Free Republic

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...

There are gong to be many millions of newly befuddled, fearful, and angry taxpayers this April, hit with the consequences of Obamacare’s social engineering when they try to file their taxes in April. Many will suffer unexpected financial penalties and costs, especially those accustomed to filing under the simplified tax forms applying to straight salaried people with standard deductions. H&R Block is warning that “[n]o one can understand” the New Obamacare tax code requirements for filing this year. In fact, millions of people accustomed to filing the postcard-sized 1040EZ form will now have to file extremely complicated and detailed forms,...

While Kyle was risking his life over four tours of duty to protect his country and innocent Iraqi civilians from evil, savage terrorists, the American Left, and most especially the Hollywood Left, were using every weapon at their disposal to ensure untold millions of innocent Iraqis were fed into a terrorist/death squad meat grinder. The Left made no secret of this. At the height of the Iraq War, Democrats, the mainstream media, and Hollywood fought tooth and nail for America to pull prematurely out of Iraq. The very same people lying about Chris Kyle today are the very same people...

RUSH: The primary criticism of American Sniper ran in the New Republic, and it's what's feeding all the other criticism. The criticism in the New Republic is written by a guy named... What's his name? Dennis Jett. He admits he's not even seen it. He hasn't even seen it. The criticism of American Sniper is that Clint Eastwood has written and directed a movie that's celebrating a murderer -- a racist, bigoted murderer -- Chris Kyle who murders innocent Iraqi brown people. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99k3u9ay1gs We in America, by going to see this movie, are celebrating barbarism. We are celebrating murder. We...

“Now that the Affordable Care Act has made health care a tax issue, no one can understand it,� H&R Block flatly tells taxpayers in a video that resides on its dedicated Obamacare web site. A former IRS Commissioner agrees, and cautions that the new tax requirements will be a “shock to the system,� especially afflicting low-income earners who have never itemized on their tax return.The tax preparation giant — with 24 million tax clients worldwide — reports that the Obamacare tax rules now constitute “the biggest tax code change in the last 20 years.�The company is so concerned, it has...

The NFL has confirmed it is looking into charges the New England Patriots cheated Sunday night when they clinched a trip to the Super Bowl Sunday night by using deflated footballs. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed the probe Monday, following the AFC championship game, in which the Patriots demolished the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7. The charge was first made Sunday night, when an Indianapolis reporter that the NFL had seized at least one game ball from the AFC championship game to examine whether pigskins were intentionally deflated to make them easier to throw and catch. “The NFL is investigating the possibility,”...

It's getting hard to keep up with all these Koran inspired atrocities that have nothing to do with Islam. We know they have nothing to do with Islam because our politicians keep telling us that and they are all Islamic scholars. (They are, aren't they?) Yes, the violence is coming exclusively from Muslims but only because their religion, the one that has nothing to do with Islam, tells them to kill unbelievers -- meaning the people who don't follow the religion with a knife to our throat that has nothing to do with Islam. It's true that the more Muslims...

Screen grab by TurtleBoySports.comBoston reporters went to the homes of several Boston area protesters who were arrested for blocking highways on Thursday. What they found were adult children playing revolutionary while living with their rich parents. A reporter for WBZ-TV, Ken MacLeod was run off a property while seeking to interview protesters. At another he was told he was harassing the protester he was seeking to interview by ringing her apartment call box. “WBZ-TV’s Ken MacLeod went to (Mark) Schwaller’s apartment in Jamaica Plain hoping for some perspective. He didn’t get that but he did get tossed by another man...

RUSH: You want to hear even more absurdity? What is the focus of militant Islamism today? It's Yemeni Al-Qaeda, is it not, Mr. Snerdley? Al-Qaeda in Yemen is the new focus. They're the guys that supposedly blew up Charlie Hebdo and all that. So what's Obama doing? He's releasing Al-Qaeda from Yemen prisoners at Club Gitmo in the middle of all this. I'm watching Fox News today and of course they're trying to understand it because nobody can come to grips -- I'm listening to them ask questions of each other. "You know, is it possible that maybe, uh, you...

