Free Republic

Now that calorie counts on restaurant menus are a done deal, it's time to take the next step toward slimming America's flabby waistline.. A national soda tax. I know, I know: This is the kind of nanny-state talk that causes seizures among conservatives and libertarians. It's an intrusion on personal freedom, a trampling of consumer choice, blah-blah-blah. It's also, as we've learned from taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, a highly effective method of influencing behavior that carries high social costs.

When asked about recent allegations against Bill Cosby, Chris Rock fell into what for him is an unusual position. He was at a loss for words. "I don't know what to say," he told New York magazine. "What do you say? I hope it's not true. That's all you can say. I really do. I grew up on Cosby. I love Cosby, and I just hope it's not true." A lot of us longtime Cosby fans have been at a loss for words ever since long-simmering rumors boiled over in recent weeks that Cosby allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted women...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) says he will decide on a potential 2016 presidential run "in the coming weeks." He'll do so without the help of a pro-amnesty adviser and former chief of staff who has left his office. "For me, the decision is made based on the following: I have my agenda that I have talked about for more than 4 years, and the decision that I have to make is where is the best place to advance this agenda—as a presidential candidate or continue at the majority in the Senate—that is a decision I will make in the coming...

Speaker John A. Boehner pushed back Thursday on speculation of an expanding "hell no" caucus in the Republican party following Tuesday's Midterm Elections, instead calling on President Barack Obama to rebuild trust by not acting unilaterally on issues like immigration.

AUSTIN - With the formalities of a lightly contested election almost out of the way, the stage is all but set for the arrival of the most anticipated political newcomer in recent Texas history. The George P. Bush era appears ready to begin. About a quarter-century after first speaking at the Republican National Convention, and two years after filing paperwork to run for a then-unspecified state position, the 38-year-old grandson and nephew of presidents is expected to easily be elected land commissioner Tuesday. And while he has maintained a relatively low profile this year, holding few public events and focusing...

Jeb Bush Talks 2016 Run With Donors By Peter Hamby,October 23, 2014 Jeb Bush wrestles with 2016 decision Jeb Bush met with South Carolina donors and business leaders Thursday Bush said he was seriously considering a presidential run in 2016 Washington (CNN) -- Jeb Bush was blitzed with questions Thursday about his presidential ambitions in a private session with top South Carolina donors and business leaders, multiple sources at the meeting told CNN. Bush was politely non-committal, as he is in public, but said he was seriously considering the possibility and would make a decision after the holiday season. Bush,...

Run, Mitt, run. Yes, run far, far away from the Republican primary season that starts in 2015. You may be a fine man, but you are not going to be president, and you are not the answer for the Republicans in 2016. You could have/should have been both perhaps, but you blew it. Now, I hate to even think about the 2016 election with the 2014 mid terms still weeks away, but this nightmarish Groundhog Day idea of Romney 2016 just will not go away. Most recently, the Washington Post chronicled how campaign events for Joni Ernst in Iowa and...

Whatever rights the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission is safeguarding, the right to engage in commerce doesn’t seem to be among them — not if you’re a believing Christian, anyway. In a shocking decision, a commission examiner made a recommended ruling last Monday that a Christian businessman violated a local ordinance against sexual-orientation discrimination by refusing to print T-shirts with a pro-homosexual message. As Fox News’ Todd Starnes reported, “The examiner concluded that Blaine Adamson of Hands On Originals broke the law in 2012 by declining to print shirts promoting the Lexington Pride Festival. The Gay and Lesbian Services...

Allies of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush say his chances of running for president in 2016 are becoming a more likely possibility now than ever before. According to Politico, Bush is laying the groundwork for a bid with private prep work on key international issues and visits to top Senate races across the country to campaign.

After a long, unapologetic effort to defeat Tea Party candidates in GOP primaries, the Washington establishment will likely need Tea Party voters in November to help swing several tight Senate races and win control of the upper chamber. The National Republican Senatorial Committee on Friday dismissed the notion that party voters are not united behind their candidates. “Can you point to a race … ? It’s a false narrative,” Kevin Broughton, spokesman for the Tea Party Patriots singled out a few races, particularly in Kansas and Mississippi, but suggested his troops will rally for the general election. Broughton said they...

