Free Republic

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is visiting Iowa for the fourth time in eight months, hoping for a second chance to win over Republican voters who delivered him a stinging caucus loss when he ran for president two years ago. Perry, 64, hasn't said if he plans to run again in 2016. But he's clearly considering it and is meeting Saturday and Sunday with veterans and conservative activists in the northern Iowa communities of Algona and Clear Lake. Perry has been raising funds for GOP candidates and seeking advice from political insiders since November. He is signaling he's committed to the...

I have to claim responsibility for the newest parody that’s now starring as president of the United States on TVs everywhere. If ever there were a Steven Colbert character assigned to play a faux president, Obama would get the nod. You see: he’s been nominated for an Emmy now. In a comedy, playing himself, in a tragedy. Seriously. His own incompetence has led to an Emmy nomination. And it’s my fault. When Obama visited Cooperstown’s Baseball Hall of Fame in May, ostensibly to promote tourism, I suggested with mock fawning that they should induct him into the HOF as the...

...The decision on how much to pay claimants is being made by compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg. GM says the faulty switches are responsible for at least 54 crashes and more than 13 deaths.....

If character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking, World War II Gen. Dwight Eisenhower radiated it on D-Day’s eve, writing that “any blame … is mine alone” in never-delivered remarks known as “In Case of Failure.” In making one of history’s toughest and most consequential decisions — unlike those chronicled in Hillary Clinton’s new memoir “Hard Choices” — Eisenhower prepared for the worst as 150,000 men readied for a veritable suicide mission 70 years ago this month. Willing to shoulder failure’s blame, even without knowing its reason, Eisenhower publicly attributed the anticipated victory to liberty’s cause and the...

“All of the investment banks, up in New York and D.C., they should have gone to jail.”That isn’t a quote from an Occupy Wall Street protester or Senator Elizabeth Warren. That’s a common campaign slogan repeated by Dave Brat, the Virginia college professor who scored one of the biggest political upsets in over a century by defeating Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary last night.The national media is buzzing about Brat’s victory, but for all of the wrong reasons.Did the Tea Party swoop in and help Brat, as many in the Democratic Party are suggesting? Actually, the Wall Street...

Never doubt the cleverness of Big Health. Obamacare does not redistribute wealth to the poor. Instead, the law's various requirements redistribute wealth and wages to Obama's partner in crime: large health plans. These corporations are then by law allowed to keep the cash and shortchange the care under "medical necessity" guidelines, demonstrating again that coverage is not care. New evidence shows how one Obamacare tactic, called "risk adjustment" (RA), will be used to redistribute premium dollars from one health plan to another health plan. In short, the health plans with the sickest (riskiest) patients on paper win. Under RA, enrollees...

What is “cronyism,” and why does it matter? Merriam-Webster defines it as “the unfair practice by a powerful person (such as a politician) of giving jobs and other favors to friends.” This matters because there are only a few in power, and chances are you’re not one of the favored “friends”—but it’s your money they’re playing with. In our new video, we explain what Washington is doing with some of your hard-earned money—in addition to the big-government programs you’ve already heard of.

Today, the National Potato Council praised the House for considering a bill to include the potato in its WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) food nutrition ("food stamp") program. The Council also debunked First Lady Michelle Obama's claims that including the potato would "override science" and that Americans are already eating enough of them.The Potato Council notes that the First Lady's science is based on old data - not the latest government reports:"Opponents of adding fresh potatoes to the WIC package are picking and choosing the science. Instead of relying on a 2005 report that looks at data from the mid-1990s,...

Breitbart Texas recently reported on the release of 36,000 convicted criminal illegal immigrants, including almost 200 murderers, who were released back into the U.S. by immigration officials in 2013. The figures were outlined in a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Breitbart Texas subsequently reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices around the country, in an attempt to learn more about release policies. Each ICE representative that Breitbart Texas came in contact with was familiar with the CIS report, but would not comment on it. They additionally refused to answer general questions regarding detention and release...

TARP was the absolute height of crony capitalism. Many of the big banks should have gone down, but in the midst of a “Blackberry panic” – as David Stockman puts it – the masters of the masters of the universe lost sight of reality and the nature of markets. Yes, Goldman Sachs would have gone down. But this would have been a GOOD THING. The blood which should have filled the the streets of Downtown Manhattan would have washed the unsustainable leverage clean from the system (for a while.) Giants are meant to fall. It would have been good for...

