Free Republic

There are plenty of similarities in the way North Korean dictator (or puppet, depending on who you ask) Kim Jon Unand Russian dictator (or teddy bear, depending on who you ask) Vladimir Putin maintain a political/security power base at home: In a 2012 report for Chatham House, James Greene wrote that a key part of Putin's method is to use corrupt business schemes to make elites in former Soviet states compliant. It is an extension of his strategy for controlling his own Kremlin elite.Such cynical 'leadership' is often effective at maintaining a regime's loyal core domestically, and the Kremlin also widely employs corruption...

Economists who have carefully studied the job- and economy-growing impacts of government "economic development" programs conclude that they range from marginal to not effective. Small businesses who don’t get any special favors think it's unfair. Citizens regard it as political cronyism, and lawmakers are increasingly put off by the arrogance and exaggerations of the officials who run the programs. But MLive columnist Rick Haglund has discovered a group who says the practice plays a “vital role” in Michigan and is “essential” if citizens “want to continue the economic and job growth we are experiencing today.” They are people employed by...

Alan Gura has filed a motion to hold the District of Columbia in contempt for failing to follow Judge Scullin's preliminary injunction in the Wrenn v. D.C.   second amendment case. The  motion is very well written, the logic is clear.  Here is an portion: 7.  Mr. Powers’ experience is particularly troubling. He is a licensed D.C. firearms instructor, who was (finally) allowed to register his handgun.1 There is no question that Powers meets all background check and training requirements. There is no legal basis to deny him a permit. 8.  District law does not provide for this sort of...

ISIS, Iraq is yours. Obama has better things to do You tell me: Is it really that big a deal when the Obama Administration comes right out and admits what we all know anyway? That they really have no heart for the fight against ISIS and they’re not going to make a serious commitment to winning it? It’s never been a secret that Obama’s political position on this - get out of Iraq completely and never get involved again - overrides any sort of commitment to the security of that nation or of the Middle East region in general. The...

I find myself compelled to be not only an Islamophobe but an IslamoVeryPhobe. I'm not just guarded or afraid regarding Islam; I'm VERY afraid of Islam. Always pay attention to the man behind the curtain. Pay especial attention to: THE DUELING QUR’ANS: Understand the true nature of the two Qur’ans (Medina and Mecca) that are combined into the single Qur’an. The earlier peaceful/loving Qur’an derives from Mohammed’s thirteen years of preaching in Mecca—“you have your religion and I have mine,” “there should be no compulsion in religion,” “to kill one person is as if killing the whole world.” The later...

A package of bills designed to give the public access to information on property seized by, or forfeited to, government entities is under consideration by a state House committee. The legislation would require government entities across the state to submit annual reports to the Michigan State Police (MSP) on property they’ve seized or received through forfeiture. The information would be compiled, issued in an annual report to the Legislature and posted on the MSP website. “The bill package is about uniformity, transparency, and accountability,” said Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Walled Lake, the sponsor of House Bill 4504, the flagship bill of...

There seems to be some controversy over whether Marie Harf is being promoted or unceremoniously “kicked up stairs.” Butt let’s be honest; not only is Spokes-mouth Barbie not the sharpest knife in the drawer, she makes the butter knife look like a lethal weapon: Harf is a dim bulb and the complete authorized version of the doctrine according to Barry shines none too brightly to begin with. Reduced to talking points and subject to questions, the doctrine is quickly reduced to parody. Thus Marie Harf. – PowerlineThus the “promotion” to  Senior Advisor for Strategic Communications to Secretary of State John...

An agency beset by corruption, incompetence and arrogance: An arrogant leader overseeing an agency with a vast level of power over millions of vulnerable taxpaying Americans is a toxic mix Apparently the arrogance of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen knows no bounds. Facing questions about the ease by which hackers accessed the tax returns of more than 100,000 Americans from February to mid-May, he remained unapologetic. “These are actually organized crime syndicates that not only we but everybody in the financial industry are dealing with,” he declared—before boasting about the agency’s ability to stop approximately half the attacks. Koskinen also offered...

America's first digital dictator In October of 2008 Obama and the Dems threw the Fundamental Transformation of America up in garish, jaw-dropping neon lights and the world thereafter was never to be the same. The communications world now digital gave an about to be jettisoned America its first digital dictator. Back then David Axelrod astroturfing portrayed Obama’s promised Brave New World as an empty screen, one on which Obama could be projected in whatever image folk wanted him to be, history’s first free phone and easy food stamp president. Down at core, the new messiah of Hope & Change was...

