Free Republic

Could this be the end of Monument Syndrome? Across the country, ordinary Americans are rising up in revolt against the old Washington tactic of closing public parks and memorials during selective government “shutdowns” to score political points. Tax-paying tourists are tossing off the orange traffic cones and “Barrycades.” Enough is enough. The movement started with waves of World War II veterans who flew to D.C. last week as part of the Honor Flight Network. (The nonprofit group brings our surviving heroes to visit the memorials that honor their service and sacrifice.) The vets and volunteers breached the fences last week,...

Could this be the end of Monument Syndrome? Across the country, ordinary Americans are rising up in revolt against the old Washington tactic of closing public parks and memorials during selective government "shutdowns" to score political points. Tax-paying tourists are tossing off the orange traffic cones and "Barrycades." Enough is enough. The movement started with waves of World War II veterans who flew to D.C. last week as part of the Honor Flight Network. (The nonprofit group brings our surviving heroes to visit the memorials that honor their service and sacrifice.) The vets and volunteers breached the fences last...

Like an estimated 22 million other Americans, I am a self-employed small-business owner who buys health insurance for my family directly on the individual market. We have a high-deductible PPO plan that allows us to choose from a wide range of doctors. Or rather, we had such a plan. Last week, our family received notice from Anthem BlueCross BlueShield of Colorado that we can no longer keep the plan we like because of "changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA)." The letter informed us that "(t)o meet the requirements of the new laws, your...

Before we head to Syria to avenge the mass murder of their kids, how about we finish avenging ours?When I say “finish,” of course I really mean “start.” A dozen years after the 9/11 attacks, the trials against the jihadist plotters who incinerated pregnant women, firefighters, grandparents, newlyweds, toddlers and schoolkids on their first-ever plane rides have yet to begin.Justice not only has been delayed and denied. Justice has been demoted, disowned and deserted. Justice for the 9/11 victims and families isn’t blindfolded. She’s gagged and hogtied.The terror-coddling Obama White House squandered precious years trying to shut down Gitmo to...

Busted. Stone-cold busted. Just as I suspected, "progressive" pranksters at Oberlin College have been definitively unmasked as the perpetrators of phony campus "hate crimes" that scored international headlines in March. The blabbermouth academic administrators who helped fuel the hysteria are now running for cover. The Associated Press, The New York Times, MSNBC, Yahoo News and the Huffington Post were among the media outlets that trumpeted the story of supposed racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism run amok at my alma mater. Throughout the winter, anti-black and anti-gay graffiti, swastikas, and a shadowy figure in a "KKK hood" surfaced on the tiny campus...

Yuck. Is there a woman in his sights that pervy Democratic San Diego Mayor Bob Filner hasn't harassed, molested, insulted, propositioned, groped, headlocked or slobbered on while holding public office? In less than a month, the number of victims and witnesses coming forward has skyrocketed from three to 13. And the details have grown even more unbelievably sordid. This isn't a local "sex scandal." It's a nationwide predator scandal. When I last reported on this career creepster's case, his fiancee had broken up with him, his former spokeswoman had revealed that Filner told her to "work without her panties on,"...

Nancy Pelosi has been quiet about accusations against former House member and San Diego Mayor Bob Filner. But at least the House Minority Leader is being helpful enough to give reporters instructions about how to explain her past working relationship with Filner: Don’t: Democrats who accused Republicans of being anti-women during last year’s campaign are strangely silent now that one of their own — San Diego Mayor Bob Filner — is accused of groping and sexually assaulting women. “Don’t identify him as my former colleague,” an agitated House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi reportedly said Thursday night when asked about the...

Do you know the story of the Incredible Disappearing Border Fence? It's an object lesson in gesture politics and homeland insecurity. It's a tale of hollow rhetoric, meaningless legislation and bipartisan betrayal. And in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, it's a helpful learning tool as you assess the promises of immigration enforcement converts now running for president. Last fall, Democrats and Republicans in Washington responded to continued public outrage over border chaos by passing the "Secure Fence Act." Did you question the timing? You should have. It's no coincidence they finally got off their duffs to respond just before...

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius controls a $54 million slush fund to hire thousands of “navigators,” “in-person assisters” and counselors who will propagandize and enroll Obamacare recipients in government-run health insurance exchanges. This nanny-state navigator corps is the Mother of all Community Organizing Boondoggles. It’s also yet another Obama threat to Americans’ privacy. A reminder about Secretary Sebelius’ sordid snooping history is in order here. In August 2009, HHS and the White House Office of Health Reform called on their ground troops to report on fellow citizens who dared to criticize their federal health care takeover. Team...

For years, I’ve warned about the GOP’s Grover Norquist problem. Just last week, he was front and center at the Gang of 8′s amnesty press conference — despite longtime concerns expressed on this blog and by national security advocates and activists about his dangerous Islamist alliances and progressive proclivities. Now we learn that Norquist’s convicted terrorist pal and former funder, Abdurahman Alamoudi, was the first president of the radical mosque attended by the Boston bomber brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Alamoudi, as I’ve documented repeatedly here, provided seed money to Norquist’s Muslim outreach effort during the Bush years.

