Free Republic

I predict an escalation of weirdness in these next few weeks

Civility Two years ago, Stephen Henderson won a Pulitzer Prize. I’ll let you decide what you think that says about the state of journalism, especially as you consider what he wrote late last week. Henderson, the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press (and a Facebook friend of mine, at least as I type this), has become increasingly hysterical in the past year - seeing racism behind almost every perceived societal ill and ascribing to conservative policymakers not just mistaken thinking but, invariably, an intent to hurt people. But his column of this past Saturday took the cake. A...

We just got this email from TPM Reader DL. And as far as I can tell, she's right. There does not seem to be any mention of Donald Trump on the official Republican Party website, gop.com. Hillary is there. Bernie is there. George H.W.Bush is there. Reagan is there. Reagan/Bush. Lincoln is there. No Trump anywhere. Not on the blog, signups. Not anywhere that I could find. If you go to the Republican National Committee website, there is a crowded homepage with no mention of Donald Trump. I’ve been watching it for a few days. They recently had a petition...

Presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign is turning toward the general election, launching a website that targets frustrated Republican voters who don’t support presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. “The website, republicansagainsttrump.org, was registered on May 27 and launched on June 2, according to domain registration records,” Politico reports. “The Clinton campaign only appears to have begun buying ads to promote the site more recently.”

The vice chair of California's Republican party supported a rally on Monday at San Jose City Hall to demand answers to the violence that erupted at the Donald Trump rally last week. Harmeet Dhillon, who is a Trump backer and an attorney in San Jose, said she is in favor of a group called Silicon Valley Vet, who is asking San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo how the Thursday rally got so out of hand. Trump's critics were seen as the main antagonists of the raucous behavior, which included egging, bruising and punches.

Corrected version with paragraphs I’ll say it again. We must take over the MSM. Not Limbaugh, not Beck, not Levin. I mean CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, NY Times and all major newspapers. All major radio networks. By “take over” I mean an “all of the above” approach. Buy them, own them, own majority or controlling stock positions in them. Infiltrate them. In the boardroom and in the cubicles. Populate their staffs, reporters, advertisers, customers, associates, friends, colleagues, with far right or right leaning individuals and entities. The exact OPPOSITE of this George W. Bush conservative type who withdrew from...

Donald Trump has announced plans to hold a victory news conference in just over an hour in Bismarck, North Dakota (it’s the capital), where Guardian politics reporter Ben Jacobs is laying in wait. DT Jr celebrates victory: — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 26, 2016 1237 ✔️

Leaders of the Republican Party have begun internal deliberations over what would be fundamental changes to the way its presidential nominees are chosen, a recognition that the chaotic process that played out this year is seriously flawed and helped exacerbate tensions within the party. In a significant shift, Republican officials said it now seemed unlikely that the four states to vote first would all retain their cherished place on the electoral calendar, with Nevada as the most probable casualty. Party leaders are even going so far as to consider diluting the traditional status of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina...

Oklahoma’s state legislature isn’t messing around. They are so furious about President Barack Obama’s dangerous actions about transgenders in public school bathrooms, that they are officially calling for OK’s members of Congress to start impeachment proceedings. Obama’s actions have been unconstitutional, and boys and girls should be using the restroom according to the gender they were born with. It’s about time for impeachment! Oklahoma’s Republican-dominated legislature has filed a measure calling for President Barack Obama’s impeachment over his administration’s recommendations on accommodating transgender students, saying he overstepped his constitutional authority. Lawmakers in the socially conservative state are also expected to...

US House blocks aid to duplicitous Pakistan The US House of Representatives' decision to incorporate stringent requirements for the release of American aid to Pakistan, even in the face of opposition from the White House, is indicative of a gradual change of heart in Washington, DC, towards what was once its frontline ally in the war on terror. It comes days after the US Congress objected to the sale of American F-16s, which have little value in fighting insurgents but help Pakistan build parity with India. This is not to suggest that the US is anywhere close to changing its...

Some Panhandle producers are announcing a proposal to try to limit oil imports to attempt to boost the American oil industry. So, how much are we importing now and why, if we can produce all we need domestically? Dr. Daniel Fine, associate director for New Mexico Energy Policy, is helping lead the effort and recently spoke with KXDJ’s Chris Samples. “How much? It is increasing,” said Dr. Fine.

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders claims to be a democratic socialist who wants America to be more like Sweden, Denmark and Norway. But is honest Bernie telling you the truth? In 2014 Sanders endorsed longtime communist party supporter Chewy Garcia's bid for the Chicago mayoralty. Sanders spoke alongside Scott Marshall a leader of the Chicago Communist Party. In the early 1960's Bernie Sanders studied at the University of Chicago where he joined the Marxist Young People's Socialist League. In 1980 Sanders backed the presidential campaign of Andrew Pulley a leader of the pro-Cuba Socialist Workers Party.

In 2012, after Mitt Romney lost the presidential election, Bill Whittle delivered an address on Republican principles. The Timid Republican Party has substantially ignored those principles and is not guided by them. Party candidates nevertheless continue to mouth them at election time. Perhaps they understand what the voters want and recite their fealty to get their votes. Once safely in office, they revert to ignoring those same principles.During the current Republican nomination process, the Establishment has chastised Donald Trump for not being a "real" Republican and not adhering to Republican principles -- the principles which they themselves ignore, by which he...

Donald Trump will meet face-to-face with Speaker Paul Ryan at 9 a.m. on Thursday at the RNC, according to a GOP leadership source familiar with the schedule. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus will sit in the meeting, too. A second meeting including Ryan, Trump and a larger roster of GOP leadership will follow. Attendees will include Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), and Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) There will be no press availability after, but Ryan will do an on-camera availability later that morning, the source said. Trump has no plans...

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has signed up to serve as a delegate for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump at this summer’s national convention in Cleveland. McCarthy’s move is notable in part because House Speaker Paul Ryan has said he is “not ready” to endorse Trump, even though he is the lone Republican remaining in the contest.

Facing a steep challenge as he prepares to meet with Republican leaders about uniting their splintering party, Donald J. Trump on Monday struck a more conciliatory tone about House Speaker Paul D. Ryan. And Mr. Ryan appeared to reciprocate, saying he would step down from his position as chairman of the Republican National Convention in July if that is what the party’s presumptive nominee requests.

When the price of oil drops, so does the cost of gasoline. But while people are enjoying paying lower prices at gasoline pumps, plunges in oil prices can cause economic damage in Texas. And it can put American oil producers out of business when the price of foreign oil imports gets cheaper than the costs of extracting oil from the ground in the U.S.

In the following pages we have set forth our basic principles and enumerated various policy stands derived from those principles.

Trump's promise to unify the Republican Party is in tatters, as an all-out civil war grips the GOP. Donald Trump on Tuesday night assumed the mantle of presumptive nominee and declared, “We want to bring unity to the Republican Party. We have to bring unity.” Three days later, the GOP is tearing itself apart. Friday brought another day of incredible division and revolt with Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham falling in line not behind Trump, but behind House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said a day earlier that he cannot yet support the brash real estate mogul as his party’s standard-bearer.