Free Republic

The Wisconsin Senate narrowly approved a "right-to-work" bill on Wednesday that would bar private-sector employees who work under union-negotiated contracts from being required to join their unions or pay them dues. The bill, which would make Wisconsin the 25th U.S. state with a right-to-work law on the books, cleared the Republican-led Senate on a 17-15 vote following hours of debate marked by periodic angry shouts from opponents in the Senate gallery. Supporters of organized labor chanted "Shame!" as the legislation was passed and sent for further consideration to the state Assembly, where Republicans also hold a majority. One Republican senator,...

Here’s the latest video from Project Veritas showing how the families and attorneys of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown really feel about Rev. Al Sharpton.Additionally, local clergy and others express their opinions about how Sharpton exploits tragedy for personal gain. Via Veritas Visuals: VIDEO - Eric Garner & Trayvon Martin Family, Michael Brown Lawyer Say Al Sharpton Exploited Their TragediesThe New York Post reported: Al Sharpton is all about the Benjamins, a daughter of police chokehold victim Eric Garner claims in a bombshell videotape.Erica Snipes tees off on the reverend as interested primarily in money during a secretly...

Seventy year-old Barronelle Stutzman may lose her home and life’s saving for not selling flowers to couple for their gay wedding. Stutzman did refer the couple to a different shop but that was not enough.The court ruled recently that both the state and the same-sex couple may collect damages and attorneys’ fees not only from her business, but from Stutzman personally. The Alliance Defending Freedom reported: A state judge ruled Wednesday that Washington floral artist and grandmother Barronelle Stutzman must provide full support for wedding ceremonies that are contrary to her faith – a decision at odds with the views...

RUSH: I don't know, man. If I'm Obama, I might be starting to have a little problem with Marie Harf. Not over what she's saying. I mean, that's right where he wants her to be, but she's becoming a bigger media personality than Obama is. And that kind of stuff doesn't sit well with people like The One. Anyway, she's doubled down. You know, yesterday she said that the problem with ISIS is we're never gonna beat 'em by killing them. We can't outkill them. We can't kill 'em in war. We need to get them jobs. So everybody had...

ISIS released a new video Sunday– They titled it–“Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross.� It was produced by the Islamic State’s Al Hayat Media.In Sunday’s video ISIS slaughtered 21 Christian Copts in Libya. The Christians were all wearing orange jumpsuits and were marched out together on a beach.The Christians were forced to kneel down in a line. They act like they are in some kind of a trance or drugged.The people of the cross were beheaded.At the end of the video the water runs red with blood.Today Barack Obama empathized with Islamist killers in his opinion...

Five years ago I was invited to become the chief political commentator of the Telegraph. It was a job I was very proud to accept. The Telegraph has long been the most important conservative-leaning newspaper in Britain, admired as much for its integrity as for its superb news coverage. When I joined the Telegraph had just broken the MPs’ expenses scandal, the most important political scoop of the 21st century. I was very conscious that I was joining a formidable tradition of political commentary. I spent my summer holiday before taking up my duties as columnist reading the essays of...

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, after coming under fire for suggesting a way to fight the Islamic State and all terrorism is by creating jobs, has an answer for her critics: Her argument is just "too nuanced" for them to understand. Harf, in TV interviews Tuesday night, stood by her original remarks and said she was speaking about a comprehensive approach to combating "extremism." Harf said that means airstrikes in the short-term, and going after "root causes" like poor economic conditions in the long-term. "Longer term, we cannot kill every terrorist around the world, nor should we try," Harf said...

Guns-for-me-but-not-for-thee hypocrisy on full display from the anti-gunner attorney, David Malik, when arrested for possession of guns and ammo in his travel bag at the airport.The Examiner reports the following and reminds the readers of other anti-gun progressive hypocrites:A leading local civil rights attorney was arrested over the weekend at Cleveland Hopkins Airport for having a concealed handgun in his carry-on bag, The Plain Dealer reported Sunday. David Malik, the original attorney for the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice who was slain by police in November, spent the night in jail after a .22 caliber handgun and a box of...

If you are reading my column, you are familiar with the claim that campus administrators often seek to deprive young conservatives of the ability to defend their beliefs in the marketplace of ideas. But you may not have heard the claim that campus administrators often deprive young leftists of the ability to defend their beliefs in the marketplace of ideas. The latter contention is the subject of the present column. It begins with a salient example from my own campus, UNC-Wilmington. Here on my campus, a bold Christian organization called Ratio Christi often seeks to open up the marketplace of...

