Free Republic

The context of the amazing outpouring and response to Bernie Sanders campaign is the uprising underway for a more just society. Across the country, pressure is mounting and social movements are building for a livable wage, to end racist attacks and police brutality, to stop fast track for TPP in the interest of jobs, the environment and democratic rights over corporate rule, to expand Social Security and end student debt. Bernie Sanders is attracting thousands at each event because he presents a specific program squarely on the side of the 99%, challenging income inequality and financial domination of the country...

Either Donald Trump suffers from memory loss or he is completely lying about his healthcare plans. During Thursday night's debate Ted Cruz simply asked Trump, "True or false, you said the government should pay for everyone's healthcare?" Trump emphatically denied, claiming the accusation was completely false. To those watching who have been keeping up with this election cycle, the claim seemed dubious. After the debate, Cruz's campaign helped Trump and the rest of America understand the truth behind the spar: ...

The U.S.'s largest nurses union has accused Hillary Clinton campaigners of deceiving Democratic voters in Nevada at Saturday's caucuses by wearing red t-shirts that people typically identify with their union. Now the union is suggesting that Senator Bernie Sanders, who it endorsed for president, request U.N. election observers. Union spokesperson Chuck Idelson said that the red tees were not a first for Clinton supporters and that when nurses attending the caucuses pointed out the Clinton people to the press, they immediately changed back into Clinton campaign blue tees.

Is there anybody more "all over the map" on healthcare than Donald Trump?...

Maybe the pope should read the Catechism. Or the Bible. Both speak of the value of obeying the law, and both sanction those who judge the faith of another. Yesterday, as he flew above America in his opulent jet, the supposed vicar of Christ said that those who build walls are not Christian. He said it in response to a question about Donald Trump and in reference to a Trump campaign proposal to build a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. If you want to build a wall, the pope said, you are not Christian. Which must come as a surprise...

Pope Francis, apparently desperate to reach out to the Catholic Church’s growing base in Latin America, spent the day slapping Americans in the face from across the US-Mexico border. In Ciudad Juarez, one of the most violent cities in the Western Hemisphere thanks to the drug cartels, the pope walked up a ramp covered in flowers toward a cross “erected… in memory of migrants who have perished trying to reach the United States just a stone’s throw away,” according to Reuters. Funny, he never did that while visiting Cuba to pay tribute to those who died attempting to escape that...

Washington (CNN)Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz drew fire from a new quarter Tuesday, when the Chinese government tore into the Texas senator for a bill he pushed through the Senate last week. The legislation would rename a part of the street across from China's embassy after a pro-democracy activist jailed by Beijing. It would effectively change the embassy's address to "1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza," after the Nobel Peace Prize winner serving an 11-year sentence in part for publishing an anti-Communist manifesto calling for political freedoms. China's Foreign Ministry blasted Cruz's bill as a "political farce" and warned that it would...

Yiannopoulos discussed the current business turmoil at Twitter and how, instead of trying to right the ship, the social platform is trying to flex its political muscle with moves that will marginalize right-wing voices. More disturbingly, he said, is the more financially stable Facebook and its coordination with government censorship: It’s not just Facebook we’re talking about. They own WhatsApp and they own Instagram. And WhatsApp and Instagram are two of the companies that are winning the short messaging war–that are winning the war for Millennial attention and for Millennial users. Twitter lost that war. Twitter only really appeals to...

This is a short dissertation on the Real political spectrum, Each step of the way will be confirmed by the dictionary definitions of the various political ideologies and how they relate to the spectrum. In order to properly set it out in a logical manner we need to base it on the metric of governmental power since this should be the clearest method of distinguishing where the ideologies fall on the spectrum. 1. Government Control scale. For the sake of simplicity we will use a scale of %0 to %100 with zero for no governmental control and ranging up to...

An ideological construct that exploits envy and resentment for political advantage. Throughout this primary season, Hillary Clinton and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders have both been flogging the “crisis” of “income inequality,” which is “at the center of their campaigns,” according to CNN. Both have scourged the “greed” of the “1%,” called for higher taxes on the “rich,” and promised to expand and multiply government programs to rectify this injustice. Yet like other slogans progressives rely on, the idea of “income inequality” is an ideological construct, a statistical artifact that exploits envy and resentment for political advantage. The first problem with...

