Free Republic

America’s foreign policy emanates from the domestic condition of its society, and nothing will affect that society more than the dramatic movement of Latino history northward. Mexico’s 111 million people plus Central America’s 40 million add up to half the population of the United States. Eighty-five percent of all Mexico’s exports go to the United States, even as half of all Central America’s trade is with the U.S. While the median age of Americans is nearly 37, the median age is 25 in Mexico and even lower in Central America (20 in Guatemala and Honduras, for example). The destiny of...

Police say a homeowner in Phoenix thwarted a burglary attempt at his house and fired at least one round from a shotgun at three suspects who then fled the scene.

The Sept. 1 editorial “Loose talk on nuclear weapons” missed the true significance of President Obama’s breach of his nuclear weapons funding commitments. His proposed $370 million cuts — with billions more to come — are not just a “minor dip.” They go to the heart of the program to refurbish aging warheads and infrastructure. Ironically, the cut will delay or prevent achievement of one of the goals of the president’s 2010 Nuclear Posture Review: reducing the number of “hedge” warheads in our stockpile. Moreover, the president abandoned commitments he made to win support for New START. In his letter...

It can be hard for those of us stranded out here in flyover country — what with dodging the Indians’ flaming arrows and digging our Conestogas out of them durned wheel ruts — to fully grok the anti-gun, pro-disarmament POV so prevalent among those who inhabit the left and right coasts. Not to mention a few conspicuous points in between. But it’s always useful to put yourself in the shoes of those on the other side, if for no other reason that plot better ways to counter their arguments. Not that that was what Jeanne Marie Laskas was doing...

There's an old joke about a boy who complains to his mother that his little sister keeps pulling his hair. "Oh," responds the mother, "she doesn't know that it hurts." A few minutes later, the mother hears the girl scream and runs into the other room. "She knows now," the boy explains. There's a lesson for Republicans in that old joke, if they're smart enough to absorb it. For the past few years, there has been a drumbeat in favor of increased taxes from Democrats of all stripes. Make the rich pay their "fair share." Get rid of "loopholes." Make...

Arizona authorities can now enforce the most contentious part of state's immigration law PHOENIX — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Arizona authorities can enforce the most contentious section of the state's immigration law, which critics have dubbed the "show me your papers" provision. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton clears the way for police to carry out the requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. The provision has been at the center of a two-year legal battle that resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court...

PHOENIX (AP) -- A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Arizona authorities can enforce the most contentious section of the state's immigration law, which critics have dubbed the "show me your papers" provision. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton clears the way for police to carry out the 2010 law's requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. The requirement has been at the center of a two-year legal battle that culminated in a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June upholding the requirement. Opponents then asked Bolton...

Full title Federal judge OKs section of Arizona immigration law allowing police to question status of suspected illegalsPHOENIX – A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Arizona authorities can enforce the most contentious section of the state's immigration law, which critics have dubbed the "show me your papers" provision. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton clears the way for police to carry out the 2010 law's requirement that officers, while enforcing other laws, question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/05/federal-judge-oks-arizona-immigration-law-section-allowing-police-to-question/#ixzz25dmQqGQ0

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- At least 40 suspected illegal immigrants were taken into custody at a Glendale home overnight. The alleged drop house is near 65th and Olive avenues. According to public records, the home is owned by a Scottsdale woman. Few details about the incident were immediately available. Video from the scene showed dozens of men sitting on the curb in the dark while investigators gathered evidence and information. While neither Glendale officers nor agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement would speak to media on the scene, a neighbor told 3TV he had no idea the home was a drop...

Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona offered a little bit of everything, including a Member vs. Member race and what GOP strategists are calling “a gift.” The 9th District is brand new, after the Grand Canyon State was awarded another seat in Congress through reapportionment, and its first general election could be a fascinating race between an openly bisexual Democrat and an African-American Republican. Kyrsten Sinema won the Democratic nomination with 42 percent over state Senate Leader David Schapira (31 percent) and former state party chairman Andrei Cherny (27 percent). Vernon Parker, an official in both Bush administrations and Paradise Valley city...

