Free Republic

There is nothing redeeming about a speedboat. It's loud, it serves no purpose other than to anger people not in it, it creates a huge wake that's obnoxious on the water and even on the beach and it violently slashes through manatees that bob near the surface of Miami's coastal waters. There is even less that is redeeming about the kind of person who covets one -- or, worse, actually owns one. Speedboats are made exclusively for assholes.

In discussing the scandal engulfing former House speaker Dennis Hastert, who is due in court this week, one thing must be made absolutely clear. What he is alleged to have done to young boys has absolutely nothing to do with being gay or gay rights. * Almost immediately after the news broke of Hastert’s indictment, folks looked to Congress for signs of hypocrisy. Former representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is gay, made an assertion during an appearance on Huffington Post Live last Monday that was flat-out inappropriate. “Dennis Hastert twice as speaker tried to get the house to pass a...

Jill Dillard: "They're used to exploiting women." In an interview with Fox News host Megyn Kelly that ran on Friday, two of the Duggar daughters who were victims of their brother’s inappropriate sexual touching called out the magazine that illegally released the records that not only revealed the identity of their brother Josh (who was a juvenile at the time), but also indirectly identified the victims.Jill Dillard, the second daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, told Kelly that she suspected there might be an agenda behind the story. “I mean, I know that the tabloids that released this, even...

Americans now have a more favorable view of former President George W. Bush than they do of President Barack Obama. It is the first time in more than a decade that Americans have expressed a favorable view of Bush, at least according to a new CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday. Bush is seen in a favorable light by 52 percent of those surveyed, compared with 43 percent who still view the 43rd president unfavorably. Americans are split on Obama, with 49 percent responding favorably and unfavorably.

Ya don’t say. He's retiring, so it's safe to speak ill of the Media Messiah. CBS’ Bob Schieffer says that perhaps reporters in the media “were not skeptical enough” of President Barack Obama as a presidential candidate in 2008, telling Fox News’ Howard Kurtz that the whole political world was struck by the sudden rise of the senator from Illinois. This isn’t some revelation that Schieffer just had. It’s certainly been kicking around in the heads of veteran media types since early ’09 when it became rather apparent that Barack Obama was more of a bumbler than the suave,...

Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) openly pandered to a Massachusetts audience last weekend by announcing his support for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady after the so-called Deflategate scandal. Cruz made the bold proclamation to set up a joke about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner. "Let me start by saying: Tom Brady was framed," Cruz declared. "Now I'm not willing to pander on much, but on that, Tom Brady was framed!"

While as a writer I appreciate Ted Cruz and his near-endless stream of insane bull****, as a political reality – Ted Cruz is quite frightening in a Joe McCarthy, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson kind of way. Quickly scanning our own recent coverage of Ted Cruz, it quickly becomes appallingly clear that Cruz poses a real and present danger to Americans. Here are but 6 examples: Ted Cruz Only Cares About Ted Cruz. Well, that and Texas. As Richard pointed out in an article last week, “back in 2013 when New York and New Jersey were under water and completely devastated...

Republican presidential candidates gathered last month at the Oklahoma City Cox Conference Center, just a few blocks from the site of what was the Alfred R. Murrah Federal Building. Two decades ago, anti-government militia sympathizer Timothy McVeigh blew it up in what he called an act of war against the U.S. government. It was the worst crime of domestically bred terrorism in American history. McVeigh was executed in 2001, but since then, some of his militia ideals have gone mainstream and even been introduced as laws in many states, including Oklahoma. Legislators in dozens of states have submitted proposals to...

It is well established that between ears of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) there is a Rube Goldberg machine gone haywire, judging by his impulse to summon a fabrication or absurdity for almost any occasion. To wit: He compares climate activists to flat-Earthers, blames President Obama for the 2008 economic crash, claims ISIS is "literally nailing Christians to trees" (not true), asserts that cities with the toughest gun control laws have the most crime, estimates there are "111,000 agents" at the IRS (missed by a factor of 10), and believes that George Soros is plotting to shut down golf courses throughout...

<p>Despite 6-1/2 years of horrid governance and dozens of acknowledged scandals, several of which a few of the credible remaining outposts of liberal thought have actually agreed are scandals, David Brooks, the New York Times's resident fake conservative, asserted on Friday's PBS NewsHour, as if it's an indisputable fact, that "President Obama has run an amazingly scandal-free administration, not only he himself, but the people around him."</p>

A Syrian Christian fighter has beheaded an Islamic State group (IS) militant to avenge people "executed" by the jihadists in northeastern Syria, a monitor said on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the incident took place on Thursday in Hasakeh province, where IS holds large areas of the countryside. According to the monitor, the Christian fighter, a member of the minority Assyrian community, found the jihadist in the local village of Tal Shamiram. "He took him prisoner and when he found out he was a member of IS, the Assyrian fighter beheaded him in revenge for abuses committed...