Pontiff's show of solidarity during visit to Mexico Pope Francis, who has spent the past several months pressing nations, including America, to embrace those fleeing the unrest in the Middle East, Africa and Asia with open arms - and open borders - is now taking that stance to a new political level and planning a solidarity stand with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico boundary. Market Watch reported Francis is due to arrive in Mexico on Friday for a six-day visit. And as part of that visit, he is planning to stand on the U.S. border, in Ciudad Juarez, and deliver a...

... There is no other way to describe it: the Obama policy is to let the Russian/Iranian/Hezbollah axis take over Syria. That is what the current battle for Aleppo is all about. Times columnist Roger Cohen argues that "It is too late, as well as pure illusion, to expect significant change in Obama's Syria policy." But he proposes that Obama should at least increase the number of Syrian refugees taken in this year to 65,000, as opposed to his currently proposed 10,000. But letting in more refugees scares Americans who suspect that there will be terrorists among them. Such a...

Reflections on the Panthers A look back at what the Black Panthers did to deserve Beyoncé's rousing tribute at the Super Bowl. February 10, 2016 John Perazzo Beyoncé Knowles. Everyone knows her simply as Beyoncé, the multi-talented superstar wife of music-industry legend Jay Z. She's also the glamorous and magnetic "Bey," as President Barack Obama affectionately calls her. She's held fundraisers for the President, performed at the White House, and cultivated a warm friendship with both Mr. and Mrs. Obama. Beyoncé often turns up at NBA basketball games, where she and her hubby can typically be seen in their...

A favorite tactic employed by leftists is to describe the Nazis as “right wing,” with Adolf Hitler, their leader, as the grand leader of this “right wing” movement. Rewriting history is pretty common for leftists, as their history is littered with injustice (the KKK was founded by Democrats, did you know?). Injustices they claim to fight against today. Awkward. But thanks to this nifty thing called “history” in combination with “the internet,” we can bust this myth once and for all. Thoroughly. Or until a leftist insists on ignoring it. Then we’ll hold them down and tape their eyes open....

The third new offering of the weekend, Nicholas Sparks' film adaptation 'The Choice,' is also struggling; 'Kung Fu Panda 3' will beat all three to stay at No. 1. Ethan and Joel Coen's Hail, Caesar! grossed an underwhelming $4.3 million from 2,222 theaters Friday for a projected $11.6 million debut, the lowest nationwide start of the duo's directing career. The news is even more grim for mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The movie may only debut to $5 million after earning $2 million on Friday from 2,931 theaters. That puts it behind the the third new movie daring to...

There's been another slashing on a New York City subway, and terrified riders are calling for protection. This, as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton insists the subways are safe. As CBS2's Alice Gainer reported, a 30-year-old man is recovering after being slashed with a knife while on a No. 3 train Monday around 12:40 p.m. "SNIP" "Every night I see a different slashing," one woman said. "It does concern me because I have to take it every day. So it's kind of scary," another woman said.

"They would rather Hillary Clinton, they would rather bankrupt our kids and grandkids, they'd rather lose the Supreme Court for a generation, they'd rather see our religious liberties stripped away, our Second Amendment taken away, they would rather see Islamic terrorism continue to rise and Israel continue to be under assault than actually have a true Reagan conservative in the White House who believes what he says. That shows just how messed up Washington is, but it also shows why frustration is volcanic."...

Europe, whose economic struggles have grown that much greater with recent problems in crucial markets like China and Russia, is rushing to do business with a newly accessible and eager, if still problematic, partner: Iran. With the lifting of sanctions after its nuclear deal with the West, Tehran has gone shopping this week, bringing its checkbook and a long list of items it had been unable to acquire for years. Despite lingering animosities and the United States' designation of Iran as a sponsor of terrorist groups, European governments and corporations have made it clear that economic opportunity is going to...

When a big corporation is charged with antitrust or regulatory violations, and fined billions of dollars, have you ever wondered where that money goes? You might assume that it is deposited in the United States Treasury, for general purposes, or that it goes to victims of the companies’ misconduct. In some cases, you’d be right, but it turns out an awful lot of that money is being funneled straight into progressive non-profits, at the express direction of the Department of Justice. According to an exposé in the Wall Street Journal, the DOJ often mandates as part of settlements that the...

Americans of all stripes love to debate which president was best or worst. This is a subject that is too important to rely on opinion polls, which are skewed by individual bias and political views. While It's difficult to rate how good or bad any president may have been in comparison to another, a careful look at the facts shows one president failed in virtually every aspect of the job to a degree unrivaled by any other. When you review the facts below and consider his impact on our economy, foreign policy, and domestic policy, by almost any standard, it’s...