Free Republic

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)WHITE HOUSE—The racial violence in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson is presenting President Barack Obama with an issue to which he has a deep personal connection. To many Americans, Obama's election as America's first black president marked a turning point in race relations in the United States, and Obama has made ending the violence a policy priority. On Monday he issued a new call for calm and understanding. The time for healing for which President Barack Obama hopes has yet to arrive in Ferguson. Interrupting a vacation, the president returned to the White House Monday and met with Attorney...

President Obama on Monday dispatched the attorney general to personally oversee the government’s response to the fatal police shooting 10 days ago of an unarmed black teenager, the latest step in an extensive federal investigation that was expanding even as National Guard troops moved onto the restive streets of this St. Louis suburb. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will meet Wednesday in Ferguson with some of the FBI agents and prosecutors who have already interviewed more than 200 people as they scour the area where 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer. Holder pledged “the full...

In what might have appeared to be a minor political event a few weeks back, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called congressman Tom Marino (R-PA) “insignificant” and “inconsequential” in a debate on the House floor. Why would the former House Speaker insult a colleague in such a manner? She didn’t count her way to this assessment; Democrats do not hold a majority of the House. Nor did she reason her way to this position, as there was nothing in Rep. Marino’s argument on the immigration issue that raised empirical red flags. Perhaps it was a momentary lapse in judgment in the midst...

Random thoughts on the passing scene: I don't know why we are spending our hard-earned money paying taxes to support a criminal justice system, when issues of guilt and innocence are being determined on television — and even punishment is being meted out by CNN's showing the home and address of the policeman accused in the Ferguson, Missouri shooting. One of the big differences between Democrats and Republicans is that we at least know what the Democrats stand for, whether we agree with it or not. But, for Republicans, we have to guess. It is amazing how many otherwise sane...

Apologies in advance for this humble vanity post, but I thought this was an important topic that might otherwise slip under the proverbial radar. Earlier today I had FOX News on in the background and heard the newscaster speculating about the need for Obama's unscheduled vacation detour back to DC when, as we are so often reminded, he can not only discharge his duties from remote locations, but can actually do his job while putting on the fairway or lounging in a jacuzzi. It occurred to me that anything distracting him from his vacation would have to meet two criteria:...

President Barack Obama’s passive response to the riots and arson in Ferguson may prompt a November rebuke by the silent majority of American voters, says Patrick Buchanan, who was an adviser to President Richard Nixon during the late 1960s race riots.

NELIGH, Neb. — Willie Nelson and Neil Young will headline a concert next month in a Nebraska cornfield organized by opponents of a proposed pipeline that would carry oil from Canada south to the Gulf Coast. Bold Nebraska said Monday the concert will be held Sept. 27 on a farm near Neligh in northeast Nebraska. Tickets go on sale Wednesday.

The Obama administration is preparing the nation’s schools to accept thousands of new students who illegally crossed the southwest border and are now awaiting trials on their possible deportations. A fact sheet from the Department of Education sent to states and schools on Monday highlights the children’s right to attend public school. It says all children in the United States “are entitled to equal access to a public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their or their parents’ actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status.” The prospect of tens of thousands of children mostly from Central American countries...

Last week, prompted by complaints about his statement of sympathy on the death of Robin Williams while remaining silent on the killing of an unarmed black man by police, President Barack Obama issued a statement about the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

President Barack Obama is sending Attorney General Eric Holder to Ferguson, Missouri, to meet with federal law enforcement authorities investigating the police shooting of an unarmed teenager. Obama says Holder will travel to the St. Louis suburb on Wednesday.

