Free Republic

After the British victory at the Battle of the Second El Alamein in November of 1942, Winston Churchill spoke to the British people. Churchill eloquently stated, “Now, this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Perhaps, the same can be said of the opening salvos of the 2016 Presidential Election. We have watched numerous debates on both sides, filled with candidates grandiose and not very grandiose. Gradually, the field is being thinned and on February 1, 2016, the games truly begin at the Iowa Caucuses....

Republican lawmakers reportedly laughed at House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) after he told them he had been given a promise from Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Lawmakers were amused at Ryan's naiveté for thinking that Reid is someone their party can trust. "I know, I know," Ryan replied with a smile, according to The Hill. Reid and Ryan just finished working together to help pass a $1 trillion dollar spending bill, which many argue contained far more liberal policies than conservative ones. Reid has promised Ryan that he will return to regular order in the New Year....

Beltway-insider publications Politico and The Hill are hiding House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan's 2016’s disastrous report card, even days after the Dec. 18 passage of his $1.1-plus trillion 2016 spending-and-tax plan. Ryan and his top aides “really gave away the store,” Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared Dec. 18. Her report-card phrase — “they really gave away the store” — doesn’t appear in Politico or TheHill, even by Dec. 22. Instead, Politico suggested that Ryan came out roughly even. “The four leaders — Ryan, Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is siding with many Democrats in criticizing conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia over comments he made about African American student achievement during oral arguments earlier this week of the affirmative action case, Fisher v. University of Texas. "I thought his remarks were very tough,"Trump said of Scalia in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that aired Sunday. "They were very, very tough to a certain community," the Republican front-runner continued. "I thought it was very tough to the African-American community." Scalia's remarks, made Wednesday, drew accusations of racism from Democrats and liberal activists who...

If there's a small silver lining for the Republican Party in the bonanza of insanity that is Donald Trump's candidacy, it's this: He's single-handedly managed to make the rest of the GOP field look downright reasonable by comparison. There's less talk of a "clown car" primary when the main attraction is the ringmaster of his own circus. Each day, Trump seems to reach new heights of absurdity, offensiveness, and popularity among Republican poll respondents. On Tuesday, he called fellow candidate Lindsey Graham an "idiot" and handed out the South Carolina senator's cellphone number — a response to Graham referring to...

Presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the United States has reignited an old debate about the Republican Party, which some see as the party of intolerance. Liberal critics have long insisted that Republican candidates use coded language that sounds respectable on its face but covertly signals an outdated view of race, ethnicity and religion to their constituents. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) voiced this perspective on Tuesday, saying that Trump's words and policies simply reveal the true values of the party and its supporters....

From KTNV in Las Vegas:  Parishioners are terrified after protesters have disturbed Mass at several Catholic churches across the valley.The group, Koosha Las Vegas, includes members who clearly identify themselves as former Muslims turned Christians. They’ve been entering churches during services, shouting at Catholics that they need to repent now or else, and filming the acts and posting them on the internet.The videos make clear the group has been active on the Las Vegas Strip and several other places around the valley; they’re often seen with large signs and megaphones. The difference now is that they’re going into houses...

Demonstrating once again that his reputation for cheap demagoguery has been well-earned, Senator Harry Reid this morning took a wild shot at Justice Antonin Scalia. "It is deeply disturbing," Reid suggested, "to hear a Supreme Court justice endorse racist ideas from the bench of the nation's highest court." In advancing this accusation, Reid was boosting a meme that has become popular on the left since yesterday evening. A representative example of its underlying charge can be found today in The Hill: >>>Justice Antonin Scalia surprised the Supreme Court and the public during Wednesday's oral arguments in a case challenging affirmative...

"Unless Republicans go along with Democrats, "the government shuts down at midnight this Friday," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday. "If we fail to meet that deadline, it will be another evidence of a Republican failure in leadership." Reid said if Republicans fail to pass an omnibus appropriations bill by midnight on Dec. 11 -- a date they picked -- it will be because they continue to attach their "ideological agenda" to the must-pass omnibus. "No legislation will pass with these poison pill riders. We passed a bipartisan budget agreement, we did it through good-faith negotiations. It was...

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., unveiled a litany of Democratic proposals to combat the Islamic State on Monday, following President Barack Obama's address to the country Sunday night. Among the proposals that will be incorporated into a comprehensive bill was the creation of an "ISIS czar," or one point person in the federal government to coordinate the response to the terrorist group. According to a Reid aide, the bill includes 12 main components aimed at foreign and domestic policies.

Senate Democrats will offer a pair of gun-related amendments to a budget bill on Thursday, seeking to put Republicans on record on the charged issue in the aftermath of Wednesday's mass shooting in California. At a special caucus meeting on Thursday morning, Democratic senators agreed to offer Legislation that would make it harder for people on the terrorism watch list to buy guns, and a re-vote on universal background checks that failed in 2013, senators and aides said. The votes could become major campaign fodder in next year's Senate races. A third amendment proposed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid...

WASHINGTON — One day after 14 people were slain in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on Thursday blamed lawmakers for not acting on an "epidemic of gun violence" and described the National Rife Association as the Republican Party's "quasi-militant wing." "Republicans must decide if they are more scared of gun violence or the NRA," the Nevadan said. Delivering his comments on the Senate floor, Reid ticked off a list of some of the nation's deadliest mass shootings in recent years that included the young students killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown,...

Republican strategist Karl Rove may be moving to help bankroll Ben Carson in the presidential race. Reports say Rove helped to set up a meeting between Carson's campaign and billionaire Steve Wynn, but additional details were not immediately clear. Wynn, who owns casinos and hotels across the country, has contributed a combined $30,000 to political action committees associated with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in this election cycle. Ben Carson presently ranks fourth in the Washington Examiner's power rankings. Wynn is munificent when it comes to campaign contributions, and he rarely discriminates between parties. Federal Election Commission filings indicate Wynn...

They're quite happy with "strategic patience" and "leading from behind" when it comes to bloodthirsty terrorists, but let a corporation seek to lower its tax bill . . . time for action! You can usually tell where people’s hearts really are by what animates them. There are situations when they know they’re supposed to look and sound passionate. And then there are situations in which they really are. There was much fire-breathing on Capitol Hill yesterday, not because of the growing urgency to stop the next ISIS beheading, burning, drowning or mass shooting - but because a U.S. corporation found...

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Senate leaders are vowing to block the House bill that would stop Syrian refugees from entering the country until a strict, multi-agency vetting process is in place. The bill passed the House by a 289-137 vote yesterday, with 47 Democrats voting in favor of the legislation -- including Bay State U.S. Reps. William B. Keating and Stephen F. Lynch, who said the additional screening by the chief National Intelligence Agency was a key point in leading to his support. President Obama had vowed to veto it, but with a veto-proof majority vote, Democratic efforts to stop the...

In a stinging rebuke to President Barack Obama by Republicans and Democrats, the House ignored a veto threat Thursday and overwhelmingly approved GOP legislation erecting fresh hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees trying to enter the United States. Forty-seven Democrats joined all but two Republicans as the House passed the measure by a veto-proof 289-137 margin, a major setback to the lame duck president on an issue —the Islamic State group and the refugees fleeing it — that shows no signs of easing. The vote exceeded the two-thirds majority required to override a veto, and came despite a rushed, early...

In this brief video Ted Cruz rips the cover off Democrat Harry Reid's Anti-American complaint that we shouldn't jail illegal alien murderers, rapists and kidnappers because it would cost too much and be insulting to immigrants.

Ted Cruz has been on the Senate floor fighting for the passage of Kate's law, the law named for Kate Steinle who was murdered by an illegal alien in July of this year. The bill would block states and cities from receiving federal law enforcement funding if they refuse to communicate with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement due to that state or city's "sanctuary city" policies.One of the bills most vocal opponents has been Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. During yesterday's debate on the Senate floor, Reid falsely characterized the bill as one that would "tear innocent families apart."Senator Cruz fired...

Senate Democrats launched a third consecutive filibuster of the bipartisan defense appropriations bill yesterday, once again blocking consideration of legislation that would fund the United States military and pay members of our armed forces. Yes, it's okay to be thoroughly perplexed by this development. Remember, the ostensible reason that Democrats have engaged in this obstruction over recent months -- which also entailed filibustering the Veterans Affairs appropriations bill -- was to exploit the troops and veterans as leverage to force Republicans to agree to higher federal spending on unrelated matters. It was a cynical play, but thanks in part to President Obama's hyper-partisan veto, it...

Wednesday during his opening “Talking Points Memo” segment on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” host Bill O’Reilly condemned outgoing Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) for blocking a vote on the so-called Kate’s Law, a law that O’Reilly supports that would make a five-year prison term mandatory for any illegal that is convicted of an aggravated felony in the United States and then returns after deportation.