Free Republic

In his book The Snapping of the American Mind, David Kupelian asks the following painful question that millions of Americans like myself have pondered for years and will ponder for some time to come as America slowly rips itself apart. Kupelian writes, “How could it be that hundreds of thousands of Americans fought and bled – and many died – on foreign shores to contain an evil and metas-tasizing ideology variously called communism, Marxism, socialism, collectivism, or statism, and yet now, just a few years later, we would gaze up at the pinnacle of power in our own country and...

'World peace' hitcher is murdered Ms di Marineo was hitch-hiking to the Middle East with a fellow artist An Italian woman artist who was hitch-hiking to the Middle East dressed as a bride to promote world peace has been found murdered in Turkey. The naked body of Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, 33, known as Pippa Bacca, was found in bushes near the northern city of Gebze on Friday. She had said she wanted to show that she could put her trust in the kindness of local people. Turkish police say they have detained a man in connection with the killing....

POLITICS: Liberal women seen as weak on terrorism issues, study finds A new study from UC Riverside suggests that Hillary Clinton may have two big obstacles working against her going into the 2016 election: she's a woman and she's a liberal. Those two traits combined make voters think twice about supporting her when terrorism is in the news, according to a news release from UCR about the study. The study cites researchers from UCR, Tulane University and Vanderbilt University who have learned female democratic presidential hopefuls are viewed by voters as weaker and less capable than their male and republican...

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday suggested that the Republican presidential race is now down to Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, leaving out Ted Cruz. I see it more as Trump-Rubio," McCarthy said during an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" as the hosts discussed pundits who ruled out candidates like Ohio Gov. John Kasich. "Cruz's whole strategy of winning - he wasn't planning on Trump - and when you look going through the evangelical vote and others, he just lost that," McCarthy added. Trump picked up nearly a third of the vote in South Carolina on Saturday while...

Donald Trump's visit to the Iowa State Fair was a spectacle... Rob Stutzman...witnessed the scene and experienced flashbacks to the hordes his client, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, encountered during his unlikely bid for California governor during the 2003 recall election. "It's celebrity appeal," Stutzman said. "Both of them are very skilled at using their celebrity to attract public and media attention," They are wealthy celebrities, so universally branded that they are known by their first names. Schwarzenegger and Trump have a flair for theatrics that play well on the evening news. Some examples: Schwarzenegger dropped a 3,600-pound wrecking ball on an...

Donald Trump had a town hall last night with MSNBC. Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and the audience were asking Donald Trump questions. At one point, Mika Brzezinski started to describe a candidate to Donald Trump, going through a host of viewpoints and descriptions. She then asked Trump who she was describing. Watch this :36 The look on Trump's face is absolutely priceless. One would think, this might be something that gives pause to Republicans considering voting for Trump. He and Bernie freaking Sanders are apparently so alike, Sanders gets described and Trump thinks the person is talking about him. Seriously,...

Pyror Moore II-compressedCHARLESTON, S.C. — During Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, Donald Trump said that if he were to nominate a judge to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, he would consider Diane Sykes or Bill Pryor, the latter of which prosecuted “Ten Commandments Judge” Roy Moore.

One of the more maddening elements of our political debate is how both sides view the individual, and how they treat them. Conservative ideals are based on individual responsibility, and in turn the state showing respect for that individual. On the flip side, as we saw in our last chapter, the Radical Left despises the individual, and will always put the state ahead of individual rights1. What's maddening is how despite their contempt for the individual, the Radical Left does an outstanding job of exploiting personal stories to push their agenda, while the side that puts respect for the...

What may be the most appealing thing about being a leftist is that you can never be wrong - ever. As we learned from our last post, leftist ideas never fail because their only objective is to make leftists feel good about themselves.If their ideas appear to fail, it is always someone else's fault - greedy businesses, obstinate Republicans, racist Americans, etc. It never even enters the thought process that when a leftist idea fails it's becasue their ideas might not have been good to begin with. As The Bookworm puts it,"Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have...

Rush Limbaugh doesn’t understand that he is the best friend the Democrats have. He is helping them get the devotion of the Main Stream Media.

