Free Republic

This weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Over the years, many debates have surrounded the national anthem — involving its meaning, its quality and the circumstances under which Francis Scott Key came to write it. Before you hear “Oh say, can you see” at the next ballgame or school assembly, make sure you’ve dispelled these myths first. 1. ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was written about an insignificant battle in an insignificant war. The nation’s future was at stake in 1814, with the US on the brink of defeat in the third year of the War...

Despite pledges from the White House that no American ground troops will be sent to fight the Islamic State (ISIS), Gen. Michael Hayden, former head of the CIA and NSA, thinks that up to 5,000 Americans will be on the ground by the end of the year. "It might be through covert action rather than more overt activity," Hayden said on "Fox News Sunday." Hayden said those won't be regular combat troops, but intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, logistics, advice, command and control assistance and tactical air control parties. He said that even if America is successful, it can expect a three-...

Twenty years after the successful passage of the federal assault weapons ban and 10 years after its expiration, the push for a federal ban on these guns seems stuck in neutral. But much more can be done to strengthen regulation of particularly dangerous guns and to ensure that laws regulating handguns and long guns make sense in today’s context.

Former Washington Redskins tight end Clint Didier, who is seeking to replace the retiring Congressman Doc Hastings in Washington State’s 4th congressional district, received a powerful endorsement on Thursday. Didier, a principled constitutional conservative with enthusiastic support from the pro-freedom Tea Party movement, was endorsed by Sarah Palin, who said “Clint sees the dangers facing our next generation,” and will “fight for farmers, for lower taxes, and less government.” Didier, who won two Super Bowl rings playing for the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl’s XVII and XXII under coach Joe Gibbs, became a farmer after retiring from his NFL career...

As the 2014 midterm election campaign heats up, all indications are that Democrats are headed for a trouncing at the hands of Republicans. Most political prognosticators now give the GOP a better-than-even chance of picking up the six seats it needs to win control of the Senate, and the party is expected to expand its majority in the House. The Republican gains may not match those of the Tea Party wave of 2010 that cost Democrats the House and their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, but it likely will be enough to make President Obama's final two years in office...

On September 12, TIME magazine ran a column by gun control proponent Gabby Giffords, in which she argued that gun control must be expanded for women's sake. Giffords' starts the column by revisiting the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) under Bill Clinton. She says that law has been good--"annual rates of domestic violence have dropped by more than half" since its passage--but she does not think it goes far enough. She wants a more stringent VAWA, one that expands gun control beyond marriage and into dating relationships. This would include new gun control laws for boyfriends, "partners,"...

You may remember Andrew Breitbart. You should. Before his sudden and rather mysterious death at the age of 43 on March 1, 2012, he was a fearless voice of untrammeled American conservatism. He would stand up to anyone, no matter how powerful, in defense of traditional values and against political chicanery. He took on ACORN, Anthony Weiner, Nancy Pelosi, of course President Obama, and anyone else who tried to acquire power through hypocrisy or change policy through chicanery. His death left a huge void in the world of conservatism. So big, in fact, that conservatives adopted a slogan to encourage...

Democratic Senator Chris Coons looks comfortably on his way to reelection in Delaware. A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Delaware Voters finds Coons leading Republican challenger Kevin Wade by 15 points - 49% to 34%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate in the race, while 12% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Delaware was conducted on September 10-12, 2014 by Rasmussen...

If Milton Wolf endorsed Pat Roberts after Wolf’s defeat in the Kansas Republican primary for U.S. Senate, I missed it. And if he has, it is the best kept secret in Kansas. I’ve checked everywhere on the web, and it isn’t there. I called Wolf to confirm, but I did not get a response. So, I think it is safe to assume the tea party challenger has decided, at least for now, not to endorse the victor. This is too bad because Wolf — who amazingly carried 41 percent of the statewide vote against 48 percent for longtime incumbent Roberts...

Few states are more important than Iowa in the battle for the Senate this fall. But anxiety is rising within Republican ranks that deep-pocketed conservative donors and outside groups are not doing enough, as Democrats outspend them by millions of dollars to retain the seat of retiring liberal Sen. Tom Harkin. Since GOP nominee Joni Ernst won the June primary, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and his allies have outspent Ernst and her supporters by more than $2.1 million, $9.2 million to $7 million. Democratic groups have reserved $10.8 million for the final six weeks of the race, compared to $8.3...

Democrats have reversed the partisan imbalance on the federal appeals courts that long favored conservatives, a little-noticed shift with far-reaching consequences for the law and President Obama’s legacy. For the first time in more than a decade, judges appointed by Democratic presidents considerably outnumber judges appointed by Republican presidents. The Democrats’ advantage has only grown since late last year when they stripped Republicans of their ability to filibuster the president’s nominees. Democratic appointees who hear cases full time now hold a majority of seats on nine of the 13 United States Courts of Appeals. When Mr. Obama took office, only...

"Centralists in America fear that, if Scotland votes yes, it may set a chain of events in motion that could affect many more western regions," the movement organizers wrote. "Suddenly, the impossible seems possible." With some new attention on Texas nationalism comes repeated arguments for independence: Yahoo columnist Rick Newman notes that — with its GDP of $1.6 trillion and population of 27 million — Texas would be the 13th largest country in the world if it obtained independence from the United States. He also wrote Texas could lure companies away from the United States and survive on the strength...

In just four weeks, Missouri has carried out an execution, imposed a 72-hour waiting period on women seeking abortions, expanded gun rights and become the poster child for the militarization of police and racial discord. Its public school system is struggling beneath the weight of an ongoing funding crisis, and an entire local police force is under federal investigation. While the killing of unarmed black teen Michael Brown by a small-city cop and the fiery protests and heavy-handed police response that followed has drawn national attention and scorn, the incident is but a glimpse into the current social and political...

Should we really care if more than two consenting adults want to marry each other, or if polygamy advocates see the LGBT movement as an inspiration? A few years ago, when I was rushing my daughter to pre-school one morning, a similarly tardy and exasperated-looking mom passed us on the stairs. My daughter took this as an opportunity to announce, “I have two moms.” The exasperated mom picked up her hunched shoulders to turn to Willa and, after a sigh, say, “You don’t know how lucky you are.” This has happened to us a lot. On more occasions than I...

That question applies in the US — and possibly in some surprising places elsewhere. Let’s start in the US, where the march of court opinion has moved steadily over the last decade from the inherent right to sexual privacy and choice in Lawrence v Texas to the mandate for government recognition of partnership choices in the emergence of same-sex marriage as an equal-treatment issue. During the latter period of that arc, opponents of SSM warned that the same arguments deployed in that effort could be made to force recognition of polygamist relationships as marriages too, which SSM advocates hotly...

Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party paid National Review a visit last week, and two things stood out: First, he is an extraordinarily charming man, almost suspiciously so; second, he is a man of the Right who is manifestly more excited by the prospect of beating Conservatives than by anything else he spoke about. In this, he reminded me of any number of conservative figures here in the United States. I do not follow U.K. politics especially closely, and Mr. Farage may in fact be absolutely correct that there is not a dime’s worth of difference between Labor and...

OVER the past two decades, the majority of Americans in a country deeply divided over gun control have coalesced behind a single proposition: The sale of assault weapons should be banned. That idea was one of the pillars of the Obama administration’s plan to curb gun violence, and it remains popular with the public. In a poll last December, 59 percent of likely voters said they favor a ban. But in the 10 years since the previous ban lapsed, even gun control advocates acknowledge a larger truth: The law that barred the sale of assault weapons from 1994 to 2004...

More evidence surfaced on Friday which proves conclusively that the 2016 presidential race is not upon us. At the very least, the “invisible primary” remains perfectly invisible for now. On Friday, a CNN/ORC poll was released which misled its readers into thinking that the presidential race is on in the Hawkeye State. That survey revealed that the campaign is a rather predictable one on the Democratic side. The state which rejected Clinton in 2008 is now prepared to embrace her. At least, 53 percent of Iowa Democrats are prepared to make that leap. Another 15 percent of Democrats back...

Ted Cruz is not the first name on everyone’s list when one thinks of restoring decorum to politics and public discourse. Yet Cruz, the famous GOP firebrand who is Texas’ junior senator, did just that in a recent speech to a group calling itself In Defense of Christians. In his address, Cruz reiterated his strong support for Israel – hardly an outlier opinion for a member of Congress, particularly in the current political environment – and asserted, “Christians have no greater ally than Israel.” Again, this is not a provocative thing to say. It’s an opinion shared by many active Christians....

Panera has just added itself to the growing list of companies who are asking customers to keep their weapons at home. The soup, sandwich and salad chain released the following statement this week: "We ask that guns not be brought into this environment unless carried by an authorized law enforcement officer. Panera respects the rights of gun owners, but asks our customers to help preserve the environment we are working to create for our guests and associates." Here are just a handful of other companies to ask the same: