Free Republic

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - A large crowd gathered near the Federal Courthouse in Richmond as part of the "Justice for Trayvon" rallies happening all over the country. Mayor Dwight Jones and several other pastors spoke out at Saturday's event. It's been one week since a jury rendered a not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. City and community leaders took this opportunity to push for more peace in the streets. Richmond Mayor Dwight Jones shared his views on Florida's controversial Stand Your Ground law to the crowd. "Stand your ground is something that doesn't exist in Virginia it exists...

Listen up folks, after you read the bankruptcy filing for Detroit. 1. Right now, the City cannot meet its basic obligations to its citizens. 2. Right now, the City cannot meet its basic obligations to its creditors. 3. The failure of the City to meet its obligations to its citizens is the primary cause of its inability to meet its obligations to its creditors. 4. The only feasible path to ensuring the City will be able to meet obligations in the future is to have a successful restructuring via the bankruptcy process that recognizes the fundamental importance of ensuring the...

A new poll undermines the conventional wisdom, relentlessly peddled by some Republican establishment types, that Republicans need to embrace Schumer-Rubio style amnesty in order to make headway with Hispanic voters. The poll, conducted by Republican pollster John McLaughlin, finds that, by a margin of 60 percent to 34 percent, registered Hispanic voters support granting legal status to illegal immigrants only when the goal of stopping 90 percent of future illegal immigration is reached. The Schumer-Rubio legislation grants legal status to illegal immigrants without regard to any metric of success in preventing illegal immigration. Indeed, as Andrew Stiles points out, the...

Marco Rubio has repeatedly claimed he "wants more" from the Amnesty Bill now moving through Congress. Yes, folks, it's an amnesty bill. Let's cut the crap and call it what it is, because only through calling something what it is can we debate it. "Legalization" of those who are here illegally today is amnesty. I don't care whether it leads to citizenship now or later, the fact of the matter is that it rewards criminal activity by allowing those who stole from Americans and their resources to keep what they stole and remain here in America. There is no restitution....

Even when we’ve tried through good intentions to make the world a better place our actions have often backfired. During the Iraq War, over a quarter-million Iraqi Christians fled Iraq. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator but his government was secular and therefore relatively safe for Christians. Christians, however, feared the Shiite government that we helped put in place after Saddam, and they fled in droves. Where did these Christians go? They headed mostly for Syria, joining the over one million Syrians who have lived as Christians since the time of Christ. Now, the senate is attempting to arm the...

(CNSNews.com) - In his prepared text for a speech he is delivering today at the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) said to illegal aliens who want to live and work in the United States: “[W]e will find a place for you.” Paul also said he envisions today’s illegal aliens becoming additional “taxpayers.” “Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers,” said Paul. Illegal aliens working in the United States today are not exempted from complying with the nation's tax laws anymore...

“I ask unanimous consent I be able to deliver a floor speech on immigration reform in Spanish.”

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, the investigation into its perpetrators has been marred by a series of bizarre and even alarming actions by President Obama and his administration. Unfortunately, these increasingly suggest a pattern that is at odds with our national and homeland security. The question must be occurring to many Americans: Whose side is he on? Consider just a few of the recent examples suggesting the ominous answer is “not ours”: Team Obama decided precipitously to charge the surviving alleged bomber, Dzhokhar... --snip-- Still more bizarre is what happened next: The Saudi press reported that first...

The two lead negotiators in the Senate’s Gang of Eight said on Thursday that they believe their immigration reform bill will not just have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate — but majority support from both parties. “I think it is doable,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the bill cannot slip by with 60 votes because the House would feel less pressure to take it up. Others in the negotiating group have said they think the bill could win at least 70 Senate votes. But...

On the whole, the Spanish Translation of George Washington's Fifth Annual Address here, that I was involved with creating, has been met with positive response both online as well as personally. But I do think that among quite a few that there has been a bit of either a miscommunication, or perhaps even outright resistance. There really isn't any need for that, and I hope that I can either clear things up for some, or for others, persuade them that this is not only a good thing to pursue but the right course of action.(one among many, naturally) Firstly, I...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address on Feb. 12. Rubio's response will be delivered in both English and Spanish, according to Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) office. "Marco Rubio is one of our party’s most dynamic and inspiring leaders. He carries our party’s banner of freedom, opportunity and prosperity in a way few others can. His family’s story is a testament to the promise and greatness of America," Boehner said in a statement on Wednesday. "He’ll deliver a GOP address that speaks from the heart to the hopes and dreams...

In an off the record conversation with the Des Moines Register that made it on to the record, Barack Obama stated that, “Should I win a second term, a big reason I will win a second term is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community.” Obama, did not mention, however, what he and the Democrats will offer to the Hispanic community. To see what he thinks will animate this demographic, it is worth looking at his Spanish language ads. In September he released an ad featuring...

(CNSNews.com) – At an event officials say was planned before the attacks in Libya that killed four Americans on Sept. 11, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Libyan Ambassador to the U.S., Ali Aujali, celebrated the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at the State Department on Thursday. The Eid ul-Fitr reception was held almost a month after the official end of the month on Aug. 19, delayed, officials say, because of Clinton’s travel schedule. “The date [of the reception] was set purely because of scheduling considerations, especially given lengthy travel abroad recently,” a State Department spokesman...

Congress must raise taxes on the wealthy "because there just isn't enough to go around," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute today. "Latino growth has meant that often they're at the back of the line for housing assistance or other things," Donovan said during CHCI's annual Public Policy Conference this morning at the Ronald Reagan Building in D.C. "And the fundamental problem here (in part) is, are we going to continue to invest in those things? And if we continue to cut the budget for Section 8 housing and public housing and a...

The Environmental Protection Agency sent an internal e-mail to staff today celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month — featuring a picture of Che Guevara: From: Susie Goldring/DC/USEPA/US Subject: Hispanic Heritage Month Hispanic news you can use! Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18. Over the past decades, the Hispanic population in the USA has shown tremendous rise. For the uninitiated, Hispanics are people who have origins related to the country Spain....

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ROMNEY NARROWS VP CHOICES; SURPRISE NAME EMERGES AS FRONTRUNNER

In Arizona v. United States, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the federal government has no basis to nullify the "show me your papers" provision of Arizona's immigration law. Conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, moderate Anthony Kennedy, liberals Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- even Obama appointee Sonia Sotomayor -- all shot down the administration's effort to stop that part of the law. (Obama appointee Elena Kagan stayed out of it because she had taken part in the action as a member of the administration.) Yet even with that unanimity -- a position supported, if the polls are...

Today we encourage you to watch Senator Marco Rubio answer questions from constituents on his proposal to the alternative version of the DREAM Act. Click here or on the image below to watch the full video.