Free Republic

Rep. Alan Nunnelee, who has been absent from Capitol Hill for the majority of the past year after being diagnosed with a brain tumor in the spring, was moved to home hospice care in Tupelo, Miss., on Monday, according to a source with knowledge of the Republican’s condition. A local consultant issued a statement from the family Friday confirming the grim news.

The Obama administration is angry with Israel. Here's the administration's house organ, the New York Times, this morning: WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, after days of mounting tension, signaled on Wednesday how angry it is with Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted Republican leaders’ invitation to address Congress on Iran without consulting the White House. The outrage the episode has incited within President Obama’s inner circle became clear in unusually sharp criticism by a senior administration official who said that the Israeli ambassador, Ron Dermer, who helped orchestrate the invitation, had repeatedly placed Mr. Netanyahu’s political fortunes above the...

In what has been described as a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage, legislators in several states under judicial orders to confer marital status on same-sex couples have introduced bills to forbid state or local officials from issuing marriage licenses to couples of the same gender. The bills would also strip the salaries of employees who issued the licenses, the New York Times reported Thursday.The bills have been introduced in the legislatures of Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, with South Carolina also considering a bill that would allow officials to opt out of issuing such licenses if it...

Greece's government will not cooperate with the EU and IMF mission bankrolling the country and will not seek an extension to the bailout program, its finance minister said on Friday. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the euro zone finance ministers' group who is in Athens for talks with the new government, said the two sides would decide what would happen next before the program ends on Feb. 28.

Greece's new nationalist defense minister prompted Greece's perennial rival Turkey to scramble jets on Friday, just days after he took office, by flying over uninhabited islets off the Turkish coast that nearly triggered a war in 1996. Turkish fighter jets entered Greek airspace and were intercepted by Greek jets as Defence Minister Panos Kammenos and military chiefs flew by helicopter to the islet of Imia to drop wreaths in memory of three Greek officers killed nearby in a helicopter crash 19 years ago, the Greek Defence Ministry said. Kammenos heads the small, right-wing, Eurosceptical Independent Greeks party, and the episode...

WASHINGTON — When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress in March, it is unclear whether everybody invited will actually show up. Democrats have criticized House Speaker John Boehner for circumventing the administration when he invited Netanyahu to speak, and the White House has already said Obama will not meet with him when he’s here. BuzzFeed News asked several Senate Democrats whether they planned on skipping the speech or not. Most said they either hadn’t thought about it or they hadn’t decided. But there were no hard answers in the negative. Only one senator definitively said...

Sarah Palin is being smeared in headlines from the Huffington Post to the Washington Examiner for her 35-minute speech at Saturday’s Iowa Freedom Summit. In 2015, Palinophobia is as palpable as it was in 2008. After six years, the media still tears into the superstar from Wasilla like rabid dogs. The Washington Examiner's Byron York called the speech "long, rambling and at times barely coherent ... By the time Palin finished speaking, it was hard for anyone to believe she truly is 'seriously interested' in running for president." From Huffington Post: "Sarah Palin's Bizarre Iowa Speech Gets Thanks – From...

Did you know that the future of Obamacare relies on the credibilty of former Senator Ben "Cornhusker Kickback" Nelson? Yes, the Huffington Post and other liberal media outlets seem to think that what Nelson tells us was going on in his mind at the time that Obamacare passed is crucial to the outcome of the King vs Burwell case at the Supreme Court. Such is the desperate premise of Jonathan Cohn, Senior National Correspondent of the Huffington Post and other liberals looking for that lifeline out of the dilemma that the Obmacare law specifically says that only state based exchanges...

Mitt Romney plans to update supporters Friday about his plans for the 2016 campaign. The Republican Party's 2012 nominee will host a conference call with supporters at 11 a.m. EST, according to an email from Romney obtained by The Associated Press. Romney will tell staff members about his plans a few minutes earlier. The former governor of Massachusetts jumped back into the presidential discussion on Jan. 10, when he surprised a small group of former donors at a meeting in New York by telling them he was eyeing a third run for the White House. In the days since, Romney...

I’ve been emailed this text of remarks Mitt Romney will be making to his supporters shortly: Let me begin by letting you know who else is on this call, besides Ann and me. There are a large number of people who signed on to be leaders of our 2016 finance effort. In addition, state political leadership from several of the early primary states are on the line. And here in New York City, and on the phone, are people who have been helping me think through how to build a new team, as well as supporters from the past who...

