Free Republic

Hope this works. Overwhelming construction - must have taken millions of workers.

In his so-called “maiden speech,” delivered on the floor of the Senate on May 15, Hawley spoke with the coiled energy of a reformer, the intense passion of a muckraker, and the Trumanesque bluntness of a Show-Me Stater. In his address, he offered no defense of the status quo and nary a word about his fellow Republicans—no ode to President Donald Trump nor paean to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He didn’t insult them; he simply didn’t mention them. Instead, Hawley used his quick 14 minutes to strike a stark tone on other topics. He used the word “despair”—as in...

immigration plan meant to reshape how and which people are allowed into the United States. The plan would prioritize merit-based immigration and high-skilled labor over those who already have family here. Far from comprehensive or sufficient, it's a modest improvement over the administration's previous restrictive pushes. The plan's centerpiece is a shift toward a "merit" system very similar to those in place in Australia and Canada. The reform would boost skill-based immigration from 12% to 57%, while decreasing family-based and lottery-based immigration by 50%. This is great news for employers in the market for high-skilled workers. Indeed, the cap for...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Defense is considering a U.S. military request to send about 5,000 additional troops to the Middle East amid increasing tensions with Iran, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday. Tehran and Washington have this month been escalating rhetoric against each other, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to try to cut Iran’s oil exports to zero and beef up the U.S. military presence in the Gulf in response to what he said were Iranian threats. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the request had been made by U.S. Central Command,...

I have yet to figure out why the Russians would help Trump get elected. The Mueller report says that a Russian businessman with "close ties" to Putin ran some ads on social media to help Trump get elected. Thus "the Russians" interfered with our election. The report is silent about any foreign ads to help Hillary. Did those happen too? If so, what was the scale compared to the Trump ads? Nothing in the report. If the Clintons can be bought, why wouldn't the Russians want Hillary to get elected?

The U.S.-China trade war could take a big chunk out of Apple’s bottom line if China retaliates by banning its products, according to an analyst at Goldman Sachs. Analyst Rod Hall said in a note to clients that Apple’s earnings could drop by 29% if the company’s products were banned in mainland China. The analyst cut his price target on Apple to $178 per share from $184, representing a 4.6% downside from Tuesday’s close of $186.60.

Best-selling author and talk radio star Mark Levin has another terrific new book that debuted at No. 1 on the charts. The media habitually ignore Levin's books -- no New York Times reviews, no TV interviews, nothing -- and it must drive them insane that he still sells millions of copies. But this one's called "Unfreedom of the Press," and it's a direct shot at them, so some may find it impossible to resist a response. One has already responded and in so doing explains why Levin chose to unload on his profession. Book critic Annalisa Quinn took to National...

There was a time when health care technology meant expensive new machines that only hospitals could afford. The costs were so enormous that only insurance companies could pay for their use and insurance bureaucrats only grudgingly allowed people to get needed tests and treatment. Today, however, tech is putting health care tools in the hands of individual Americans at amazingly reasonable costs. The transformation brought about by the new technology will fundamentally disrupt every aspect of the health care industry. One simple example is the monitor I use to check my blood sugar on a regular basis. A generation or...

A 1-year-old girl is recovering after she was run over by a Boston police cruiser in the city's Roxbury neighborhood on Monday. The incident happened around 7 p.m. in the area of 618 Shawmut Ave. Surveillance footage showed the cruiser pulling out from a curb and knocking the child to the ground. A man wearing a yellow T-shirt rushed to the child to help her while the girl's mother, who was standing nearby, appeared frantic and dropped what she was holding.

Today the Senate confirmed 4 more @RealDonaldTrump judges, bringing the total to 112! These Judges serve as the last line of defense for the rule of law around the country 🇺🇸 #PromisesMadePromisesKept

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The entire Trump-Russia collusion narrative was always implausible. One, the Washington swamp of fixers such as Paul Manafort and John and Tony Podesta was mostly bipartisan and predated Trump. Two, the Trump administration's Russia policies were far tougher on Vladimir Putin than were those of Barack Obama. Trump confronted Russia in Syria, upped defense spending, increased sanctions and kept the price of oil down through massive new U.S. energy production. He did not engineer a Russian "reset" or get caught on a hot mic offering a self-interested hiatus in tensions with Russia in order to help his own re-election bid....