The House Republicans recently released a proposal that would dedicate an extra $1 billion annually to roads by 2019. A chunk of the extra money comes from redirecting money from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to the state’s transportation infrastructure. The MEDC is the state’s corporate welfare arm, which hands out select subsidies to corporations and oversees the film incentive program and the Pure Michigan advertising campaign. Specifically, the House GOP plan would redirect $185 million of spending on “economic development” programs to road construction and maintenance. The MEDC does not want its funding cut and responded with what is...

The majority-minority denizens of the urban hellhole I call Baltimogadishu are getting exactly what they demanded (and deserve) for electing a 100% Afro-Marxist cabal; a cabal which viciously joins the Obama administration and media in demonizing local cops, while excusing and even sanctifying mobs of unfettered black terrorist thugs roaming and ruling the streets. Rates of mayhem and murder in Baltimore are skyrocketing through the roof, with police often surrounded and attacked by seething crowds of terrorists when they respond to calls. Given impossible work conditions, and a vacuum of official leadership or support, rank-and-file cops in Baltimore are apparently...

A super PAC backing Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is pulling no punches with the first attack ad of the 2016 GOP presidential primary, complete with fire-breathing bald eagles and slams of Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham for their stances on government surveillance. Mimicking the aggressive style of a wrestling event promo, the one-minute spot teases the Senate debate Sunday ("Sunday! Sunday!") over expiring portions of the Patriot Act as the “greatest brawl for liberty of the century." The ad, released by America's Liberty PAC, pits a photoshopped picture of Paul’s face on a bodybuilder against President Obama, “the head...

FULL TITLE: ARIZONA: Bikers plan armed anti-Islam protest outside mosque that hatched the two Garland, Texas would-be Muslim jihadist assassins On Friday, May 29, 2015, a group of bikers in Arizona plan to host an anti-Islam demonstration outside of the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix. Dubbed as “Freedom of Speech Rally Round 2,” a reference to American blogger Pamela Geller’s ‘Draw Muhammad’ cartoon contest in Garland, Texas earlier this month, the event, organized on Facebook, is described as a “response to the recent attack in Texas where 2 armed terrorists with ties to ISIS, attempted to kill a bunch of...

Republican presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker spoke about improving education at a conference at Harvard University in July 2012 on Learning from Improving School Systems at Home and Abroad: International and U.S. State Trends in Student Performance. The conference was hosted by Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance. Governor Walker spoke about the reforms he put in place in Wisconsin which gave local school districts the ability to make better decisions for their students while effectively managing their budgets. Click here for the complete video from that conference and here for videos from individual panels. Gov. Walker's...

More at Reaganite Republican

Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog Why does the liberal, tolerant, and enlightened city of San Francisco arrest black women at 13 times the rate of women of other races? Fusion.net reports:Black women in San Francisco arrested way more often than white women, report showsMay 27, 2015Black women represent 5.8% of the city’s female population, but accounted for 45.5% of all female arrests in 2013… For arrests related to weapons and narcotics—both felonies—black women made up 77% and 68% of all female arrests, respectively.Black women were arrested “at a per capita rate 13.4 times higher than women of other races,” says the...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sought to distance himself Thursday from an essay he wrote in the 1970s that discusses rape fantasies. Michael Briggs, a spokesman for the 2016 White House contender’s campaign, called the essay a "dumb attempt at dark satire in an alternative publication,” according to CNN. Briggs added that the writing "in no way reflects his views or record on women,” saying it “was intended to attack gender stereotypes of the '70s.” The essay, published by the Vermont Freeman in 1972, discussed violent sexual fantasies. In it, Sanders wrote that a man’s “typical fantasy” is “a woman tied...

The President of Turkey’s obsession with his critics is getting so out of control that a woman from the opposition MHP party was detained by police and her party headquarters raided by Erdogan’s government for simply making an innocent ‘grey wolf’ party hand gesture at him while he was greeting the public: TODAY’S ZAMAN – A Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) provincial official was briefly detained for making a “wolf” sign, a Turkish nationalist hand gesture associated with her party, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s convoy was passing in front of the party’s building in the western province of Uşak on...

A person infected with measles was at a New Jersey funeral home two times earlier this month, the state Department of Health announced Thursday. The department confirmed the measles case Thursday, saying the individual may have exposed people at a funeral home in the Fords section of Woodbridge in Middlesex County on May 11 and 14. Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that can cause serious medical complications. As a result, the department recommends that anyone who visited Flynn and Son Funeral Home, 23 Ford Ave., Fords, on Monday, May 11, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., and on...