Free Republic

With Marco Rubio out of the race for the White House, two of his top backers in Texas are throwing their support to Ted Cruz. State Reps. James Frank of Wichita Falls and Jason Isaac of Dripping Springs, both Republicans, said Wednesday afternoon they plan to help out in whatever way possible to help elect Cruz, Texas' junior U.S. senator. "I’m definitely planning on backing Sen. Cruz at this point," Frank said. "I think honestly both Rubio and Cruz are very similar on the vast majority of issues."

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has secured more than half of the delegates needed to win the nomination, but he will need to pick up his pace to clinch 1,237 delegates and avoid a contested convention. Trump’s strong performance in the Tuesday night primaries will make it tough for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to catch him. He has secured 621 delegates, according to The Associated Press's projections as of 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, compared to 396 for Cruz and 138 for Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Those three men are now the only active GOP candidates. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) suspended his...

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The state can try again to put to death a condemned killer whose 2009 botched execution was called off after two hours, the Ohio Supreme Court said Wednesday. The court by a 4-3 vote rejected arguments by death row inmate Romell Broom, whose attorneys said giving the state prisons agency a second chance would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy. Prosecutors had argued double jeopardy doesn't apply because lethal drugs never entered Broom's veins while executioners unsuccessfully tried to hook up an IV. They also said a previously unsuccessful execution attempt doesn't affect the...

A young Pakistani man killed while preventing a suicide bomber from entering a crowded church should be considered for canonization, according to Catholics marking the anniversary of a deadly terrorist attack carried out in Lahore on March 15 last year. Volunteer security guard Akash Bashir, 20, stopped the suicide bomber from entering St. John's Catholic Church and tackled him while being aware he wore a bomb vest. The attacker from a Taliban splinter group detonated the bomb, killing himself and Bashir outside the church. Father Francis Gulzar, the parish priest, said the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on two...

When asked.. Who is Trump consulting on foreign policy? Trump: I'm speaking with myself, I have a very good brain

.@SenateMajLdr McConnell responds to SCOTUS nomination: "Give the people a voice in filling this vacancy" https://t.co/Yfu961lwAS — MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 16, 2016 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday shot down the idea of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland getting a hearing. McConnell insisted in a floor speech that the vacancy should be filled by the next president. “The next justice could fundamentally alter the direction of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on our country, so of course the American people should have a say in the court’s direction," he said. "The Senate will continue to...

A small group of Senate Republicans is breaking with its party's Supreme Court strategy, with lawmakers saying they're willing to meet with President Obama's pick to succeed Justice Antonin Scalia. Seven Republicans so far have said they are open to considering or meeting with Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia who was nominated for the Supreme Court earlier Wednesday by President Obama. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she agreed to meet with Garland after the White House reached out, but said such a meeting will take place after the Senate...

Should Cruz drop out? I want to throw that question out in a thread for discussion. I say yes. Yes because the RNC strategy is to run out the clock and hit the convention without a winner. They think splitting the vote is their best strategy to dilute Trump's delegate count over the rest of the primary. I say let the RNC really have it their way and make the rest of the primaries be a referendum on Trump or the RNC. Their man Kasich vs Trump, one on one. No one can say that is not fair and clear.

Has Donald Trump shifted to general election mode? Fresh off a clean sweep of Super Tuesday 2, the Republican front runner appeared on CNN via telephone and took aim at Hillary Clinton. Host Chris Cuomo played a clip of Clinton lambasting Trump during her victory speech last night. Among other things, she said, “Our commander-in-chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it.” Trump promptly returned fire. “I think she’s an embarrassment to our country. She’s under federal investigation. She doesn’t have the strength or the stamina to be president, frankly, as far as I’m concerned.

Geologists from the University of Sydney and the California Institute of Technology have solved the mystery of how Australia's highest mountain -- Mount Kosciuszko -- and surrounding Alps came to exist. Most of the world's mountain belts are the result of two continents colliding (e.g. the Himalayas) or volcanism. The mountains of Australia's Eastern highlands -- stretching from north-eastern Queensland to western Victoria -- are an exception. Until now no one knew how they formed. A research team spearheaded by Professor Dietmar Müller from the University's School of Geosciences used high performance computing code to investigate the cause of the...

The 2016 Republican Primary has been anything but predictable and, at times, it has been downright ugly. At a time when the vast majority of the American people feel life is tough, it is getting tougher, but nobody in Washington cares, the environment is ripe for Republicans to present an inspiring alternative to the failed agenda of the left. Yet, rather than showing this path forward, the Republican Party appears to be in chaos. How did we get here? And, more importantly, what is the best way forward? If there’s anything we can say definitively about the 2016 primary, it...