President Obama thumped Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, but now their political standings seem reversed. During a summer in which Democratic candidates are keeping their distance from an unpopular president, Romney is emerging as one of the Republican Party’s most in-demand campaign surrogates. Over three days in mid-August, Romney will campaign for GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidates in West Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas, aides said. In September, he is planning visits to the presidential swing states of Colorado and Virginia. Romney is filling up his October schedule, as well. Senate hopefuls in Iowa and New Hampshire are eager...

... Jeb Bush’s positions on two issues, in my view, make him formidable against a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016: education reform and immigration policy. ...

(music swells) Hello. I'm Laz. (images of beaches, mountains, grain fields) I'd like to help build a better America. I want us to become great again. (short video of eagle landing on a rock outcropping, with camera closing in on the head until it fills frame) That is why I am asking for your vote for Admin Moderator for Free Republic this November. Remember, your vote makes a difference. We need more Tea-Party representatives, and I hope to be your choice. (eagle head fades to flapping American flag) Vote for Lazamataz for Admin Moderator this November. I would be honored...

President George W. Bush said his younger brother Jeb Bush would make a “great president,” as speculation builds that the Republican former governor of Florida might mount a run for the White House in 2016. Jeb Bush, a favorite of the Republican establishment, has maintained a high public profile in recent weeks, appearing at GOP fundraising events and weighing in on debates over immigration and education policy. He has publicly backed at least two GOP candidates in 2014 races, including his recent endorsement of California gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari. “I hope Jeb runs,” the former president said during an interview...

Last week, a 72-year-old New Canaan man faced vehicular manslaughter charges for allegedly striking and killing a motorcyclist last fall. In Darien, an 89-year-old man turned himself in after allegedly hitting and severely injuring 15-year-old pedestrian on Hoyt Street. He claimed he didn't know he hit anything until he saw the accident reported in the paper the next day. And on Friday an 85-year-old man sustained minor injuries after rolling his car over on West Avenue in Darien. For years, lawmakers, senior advocates and the children of elderly parents have debated the need for retesting older drivers. Now that seniors...

There is a rule in American politics: Hope and optimism nearly always defeat fear and pessimism. The Republican Party faces a long-term challenge in presidential elections because it is defining itself as a gloomy enclave, a collection of pessimists who fear what our country is becoming and where it is going. The party’s hope deficit helps explain why there’s a boomlet for Jeb Bush, a man who dares to use the word “love” in a paragraph about illegal immigrants. The flurry doesn’t mean that the former Florida governor is even running for president, let alone that he can win. But...

The United States and Canada are far more integrated than most people think. In fact, a merger between the two countries isn't just desirable—it's inevitable. We share more than just the world's longest border. We share the same values, lifestyles and aspirations. Our societies and economies are becoming similar in significant ways.

Support for a Bush candidacy is building far beyond Florida. At a gathering of prominent conservatives in Las Vegas last weekend — where presidential hopefuls kissed the ring of billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson — Bush was among those who puckered up. And the donors liked what they saw. "GOP elite hoping to lure Jeb Bush," trumpeted the headline at the top of the Washington Post's Sunday-morning paper. Some see Bush as the party's best hope. Others see weaknesses ripe for exploitation. I think both sides are right. Right now, Florida's 43rd governor towers above most of the other Republicans...

Sen. Ted Cruz is calling for the Obama administration to place missile installations in Eastern Europe in the wake of Russia’s moves in Ukraine. The Washington Post reports the Texas Republican made the comments during an interview Monday. "Beyond sanctions and aid to Ukraine, the most important thing we could be doing right now, with respect to Russia, is installing anti-ballistic missiles in Eastern Europe," Cruz said. "Appeasement has not worked. After more than five years of being unwilling to stand up to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Russian aggression, it is time for the United States to honor our...

An 84-year-old nun was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for breaking into a US nuclear weapons complex and defacing a bunker holding bomb-grade uranium, a demonstration that exposed serious security flaws. Two other activists who broke into the facility with Megan Rice were sentenced to more than five years in prison yesterday, in part because they had much longer criminal histories of mostly non-violent civil disobedience... ...On July 28, 2012, the three activists cut through three fences before reaching a 548 million dollar (£328 million) storage bunker... ...They hung banners, strung crime-scene tape and hammered off a small...