Free Republic

The past few years have shown us that our political system is operating like a well-oiled machine, assuming that machine's primary purpose is to function horribly while producing nothing of value.. Stubbornness and disagreement have been raised to art forms, and the American people have made it clear they rate Congress only slightly more favorably than "scorpions in pants." The president isn't viewed much better, with an approval rating hovering around a dismal 40 percent. There's ample blame to go around — leftward, rightward, centerward (which isn't a word, but should be) — but a new poll homes in on...

Thursday on Ora TV's "PoliticKing with Larry King," left-leaning actor and director Rob Reiner compared the designated terrorist group Hamas to the American political conservative movement, the Tea Party.

Israel’s Right of Return also gives citizenship to spouses of the same sex when Jews choose to immigrate to Israel together, Interior Minister Gidon Sa’ar (Likud) decided Tuesday. According to Sa’ar’s decision, gay and lesbian Jews married abroad wishing to immigrate to Israel could do so—even if one of the partners is not Jewish—and both would receive Israeli citizenship. “The gates of Israel will be open to every Jew and his family without any discrimination against his lifestyle,” Sa’ar stated, in the precedent-setting decision. […] The landmark decision surfaces amid ongoing tension over what defines a “family” in Israel, and...

Pennsylvania has turned its back on small business owners, according to a recent survey. […] “After a two-month survey of thousands of small business owners nationwide, we’ve heard directly from Pennsylvania’s small businesses that the state could do more to support them,” said Jon Lieber, chief economist of Thumbtack.com. “Creating a business climate that is welcoming to small, dynamic businesses is more important than ever, and Pennsylvania’s small businesses think the state could do a better job.” […] Marie Page, owner of Marie Page Cleaning Service in Reeders, said […] “We are taxed like crazy. It is hard to get...

<p>The moral crisis of our age has nothing to do with gay marriage or abortion; it’s insider trading, obscene CEO pay, wage theft from ordinary workers, Wall Street’s continued gambling addiction, corporate payoffs to friendly politicians, and the billionaire takeover of our democracy," Reich wrote in a separate FacebookBut a professor who earns a one-percenter's income for a relatively easy workload has a tough time complaining about how unfair the economy is, according to some critics.</p>

“We can’t waste the spotlight. Time is short. Change is needed. And women are smarter than men,” Obama said during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit to a laughing audience, according to White House Press Pool reports. She continued, “And the men can’t complain because they are outnumbered today.”

Did anyone see the ad for this film?God,how pathetic!"It's Deliciously Funny",according to some far left critics."Can't Wait To Taste The Movie"!Well,more or less,something like that.The movie promo is making it sound like it's going to be the next Forrest Gump or Titanic.We can only hope that "The Hundred Foot Journey" debuts at number 10.America gave up on Oprah way back in 2007/08 when she had declared that Obama was our modern day Jesus and was going to bring World Peace!&Will Keep Putin In Check!

When asked at a press briefing on Thursday why her party’s message is “not resonating with the electorate,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told a room full of reporters, “(W)e need you to be messengers.” […] … “But, apart from that, we have come forward with our middle-class jump start. Over the month of August, we go forward with how the jump start talks about bringing jobs home. The Republicans have tax breaks to send jobs overseas. Democrats want tax breaks to keep jobs here at home.” …

The U.S. Treasury Department has raised by $22 billion its estimate of what it needs to borrow in the third quarter to keep the government operating. Treasury said Monday that it expects to borrow $192 billion in the July-September period, up from an estimate of $170 billion announced in April. The borrowing increase is mainly due to the government taking in less in revenue than previously expected. Treasury also said it expects to borrow $187 billion in the fourth quarter of the year. …

Australia’s government has made its strongest criticism yet of its staunch ally Israel over the monthlong war in Gaza, with the Australian foreign minister calling the shelling of United Nations schools “indefensible.” Foreign Minister Julie Bishop welcomed the announcement of a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire to begin on Tuesday, and urged Israel to take all necessary steps to prevent civilian casualties. …

The nation’s law enforcement agencies, from local cops all the way to the Department of Homeland Security, are always on the lookout for terrorist threats, and that includes at home as well as in far flung deserts and mountains. And they’re collecting data on all sorts of groups. What may come as a surprise is that, if you’re a regular reader of Hot Air or many other similar outlets, you might be one of the people they are watching! A new report this summer from a group of university analysts has identified the chief concerns of law enforcement agents...

