Free Republic

On a cool spring day at the Capitol, Toni Atkins delivered a series of blows unlike anything the tobacco industry had ever felt in California. Then speaker of the Assembly, the San Diego Democrat had been a lame duck for the last six months since the house elected Anthony Rendon to replace her. It was a Thursday morning in March and her final session as speaker, a tenure that lasted just shy of a year and 10 months. In a series of quick votes, the Assembly passed six smoking bills, the most significant of which raised the age to buy...

In the swing of the Trump wrecking crane, President Obama's approval ratings have risen above 50 percent. The media see greater appreciation for his "competence" in office -- but, why? In the wake of the Orlando attack it's easy to ask, "How competent would the media have made President George W. Bush appear if an Islamic terrorist shot up a gay nightclub in Florida eight years ago?" It seemed like every piece of bad news during the Bush years was somehow Bush's fault -- and proof of his incompetence. The media's attitude toward Bush was summed up in Bill Maher's...

It seems to have become a daily occurrence outside of Trump rallies, angry Mexicans hurling insults in Spanish at Trump supporters, throwing eggs, insulting children, attacking those attending all with a backdrop of Mexican flags. Well this Latina has a response to those Mexicans…

Mexican police are investigating the murder of a soldier who was part of the team guarding the recaptured notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, at a prison in northern Mexico. The body of Jorge Mauricio Melendez Herrera, 20, was found on Friday in Ciudad Juarez, with signs of torture. Investigators said Mr Melendez was part of the first ring of security guarding the outside of the jail in the city.

I think it's pretty stupid to vote for Democrats who, rather than protecting individual rights, openly want to violate individual rights. The whole job of the government is the former, and so you're electing people who want to do the exact opposite of what the actual role of government is. Rather than a government that protects rights (as a policeman), you elect Democrats who create a government that violates rights (like a criminal itself). Yes, the Republicans are bad too, but the Democrats take rights-violating to the n'th degree, and their ideal political system (socialism) is one of the most...

Football coaches face a tough choice anytime they’re asked to play politics: Do so, and they risk alienating their fan base for a reason other than play calling or defensive schemes. Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh took the plunge Saturday, when he agreed with Donald Trump’s idea to build a border fence to keep out illegal immigrants coming from Mexico. At an otherwise boring press conference Saturday afternoon, Harbaugh, who’s won a Super Bowl and is no stranger to dealing with media, was asked a question about officiating during the ongoing NFL preseason. Somehow, his answer drifted into politics, with...

The number of celebrities who support Donald Trump continues to grow as UFC Hall of Famer and current Bellator fighter Tito Ortiz has now publicly endorsed the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. The 41-year-old was spotted in attendance at a Trump rally in Anaheim, Calif., this week. His appearance caused a stir as Ortiz was pictured holding a sign that said, “Hillary Clinton Killed My Friends,” and later joined in a “build that wall” chant.

Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Saturday joined his predecessor in office in unloading on Donald Trump, calling the Republican front-runner's campaign racist and saying his discourse on immigration is fueling anti-American sentiment around the world. Calderon, a conservative who was president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, even said he thought Trump was trying to exploit the same social feelings and resentments as did Adolf Hitler. "I think his logic of exalting white supremacy isn't even acting against immigration - Donald Trump is the descendant of migrants - it is acting and speaking against immigrants who have a different...

The president of Guatemala has offered Donald Trump "cheap labor" to build a wall on the border of the United States and Mexico. "We have high-quality labor, and we'll gladly build," President Jimmy Morales said in a Facebook Live interview conducted by The New York Times en Espanol, reported The Hill. "Tell us the dimensions, and we know how to do it," said Morales.

While attempting to attack an amendment to the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill that would require a fence be built along Mexico’s border with the U.S. before legalization, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) made a significant geographical gaffe. Landrieu, who represents Louisiana in the U.S. Senate, was trying to undermine the amendment Sen. John Thune (R-SD) offered. In doing so, she tried to argue Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was more qualified to talk about border issues than Thune because McCain represents Arizona. “A smart fence, which is what Senator McCain and I want to build--since he’s from Arizona, I think he...

Thursday during debate on the Senate floor about an amendment offered by Republican Senator John Thune requiring 350 miles of double-layer fencing along the southern border, Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu called the fence "dumb" and claimed South Dakota is a border state. Thune's amendment backs up the 2006 Secure Fence Act (which Landrieu voted for) requiring 700 miles of double layer fence along the southwest border with Mexico, of which only 36 miles have been completed. I’m going to speak about this amendment for just a minute, but I’ld like to respond to Senator Thune, and I wish that we...