The White House dropped a bombshell on Thursday by announcing that FCC already has the authority to take over regulating and taxing the Internet without Congressional approval. Under “network neutrality” proceedings, the FCC could extend its 16.1% fee on interstate telecommunications services and relay fees to the Internet. The action would more than double the “universal service” revenue it collected in 2014, from $8 billion to $16 billion. Although Congress has mandated the general nature of the federal universal service fund and telecommunications relay services, it is the FCC that has the sole authority to set the budget size and...

President Obama told Senate Democrats in a private meeting that he plans to "play offense" against the new GOP-controlled Congress, showing little hesitation about clashing with Republicans for the next two years. Congressional sources confirmed the comments, made Thursday during a summit in Baltimore, as Republican lawmakers held their own summit in Hershey, Pa. The president, who already has issued a string of veto threats in the opening days of the 114th Congress, indicated he's prepared to keep opposing legislation he finds objectionable. This includes legislation with bipartisan support. Not only has Obama threatened to veto bipartisan legislation authorizing the...

The story of how it got there may never be known, but a rusting 132-year-old Winchester rifle -- known in U.S. lore as "the gun that won the West" -- was recently found resting against a juniper tree in a Nevada national park. The gun, its stock split, gray and faded like driftwood, and its steel barrel rusted brown, blended in perfectly against the tree in a remote part of the Great Basin National Park until a National Parks Service employee spotted it. “The rifle, exposed for all those years to sun, wind, snow and rain, was found leaning against...

On Tuesday Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet announced it would publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.Cumhuriyet made the announcement on their Twitter feed. Bu dayanışmanın parçası olarak Charlie Hebdo’nun özel sayısından 4 sayfalık bir seçkiye bugün gazetemizde yer veriyoruz— cumhuriyet.com.tr (@cumhuriyetgzt) January 13, 2015 The paper received several threats after the announcement. An armed Turkish police officer stands guard outside the offices of Cumhuriyet (AFP)On Wednesday Turkish police raided the Cumhuriyet printing press. Police also stopped and checked trucks carrying the freshly-printed newspapers carrying the Charlie Hebdo cartoons.Middle East Eye reported: Turkish police stopped trucks carrying freshly-printed newspapers bearing Charlie Hebdo cartoons, searching...

RUSH: Checking the e-mail: "Rush, what you said about Eugene Robinson doesn't make any sense." All right, sir. Here it is again. The Daily Caller. "It’s a good thing there aren’t many terrorists in the US -- but not because it’s generally good to have a country free of violent extremists, but because those same radicals would have plenty of weapons at their disposal in this gun-loving country." That's the argument Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson offered up on Friday during Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, and her show discussion about the recent terror attacks in Paris. Eugene Robinson actually...

Priorities. Barack Obama was MIA at the Paris Unity March against Islamic terrorism.According to an administration official, President Obama spent part of his Sunday afternoon watching an NFL playoff game on television. Both playoff games were broadcast hours after the march.Obama was busy… Watching football.Fifty world leaders and 3.7 million people marched in the parade and rally.

Across New York City, policemen are being put on notice by higher ups, get back to business as usual, or no vacations, or sick days, according to reports. And borough commanders want to see the proof. “Throughout the city, precincts are being ordered to hand up to borough commanders ‘activity sheets’ indicating the number of arrests and summonses per shift…” Said one union source, according to the New York Post, “Police officers around the city are now threatened with transfers, no vacation time and sick time unless they write summonses.”

Peters said the plan for fighting war is “one, you accept that you are in a war. Two, you name the enemy: Islamist terrorists. Three, you get the lawyers off the battlefield and out of the targeting cell. You accept there will be collateral damage, and do you not apologize for it, you do not nation build. You don’t hold — try to hold ground. You go wherever in the world the terrorists are and you kill them. You do your best to exterminate them, and then you leave, and you leave behind smoking ruins and crying widows. If in...

There's a bizarre reason why millions of Americans saw their health plans cancelled in 2013 and, as explained in a new video featuring Robert Graboyes of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, millions more will lose their plans in years to come.

Breitbart News learned from an NYPD source that officers made no arrests Tuesday night, despite bottles being hurled at police and other violations of the law by protesters. That’s how Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton wanted it, the source explained. “Last night was an abortion–air mail. The bosses are weak. [They] Let them sh*t all over us. Real cowardly,” said the NYPD source. “This is part of a bigger picture,” the law enforcement source stated. “This was extremely well thought out… I’m thinking that the planning of this goes back to the campaign.”

