Free Republic

The Obama administrations’s regulatory assault on Florida’s premium cigar industry appears tailor made for an election season rife with populist indignation. Newly approved federal regulations are on track to decimate Florida’s historic and culturally distinct manufacturing industry, while paving the way for legalized Cuban cigars to obtain a competitive advantage. Affected business owners and manufacturing workers at places like J.C. Newman’s Cigar Co. in Tampa would rather avoid politics altogether, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has premium cigars firmly in its crosshairs, citing concerns about youth access to tobacco and improving public health. . .

Donald Trump made headlines this week when he questioned whether Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan wanted him to prevail over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. “Maybe not,” Trump told Good Morning America on Tuesday. “Because maybe he wants to run in four years… or maybe he doesn’t know how to win. I mean, who can really know?” Trump said. The view that Ryan “doesn’t know how to win,” however, neglects the reality that both Ryan and Clinton share a progressive, globalist worldview, which is at odds with Trump’s “America first” approach. Indeed, both Clinton and Ryan have said that they see...

Pastor Terry Amann of Des Moines, Iowa, is no stranger to politics. He’s been involved in politics and pro-life activism for decades. Most recently, he was a formidable influence in the last three presidential races. One Iowa State Senator just last week remarked that he is the “most influential pastor in politics in the state of Iowa.”Politics aside, Pastor Amann has a heart for ministry, as evidenced by the single most important issue he addressed when he first met Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Below are his remarks to me about the presidential race, in which he describes how...

In the early 70’s there was no internet. In those days a reporter had no cell phone. Typing on a computer was decades away. If somehow the letter E got in front of the word Mail it was simply a typo. The tools of the trade for an Investigative Journalist were pencils and paper, a typewriter, a little bribe money and sources inside the Halls of Power. When these tools were mixed with aggressive follow up, perseverance and old fashioned sweat of the brow it often led to the disclosures about war, spying, corruption and the men and women who...

Rank politics and baseless health scares are driving anxiety, North Carolina election campaigns, civil rights claims and plans for class action lawsuits, all of which could bring electricity rate hikes that will cause real job, health and civil rights problems for families – for no health or environmental benefits.As I noted in an earlier article, North Carolina state toxicologist Ken Rudo has publicly disagreed with the US Environmental Protection Agency and other NC “tox” experts, who say levels of chromium-6 detected in some NC waters are safe. The contaminant comes from coal ash deposits and other sources.Not surprisingly, Erin...

Robert Creamer, founder and partner of Democracy Partners, the group behind the organized violence at Trump rallies, as shown in the video by James O’Keefe and Project Veritas, is no ordinary agitator. Creamer, a convicted felon, is arguably the spiritual godfather of ObamaCare and much of the current progressive left agenda. Creamer, along with his wife, Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky is no stranger to agitation, violence, and expanding the progressive agenda. As Investor’s Business Daily pointed out in March 5, 2010 editorial regarding protests against House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski over the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988,...

The headline on the October 20 edition of the Washington Post blared, "Trump won't vow to honor results," referring to the election that the Post devoutly hopes will go to his opponent, the corrupt and criminal Hillary Clinton. The Post's exaggerated headline is only symptomatic of the hyperventilating on both sides of the aisle over Trump's refusal to commit to personally accepting a negative election result. The fact is, Trump's position is both quite logical and constitutionally inconsequential. Most obviously, Trump believes, with some good reason, that the election process as a whole is "rigged" against him (and by extension...

Though President Barack Obama has said that he was not influenced by the sermons, preached messages and teachings he received from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright in the South Side of Chicago in the twenty-some years he sat in the pews of Wright’s Trinity Church, it appears as though message has finally sunk in. On Friday, President Barack Obama told his supporters at a campaign rally – inside a public high school, no less – to vote for revenge! That definitely sounds like something the Rev. Jeremiah Wright would say, comparable to the infamous “Godd—- America” quote and other phrases that...

"After months of exposing damaging internal information from both the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign, much of which actually points to criminal behavior but seemingly has no impact on the polls, Julian Assange has concluded that "There is no US election. There is power consolidation. Rigged primary, rigged media and rigged 'pied piper' candidate drive consolidation." "Sadly, it is difficult to disagree with the assessment. That an establishment democratic candidate could endure an extended FBI investigation, in which multiple federal laws were clearly and intentionally broken, and clear evidence of corruption and collusion between the FBI and...

In this wacky, topsy-turvy biz we call television, the one constant has been the NFL. It brings in the viewers and helps bring them back for other programming. The ad dollars pile up at a predictable rate. Until this season. From the start, the NFL and its TV distributors have noticed the ratings have not been measuring up to last season. On Wednesday, Nielsen ratings cruncher Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group published a report that concludes that viewership among adults 18-49, live plus same day, is off 15.1%. The big question is why. And it's just not the NFL...

