump presidency, their left flank could cause trouble as well....

Well, if you want to talk about a rake-stepping moment hitting CNN, there are many, but this one might be one of the worst and we’re not even 30 days into 2019. CNN’s Areva Martin did a radio interview on David Webb’s show on SiriusXM Tuesday and tried to criticize him for exercising white privilege; they were talking about applying for media jobs. There was only one problem: Webb is black. He’s a frequent guest on Fox News and a known conservative commentator. It’s a rather cringe-worthy moment (via WaPo): “I’ve chosen to cross different parts of the media world,...

House Democratic leaders blocked an effort to censure Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) for racial comments, referring the measure to the House Ethics Committee for further review due to concerns that it might set a dangerous precedent for policing members’ speech. Censure is the most serious sanction for a House member short of expulsion, and it has been imposed only six times in the past 100 years. Prompted by King’s recent comments to the New York Times questioning the offensiveness of the terms “white nationalism” and “white supremacy,” the House adopted a resolution condemning that hatred Tuesday. But Rep. Bobby L....

Federal authorities have arrested a man in Georgia who is accused of plotting attacks on the White House and other landmarks and buildings in Washington, D.C., according to media reports. Hasher Jallal Taheb, of Cumming, Ga., appeared Wednesday in court in downtown Atlanta in a case brought by the FBI, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The newspaper reported that authorities believe Taheb was acting alone and that no other threats are imminent. Taheb had been under FBI investigation after authorities in Georgia reported concerns that he had been radicalized, ABC News reported, citing a criminal complaint filed Wednesday. Taheb...

(CNN)Hasher Taheb, 21, of Cumming, Georgia, was arrested in connection with a plot to attack the White House and other federal buildings, US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia BJay Pak said Wednesday. Pak told reporters at a media briefing that Taheb planned to attack the White House and other locations using explosives that included a homemade explosive and an anti-tank rocket. Taheb was investigated after officials received a tip from the community Pak said. Chris Hacker, FBI special agent in charge of the Atlanta office, said the investigation took more than a year. Taheb was acting alone, he...

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The Al-Shabaab terrorist group said on Wednesday it carried out the deadly attack on a Nairobi hotel and office complex in retaliation for US President Donald Trump's declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital last December, AFP reported. The group said in a statement picked up by the SITE monitoring group that its fighters stormed the DusitD2 complex on instructions by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. "It is a response to the witless remarks of the US president, Donald Trump, and his declaration of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel," said Al-Shabaab. The assault with guns and explosives claimed the lives...

Republican Senator John Kennedy called Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s request to move the date of the State of the Union address a “tactic” that is “making things worse.” Kennedy suggested that President Trump should speak before the Senate instead if he is unwelcome in the House. “I think the President ought to go ahead and give the State of the Union as normal,” Kennedy said. “He can come to the Senate if Mrs. Pelosi doesn’t want him to come to the House. I just think that sort of tactic is making things worse.”

12:30 p.m. Seven Democratic lawmakers, including newly elected freshmen, have arrived at the White House ready to ask President Donald Trump to reopen the government while talks continue over border security. It's the first group of rank-and-file Democrats to meet with Trump during the shutdown, which stretched into its 26th day Wednesday. The White House has been trying to peel lawmakers away from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see), but invitations to Democrats earlier this week were declined. Those arriving Wednesday for the midday meeting in the Situation Room included five freshmen, several of whom did not back Pelosi as...

... A new statement from the Office of Management and Budget provides cold comfort for federal bureaucrats worried that furloughs during the partial shutdown could become permanent layoffs, as long as Democrats refuse to give in and fund the border barrier. There will be no immediate layoffs (what the federal government calls reductions-in-force – or RIFs) if and when the current partial shutdown passes the 30 day mark in 4 more days. As I explained yesterday in Trump's shutdown trap?, federal law requires RIFs when federal employees are furloughed more than 30 days... This emphatically does not rule out the...

Has President Trump suckered Democrats and the Deep State into a trap that will enable a radical downsizing of the federal bureaucracy? In only 5 more days of the already-“longest government shutdown in history” (25 days and counting, as of today), a heretofore obscure threshold will be reached, enabling permanent layoffs of bureaucrats furloughed 30 days or more.

Monday night the Clemson Football National Champions made a visit to the White House where President Trump hosted them for dinner in the State Dining Room. The President personally paid for a lavish spread of fast food from a variety of establishments. “The President wanted to host a fun event to celebrate the College Football National Champion Clemson Tigers. Because the Democrats refuse to negotiate on border security, much of the residence staff at the White House is furloughed – so the President is personally paying for the event to be catered with some of everyone’s favorite fast foods,” Press Secretary...

Live coverage of the run up to tonight's BREXIT vote in Parliament.

Congressional Democrats on Tuesday rejected President Trump's invitation to a lunch meeting at the White House to discuss border security, in the latest sign that both sides of the government shutdown standoff remain entrenched in their positions with no compromise in sight. A senior administration official told Fox News that the president had invited Democrats to join his lunch with members of Congress in the Roosevelt Room shortly after noon. But moments before the session, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that nobody took them up on the offer. "The President has a proposal on the...

FRiends, call your U.S. Representative today! Whether Democrat or Republican, all Congresspersons need to hear from the people in their Districts. Keep it short: We need the wall. Approve the funding. The Democratic Party has approved more than enough funding in the past, so quit playing politics with the People's security. Don't know your District or Rep? There's a link for your Congressional District in the thread.