Free Republic

In December, U.S. President Barack Obama surprised the world by announcing that America would restore diplomatic ties with Cuba after 53 years of hostility. The terms of the deal completely favor Cuba. Cuba did not have to abandon communism or reform its dictatorial governance. The U.S. got nothing out of this deal. Then why did the president make this deal? Only our booklet America Under Attack fully answers that question! (Request your free copy.) What is this all about? We could write quite a bit about the president bypassing Congress and using yet another executive action to make this deal....

When Mike LaFaive visited the Michigan Liquor Control Commission's Lansing office in the course of research he was doing, he asked an employee for copies of a spreadsheet and some other public records. The staffer responded that the information could be provided that day if he had a flash drive. Circumstances did not permit this, so LaFaive, the fiscal policy director of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, later submitted a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request asking for the records. The state agency then told him that if he wanted the information, he would have to pay $1,500 to cover...

It looks like not all European governments signed off on yesterday’s joint statement encouraging new sanctions on Russia. The Wall Street Journal reports: Greece’s new government, though, jumped into an early diplomatic spat with Brussels over the statement, which it said it hadn’t approved. The statement “was circulated without having followed the correct procedure for ensuring the consent of member states and, in particular, without ensuring Greece’s consent,” said Dimitrios Tzanakopolous, a senior aide to new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The disagreement suggests the election victory of Mr. Tsipras’s left-wing Syriza party on Sunday could deepen divides within the...

SIERRA VISTA — A recent study by a New York-based personal finance research firm has found that Sierra Vista residents pay the lowest homeowners insurance premiums in the state. With an average annual premium of $990, Sierra Vistans pay a full 23 percent less than the state average of $1,275 for a $200,000 house, according to the study by ValuePenguin.

Figuring out how much government makes from speeding tickets is a fool’s game. Just ask the National Motorists Association, the one group whose mission it is to know. “We will not be unwitting cannon fodder for self-serving government programs, over-bearing police departments or greedy courts,” states its website. Michigan Capitol Confidential contacted the NMA to see if it had tallies on speeding ticket revenue in Michigan. Speed limit reform bills in both chambers failed to make it out of committee last session but are expected to reappear this session. Jim Walker, the executive director of the NMA, says that the...

The latest data on Obamacare analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office shows that 10 million Americans are likely to lose their employer-based insurance by 2021 as companies dump their workers onto the Obamacare exchanges. That's 10 times the number originally projected by the CBO. About 1 of every 16 workers will be affected. The latest CBO report has not garnered a lot of attention, even though it contains the modestly good news that Obamacare is not costing as much as the CBO thought it would in 2010. That said, another reason the left and the administration may not be touting...

An omnibus gun law reform bill has been introduced in North Dakota by Representative Roscoe Streyle, from Minot.  The bill, HB 1241(pdf), would bring into law many reforms that have proven popular in other states.   Among the reforms in the bill: 1. The restrictions on the use of legal gun mufflers and short barreled rifles for hunting would be removed.  These restrictions never made any sense, and are being eliminated all over the country.  35 states do not prevent the use of gun mufflers for hunting; no legislative purpose for the heavy handed restrictions on gun mufflers has been...

Lance Armstrong is back in the news again. I learned this from my pastor, Dr. David Murray, and his blog yesterday. You’ll recall Armstrong won 7 Tour de France cycling titles while on steroids. He basically acknowledges that he’s sorry he got caught but would do it all again. Dr. Murray’s focus is on repentance, trying to apply it to our own lives which can be difficult in light of the fact that Armstrong isn’t a Christian. Lance Armstrong has always been an odd character. He was involved in a sport that no one in America cares about except the...

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Media Progressives are nothing if not predictable. A case in point is one Matt Taibbi, writing what purports to be a movie review of American Sniper in a January 21, 2015 edition of Rolling Stone, which rag hasn’t had a good run of journalistic integrity of late. One can expect the self-appointed cultural elite to be insultingly dismissive of and terminally snarky about anything the denizens of flyover country–you know, Americans?–like, but his article “American Sniper’ Is Almost Too Dumb To Criticize. Almost,” is a study in predictability and lazy disdain.Regular readers know that I’ve been covering Chris Kyle for...

