Free Republic

In his 967-word statement to the nation about the Ferguson grand jury decision on Tuesday night, President Obama devoted precisely one sentence to the risks and sacrifices police officers make to keep the peace. One. Obama delivered a tepid, obligatory acknowledgement that “our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day.” But he sandwiched it between a finger-wagging admonition that cops need to “show care and restraint” and a pandering discourse justifying the “deep distrust” that “communities of color” have toward law enforcement because of the “legacy of racial discrimination in this country.” Note: Multiple...

I vaguely recall from Gibbon, or maybe it was from a high school class, that the Roman Empire didn’t go out with a bang. With a nod to Alaric and his Visigoths of 410 AD, there really isn’t a singular event to mark the beginning of the long slide. In broad strokes it is fair to say that Roman society declined together, simultaneously with government. For centuries, Roman citizenship was a precious possession, a jewel of unsurpassed value. As such it was held closely and kept in short supply, for among other privileges, the Roman citizen wasn’t taxed. He was...

"I just took action to change the law"

Ever wonder what Big Guy did before he figured out how to get elected to public office? When he was still just some guy in the neighborhood, “organizing” the community and agitating for justice? If so, allow the  Rev Bobblehead to demonstrate what the fine art of street agitatin’ involves: Agitatin’ Al…agitatin’Boy, I hope all the outside agitators pack up and go home for the Thanksgiving holiday so Ferguson/St. Louis can reach a truce in the race war and begin to return to normal:If all you agitators go away, maybe we can stand tall again.Because like Big Guy said the...

Yesterday President Obama lent his support to the spirit behind the rioters in Ferguson. He declared their frustration is rooted in “hard truths.” Obama actually called the rioters criminals before saying they should work with him. It’s nice to see the President’s narcissism never takes a break. Perhaps the highlight of his comments from yesterday is when he declared that he wouldn’t comment on a local situation such as Ferguson because it isn’t the job of the President to comment on ongoing investigation of specific cases. Maybe the President has finally learned his lesson after ‘the cop acted stupidly’ and...

A prominent gay rights activist charged last week with sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy is a strong supporter of President Obama who has visited the White House more than a half-dozen times in the past two years, visitor logs show. Terrence P. Bean, 66, who raised more than a half-million dollars for Mr. Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012, last visited the White House on May 30 when he met with the president, first lady Michelle Obama and political adviser David Simas. White House visitor logs show that Mr. Bean, co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group,...

Ever read the fine print?  Ever see the Christmas sale ads with a big honking asterisk at the end of the offer for a free 80" television*? The world is obsessed with optics, and rarely bothers to look beneath the skin on so many outright lies.  Here's a few images whose optics don't really match the story we're being fed.  You might say they are big asterisks by people who think we're stupid-a**.  But, you know, #realitysucks sometimes. I wonder if that book fits up his asterisk?  He certainly shoved it up ours. President Rouhani, we know you are negotiating in...

RUSH: John in Dallas. Great to have you, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network. CALLER: Hi, Rush. Pleasure to talk to you. My question or comment, why aren't all the black leaders saying to these kids, "Quit robbing, stealing, committing crimes, and go out there and get an education and become part of the system that you think is so corrupt and so bad"? RUSH: Well, I don't know about black leaders, but I think there are a lot of people that are encouraging young African-Americans to think that way. Now, this subject came up on the program last week,...

Under President Obama’s new program to protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, many of those affected will be eligible to receive Social Security, Medicare and a wide array of other federal benefits, a White House official said Tuesday. In his speech Thursday night, the president touted his plan as a means of bringing accountability to a broken immigration system, under which 11 million or more people are estimated to be living in this country illegally. “We’re going to offer the following deal: If you’ve with been in America more than five years. If you have children who are American citizens...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Speaking at a press conference in St. Louis along with attorneys for Michael Brown’s family, Rev. Al Sharpton said the decision handed down by the grand jury not to indict officer Darren Wilson proves that the federal government should have handled the case “from day one.” “Three days after Michael Brown Jr. was killed, we had a major rally in this very church,” Sharpton began his remarks. “We said that night, with his parents present, that we had little to no faith in the grand jury by the local district attorney. We said that night that we wanted the federal...

