Free Republic

The Democrats are attempting to con President Trump into a decision that could end his bid for re-election. It’s a horrible idea! The main reason you know it’s a horrible idea is that you are the one they are expecting to pay for it. And when’s the last time that Democrats ever forced you to pay for something you actually wanted? Through politispeak-gobbledygook they have whispered to one another that they can convince President Trump to deliver them a multi-fold win—and, they think to themselves—we can crucify his re-election chances in 2020. They are not wrong. What they are seeking...

There are two links for this story. I started linking to the short video which I originally watched. It is from Asia Times. Basically it is almost an advertisement for the article. Runs about a minute and a half, although it mentions the major points from the article. Then there is an actual article in the Asia Times. I will also include a link to that article, for those who want to read the full thing.

The downward spiral in oil prices is accelerating as a surge in crude production from a turbocharged U.S. petroleum industry runs into weaker global economic growth. A big reason why: the emergence of the U.S. oil industry as one of the world’s most important players. Ballooning shale production—American output has nearly doubled since the start of 2012—has made the U.S. a key supplier and exacerbated worries about a global glut of crude. The U.S. now exports more energy than it imports, by one measure. ...defying skeptics who previously warned OPEC’s grip on world markets had slipped thanks to U.S. shale.

Link only due to copyright issues: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-approval-ratings-poll-race-relations-white-men-republicans-nationalist-a8649091.html

‘They haven’t gotten his job approval over 50 percent, like Reagan,’ says one GOP pollster. Donald Trump insists the GOP’s midterm election shellacking had nothing to do with him. Things will be different, he says, when his name is actually on the ballot in 2020. While it’s true that most presidents who see their party suffer major losses in their first midterm election get reelected anyway, Trump isn’t most presidents — and there are lots of blaring-red warning lights in this month’s election results for his bid for a second term. Unlike most of his predecessors, he’s been persistently unpopular,...

A little more than 1.9 million people signed up for health insurance in the first three weeks of the Affordable Care Act open enrollment for 2019 coverage. That compares with almost 2.3 million during the first three weeks of open enrollment last year, which included an additional day. Americans are signing up for coverage through the federal marketplace at a slower rate this year, but the CMS numbers don't include enrollment in states that operate their own exchanges. It also does not include those who will be automatically enrolled in plans during the last week of open enrollment, which ends...

President Donald Trump campaigned on deals. Making deals — like an Israel-Palestine peace accord. And breaking deals — like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Iran Deal, both of which he labeled disasters. Since entering the Oval Office in 2016, Trump — a self-professed negotiator —has delivered on many of his promises to abandon international pacts that previous administrations had authorized. As the United States plans for an early exit from a key, Cold War-era nuclear agreement with Russia, here is a look at some of the landmark international deals, partnerships, and organizations the Trump White House has spurned. The Trans-Pacific...

An interesting thing is happening right now in America's industrial heartland. Manufacturers are adding new workers at a brisk pace. And it's happening right in front of the very pundits and free-trade economists who predicted economic catastrophe over the past year. Simply put, President Donald Trump's tariffs are working. U.S. manufacturing employment has now shown year-on-year growth of more than 250,000 employees for six consecutive months. That's the largest and most sustained manufacturing job growth since 1998. In fact, the U.S. added 32,000 manufacturing jobs in October alone, for a total of 296,000 new factory jobs since October 2017. Overall,...

The House passed a bill Friday that would remove federal protections for the gray wolf, allowing ranchers, hunters and others to kill the animals. The Manage Our Wolves Act passed 196-180, mainly with Republican support. It would direct the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to end Endangered Species Act protections for the species and prohibit lawsuits challenging the removal. The GOP and many western states have long argued that four decades of federal protections have been too successful in bringing the wolf back from the brink of extinction, and the species now poses a significant threat to livestock, pets and...

Republicans are losing their hold on upper-middle-class suburbs, and the tax reform bill may be to blame. Although a number of races are still too close to call, Democrats have taken 30 seats so far — more than the 23 GOP districts they needed to seize control of the House of Representatives. In swing districts across the country, new Democratic challengers vowed to defy the Trump administration while Republican incumbents touted the benefits of tax reform and a booming economy. But the GOP’s tax reform bill may have disenfranchised fiscal conservatives in higher-income areas, since the Trump tax cuts capped...

WASHINGTON — Congress returns to a changed political landscape Tuesday as newly-elected lawmakers arrive in Washington, the parties elect new leadership and incumbents square off for one final legislative sprint before House Democrats take power. Voters swept away eight years of House Republican control in last week's election, creating a new political dynamic that's challenging President Donald Trump even before the new 116th Congress begins in January. For their last act, Republicans will try to deliver on Trump's promise to fund the border wall, which could spark a partial federal government shutdown in weeks. Newly emboldened Democrats are in no...