On the happily few occasions when callers to my radio show make a particularly foolish comment, I ask them what graduate school they attended. When they ask why I assume they attended graduate school, I respond, "Only someone who went to graduate school would say something that foolish." Because it is never my intention to humiliate a caller, I always hasten to explain that my comment is not directed at the caller; it is directed at our universities. Moreover, I mean it literally. In order to say certain things that are so obviously foolish, one has to be taught them....

On Wednesday, February 11, the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE) suffered a humiliating federal court defeat that struck at the very core of its power. In response, it took the DOJ and the BATFE only two days to petulantly strike back at gun owners in the form of a late Friday order intended to ban a major type of ammunition for the single most commonly purchased rifle. (The BATFE’s “framework notice� released Friday evening is embedded at the bottom of this post.)Last week’s federal court summary judgment against the government in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5IqH7oJ9h4TRANSCRIPT In 2008, American Jews voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. Even though Obama had spent large segments of his prior life hobnobbing with vicious anti-Semites like Jeremiah Wright and Rashid Khalidi, even though he had staffed his campaign with anti-Semites ranging from Zbigniew Brzezinski to Robert Malley, Jews turned out in droves for him. Sarah Silverman harangued young Jews into telling their grandparents that they were racist if they didn’t vote for him; Jeffrey Goldberg, Obama’s designated court Jew – a role he has never relinquished -- informed Jews that they were racist if they feared Senator Obama’s positions on...

What is it about the Southern Poverty Law Center that drives leftists to murder? More information is coming in about the gunman who reportedly murdered three innocent Muslims in North Carolina yesterday, Craig Stephen Hicks.Hicks is a raging Progressive leftist who fed on a steady diet of liberal media. Then he killed people. #RuhRoh The guy who murdered innocent #Muslims is a radical athiest fan of #Progressive extremists @Maddow @splcenter http://t.co/iXGVSt1YCR— Progressives Today (@ProgsToday) February 11, 2015 Pajamas Media reports: A review of the Facebook page of the man charged in these murders, Craig Hicks, shows a consistent theme of...

From: "Deborah Turness (NBCUniversal)" Date: Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 4:48 PM -0800 Subject: Brian Williams To: "@NBC Uni NBC News All" All, We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months. The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately. We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News. Our review, which is being led by Richard Esposito working closely with NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, is ongoing, but I think it is important to take...

DEVELOPING: The parents of Kayla Mueller, the Arizona woman who was taken hostage by ISIS in August 2013, confirmed Tuesday their daughter died while in the hands of the terror group. "We are heartbroken to share that we've received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life," Carl and Marsha Mueller, of Prescott, Ariz., said in a statement. "Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace." The family received information from their daughter's ISIS captors over the weekend that was authenticated, according...

The Southern Poverty Law Center has descended to the level of self-parody (though it has a lot of company on the left) with its posting of Dr. Ben Carson on its “extremist files� list. Dr. Carson, a world-renowned brain surgeon, has served as inspiration for generations of African-Americans, and was portrayed on screen by Cuba Gooding in the movie version of his autobiography Gifted Hands. But to SPLC, desperate to find targets and keep the donations coming in to support the lavish salaries of its executives, apparently no convoluted reasoning is too bizarre. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson rapidly ascended...

Here we go again… NBC anchor Brian Williams said he has close contacts in the Pentagon and they got him a piece of the fuselage of the chopper shot down in the Bin Laden raid in Abbottabad. Williams says he has one piece and Barack Obama has the other. Via Sooper Mexican: “I have something that fits that perfectly. I have friends among the Special Operations folks in the Pentagon. And I have a piece of the fuselage of the chopper that didn’t make it in Abbottabad. It’s one of the toughest things to get. And the president has a...

(Language Warning) NEGLIGENT DISCHARGES HAPPEN! I am very unlucky, but very lucky! However I am on my way to recovery!

Back in the fall of 2006, long before Brian Williams confessed to “conflating” his helicopter adventures over Iraq, Neal Santangelo knew the NBC news anchor was a fraud. Santangelo, a Boston firefighter, former president of Local 718 and a proud veteran of the Navy submarine service, served on a committee that brought the Congressional Medal of Honor Society to Boston that year for its national convention. About six months before the society’s gala banquet at the Convention Center, Williams agreed to serve as master of ceremonies. But when he arrived on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2006, Williams told committee members Tom...

Obama to Sacrifice Israel in Exchange for Less Jihad Iranian dancers perform their blessed nuclear dance on the first National Nuclear Technology Day, in 2006. (The Lede)The Obama administration is going to offer the Iranian regime technical aid for its nuclear program in exchange for less jihad in the region. The move will put Israel in great danger.The Jerusalem Post reported: At a security conference in Munich, the two leaders met to discuss ongoing negotiations over the nuclear program— and that program only, according to American officials. But the warning from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underscored core motivations...

