Free Republic

If, as the great Abraham Lincoln once said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," then the American experiment may well and truly be hosed. The House finally got around to making the latest witch hunt formal, voting mostly along party lines to move the impeachment inquiry forward. I use to be one of those "Hey, we survived the Civil War, we'll get through this" optimists when it came to America's future. This past year may not have killed that optimism, but it has worn it down a bit. There isn't an adult of sound mind in this country who...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged Friday not to raise middle-class taxes to fund her "Medicare for All" plan, responding to pressure she faced as she emerged as a front-runner in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.In a new outline, Warren's campaign said her single-payer health plan would cost the country "just under" $52 trillion over a decade, which includes $20.5 trillion in new federal spending. It estimates the proposal would cost just less than the estimated $52 trillion in spending for the current system over 10 years. The Massachusetts Democrat's campaign said her plan would give every American "full...

Alex Vindman’s testimony about the July 25 call between the two presidents does not add any new facts. So, what does he say? He offers his opinions about the wisdom of the call. That’s it. ================================================================ A lot of rhetoric is being thrown around, both in print media and on TV, about Lt. Col. Alex Vindman’s testimony before the House Intelligence Committee about President Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine. He has been lauded by Democrats and the press (excuse the redundancy), and most of the commentary and reporting ignores any analysis of his allegations about the call....

< SNIP> In April of this year, Senators Grassley and Johnson sent a letter to Attorney General Barr asking him for any information on the following (or perhaps this was their way of encouraging him to look into something). What they specifically asked about was related to some text messages from corrupt FBI Agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page referring to a “CI guy” in the White House – Next Grassley and Johnson provide the exact text messages they wanted Barr to look into. The text from Peter Strzok says “Do we want Joe to go with Evania instead of...

<p>KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan security units backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have carried out extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, indiscriminate air strikes and other rights abuses and should be disbanded, a rights group said on Thursday.</p> <p>Human Rights Watch said it investigated 14 cases in which CIA-backed Afghan counterinsurgency forces committed serious abuses in Afghanistan between late 2017 and mid-2019.</p>

One hundred years ago representatives of numerous units of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), the United States’ World War I deployment, met in Paris in March 1919 to found an organization to boost troop morale and take care of its members. The situation was daunting - World War I was the largest mobilization of American troops in the history of the republic, larger than even the combined Union and Confederate mobilizations, and on foreign soil no less. This “American Legion Caucus” would eventually soon morph into an organization to support veterans of the war in benefits and aid as well as...

In this episode, I address the explosive new ties between the alleged “whistleblower” and key players in the plot to take down, and spy on, the Trump administration. I also address the latest in NY Times media bias.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/adam-schiffs-staff-includes-2-aides-who-worked-with-whistleblower-at-white-house

EXCLUSIVE: Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s long-awaited "Medicare-for-all" funding plan projects the government-run health care system would cost a staggering sum of "just under $52 trillion" over the next decade, with the campaign proposing a host of new tax increases to pay for it while still claiming the middle class would not face any additional burden. “We don’t need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance Medicare for All,” Sen. Warren, D-Mass., said in her plan — a copy of which was obtained by Fox News. Some of Warren’s rivals for the nomination are unlikely...

Scientists have dramatically underestimated the impact rising seas will have on cities around the world, according to research published in the journal Nature Communications. One hundred and fifty million people are currently living in places that will be below the high-tide line in 30 years - three times as many people as the old projection methods estimated. Previous estimates relied on satellite data to forecast sea-level rise, but satellites can’t distinguish between ground level and taller elements integrated into the landscape, like trees and buildings. The paper, authored by Scott Kulp and Benjamin Strauss of the Princeton, used artificial intelligence...

The never-ending quest of modern educators to find new ways of learning that will never hurt any child's feelings has not been a resounding success thus far. The ambitious attempt to standardize learning across the country known as Common Core can now be measured and the news isn't good. The Common Core website explains the initiative: a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from...

