Free Republic

Iranian civil society is an illusion; all of the government and by extension most of the private sector are mere extensions of the Grand Ayatollah's personal will. Velayat-e Faqih is the only state ideology; the only differences of opinion are about how it should be implemented. Therefore, elections in this regime are not indicative of any form of "democracy". Instead, they are merely a process of choosing among individuals vetted by the Supreme Leader. There are no factions based upon ideological differences, there is mere jockeying for position and the personal favor of the Supreme Leader. Traditional "regime change" in...

Over the last two pontificates, the Pope's traditional Christmas "greeting" to the cardinals and bishops of the Roman Curia has taken on an outsize significance, serving under Benedict XVI by turns as a "Year in Review" or theological showcase, and for Francis as an incisive meditation on best practice in church administration... or the lack thereof. Keeping with the decade-old thread, this morning the pontiff unleashed another whopper at his dicastery-chiefs – not an indictment of the "15 diseases" kind, but laying out in unprecedented detail his rationale and principles for the ongoing reform of the Roman Curia. Intended as...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans are laying the groundwork for a fresh effort to overhaul the food stamp program during Donald Trump's presidency, with the possibility of new work and eligibility requirements for millions of people. The GOP majority on the House Agriculture Committee released a two-year review of the program on Wednesday that stops short of making specific policy recommendations, but hints at areas where Republicans could focus: strengthening work requirements and perhaps issuing new ones, tightening some eligibility requirements or providing new incentives to encourage food stamp recipients to buy healthier foods.

The federal government requires structural reform. Because it is very expensive and time-consuming to fire anyone, bad behavior is not just tolerated but propagated. Civil Service protections originally intended to guard against a politicized bureaucracy have now become guarantors of the high-handedness and lack of accountability we saw with Lois Lerner, now retired with a six-figure pension after pleading the Fifth Amendment. Government employee unions have become a mainstay of the Democratic Party, with employee dues, harvested from taxpayers via salaries, laundered into the party’s coffers. So the Democrats will fight like hell, up to and including a filibuster, mass...

How would you reform the university system? How would you find a way to lower tuition and raise standards?

First: I am going to re-institute a 5-year ban on all executive branch officials lobbying the government for 5 years after they leave government service. I am going to ask Congress to pass this ban into law so that it cannot be lifted by executive order. Second: I am going to ask Congress to institute its own 5-year ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and their staffs. Third: I am going to expand the definition of lobbyist so we close all the loopholes that former government officials use by labeling themselves consultants and advisors when we all know...

“It’s Time To Drain The Swamp In Washington, D.C. That’s Why I’m Proposing A Package Of Ethics Reforms To Make Our Government Honest Once Again."

Donald Trump took his outrage over what he deems a "rigged system" a step further and called for a series of ethics reforms aimed at tackling corruption in Washington, including tighter restrictions on members of Congress and White House officials taking on jobs as lobbyists. The proposals came after Trump began his speech here by accusing officials at the FBI and State Department of engaging in a "criminal conspiracy," seizing on FBI documents released Monday that revealed that at least two officials at those departments allegedly bargained over reconsidering the classification of an email on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's private...

AGENCY LOBBYING HARD FOR MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BOONDOGGLE South Carolina’s corrupt transportation “leaders” still desperately want to foist Interstate 73 on dirt poor Palmetto State taxpayers … even as government’s embarrassing inability to do basic maintenance continues to be on display all over the state.How desperate are our powerful “roads czars” to get this Interstate built? Let’s recap …First, they’ve spent more than $100 million on an interchange for the highway (even though it’s not clear if it will ever be built).Next they’ve proposed spending millions more on wetlands mitigation related to the road (again, even though it’s not clear if...

On August 22, the 20th anniversary of welfare reform being signed into law, my new paper, “Poverty After Welfare Reform,” was released. It sprawled into a 45,000-word opus that ate my summer. Due to its length, the report has benefitted from a “Piketty Effect” in that criticism has been slow to come simply because it takes too much time to get through it. But Slate Moneybox columnist Jordan Weissmann made it through, and he is not buying my claim that child hardship is lower or no higher than in 1996. Unlike many liberal commentators, Weissmann concedes that it is “basically...

In an article posted on August 19th titled "Donald Trump and Islamists," I stated that I do not use the term "moderate" when referring to Muslims because it is so grossly misused as to have become meaningless. Nevertheless, one commenter stated, "It’s dangerous to perpetuate the myth of moderate Islam," which I had neither intended to do nor done. This post elaborates on the word "moderate" as it applies to Islam.The term "moderate" Muslim is often applied to those who do not want to kill for Allah, but who want other Muslims to do it for them and for Allah....

Islam is a deadly totalitarian political system masquerading as a religion. Few in the West know this and/or are willing to admit it. Being honest about this doesn't mean hating Muslims. It means understanding the religion and why it is dangerous to the rights and freedoms and way of life in the West, and why that danger probably isn't going to go away. The last Pope seems to have understood this. At Asia Times, Spengler writes:

U.S. Postal Service executives are looking into what is known as blockchain technology, and, after a cursory examination conducted with the help of a consultant, they have decided to look further.Blockchain’s main function is to serve as a way to transfer value … or pay for things. It would support bitcoin, the new super currency that could come in handy with global wire transfers, a substantial side business for the Postal Service.But it also could be used to block identity theft, verify and sign small contracts and assist with inventory management and other business functions. A recent inspector general’s report...

Amid controversy over new protections President Barack Obama has extended to transgender people, a number of Jewish groups have welcomed them. A statement Friday from the Reform movement’s Religious Action Center praised the guidance issued the same day by the Justice and Education departments requiring that schools receiving federal funds end discrimination based on sexual identification. […] The National Council for Jewish Women said the guidance “provides needed clarity and best practices for public school districts and institutions of higher learning.” Also praising the guidance was Rabbi Jack Moline, who directs Interfaith Alliance, a coalition that includes major Jewish national...

Some great news in asset forfeiture reform is coming out of Florida. S.B. 1044, approved by the legislature earlier in the month, was signed into law today by Gov. Rick Scott. The big deal with this particular reform is that, in most cases, Florida police will actually have to arrest and charge a person with a crime before attempting to seize and keep their money and property under the state's asset forfeiture laws. One of the major ways asset forfeiture gets abused is that it is frequently a "civil", not criminal, process where police and prosecutors are able to take...

Newt Gingrich laid it out perfectly on Sunday. The forced ouster of Mozilla co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich this week was a sign of the "new fascism" of liberalism that's sweeping American life. "People need to realize, if you're a young faculty member, in a lot of places if you're a young member of a news department and you have the wrong views – meaning conservative – you have no career," Gingrich said on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "This is just the most open and blatant example of the new fascism, which says, 'if you don't agree with us...

Since March of 2010, the American people have had to suffer under the incredible economic burden of the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare. This legislation, passed by totally partisan votes in the House and Senate and signed into law by the most divisive and partisan President in American history, has tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and fewer choices. Obamacare has raised the economic uncertainty of every single person residing in this country. As it appears Obamacare is certain to collapse of its own weight, the damage done by...

Rep. Rick Saccone stands on the House floor to urge for support of an amendment to a property tax bill that contains the language of HB 76, the Property Tax Independence Act.

It's far too early to say what will or won't make it to the final draft of Sen. Tom Carper's legislation to reform the U.S. Postal Service. But it is a safe bet the Postal Service's huge and growing deficit in funding for employee pensions and medical benefits will be addressed. Ask any casual observer of the Postal Service's increasingly dire fiscal situation, and they will say the "prefunding requirements" are a big part of the problem. This may be true, but removing this obligation would not come close to addressing the Postal Service's need for reform and cannot be...

One of the three winners of the record-breaking Powerball lottery jackpot in the United States became wealthy overnight thanks to the generosity of her boss, one of the American Jewish community’s leading philanthropists. Shlomo Rechnitz, a health care magnate who owns 80 assisted living facilities throughout California, purchased nearly 18,000 lottery tickets for all of his employees, one of which happened to contain the winning numbers. The unprecedented $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot will be divided among three winning tickets purchased in Tennessee, California and Florida. Each ticket is worth $528.8 million, lottery officials said in California, one of 44 states...