Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa — Some Republicans are accusing the party’s neoconservative hawks of playing dirty pool in an attempt to smear Sen. Rand Paul as a bigot for having an aide who once expressed admiration for Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. The aide, Jack Hunter, who quit on Monday, was eased out by Mr. Paul after a neoconservative publication revealed that, as a radio “shock jock” some years ago, Mr. Hunter advocated that the Southern states secede once again from the union. Saying he had become more libertarian and broad-minded since his days as the “Southern Avenger,” Mr. Hunter revealed...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he will use every resource he has at his disposal to stop President Barack Obama from bailing out newly-bankrupt Detroit because he believes the city can and must save itself and learn from its fiscal mistakes. "I basically say he [Obama] is bailing them out over my dead body because we don’t have any money in Washington.” “There’s some good things that come out of bankruptcy,” Paul said in a phone interview from Iowa. “One is you get to start over. Bankruptcy lets you be forgiven of your debt. And you do so by getting...

en. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room on Tuesday evening where he was asked to respond to former Vice President Dick Cheney who told Fox News Channel’s Chris Wallace that the junior Kentucky senator was wrong when he criticized the NSA’s surveillance programs. Paul tore into the Bush administration’s role in the establishment of the post-9/11 security regime, noting that he thinks it is possible to catch terrorists using methods consistent with the Constitution. Cheney told the Fox News Sunday host that Paul was incorrect in his criticisms of the NSA’s communications monitoring programs. The former vice...

The door opened Monday for tens of thousands of nonviolent felons in Virginia to regain the right to vote, with state officials outlining steps each will have to take to recapture their basic civil rights. Gov. Bob McDonnell has said up to 100,000 disenfranchised felons ultimately could be added to the voter rolls, serve on a jury or hold political office.“For past offenders, our goal is to grant civil rights back to as many as possible,” McDonnell said in a statement. “This is the right thing to do for all Virginians to help make the commonwealth a safer and better...

GM rice had not been exposed and report to the public. The field trial was found to be contaminated. Many countries took action on imposing ban of US rice or on imposing a strict certification and testing on all rice import.

I coined a phrase in yesterday’s post: The Pelosi Catholic–which prompted this excellent explanation from an Italian reader Pelosi Catholics is not just correct, it is a terrific – if unintended – pun. In Italian, the adjective “peloso”, of which “pelosi” is the plural, means “hairy”, but it has also the connotations of dishonesty and self-serving pseudery conveyed by the English “greasy”. So: Pelosi Catholics are greasy [pseudo] Catholics. Here’s a further definition: The Pelosi Catholic’s arrogance is only equalled by his ignorance. A cultural cradle Catholic, the Pelosi Catholic mistakes their tribal ethnicity for the Catholic faith. When they...

My wife, three children and I are all US citizens. Returning to the United States yesterday via Miami International Airport, my wife and I were asked what we do for a living. The border agent checked his screen after we answered. He asked my girls after consulting his computer monitor, "Which one of you is the singer? And which one of you is the dancer?" in light of the NSA database stories, perhaps I'm being paranoid. But I felt like they had this information and we're verifying it. He entered notes on his screen as we answered. My girls are...

What happens when you bring a Lamar Alexander to a Chuck Schumer fight? He turns around and becomes a weapon for Chuck Schumer and his allies, albeit an ineffective one. In 2007, before running for a second term, Alexander rightfully noted that “to regain the public’s confidence, we ought to scale it back and fix the problem step-by-step by absolutely securing our borders first, then enforcing our laws without amnesty.” Now, after years of voting for more spending, higher taxes, more debt, expanded government healthcare, massive energy regulations and subsidies, and liberal judicial nominees, the former third ranking Senate Republican...

Former President George W. Bush is expected to make a speech next week on how immigration reform is good for the country, the Dallas Morning News reports. Bush will speak after a citizenship ceremony at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas on Wednesday followed by a panel discussion titled “What Immigrants Contribute.” Although it is not clear whether Bush will throw his support behind the immigration bill making its way through Congress, he has supported reform in the past. While he was president Congress defeated an immigration reform overhaul Bush supported and the Bush center has published several...