An anti-Trump protester in Arizona held up a “Make America Mexico Again” sign as anti-Trump agitators demonstrated ahead of Trump’s Saturday visit to the Grand Canyon State. ... (snip) ... A Tuscon police officer who attended the event as a private citizen said though he felt safe around Trump’s supporters, he did not feel safe around the anti-Trump agitators, whom he called “the most hateful, evil people he has ever seen.”

TEL AVIV – As the debate over Donald Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border continues to dominate the presidential race, Israel is reportedly planning to move ahead with a massive above and underground concrete barrier along the entire border with the Gaza Strip. The barrier was revealed on Thursday in a story splashed across the cover of Yedioth Aharonot, Israel’s largest daily newspaper. The story was published with the approval of the country’s defense ministry. Yedioth’s affiliated website, Ynetnews, has the details:

The President of Mexico threatened at the world economic summit grave consequences if Trump gets the Presidential seat: all the Mexicans in the USA will be going back home to Mexico. The Mexican government announced they will close their borders to Americans in the event that Donald Trump is elected President of the United States. President Enrique Peña Nieto announced the country fears Americans will flood their country and bring violence and chaos to their streets. “Many Americans have expressed a desire to relocate to our country in the event that Donald Trump becomes President. We cannot have Mexico flooded...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — A sensational report of a New Mexico sheriff’s deputy arresting an undocumented “Islamic refugee” who had gas pipeline plans with her as she crossed the desert near the border appears to be unfounded. The report cited involvement by the FBI, U.S. Border Patrol and the Luna County Sheriff. Each of those law enforcement agencies told KRQE News 13 that there’s no evidence the incident ever happened. Still, the article has been widely shared across social media since it was published Wednesday on the website of the conservative group Judicial Watch. The organization says it “promotes transparency,...

The Mexican government announced they will close their borders to Americans in the event that Donald Trump is elected President of the United States. President Enrique Peña Nieto announced the country fears Americans will flood their country and bring violence and chaos to their streets. “Americans have a well-documented history of violence and we must act to keep our country safe,” President Nieto stated. “Many Americans have expressed a desire to relocate to our country in the event that Donald Trump becomes President. We can not have Mexico flooded with criminals and rapists. They are a violent nation and they...

It took a while, but the details of Dallas' latest encounter with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign finally got filled in Wednesday afternoon. After a nearly weeklong search for a venue, the Trump operation found a DFW home at the Southside Ballroom, otherwise known as the big room at the Gilley's complex in the Cedars. ... But now that there's a public rally, longtime Dallas activist Domingo Garcia and Next Generation Action Network Founder Dominique Alexander are planning to rally at Gilley's at 6 p.m. Organizers are asking that demonstrators wear white shirts "to promote peace" and carry...

Police in a U.S. town bordering Mexico have apprehended an undocumented, Middle Eastern woman in possession of the region’s gas pipeline plans, law enforcement sources tell Judicial Watch. Authorities describe the woman as an “Islamic refugee” pulled over during a traffic stop by a deputy sheriff in Luna County, New Mexico which shares a 54-mile border with Mexico. County authorities alerted the U.S. Border Patrol and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) has been deployed to the area to investigate, sources with firsthand knowledge of the probe confirm. The gas pipeline plans in the woman’s...

The most feral and violent contingent of anti-Trump protestors appears to consist of unabashed Mexican supremacists falsely accusing Trump of being a white supremacist. They are so irreparably dim that they appear to believe that by stomping on cars, throwing rocks at police, and sucker-punching white people, they will finally quell all doubt about whether they deserve to be here. Behold the parallel-universe specter of hateful assholes hatefully screaming and hatefully attacking people while toting placards that read STOP THE HATE. Even more absurd is the specter of people who ran screaming from the flaming abyss that is Mexico proudly...

SAN JOSE (KRON) — Officers arrested a 24-year-old man Friday after they had released a photo of him, along with others, asking the public to help identify suspects connected to assaults that happened during a rally for Donald Trump in San Jose last week. Officers arrested San Jose resident Anthony Yi on suspicion of robbery, assault and battery, according to police. The arrest stems from three separate incidents in which Yi allegedly robbed one victim and then assaulted two other people at the rally, police said. The rally, which drew hundreds of protestors, occurred on June 2 outside the San...