Free Republic

One thing that every late-stage ruling class has in common is a high tolerance for mediocrity. Standards decline, the edges fray, but nobody in charge seems to notice. They’re happy in their sinecures and getting richer. In a culture like this, there’s no penalty for being wrong. The talentless prosper, rising inexorably toward positions of greater power, and breaking things along the way. It happened to the Ottomans. Max Boot is living proof that it’s happening in America. Boot is a professional foreign policy expert, a job category that doesn’t exist outside of a select number of cities. Boot has...

Mike Pence: "The president usurping power and end running Congress is a profound mistake." 2014

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...

Two black Nigerian men, both extras on Empire, have now been arrested… Key Detail In Investigation – How Police Knew Jussie Was Lying Sources close to Chicago reporters have said the police were able to crack the case after their request for Smollett’s call log was denied by the actor. They subpoenaed the phone records instead and continued to publicly treat Smollett as a victim of a hate crime. When he finally turned over a PDF file of his call log nearly two weeks later, investigators were able to examine which calls the actor omitted compared to their own official...

Two people have been arrested in connection with the attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, police confirmed Friday. The men, who police have been identified as Nigerian brothers, were in custody after being picked up at the Chicago O’Hare airport Wednesday. Their names have not been released, as the men have not yet been charged. Police confirmed earlier Friday that the two people being questioned in the Jussie Smollett attack investigation were being classified as potential suspects. They were initially described as persons of interest when police announced they were talking to them on Thursday.

President Trump on Friday signed a spending package to avert another government shutdown, his top spokesman said. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Trump approved the measure on Friday afternoon in the executive mansion. Reporters were not on hand to witness the bill signing. The move came hours after Trump announced during a freewheeling, 50-minute news conference that he is declaring a national emergency to bypass Congress and obtain $8 billion for his long-desired border wall, a move that triggered a major legal showdown with Democrats.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday announced plans to sue President Trump for declaring a national emergency to access funds for a southern border wall. “President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up ‘national emergency’ in order to seize power and subvert the constitution,” Newsom said in a statement hours after the president’s declaration. “Our message back to the White House is simple and clear: California will see you in court.” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a news conference that Trump does not have the power to "act frivolously" to redirect federal funding away from...

Students at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California are having their First Amendment rights trampled on by school administrators. Students from OCC's Young Americans for Freedom chapter on Wednesday were tabling during a student recruitment fair. The goal was simple: to attract new members to the conservative student organization. Part of the students' booth display included a pro-Second Amendment flag that said "Don't Tread On Me" and "2nd Amendment Since 1789." But because two silhouettes of rifles appeared on the flag, administrators approached the students during the recruitment fair and demanded it be taken down. According to the...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is facing ethics questions after revelations the freshman lawmaker's office gave her boyfriend a congressional email account. The democratic socialist waded into the issue in response to a tweet alleging boyfriend Riley Roberts had been put on staff. The tweet included a screenshot of an official House email address. Ocasio-Cortez insisted that he was only given the email account so he could access her calendar. “Actually this calendar designation is a permission so he can have access to my Google Calendar. Congressional spouses get Gcal access all the time,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote, after a political consultant Luke Thompson...

Today I was in a store named “Sunglasses Only”. A young lady walked over to me and asked, "What brings you in today?” I looked at her and said, "I'm interested in buying a refrigerator." She didn't quite know how to respond. I was thinking about old age and decided that old age is when you still have something on the ball, but you are just too tired to bounce it. When people see a cat's litter box they always say, "Oh, have you got a cat?" Just once I want to say, "No, it's for company! Employment application blanks...

In a teaching as clear and fresh as the blue Sea of Galilee, Jesus said this is how you should pray:“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:9–13). This prayer is a clear, straightforward pattern for developing a God-filled life. Jesus did not say, “Pray this.” He said, “This is how you should pray.”...

NASA wants ideas for moon landers, space tugs and refueling ships. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine details the agency's plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2028 to space industry teams. (Image: © Joel Kowsky/NASA) =================================================================== WASHINGTON — NASA really wants to land astronauts on the moon in 2028. But to do that, the agency is looking to commercial space companies to build the landers, space tugs and refueling stations required to make a moon exploration effort that lasts. "This time, when we go to the moon we're going to stay," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told a roomful of space...

Writer Luke Thompson was temporarily suspended by Twitter for calling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez out on giving her boyfriend a job in her Congressional office. Thompson had discovered that Ocasio-Cortez’s boyfriend, Riley Roberts, is now listed as staff in the House directory and tweeted “while you were having a nice Valentine’s Day, @AOC decided to put her boyfriend on staff – drawing a salary on the taxpayer’s dime. Nice to see her adapting to the swamp so quickly.” Twitter claimed that a screenshot of his House directory listing violated the rules against posting private information.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a case about the Trump administration's plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. The justices decided to skip over a regional appeals court and review a district court ruling that bars the Trump administration from adding the controversial question to the decennial population count. They granted the government’s request to hear arguments this term ahead of a ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Arguments will be heard in the second week in April.

Two years after 200,000 people evacuated as the nation's tallest dam threatened to spill over, a judge will hear arguments Friday about whether accusations of corruption, sexism and racism at the California Department of Water Resources played a part in it all.(SNIP)

CNN's Chris Cillizza on Thursday rationalized the actions of former FBI acting Director, Andrew McCabe, who revealed that he and other top ranking DOJ officials discussed recruiting Cabinet members in order to remove President Donald Trump from office. Cillizza absurdly attempted to justify it. Cillizza's gimmick was to provide what he calls two ways of looking at what McCabe and his colleagues attempted to do. In the first example which Cillizza provided in a mocking tone was that of Trump supporters who would view this as a deep state coup. The second example respectfully cited was that of Trump opponents (which...

Brooks calls on the President to Invoke Title 10 sec. 248 of the U.S. code https://youtu.be/LryeNnUmegA House Freedom Caucus member Mo Brooks urged President Trump to use National Emergencies Act of 1976, Title 10 U.S. Code Section 284, and every other possible federal statute to build the wall in a fiery speech earlier today.

Democratic defections were mostly Hispanic Caucus members, progressives concerned about immigration enforcement House Democrats were just two votes short Thursday night of being able to clear a fiscal 2019 appropriations package without Republican help, while less than half of the GOP conference voted for the bill to avert another government shutdown. That dynamic may foreshadow battles ahead as the new House Democratic majority will try to exert its influence over government spending while still having to deal with a Republican president and Senate. By and large, House Democrats only losing 19 of their members on the $333 billion spending package...

Congress believes the Pentagon has $21 billion in unobligated military construction funding—money that has been appropriated by the legislature and set aside for specific projects but not yet issued—that the president could use to build the wall over objections from Congress, according to two congressional aides. The $21 billion comes from funds in the Defense Department’s budget that were appropriated for various military construction projects over the last five years but not yet spent, the aides said. The largest chunk, $10 billion, is from the appropriation for fiscal year 2019, which Congress just passed and is largely unspent. The rest,...

West Springfield Police District – Detectives from our Major Crimes Bureau have charged Bernard Betts-King with an additional charge of raping a woman through the use of her mental incapacity. An investigation uncovered the victim was raped in early 2017. Detectives believe there may be additional victims and are asking for anyone with information to contact them at 703-246-7800. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by visiting http://www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org, or text-a-tip by texting “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES (274637). Betts-King is currently being held without bond at the Adult Detention Center.