Mitt Romney will call senior donors at 11 a.m. ET Friday to give them “an update” on his campaign plans. Sources have told The Daily Beast that the former Massachusetts governor will announce his intention to explore a third run for the White House. Romney and his senior aides believe he is the best placed candidate to defeat Hillary Clinton. In a memo sent by Romney to his inner circle Thursday, he highlighted three reasons he should run: He thinks he’s the only qualified Republican in the field, polling is favorable to a win, and he thinks he can do...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is enjoying a surge in the latest opinion polls of Israeli voters. The Jerusalem Post reports that its latest poll shows Bibi’s party, the Likud, is leading the race for the first time in weeks. Other polls agree, and show the Likud leading its rival, the Zionist Union, which is a combination of the Labor and Hatnua parties. The Post attributes Netanyahu’s improved showing to the cross-border conflict with Hezbollah, which attacked Israeli soldiers earlier this week, killing two. The attack was a retaliation, likely orchestrated by Iran, for Israel’s strike on a Hezbollah convoy...

Mayor de Blasio tapped disgraced Speaker Silver's wealthy pal, Leonard Litwin, to aid NYC's bid to land the DNC's 2016 Convention. Silver was arrested and led away in cuffs, but DeBlasio defended Silver as a "man of integrity". Big-time political donor Leonard Litwin was listed on Hizzoner’s 119-member convention host committee, even though Litwin’s luxury apartment-rental company, Glenwood Management, is tied to Silver’s alleged dirty deals. According to the feds, Silver steered two developers, including 100-year-old Litwin, toward the law firm Goldberg & Iryami, so Silver could rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in referral fees. Litwin agreed to...

Israel’s reported strike January 18 on a joint Iranian-Hezbollah convoy driving on the Syrian Golan Heights was one of the most strategically significant events to have occurred in Israel’s neighborhood in recent months. Its significance lies both in what it accomplished operationally and what it exposed. From what been published to date about the identities of those killed in the strike, it is clear that in one fell swoop the air force decapitated the Iranian and Hezbollah operational command in Syria. The head of Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, the head of its liaison with Iran, and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son...

From Sarah Palin to Donald Trump to Ben Carson, Republicans Just Can't Get Enough of obviously unqualified presidential contenders.

TEL AVIV – A consulting firm almost entirely composed of former staffers of President Obama’s re-election campaign has been hired to run an election effort in Israel aimed at defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The conservative blogosphere is reporting Jeremy Bird, national field director for Obama’s 2012 campaign, is now working for a new non-profit group, V15, that is running an effort to defeat Netanyahu in the upcoming election. A closer look at Bird’s consulting firm as well as its working relationship with the Israeli groups finds he is just one of scores of former senior Obama election campaign staffers...

You say "Jeb Bush," Thomas Roberts says "the Kouachi brothers." It's got to be one of the strangest political Rorschach test results of all time. MSNBC's Roberts believes that Jeb Bush would have a "big onus" around his neck if he runs for president "because if we hear 'Bush' we're automatically going to go to people bringing up the Kouachi brothers and their photos of Abu Ghraib that radicalized them about Iraq." View the video here.

Attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch won the backing of a senior Republican senator during the second day of her Senate hearings Thursday, a big step on her path to be confirmed as the first black woman to lead the Justice Department. [Snip] "I'm going to be a strong supporter of her nomination," Hatch told the witnesses. "And I believe she's not only qualified, but exceptionally well qualified, and a very good person, to boot." Two other committee Republicans, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona, have indicated they'll support her nomination, which would give her the...

The statement said the automatic spending cuts, known in Washington as "sequestration," had hurt the U.S. economy and its military. Obama, the White House said, will seek to "fully reverse" cuts in domestic spending while providing equal spending boosts for military and national security programs.

Republican Mitt Romney is to give an update to his supporters on Friday on whether he should run for president a third time in 2016 amid signs he has yet to convince some financial backers as to why he should take the plunge again. A former staffer, who asked to remain unidentified, said a conference call with Romney was expected to be held at mid-morning on Friday, and that he might give a signal as to which way he was leaning. Romney for the past three weeks has been seeking traction for another presidential run after he was defeated by...

