Free Republic

Scandals? What scandals? Despite facing a pair of controversies worthy of having the word "gate" attached to them, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie remains one of the odds-on favorites to win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. According to Oddschecker.com, a British website that tracks online bookmakers, Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are both 5-to-1 favorites to win the GOP nomination, according to one bookmaker. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (9 to 1) and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (12 to 1) are less favored, while Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (33 to 1) is a popular long shot.

Secretary Kerry: U.S. deeply concerned by Nigeria’s enactment of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act Deep Concern with Nigeria’s Enactment of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act Press Statement John Kerry Secretary of State Washington, DC January 13, 2014 The United States is deeply concerned by Nigeria’s enactment of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. Beyond even prohibiting same sex marriage, this law dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association, and expression for all Nigerians. Moreover, it is inconsistent with Nigeria’s international legal obligations and undermines the democratic reforms and human rights protections enshrined in its 1999 Constitution. People everywhere deserve...

"...scheduled to fly to Dallas with a stop in Branson, Missouri (BKG) but instead, the aircraft touched down at Taney County Airport (PLK), 8.6 miles away from its intermediate stop"

GO PACK!!!

ObamaCare has delivered another sucker punch to the middle class. This time it's sticker shock. Now that most people can get past the tech problems of HealthCare.gov and actually see the real cost of insurance plans available, they are finding that Affordable Care is a big hit to the family budget. And when the family budget gets hit in the solar plexus, guess what happens to consumer spending and the economy?

Once there was a boy so meek and modest, he was awarded a Most Humble badge. The next day, it was taken away because he wore it. Here endeth the lesson. How do you practice humility from the most exalted throne on earth? Rarely has a new player on the world stage captured so much attention so quickly—young and old, faithful and cynical—as has Pope Francis. In his nine months in office, he has placed himself at the very center of the central conversations of our time: about wealth and poverty, fairness and justice, transparency, modernity, globalization, the role of...

A number of news outlets have reported that Angola has "banned" Islam and started to dismantle mosques in a bold effort to stem the spread of Muslim extremism. Weekly French-language Moroccan newspaper La Nouvelle Tribune published an article on Friday sourcing "several" Angolan officials, including the Southwest African nation's minister of culture, Rosa Cruz, who reportedly offered the following remarks, which have been translated from French: "The process of legalization of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. Their mosques would be closed until further notice." The media reports have not described why Islam...

In Yom Kippur War anniversary speech, prime minister suggests that inaction on Iran is costlier than international opprobrium Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a thinly veiled defense of a possible Israeli preemptive strike on Iran during a Knesset commemoration Tuesday of the 40th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. In a speech to MKs about the war, in which Israel was surprised by a coordinated Arab invasion on the northern and southern fronts, Netanyahu explained that IDF soldiers who fought in the bitter battles of that war “saved us from paying the price of complacency.” “In the end we won...

Jim's fill-in is defecting. Its horrible. wtic 1080

WASHINGTON (AP) — House GOP leaders unveiled their own plan Tuesday to counter an emerging Senate plan to reopen the government and forestall an economy-rattling default on U.S. obligations. The bill would repeal a new tax on medical devices and take away lawmakers' federal health care subsidies in addition to funding the government through Jan. 15 and giving Treasury the ability to borrow normally through Feb. 7. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Republicans plan to pass the measure later Tuesday. It could prove tricky because Democrats probably won't support it. The House move comes after conservative lawmakers rebelled at the...

The basic framework of the deal Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid have hammered out is coming to light. The provision the GOP is crowing over — that the Obama Administration will check the income levels of those who receive a subsidy — is already the law. Meanwhile, the GOP will let the rest of the year proceed above sequester level spending, give the unions another carve out of Obamacare, and extend the debt limit to February. I’m sure at the last minute they’ll also delay the medical device tax so it looks like Harry Reid caved on something. Really, it’ll...

President Barack Obama says that if Republicans can't resolve the standoff over the debt ceiling and the partial government shutdown, quote, "we stand a good chance of defaulting."

At a tea party rally in Washington Sunday billed as the “Million Vet March,” one idiot decided to bring Confederate flag, which was enough for liberals to paint the entire Republican Party as racist.

Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it.

Over the past few weeks, Democrats have indicated that they have no intention of negotiating over Obamacare, opting instead to shut down the government. They are justifying their obstinacy by asserting that Obamacare is the law of the land. Well, if that is the game they want to play, we should return the favor with the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling, pursuant to the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917, is the law of the land. And it has been so for far longer than Obamacare. Throughout this debate over funding Obamacare in the budget bill, House GOP leaders have...

The leftist media’s attempts to portray themselves as credible journalists in pursuit of the truth are laughably transparent. But the presence of Al Sharpton on the national news scene represents demonstrable proof not just of the unseriousness of the mainstream media, but of their vile race-baiting for ratings. So why are major advertisers like Ritz Crackers helping pay Sharpton's salary? In any rational world, Sharpton would certainly not have a primetime slot on MSNBC. From his Tawana Brawley hoax to his defense of Duke lacrosse accuser Crystal Mangum, from his fanning of racial flames during the Trayvon Martin incident to...

<p>President Barack Obama summoned congressional leaders to the White House on the second day of a partial government shutdown that has furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers and closed military cemeteries as far away as France. Republican leaders welcomed the Wednesday afternoon meeting but questioned whether Democrats were ready to deal.</p>

Colorado voters ousted two Democratic lawmakers, including the state senate president, in a historic recall vote on Tuesday over their support for tougher gun control laws, handing a major victory to gun rights supporters.(John Boehner must cut loose the Tea Party)...this should read...."Speaker Boehner Embraces The Tea Party!"

German people are flocking to national email providers and demanding encryption services normally reserved for corporate security in the wake of the US spying scandal, German justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told journalists in Berlin on Wednesday (28 August). “German users have reacted to the NSA [the US’ National Security Agency] scandal by switching to German email providers … and they are demanding encryption of their emails so far reserved to telecom companies. There is a great opportunity for private encryption,” the minister said. She claimed that “some 80 percent have done so” already. …

President Obama is considering a strike on Syrian military targets involving sea-launched cruise missiles or possibly long-range bombers that would last no more than two days, according to senior administration officials and reported by Karen DeYoung and Anne Gearan of The Washington Post. Reuters reports that the West has told the opposition to expect a strike "within days." The limited strike would seemingly be a response to allegations that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its own people before dawn on August 21. Hundreds were killed and thousands suffered "neurotoxic symptoms." The design of the potential attack implies sending...