This is either the most interesting case of coincidental deaths or one of the most evil plots in modern history. Western bankers are dropping dead all over the place - most of them youngish and in good health. There appear to be an unusual number of suicides and "unexplained" deaths. Last year, 36 bankers died. There have been 3 already this year, including the latest - a Dutch financier who worked for Amro bank. Zero Hedge blog has been following this story. Following the deaths of 36 bankers last year, 2015 has got off to an inauspicious start with the...

In Seattle, wasting food will now earn you a scarlet letter — well, a scarlet tag, to be more accurate. The bright red tag, posted on a garbage bin, tells everyone who sees it that you've violated a new city law that makes it illegal to put food into trash cans. "I'm sure neighbors are going to see these on their other neighbors' cans," says Rodney Watkins, a lead driver for Recology CleanScapes, a waste contractor for the city. He's on the front lines of enforcing these rules. Seattle is the first city in the nation to fine homeowners for...

GEO-POLITICS operates at warp speed, but its moving parts are rarely understood for what they are.

JANUARY 26, 2015 Reality Check on Huckabee There’s no hiding his highly problematic record in Arkansas. By Quin Hillyer Late last week, a nasty little scuffle of the premature 2016 presidential campaign reminded us why both Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee should be kept miles away from the Republican presidential nomination. It also reminded us that Huckabee thinks he can sell snake oil even to water moccasins. Neither the moccasins nor Republican voters should buy what he’s selling.

Sure, the incentive to compost is the putative reason for this regulation, but exactly how is it enforced? In order for city officials and trash collectors to know you have committed the civic sin of disposing of leftover food in your trashcan, they have to examine the contents of your trashcan. Let’s hope the citizens of Seattle and trash collectors can come to some kind of silent truce over this. Do they collectors really want to examine every load they dump into the truck for transgressions? (Lord help us, the city probably offers a bonus of taxpayer money for tagging...

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris once again pose a question that seldom gets discussed. To whom are these attacks aimed? Is it Christians? Jews? Non-Muslims in general? Could it be Western democracies or Western society as a whole? As media pundits shed their crocodile tears and two-faced politicians dramatize their insincere outrage, every Islamic terrorist since 9-11 knows very well who their targets are. It is the Left. These terrorists may be monsters, but they’re not stupid. They know that their carnage and destruction must make an impression on those most likely to assist their cause: anti-war pacifists, progressives,...

In promoting a new variation on its expansive mission, a recent Michigan Economic Development Corporation press release referenced a "surge in new businesses, restaurants and shops." However, none of those enterprises will receive any of the $50,000 MEDC is kicking in to a “crowdfunding” project sponsored by the Michigan Municipal League, a lobbying and information resource organization funded by local governments. Instead, a total of $100,000 will be turned over to the City of Ypsilanti to convert a city-owned farmers market called the Freighthouse into a “community center.” Essentially, a state “economic development” agency is helping a government-funded lobbyist organization...

Heavier women are more likely to be lighter in the wallet, reports a new study that says obese females tend to occupy lower-paying, more-strenuous jobs in less-visible corners of the U.S. workforce when compared to average-sized women and men. In fact, the link between extra pounds and leaner paychecks is distinct: When a woman “becomes overweight,” she already is less likely to land a public-facing role in better-paying white-collar jobs, according to research released Tuesday by Vanderbilt University. And women who are considered obese or morbidly obese — based on their body mass indexes — are more likely to forced...

Pichet s front Vo Kachet Kochetkov-Sukach: Tonight four cyborg left the airport at the Sands. A distance of 4 cyborgs km guys walked for two days. Wounded, ragged, hungry, along with the weapon they literally crawled to ours. Extreme test is not to fall under the fire of its own. Given the Russian saboteurs/commandos is not easy. Thanks to the courage of one of the commanders of the PS, who said not to open fire, and he went to meet them, to make sure that this is not some sort of Pennant managed to avoid the tragedy.

There is no doubt that many, if not most, conservatives could not care less what those on the hard Left have to say. I understand this, but I also know that the lies of the Left (and lies are all they have to push their demented, tyrannical agenda) should be noted and refuted, because if left alone, they will become the "truth" that dictates the policies of our nation. This will make the second column in a row in which I have featured some outlandish lies of liberal columnists. Last week, it was ludicrous claims from the New York...