Washington (CNN)The heavy flooding that's overwhelmed Texas and killed more than 30 people has put Sen. Ted Cruz in a bind on climate change.The Republican presidential contender has held two press conferences over the past two days to address the flooding and the government's response. At each one, he was asked about the impact of climate change on natural disasters like the Texas flooding, and at each one, he dodged the question."In a time of tragedy, I think it's wrong to try to politicize a natural disaster -- and so there's plenty of time to talk about other issues," he...

Washington Post writer Jannell Ross tried to hang racism, white supremacy, biker culture, and gun rights around Texas Republican necks in a literary lynching so stuffed full of wrong presumptions that if words were mathematical, Ross’ article would prove that gravity makes things fall up. Here’s the key takeaway from the article.  Whites are free to be either law-abiding citizens or dangerous Harley-riding savages, while blacks are slaves to the white man, whether he’s the cop in uniform or the gun-wielding biker.  And #blacklivesmatter when one black man dies at the hands of police and the rioters are called “thugs,” but nine...

Today, a burrito bowl ... tomorrow, the Oval Office? Hillary Clinton made a Chipotle pitstop in Maumee, Ohio, on her way from New York to Iowa Monday, with security video showing her and longtime aide Huma Abedin sporting shades as they put in their orders. General Manager Charles Wright told the Daily News Clinton was in his restaurant at about 1:20 p.m. Monday, ordering a chicken bowl with guacamole, a chicken salad, and a blackberry Izze. Wright said Clinton did nothing to attract attention to herself — and it worked. "She wasn't, like, obvious and no one made a scene,"...

In anticipation of Hillary Clinton‘s presidential announcement later today, Republican strategist Ana Navarro criticized the former secretary of state for supposedly embracing the idea of a woman president too much. “I don’t need her to drown me in estrogen every time she opens her mouth,” Navarro said on CNN. “Listen, every time she opens her mouth it’s about the granddaughter, and Chelsea’s wedding, and the yoga routines.”Navarro ultimately insisted Clinton “needs to stop being focus-grouped to death.”Watch the video below, via CNN:

How can the religious community live in peace and harmony with the LGBT community? New York Times columnist Frank Bruni has the solution. Just rewrite the Bible. In his April 3rd column, “Bigotry, the Bible and the Lessons of Indiana,” Bruni, himself gay, recognizes that Christian beliefs are not necessarily grounded in hatred. The problem, he claims, is that, “Beliefs ossified over centuries aren’t easily shaken.” Bruni, for his part, wants to shake us free from our fossilized faith. According to Bruni, who evidences little or no understanding of how believers view the Scriptures (namely, as God’s inspired Word), if...

San Francisco activist Tom Steyer’s NextGen Climate Super PAC Monday announced the billionaire Democrat will wage a campaign to put Republicans on the “hot seat” about climate change and spend “what it takes” for an aggressive new high-tech “war room” to track — and attack — GOP candidates in 2016. The program, based at the NextGen headquarters in the Financial District — with satellite offices in Washington, D.C., and other cities — aims to make climate change a “top tier” issue next year. It will focus its firepower on turning environmental concerns into a “wedge issue,” especially with young voters,...

Full Title: Judge dismisses libel suit by conservative video maker relating to telephone charade at Mary Landrieu's officeWASHINGTON -- A New Jersey federal judge has dismissed a libel case filed by a conservative video maker James O'Keefe, who disputed a news account of his misdemeanor conviction for trying to gain access to then Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office in 2010. New Jersey Federal Judge Claire Cecchi ruled last week that the coverage by Main Justice, which covers the Department of Justice, and the online publication's founder, Mary Jacoby, was protected under the First Amendment because "as a whole," it...

When Republicans criticize Barack Obama’s foreign policy, their critiques usually break down into two broad themes: America’s enemies no longer fear us, and America’s allies no longer trust us. The part about our enemies fearing us is usually a reference to Russia – conservatives believe quite earnestly that Russia’s military expansionism over the last few years is a consequence of Vladimir Putin sizing up the president and determining that he’s a weakling. No less an authority than Peggy Noonan made this very argument just last Friday, lamenting “a Russian president who took the American’s measure and made a move, upsetting...

For nicotine enthusiasts, 2015 will be remembered as part of a golden era. Less than 10 years after they were introduced in the United States, e-cigarettes have gone relatively unregulated by health agencies, with companies and users making their own rules in a nicotine-laced Wild West. E-cigarette companies have been advertising their products to adults and children alike, claiming to help smokers quit while simultaneously promoting lollipop-flavored liquids. But now health organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and even city-based public health departments are starting to fight back—not in the form of regulations, but with their own...