Going by objective standards of reason and fairness, Al Sharpton is not to blame for the assassination of two New York City cops over the weekend. Nor are New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama or any of the protesters and activists they supported, encouraged and allied themselves with. Going by what we know, the only person to blame is the man police identified as the killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley. This is the standard I've upheld in this space for years, when one madman after another has killed and maimed in the name of one...

Anti-police protesters are currently marching the streets of New York City in defiance of Mayor Bill De Blasio’s request to cease demonstrations after the execution of two police officers on Saturday.

Several movie theaters said they will begin showing “The Interview” Thursday, seemingly putting the comedy back in theaters after Sony Pictures Entertainment canceled its release. The Alamo Drafthouse in Texas said on Tuesday that Sony has authorized it to screen the film starting Christmas Day. Atlanta’s Plaza Theater also said it will show the film.

Students at Brandeis University spent Monday effusively supporting Khadijah Lynch, their fellow student who took to Twitter to celebrate the brutal, execution-style murder of two New York Police Department officers this weekend.“i have no sympathy for the nypd officers who were murdered today,� Lynch had spouted on Saturday afternoon. “lmao, all i just really dont have sympathy for the cops who were shot. i hate this racist ****ing country,� the junior also tweeted. (RELATED: Fancypants College Student: ‘No Sympathy’ For Brutally Executed Cops)Another Brandeis student, Daniel Mael, publicized these and other fanatical tweets from Lynch’s then-public Twitter account on Truth...

Ah, Christmas — the season for joy, tolerance, and goodwill amongst all. Usually in these days, media outlets queue up the glurge — the sappy stories, the tearjerker videos, and the essays about finding meaning in a season defined by religion and its observance. Everyone likes to tap into the happy memories and high ideals of the Christmas season.Well, almost everyone. For some reason, Salon chose this week to offer two dyspeptic and nonsensical takes on religion, the most outrageous of which argues that one has to support rape in order to be Christian. God raped the Virgin Mary, so...

There’s nothing quite like the fury of a cornered political hack. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave a remarkable press conference on Monday afternoon where he blamed the media for creating the air of paranoia and racial tension currently hanging heavy over the Big Apple. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IQAh5MAkO8“What are you guys gonna do? Are you gonna keep dividing us?” de Blasio demanded of reporters, angry at them for daring to report the ugly behavior of certain demonstrators. You can tell from his body language that de Blasio feels the wall pressing hard against his back. He needed a scapegoat, fast,...

“Gabby Giffords came to Oregon on October 21st, 2014. The event was private, but media was allowed in. YouTuber Daylight Disinfectant made his way in and filmed the entire thing…Obama appointed D.A. Amanda Marshall makes fun of “2nd Amendment enthusiasts”, then they start to talk about removing the privacy of folks who have been through the current background check system and turning the records over to the federal government. Multnomah County Commissioner Judy Shiprack then talks about having the state legislature address the “administrative rule” that the Oregon State Police have in effect where they destroy most background check records...

Though not hosting his primetime program, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly called into “The O’Reilly Factor� to deliver a scathing indictment of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying de Blasio should resign, and has “disgraced� the NYC mayoral office.O’Reilly also told guest host Greg Gutfeld Monday night that the relatively new mayor is “incompetent,� adding that de Blasio has espoused an “anti-police� sentiment his entire career. O’REILLY: “Bill de Blasio, as I said, is incompetent. He was elected in an election in New York City that few people voted. He was a machine politician, and he is an...

The engulfing flames of a Texas wildfire quickly shifted directions and burned two-thirds of the 6,000-acre park at Bastrop State Park. This clip from the Texas Park and Wildlife Department shows the intensity of the flames in real time.

Diplomatic drama during the Europe-Israel panel at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem on Thursday, moderated by Herb Keinon with The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com's Senior Contributing Editor Caroline B. Glick and Danish Ambassador Jesper Vahr. Thanks to Eli Mandelbaum. taken from Steve Lindh FB

<p>New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is facing a firestorm of criticism in the wake of the execution-style murder of two city police officers, as police union officials and ex-city leaders accuse him of stoking an atmosphere that made officers a target of "hate."</p>