Free Republic

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear. In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr....

Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign is moving hard into Florida, where the senator from Texas hopes to knock out rival Sen. Marco Rubio and position himself as the only last alternative to front-runner Donald Trump. Cruz’s campaign announced Friday that it is opening 10 field offices in Florida, which holds a Republican primary March 15. Trump has a big lead in the polls there, but Cruz’s campaign thinks it can increase its support in the state by appealing to conservatives and positioning the candidate as an alternative to Trump. “We recognize that it’s an uphill battle for us, but it becomes...

The Eleventh Circuit court of appeals, in an unusual decision, has decided to hear the case of Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger, et al. v. Governor State of FL, et al.  in the matter of the Firearm Owners Privacy Act (FOPA).  The FOPA provided that doctors and other health care professionals could not use their professional position of power in order to collect private information from firearms owners, and potentially make that information available to third parties and numerous government agencies.  FOPA had been struck down by the district court, then upheld in three different rulings by the three judge panel...

Marco Rubio backers had been hoping after two debates in which Rubio and Ted Cruz tag-teamed Donald Trump and played rather nice together that Cruz would take a pass on campaigning in Florida in order to give Rubio a better chance of winning his first primary election. The polls, for what they are worth seem to make this feasible: [interactive polling graphic] Florida is a closed primary state which means that many of the independents and disaffected blue-collar Democrats who have helped out Trump will not be allowed to vote. And, as we saw on Super Tuesday, the polling, generally,...

It looks like Rubio carried the state’s wealthy northern suburbs, and Trump took the rest. (SNIP) Rubio’s strongholds overlapped heavily with those that lifted Barack Obama to his second straight win in the state in his 2012 reelection race.

As the Republican establishment frets over a potential Trump-led (or, to a lesser degree, Cruz-led) presidential ticket, other GOP leaders and officeholders are starting to worry about down-ticket effects. If Trump becomes the nominee, states holding U.S. Senate races - Florida is among them - could see trouble for Republicans and the future of the GOP-controlled Senate. A new Smart Politics report shows that rarely - or never - does a state vote for a Republican U.S. Senator and elect a Democratic presidential nominee. Of the 18 states voting for a Democratic presidential nominee with a Republican U.S. Senate candidate...

People who pride themselves on rational thinking know there are few feelings worse than being wrong about something, especially something that they made a big noise about at the time. What helps lessen this intellectual humiliation is understanding that, given the information available at the time, the decision was a rational one at the time. The remedy for the initial error is to use the newly available information to reach a more reasoned decision. As the campaign season goes forward, we're learning more about Donald Trump's politics and seeing his initial ebullient puckishness too often give way to self-referential arrogance...

A powerful anti-gun Miami Republican has used his power as the chairman of a powerful Senate committee to singlehandedly crush the possibility of handgun open carry in Florida. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Miguel Diaz de la Portilla said Tuesday evening a proposal allowing 1.5 million people with concealed weapons permits in Florida to openly carry handguns is officially dead for the 2016 session. "Open carry is not going to happen; it's done," the Miami Republican senator told reporters.

Image courtesy of wftv.com The indoctrination of police against the Second Amendment needs to be reversed.  It is costing lives and treasure.  It was not always so.  Under long standing precidents in American, and before that, English law, a person's home is their castle, which may be protected against intruders.  If a person may not use force to protect their home, they no longer really own it. In a recent case in Florida, police went to the wrong house on a domestic call at 1 in the morning.  From wftv.com: The man, who asked to not be identified, said...

Ted Cruz began his Monday with a somewhat contentious interview on Fox & Friends. Contentious because at least two of the three co-hosts are Trump supporters. Which two? Watch the body language in the right hand frame at the 7:25 mark, when Sen. Cruz points that Trump has given money to Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid: ...

... Both Carville and Matalin predict Ted Cruz will get the Republican nomination for President. But they disagree on who the Democratic nominee will be...

