Free Republic

Here in Oklahoma, we like to call ourselves the reddest of red states. But even here, the insanity is encroaching and hard to keep at bay. That is why it is ever so important to keep a watchful eye over those who represent us, both on the national and state level.The President and Vice President of the United States are elected by a process known as the Electoral College. I'm not going to bore you with a long and complicated explanation of why that is the case, so here is my simple and condensed version. The United States is made...

There’s no man or woman in red-state America these days with more power than Cruz to set a new conservative litmus test. But c’mon: How many of you need to be formally warned at this point by your favorite Republican that the House is looking to sell out border hawks on immigration reform? It’s like blaming Rand Paul for turning libertarians against the NSA. He plays a useful role in bringing attention to the issue, but those people turned on their own initiative ages ago. Same here.Cruz won’t mind being blamed for this one, though. House Republicans who supported the...

It's getting difficult and slinking toward impossible to defend the Affordable Care Act. The latest blow to Democratic candidates, liberal activists, and naïve columnists like me came Monday from the White House, which announced yet another delay in the Obamacare implementation. For the second time in a year, certain businesses were given more time before being forced to offer health insurance to most of their full-time workers. Employers with 50 to 99 workers were given until 2016 to comply, two years longer than required by law. During a yearlong grace period, larger companies will be required to insure fewer employees...

FORT WORTH — As the March primary election approaches, election officials throughout the state are gearing up for potential problems. This March 4 primary will be the biggest election since the state’s Voter ID law, which requires voters to show government issued photo identification at the polls, went into effect last year.

Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday pushed Attorney General Eric Holder for answers about the investigation into the IRS, with the Texas Republican saying he finds what has transpired in the last eight months of the probe “astonishing.” Cruz called on Holder, who was appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, to address why so little had been done since the inspector general report concluded that the IRS had improperly targeted conservative groups, tea party groups, pro-Israel groups and pro-life groups. “In the 280 days since that inspector general report, nobody has been indicted,” Cruz said. “Not a single person. In the...

Democrats will take control of the Virginia Senate now that a recount in Hampton Roads has found Lynwood Lewis the winner of a special election. Lewis, who until now has served in the House of Delegates, beat Republican Wayne Coleman by 11 votes out of 23,000 votes cast. The State Board of Elections says the final totals are 10,203 votes for Lewis to 10,192 votes for Coleman in the district that covers Accomack, Mathews and Northampton counties and the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. Coleman has called Lewis to concede the race. Lewis had been initially declared the winner...

Chuck Schumer Pushes Plan To Wipe Out Tea Party Calls for nonpartisan ‘blanket’ primaries By Jacqueline Klimas January 23, 2014 "Do what a handful of states have done and have a primary where all voters, members of every party, can vote and the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, then enter a runoff," Sen. Charles E. Schumer suggests in his scheme to weaken the tea party. (Associated Press) Democrats should push for more open primaries as a way of weakening the tea party movement, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said Thursday, laying out a plan to try to...

The owner of a Washington, D.C.-based campaign firm and a former San Diego police detective are accused of conspiring with a foreign national to illegally inject more than $500,000 into San Diego political races, including the 2012 mayoral contest, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Ravneet Singh, 41, founder of ElectionMall Inc., was arrested Friday by FBI agents and is charged alongside his company and Ernesto Encinas, 57, the former detective, with conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States. According to Tuesday’s complaint, Singh and Encinas helped a Mexican businessman donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to San Diego...

My Post colleague Dan Balz has some very interesting reporting from Democratic and Republican strategists. Both groups seem somewhat pessimistic about the GOP’s chances in 2016: A recent conversation with a veteran of GOP presidential campaigns raised this question: Which, if any, of the recent battleground states are likely to become more Republican by 2016? The consensus: very few. That reality highlights one problem Republicans face as they seek to regain the White House after six years under President Obama. Lots of factors affect elections: The quality of the candidates, the state of the economy, the effectiveness of the campaigns....

