Free Republic

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega says he has telephoned Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to express his solidarity. Ortega says he has called several times this week because Gadhafi "is again waging a great battle" to defend the unity of his nation. Human rights groups say more than 200 people have died as Libyan security forces crack down on protesters. Ortega has long been an ally of the Libyan leader, based in part on a shared distrust of the United States. Ortega says that "it's at difficult times that loyalty and resolve are put to the test."

Kucinich must pay $50,000 for improperly using campaign expensesBy Daniel Strauss - 02/18/11 10:29 AM ET The Federal Election Commission has ordered Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) to repay more than $50,000 that that the agency says was improperly used for campaign expenses in 2004. In a ruling issued Thursday, the FEC said Kucinich used $52,443 in public matching funds to pay for campaign expenses after he was no longer a candidate for president. The Ohio Democrat was given 30 days to pay back the funds to the U.S. Treasury. "The Commission reaches this conclusion because the Commission found that [Kucinich...

The recent Arizona tragedy has, of course, brought the entire issue of firearms control to the front of our national consciousness, along with the usual assortment of bloviators, pundits and podium thumpers. At the risk of being considered one of them, I would like to offer several alternatives to address the problem. n Repeal the Second Amendment. At the time of its writing and through the early 1900s, The United States was a nation of largely isolated communities that depended on their own initiative for mutual security. That time is clearly passed...

Jackie Storrer, right, tries her best to figure out the clues on a giant crossword as Jared Loughner, a volunteer, stands in the background during the Tucson Festival of Books.

Rep. Ron Paul has filed papers in Texas to create a presidential exploratory committee that will allow him to raise money, the Associated Press reported late Thursday. The nine-term congressman from southeast Texas was the Libertarian nominee for president in 1988 and received more than 400,000 votes, the AP reported. This time he plans to run as a Republican.

I picture this story in September 2012: Former Florida Congressman Alan Grayson was arrested while trying to break into the capitol building yesterday. "He claimed he's a Congressman and had to get in for an important vote" said a capitol police officer. "His dirty, disheveled appearance, combined with a strong smell of alochol and a dank musty body odor tipped us off that something wasn't right with this guy" the officer continued. Upon further investigation, it was learned that Grayson was living out of his car and has been put on a "person of interest" watch from local Orlando police...

A leading tea party activist broke ranks Monday to endorse Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, expressing concern about a Republican challenger who was once charged with murder in connection with his military service in Iraq. Deborah Johns said it appears that voters are ignoring Republican candidate Ilario Pantano's past.

.... a must-see interview on Democracy Now where he says a second, more catastrophic crisis is unavoidable because our economic model is "dramatically poisonous." ..."Greed is the dominant value today in the world and as long as that persists, we're done!" But he doesn't just mean done economically, he means done as a species. Snip ... "next crisis is coming, and it will be twice as much as this one (referring to financial collapse of 2008)." Only for this one, "there will not be enough money anymore -- so that will be it!" Even more frightening are his views that...

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad holds up copies of the Koran (L) and the Bible as he addresses the 65th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York, September 23, 2010. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a news conference in New York, September 24, 2010. U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday strongly condemned comments by Ahmadinejad that implied a U.S. government role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States

Every now and then, an animal rights activist will toss aside all pretenses to common sense and make a truly inane (and frighteningly candid) statement. Today’s case in point: Dr. Jerry Vlasak, a part-time trauma surgeon who was at one time a spokesperson for the PETA-linked “Physicians Committee” for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). He’s also been affiliated with the pseudo-pirate Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and a public defender of the terrorist Animal Liberation Front. When asked recently about whether we should take steps to eliminate mosquitoes, Vlasak spouted off with a radical anti-people solution. As Wesley J. Smith reports on...

Ron Paul has some surprising news for the Tea Party: You’re being taken for a ride. At least this is what many libertarians like Ron Paul believe when they see someone like Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin trying to lead the Tea Party at the “restoring honor” rally this weekend. In fact, Ron Paul believes, if you’re looking for real freedom, you should really go back to the core of the constitution and the bill of rights, which Beck and Palin do not fully endorse when you really look at their beliefs. Whether it be Palin’s support for starting more...

Congressman Ron Paul today released the following statement on the controversy concerning the construction of an Islamic Center and Mosque in New York City: “Is the controversy over building a mosque near ground zero a grand distraction or a grand opportunity? Or is it, once again, grandiose demagoguery?” .“Is the controversy over building a mosque near ground zero a grand distraction or a grand opportunity? Or is it, once again, grandiose demagoguery? “It has been said, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” Are we not overly preoccupied with this controversy, now being used in various ways by grandstanding politicians? It looks...

Buffalo police rescued a cat from a Cheektowaga man who apparently was planning to make a meal out of his pet because he thought it was ill-tempered, authorities said Monday. When Ferry-Fillmore District officers pulled over a car driven by Gary L. Korkuc on Sunday night during a traffic stop, they said they heard a cat crying from inside the trunk and investigated. What they found has left animal lovers at the SPCA Serving Erie County in shock. The cat, according to police, was in a cage “marinating” in a mixture of crushed red peppers, chili pepper, salt and oil....

It's one thing to have liberal guilt, but this is taking it way too far. In a video posted to YouTube on Aug. 5, popular liberal talk host Thom Hartmann, identified what he considered was the appropriate way to cope with this guilt type, specifically that of which came with the issue of LGBT rights. Hartmann hails himself as "the 10th most important talk show host in America, and the No. 1 most important progressive host, in their ‘Heavy Hundred' ranking" according to Talkers Magazine, Hartmann laid out the reasoning chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker used in an Aug....

Facebook has sensationally banned the official Alex Jones Facebook page after a customer services representative admitted that all material containing images of the famous Gadsden flag was being deleted by the social networking giant. Not confirmed as of now. I suppose the best way to find out is to post a Gadsden flag on Facebook!

"Shakedown" lawsuits against businesses have a new champion: Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla. The lawmaker from Orlando wants to import to the District of Columbia a scheme that allowed lawyers in California to run a litigation protection racket against mom-and-pop businesses. In a case now before D.C.'s local Court of Appeals, Grayson is asking to have the District's consumer protection ordinance interpreted -- or, rather, misinterpreted -- to permit lawsuits against businesses even if the plaintiff didn't suffer any injury.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- The man accused of leading police on a wild chase on the Massachusetts Turnpike made several strange comments Tuesday during a rant in court. With bandages on his head and arm, 29-year-old Alejandro Serra of Framingham pronounced to the court, “I am Pope Alexander. This is my real name. It's ‘cause I am Pope Alexander.”

CHATTANOOGA - An East Tennessee man whose claims that President Barack Obama is not a U.S. citizen attracted an armed supporter and led to charges of disrupting a grand jury will act as his own attorney.

Al Gore is on record as calling “climate change” a greater threat to humanity than terrorism or rogue dictators with nukes, and Barbara “Ma’am” Boxer has followed suit by saying that “carbon pollution, leading to climate change, will be, over the next 20 years, the leading cause of conflict.” And the only knock on Barbara Boxer that Carly Fiorina could make on open-mic night was about her hair? (name corrected, wrote earlier Meg Whitman said that, sorry Meg!) If by “conflict” she means harsh opposition to the continued takeover of the U.S. from within under the guise of saving the...

Opining today that the Gulf oil disaster is the perfect crisis with which to force cleaner, renewable, and un-Godly expensive and cost-ineffective sources of energy down our throats, Paul McCartney could have stopped there. But he didn't: