Free Republic

(Snip) The same folks who are expressing outrage that Rolling Stone has blown off its journalistic responsibility have blown off their own. For seven years, they have been supine as President Obama and his policies have ravaged the Constitution and jeopardized the nation’s security. Worse, they have often made excuses for the unconstitutional and dishonest behavior, and have buried or ignored stories when reporters and even an entire network — Fox News — have attempted to uncover the truth. (Snip) Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/8/monica-crowley-media-outraged-over-rolling-stone-i/#ixzz3WpBTMTGI Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

“I think the biggest threats that they face may not be coming from Iran invading,” said Obama. “It’s going to be from dissatisfaction inside their own countries.” While the president’s remarks were mostly overlooked by the U.S. and Western media, the comments received headline coverage in news outlets run by Iran and by the Hezbollah jihadist organization. Obama sat down Saturday with Times’ columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who asked about “protecting our Sunni Arab allies, like Saudi Arabia.” Obama explained he thinks “that our friends in the region, our traditional Sunni states, have some very real external threats, but they...

Obama says climate change is personal to him because daughter Malia had an asthma attack as a toddler Said he can relate to 'fear a parent has when your four-year-old daughter comes up to you and says, "Daddy, I'm having trouble breathing" ' Health scare resulted in a single trip to the emergency room for Malia - who at the age of 16 now lives an active life, inhaler free But other children aren't so fortunate; they they find themselves in and out the emergency room several times a year, he said White House says higher temperatures lead to increases...

Rand Paul says he doesn't want to be grilled about abortion until Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz answers similarly tough questions. And Wasserman Schultz is hitting back -- highlighting Paul's testy interviews with female television anchors, too, by saying she hopes he can "respond without 'shushing' me." Paul, the Kentucky Republican senator who launched his 2016 presidential campaign this week, bristled at a question about abortion while talking with reporters in New Hampshire on Wednesday. "Why don't you ask the DNC, 'Is it OK to kill a seven-pound baby in the uterus?'" Paul said. His comment came after...

Welcome to the big leagues. That’s the message several top GOP operatives say Rand Paul will get from the Republican establishment, and from the media, when he announces his candidacy for the presidency on Tuesday. These onlookers believe that Paul, who has been a media darling and a ubiquitous presence on the airwaves since his election in 2010, has gotten a pass from the press. In their eyes, he’s been allowed to skate past one controversy after another in part because he’s been a vocal critic of the Republican party. “The media treats him better than they treat other Republicans,”...

The Obama approach is to remove all threats of military action, remove all economic sanctions, trust Iran to keep its word . . . and then sign a deal that even he doesn't claim keeps them from getting the bomb. Obama on NPR: Sure, this Iran deal only delays the inevitable You thought the nuclear deal with Iran was “historic” and would keep the Iranians from getting the bomb, right? OK, you didn’t actually think that, but you thought the Obama Administration was at least willing to claim as much to put a happy face on such a horrendous pile...

According to a lengthy Vanity Fair piece covering the ongoing credibility implosion at NBC News, disgraced and suspended-NBC Nightly News editor Brian Williams is bitter towards those who he believes could have saved him, including Tom Brokaw: While he has accepted responsibility for his actions, friends say, Williams is bitter, especially at those who he believes might have saved him. “I talked to Brian about this,” says one friend, “and I’ll never forget what he said at the end. He said, ‘Chalk one up for Brokaw.’ ”

The wealthiest Americans don’t care about inequality, and our presidential candidates are following their lead. That’s not to say they aren’t talking about inequality. They are, for anyone who will listen. As Noam Scheiber notes for the New York Times, Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio broached the issue in January, while Hillary Clinton discussed it at the Center for American Progress last week. But none of them have ideas for tackling the problem. Neither Cruz nor Paul nor Rubio was willing to say “the government should intervene to solve it,” while Clinton would rather retreat to platitudes—“We...

When it comes to his public commentary, there are times when NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is spot on. Then there are times when he’s so far off you know he has no idea on Earth what he’s talking about. Barkley’s recent comments regarding the fabricated controversy over Indiana’s religious freedom bill is a perfect example of the latter. From the Hill “America’s always had a racial problem,” Barkley told CNN’s Chris Cuomo late Thursday evening. “Now we have a homophobic problem,” he continued. “Any form of discrimination, you have to check it.” Barkley added that Indiana’s latest legislation...