Congratulations to Mr. Trump, the U.S. military and intelligence communities for tracking and killing the barbaric ISIS leader al Baghdadi, further wounding the caliphate and reaffirming America’s leadership in the war against terrorists.  As President Trump said, “These savage monsters will not escape their fate, and they will not escape the final judgment of God.”On 9/11/01, having just commuted through the World Trade Center, I witnessed the savagery of Islamic terrorism that murdered my cousin Steve Schlag among the 3,000 innocent victims.  Incredibly, our family also experienced murder by domestic terrorists a generation before.Time to deliver American Justice to all...

A new report from RealClearInvestigations reveals that the anti-Trump “whistleblower” who prompted the current impeachment proceedings against President Trump is a registered Democrat who worked with a Democratic National Committee opposition researcher who dug up dirt on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. Federal documents reveal that the whistleblower, Eric Ciaramella, previously worked in the Obama administration with former Vice President Joe Biden and former CIA Director John Brennan. RealClear reports that Ciaramella remained there into the Trump administration, and headed the Ukraine desk at the National Security Council, eventually transitioning into the West Wing, until June 2017. He...

When the Washington Nationals made it to the World Series, I wrote that hardly a man is now alive who remembers the last time a Washington baseball team got that far. The year was 1933. Now, the Nationals have won the World Series. I suspect that nary a man is now alive who remembers the last time Washington experienced ultimate success in the sport. The year was 1924. Like this year’s Series, the one in 1924 went seven games. In the finale, Walter Johnson, who had lost two games as a starter, pitched four innings of relief and got the...

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 128,000 in October, exceeding the estimate of 75,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 128,000 in October as the U.S. economy overcame the weight of the GM autoworkers’ strike and created jobs at a pace well above expectations. Even with a decline of 42,000 in the motor vehicles and parts industry, the pace of new jobs well exceeded the estimate of 75,000 from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The loss of jobs came due to the General Motors strike that has since been settled. That 42,000 job loss itself was less than...

New York (CNN Business)The US economy added 128,000 jobs in October. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.6%. The United States lost 36,000 manufacturing jobs last month, impacted primarily by the GM strike.

It has been 1,225 days since an all-time-high turnout of British voters chose, by a 52 to 48% margin, to Leave rather than Remain in the European Union. Now with a general election set for Dec. 12, it looks like Britain is finally about to escape the EU's "ever closer union." The issue is unfamiliar to most Americans, yet the cleavages it has caused closely resemble our own. American foreign policy elites have long encouraged European unity, on the sentimental principle that it worked well for us in 1776 or the long-obsolete argument that it would prevent another cataclysmic war...

EXCLUSIVE: Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s long-awaited "Medicare-for-all" funding plan projects the government-run health care system would cost a staggering sum of "just under $52 trillion" over the next decade, with the campaign proposing a host of new tax increases to pay for it while still claiming the middle class would not face any additional burden. “We don’t need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance Medicare for All,” Sen. Warren, D-Mass., said in her plan — a copy of which was obtained by Fox News. FUNDING MEDICARE-FOR-ALL WITH TAXES ONLY ON RICH IS 'IMPOSSIBLE,'...

President Trump is holding a rally Friday night in Tupelo, Mississippi, a state that voted overwhelmingly for the president in 2016. He is rallying in support of Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, the Republican nominee for governor. In November, Reeves will face Democratic candidate Jim Hood, the state's attorney general since 2003. How to watch Trump's rally •What: Trump rally •Date: November 1, 2019 •Time: 8 p.m. ET, 7 p.m. CT •Location: BancorpSouth Arena – Tupelo, Mississippi •Online stream: CBSN, in the video player above Reeves supports less government, and he opposes Medicaid expansion, as well as a gas tax to...

What are the roots of our present disorder, of the hostilities and hatreds that so divide us? When did we become this us vs. them nation? Who started the fire? Many trace the roots of our uncivil social conflict to the 1960s and the Johnson years when LBJ, victorious in a 61% landslide in 1964, could not, by 1968, visit a college campus without triggering a violent protest. The morning after his narrow presidential victory in 1968, Richard Nixon said his goal would be to "bring us together." And in early 1969, he seemed to be succeeding. His inaugural address...