Recently, a federal judge in New York ruled against the free market and the way music is controlled. This ruling handed down by a single judge could cause millions of businesses to be exposed to huge increases in licensing fees.The Department of Justice has conducted a two-year investigation into the antitrust consent decrees that have ruled the music industry for years. They were interested in the way businesses such as restaurants, retail stores, and many others get their music to put customers in the buying mood. Businesses of all types must pay license fees for the right to play...

Pressed by moderator Chris Wallace as to whether he would accept defeat should Hillary Clinton win the election, Donald Trump replied, "I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense." "That's horrifying," said Clinton, setting off a chain reaction on the post-debate panels with talking heads falling all over one another in purple-faced anger, outrage and disbelief. "Disqualifying!" was the cry on Clinton cable. "Trump Won't Say If He Will Accept Election Results," wailed The New York Times. "Trump Won't Vow to Honor Results," ran the banner in The Washington Post. But what do these chattering classes...

I've never been much of a conspiracy theorist, but I don't know how reasonable people can fail to recognize the overt collusion of the Obama administration, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Party and the liberal media to shield Hillary Clinton from accountability for her many misdeeds and abundant corruption. Perhaps I can be considered a bit of an alarmist, but if I am, so are millions of others when it comes to the dire state of this nation on a number of fronts. We have a staggering national debt, a dangerously declining military and a runaway regulatory state that...

The US government’s plan to relinquish stewardship of key internet governance functions is under attack from Republicans who are using blatant falsehoods and fear-mongering to obstruct the historic transfer, according to internet policy experts. Led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Republicans are working to sabotage the US government’s long-standing plan to transfer oversight of core internet technical functions, including management of the Domain Name System (DNS), to a nonprofit group of global stakeholders.

Madam President: Criticized for his advising Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Milton Friedman offered the only persuasive response: “I gave him good advice.” I cannot congratulate you on your election — no sane person could — but I can offer some good advice. There is not much to like about you. You are intellectually and morally stunted, a creature of pure politics who has never had a single interesting or original idea. You are deeply corrupt yourself and a source of corruption in others. The republic truly deserves better than you. You don’t just do discredit to your party and your...

Election 2016: Debate moderator Chris Wallace was widely praised for his performance in Wednesday night's debate, praise that he richly deserves if for no other reason than that he finally forced Hillary Clinton to defend her economic plan. Clinton's response was incoherent and downright dishonest. A key exchange in the debate came when Wallace pressed Clinton to explain how her economic proposals were different from President Obama's failed stimulus plan. She couldn't. Wallace asked: "So is your plan basically more — even more of the Obama stimulus?" To which Clinton responded "Well, it's a combination, Chris." Clinton can't say anything...

Despite the fact that I own a 3.3 million follower page, I can tell you that I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. Because of Facebook, I’ve been able to get a conservative viewpoint in front of tens of millions of people I couldn’t have reached any other way. On the other hand, Facebook is a cruel mistress. Every page owner dreads the next “algorithm change” that may send his traffic plunging off a cliff for indecipherable reasons. You can have “penalties” that dramatically impact the traffic of your page for whatever reason Facebook decides, without even having a...

Election 2016: Donald Trump has been roundly rebuked and openly reviled for saying during Wednesday night's debate that he might not "respect" the results of the election if it is fraudulent. But Hillary Clinton is the last person who should be criticizing him. Real or not, Trump seems to have a major grievance. "Remember, we are competing in a rigged election," Trump told a Wisconsin rally Monday night. "They even want to try and rig the election at the polling booths, where so many cities are corrupt and voter fraud is all too common." Then, when Trump suggested he might...

Recent news and leaks make it clear that a plot is afoot. A smoking gun has been found. Republicans are committing political malpractice by not making it clear they are the last line of defense. ObamaCare is imploding, as was widely predicted upon its passage by Republicans and a range of non-partisan experts. The ObamaCare meltdown is even worse than we thought. Bloomberg News recently: A growing number of people in Obamacare are finding out their health insurance plans will disappear from the program next year, forcing them to find new coverage even as options shrink and prices rise. At...

If you listened to a contemporary Democrat, you’d believe Republicans are responsible for all of society’s race problems, past and present. Say what you will about individual conservatives, but the Democrats have a dirty past Republicans could easily use. Dinesh D’Souza does his part in Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party to prove that it is the Democratic party that is the party of racism. Democrats have a storied history of supporting the worst human rights atrocity in American history. As Dinesh D’Souza points out, Southern Democrats promoted the idea that slavery was good for all...