The press will dismiss this as just an attempt to provoke the administration, and it is that. But Rep. Peter King’s (R-NY)… suggestion… that President Barack Obama invite the freshly exonerated Officer Darren Wilson to the White House is not without merit. “I think it would be very helpful if President Obama went and met with the police officer, or at least invited him to the White House,” King said on Fox Business Network. “And say, ‘you’ve gone through four months of smear and slander and the least we can do is tell you that it is unfortunate that...

With Ferguson, Missouri, bracing for a second night of violence and vandalism in the wake of the grand jury decision, President Obama warned protesters that “nothing of significance, nothing of benefit results from destructive acts.” “I’ve never seen a civil rights law or a health care bill or an immigration bill result because a car got burned,” Obama said at an afternoon event in Chicago today originally scheduled to promote his recent immigration action. "It happened because people vote. It happened because people mobilized. It happened because people organized.” he president, who was briefed earlier today on the situation in...

Obama is bent on destruction rather than creation, because destruction for its own sake is also part of the arsenal of nihilism.Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan is an example of a type of person with a good mind who has huge pockets of — I’m not sure exactly what to call it. Naivete? Trust? Idealism? Lack of comprehension? Almost willful blindness? She often gets to a certain point in understanding someone or something and then stops, refusing to open the door of the room she stands before, afraid to look inside. Or she opens it...

It’s no secret that Barack Obama wants to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, although his zeal for the project has often been questioned. Obama’s first action as President consisted of a directive to close the prison, but almost six years later, it’s still in operation — and relatively popular, at least in contrast with the alternatives. Obama has embarked on a strategy to close Gitmo through default by emptying it of its detainees, but there has been one impediment to that strategy. Congress requires the Secretary of Defense to attest that any released detainees pose no threat...

After his appeals largely were disregarded Monday night, President Obama on Tuesday again pleaded for calm and restraint in Ferguson, Mo., and across the country — but this time he also had a warning for those who have resorted to violence, saying looters and anyone else who breaks the law should be prosecuted. “There are productive ways of responding and expressing those frustrations and there are destructive ways of responding. Burning buildings, torching cars, destroying property, putting people at risk — that’s destructive and there’s no excuse for it,” the president said during a speech in Chicago. “Those are criminal...

MOSCOW (CBS St. Louis/AP) — The violent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, reflect simmering U.S. tensions over racial discrimination that could undermine the country’s stability, a senior Russian diplomat said Tuesday. The comments by the Russian Foreign Ministry’s human rights envoy, Konstantin Dolgov, were among the sharpest from a foreign official as images of violent protests in Ferguson topped newscasts around the world. The protests came after a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the killing of an unarmed black man, 18-year-old Michael Brown. “The developments in Ferguson and other cities highlight serious challenges to the...

Foreign policy a disaster. Economy, employment a disaster. Healthcare a disaster. Energy policy a disaster. Race relations a disaster. Military preparedness a disaster. Border security a disaster. National security a disaster. America's standing in the world a disaster. Is there anything this man has touched that has not turned to shinola?

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) came under political fire from his Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R) for failing to deploy the Missouri National Guard in Ferguson before rioting got out of control. Kinder appeared on Fox News Tuesday morning with Martha MacCallum and expressed strong criticism about the Governor’s lack of action and lack of communication. “You know what the difference is between an executive and a Senator or Member of Congress?” Kinder asked MacCallum. He then answered his own question stating, “You actually have to do something.” Thus began a very angry commentary by the Missouri Lt. Governor against...

Michèle Flournoy, a former Pentagon official who was viewed as a front-runner to replace outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, has taken herself out of contention for the Cabinet post. Flournoy on Tuesday sent a letter to the board of directors for the Center for a New American Security saying she plans to remain in her position as the think tank’s chief executive officer,Foreign Policy reported. Flournoy had previously served as undersecretary of Defense for policy from 2009 to 2012, working under both Robert Gates and Leon Panetta. She was viewed as a possible replacement for Panetta when he announced his...

Under President Obama's new program to protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, many of those affected will be eligible to receive Social Security, Medicare and a wide array of other federal benefits, a White House official confirmed. In his speech on Thursday night, the president touted his plan as a means of bringing accountability to a broken system. "We’re going to offer the following deal: If you’ve with been in America more than five years. If you have children who are American citizens or [legal] residents. If you register, pass a criminal background check and you’re willing to pay...