....Obama weighed into the ‘deflategate’ controversy by cracking a few jokes ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl. Speaking at the annual House Democratic retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday, Obama called on any supporters of the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks to keep it clean.....

HOUSTON — Rand Paul wants to lead the United States. On Saturday in Texas, his father was speaking at a conference about how to leave it. “A lot of times people think secession, they paint it as an absolute negative,” said former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. After all, Paul said, the American Revolution was a kind of secession. “You mean we should have been obedient to the king forever? So it’s all in the way you look at it.” This weekend was a crucial one for Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky and un­declared candidate for the presidency. He...

The newly GOP-controlled US Senate has approved the Keystone XL Pipeline in a 62-36 vote, with three Democrats joining all 53 Republicans. However, the issue is far from over. Now the White House will be in an embroiled battle with the US Congress, as the Senate and House versions of the Keystone legislation must still be synchronized. The White House and liberal Democrats have been fighting the Keystone Pipeline for years now. Notable Democrats opposed to the energy project are Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Boxer told the AP that passing the Keystone Pipeline...

Sheriff John Rutherford touched on a wide range of topics, including a potential run for a Florida House of Representatives seat in 2016, his thoughts about abortion and the fact that he no longer believes in the death penalty, in a meeting Thursday with a group of Times-Union reporters and editors. Rutherford has been Jacksonville’s sheriff since 2003, but he’s term limited and will leave the Sheriff’s Office this summer — the place he’s worked starting in 1974. It’s a realization that’s just starting to hit home, he said. Especially as Thursday night was the last time he said he...

According to the Washington Post, Mitt Romney’s primary residence is in Utah, and he has recently registered to vote there. HOLLADAY, Utah — After losing two straight presidential races, Mitt Romney packed up his home in Massachusetts and journeyed west to Utah, building a mansion here in the foothills of the Wasatch Range that has served as his sanctuary from defeat.Here in the Salt Lake Valley, first settled by his Mormon ancestors, residents look past Romney’s electoral shortcomings and revere him as a savior for rescuing the 2002 Olympics. Romney won his highest 2012 vote margin in Utah — 73...

Communist Party USA Chairman Vows Cooperation With Democratic Party The Daily Caller The chairman of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA has penned a 2,023-word manifesto making the critical point that American Communists are eager to work with the Democratic Party to advance the modern communist agenda and achieve communist goals. Communist Party chairman John Bachtell published his essay last week at People’s World, a “daily news website of, for and by the 99% and the direct descendant of the Daily Worker.” “[L]abor and other key social forces are not about to leave the Democratic Party anytime soon,”...

"By the way, you made me realize right now what it is about Sarah Palin. She seems to have no first language," former American talk show host Dick Cavett said on Thursday's broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball. This elicited a laugh from host Chris Matthews. VIDEO at link.

The 2016 Republican nominating season is beginning to move to the next level as events like last weekend’s Iowa Freedom Summit give candidates more opportunities to interact with primary voters in early states. Although Jeb Bush’s announcement late last year that he will explore a candidacy has shaken up the race, the Republicans can hardly be described as closing ranks around the former Florida governor. It remains likely that the Republican primary field will be large, and by most measures, strong, leading to a genuinely competitive primary. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is the kind of candidate who can easily...

We don’t want war; but war has been declared on us. That is the dilemma of the political elites, and their string of puppets in the media. Obama is the dance-away politician. He has always danced away from the consequences of his actions. But this time he can’t. The French, by facing the truth of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, are actually more honest and courageous in facing reality. America is lagging.

“I don’t see any need for Congress to confirm somebody to be the chief law enforcement officer of this nation who is at that table insisting that she intends to execute a policy that is contrary to law and to what Congress desires and what the American people desire. And says that someone here unlawfully is as much entitled to a job in this as somebody who is here lawfully. It is just beyond my comprehension,” Sessions said.

The plot thickens! Thanks TS for sending this one. Who is Loretta Lynch? INTERESTING More dots connected in Obama admin. And the beat goes on .....been planned for a long time! Curious circumstances. Hmmmm! They have started investigating Loretta Lynch, Obama’s pick for Attorney-General, and immediately they could see an interesting and unnerving connection. It appears that when Loretta Lynch started Harvard, she co-founded an African-American only sorority. There was only one other girl in this sorority, Sharon Malone. The name rings a bell... The name of the wife of the current, corrupt AG, Eric Holder, is Sharon Malone; and...

