Free Republic

Giant corporations make common cause with leftist special interests to win government favors. he U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a politically entrenched synod of special interests. These fat cats do not represent the best interests of American entrepreneurs, American workers, American parents and students, or Americans of any race, class, or age who believe in low taxes and limited government. The chamber’s business is the big business of the Beltway, not the business of mainstream America. If you are a business owner who believes your country should strictly and consistently enforce its borders and deport illegal immigrants who violate the...

Not so fast, Andrew Cuomo. We see what you did there. After publicly bashing conservative New Yorkers as "extreme" people who have no place in his state, the intolerant Democratic governor wants to blame the media for his unmistakable contempt for those who oppose abortion, support gun rights and defend traditional marriage. Newsflash: Crapweasel politicians can backtrack and scapegoat, but they can't hide. When he railed against socially conservative Republican candidates in a radio interview last week, Cuomo hyperbolically singled out those he called "right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay" citizens. Sounding unapologetically purge-tastic, the governor said these political opponents "have no place...

The myth of the poor, oppressed jihadist never dies. U.S. secretary of state John Kerry is the latest Obama administration official to peddle this odious narrative. Cue John Lennon’s cloying “Imagine,” don your plaid pajamas, and curl up with a warm cup of deadly naïveté.While meeting with Catholic Church officials at the Vatican in Rome on Monday, Kerry expounded on their “huge common interest in dealing with this issue of poverty, which in many cases is the root cause of terrorism or even the root cause of the disenfranchisement of millions of people on this planet.” In other words:...

The myth of the poor, oppressed jihadist never dies. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is the latest Obama administration official to peddle this odious narrative. Cue John Lennon's cloying "Imagine," don your plaid pajamas, and curl up with a warm cup of deadly naivete. While meeting with Catholic Church officials at the Vatican in Rome on Monday, Kerry expounded on their "huge common interest in dealing with this issue of poverty, which in many cases is the root cause of terrorism or even the root cause of the disenfranchisement of millions of people on this planet." In other words:...

The Common Core gold rush is on. Apple, Pearson, Google, Microsoft and Amplify are all cashing in on the federal standards/testing/textbook racket. But the EduTech boondoggle is no boon for students. It's more squandered tax dollars down the public school drain. Even more worrisome: The stampede is widening a dangerous path toward invasive data mining. According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, the ed tech sector "is expected to more than double in size to $13.4 billion by 2017." That explosive growth is fueled by Common Core's top-down digital learning and testing mandates. So: Cui bono? In North Carolina, the...

Politifact’s rating of the famous Obama promise “if you like your plan you can keep it” has gone through a heck of an evolution in the past five years. In October of 2008 “if you like your plan you can keep it” was totally true: Less than four years later, in June of 2012 it was downgraded to “half true” (“true,” but only for the people who could manage to keep their plans): Now, “If you like your plan you can keep it” has been deemed 2013′s “Lie of the Year”:

Bank of America has agreed to pay Freddie Mac $404 million in a mortgage settlement over 716,000 loans, many purchased from Countrywide. This is one of many lawsuits by the Federal government over Countrywide and related mortgages. One wonders when the litigation will end. Here is the thing. These suits are largely about representations and warranties between the loan seller and the loan purchaser concerning underwriting standards. The reps and warranties provide relief to the loan purchaser if the underwriting of the loans by the loan seller proves to be misleading or false. But there is another issue called causality....

Religious liberty is front and center on the nation's Thanksgiving table. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. The family-owned craft store company is intrepidly challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare's abortion coverage mandate. Hobby Lobby's faithful owners deserve our thanks and praise as they defend freedom of conscience for all Americans. The privately held retail chain's story is the quintessential American Dream. Founder David Green started out making mini picture frames in his Oklahoma garage in 1970. He recruited his two sons, Mart and Steve, to pitch in at an early age. The...

The ink isn’t even dry on the temporary Iran nuclear deal and it already has that distinct “passed it to find out what’s in it” scent.

Last week, I explained what the Common Core State Standards are and how, despite the federal government's saying it's staying out of the classroom standards business, there is much evidence to show that the feds are intricately linked to them. The first way I demonstrated that was by pointing out that the feds have spent $350 million of taxpayer money, funding and giving grants and waivers to muscle and bribe states and local school districts to accept CCSS. And all of that was done without a single act of Congress, meaning the federal government -- including the White House --...

While her husband's signature health care law goes up in flames, first lady Michelle Obama is reveling in the success of her East Wing pet project, the "Let's Move" initiative. But ignore the do-gooder dressing. Mrs. Obama doesn't care about your children. What we have here is a textbook case of Washington influence peddling, which the Obamas so vigorously condemned a long time ago and far away. On Wednesday, Mrs. Obama announced an agreement by the Sesame Workshop and the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) to join her nonprofit Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) in a two-year agreement to help...

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...