Free Republic

Political oratory is a dying art form that few are good at and even fewer master. But since her arrival on the national stage in 2008, Sarah Palin has proven to be a practitioner of a very special brand of oratory that has its roots in the plain speaking prairie populists of the late 19th and early 20th century. Fighting established interests, damning the elites who they felt were responsible for the terrible rural poverty of the time, prairie populism swept through the heartland, roiling politics and giving a sense of empowerment to people as they battled the east coast...

A Harvard professor took to the podium at a finance conference Friday and called major influencer of modern economics John Maynard Keynes wrong about his philosophies because he was gay and childless. During a question and answer session in Carlsbad, California, well-known historian Niall Ferguson was asked how he felt about the theories of English economist John Maynard Keynes versus those of Edmund Burke. What the prominent Obama critic said in response hushed the crowd of over 500. According to Tom Kostigen, editor-at-large of Financial Advisor magazine, Ferguson made it clear that he believed Keynes was uninterested in the what...

POMONA (CBSLA.com) — Authorities in Pomona are hoping the public can tell them how a very drunk shooting victim got wounded. Tommy Dominquez, 41, was shot once in the lower extremities but has been unable to tell investigators how he was hurt. Officials say Dominquez will survive his gunshot wound and believe he was possibly shot in front of a bar. Authorities got a call just after 1:30 a.m. from Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center where Dominguez was taken by private vehicle. Officials went to the alleged scene of the shooting — the 1200 block of East Missing Boulevard —...

Terrifying dash-cam footage captures the moment a crazed motorist opened fire with an AK-47 rifle at police officers who had just pulled him over for a minor traffic violation in Middlefield, Ohio. James Gilkerson, 42, exited his parked car and then fired 37 shots at the officers and their patrol car, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. Officers Erin Thomas and Brandon Savage returned fire, killing Gilkerson.

Two months after the sequester slashed spending across the federal government, the latest jobs report shows the economy is still adding jobs and unemployment is going down. When asked aboard Air Force One Friday if that indicates the economy can withstand the cuts or if it is too soon to tell, White House press secretary Jay Carney maintained the cuts are harming the economy, despite the jobs numbers. "You know, what we know as a general principle going forward, is that every time we get data, no matter what it says, we will know that it would have been better...

Terrorist William Plotnikov carries weapons in this undated photo released by Dagestani branch of the Russian Federal Security Service. Canadian jihadist William Plotnikov told Russian officials about American Tameraln Tsarnaev during interrogations two years ago. The Boston Herald reported: A slain Canadian jihadi gave Russian counter-terrorism agents the tip that put alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev on their radar two years ago, Bay State U.S. Rep. William R. Keating confirmed yesterday — raising questions about whether Tsarnaev’s direct link to the known militant was ever passed on to the FBI or local authorities. Keating told the Herald yesterday his...

This Tuesday, May 7, "gay marriage" in Delaware comes down to the final showdown when the state Senate votes on the "gay marriage" bill. It passed the House last week. At this point it's very close. We're told it's down to one vote in the Senate - and the lobbying on both sides is furious.

The justices of the Supreme Court of Sweden have finished the destruction of a family that was begun in their lower courts, rejecting an appeal of a ruling that permanently separated a young boy from his parents because he was being homeschooled. “In a perfunctory order the Swedish Supreme Court rejected a desperate appeal by Christer and Annie Johansson, parents of Domenic Johansson, who was torn from his parents while minutes from takeoff on an international flight as the family prepared to move to India,” said a report from the Home School Legal Defense Association, which along with a team...

Newly elected National Rifle Association president Jim Porter said that “revenge is what is motivating” President Obama’s second-term push to for new gun control regulations. Porter, an attorney from Alabama, made his remarks at the annual NRA leadership conference in Houston, Texas, on Saturday. “Last fall just before the elections, as community organizer-in-chief, President Obama demanded that his followers extract [sic] revenge. I can’t remember a president ever publicly using that word against fellow Americans,” Porter said. ”And revenge is what is motivating the president’s unremitting attacks on gun owners today.” “Just look at his reaction to his defeat in...

In a country where almost no one pays income tax, including more than two thirds of MPs, it only took seven months for Ali Arshad Hakeem to become a hated man. As Pakistan’s newly minted chief taxman, he built a database designed to monitor the spending habits of millions of people, and work out how much tax they owed. … This quiet, technocratic revolution came to a juddering halt last month, when Mr. Hakeem was suspended by judges over allegations that his appointment breached government rules that demand each job be filled from a shortlist of three. In Pakistan’s murky...