I did something last week that I rarely do: I went out after dark. I don’t like to do this. This area is too creepy crawly during the day, much less at night. But supplies were low, and I wasn’t sure when I’d get another chance to go food shopping. And I thought to myself, “Maybe you’re exaggerating all of this: the crime, the filth, the general insanity. Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.” So, like a small child testing the waters, I thought I’d stick my toe in the after-hours scene. It was about 7:30 pm when...

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A professor who taught anatomy and physiology and was highly regarded by both his students and fellow faculty members was shot and killed by his ex-wife in an apparent murder-suicide at the University of South Carolina, a coroner said Friday. Sunghee Kwon shot Raja Fayad several times in the upper body Thursday afternoon in a fourth-floor office at the university's Public Health building, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said in a news release. Kwan then committed suicide with a gunshot to her stomach, the coroner said. A 9 mm pistol with an empty magazine was found near...

Just when you thought you’d heard it all… The Obama White House insists they’re not indecisive or lazy- They’re practicing “Strategic Patience� by leading from behind. Via Ben ShapiroToday Strategic Patience brought us news of the death of American ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller.More BS from the Worst President Ever.Foreign Policy reported: This story has been updated with details from the White House strategy document.Critics of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy have for years assailed his administration for responding too slowly to crises ranging from Syria to Russia. In a far-reaching blueprint released Friday that outlines the administration’s worldview, the White...

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday that he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, recanting a claim that he and the network had repeated for years -- most recently on Friday night. Contrary to Williams' past claims that he was traveling in a Chinook helicopter that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire on March 24, he arrived at the scene in a separate helicopter about an hour later. He apparently was never in any danger, and the Chinook that took fire, one of three in...

Jordan's King Abdullah, himself a former general, angrily vowed to pursue ISIS until his military runs "out of fuel and bullets," in a closed door meeting with U.S. lawmakers that followed the release Wednesday of a grisly video showing a captured Jordanian airman being burned alive in a cage by the terrorist army. The pledge preceded the hanging of two Al Qaeda terrorists early Wednesday in Jordan, a swift response to the video that could be a mere harbinger of coming retribution from the Arab kingdom in the wake of the sadistic slaughter. King Abdullah's words were echoed by military...

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura appeared to link “American Sniper” Chris Kyle to Nazi soldiers in a Fox News Radio interview that aired Tuesday night. Ventura told radio host Alan Colmes, “Our people are behaving just like the people in Germany in the ’30s.”Radio host and former governor Jesse Ventura compared the United States to Nazi Germany and the Communists in a recent conversation with liberal Alan Colmes. Via The Blaze: VENTURA: A hero should have honor. A hero is not how many people you’ve killed. You know he’s obviously a great sniper. He’s obviously a great shot. He obviously did...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson threatened US sheriffs today. Johnson told the sheriffs that they will not receive federal grants they are counting on if the Republican Congress does not fund amnesty.Sheriff Justin Smith from Larimer County Colorado posted this tonight on his Facebook page: I received a very interesting veiled threat letter from Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security addressed to all police chiefs and sheriffs around the country.His letter made it clear that if Congress didn’t send President Obama the DHS funding bill that he wanted (rubberstamping the president’s executive amnesty), local and state public...

ISIS murdered a Jordanian pilot today. They torched Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh alive in a cage.Barack Obama responded to the horrific murder by pushing Obamacare. “Should, in fact, this video be authentic, it’s just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization. And I think we’ll redouble the vigilance and determination of the a global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated. And it also just indicates the degree to which whatever ideology they’re operating off of is bankrupt. We’re here to talk about how to make people healthier and make their lives better. And...

Somehow or other the word “feminism” never enters these articles, but where do you imagine that the modern habit of demeaning, degrading and ridiculing men comes from? We are not talking about something that occurs behind closed doors. Being contemptuous of men, making them look like fools has become the new, modern way for women to attack men. One might say that the assaults men commit against women are far more serious. One would probably be right. And yet, life is a two-way street and the feminist habit of assaulting men with derisive remarks must produce a hostile cultural environment....

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...

Alabama's first openly gay state lawmaker threatened to "out" fellow elected officials engaged in extramarital affairs, especially those that champion family values and traditional marriage. State Rep. Patricia Todd's (D-Birmingham) ire came to a boil after several state officials reacted negatively to a recent federal ruling that declared Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard called the ruling "outrageous" and said that the will of 80% of Alabama citizens who voted in 2006 to define marriage as between a man and a woman has been overturned by the act of "a single unelected and unaccountable federal...