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Newport Beach in California. Steve, I'm glad you called, sir. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Rush, good to be here, love listening to your show, and again your comments this morning regarding the unions and the -- RUSH: Money laundering. CALLER: Exactly. That's the term I was looking for, the money laundering. It's exactly what's going on out here in California with the bullet train. The politicians in California, all the Democrats have given all of the public employee unions their payback, but they've got a problem. All of the private sector...

Barack Obama's election not only caused the oceans to recede, but the dead to rise from the grave. At least, that's what an investigation by New York officials revealed when they sent out dozens of agents to vote in a New York election. Barack Obama's election not only caused the oceans to recede, but the dead to rise from the grave. At least, that's what an investigation by New York officials revealed when they sent out dozens of agents to vote in a New York election. *snip* Vote buying? Say it ain't so, liberals. This is actually a far more...

Steve LaTourette, a former congressman and friend of John Boehner, runs the “Republican Main Street Partnership”. Note the word “Republican.” As the left-wing Talking Points Memo reported a month ago, LaTourette and his Main Street Partnership have created an affiliated SuperPAC called “Defending Main Street PAC.” Along with the Chamber of Commerce and Republican Leaders, the Main Street Partnership wants to take out troublesome conservatives. Defending Main Street PAC plans to raise $8 million in this election cycle; by contrast the Senate Conservatives Fund handled $12 million in 2012 and expects to raise even more this time around. Note, first,...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation doesn't plan to file criminal charges over the Internal Revenue Service's heightened scrutiny of conservative groups, according to law-enforcement officials, a move that likely will only intensify debate over the politically charged scandal. The officials said investigators didn't find the kind of political bias or "enemy hunting" that would amount to a violation of criminal law. Instead, what emerged during the probe was evidence of a mismanaged bureaucracy...

<p>On Friday a producer and former CBS reporter named Itay Hod put up a Facebook post intended to out Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock. The tabloid media, for years, has played a game with the young Republican—wink-wink stories about his photoshoot for a men's health magazine, the sexy celebrities he follows on Twitter, stuff like that.</p>

There was a great article at the Save America Foundation recently. The author does a great job detailing the collusion of big government and the media as they attempt to give the impression that Obamacare is a colossal success. While it can be argued that many people are awakening to the totalitarian nature of the ACA, it can also be said that the fight for restoring liberty is about to take an ugly turn. In this article, David Mckalip points to the facts that a refusal to enroll in Obamacare is now being portrayed as unpatriotic, selfish and a failure...

The New York Times story concluding that the Benghazi attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility was not al-Qaida-related and was spurred by an anti-Muslim video will win the newspaper a Pulitzer prize, says Democratic operative James Carville. Carville, appearing Thursday on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," defended reporter David Kirkpatrick's journalism, even suggesting he testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. After all, Carville said, Kirkpatrick's six-month investigation was the most exhaustive probe anyone has made.

A new study of how criminals vote found that most convicts register Democratic, a key reason in why liberal lawmakers and governors are eager for them to get back into the voting booth after their release. “Democrats would benefit from additional ex-felon participation,” said the authoritative study in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

The night before the 2008 Nevada Republican convention, the Ron Paul delegates all met at a Reno high school. Although I’d called myself a libertarian for almost my entire adult life, it was my first exposure to the wider movement.

SAN ANTONIO — Amid a national push for immigration reform in what advocates say is a window when Congress might be willing to change the country's laws, five local organizations will hold a pro-reform rally today. The Brown Berets, Southwest Workers Union and others will gather at noon at the federal complex next to HemisFair Park. They're asking for a suspension of deportations, “an incluse pathway to legalization,” an immigration policy that “strengthens the middle and working class through encouraging unionization,” and a reform that doesn't militarize the border or expand the border wall.

Hot on the heels of my earlier post about how Nelson Mandela's death has been a real revelation of liberal stupidity and ignorance comes a story from the Daily Caller about how one liberal group called One Wisconsin Now is using his death, and their perception of his legacy to call on Republicans to end their fight for Voter ID laws (because that should be reserved for REALLY BIG DEALS, like for cashiers at any store after you have the temerity to flash your credit card).Well, stupid is as liberal does. And not only does South Africa REQUIRE an ID to...