Over 1 million American workers with over 100 companies are set to receive a bonus, pay hike or retirement increase as a direct result of President Trump’s tax reform package.The latest list from Americans for Tax Reform, which has been collecting the names of firms paying the Trump bonus, finds that some are paying as much as $3,000.Many of those firms have reached out to Secrets to get added to the list since we’ve been publishing ATR’s list compiled by the tax reform advocate’s communications chief John Kartch.One company, IAT Insurance of Raleigh, N.C., wrote Secrets today asking to be...

California is a place unlike any other on the Globe. It boasts perhaps the greatest natural resources of any state along with shining high-tech industries. However, like many good economic stories, government policies threaten its future. Indeed, its government has made California unsustainable. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. As the 1960s came to a close in California, it had a population of nearly twenty million. In the decade before, its economic strength afforded the construction of a vast State Water Project and higher education system that was the envy of the world. Matched with a majestic and trade...

Now that the smoke has cleared and we view the carnage, it's important to note that the last laugh should be on the Democrats. Republicans have until January 2nd, 2019 to make that a reality. With a little under two months left before the new Democrat majority in the House is sworn in, Republicans can push through every single element of President Trump's agenda. Fund the wall. Check. Increase the tax cuts to the middle class. Check. Make all the tax cuts permanent. Check. Ratify the new USMCA agreement. Check. Abolish birthright citizenship. Check. Finalize a limited DACA. Check. Did...

On Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans will compete for the 42nd time in a nonpresidential-year contest -- a rivalry that goes back to 1854. That's the oldest such partisan competition in the world. And despite the complaints of today's Democrats that the Constitution is biased against them, Democrats have won Senate majorities 16 times -- versus 10 times for Republicans -- since senators started being elected by popular vote in 1914. Similarly, in the 164 years of midterm Republican-Democratic House contests, Democrats have won control of the House 24 times, compared with 17 for Republicans. In other words, over the...

Close to the end of the year each year going back decades, The Economist magazine puts out an issue in which they take a look at the coming year and 2018 is no exception. As we had reported on ANP back on July 11th of 2017, back in 1988, The Economist put out a story in which the cover photo featured the mythical ‘phoenix’ rising out of the ashes of burning dollar bills and other paper/fiat money, wearing a gold medallion with the year ‘2018’ on it with their title, “Get Ready For A World Currency“. Reporting in their story...

President Donald Trump urged supporters Monday morning that while there has been a historic turnaround for the United States under his administration, “it’s all fragile,” and they must get people out to vote. Trump supporters from around the country joined the president and top Trump team figures on a “Lead One Vote to Victory Telephone Town Hall” conference call Monday. The president pointed to what he called perhaps the finest economy America has ever seen, posting massive October jobs numbers despite multiple bad hurricanes. “They’re only going to get better,” he said of the economic numbers. “We have a tremendous...

Because President Trump is an Alt-Right, White-Supremacist, Nationalist Racist who wants to bring black slavery back in America, he dispatched a tweet proudly declaring record support among black voters. “New Fox Poll shows a ‘40% Approval Rating by African Americans for President Trump, a record for Republicans.’ Thank you, a great honor!” See, the thing you don’t understand about Alt-Right, White Supremacist, Nationalist Racists is that while their entire mission is to bring back black slavery, they also really want to be popular among black voters. Such disgusting white privilege! Of course the Great White Media immediately pounced on the...

Under normal circumstances, Republicans would be poised to lose Tuesday’s midterm elections by a landslide. History says dozens of seats in the House of Representatives flip in the first midterm of a new presidential administration. But history is a guide, not a rule. And current the circumstances of the country are anything but normal. I’m not talking about President Donald Trump and his Twitter account, though that certainly is outside the usual. I’m talking about what it is the opposition party is offering and the idea that some people, perhaps enough to flip the House, might take it considering...

The blue wave is now a bygone figment of a liberal Hollywood fantasy. Voter excitement is clearly with the Republican Party and President Donald Trump! There is a Red Wave Rising! One pundit, Michael E. Newton, has been tracking the 2018 mid-term election data to date. He addresses people’s questions about mid-term voting to date: Newton explains that because Democrat and Republican voting may have gotten closer each day, doesn’t mean that the Democrats are really catching up in early voting. It just means the Republican percent of gains over 2016 are not as great as they were yesterday: What...