Free Republic

As a Swede, I've found out Brits, Germans, Danes, Americans and many other members of fellow Christian nations disapprove of the way in which we have chose to handle Muslim immigration to our soil. I personally, do not agree with the conduct of my nation's government. There is no reason why Europe should be flooded by Muslims. Let's send them back! But what is the nature of the apparatus letting them all in here? There is something very, very wrong here, but Sherlock Holmes won't be needed to smell what's wrong. All of Western leaders have betrayed Western ideology. The...

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is releasing his memoir, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” a 600-page book that offers a stark, insider’s view of Washington, the Pentagon, Congress and America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (You can read an exclusive WSJ excerpt.) Here’s a look at some of the book’s most riveting revelations:1. Contempt for Congress Mr. Gates expresses open disdain for Congress and the way lawmakers treated him when he testified at hearings. “I saw most of Congress as uncivil, incompetent at fulfilling their basic constitutional responsibilities (such as timely appropriations), micromanagerial, parochial, hypocritical, egotistical, thin-skinned and...

The former president of Poland and leader of the Solidarity movement is not enamored with President Obama and his leadership. The Hill: Former Polish President Lech Walesa says America no longer leads the world "in terms of politics and morality." Walesa, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, spoke negatively about President Obama's leadership skills. "When he was elected there was great hope in the world. We were hoping that Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America, but that failed. America does not lead the world in the area of morality," Walesa said. Walesa, who is promoting a new biopic...

Earlier this evening, Steve asked whether President Obama is any good at politics. A fair question. Here is another: Does Obama have any idea what is going on in his own administration? When President Obama speaks off the cuff, he is often revealing, if you can penetrate his trademark incoherence. I found this riff from today’s press conference to be particularly interesting: [Snip] One of the books on Chappaquiddick describes how the Kennedy brain trust gathered at the family compound in Hyannis Port to plot a strategy to salvage Ted Kennedy’s career. One person conspicuously absent from the conclave was...

Yeah, he caught and corrected himself. Too late. When the chips were downn, instead of stepping up and truly taking responsibility for the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, instead of acting like a leader and the President of the United States, Barack Obama's first impulse was to cast himself as the victim. In an interview with Chuck Todd aired on this evening's NBC Nightly News, President Obama said that "I've been burned by a website." View the video here.

History judges a leader exclusively through his actions and their ultimate results rather than through fleeting words. It appears that U.S. President Barack Obama is finally putting the brakes on his mouth after flooring it down Hope-and-Change Highway for most of his tenure. Remember the Syrian crisis that dominated chatter for months before all but vanishing? Recall how critics were talking about grievous incompetence and even possible impeachment? Fast-forward to today, and just try to start a conversation with, "Obama really botched the situation in Syria." Now that the Russians have overseen a plan for the destruction of that country's...

Ted Cruz is our Tilly Smith. Tilly Smith was a hero. Vacationing on a beach in 2004 in Thailand, the ten-year-old Tilly immediately recognized the signs of the approaching tsunami and quickly warned fellow beachgoers, in time to save over a hundred lives. On that fateful afternoon when she first noticed the "sizzling" water rapidly filling the shoreline, Tilly recalled a recent geography lesson on tsunamis from school and began to shout an alarm. Fortunately, enough people -- beginning with her own family -- paid attention to Tilly and spread the word, saving everyone there. We can imagine that many...

On the brink of a national default, the leaders of the Senate struck a deal Wednesday to reopen the federal government and extend its power to borrow money. The House appeared ready to go along — and end, at least for now, the crisis in Washington. Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor at midday that his party and Republicans had found their way to a compromise to “provide our economy with the stability it desperately needs” and avert financial disaster. His Republican counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell, offered his blessing: “This is far less than many...

After Republicans drifted for years without a pilot, Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have taken the helm of the GOP, steering their party and its grassroots into a much-needed, head-on battle with the Democrats. On the campaign trail on the way to his win in November 2012, President Barack Obama promised to finish the work he’d gone to Washington to do: “fundamentally transforming the United States.” Things look tough for the right in Washington today, but the reality is these three conservative Republicans, aided by friends in the Senate and the House, have dragged the president’s ambitious agenda to...

What has happened to our country? We have a president who seems unwilling to declare that we are the greatest nation on earth. We have a Senate run by the most spineless little weasel anyone could ever imagine. Our House of Representatives is reminiscent of the character from Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles" who holds a gun to himself claiming he is held hostage to befuddle local dullards. We have been told that we as a nation are borrowers, beggars and thieves. Every single day we are reminded that one race allegedly hates another. Plain terrorists wishing to wage their personal...

