Free Republic

Call off the Iowa caucuses. Cancel the New Hampshire primary. Let’s all head to Cleveland to name the 2016 Republican presidential nominee right now. The race is over. Rand Paul has won. There is no way he can be denied. How can I say that before a single vote has been cast, before most of the field has even declared? Simple: Dick Morris has predicted Paul can’t win. Morris’ predictions are almost always wrong. Ergo, Rand Paul is now a heavy favorite to clinch the nomination. Everyone who makes political forecasts with any frequency is going to make mistakes, me...

Wednesday, 21 April 2010 08:21 For Immediate Release Date: April 21, 2010 Re: U.S. Senate Candidate Rand Paul’s KRLA Questionnaire Contact: Susan Kenney, Treasurer (502) 895-5959 It has come to our attention that Rand Paul has supplied the Kentucky Enquirer with a "copy" of his Kentucky Right to LIfe PAC Questionnaire "proving" that he did score 100% on the KRLA PAC Survey. As has been our policy, KRLA PAC will let the evidence speak for itself. Attached please find a PDF unedited scan of the questionnaire Rand Paul faxed (and also sent original hard copy to us) on February 11th....

Mike Huckabee is going to run for president in 2016. While he won't make that official until next Tuesday, he released a two-minute video on Friday that both previews the themes on which he will run and shows why he may be the most underrated candidate in the field.

This NYT story, an obvious attempt at a gotcha that’ll damage Cruz among his base, will do more damage to the two businessmen within their own circle of allies, I suspect. It’s one thing for Ted Cruz, social conservative, to socialize with gay friends. It’s another for gays to socialize with — gasp — Ted Cruz, social conservative. During the gathering, according to two attendees, Mr. Cruz said he would have no problem if one of his daughters was gay. He did not mention his opposition to same-sex marriage, saying only that marriage is an issue that should be...

The House voted, as expected, to block a D.C. law banning discrimination by employers against employees who have had abortions. on Thursday night — but the measure is unlikely to have any effect before the law takes effect this weekend. All but 13 Republicans voted for the resolution of disapproval, which passed on a largely party-line, 228-192 vote, while just three Democrats voted in favor of it. The measure got a high-level Democratic opponent on Thursday with Hillary Clinton's campaign weighing in, calling it a move to "overrule the Democratic process" in a statement to CNN. The bill would roll...

"...we'd be so much better if we governed ourselves, controlled our borders and gave ordinary workers a chance against the corporate companies who've now basically taken over our political parties..." Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party "Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed." Hillary Rodham Clinton "I don't want Alabama portrayed in a negative light because when it's portrayed in a negative light, it doesn't help me to recruit jobs in Alabama.....So I'm hurting families when I can't help people get...

Senators on Wednesday blocked a Republican push to tie Iran's support of terrorism to a final deal on the country's nuclear program. Senators voted 45-54 on the amendment from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), which would have required President Obama to certify as part of a diplomatic deal that Iran hasn't carried out or directly supported an act of terror against the United States or a U.S. citizen. Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Dan Coats (Ind.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and John McCain (Ariz.) voted with Democrats against the amendment....

One moment in the Supreme Court's oral arguments over same-sex “marriage” reveals what an embarrassment Sonia Sotomayor is as a justice. John J. Bursch, who argued on behalf of marriage, said that the people, not five unelected justices, should be able to decide whether to redefine a pillar of society that predates the government and written history. “This case isn't about how to define marriage,” he said. “It's about who gets to decide that question. Is it the people acting through the democratic process, or is it the federal courts? And we're asking you to affirm every individual's fundamental liberty...

<p>INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Millions of tax payer dollars stolen and now the company responsible will have to pay for their actions. Investigators say three brothers who ran E-biofuels LLC, out of Muncie, are behind the scheme and it was one of the largest fraud busts in Indiana history.</p>

Chief Justice Roberts has long been troubled by the idea that courts might short-circuit a democratic debate over marriage equality by imposing a constitutional right to marry by judicial fiat. In his dissent from the Windsor case in 2013, he wrote that he was reluctant to “tar the political branches with the brush of bigotry” without convincing evidence that a law’s “principal purpose was to codify malice.” He might vote to uphold same-sex-marriage bans on the grounds that the people, not judges, should decide the future of marriage.

