Free Republic

Illegal immigrants are “a critical part of our society” and should be provided a route to amnesty, Republican presidential candidate John Kasich tells a coalition of Hispanic company executives. “For those that are here that have been law abiding, God bless them,” he told the business group, which is a major advocate for expanded immigration. “Then I think the [illegals] should have a path to legalization… I think that can pass,” Kasich said, using one of the euphemisms for granting legal residency to illegal immigrants. The Ohio governor also claimed the illegal immigrants are skilled. The illegals “are a critical...

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), an ally of House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the upcoming Speakership elections, tells reporters that he thinks any GOP House member who doesn’t back McCarthy on the floor should be kicked out of the GOP to go form their own third party. “We’ve been down this road several times and at some point you have to realize how elections work, how the Congress functions and how—what’s laid out clearly in the Constitution as a Democratic Republic,” Nunes says. Several conservative House members are considering bucking McCarthy on the floor...

Assuming that there are good and bad people on both the right and the left and that everyone is horrified by mass shootings, how is one to explain the great divide between the Right and the Left on the gun issue as it relates to mass murders, such as the one recently committed at Umpqua Community College? Why does the Left focus on more gun-control laws, and why doesn’t the Right? One reason the Right doesn’t focus on gun-control laws is quintessentially American. Many Americans believe that it is their right — and even their duty — to own guns...

The White House confirmed that President Obama was preparing a series of executive actions on gun control to match his recent passion on the issue after the latest mass shooting in Oregon. “It’s a high priority and will continue to be until we start to see more progress on this issue in this town,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters today at the press briefing. Earnest said he would “quibble” with anyone who criticized the president for not voicing any specific gun control proposals during his press conference, asserting that the White House was working behind the scenes...

Sen. John McCain on Sunday blamed the airstrike that killed 22 people in an Afghan hospital run by the medical charity Doctors without Borders on the “fog of war” and the Obama administration’s withdraw of U.S. troops from the war zone. “We call it fog of war, unfortunately. And it’s a tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers go out to them,” Mr. McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot in the Vietnam War who now chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He said that the tragedy likely would have been avoided if U.S. troops...

The lede to this column is a deep, guttural groan that originates in the throat and expands into the lungs before collapsing in the pit of the stomach. How do you spell hmmmgrrrungh? What else is there to say about House Republicans' inability to get something right? And I say this with compassion, I really do. Because seriously? It's over. Done. Kaput. With Kevin McCarthy's recent response to the simplest question about GOP accomplishments in Congress, from the friendliest interviewer, Sean Hannity, a GOPer could hope for, the future may as well be called Democrat. Here's what McCarthy offered if...

I saw House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's attempt to "clarify" his comments about how the Benghazi Select Committee affected Hillary Clinton's poll numbers to Brett Baier earlier this evening and I must say he does not inspire confidence. McCarthy makes John Boehner look like Ronald Reagan. Now I have no sympathy for Harry Reid who characterized McCarthy's comments as a "political witch hunt". Given Reid's attacks on the Senate floor against Mitt Romney and the Koch Brothers, it is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. But if Republicans are to offer a credible legislative program and...

During an October 1 appearance on CNN’s Newroom, former US Marshal Art Roderick said the gunman at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College probably chose his target by knowing it was as gun free-zone and therefore “an easy target.” Roderick’s exact words: “[The gunman] probably knew that the facility was a gun free facility, [which is] an easy target for these kinds of coward individuals. They know they’re not going to get any response unless they happen to run into security or a campus police officer.” Roderick went on to explain that the key for investigators right now is ascertaining the gunman’s...

GOP presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich says he respects the Supreme Court's controversial okay of same-sex marriage, although he doesn't personally agree with it. In an interview with J.D. Hayworth, aired Wednesday on "Newsmax Prime," Kasich, who recently attended a same-sex wedding, said: "I'm a believer that faith is about the do's and not the don'ts and I also believe that faith is about grace. I made it clear I don't agree with the Supreme Court's decision but I'm going to respect the Supreme Court's decision." Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples who want...

The Saudi Arabian prince arrested last week for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman at the Beverly Hills mansion he was renting is just the latest rich and well-connected Kingdom VIP accused of running amok in America – and around the world. Majed Abdulaziz al-Saud was arrested Sept. 23 and charged with sodomy, battery and false imprisonment before being freed on $300,000 bail. The alleged attack, revealed after a passerby saw the bleeding victim scaling a wall to escape the $37 million mansion, is one of several similar cases involving suspects with ties to the Saudi royal family. Detectives also are...

GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who was at one time considered a shoe-in for the party nomination, is now facing a do-or-die warning from senior fundraisers who say he needs to correct his sinking poll numbers in October or face losing key supporters. The former Florida governor over the weekend downplayed his dwindling poll numbers, telling Fox News Sunday the "polls don't really matter," reports The Washington Post, and he and his super PAC are readying an aggressive ad campaign, but a recent national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll put him in fifth place with just 7 percent of the...

Stunning pictures are coming out of Mecca that, if genuine, reveal a stunning level of brutal disregard for human life. Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit picked up the story, as revealed by tweets from Tarek Fatah: It is unthinkable that Israel would ever treat dead Muslims in this fashion, but don’t expect Saudi Arabia to come under much fire from the Muslim world.

The so-called “progressives” love to talk about how their policies will create a worker’s paradise, but then why is it that day after day, month after month, year after year, people are fleeing liberal blue states for conservative red states? The new Census data on where we live and where we moved to in 2014 shows that the top seven states with the biggest percentage increase in in-migration from other states are in order: North Dakota, Nevada, South Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Arizona, and Texas. All of these states are red, except Colorado, which is purple. Meanwhile the leading exodus states...

All you need to know about the failed speakership of John Boehner was exposed to the entire world by Boehner himself as he announced his resignation from Congress. The what, the how, and the why of his failures were succinctly explained when he said, “The first job of any Speaker is to protect this institution that we all love.” Do what? Well, no wonder he was a disaster as speaker. He had no clue what the job description was. In just 15 words, everything about his disastrous reign was brought into laser-sharp focus. Never has someone so orange said so...

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) 35% still won’t be able to win reelection without Democratic votes, Breitbart News has learned, and he has abandoned yet another plan to try to embarrass conservatives seeking his ouster, which he was going to move forward with on Friday. The day after Pope Francis addressed the Congress for the first time—in front of a teary-eyed Boehner—the Speaker had planned to move forward by bringing forth a resolution to vacate the chair, then holding a vote for his reelection intended to prove he had widespread support in the GOP conference. But just as when...

Republican leaders in Congress on Thursday began advancing bills urgently needed to avoid federal agency shutdowns on Oct. 1 while navigating conservatives' demands to punish Planned Parenthood over an abortion controversy. The Senate defeated Republican efforts to use a funding extension bill to cut off money to Planned Parenthood, clearing the way for a version without that provision that extends all previous funding through Dec. 11. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has set the first procedural vote on that measure for Monday, two days before the federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. House Speaker John Boehner, meanwhile,...

The company that Hillary Clinton paid to manage her private email network was the victim of a massive international hack during the period in which Clinton was employing it, Breitbart News has learned. Hillary Clinton used the company Internap as the internet service provider for her private email account during her tenure as Secretary of State. Internap, based in Atlanta, has a facility in Manhattan, near the the physical location of the IP address for clintonemail.com. In March 2011, the security company RSA was hacked. The hackers got into the company’s system through a malware-infested email sent to an employee,...

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH)is under fire from Conservatives. While on a fund raising trip, he told a Politico reporter that dealing with them is part of his job. “Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners, all right?” Boehner said in a phone interview this weekend from Seattle during a fundraising trip to the Pacific Northwest, referring especially to the grind of constant travel. “You can teach yourself to do anything, especially if you’re committed to a cause. I came to Washington to fight for a smaller, less costly and...

The new CNN poll has Scott Walker polling at less than one half of one percent, or effectively zero. Statistically speaking, no one supports Scott Walker, not his campaign staff, not his family, not even himself. He is the epitome of zero, zilch, nada. It is expected that he will soon discover a burning need to spend more time on governing Wisconsin, or to be with his family, or perhaps spend quality time with his motorcycle. But before he goes, what are some lessons from his fall? 1) Busting public unions is good, but it doesn't make you into a...

The Obama administration will increase the number of refugees allowed into the United States annually to 100,000 in 2017, The New York Times reports. The current limit is 70,000, and that would go up to 85,000 in fiscal 2016, then to 100,000 annually in 2017, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday during meetings in Berlin. Kerry also said he would be looking into ways to expand the number beyond 100,000 in later years while still maintaining the background check process. This step is in keeping with America’s best tradition as a land of second chances and a beacon...