Bill Maher said something on HBO's Real Time Friday that Barack Obama's fans in the media didn't consider when they promoted the former junior senator from Illinois to the White House. "This president wouldn't be president if they had caught him" smoking pot. "He'd still be a community organizer" (video follows with transcript and commentary): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoPyLWWxNj4During the panel discussion, Maher brought up a joke Obama told at last weekend's White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. "He said, ‘The media landscape is changing so rapidly you can't keep up with it. I remember when BuzzFeed was just something I did in college...

After President Obama’s upbeat speech in Mexico on Friday, many in attendance said they were flattered by the description of their country, but others said they hardly recognized the place he had just described. “[That was] a really good speech by President Obama, but what Mexico was he talking about?” said Jose Carlos Cruz, 24, a graduate student in international relations. “Unfortunately in our country, the situation is terrible: There’s poverty, unemployment, and even worse, the future is anything but promising. “How nice that he came to give inspiring speeches, but what’s happening in Mexico is far from what he...

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is yet again considering a meal-tax proposal that would hike the tab at every county restaurant, bar and fast-food establishment by 4 percent. Although it sounds like proposals that have been rejected in the past, including last year, Supervisor Gerry Hyland, D-Mount Vernon, says that this one is different.

A teenager is in jail on a million dollars bail, accused of delivering a baby in the bathroom of her high school and then throwing it in the trash.. Police say 19-year old Cherlie Lafleur gave birth to the baby Tuesday at McCaskey East High School in Lancaster County. The fetus was delivered and found at McCaskey East High School in a restroom, the dead fetus was found at about 10 p.m. last night by custodian in a trash can. Police confirm they have identified and arrested the 19-year-old woman who delivered the fetus as a student at the school,...

Syrian state TV says Israeli rockets have hit a military research centre on the outskirts of the capital Damascus. Huge explosions have been heard in the Mount Qassioun area of the city. The research centre was the target of an earlier Israeli strike in January. On Saturday, Israeli officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Israeli aircraft had attacked a shipment of missiles in Syria. The missiles were believed to be destined for Lebanon's Hezbollah. Heavy explosions shook Damascus on Saturday night. Amateur video footage posted online showed a huge ball of fire rising into the night sky above the...

It really is amazing how liberal media members regularly make false statements on national television with total impunity. Consider MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell who twice on HBO's Real Time Friday arrogantly claimed that the Obamas' federal income tax rate was "in the high twenties" (video follows with transcribed lowlights and commentary): Lawrence O’Donnell: Obama’s Tax Rate ‘In the High Twenties’; Nope! Try 18.4% In a discussion about the federal budget, Pete Hegseth, the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, said, “We missed some opportunities by not arguing for the simplification of the codes that Mitt Romney and President Obama and everyone...

Canadian jihadi under interrogation told Russians about Tamerlan Tsarnaev; they then told FBI (full title) Epic failure. Obama scrubbed our counter terror materials and manuals of jihad, so what would you expect to happen? Even in the wake of the blood and carnage, Eric Holder is admonishing Jews to be tolerant of Islam and warning of "anti-Muslim backlash." That's his takeaway. Canadian jihadi under interrogation told Russians about Tamerlan Tsarnaev; they then told FBI Jihadwatch And the FBI did nothing to stop the Boston Marathon jihad bombing. They received the warning but did nothing, because it had to do with...

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is distancing itself from the the American Psychiatric Association and its upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). While they acknowledge that the goal of DSM "is to provide a common language for describing psychopathology" they are no longer convinced that approach has value if we are going to solve 21st century cognitive science problems.  It is, paraphrasing the statement  of Thomas R. Insel, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, more of a dictionary than a manual.  He uses the term "Bible" instead of 'manual' but I would...

Try as they might, the liberal sports media's efforts to shame the Washington Redskins into ditching their team name out of political correctness concerns hasn't significantly moved public opinion. A brand new Associated Press-GfK poll found 79 percent of respondents favored keeping the name. Of course in his story on the poll, AP's Ben Nuckols weighted his piece heavily with Skins detractors, including former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. "There’s a derogatory name for every ethnic group in America, and we shouldn’t be using those words," the Colorado Republican complained. "We probably haven’t gotten our message out as well as it...

A new poll from Emily’s List shows an overwhelming number of voters now support the idea. It’s a movement the group hopes someone in the sisterhood is about to inherit. Stephanie Schriock, president of Emily’s List, which raises money and works to elect pro-choice Democratic women, said she has no inside knowledge of what Clinton is likely to do, but there is widespread acceptance of a woman as president, and 72 percent of voters surveyed think it’s likely to happen in 2016. While Clinton gets mentioned most, there’s no guarantee she will run, which is why Emily’s List wants to...