Free Republic

... What is needed from Washington is not a heroic exertion of American military power but rather a sustained effort to engage with allies, isolate enemies, support free markets and democratic values and push these positive trends forward. The Obama administration is, in fact, deeply internationalist — building on alliances in Europe and Asia, working with institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations, isolating adversaries and strengthening the global order that has proved so beneficial to the United States and the world since 1945. ... A Democratic Advisory Council committee headed by Acheson called Eisenhower’s foreign...

GOP activist Karl Rove is being accused of gutter politics in a response by Hillary Clinton’s reps after remarks last week, reported by Page Six, that the former secretary of state may have brain damage from a blood clot she suffered in 2012. “From the moment this happened 17 months ago, the right has politicized her health,” Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said in a statement. “First they accused her of faking it. Now they’ve resorted to the other extreme — and are flat-out lying … All he wants to do is inject the issue into the echo chamber, and he’s...

Neandertal: The Answer Is Epigenetics Not Evolution by Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph.D. * Recent genome reports show that the Neandertals are essentially fully human, causing scientists to reclassify them as "archaic humans."1,2 But what about the apparent subtle differences in anatomy that first caused scientists to claim that Neandertals were a completely different species? It turns out that the answer can be found in epigenetics, according to newly published research.3 Epigenetics, in the more modern sense, refers to the heritable chemical changes performed by cellular machines to DNA that alter gene function without actually changing the DNA nucleotide code. In the...

Rev. Nancy Ellett Allison has joyfully officiated same-sex marriages in her corner of the conservative South since 2006. “It is just a delight to be able to help these couples celebrate their lives together and work with them to craft their vows,” said Allison, her bright voice laced with a twang.

Senate approves in-state tuition for undocumented students: The Florida Senate voted Thursday to let undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities. The 26-13 vote came as no surprise. The sponsor, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, was confident he had the votes for week. But that didn’t stop him from getting emotional in debate on Thursday. “The eyes of America are on us,” Latvala said moments before the vote. “I think we’re setting an example. I think we’re doing the right thing.” Read more Medical Marijuana Photo Source Hightimes.com House passes non-euphoric medical marijuana bill: The Florida...

Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, estimates that the U.S. added a mediocre 180,000 jobs to the economy in April. “We have a little problem here, we still have the weather issue to be sorted out,” he says. He thinks it’s possible that the unemployment rate inches down to 6.6% but “we haven’t had any fundamental changes, you just always see a little bouncing around.” “People don’t realize this, but we spend a lot of money on prescription drugs,” he says. “The reason we do that is because the government is giving drug companies patent...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has said that illegal immigration is like an "act of love" and promoted amnesty at a "Davos in the Desert" education conference in Arizona. Now, the potential 2016 GOP presidential contender has suggested that parts of America's immigration system should be more like Canada's. Jeb Bush ✔ @JebBush Canada has an economically driven immigration system. Why can’t we fix our broken one? http://t.co/gT1Zby7xZL 5:03 PM - 23 Apr 2014 Skilled immigrants to be offered 'express entry' to Canada in 2015 The Canadian government is forging ahead with anew immigration system that will offer "express entry"...

(Reuters) - A family of four rescued from their sailboat after their infant daughter became seriously ill at sea returned safely to San Diego on Wednesday aboard a U.S. warship that picked them up in the Pacific over the weekend, a Navy spokeswoman said. The parents, Eric and Charlotte Kaufman, and their two daughters, 3-year-old Cora and 1-year-old Lyra, left the Navy frigate Vandegrift after the ship arrived in port around 10 a.m. local time and proceeded to their family doctor, according to Lieutenant Lenaya Rotklein of the Third Fleet. Rotklein declined to give any further information about the arrival...

When it comes to Obama-era scandals, the American Right’s predominant emotion is frustration — a frustration that causes hypertension levels usually seen only in Cubs fans and the unfortunates hired to do PR for Lindsay Lohan and Shia LeBoeuf... --snip-- Why is this happening? Ironically, the mainstream media heavyweights may feel liberated from the responsibility of covering Obama administration malfeasances because of the existence of the alternative conservative media that have arisen over the past 20 years — talk radio, Fox News, and multiple websites...

