Free Republic

While writing my latest book, Killing Jesus, I knew I would catch hell once it hit the marketplace. Your mom was right when she told you never to discuss politics and religion because emotions run so high in those arenas. Especially religion. Even before Killing Jesus was released, the mail began pouring in. And some of it was very nasty. Brent in Texas opined: "O'Reilly, you are not someone who has the right to write a book about Jesus." Eric in South Carolina: "You are helping to deceive people with your ignorance about Jesus." Al in Louisiana: "Bill, what do...

The media is finally realizing that there is a growing wave of conservative grassroots support to throw out the failed Republican leaders who currently waste conservative seats in Washington. The latest flaccid Republican who is gaining a lot of attention is Senator Lamar Alexander. Earlier today, Senator Alexander wrote a letter in the Tennessean to his constituents stating, “I stay true to my conservative ideals.” First, I’d like to give him credit for actually engaging in a dialogue with his constituents. Unlike Mitch McConnell to his north, who is not man enough to defend his record, opting instead to engage...

In a press release that accompanied the statement, Christie said, “I’ve always believed that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual,” quoting a statement he made on CNN. “My religion says [homosexuality is] a sin. But for me, I don’t” agree.

Crime And Trivia I haven't written about the Laci Peterson murder case or the rape case involving Kobe Bryant for two reasons. One, the only things that should be legitimately reported about any criminal trial are the testimony of the witnesses under oath and the remarks of the judge and the attorneys inside the courtroom during the trial. Everything else is hearsay and gossip. Two, an ordinary crime and subsequent criminal trial do not affect anyone except the victim, the perpetrator and their families. Therefore, it should be of no interest to anyone else. Unless you are family or friend,...

MSNBC's Chris Matthews made a bold prediction on Wednesday's Hardball. "The hard-right is going to take over the Republican Party in 2016 and the nomination is going to Rand Paul" (video follows with transcript and commentary):CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let me finish tonight with this. I’ve been offering a prediction of late. Let me nail it down now. I believe the Republican Party is going to go hard-right in 2016. It’s going to run someone from the growing hard-right wing of the Party, something it hasn't done since 1980. And here's the thinking which works equally...

Money line: “This is what I do for a living.” Didn’t he predict a Bush/Clinton race in 2016 just nine months ago? If he believes what he says here about the parties swinging like “pendulums” from moderate nominees to ideologues and then back again, why would he have named Jeb as a strong contender last November? In fact, the roots of the counterargument are in Matthews’s own shpiel here: Most of the time, they head to the center. This is what Republicans did most successfully in 1952 – when, after twenty years of Roosevelt and Harry Truman – they wanted...

Over the past few months, I’ve been advocating for a proactive strategy on immigration. It would be great for conservatives to go on offense and highlight Obama’s callous disregard for the rule of law. They should pass enforcement bills and block funding for Obama’s amnesty programs in budget bills. Unfortunately, because we are not blessed with control over the levers of power, any attempt to address this issue – even in a conservative pro-active way – will backfire. Earlier today, Politico quoted a leadership aide who summed up exactly what we believe to be leadership’s strategy on immigration: “Our members,...

He’s light on specifics here about the pros and cons of the NSA program as he sees them, but any time three serious contenders for 2016 are in a scrum over national security and civil liberties, it’s blogworthy. More than that, it’s blogworthy because the Paul/Cruz Senate partnership is to some extent a proxy for the tea-party/libertarian partnership generally. It won’t go on forever, but it’s fascinating while it lasts. I won’t bore you with rehashing why I think Cruz is more a tea partier than a true blue libertarian; read these two posts if you care, or read Nick...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is siding with Sen. Rand Paul (R) in the Kentucky lawmaker's growing feud with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) over national security policy. "I am proud to stand side by side with Rand Paul. He and I have been fighting over and over and over again in the Senate to defend our constitutional liberties," Cruz said in an interview on Fox News's online "Power Play" show. "And I'll say this, some of this tiff — Gov. Christie is entitled to his view. He's entitled to express his views. I think most Americans don't care about...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) took another swipe Sunday at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) in the two Republicans' growing feud over national security, slamming the governor over spending on Hurricane Sandy relief funds. Paul told reporters outside a Nashville fundraiser that the spending priorities of Christie and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) following Hurricane Sandy diverted vital resources from national security, according to the Associated Press. "They’re precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their ‘Gimme, gimme, gimme — give me all my Sandy money now,” Paul said, as quoted by the AP. “Those are...

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...