<p>That’s the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage.</p> <p>“We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line,” read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. “We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve.”</p>

April 29, 2015 (ThePublicDiscourse.com) -- The current debate over the definition of marriage is typically portrayed as a decision about whether to “expand” or “extend” marriage to include same-sex couples. This argument, however, assumes that the basic nature of marriage will remain largely unchanged by granting marriage status to same-sex partnerships. It implies that all this policy change would do is absorb same-sex partnerships within the existing boundaries of marriage, thus extending the benefits of marriage to a wider segment of society. Indeed, the very term “same-sex marriage” implies that same-sex couples in committed relationships are already a type of marriage that...

With six words—“It is going to be an issue”—the U.S. government signaled to orthodox Christian colleges and universities that if they don’t drop their opposition to same-sex marriage they will lose their tax exempt status. Those words came yesterday when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, a case concerning whether the Fourteenth Amendment’s must guarantee the right for same-sex couples to marry. While the primary issue is whether gay marriage will be required in every state in the union, one exchange highlighted how the upcoming ruling could affect religious liberty. Justice Samuel Alito asked Solicitor General...

North Dakota state Rep. Randy Boehning has come out as bisexual after a 21-year-old man claimed the Republican sent him a photo of his genitals via the gay dating site Grindr. Mr. Boehning, 52, says the man who came forward is retaliating against him for a recent vote against expanding gay rights, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported. Dustin Smith, 21, contacted the newspaper earlier this month, saying he recognized Mr. Boehning from Grindr, chatting under the user name Top Man! According to exchanges reviewed by The Forum, Mr. Boehning sent Mr. Smith an unsolicited photo of his penis on March...

WASHINGTON – The most dramatic moment in a historic case before the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage Tuesday morning came after the first attorney had wrapped up her argument. “Gay marriage is an abomination in the eyes of God,” suddenly screamed a protester in the courtroom.After continuing his protest, the man was escorted from the court room. Justice Antonin Scalia quipped, “That was refreshing, actually,” causing loud laughter to ripple through the courtroom. Scalia’s approval of ancient wisdom echoed his previous referral to the ancient Greeks and Romans to argue against government sanctioning of same-sex marriage....

Religious institutions could be at risk of losing their tax-exempt status due to their beliefs about marriage if the Supreme Court holds that gay couples have a constitutional right to wed, President Obama’s attorney acknowledged to the Supreme Court today. “It’s certainly going to be an issue,” Solicitor General Donald Verrilli replied when Justice Samuel Alito asked if schools that support the traditional definition of marriage would have to be treated like schools that once opposed interracial marriage. “I don’t deny that.”

The day before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a historic same-sex marriage case, a Kentucky court has ruled that a Christian T-shirt company has the right not to print gay pride festival shirts. Hands on Originals (HOO), a Christian T-shirt company in Lexington, Ky., was asked to print shirts by Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO) for a 2012 pride festival. When the company turned down the order, the GLSO filed a complaint with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission. Though the commission found in favor of the GLSO, Judge James D. Ishmael of the Fayette Circuit...

The past week was a very good one for Ted Cruz in South Carolina, as he swept the straw polls at four bi-annual Republican county conventions, and one county GOP Executive Committee bi-monthly meeting. The first came as Cruz won the Anderson County GOP convention straw poll as follows: Cruz 27%, Walker 25%, Rubio 15%, Huckabee 9%, Graham and Perry 6% each, Santorum 5%, Bush, Paul and Carson 1% each. But the biggest prizes came for Cruz as he won Greenville, Spartanburg and Aiken GOP convention straw polls all on the same day as follows: Greenville: Cruz 28%, Walker 22%, Carson 8.5%, Rubio...

LGBTQ icon Larry Kramer has spent the last 37 years warning of homosexuality's health hazards. He's director of ACT UP whose slogan is: "Silence=Death." Many gay marriage advocates wish Larry would shut his mouth. His message undercuts the image of being "gay and blissful." Folks are uncomfortable adding unsavory elements like this to the conversation. Do you think lawyers who presented arguments to the Supreme Court included the following? "Chief Justice Roberts and esteemed members of the Court, while you will hear our efforts to persuade you to legalize gay marriage today, we must be mindful of serious, elevated health...

Members of the Supreme Court questioned on Tuesday whether now is the right time to force states to allow same-sex couples to marry, pointing to how quickly public opinion has shifted on the issue of marriage equality. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a key figure in striking down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, suggested that he might be worried about the court moving too quickly to force states to marry same-sex couples. “This definition has been with us for millennia,” Kennedy said of male-female marriages. The justice also said it would be very difficult for the court to...