Free Republic

Combat veteran Kryn Miner, 44, served 11 deployments in seven years. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury after a bomb blast in Afghanistan in 2010 threw him into a wall. It was one of 19 blasts he endured over two decades of service to his country. On April 29, Kryn died after being shot by his teenage son, who was acting in defense of himself, his mother and his siblings because Kryn had threatened to kill them and pulled out a gun. Prosecutors ruled that it was a justified shooting, absolving the teen from facing...

House conservatives will press their leaders this week to move on an ObamaCare replacement bill before the August recess. But it’s unclear if there are enough votes to pass it. According to several GOP lawmakers, members of the conservative-leaning Republican Study Committee (RSC) plan to wear lapel pins to the weekly conference meeting that state, “HR 3121, There’s a Better Way” as a sign of support for moving a bill that is co-sponsored by 130 House Republicans. Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) the lead sponsor of H.R. 3121, the “American Health Care Reform Act of 2013,” told The Hill that RSC...

You gotta hear this - in context, he was advocating for "slow speed" rail in California (the biggest boondoggle I have ever seen in my life). But then he stumbled into what liberals want us all to do, always, so that we can fit into their communist scheme. LISTEN:

Recently, Republican leaders in Congress unveiled a "tax reform" plan that they claimed would provide the American people with a simpler, fairer, and more efficient tax system. While this plan does lower some tax rates and contains some other changes that may make next April a little less painful for Americans, there is little in it to excite supporters of liberty. Taxes may even increase under this plan for some Americans, as it eliminates some of those tax deductions labeled “loopholes.” When I served in Congress I opposed bills that “closed loopholes” because closing loopholes is just a fancy way...

Plan of Action for U.S. - SPEND SPEND SPEND Under the guise of Recovery - Bust the Government - Blame the Capitalists for the failure - Junk the Constitution and declare a dictatorship Deplete the Resources of the Soundest Government in the World!

It’s no secret that university graduates are becoming more intellectually lazy with each passing year. It is also undeniable that they are becoming more arrogant, in spite of the fact that they are less capable of forming solid opinions and defending them with well-reasoned arguments. A letter written to me (by a recent UNC-Wilmington graduate) is illustrative. I've reproduced it below with my usual angry and fearful rhetoric interspersed at appropriate intervals: Dear Dr. Adams: I was perhaps struck most by the tone of your rhetoric, which was both angry and fearful. (By way of background information, this newly-minted graduate...

MOSCOW, May 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has instructed the Finance Ministry to prepare and submit proposals by July 1, 2014 to lay off 10% of public servants, said the government official website which posted Medvedev’s instructions upon results of his annual report on government’s working results in 2013 at the State Duma. The Prime Minister delivered the annual government report on April 22. The premier stated particularly to ponder another 10% cuts of public servants in regions and at the federal level, because Russia needs “a modern, compact and effective state personnel oriented at people’s requests.” Meanwhile,...

The white-marble Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington DC, looks like a giant courts building or a central bank, fully intimidating and imposing in its hulking stony blockiness. And the US Congress, of course, is an institution best known for its tedium, albeit a tedium that is regularly punctuated by fiery partisan combat. On a typical day, the Rayburn building--acronymed as RHOB--is a place where politicos and bureaucrats struggle for and against some special interest, yea or nay, on regulation or appropriation. And the biggest single activity in RHOB, or in any of the other five office edifices on Capitol...

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” -- Ronald Reagan Relying on big government to help you out would be like relying on the Girl Scouts to spearhead an invasion of Iran. It's the wrong people, in the wrong place, doing the wrong job. Whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge, our government is barely functional. That's certainly not a shocker. Anyone who has had dealings with the federal government can tell you that it's slow, stupid, expensive, belligerent and incompetent. But, here's the $64,000 question: WHY...

The Census Bureau just released a report on America’s aging population. The big takeaway is that our population will be getting much older between now and 2050. And since I’m a baby boomer, I very much like the fact that we’re expected to live longer. But as a public finance economist, I’m not nearly as happy. As I explain in this interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Digital Network (and as confirmed by BIS, OECD, and IMF data), the United States is going to get deluged by a tsunami of entitlement spending. Dan Mitchell Discussing the Slow Motion Train Wreck...