--BIG SNIP-- Putin has said that "two or three degrees" of climate change could be good for Russia, in that it would reduce heating costs and increase crop yields. Of course Russia will face harsh consequences from global warming as well. Wildfires and drought have hit the country hard in recent years -- trends that will likely only worsen as the planet continues to heat up. So for all you out there blasé about climate change, you may want to take a long hard look at your position -- because it doesn’t take that much effort to see a post-global...

The United States took another punitive measure against Russia Tuesday, announcing it would not participate in a G8 Summit scheduled for Sochi in June unless Moscow reversed course on Ukraine, Reuters reported. The move followed an hour-long phone conversation between President Obama and West German Chancellor Angela Merkel that senior administration officials told Fox News focused on trying to construct a diplomatic off-ramp to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine. The White House released a statement saying the two leaders “agreed on the importance of de-escalating the situation, including through the deployment international observers and...

If you thought that the Left's arguments in favor of wealth-redistribution were factless and short-sighted, you haven't read "The One Rich Guy," a new comic published on the Daily Kos today. It has everything a liberal could want: a stereotypical, evil rich man with a top hat and monocle, people making fun of capitalism, and no logical explanation as to why any of this might happen and no solutions. And, of course, it relies heavily on the fallacy that if someone is rich, why, he must be stealing from everyone else! Gird your loins. The comic is called "The Modern...

Here is the latest in a long line of frighteningly stupid Common Core math worksheets to bubble up courtesy of Twitter, according to Twitchy.

The National Security Agency’s headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md., will go dark if a cohort of Maryland lawmakers has its way. Eight Republicans in the 141-member Maryland House of Delegates introduced legislation Thursday that would deny the electronic spy agency “material support, participation or assistance in any form” from the state, its political subdivisions or companies with state contracts. The bill would deprive NSA facilities water and electricity carried over public utilities, ban the use of NSA-derived evidence in state courts and prevent state universities from partnering with the NSA on research.

Facing a $78 million budget shortfall, California’s ObamaCare exchange has spent $1.37 million to fund an outreach video featuring exercise guru Richard Simmons gyrating on the floor and hugging a contortionist who is kneeling with his buttocks in the air. The “Tell a Friend — Get Covered” campaign by Covered California features other celebrities Olivia Wilde, comic Billy Eirchner, Fran Drescher and Tatyana Ali. The centerpiece of the effort was an eight-hour live web stream that ran on Jan. 16. None of the celebrities were paid for their work, Covered California said.

In spite of their advances in education and the workforce anxiety disorders are replacing happiness for American women. Sexual liberation was supposed to bring equality for females that expected fulfillment with the freedom to pursue lust without expecting committed relationships.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Don't believe the happy talk coming out of the White House, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department when it comes to the real unemployment rate and the true “Misery Index.” Because, according to an influential Wall Street advisor, the figures are a fraud. In a memo to clients provided to Secrets, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of those not working at a sky-high 37.2 percent, not the 6.7 percent advertised by the Fed, and the Misery Index at over 14, not the 8 claimed by the government. Marotta, who recently advised those worried about an imploding economy to...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) caused a small kerfuffle on Monday by requesting of President Obama, on her Facebook page: "Mr. President, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and all who commit to ending any racial divide, no more playing the race card." Nobody seems quite sure what prompted the request, though USA Today and Talking Points Memo, among others, suggest it was a new Obama profile in The New Yorker, in which the president famously says that marijuana is no worse for people than cigarettes and alcohol. In the germane passage regarding race, Obama tells interviewer David...

...Michelle Obama teamed up with basketball star Lebron James and his teammates from the Miami Heat for a new ad to promote healthy eating as part of the first lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign. The ad, which premiered on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, features Miami Heat players Dwayne Wade and Ray Allen and Head Coach Erick Spoelstra talking about the importance of eating healthy. But the first lady, James and Chris Bosh make cameos of their own – photobombing Wade and Allen as by eating apples, drinking water, and even dunking a small basketball behind them as they speak. The...

Following passage last year of some of the strongest gun-control laws in the nation in the wake of the school shooting in Newton, Conn., leading California Democrats will open a new front in the fight against gun violence this year with a proposal to conduct background checks on people who purchase ammunition. State Senate Democrats will push to require a comprehensive background check on anyone seeking to purchase ammunition, and to require a one-year permit for ammunition purchases. “Anyone can walk into any gun store, a bait and tackle store, and purchase all the ammunition they want to, no questions...