In a stunning reversal, Donald Trump said that he will strengthen the rights of the LGBT community and bring people together. His new stance comes just days after he said that as president, he would “strongly consider” overturning Obergefell vs Hodges, the Supreme Court decision that found that same-sex couples have a legal and constitutional right to marry. “I’m a lesbian, we’ve had some great progress for the gay and lesbian community,” NECN reporter Sue O’Connell told Trump. When President Trump is in office, can we look for more forward motion on equality for gays and lesbians?” Here is Trump’s...

2015 was when social justice warriors and the regressive left went 'full retard'.

I saw a woman leaving the YMCA recently with a baby strapped to her chest. She had a second, slightly larger baby in a stroller. And she had a tantrum-throwing three-year-old holding her hand. She was infested with small children. I couldn't help but stare... The three-year-old was trying to make a scene. I say "trying to make a scene" because he was waging war against his mother, and she was refusing to participate. With a steady gait and an even expression, she ignored him. It was the most spectacular moment in parenting I have ever seen. This woman, who...

Former President Jimmy Carter surprised reporters in London Wednesday by saying he would choose Donald Trump over Ted Cruz to win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, "which may surprise some of you." Carter stated that given the choice, "I think I would choose Trump.... Trump has proven already he's completely malleable,” reports The Atlanta Journal Constitution. "I don't think he has any fixed (positions) he'd go the White House and fight for. On the other hand, Ted Cruz is not malleable. He has far right wing policies he'd pursue if he became president." Still, Carter feels Trump will "fade away"...

Conventional wisdom is congealing around two key factors in Trump’s loss this morning, so let me offer them to you as I think there’s merit to both. The main factor: Evangelicals came through for Cruz in the crunch. Political sites have been filled with news over the past few weeks about Trump’s surprising strength with born-again Christians, particularly given how intensely Cruz was courting those same voters. A guy who doesn’t know if he’s ever asked God’s forgiveness and who’s regularly demonstrated his unfamiliarity with Christian practices during this campaign shouldn’t be competitive with an evangelical candidate with dozens of...

Virgin America CEO David Cush stunned a San Francisco audience Wednesday night when he responded to a short, but controversial, question: "Trump or Hillary?" Essentially, the question was posed in the spirit of a lightning round asking him which candidate he thought would win a prospective Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton presidential race. That followed a prior question on which team he expects will win the Super Bowl. Like a pitcher hoping to get out of a tight situation with a curve ball, Cush first avoided the question: "What's that? OK. I'm looking for the exit." That sparked laughter from...

As Donald Trump continues his pundit-defying dominance of the national polls, with early primaries just days away, the once-unthinkable has become all too thinkable: Could Trump actually pull this off? Could he become president? I'm going to stake out a firm answer: no. Absent extreme and unlikely circumstances*, Trump will never be president. Jack Shafer argues that Trump's success so far is a "black swan" event, an unpredictable and unrepeatable concatenation of improbable circumstances. That sounds about right. But just because some political rules and conventions have been violated doesn't mean they've all vanished. Just because Trump makes no sense...

Liberal perfection is the enemy of Conservative good enough

Mr. Trump, I knew Ronald Reagan. And you’re no Ronald Reagan! Of course, I am stealing that line — with a twist. Donald Trump shouldn’t mind. He’s been stealing my dad for his own purposes. Trump frequently invokes Ronald Reagan’s name to defend his sudden, 180-degree switch from being a life-long, pro-Clinton Democrat to a Reagan Republican. Both men did make a switch, but almost all the similarities between the two end there. Ronald Reagan’s odyssey from Hollywood liberal to conservative backer took place over almost two decades. Starting with his 1964 “Time for Choosing” speech that galvanized Americans for...

For months, pundits have been trying to suss out Donald Trump. Is he a Liberal? A RINO? A Conservative? Why did he give to this Leftist group? Why did he say this? How could he say that? He's Hitler. He's speaking what we think. What are his views on abortion, on the economy, on ISIS? Everybody, and I mean everybody, is so used at trying to pigeonhole political candidates that they are missing what is right in front of them. Donald Trump can be explained in two simple words: Donald Trump. Donald Trump is, and always has been, about himself....