It’s unlikely that United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts thought he would be arrested protesting the energy policies of the very politician his union supported in 2008. But things have come full circle for coal miners, who now see President Obama’s climate agenda threatening their livelihoods. Roberts and other UMWA members were arrested Thursday marching through Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, towards the federal building the Environmental Protection Agency was holding field hearings for a new rule that could very well force more coal mines and plants to shut down. …

Foreign policy used to be a bright spot in Americans’ dimming opinion of President Barack Obama. Not anymore. Associated Press-GfK polling found a spring and summer of discontent with the president’s handling of world events. Obama’s consistently low marks across crises such as the fighting in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas could benefit Republicans aiming to win control Congress in the fall. “The problem is saying something and not doing anything—making grandiose threats and never following any of them up,” said Dwight Miller, 71, a retiree and volunteer firefighter in Robertson County, Texas. Miller, who describes himself...

Colorado will begin issuing driver’s licenses and identification cards to immigrants Friday regardless of their legal status, underscoring a sea change in a state that less than a decade ago passed strict immigration enforcement laws. Now, thousands of immigrants are waiting to get cards they hope will add a degree of legitimacy to their residency in Colorado. About 9,500 people are signed up for appointments through the next 90 days to get the documents, with more getting scheduled every day. Both people in the country illegally and those who have temporary legal status will qualify. The demand for the licenses...

(Reuters) - The city attorney of bankrupt San Bernardino, California, has a novel idea for raising new revenue - open medical marijuana dispensaries to sell pot. As San Bernardino struggles to deliver a bankruptcy exit plan two years after it filed for Chapter 9 protection, city attorney Gary Saenz says marijuana sales should be part of the southern California city's income.

You may not have heard much from Senator Ted Cruz lately, but on Thursday, he came back with a force in blowing up House Republicans’ bill to address the border crisis. Make no mistake, House Speaker John Boehner—and the rest of the Republican establishment—still have a big Ted Cruz problem. And it’s only going to get bigger as the 2016 presidential election approaches. As it stands now, Cruz has successfully persuaded a block of House Republicans to vote against the House GOP’s border bill, forcing Boehner to pull the legislation from the docket. The situation is still fluid. The House...

Michelle Obama called on young African leaders to change traditional attitudes and beliefs that harm girls and women, adding that educating and making women financially literate is not enough. “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens,” Mrs. Obama said. The first lady spoke Wednesday to the inaugural class of young African fellows who are getting six weeks of leadership training in the United States as part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship. …

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pointing the finger at Republicans for congressional inaction, President Barack Obama chided lawmakers Wednesday for spending the waning days before their month-long summer break trying to sue him rather than addressing economic issues that could boost the middle class. "Stop being mad all the time. Stop just hating all the time. Come on," the president said in a boisterous and sharply partisan speech in Kansas City.

A newly discovered email exchange from Lois Lerner´s official IRS email account "directly demonstrates Ms. Lerner´s deep animus towards conservatives, which she refers to as ´---holes,´" House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday. In that Nov. 9, 2012 email, Lerner further suggests that conservatives will ruin the country: "So we don´t need to worry about alien teRrorists (sic). It´s our own crazies that will take us down," she wrote.

A great paradox of Obama’s America is that racism has been so thoroughly condemned that it only rarely receives public /*0attention. To some extent, the election of a black president relaxed what remained of our national focus on race matters, it triggered a prolonged self-congratulation and a deceptive notion that we had reached an ending, a resolution. Obama himself is, of course, a sophisticated, and very particular, thinker about race on a number of levels -- as a child of a mixed marriage, he saw race from the inside out and the outside in; as a local politician, he ran...