On December 14, 2011 Barack Obama delivered a speech to soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on how the Iraq War was over: “It’s harder to end a war than to begin one… We’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self reliant Iraq.“ And with that Barack Obama pulled all US troops from Iraq despite the advice from top military leaders. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKSb2ukQxvYFast forward three years… Today Barack Obama sent 1,000 US paratroopers from Fort Bragg back to Iraq as part of the Operation Inherent Resolve mission. The place is a mess.

Progressives will always claim that no matter how badly their plans go wrong, at least their terrible policies were well-intentioned.The regimes that shot orphans, starved entire cities into submission and committed genocide were “caring” in comparison to the heartless Dickensian capitalists who did nothing for the poor except create cheap products and jobs. They might have killed millions, but their red hearts were in the right place. They didn’t just spend all their time gobbling caviar and diving into swimming pools full of all money like the millionaires of the West. Instead they gave speeches about Marxism-Leninism, killed anyone who...

American Sniper had a record-breaking debut. It’s the widest release ever for an R-rated movie, the biggest debut ever for a Best Picture Oscar nominee; it’s the highest grossing January movie in history and it’s already the second highest grossing war movie of all-time. The movie has already gone beyond “blockbuster” all the way up to “cultural phenomenon” in the space of a few weeks’ time. However, ironically, as the movie has become more popular with the public, liberals have gotten more and more upset about it. You’ve already seen the quotes from Michael Moore and Bill Maher, but...

RUSH: Scott Walker wowed them in Iowa at whatever this thing was, this Republican, slash, conservative, just wowed them. And you know me, folks, if you have spent any time listening to this program in the last two years, you know that I believe Scott Walker is the blueprint for the Republican Party if they are serious about beating the left. Scott Walker has shown how to do it. And apparently he showed up and he made a speech on Saturday that had people telling them it reminded them of the speech I gave at CPAC. Now, if that's true,...

Encouraged by the Democrat Media complex to write his own narrative, President Obama has apparently decided to deliver it in the form of a comic book supervillain monologue. Obama’s “swagger� has led us beyond the realm of “laughingstock� status and straight into comic book adventure territory. The classic elements are there: the villain with his faithful yet bumbling sidekicks, his plan to “transform� the world, monologues where he lectures and justifies. The superhero, however, has yet to make his entrance. In this series, the Democrat Media complex edits the script, and try as they might to cast Obama as the...

The theme of Obama’s last campaign was “Forward.” Having thoroughly alienated Republicans in Congress, he is boldly moving forward on his final mission of also alienating the Democrats. It’s no secret that Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader, now loathes Obama. But the conflict between Senate Democrats and Obama is approaching explosive temperatures. Senator Menendez accused Obama of parroting talking points out of Tehran as the Senate approaches a sanctions vote. Obama has threatened to veto bills on Iran and Keystone, along with others, leading to a showdown in which Democrats will have to choose between Obama and electability....

Anti-police activists are getting their wish fulfilled as more police departments are outfitting officers with body cameras that record sight and sound from the officersÂ’ perspective.So far the results of three recently released videos of police encounters that ended in fatal shootings show the dangers officers face on patrol.Warning: Video shows deadly violence.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrQyUQCJS0A video from Selma, Alabama shows a Black officer fatally shooting a Black man, Ananias Shaw, as he charged the officer while wielding an ax.A second video from Arizona shows the fatal shooting of Flagstaff Officer Tyler Stewart who used the gentle technique demanded by cop-hating agitators. A...

The reporting on the latest Obama-Netanyahu tiff has failed to explore a decisive geopolitical likelihood: Israel has calculated that Iran absolutely will not develop nuclear weapons during the remainder of the Obama administration. For those who closely follow the relationship between Israel and the United States, specifically the tumultuous rapport between Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, it was assumed that the “chickensh*t” fiasco this past October was the climax of the Obama administration’s frustrations with Netanyahu. This assumption was obliterated however when Netanyahu accepted an invitation this week from Speaker John Boehner to address a joint session...

Can we be honest for a minute about the latest liberal crusade gripping the country like a deflated football?If you are sincerely concerned about fair play in sports and waiting patiently for the NFL to conclude its investigation of “Deflategate,� this column is not directed at you. Maybe you’re a New England Patriots fan or just a neutral observer. Maybe you don’t care about football at all. But for the rest of you, the mob salivating over the prospect of finding something to diminish the Patriots’ 2014 achievements, let’s face it.You hated Tom Brady before the national media lost its...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEG-ly9tQGk Danish archer Lars Andersen might be the most accomplished archer of our time. Not because of any awards or medals, but purely because of what he has accomplished by studying ancient texts and paintings. Andersen posted a video on Friday attempting to disprove the Hollywood myth of archery. Not only that, he explains how the art of archery is lost on today's archers because a majority of them stand still and aim at their target rather than be able to run, shoot, and hit their targets while also being able to shoot rapidly. Andersen says that the ultimate feat...