Ted Cruz and Lee Zeldin have sent a letter to Kerry asking for an investigation into whether or not Obama has launched a political campaign against Netanyahu before the March elections. It’s a good question because we know White House officials have been throwing Netanyahu under the bus in Israeli media recently. But apparently there’s a lot more too it: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Congressman Lee Zeldin, R-NY-1, today sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry asking for information regarding media reports that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to fund efforts to influence upcoming elections...

A Senate hearing opened this morning with Code Pink protesters trying to arrest former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for “war crimes.” The protesters, bearing signs reading “Kissinger War Criminal” and “Cambodia,” rushed up behind the 91-year-old diplomat at the witness table of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which was holding a hearing on global challenges and the U.S. national security strategy. Also testifying were 94-year-old former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and 77-year-old former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he would call recess until Capitol Police removed Code Pink from the room. “I’ve...

Rush Limbaugh’s recent assertion that Politico is the “go-to inside the Beltway publication for Republican establishment leaks” is proving true again. In a featured story that relied upon an anonymous “Republican staffer familiar with the meeting,” Politico reported: Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 3 House Republican, is laying plans to boot lawmakers from the leadership’s elite vote-counting team if they oppose party-line procedural motions. That might sound like insignificant inside baseball, but it’s a critical development — and yet another sign that top Republicans are looking to ostracize troublemakers in the Capitol. On his nationally syndicated radio show last...

During her hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) asked, “Do you support the legalization of marijuana?”“Senator, I do not,” Lynch replied. In addition to lovingly supporting the White House Commie opening up the border so we can be further invaded by the world's poor and unknown, she is also on the wrong side of public desire to decriminalize marijuana...

Could U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio win back the White House for the Republicans? Some political experts think so, describing the Florida lawmaker as a candidate who has the support of the party’s conservative base, but who also has crossover appeal. Rubio, who is said to be seriously leaning toward running for president in 2016, has earned credibility with both so-called establishment Republicans, and the party’s conservative faction, which has wielded considerable influence in recent national and local elections, especially during the all-important primaries. “Marco Rubio is one of the best organized” in terms of political campaigns, Alfonso Aguilar, executive director...

Hillary Clinton, expecting no major challenge for the Democratic nomination, is strongly considering delaying the formal launch of her presidential campaign until July, three months later than originally planned, top Democrats tell POLITICO. The delay from the original April target would give her more time to develop her message, policy and organization, without the chaos and spotlight of a public campaign. A Democrat familiar with Clinton’s thinking said: “She doesn’t feel under any pressure, and they see no primary challenge on the horizon. If you have the luxury of time, you take it.” Advisers said the biggest reason for the...

House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions has rebuked Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for voting on behalf of Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart. On Tuesday, Wasserman Schultz was in the speaker's lobby next to the House floor while her home-state colleague was caught up in an interview nearby with a reporter just before a roll-call vote, according to The Hill. "Deb, are you going in?" Diaz-Balart asked before handing her his voting card, The Hill said. "Can you…" he said, his voice trailing off as he handed her the card.

Video - 4:33 minutes at link. (CNSNews.com) – Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said Thursday that President Barack Obama’s executive action plan for illegal immigrants was unconstitutional and therefore Congress must not confirm Obama’s attorney general nominee who is committed to executing that “illegal and unconstitutional” policy. “So, why would we want to confirm someone who's going to continue to execute an unlawful, unconstitutional policy?” Sessions told CNSNews.com. At the Capitol on Thursday, CNSNews.com asked Sessions if “illegal aliens have a right work in the U.S.,” he said, he said, “the law says they don’t, and it explicitly says an employer...

It wasn't long ago that Sen. Jeff Sessions was waging a lonely battle against comprehensive immigration reform. ABC News called the Alabama Republican a "lone wolf" in his dogged quest to kill the Senate's immigration reform bill, which passed the upper chamber in June 2013 on a 68-32 bipartisan vote. At one point, Sessions introduced an amendment to slash the number of immigrants allowed to enter the country legally—not even Texas firebrand Ted Cruz voted for it. (SNIP) Not long before his nomination, Sessions had prosecuted three civil rights activists, a group known as the Marion Three that included a...