In his book "Discrimination and Disparities," economist Thomas Sowell notes that a disproportionate percentage of first-born siblings become National Merit scholars compared to siblings born later, presumably because the first-born starts life with no sibling competition for parental attention. This, says Sowell, illustrates the absurdities of expecting equal results when equal results do not even occur within the same family among siblings raised under the same roof with the same parents. When I was growing up in South Central Los Angeles, one of my closest friends was "Paul." We met in the second grade and attended the same elementary school,...

At President Trump’s rally in Montoursville Monday night, healthcare was as prominent in the president’s remarks as it is in the minds of Pennsylvania’s voters.It’s a shame that this incredibly important issue — one that is literally a matter of life or death for so many people — has been the subject of lies and deep partisan spin by establishment politicians. Sometimes it feels almost impossible to get all the facts.We know we pay too much for healthcare in America, sometimes absurdly so, as in the case of some prescription medications. What we don’t know is why it has...

Israel has tried a variety of methods to disperse its periodic protests by Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews: rows of policemen, officers on horseback, even a foul-smelling spray known as "Skunk." But during last weekend’s protests in Jerusalem over the Eurovision Song Contest being held on the Sabbath, a handful of Israeli women tried a more peaceful, more innovative, and theoretically more effective tactic: they took their shirts off. Haredi men are forbidden to view erotic images of women other than their wives, and in some cases to view women at all.

Theresa May is scrambling to salvage something from the wreckage of her premiership today after a Cabinet mutiny effectively killed off her Brexit plans. The Prime Minister is holed up in Downing Street with her closest aides as the sun sets on her time in power - with a resignation announcement seen as inevitable after she meets Tory 1922 chief Graham Brady tomorrow. She is expected to meet Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid later as she faces pressure to scrap her promise of a referendum vote from the Withdrawal Agreement Bill. The move sparked a furious...

President Donald Trump must be guilty of something, the Democrats insist. After all, he tweets mean things and refuses to let White House staffers testify about their private interactions with him. Why else would someone do that? Besides, he’s a Republican, and in the liberal world, that is grounds enough to impeach. The only thing missing from the Democrats' push to undo the will of the people is any evidence or legal reason to do so, but they aren’t going to let that stop them. Liberals know Donald Trump is corrupt, they just can’t prove it. That inability to prove...

Today’s Cryptogram TX CXB FKCT RCPBAKCV BARB RCPXCO BOJJY PXD RHXDB RCPXCO OJYO. WDTVO ONOLPXCO RCT ONOLPBAKCV EXL PXDLYOJE. ---AOCLP WRFOY I love today’s words of wisdom, and it also harbors some cool letter sequences eg “ABCA” twice? My my! You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE...

The last few days have seen a spike in celebrities who just can’t hold their tongues or mask their hatred for President Trump. The tendency for those of us who voted for Trump is to eye-roll, shrug, dismiss, or insult the partisan stars in question. But every-so-often, I feel compelled to explore their behavior and express my disappointment in them anyway. There’s only one reason I’d read Newsweek, and it’s to read the work of a contributing writer who’s also a broadcasting colleague I admire greatly. His name is Lee Habeeb, host of Salem Media Group’s “Our American Stories.” He...

Liberals sure love #Science, but like all conservatives I just hate #Science so very, very much. Did you know that 97% of #Science-people, who clearly love #Science, agree that the global warming climate crisis means we have to immediately give the liberal elite a bunch of our money and freedom because of #Science? Well, we do – and as of a couple of months ago, noted #Scientist AOC informed us that we have exactly 12 years to do it. Okay, 11 years, ten months. Tick tock! You know it’s true #Science because of the specificity of her 12 years figure....