Tea Party Express Announces :"Winning for America" National Bus Tour 25 Battleground States in 21 Days Starting September 12thSacramento, CA – Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest tea party political action committee, announced the “Winning for America” national bus tour today. The tour will travel through 25 battleground states that are key to conservatives’ victories in November. Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer said, “This week the President and his party will be bragging about their legislative success, and rightfully so. After an $825 billion dollar stimulus, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, and the Auto Bailout, President Obama and the Democratic Congress got...

With Arizona’s primaries now complete, a key Congressional race has emerged in the state’s newly created District 9. Prior to the primary, this swing district had been rated “Lean Democratic” by the Cook Political Report, but the District’s Cook Partisan Voting Index is “Even,” indicating its voters have voted in line with the national average over the last two presidential election cycles. Significantly, the district has more registered Independents than either Republicans or Democrats. Now, with both parties having selected their candidates, Democrats no longer have the edge and this race should be re-characterized as a Tossup. The GOP candidate...

UMA, AZ - Hundreds of dove hunters flocked to the Yuma Civic Center this weekend. The first ever Yuma Territorial Gun Show was held for two days this weekend to coincide with the opening of dove season. Organizers of the event say dove hunters often hit their dove limit within the first couple of hours and are left with nothing to do so having a gun show this time of year makes sense. Gun show attendees could shop for firearms and accessories and even have their dove cleaned while they shopped. The owner of the gun show says they not...

A Republican-controlled Senate in 2012 looks less likely than it did a few weeks ago, but the prospect for GOP gains is still quite solid. Of the 33 Senate seats up for grabs this cycle, seven are occupied by Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents who are not seeking reelection, three are occupied by Republicans who are not seeking reelection, 16 are occupied by Democrats seeking reelection, and seven are occupied by Republicans seeking reelection. This is the class of senators last elected in 2006, a midterm election that almost could not have gone worse for the GOP. A few recent developments...

Former Paradise Valley mayor Vernon Parker has won the Republican nomination in Arizona's new 9th Congressional District. Some early ballots remain to be counted but results Wednesday with all 141 precincts reporting show Parker with an 800-vote margin over Wendy Rogers, with a total of more than 38,000 votes cast in the seven-way GOP race. Parker will face former state Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in the general election. She won the district's three-way Democratic primary. The 9th District takes in much of Tempe and parts of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Mesa and Chandler.

(Reuters) - The government has closed a criminal probe into Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio, who styles himself "America's toughest sheriff," and no charges will be filed, the U.S. Attorney's Office said on Friday.

Every Arizona household's debt is getting bigger — but most people don't even know they owe. In Arizona, every man, woman and child owes state and local governments more than $7,500 for bills ranging from sports stadiums to parking garages. State and local per-person long-term debt grew from $4,568 per Arizonan in 2000 to $7,587 in 2009, an increase of 66 percent in less than a decade. Arizona's per-person debt load is almost $1,000 more than the national median of around $6,800 in per-person debt. The $7,587 owed by every Arizonan to pay off state and local debts is in...

Today I open carried my Glock 17 into the Harkins Theater in Yuma Arizona to watch the 1:40 pm showing of 2016. Nothing remarkable happened. Arizona is a constitutional carry state, and you do not need a permit for open or concealed carry. However, when the temperature is 104 in the shade, and there is little shade to be had, open carry is quite a bit more comfortable than concealed carry. I did not see any signs banning guns. I regularly carry openly with the primary purpose of exercising my Constitutional rights, and the secondary purpose of defense of self...

PHOENIX — Lilia Romo will tell you plainly: She didn't ask for this fight, but now that the immigration war has been declared in this politically conservative state, the confident 24-year-old says she intends to win it. Romo was brought to the U.S. from Mexico by people her mother hired 20 years ago. All she recalls about the adventure is that the man who drove her illicitly across the border plied her and her two cousins with candy to keep them quiet.

Unofficial results show Russell Pearce is facing his second election defeat in a row — once again to a political newcomer who vowed not to pursue divisive illegal immigration legislation. SkyMall Founder Bob Worsley is leading Pearce with 56 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, according to early ballots and 100 percent of precincts reporting. Pearce’s potential loss is a huge blow to a man who some had once considered Arizona’s most powerful politician.