How dare he speak out on the Iranian nuclear threat!On Thursday the Obama White House said they would not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because they wanted to “avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country.�The Israeli elections are two weeks after Netanyahu is set to address a joint session of Congress.On Friday an Obama administration official told reporters Netanyahu “spat in our face.�The Times of Israel reported: The White House’s outrage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to speak before Congress in March — a move he failed to coordinate with the administration...

That MSNBC routinely, almost compulsively, mischaracterizes what conservatives say is nothing new. It’s what makes the network so adorable. But in a recent trend, anchor Rachel Maddow has been upping the ante, altering quotes we just heard her play on tape.On Monday night, for example, Rachel ran a news clip from President Reagan’s 1983 Martin Luther King Day signing ceremony: “Chris Wallace, NBC Reporter (by miraculous coincidence, currently a Fox News anchor): ‘There was an air of celebration in the Rose Garden and an underlying tension. White House officials wrestled for days how to usher in a holiday the president...

As hundreds of thousands of members of the pro-life community descend upon Washington D.C. for the March for Life Thursday, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has caved to Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and a group of GOP women who believe passage of a bill that would ban abortions past the fifth month of pregnancy would hurt the Party’s chances with women and millennials. The upending of the bill comes as a member of that GOP leadership team, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)—the House GOP conference chair—is leading the House delegation to, and addressing the crowds of pro-life...

In the video, the mood changes in a flash when Days tells his partner about the gun and starts yelling, "Show me your hands!" The driver, Leroy Tutt, raises his hands immediately. Reid does not at first. Days, still yelling, reaches into the car and appears to remove a gun. "I'm going to shoot you," Days shouts, at one point addressing Reid by his first name. "You're going to be f---ing dead. If you reach for something, you're going to be f---ing dead." Days tells his partner, "He's reaching for something." Faintly on the video, Reid can be heard telling...

The Patriots used underinflated footballs on Sunday night. The next question is how did it happen? According to a National Football League letter about the investigation into the controversy that was shared with the Globe, the Patriots were informed that the league’s initial findings indicated that the game balls did not meet specifications. The league inspected each of the Patriots’ 12 game balls twice at halftime, using different pressure gauges, and found footballs that were not properly inflated. According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 game balls were found to be underinflated by about 2 pounds each. The NFL specifications...

I haven’t yet seen the movie American Sniper, but I have read Chris Kyle’s autobiography, on which it is based. I therefore believe that I am qualified to write on the topic.Although, come to think of it, I’m not really going to write about American Sniper at all. Instead, I’m going to write about some of the reactions to American Sniper, which function as a Rorschach test of American (and, dare I say, un-American?) values.I have to begin with the fundamental premise, one that drives the Left nuts, which is that Clint Eastwood, with help from a superb Bradley Cooper,...

What happens when we run out of taboos? The question arises thanks to a column in Salon.com from one Jenny Kutner, an assistant editor "focusing on sex, gender and feminism." This particular column focuses on an 18-year-old woman who is currently dating. That wouldn't be odd, except that she is dating her biological father. Apparently, this woman's father left her family when she was 4; when he came back into her life, she was 16. "It was so weird and confusing," she said. "I was seeing my dad for the first time in forever but it was also like, He's...

RUSH: This is a good point here. A story by Alex Pollock at Real Clear Markets: "Why Did No One Predict the Oil-Price Collapse?" This interests me. "We have just had a free fall in one of the most important prices in the world-the price of oil. Looking back, we are keenly aware that it dropped about 60% from its 2014 high to its recent low. Although some people thought the price of oil would go down, nobody (at least nobody that I can find) publicly predicted anything like this big a drop. Why? Oil prices went from $108 a...

Full Title - New York Sheriff On Handgun Renewal Permits, ‘Throw Them In The Garbage Because That Is Where They Belong.’ [VIDEO] Fulton County, N.Y. is home to a strong hunting and fishing tradition. Guns are everywhere, but life isn’t easy.Temperatures are often well below zero, and snow piles drift up so high against your home that you have to go to the second floor to be able to look outside a window. Jobs are scarce since the leather industry exited a few decades ago. Taxes are high, and it seems the government solution to the unemployment problem is to...