RUSH: Now, as you know, ladies and gentlemen, Scott Walker has been championed on this program for, well, years, actually. But in terms of his success, the things that he has encountered, the adversity that he's overcome in being elected governor of Wisconsin and then having to win three more times a couple of recall elections, which were nothing more than disguised efforts by the Democrat Party and their allies to destroy him, and then another standard reelection effort, the guy has overcome every effort the Democrat Party knows to destroy him. His family has stood tall. Scott Walker and...

Congress hasn’t even been in session a month and a raft of Republicans are already being threatened with primaries in 2016. The reasons run the gamut, from backing John Boehner for speaker to objecting to an anti-abortion bill. One congressman is under fire for failing to amass clout that would help his district on a key issue. It’s the latest proof that divisions within the GOP are very much alive, despite the triumph of the establishment GOP wing over the tea party in last year’s midterms. Since the new Congress kicked off Jan. 6, more than a half-dozen Republican congressmen...

           Thank You Sarah Palin! One of the most powerful and effective voices for change in American politics has been Governor Sarah Palin. Yet, even some of our conservative friends cannot resist the temptation to join in with liberals to be overly critical about one of her recent public appearances. Governor Palin has been on the front lines of every battle, rallying and motivating voters in a way that only she can. It's no wonder why the recent Public Policy Polling found that Palin is the most liked potential Presidential candidate among Republican voters - higher...

American Sniper is tops at the box office, but don't expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it. Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won't see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him.

I can't seem to find any concrete answer to that question. Looks like a lot of muddling it up to confuse people in my opinion but I could be wrong. I'm not trying to knock the man because I'm more neutral on him right now until I hear more and the issue of immigration but Amnesty, illegals and botder security is a very important issue if not the defining issue for a lot of folks in this country.

Three American contractors were killed in an apparent insider attack in the Afghan capital Kabul, an Afghan air force official told Reuters news agency. "It is unclear yet why he shot these advisers and no one else was there to tell us the reason," the official said, asking not to be named because he was not authorised to give statements to the media. "An investigation has been opened." The international force in Afghanistan also confirmed the shooting took place on Thursday evening. A rise in so-called "insider attacks" in Afghanistan has eroded trust between Afghan and international troops in the...

Our American Revival -- a pro-Walker political action committee and fundraising group -- recently unveiled its debut ad. To my knowledge, it’s the first campaign spot of its kind to be released this election cycle. It’s several minutes long and touches on a few familiar themes: the failures of “Smart Power,” the prevailing malaise and incoherence of the Obama era, the intrusive nature of the federal government, and the importance of electing a governor in 2016:Our American Revival Ed Morrissey weighs in: It’s a clever ad, on multiple levels. Its length means that it won’t air on television, at least...

Testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke called on U.S. Attorney and Attorney General Nominee Loretta Lynch to rebuild the broken relationship between the Department of Justice and local law enforcement. Citing Attorney General Eric Holder's involvement in Ferguson, Missouri over the summer, Clarke laid out a defense of police working in dangerous communities and called on Lynch to open lines of communication from Washington to cities around the country. "I want to spend some time critiquing...Attorney General Eric Holder's tenure at the Department of Justice and use it as a framework...

The House of Representatives’ senior ranking Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, said on Wednesday she was concerned that if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the U.S. Congress in March, it may result in negative ramifications for the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. The fact that Israel is America’s only ideological ally in the Middle East and that Iran is sworn to the United States’ destruction did not make an appearance in the remarks of the House Minority Leader. “Such a presentation could send the wrong message in terms of giving diplomacy a chance,” Pelosi told reporters outside of a conference...

The Senate on Thursday took a major step toward passing legislation that would approve the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline. After weeks of considering Republican and Democratic amendments to the bill, Republicans finally found enough Democrats to get over a procedural obstacle that required 60 votes. The Senate voted 62-35 in favor of ending debate on the bill, which will allow the Senate to pass the bill later in the day. The Senate will pass the Keystone XL pipeline bill Thursday afternoon, delivering a victory to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas.). Image: AP Photo/J. Scott...