Free Republic

The series of coordinated attacks that struck Paris Friday evening may represent a new era of expanded activity for the Islamic State. If the group's claims that it is responsible for the attacks are true, it would the first time the extremist group has carried out a major attack outside of the Middle East. And, as such, the attack could spell the beginning of the end for the Islamic State, says William McCants, an expert on Islamic thought and jihadism. According to McCants, who is a fellow at the Center for Middle East Policy and the author of the recent...

There seems to be an issue with the GOP in DC, and let me tell you, it isn't pretty. Establishment GOP seemingly would rather have the likes of Shrillary than a non vetted (by them, of course) politician that isn't hand picked by them. What the heck is this all about? Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them. Party leaders and donors fear that nominating either man would have...

A recent report authored by a team of mathematicians from the Société de Calcul Mathématique SA challenged what it concluded is "a costly and pointless crusade against a naturally variable climate. The forces driving change are huge and beyond human control. The contribution to climate change that can be traced to human activity is tiny. The measures touted to combat climate change would be both expensive and ineffectual." Global climate expert Al Gore denounced the report as "detrimental to our efforts to unite humanity in this crucial battle to save the planet. I'm not a math whiz, but I know...

Dr. Ben Carson has joined the growing chorus of outrage over Russian President Vladimir Putin's military muscle flexing, telling Newsmax TV a no-fly zone should be created along the Turkish border. A sophisticated missile defense system should also be put in place to keep Russia's fighter jets in check, according to Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon seeking the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. "Vladimir Putin has expansionist ideas. He wants to really re-establish a worldwide Soviet influence," Carson told Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg in an interview aired Thursday. "He was very unhappy with the dissolution [of the Soviet Union]. Now he's...

Mayors from eighteen U.S. cities signed a letter to President Obama saying they are willing to take even more refugees than what has been proposed by the administration. “We will welcome the Syrian families to make homes and new lives in our cities,” wrote the mayors, all of whom are part of the Cities United for Immigration Action coalition. “Indeed, we are writing to say that we stand ready to work with your Administration to do much more and to urge you to increase still further the number of Syrian refugees the United States will accept for resettlement.” “This is...

Carly Fiorina has taken a hard line against Planned Parenthood as a Republican presidential candidate, but in 2005 she invested in a health care website similar to WebMD that touted abortion benefits and directed users to Planned Parenthood. The Revolution Health Group website assured users abortion is safe and directed them to pro-choice groups including Planned Parenthood for more information, but did not link to any pro-life groups or offer a pro-choice perspective. Fiorina joined RHG as an investor and board member when it was founded in 2005. Her campaign did not respond to requests for comment regarding her knowledge...

Homeland Security: The Pentagon has decided against arming recruiters in the wake of the Chattanooga terror attack that killed five soldiers. Instead of guns, officers will get "desk partitions." We can't make this stuff up. According to the Marine Corps Times, Marine brass have ruled out arming recruiters following July's deadly shooting rampage in Tennessee by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez. The ISIS-inspired jihadist opened fire on several military recruiting officers stationed in a strip mall before attacking a military base a few minutes away.

When future generations of Americans look back at the Obama years and try to figure out why government was so dysfunctional, they shouldn’t discount the most obvious answer: The Democrat Party is run by idiots who would struggle with managing a child’s lemonade stand. What follows is a teaspoonful of stupid in the ocean full of “Derp” that are the Obama years. 1) They Bring Illegal Aliens Into The United States: One of the most fundamental jobs of the U.S. government is securing our borders in order to keep foreigners from entering our nation at will. Not only has the...

As she testified before the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee on Sept. 30, 1993, Hillary Clinton was asked by Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) if she supported the imposition of a new, 25 percent national sales tax on guns. Clinton emphatically endorsed the tax, stating: "I am all for that."