Calling for understanding in the face of racially charged anger, President Barack Obama said Monday that the vast majority of protesters in a St. Louis suburb were peaceful, but warned that a small minority was undermining justice for the unarmed black man shot and killed by police. During a brief pause in his summer vacation, Obama expressed sympathy for the “passions and anger” sparked by the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, but said giving in to that anger through looting and attacks on police only stirs tensions and leads to further chaos. …

Most honest criticism of President Obama doesn't stem from racism or prejudice. When George Will claims, "As the president begins his second term, the signature achievement of his first term looks remarkably rickety," he's speaking from his own honest assessment of the ACA. Similarly, when Pat Buchanan asks, "Will Obamacare Be the Death of Liberalism?" he's voicing the genuine sentiment of millions of concerned citizens. However, conservative politics since President Obama's first term has blurred the lines between sincere analysis and surreptitious messages aimed at pandering to extremists. Whereas Republicans used to shy away from the mention of Willie Horton...

The rank spectacle of ex-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton suddenly turning on her commander in chief and former boss to shiv him in the back over the burning ruins she helped make of the Middle East is staggering to behold. The brassiness, dishonesty and shamelessness as she slides into yet another presidential campaign season is enough to choke that old Arkansas draft mule of a husband she hitched her career to. The scheming calculation of it all would make Lady Macbeth take to the bed for blushing. How on earth did such a crafty street fighter get so completely...

“There had to be something else they could have done,” chimed in Amy Carey, a registered nurse who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant. “She didn’t have to die. To know a child was in the car, too, why did they shoot?” Authorities have not said whether they were aware of the child’s presence in her mom’s leased black Infiniti.

As President Obama gets ready to interrupt his vacation for two days of meetings at the White House, here’s a look at how he spent the past week on Martha’s Vineyard: During NINE days of vacation, the president played SIX rounds of golf on TWO courses with 11 different partners, spending roughly 29.5 hours on the links. He made TWO family outings to the beach, spending roughly SIX and a HALF hours soaking up the sun and surf. [Snip} He ... delivered TWO public statements on TWO different topics, Iraq and the situation in Ferguson, Mo. [Snip] He went for...

he protests in Ferguson, Missouri, over the police killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown are eliciting predictable glee from Russian media outlets, some of which are making it seem as if a race war is about to break out in America. An RT article, “Protests Against Police Tyranny have Spread Across the Main Cities of the USA," suggested that the nation is on the brink of chaos as the "rage of Americans ... spreads across the entire country." Sputink i Pogrom, a nationalist newsmagazine, tweeted out, "What do you think? Should Russia grant Obama asylum in Rostov after the Ferguson Maidanites...

A watchdog group on Monday sued the U.S. government, accusing the Obama White House of interfering in and thwarting the release of public documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the group Cause of Action (CoA) names 12 federal agencies that delayed the release of documents so officials could consult with White House under a new process established in spring 2009. The process, which gave White House officials review authority over documents that federal agencies wanted to release that mentioned the White House or presidential aides,...

Ferguson happens a few times every month. More often in the summer when tempers are hot and crowds of bored men and women fill the streets looking for something to do. Teenagers ransack stores. Small cities stretch their budgets in a bad economy to put as many cops as they can on the street. And then somewhere between the open fire hydrants, the stores that do most of their business in EBT cards and lottery tickets, the check cashing places and furniture rental outlets, something happens. And it happens a lot more often than you think. A crowd gathers. Fists...

The low cost of communication over the Internet has led to “a dangerous proliferation of voices” according to President Obama. “It used to be that everyone got their view of the news from major media outlets,” Obama recounted. “There was more unanimity of message. This helped bring the country together.” “Now, though, any nobody with a little free time can get a website and pontificate for all the world to see,” the President complained. “We have no way to control what is said and we lack the time and energy to refute every erroneous idea or contention that is made.”...

FULL TITLE: Politics: Missouri Governor activates National Guard in Ferguson - without notifying the Golfer-in-Chief How DARE he!? After a week of protests rioting, looting, and violence in Ferguson Missouri, Governor Jay Nixon has decided to activate the National Guard. Guardsmen are being ordered into the city to quell the chaos and enforce a midnight curfew that, last night, resulted in renewed battles between police and angry residents.