There is a report on Brietbart here that a radial group calling itself Democracy Spring is planning on organizing "the largest civil disobedience action of the century" in hopes creating national chaos. Obviously, they are modeling their effort after 2011's Arab Spring (the fact they don't realize what an unmitigated disaster the Arab Spring was should clue you in to their cluelessness). Hence their nom de guerre: Democracy Spring. I believe another name is more appropriate: Crybully Spring Because, that is exactly they are--crybullies. They are failing to get their way at the ballot box. Rather than respect the results...

The long 2016 presidential campaign trail is nearing the end.  One person now has a chance of winning the delegates needed to avoid a floor fight at the Republican Convention this July in Cleveland, Ohio.  That man is Donald J. Trump. Out of a field of seventeen, three men are left standing.  Two of them have a question to ponder.  That question is this. Senator Cruz, Governor Kasich, what do you two want your legacy to be? At the current time, Senator Cruz needs 84% of the remaining delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot.  Governor Kasich needs...

With little fanfare and almost no news media attention, some of the same radical groups involved in shutting down Donald Trump’s Chicago rally last week are plotting a mass civil disobedience movement to begin next month. They intend to march across the East Coast in order to spark a “fire that transforms the political climate in America.” The operation, calling itself Democracy Spring, is threatening “drama in Washington” with the “largest civil disobedience action of the century.” The radicals believe this will result in the arrest of thousands of their own activists. “We will demand that Congress listen to the...

A Detroit suburb says a Muslim woman who accused police of forcing her to remove a headscarf has dropped her lawsuit. The city of Dearborn released a statement Wednesday saying an attorney for Maha Aldhalimi dropped the lawsuit when confronted with video evidence. […] But her attorney, Shereff Akeel, insists the lawsuit was successful because Dearborn now allows women to wear a head covering during a booking photo. …

<p>1:00 p.m.</p> <p>Donald Trump' s new online ad uses footage of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton barking like a dog to suggest she's unfit to be president.</p> <p>The ad on Trump's official Instagram account begins with footage of Russian President Vladimir Putin engaged in martial arts and a man who appears to be an Islamic State fighter pointing a gun at the camera.</p>

It’s a 2-man race in the Republican Party. Anyone who can’t see this isn’t paying attention. Cruz and Trump are the only candidates who can win -- fairly and squarely. Only they can get the delegates to win on the first ballot. But the Washington Cabal, including GOP leaders, the press, and large donors who pull the strings, i.e., “The Elite,” “The Establishment” -- don’t want either to win. They don’t care that ordinary, non-elite rank and file Americans have made their choice in the designated way. Screw them. The GOP elites only care about doing whatever they must to...

The map then starts looking a lot more favorable for Kasich, with moderate-heavy Wisconsin, New York, Delaware, Maryland and Rhode Island all voting before the end of April. Kasich can also hope to do well in Pennsylvania, which borders Ohio shares a similar pool of voters. He might even win a few of these states outright - assuming, of course, that he can withstand the coming Trump onslaught. A string of strong finishes by Kasich in these states won't preclude Trump from winning the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. But it could slow his roll as he tries...

Here's a table of how Trump did compared to Romney and McCain (in 2012 and 2008). Sorry that the formatting is not perfect. *****Iowa***** Trump 45,429 Romney 29,805 McCain 15,559 *****New Hampshire Trump 100,735 Romney 97,591 McCain 88,571 *****South Carolina***** Trump 239,851 Romney 168,123 McCain 147,686 *****Nevada***** Trump 34,531 Romney 16,486 McCain 5,650 *****Alabama***** Trump 371,736 Romney 180,321 McCain 210,989 *****Alaska***** Trump 7,347 Romney 4,285 McCain 1,804 *****Arkansas***** Trump 133,145 Romney 104,200 McCain 44,091 *****Georgia***** Trump 501,708 Romney 233,611 McCain 304,751 *****Massachusetts***** Trump 311,314 Romney 266,313 McCain 204,027 *****Minnesota***** Trump 24,019 Romney 8,240 McCain 13,813 *****Oklahoma***** Trump 130,142 Romney 80,356...

China and Russia are preparing to attack and disrupt critical U.S. military and intelligence satellites in a future conflict with crippling space missile, maneuvering satellite, and laser attacks, senior Pentagon and intelligence officials told Congress on Tuesday ... Simply stated, there isn’t a single aspect of our space architecture, to include the ground architecture, that isn’t at risk,” Buck said “Russia views U.S. dependency on space as an exploitable vulnerability and they are taking deliberate actions to strengthen their counter-space capabilities,” he said. China in December created its first dedicated space warfare and cyber warfare unit, called the Strategic Support...