Free Republic

Here are a few that I believe all Americans want. Limit Congress from serving more than two terms. That is all that presidents are allowed. Stop Congress from voting for their own raises. How did that ever get started? Stop paying for lawmakers' high-priced insurance premiums. After all, they are only part-time employees. They might pass some law changes on the insurance companies, if they had to find one. Stop paying lawmakers their full salary after serving just one term, or at retirement. We need to get rid of that pension plan; they've let other companies get rid of theirs....

In an interview this morning on This Week, Donald Trump cited his desire to "help people" as the reason he favors government-funded universal health coverage. Unlike Ted Cruz, Trump said, "I have a heart." "If somebody has no money and they're lying in the middle of the street and they're dying, I'm going to take care of that person," Trump said.

For nearly eight years, the Obama Administration shamelessly exploited popular issues, turning them into major news stories whenever they suited a political purpose. It didn't really matter what the issue was (race, religion, or border), or where it occurred (Benghazi, Libya, or Ferguson, Missouri). The intention was always the same: to weaken America by damaging its image and resolve. [...] ... During a private conversation with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Obama carelessly exposed his administration's intent by making a historic blunder on tape before his second election. Simply put, he said, "I'll have more flexibility after election." What exactly...

Several protesters took to popular North Side brunch restaurants on New Year's Day to chant and raise awareness of police violence in Chicago.The protesters, including members of Black Lives Matter Chicago, the Black Youth Project, and Assata's Daughters, went into restaurants Kanela Breakfast Club and Dove's Luncheonette in Wicker Park and chanted "While you are here celebrating over brunch, black families are struggling to keep themselves safe from CPD."The protest, which began trending as #BlackBrunchChi on Twitter, was meant to "intervene on the 'celebration' of consumerism, corrupt property zoning/displacement practices, and the retail and service industries' route collusion with police...

Conservatives lament, and liberals brag, that Obama has fundamentally transformed America. Six years of slumber later, a surging America finally is transcending even the effects of hope and change. For the last few years, most Americans have tuned out their president’s no-time-to-profit rhetoric. They just kept slogging away at what they always did as the most productive people in the world, and waited for the natural up-bound of a moribund economy. Obama himself understands that America is prevailing despite his efforts, and the evidence comes from his own admissions. In a recent National Public Radio interview, Obama took credit for...

A coalition of 35 conservative and free market groups is urging state officials to “fiercely resist” the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) attempt to force them to implement “ruinous” new greenhouse gas emission rules that could double the current price of electricity or face harsh regulatory repercussions if they refuse. “You should send a clear message to the federal government that if it insists on pursuing the regulatory equivalent of punitive energy taxes, it must promulgate and implement that policy itself—and be held solely accountable for the disastrous consequences that will follow,” the coalition said a letter sent to governors, state...

I get why Blacks turned out in force to elect Barack Obama president. He was their guy – the first Black man (half Black to be accurate) to have a shot at the position of most powerful person in the world. Someone who could really speak for them and understood their lives. Bill Clinton may have been called the “First Black President,” but he was not really a “brother.” I can see Blacks turning out for Obama the second time because their guy losing reelection would have been a horrible ending. Unfortunately, Obama has not helped the Blacks just like...

Yes, there were the predictable riots in the streets of Ferguson, as thugs took advantage of the situation to loot stores and destroy property. And yes, our nation has suffered both from ill-conceived domestic policies and no real foreign policy over the past six years. Most of us haven't felt any personal "economic recovery" in our own pockets. But contrary to my often doom-and-gloom outlook, I have reason to suggest that we give much thanks this holiday season, because things are looking up for America. First, we have only two more years of Barack Obama. The American people have booted...

The first installment of a five-part documentary by Vice News on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was released online Thursday, offering Westerners a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the terror group that now controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria. For three weeks, VICE News reporter Medyan Dairieh interviewed and recorded members of ISIL in the Syrian city of Raqqa, even capturing gruesome footage of an ISIL victory over the Syrian army’s 17th division. The terrorist group overran a position held by 50 soldiers belonging to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, decapitated them and...