Let me run through a few good ideas. I think it's a good idea for children to eat healthful, wholesome foods. In the raising of our daughter, before-dinner treats were fresh vegetables, and after-dinner treats were mostly fruits. I arrive at my gym sometime between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., at least four times a week, to lift weights and use the treadmill. During the warmer months, the treadmill is substituted by a weekly total of 40 to 60 miles on my bike. My exercise regimen is a good idea. Another good idea is to wear a bike helmet while...

WASHINGTON – The federal government wants to ban sales of electronic cigarettes to minors and require approval for new products and health warning labels under regulations being proposed by the Food and Drug Administration. While the proposal being issued Thursday won't immediately mean changes for the popular devices, the move is aimed at eventually taming the fast-growing e-cigarette industry.

Honestly, unless you are a big government liberal, how many people think the federal government should have more power than it already exercises over its citizens? Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, 94, thinks the Constitution needs at least six amendments in order to bring the country more in line with what he believes is good for us. He outlines them in his new book, "Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution." It is a revealing look into liberal thinking and the ideological opposite of radio talk show host Mark Levin's book, "The Liberty Amendments: Restoring...

One of the biggest land grabs in American history occurred in 1976, when President Jimmy Carter signed into a law the “Federal Land Policy and Management Act.” That stroke of the pen transferred hundreds of millions of acres of land, located primarily in the western states, into the control of the federal government. In reaction, an alliance of ranchers, farmers, and other concerned citizens – the “Sagebrush Rebels” as they came to be known -- challenged the move and sought to return the land back into the hands of the states. Ronald Reagan, at the time running for president, supported...

Tensions between states’ rights supporters and the federal government remain high after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) retreated last week at the Bundy Ranch after a tense standoff with hundreds of supporters, many of whom were armed. The Bundy Ranch situation has escalated little over the course of 20 years, but finally, the BLM stepped too far when they claimed dominion over thousands of acres of land in Nevada and began seizing Cliven Bundy’s cattle. The response by patriots throughout the country was swift and awe-inspiring as citizens flocked to the middle of nowhere to support the rancher, including...

"Some think Social Security is going bankrupt, but since the program uses taxes from current workers to pay current retirees, it is impossible for it to go bankrupt. The program also doesn’t contribute to the national debt or the deficit as some have suggested. All taxes and spending for the program happen independently of the federal budget." "Social Security took in more money than it paid out in benefits until 2010, which created an enormous trust fund, but since 2010, the program has paid out more in benefits than it has received in taxes. Should this trend continue, the trust...

These words of Thomas Jefferson's are etched under the dome of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Imagine if Jefferson had finished that thought with these words: "Unless, of course, you're 57 years old and a U.S. federal law enforcement officer." In the beginning of our republic, our Founding Fathers fought for freedom from governing tyranny, including for those who worked in government. And if a man's work ethic, health and passions allowed him to labor until his dying breath, he...

(CNN) – Hoping to help close the gap between workers' skills and the needs of businesses, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will announce he's putting hundreds of millions toward job training programs that produce highly skilled workers. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will head to a community college in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to make the announcement. The funding will come in two parts: $500 million toward a new job training competition that pairs community colleges with businesses, and $100 million for new apprenticeship programs to train workers. The White House says the new initiatives are meant to combat a...

The FBI is reportedly visiting fun shops looking for people talking about “big government.” InfoWars reported: FBI counterterrorism agents are visiting gun shops in South Carolina to investigate “suspicious purchases” made by people who talk about “big government,” according to a new report. Author Brandon Turbeville says he was approached by an individual who works in a Columbia, South Carolina gun shop to relate the story of how an FBI agent entered the store on Monday, showed his credentials, before proceeding to ask a series of stunning questions. Telling the gun store worker he was tasked with visiting all the...

One can be a supporter of the rule of law and still recoil in anger and disgust from the militarized display of force by the federal government toward Clive Bundy. The disproportionate nature of the government’s reaction to Bundy suggests this has less to do with delinquent grazing fees than it does with the selective assertion of raw governmental power — sending a message not just to Bundy or a disfavored group, but to America as a whole. The same federal government that deploys Bureau of Land Management shooters tricked out like SEAL Team 6 directs Border Patrol agents to...