The Bureau of Land Management is attempting to shut down the Bundy Ranch to clear the path for massive solar energy developments in southern Nevada that will enrich an A-list of well-connected Democrats close to President Obama, Al Gore, Bill Clinton and others. Completely unreported however, a scandal of epic proportions has been brewing with yet another Democrat-connected recipient of “green energy” stimulus funds. The Spain-based conglomerate Abengoa operates close to 600 subsidiaries throughout Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia, and has received $3.6 billion in loans and grants in direct violation of President Obama’s "Recovery Act" promise...

An honest debate with a progressive is almost as rare as a verified sighting of Bigfoot. You’d have better luck getting a devout Scientologist to say L. Ron Hubbard was a horrible writer than you would to get a progressive to admit the “science” behind climate change is not all it’s cracked up to be. For one thing, it is based on models of what could happen in 100 years, even though those models are mostly unreliable when you use them to map what happened in the last 30. That’s right, the vast majority of “climate models” predicting doom and...

Six years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid celebrated what he called a "love fest" of government support for the construction of a proposed 150,000-home community in the Nevada desert and the lobbyist-turned-developer behind it, Harvey Whittemore. Last week, a federal grand jury charged Mr. Whittemore with making illegal political contributions to Mr. Reid, a Democrat. Even before the indictment, Mr. Reid and other politicians had begun to distance themselves from Mr. Whittemore—long one of Nevada's most powerful lobbyists—by pledging to charity money to offset donations they had gotten from him. ~~snip~~ The allegations against Mr. Whittemore stem from a...

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will take public comments before moving forward with a new set of net neutrality rules that sparked controversy when they were leaked in a news report earlier Wednesday. The FCC will release a proposal soon to reinstate net neutrality rules that would allow broadband providers to negotiate with content providers for preferential treatment, an agency official confirmed Wednesday.

When the government owns the land and natural resources and controls production from same, it's called communism. The Founders intended Americans to enjoy their God-given liberty. The constitution was written to severely restrict government power and ensure freedom. The founders never intended for an all powerful central government to own the land or to control the means of production. They limited the central government to about 18 enumerated powers and left all others to the people and the states to decide locally. The United States was intended to be a free Republic governed at various levels by elected representatives, working...

The latest news to come out of Ukraine doesn’t involve Vice President Joe Biden, European natural gas supplies, or Vladimir Putin’s insatiable appetite for the resurrection of the Soviet Union. In fact, it hits a bit closer to home. America’s spy satellites, as it turns out, is dependent upon Russian provided technology to reach orbit. That’s right… Not only are our astronauts hitching rides to the Russian-run “international” space station, but even our spy satellites have to hitch a ride via Putin’s Russian Military industrial complex. And any sanctions that could come out of the situation in Ukraine, may just...

(CNN) – Hoping to help close the gap between workers' skills and the needs of businesses, President Barack Obama on Wednesday will announce he's putting hundreds of millions toward job training programs that produce highly skilled workers. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will head to a community college in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to make the announcement. The funding will come in two parts: $500 million toward a new job training competition that pairs community colleges with businesses, and $100 million for new apprenticeship programs to train workers. The White House says the new initiatives are meant to combat a...

The standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) deescalated on April 12, when the bureau announced that it will stop its operation to confiscate Bundy’s cattle.But another aspect to this ongoing story is jumping: The blogosphere is alive with allegations that Senator Harry Reid (pictured), and his son, Rory, have motivations of their own for wanting Bundy’s cattle off the disputed lands.Though the major media announced that a “deal” had been reached between Bundy and the BLM, Bundy explained what transpired differently in an interview with KLAS TV in Las Vegas: “There is...

CHELSEA CLINTON IS THE PRODUCT OF TWO OF THE MOST POWERFUL BRANDS IN THE WORLD. NOW SHE'S FINALLY CARVING OUT HER OWN IDENTITY--BY JOINING THE FAMILY BUSINESS.... I woke up one day when I was 29 and craved red meat," says Chelsea, now 34, and a self-described omnivore. "I'm a big believer in listening to my body's cravings." ... she's not just another millennial. She's political royalty. And now, finally, she has decided to join the Clinton family business.... ... "People [were] always asking me [since I was a kid], 'Do you want to go into politics?' " she tells me,...

The son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Rory Reid, is the primary representative for ENN Energy Group, a Chinese energy company seeking to build a $5 billion solar panel plant on a 9,000-acre Clark County desert plot in Laughlin, Nevada. ENN scored big when Clark County commissioners unanimously voted to sell the Chinese company the public land for just $4.5 million, despite the fact that it was appraised at $38.6 million. Sen. Reid has been one of ENN’s biggest supporters, having recruited the company during a 2011 trip to China. According to Reuters, last month Sen. Reid tried...