When PR Campaigns Go Bad When hope and change leave you with no hope and even less change

Six years ago, then-candidate Obama was encased in sophisticated artwork that conveyed his campaign message of “Hope and Change.” Leading up to the 2014 elections he may have not abandoned change, but he certainly has abandoned hope as his guiding principle to help maintain the U.S. Senate in the hands of The Undertaker and his fellow Democrats. Faced with a fusillade of political analysis from left, right, and center, forecasting anywhere from a drubbing to an unmitigated disaster for Democratic candidates in November, Obama and his team had to develop a plan of action. Led by John Podesta (we don’t...

The United Nations (UN) has delivered its latest verdict on the measures necessary to save the world from global warming and the news is as grim as it is predictable and wearisomely familiar: More regulation from "experts", technocrats and bureaucrats at supranational organisations, such as the one whose initials begin with U and end with N.More taxpayer subsidies for expensive, inefficient renewable energy.More nuclear power (with shale gas used as a transitional fuel to replace coal). The abandonment of fossil fuels. Less meat consumption.A single, globally-regulated price for carbon dioxide. More local-government-enforced walking, cycling and public transportation. More back-door wealth...

Coldwater Creek Inc., CWTR -27.68% a women's clothing and accessory retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware Friday with a plan to liquidate its inventory and close its stores after failing to attract a buyer. The retailer said it had considered several strategic alternatives over the past six months, including a sale, although it couldn't find a buyer or raise enough capital to fund its business. Coldwater, which operates a catalog business, retail and factory stores, as well as an e-commerce website, expects to start going-out-of-business sales to liquidate its inventory in early May. Like much of the...

Nostalgia, The Good Old Days – Who Needs Them? America needs a visionary for the future! During the past, and recent presidential election we hear the all too familiar suggestion of “returning to the good old days.” Every candidate talk about returning America to a sense of values. I don’t know about you but each time I hear, or heard that suggestion I get a little queasy in the stomach accompanied by a little bewilderment, confusion, and absolute disgust! Whenever I hear the suggestion I often wonder exactly what period in time they want to take us back to! Could...

AMERICA TRULY IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD By: Kitty Werthmann Examiner Nov 20, 2009 HOPE AND CHANGE: AUSTRIA CIRCA 1938 What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books. I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by...

Let me begin with a categorical statement that, given current events and recent political history, can be easily defended: Barack Hussein Obama is a willful, indoctrinated child of the Left with strong Islamic sympathies who is not fit to govern. Indeed, he would not be fit to govern Lower Slobovia, let alone the United States of America. Obama is a historic disaster of the first magnitude and, if not restrained, he will see to the irrevocable decline of the country which foolishly elected him, leaving the world on the brink of a conflict — or in the midst of one...

On the same day Martha Stewart appeared on MSNBC to talk holiday gift giving, a wave of layoffs began sweeping across her company Thursday, according to three people familiar with the matter. The cuts at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia are said to affect about 100 staffers, one person close to the matter said, or about one-third of the company's workforce.

We were sitting in a sunroom, swapping stories, news and updates when the question was asked, "Why did they get divorced?" We leaned forward in anticipation of a standard response; "he was having an affair," or "she was having an affair," a possible "they've grown apart," or a more nebulous "it just wasn't working anymore." Instead the answer was more visceral and direct. "She was sick of him." I felt as though I had been punched in my stomach. "Sick of him?" a passing feeling maybe, a temporary state of mind, but a reason to sever a marriage union? The...

I'm reading a terribly sad book these days. It's a book that I thought would uplift me during the doldrums of second-year medical school, and renew in me a sense of hope. It's called "The Audacity to Win," and it's a memoir of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. When I'm finished with my patient write-ups at night and get into bed, the book returns me to a time when politics inspired millions and speeches could take your breath away. The election turned out to be a landslide, and news anchors paused to reflect on the historic nature of the hour....