Free Republic

There are a lot of solid reasons why federal programs like the Export-Import (EX-IM) Bank, should be terminated. I cover the majority of those reasons in the report I just filed on Communities Digital News. http://www.commdiginews.com/business-2/moral-hazard-at-the-export-import-bank-private-gain-vs-social-risk-26916/ Issues like questions of proper management, potential for fraud related to insider influence, unintended consequences of disruption of domestic markets, risk related to the volatility of the world economy, are all among them. Those are legitimate concerns and have demonstrated themselves to be problems. Above them all, and foremost is the essential consideration of legitimacy. The Ex-Im bank was spawned in illicit circumstances. Most...

The only bright spot in the train wreck the United States and their Gulf States allies have created in Iraq, is a brave people, whose accomplishments in kicking ISIS ass, are impressive to say the least. But, not surprisingly, our government doesn't have a hand in this success story. The Kurdish people in Iraq, have taken the fight to the Islamic State with meager resources and have prevailed. All the Obama administration has done until just recently, was to lean on other countries to not purchase Kurdish oil, thus depriving the Kurds of much needed economic resources with which to...

ISIS needs more trained fighters – Obama and Congress to the rescueThere was an expression I heard somewhat frequently growing up – particularly when working with my father. “Don't just stand around, do something, even if it's wrong!” I recognized this for the negative and facetious comment that it was, and filed it in the mental '86' compartment where it belonged, because I knew that screwing something up just to appear busy, would really get me in hot water with the old man. Whatever nasty, venomous edge that lurks beneath my ordinarily good nature, is from the paternal side. I...

<p>Every now and then I see an article that is so reality deficient that it commits what amounts to sexual assault against common sense. Actually I see them all the time, but one in particular had me shaking my head.</p>

The mass media, in their coverage of Obama's speech, outlining his new strategy on managing the crisis of the 'Islamic Caliphate', are acting as retail merchants for the White House and State Department's campaign of deception on Syria and Iraq. The most obvious aspect of this co-operative effort is seen in the repetition of the mythology that Obama hasn't yet tried assisting rebel forces in Syria. Such claims are so divorced from reality they are staggering. Even so, Americans are, in the main, so willfully misinformed, that they are easy targets for the false narratives they are fed in deceitful...

Michael Brown and Nicholas Salvadore - 'Soul Brothers'? Many of you have heard of the 82 year old woman, beloved in her community, whose head was hacked off in a London suburb, by a crazed Machete wielding assailant. But the details of the story that are emerging, no thanks to Scotland Yard, are causing me to do a double take on a number of accounts. First the outlines of the crime from the Telegraph UK: Nicholas Salvadore, 25, was charged late on Friday with the murder of 82-year-old Palmira Silva, who was hacked to death in an apparently random...

WASHINGTON, September 6, 2014 — Rand Paul’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal sums up his analysis of how the menace of the Islamic State developed, and clearly declares that it must be dealt with: "The Islamic State represents a threat that should be taken seriously. But we should also recall how recent foreign-policy decisions have helped these extremists so that we don’t make the same mistake of potentially aiding our enemies again". The Christian Science Monitor wonders, “Has Rand Paul become a Hawk?” and outlines his pre-existing image: His relatively dovish foreign-policy views have long been seen as...

>Hawks...or Vultures?I just read a piece posted on Drudge, from the Washington Post, in which the writers, Sebastian Payne and Robert Costa, take note of what they observe as a shift in the GOP, away from the trend of non-interventionism, back towards 'hawkism', i.e, the NeoCon perspective and focus. I don't doubt the numbers, I only question the perhaps over broad application of the context of this shift. The writers make particular note of Rand Paul, Libertarian leaning Senator from Kentucky and potential contestant in the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination race: “Even Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a leader of the...

<p>The Obama Administration’s bizarre and ill-conceived foreign policy, covert CIA activities in Libya, Egypt and Syria, and the spillover into Iraq raise grave questions about administration goals. The all-but-certain collapse of Afghanistan and the atrocities we are seeing in Iraq and in Syria are not a product of miscalculations.</p>

You'll recall that I quipped that  if Obama asserts that it's nighttime - I get up and go to the window to confirm it. Well, the Big 'O' has a soulmate in the crowded universe of liars in American politics.  Hillary Clinton. Hillarys peeing on my leg but claiming that it's just raining. But I know she's peeing on my leg because we're in the middle of a drought out here - and because (ladies, cover your ears), Barack Obama calls her latest self-serving, scapegoat chatter - "Horseshit". Now, I'd say if anyone can recognize horseshit, it would probably be...

For those of you, who perhaps aren't dialed into the onset of Football season and all the terminology appurtenant to it, "the rock" is slang for the football. Polls confirm that voters are set to hand the Republican party "the rock" - i.e., take the ball away from Democrats. Each day it looks more like an avalanche for the Pachyderms, although, as I note in today's post, the GOP can always be counted on to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. If you're strongly of the sentiment that Republicans embody everything that is virtuous on...

This is a parable inspired by and written in response to an editorial from Charles Krauthammer, sent over by a friend this afternoon. There was a guy who had taken on the role of the head of community security, let's call him "Mr.Zimmerman" for convenience sake.  Mr. Zimmerman purposes to coordinate and spearhead an effort to methodically go through the entire neighborhood and look for suspicious activity, unlocked doors, improper security lighting, unsavory characters malingering - and to act as the first responder to possible criminal activity.  While he is doing this, he leaves the back of his home completely...

#EndExIm Heritage Action for America is coordinating with its social media activists for a TwitterFest tonight beginning at 5:30PM EST until approximately 6PM EST on the need for Congress to put a final nail in the coffin of the wasteful, sometimes corrupt and ultimately unnecessary, Export-Import Bank. It's a form of rent seeking international pork for corporations that already have a viable business model without it. Eliminating it takes Congress out of the role of picking winners in the free market. Please post at least one Tweet with this link http://heritageaction.com/2014/04/export-import-bank-reauthorization/ and be sure to use the hashtag #EndExIm

Democrats are changing out their immigration mix tape. Before, twas Ted Kennedy singing 'Jalisco' . If you don't remember that, Yahoo it – it's a hoot. Then it was 'Don't Fence Me In (or out)'. Both have been replaced by 'Vaya Con Dios My Darling'. Nancy Pelosi is still on board with failed policies and Mooooochelle is still dog whistling to LULAC that “we have to keep up the fight on immigration”. But House Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer is signaling the troops to retreat: “We have an immediate humanitarian crisis that confronts this country. We also have a crisis...

Here is a series of quotes regarding the unlawful border crossing surge of thousands of migrants into the United States from Texas. All of the quotes below are from the same individual. "We have an immediate humanitarian crisis that confronts this country. We also have a crisis in terms of: this country cannot absorb, nor should it, a limitless number of people, particularly children, who want to come across our border.""Clearly we have to indicate that we cannot give these children sanctuary except under extraordinary circumstances.""The United States cannot be expected to give sanctuary to every child in the...

Howdy folks, I attended / observed / participated in the protest in Murrieta near the Border Patrol station yesterday. Thought you might find a couple of observations about the nature of the resistance to detainee dumping of interest. One thing that floored me was the stark reality that the narrative the network media present, in which minorities - especially Hispanics, are all of the same mind concerning Open Borders, enforcement, amnesty, etc. - is so false that it is laughable. I suspected this all along, but it was still somewhat surprising the extent. A quick teaser. I detail how the...

Some 'boots on the ground' observations by me of the Murrieta Town hall meeting and the reason why DHS feels justified legally in busing and releasing illegals instead of immediate deportation. I also delve into a scandal regarding the refusal of the Border Patrol to admit Riverside County Health officials onto the BP Station in Murrieta to assess the health risk issues if they do succeed in getting the migrants in. http://www.commdiginews.com/politics-2/murrieta-immigration-rebellion-the-shot-heard-roun...

After witnessing the transfer of weapons from 'moderate' elements of the Syrian opposition to al Qaida and ISIS and the reappearance of said armaments in Iraq, Obama wants to openly provide half a Billion more to 'vetted' allies in Syria! When I first read the report, I was stunned. Here is an administration so audacious that they have no reluctance to publicly float a proposal to ask Congress to join them in an act that is tantamount to war crimes and treason! I realized I was looking at a carbon copy of what Obama had already done covertly with the...

The U.S. Government spawned ISIS. I can't put it much plainer than that. Our government in partnership with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Britain and France, created the beast, ISIS, that we now must attempt to neutralize - at the expense of placing Americans once again in harm's way. I realize this is going to cause some cognitive dissonance with some conservatives, but the trail of facts leads where it leads and this is a very inconvenient and disturbing truth that needs to be digested if we are to learn what really lies behind the tactics that are bringing America to...

Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, one of Murdoch’s media holdings, about an issue that has been on his wish list for years: immigration reform. From it comes Murdoch’s “Immigrant Elevator Speech”. “I chose to come to America and become a citizen because America was — and remains — the most free and entrepreneurial nation in the world. Our history is defined by people whose character and culture have been shaped by ambition, imagination and hard work, bound together by a dream of a better life.” This is all quite charming until you realize...