BANGKOK – Ironically as American business people continue to take steps to understand China’s shifting landscape and the implications of recent leadership changes in what is now the world’s second-largest economy, U.S. President Barack Obama has provided them and others an unfortunate “teaching moment” about what is arguably, along with money and power, one of the three great motivators in modern China. That is the concept of “face” or “mianzi.“ I spoke recently with Scott D. Seligman, a historian, former Fortune 500 business executive and author of “Chinese Business Etiquette,” among other insightful China-focused books. He explains that in Chinese,...

IF the government shutdown has shown us anything, it’s that the 80 or so House Republicans driving the crisis have emerged as the most unified force in politics: tightly organized, highly disciplined and ideologically firm.But wasn’t their plan to make the budget a vehicle for defunding President Obama’s health care legislation doomed from the start? And even if this small band has the backing of voters in their safely drawn “red” districts, as well as Tea Party support, haven’t their unyielding tactics antagonized a majority of the public?In fact, this minority faction — the “suicide caucus,”as the conservative columnist Charles...

As AEI's President Arthur Brooks recently pointed out in an op-ed, the key to any great leader’s success is taking responsibility for one’s actions. Something, he argued, this president doesn’t seem to be doing a whole lot of lately: A vast scholarly literature spanning more than six decades exists on the subject of leadership. The characteristics of effective leaders have been pored over, cataloged and debated. Among them, one trait stands out as axiomatic: Effective leaders take responsibility for problems around them; they do not shift blame to others. As Winston Churchill put it, "The price of greatness is...

A new study says when it comes to health, leadership and the economy, Utah women are some of the worst in the country. According to the Center For American Progress’ “State of Women In America,” Utah women rank 49th. The only state worse on the report was Louisiana. Utah women are dead last in leadership. Their poverty level is 43rd and they rank 34th in health. California, Colorado, Washington, New York, Connecticut and Maryland are all ranked as the best states for women to get ahead.

This week's United Nations General Assembly underscored how little influence President Barack Obama has on the world stage, and the longing among allies for a resurgence of strong American leadership, Peggy Noonan says. In her column for The Wall Street Journal, Noonan says that conversations behind the scenes at the annual U.N. session indicated concern that American influence has waned, and nostalgia for the "old America" that set an example of leadership and success admired throughout the world. "The world misses the old America, the one before the crash — the crashes — of the past dozen years," the author...

Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday appeared to confirm that he plotted with House conservatives to prevent Republican leadership from shifting strategy in the government shutdown fight. “We’ve had numerous conversations with numerous members of the House,” Cruz (R-Texas) said after the Senate approved a continuing resolution that was amended by Democrats to preserve funding for ObamaCare. [snip] The conversations indicate that Cruz is seeking to wield influence not only in the Senate but in the House, where the leadership can afford only 16 defections if it wants to pass legislation without relying on Democrats. A Boehner spokesman declined to comment.

Fresh off his 21-hour filibuster against Obamacare funding, a new poll shows that Sen. Ted Cruz has leapfrogged past his potential rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and that GOP primary voters trust him more than their party leaders on Capitol Hill. The Public Policy Polling survey found that 20 percent of those surveyed supported Mr. Cruz, Texas Republican, while 17 percent supported Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 14 percent supported New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and 11 percent supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. “Ted Cruz this week established himself as the grassroots hero of the Republican party,”...

With several political climaxes looming, it serves to recall “High Noon” starring Gary Cooper as Will Kane, the beleaguered marshal who single-handedly confronts paroled murderer Frank Miller and his gang. As civil society’s elected protector, Kane is a reluctant hero, abandoned by his cowering and self-interested townsfolk. Improbably victorious, he departs town, flinging his badge with contempt for the citizens who wouldn’t defend the rule of law on which their freedom, prosperity and security depend. Though protagonists in our national Kabuki Theater claim to care about us, Think Again before allowing them to join Kane on the moral high ground....

The movie Braveheart stands as one of the classics of all time. Embodying the courage of William Wallace in his fight to overturn English rule over Scotland, the movie is a testimony to the power of an individual who is willing to risk it all for freedom. In honor of those like Representative Tom Graves (R-Ga.), and Senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), who are battling both their own leaders (the Scottish noblemen) who fear for their position, as well as Obama and Harry Reid (the English), a few of the key lines from brilliantly written Braveheart are...

In the aftermath of Senator Ted Cruz’s epic performance on the Senate floor, a few observations: After his disgraceful attacks on Cruz, including his reach-across-the-aisle, dog-in-the-manger response today, this should be the end of Senator John McCain as a voice of influence in the Republican party. Ditto his mini-me, Senator Lindsey Graham. Indeed, the entire Old Guard of business-as-usual “comity” fans passeth. When you care more about what the other side thinks, it’s probably time either to switch teams or step down. There is new leadership in the GOP, whether the party wants to admit it or not: Cruz, Rand...