Video at the link.

A state of emergency has been declared in four Florida counties -- Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Lee, and Santa Rosa -- after nine people were diagnosed with the Zika virus. While the nine people are believed to have contracted the virus while out of the country, Florida's governor, Rick Scott, said he wants the state to be on high alert. "Although Florida's current nine Zika cases were travel-related, we have to ensure Florida is prepared and stays ahead of the spread of the Zika virus in our state," Scott said in a statement on Thursday. "Our Department of Health will continue to...

Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla The Florida open carry bill has moved out of Committee in the Florida House.  It will likely be voted on by the full House in the next few weeks.  From cbslocal.com: TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) - A bill that would allow Florida gun owners to openly carry their weapons is headed to a full vote. The bill cleared a committee vote 12 to 4 on Thursday.The next step will be a full vote by the Florida House in the next few weeks.The difficulty lies in the Senate, where Senator Portilla is Chair of the Judiciary Committee...

The famous Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles have been made in frigid Moscow since their inception 69 years ago. Soon, they'll be made in sunny Florida, too. Kalashnikov USA has been approved by the city of Pompano Beach to assemble guns there. Kalashnikov USA of Tullytown, Pa., was importing rifles made by Kalashnikov Concern, the original AK-47 manufacturer in Moscow, until 2014 when President Obama imposed sanctions against Russia following its annexation of Crimea. At that point, Kalashnikov USA severed all ties with the Russian company. The company started making the guns in Pennsylvania last year, but is shifting manufacturing to...

People all along the East Coast are increasingly being subjected to a low level of lawless intimidation with massive traffic intimidation by a subculture of outlaw bikers.  This is a separate subculture that revels in their ability to escape police and to break traffic laws with impunity.  You will not find many, if any, Harleys, street bikes or touring bikes among them.  I did not see any riders with recognizable "colors" that are emblematic of motorcycle clubs that have significant reach.  Most are unlicensed dirt bikes and ATVs.  The riders have learned to break the law with impunity, especially...

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump continues to maintain his domineering lead in the 2016 race for the GOP nomination. With now less than 60 days to the Florida primary, Trump is leading by 32 points in the state. In a new FAU/BEPI poll released today, the billionaire real estate mogul and part-time Palm Beacher pulls a whopping 48 percent among likely Republican primary voters in Florida. Trump’s next-nearest competitor among the Republican candidates, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, takes 16 percent while the junior senator from the state, Marco Rubio, received 11 percent and the former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush carries...

Some of House Speaker Paul Ryan's guests for the State of the Union address were sisters from the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic religious order dedicated to caring for the elderly poor. The order is suing the federal government over the HHS Mandate, because the sisters do not want to provide contraception to their employees via their insurance plans. (The group does not qualify as a "religious employer" because they employ and serve people of all faiths.) Naturally, Planned Parenthood took offense to this. Never missing an opportunity, @SteveKingIA & @SpeakerRyan used tonight's #SOTU address to send an...

A post-debate survey conducted for FOX 13 Tampa Bay, FOX 35 Orlando, and The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) shows Donald Trump holding a 12 point lead over Ted Cruz. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are in a tight battle for third. The survey by OpinionSavvy in conjunction with InsiderAdvantage of 838 likely Florida primary was conducted Sunday, January 17 by IVR phone and mobile devices. The survey has a margin of error of 3.3%. It is weighted for age, race, and gender.The results: Trump: 31% Cruz: 19% Bush: 13% Rubio: 12%

Workers from nine U.S. airports are planning to block bridges, march through terminals and protest at airline headquarters during a day of civil disobedience on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The workers - a mix of cleaners, baggage handlers, fuelers and wheelchair attendants - will risk arrest at airports and other locations including the Mall, to bring attention to their campaign for better wages, the Service Employees International Union said. The actions are the latest in the airport workers' campaign for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, a benefits package and job protections. They're also protesting threats against their efforts to unionize....