Rockford, Il – 6-12-2013 – (ProLifeCorner.com) – by Rockford Pro-Life Initiative – The Catholic Campaign for Human Development, known for funding organizations that support abortion, contraception, and attacks on the family, recently had a report issued on its behalf and signed by former CCHD staff members.The report titled, “Be Not Afraid” claims that in order to continue the mission of social justice organizations that support the murder of babies in the womb, support contraception and the redefinition of marriage, they must and will continue to be given Catholic money.http://www.faithinpubliclife.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/FPL-CCHD-report.pdfThis report is stunning in its ability to completely ignore the mass murder of...

I want to state at the outset that this essay is not intended to be an endorsement of Ron Paul. While I respect and admire many of his positions and his fidelity to the Constitution, I have strong misgivings about some of his stances on national security. If you could hear the debates between myself and my 20-year-old son, a passionate Ron Paul supporter, you would readily accept the sincerity of my disclaimer. That said, as the political season has heated up, I've been surprised at the tone of the discourse as it relates to Ron Paul. In fact, I...

Ron Paul ‏@RonPaul Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense (screenshot just in case it is removed)

Former congressman and libertarian icon Ron Paul tweeted a startling reaction to the death of SEAL sniper Chris Kyle on Monday: Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense Kyle and a friend were both killed by a veteran struggling with PTSD while working with him at a gun range on Saturday. Kyle was the author of the best-selling "American Sniper," which detailed his time as a record-holding SEAL sniper.

Former congressman and libertarian icon Ron Paul tweeted a startling reaction to the death of SEAL sniper Chris Kyle on Monday: 'Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense'

Former congressman and libertarian icon Ron Paul tweeted a startling reaction to the death of SEAL sniper Chris Kyle on Monday: Chris Kyle's death seems to confirm that "he who lives by the sword dies by the sword." Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn't make sense

Glenn Beck✔ @glennbeck Newest member of the Westboro Baptist Church: Ron Paul. I am with Marcus Latrell & grieving family members. Will respond tomorrow. SHAMEFUL. 1:30 AM - 05 Feb 13 289 Retweets 96 favorites Tell us what you really think, Glenn. Glenn Beck wasn’t the only one making that comparison after Ron Paul launched a repulsive Twitter attack on murdered American hero Chris Kyle. Derek Ryan @longhornderek Ron Paul is now no better than the Westboro Church protesters. (Let's hear it, Ronulans. Lets hear you defend your dear leader.) 6:28 PM - 04 Feb 13(continued)

That former Congressman and GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul would smear an American hero like Chris Kyle following his death speaks a great deal to his character or lack thereof. Yesterday, Paul sent out a Tweet which read: Chris Kyle’s death seems to confirm that “he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.” Treating PTSD at a firing range doesn’t make sense. It makes you wonder if these were the sort of letters Paul sent to the families of fallen soldiers who resided in his district. Needless to say, this justly provoked outrage. Glenn Beck described Paul as...

The thrice-promised land it has been called. It is that land north of Mecca and Medina and south of Anatolia, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf.In 1915 — that year of Gallipoli, which forced the resignation of First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill — Britain, to win Arab support for its war against the Ottoman Turks, committed, in the McMahon Agreement, to the independence of these lands under Arab rule.It was for this that Lawrence of Arabia and the Arabs fought.In November 1917, however, one month before Gen. Allenby led his army into Jerusalem, Lord Balfour, in...

Why the hysteria about Russia? From the tone of what passes for policy discourse in Washington, one would think that Russian troops were massing on the country’s western border and that opposition activists were being executed by the hundreds. Some realities in Russia are indeed disturbing, but a sense of perspective is needed. If Moscow were really the capital of a brutally authoritarian anti-American state, things could be far worse — and profoundly damaging to U.S. national interests. But demonizing Russia doesn’t change conditions there and only undermines our ability to get what we want and need. Domestically, Russia is...

The U.S. is fortunate that Russia is not intent on undermining our interests, which makes it a little odd that so many American hawks insist that this is so and sometimes seem eager to make it so. Consider Syria. Syria hawks see Russian opposition to Western and Arab intervention in the country as proof of Russian antagonism to America, but Russia is at most half-heartedly defending the status quo and continuing its formal policy of objecting to outside interference in other states’ internal affairs. It has committed itself to nothing except occasionally vetoing a resolution at the U.N., and if...