...You supported Obama. How do you think he’s done? I think he’s fantastic. He’s my favorite president, hands down, of my lifetime. He’s been awesome this past year. Especially the rapid, one-after-another-after-another-after-another aspect of it. It’s almost like take no prisoners. His he-doesn’t-give-a-shit attitude has just been so cool. Everyone always talks about these lame-duck presidents. I’ve never seen anybody end with this kind of ending. All the people who supported him along the way that questioned this or that and the other? All of their questions are being answered now.

Stand-up comedian and actress Amy Schumer is teaming up with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer to call for tighter gun control. She will join the senator on Monday as he unveils a three-part plan that would make it harder for violent criminals and mentally ill to obtain guns. They cited the recent shooting in a Louisiana movie theater that killed two women and injured nine others during a screening of the movie "Trainwreck" starring Amy Schumer. Amy Schumer is the senator's cousin.

President Barack Obama is mandating even steeper greenhouse gas cuts from U.S. power plants than previously expected, while granting states more time and broader options to comply. The tweaks to Obama’s unprecedented emissions limits on power plants, to be unveiled at the White House on Monday, aim to address a bevy of concerns raised by both environmentalist and the energy industry. The Environmental Protection Agency received more than 4 million public comments after Obama announced the proposed version last year, and opponents of the plan attempted unsuccessfully to stop it in Congress and in the courts.

...[Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.)] says they asked whether they could see those agreements. He says IAEA officials replied, “ ‘Oh no, of course not, no, you’re not going to get to see those.’ And so everybody on our side of the table asked, ‘Has Secretary Kerry seen these?’ ‘No, Secretary Kerry hasn’t seen them. No American is ever going to get to see them.’ ” It turns out that only the two parties — the IAEA and Iran — get to see the actual agreements (though you can see a picture of Iranian and IAEA officials holding up what appear...

Call their bluff and ask about exhuming the bodies in / at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia

In March, China was “handed a propaganda coup” (to use WSJ’s words), when the UK decided, in the face of loud protestations from Washington, to support Beijing’s efforts to launch a new development bank aimed at filling the gaps left by traditional post-war multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the ADB. The US claims it has concerns about governance and adherence to international norms around corruption and environmental protocol, but as even the most casual observers are well aware, the real concern in Washington (and in Tokyo) is that China will use the bank as an instrument of...

Rand Paul’s presidential campaign wants to portray his fight to block any Patriot Act extension as a faceoff against President Barack Obama. But the Kentucky senator is waging an increasingly lonely battle. Some of his usual tea party allies are abandoning him. House Republican leaders are not pleased with his antics. And then there’s Paul’s feud with the senior senator from Kentucky and the most prominent Republican to endorse his presidential campaign, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Put it this way — there aren’t many times that Obama, Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, Speaker John A. Boehner, House Majority Leader...

Bishop Hill points us to this video of the Tesla Supercharging station at the Harris Ranch exit of Interstate 5 in California. He writes: “How can one resist posting a video of Tesla electric cars being recharged (so it is claimed) using a diesel generator? These people love the environment you see.” The video shows a portable diesel generator next to the charging station and some Tesla automobiles. Watch this short video:

Dear Steve, I had two citi-student loans and at some point in time within the last 5 years they went to Navient (Sallie Mae) I recently called to ask if I could get a lower pay-off amount as the original loans were 32K and now they are up to about 64K because of deferment and interest. They said no and I believe these may have been private loans. My conditions have changed. I was born into Islam, but never knew much about my religion. Since 2012 I have been learning more about my faith and it is strictly forbidden in...

The Obama administration is unfairly blocking tens of thousands of military veterans from owning guns, a Republican senator is charging. The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is filled with military veterans who are essentially banned from owning guns, even though they may not be a danger to society, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote this week in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. The gun ban "effectively voids their Second Amendment rights,” Grassley said. At issue is whether these veterans are suffering from mental illnesses. According to a 2013 Senate report, the Department of...

<p>At this time of year, the last thing anyone wants to think about is paying more taxes. But there's one tax I'm in favor of - and you should be, too, if you care about your health and the health of the planet: a sin tax on meat, cheese and other animal-based foods.</p>