Michelle Malkin Wins 2013 Breitbart Award for Excellence in Journalism Rob Bluey April 25, 2013 at 7:37 pm ORLANDO—The Heritage Foundation and Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity presented the second annual Breitbart Award to Michelle Malkin, syndicated columnist and Fox News Channel contributor. Malkin was honored at tonight’s Krieble Dinner at Heritage’s Resource Bank. The award was presented by Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint and Franklin Center President Jason Stverak. The Breitbart Award honors those who advocate for the truth — a quality that Malkin exemplifies. As the founder of three successful conservative blogs — michellemalkin.com, Hot Air...

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio seems well meaning enough. As second-generation conservative Americans, I know we both share a common passion for this great land of opportunity. But when it comes to comprehending the real agenda of the open-borders zealots he's allied himself with, Rubio doesn't have a clue. And his abject ignorance threatens all of us who cherish American sovereignty and exceptionalism. On Fox News' "The Sean Hannity Show" Tuesday night, Rubio defended his Gang of Eight "immigration reform" bill and insisted that we could and should have a system in place that vets foreign tourists and short-term visa...

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon killing spree by foreign-born jihadists, see-no-evil bureaucrats in Washington are stubbornly defending America's lax asylum policies. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told the Senate Tuesday that the screening process is rigorous, effective and extensive. These people can't handle the truth. Or tell it. The Tsarnaev brothers reportedly were granted asylum by "derivative" status through their parents. After entering on short-term tourist visas, the mother and father (an ethnic Chechen Muslim) won asylum and acquired U.S. citizenship. Next, younger son Dzhokhar obtained U.S. citizenship. Older son Tamerlan, whose naturalization application was pending, traveled freely between...

I’ll say this much: At least in this example it’s her own kid instead of a room full of other people’s children (and I’m assuming the audience watching the segment at the time consisted of fewer people than the average kindergarten classroom). From The Blaze: Regardless of where you stand on the issue of gay marriage, few will likely agree with MSNBC host Krystal Ball’s decision to use her young daughter to promote gay marriage during a segment titled “Political Playground” on Thursday. “What if you were in love with a girl? Would you marry a girl?” Balls asks her...

Last week, I reminded you about the bloody history of convicted Weather Underground terrorists Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, whom left-wing bleeding heart director Robert Redford pays homage to in his new fictional movie “The Company You Keep.” Boudin’s son, Chesa, was raised by America-bashing and flag-trashing Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. As I told you, he won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, graduated from Yale, and is now a Yale Law School fellow. Mama Boudin was paroled in 2003, and now the NYPost reports that she is teaching at Columbia (h/t JWF):

File this in the overflowing cabinet labeled, “No Wonder the Mainstream Media Is Dying.” On Tuesday, the Associated Press announced that it is banishing the phrase “illegal immigrant” from its famous stylebook. The world’s largest newsgathering outlet now advises reporters that “illegal” will “only refer to an action, not a person.” The AP directs writers not to use the terms “illegal alien, an illegal, illegals or undocumented” anymore, except “in direct quotations.” It won’t be long before illegal border crossers, illegal visa overstayers, illegal deportation evaders, document fraudsters, and illegal-alien traffickers are all referred to as “our fellow Americans.” Without...

Why isn't what’s good for the protection of Mexico good for the U.S.? American politicians in both parties are stampeding all over themselves to pander to Mexico and adopt mass illegal-alien-amnesty schemes. But while the Mexican government lobbies for more “humane” treatment of illegal border-crossers from their country into ours, Mexico remains notoriously restrictionist toward “undesirable” foreigners who break their laws or threaten their security.Despite widely touted immigration “reforms” adopted in 2011, Mexico still puts Mexico first — as any country that is serious about protecting its sovereignty should and would.Article 33 of Mexico’s constitution establishes the right of the...

"American politicians in both parties are stampeding all over themselves to pander to Mexico and adopt mass illegal alien amnesty schemes. But while the Mexican government lobbies for more "humane" treatment of illegal border crossers from their country into ours, Mexico remains notoriously restrictionist toward "undesirable" foreigners who break their laws or threaten their security."

--one of the Denver Post's columnists emotes--- --http://www.denverpost.com/opinioncolumnists/ci_22843876/real-skewed-polls

It's business as usual in the post-9/11 world. Your federal government is back to pandering to wealthy travelers from Saudi Arabia. In the eyes of our massive homeland security apparatus, the comfort of Saudis is a higher priority than the safety of American citizens. And thanks to reckless, feckless bureaucrats who fear being labeled "racists," "xenophobes" and "Islamophobes," political correctness remains the handmaiden of terror. According to a new report released this week by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), President Obama's Department of Homeland Security plans to bestow "trusted traveler" status to travelers from Saudi Arabia. Yes, the...