The editor of Religion News Service has denied that a grant from a wealthy LGBT advocacy funder has biased its coverage of traditional religion, which includes a recent controversial story on Cardinal Raymond Burke. The Arcus Foundation dispenses millions of dollars in grants every year to support LGBT activism. Its 2014 grants included $120,000 to the Religion Newswriters Foundation, the owner of the widely syndicated Religion News Service. The Arcus Foundation’s grant listing said the one year of support was intended “to recruit and equip LGBT supportive leaders and advocates to counter rejection and antagonism within traditionally conservative Christian...

It's going to be hard for the Republicans to field a presidential candidate as enthusiastic about the H-1B visa as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Cruz, who announced his presidential bid this morning, once proposed an immediate increase in the base H-1B cap from 65,000 to 325,000. Cruz offered the H-1B increase as an amendment in 2013 to the Senate's comprehensive immigration bill.

Ted Cruz vows to repeal “every word” of Obamacare and Common Core if he becomes president. He would “abolish” the IRS, flatten the Tax Code so Americans can fill out their taxes on a postcard, and “finally, finally, finally” secure the border. To which Lindsey Graham says: not going to happen.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced his 2016 presidential campaign last month, making him the only current official Republican candidate — for now. All of that is expected to change next week as Marco Rubio and Rand Paul make their own announcements, and likely push Cruz into the presidential background. But it’s not just me who believes that Ted Cruz has no shot of being the party nominee, much less the eventual President in 2016. Here are four pretty persuasive groups who also say that President Cruz is never going to happen. 1. His fellow Texas politicians It’s pretty hard to...

Below is the link to an interesting article by Capital Research Center that dissects the seedy world of a left-wing attack blog called “Media Matters” and its attempt to portray itself as a neutral media watchdog. The question is why some in the media use Media Matters, with all its well-known false information and implications, as if it is a neutral or legitimate source.  Do they not know better? Or do they know better but simply like the material? The author of the article asks another question:“This raises the obvious question: Why is this disreputable 501(c)(3) nonprofit [Media Matters] still tax-exempt?...

Be careful what you wish for. So goes one of the older bits of human wisdom. Question. If the O’Connor family of Walkerton, Indiana has been forced to close their family pizza business “Memories”, as noted here at TMZ, because their young daughter said in response to an unsolicited media question that the business wouldn’t cater a gay wedding because of their religious beliefs? And the business has never, in fact, catered any wedding? Then why shouldn’t this standard of questioning religious beliefs be applied to rich and famous liberal television anchors? Witch hunts never end well. And the current...

France on Saturday outlined one part of what the gradual ramp-up of Iran’s nuclear program could entail after the initial 10-year phase of a framework accord. Since Thursday’s deal between Tehran and a group of six world powers on the outlines of a final agreement, the U.S., the Iranians and the French have each produced their own documents outlining what they see as the highlights of the deal. That has led to squabbling between U.S. and Iranian officials over differences in their versions. According to a French fact sheet, Iran would be able to carry out a “gradual, clearly defined...

It may be time to light the lights. ABC is filming a proof of concept for a revival of The Muppets, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The Big Bang Theory co-creator Bill Prady is co-writing the script for a pilot presentation that sources say could be unspooled at May's upfront presentation to Madison Avenue advertisers. Sources tell THR that the project, if all goes well, could go straight to series. Bob Kushell (Anger Management, 3rd Rock From the Sun) will also co-write and is attached to serve as showrunner, with Wilfred's Randall Einhorn attached to exec produce and direct the...

here is no escaping the fact that, where Benghazi is concerned, there is blood in the water and the mainstream media has (at long last) picked up the scent. Yesterday, the sharks representing the three major TV networks circled Press Secretary Jay Carney, bombarding him with questions that were uncharacteristically tough. ABC’s Jonathan Karl, who broke the story that the talking points underwent twelve revisions, had the aspect and attitude of a man scorned and determined to set the record straight as much to clear his own name as to ascertain the truth. When Carney attempted to weasel out of his claim...

The new year began not with a cannonball off the “fiscal cliff” but with an outbreak of conspiratorial cynicism. This time it’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose fall and concussion, followed by a blood clot between her brain and skull, has prompted an embarrassment of theories. The gist: That woman will do anything to avoid testifying about Benghazi. Several commentators on the right opined via Twitter and TV, those most deadly hosts for the parasites of rumor and innuendo, that Clinton was faking her concussion to duck out on her appearance before congressional committees investigating the attack on the...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most famous current female political figure, has fallen ill. "In the course of a follow-up exam today, Secretary Clinton's doctors discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago. She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours," a spokesman for the former first lady said yesterday in a statement. Clinton's illness, and the fact that she has not been seen in public in the last three weeks, has prompted a slew...