Free Republic

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is pleased to announce this year's Annual Meetings and Exhibits, to be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas from May 3-5, 2013. For further updates and announcements, be sure to follow NRA on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation and on Twitter @NRA. Seventy-thousand attendees are expected at this year’s Annual Meetings and Exhibits, sponsored by Midway USA, making this one of the largest in NRA’s 142-year history. Leading firearm manufacturers will display the firearm industry’s latest and greatest products. Guides and outfitters, various hunting and shooting accessories, and an extensive private collection...

Ever since Rick Santorum ended his presidential campaign a year ago this week, he has acted as if that defeat was just a brief setback in his running quest for the Republican nomination. Almost three years out from the 2016 Iowa caucuses, the former Pennsylvania senator is set to return Monday to the nation’s first voting state, where he won a come-from-behind battle against Mitt Romney by 34 votes in January 2012. Having witnessed the perils of underestimating him, Santorum’s potential rivals next time around aren’t likely to discount another strong challenge on his part, particularly in the Hawkeye State.

Since Monday, school district officials in Grosse Pointe, Michigan have canceled a decision to allow Rick Santorum to speak at Grosse Pointe South High School, then reversed that cancellation. There is a catch, though: students who want to see the former U.S. senator and presidential hopeful must first obtain permission from their parents. A local chapter of the group Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) had originally invited Santorum to speak at the high school on April 24, explains the Detroit Free Press. The group raised $18,000 for the speech — presumably to cover costs and pay any fees to Santorum....

Michigan high school cancels, then un-cancels controversial speech Listening to Rick Santorum is the kind of activity that requires parental permission. That's the conclusion a Michigan high school has come to, after a planned speech by the former presidential candidate inspired massive backlash. On Monday, Grosse Pointe High School decided to just cancel the event, but that generated outcry from the other side. So now the speech is back on, but students will need a signed permission slip to watch, the Detroit Free Press reports. Langston Bowens, the socially conservative senior who invited Santorum, has accused the school of...

As conservatives continue to grapple with how they — and the Republican Party at large — should handle the issue of gay marriage, some prominent voices are coming out to either endorse or condemn pushes for the movement to embrace same-sex nuptials. Among those personalities is former presidential candidate Rick Santorum. In an interview with the Des Moines Register, the politician said that embracing gay marriage would be “suicidal” for the party. The former senator also noted that some Republicans, like Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who have openly endorsed gay marriage are no...

Rick Santorum appears to be eyeing the White House again, with the former Pennsylvania senator telling Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg that he may run for president in 2016. “I’m certainly leaving the door open for that,” Santorum revealed on “The Steve Malzberg Show” Wednesday afternoon. … “The same advisors who botched these last two campaigns are now saying, ‘Well, you know, since we can’t win with moderate Republicans, we have to now try to be liberal Republicans to win instead of standing up for the values that made our country great,’” he said. …

Joshua Green shares an amazing story about the secret negotiations between Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich for a “unity ticket” during the Republican Presidential primary. In the end, Green reports, neither of the two Republican leaders could agree which of the two would be president. (T)he two candidates spoke face-to-face at an energy forum just before the primary. Gingrich made an elaborate historical argument that when the party hasn’t been able to agree on a nominee, it always settles on the senior figure. Santorum wasn’t persuaded, and urged Gingrich to do what was best for the conservative movement.

An unsparing piece keying off the same Rick Perry soundbite at CPAC that inspired this post. Perry said that it’s unfair to blame conservatism for the GOP’s losses in 2008 and 2012 because, after all, our nominees weren’t conservative. Emery’s response: Then why did Republican primary voters vote for them instead of for a solid conservative like, say, Rick Perry? Her answer? Between Reagan’s generation and the current crop of Rubio, Scott Walker, etc, there simply haven’t been many good conservative candidates. Instead, against establishment types who were national figures, the conservative movement flung preachers and pundits (Pat Robertson, Alan...

March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. That's how the saying goes. And oh, how it rings true for my family. It is Lent, of course, a time for the faithful to pray, sacrifice and fast. And it is in our prayerful reflections and daily acts that we prepare ourselves for Easter and new life. March is also Trisomy Awareness Month. For my family, this has become a time to celebrate the life of our daughter Bella. Bella was born almost five years ago with trisomy 18, a severe genetic condition that I believe makes every...

Republicans don't care. Or at least that's the perception of us. President Barack Obama's convincing re-election in November despite a climate of high unemployment, stagnant economic growth and waning American influence around the globe has caused a great deal of soul-searching for the Republican Party. One of the conclusions some of us have come to is that our problem is not the message or the messengers but our own detachment from the needs of struggling working families and our lack of vision and policies that address them. I was struck reading a recent article in which our presidential nominee, after...

President Obama’s announcement last week on his plans to make sweeping changes to our nation’s gun laws by presidential executive order is yet another example of his continual disregard for the United States Constitution and the separation of powers it set forth to protect the American people from government by fiat. Putting aside for a moment the misdirected emphasis on gun ownership, as opposed to mental illness and cultural glorification of violence to curb gun crime, President Obama’s actions represent another attempt to circumvent Congress – a Congress elected by the people but controlled by Republicans – to establish public...

SNIP Hagel, however, has friends in Democratic lobbying circles. The powerful Washington D.C. organization known as the Podesta Group is reportedly asking defense contractors for financial support to run ads defending the Hagel nomination. Fox News White House Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry reported on Friday: (2:15 in) "Sources confirm to Fox [that] Democratic super lobbyist Tony Podesta has been hired by a firm known as the Bipartisan Group to help mobilize support for Hagel. And defense contractors received calls this week urging them to be ready for a Hagel pick as soon as Monday, and asking them for...

. . . America's constitutional tradition of federalism may serve as the anaconda to choke a growing leviathan. As Justice Kennedy wrote in Bond v. United States, "[b]y denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all the concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power." "Alabama has become one of those States that is on the first line of defense," said Palmer, particularly in regards to Obama's signature health care legislation, which 14 states including Alabama have passed constitutional amendments against. Furthermore, at least 25 states have refused to establish state exchanges, and a...

Lately, you’ve probably been asking: “What ever happened to Rick Santorum? The guy who ran for president in the sweater vest? The one who compared homosexuality to bestiality and did 50 push-ups every morning?” It’s certainly been on my mind. Santorum is still in there swinging. Lately, he’s been on a crusade against a dangerous attempt by the United Nations to help disabled people around the world. This week, he won! The Senate refused to ratify a U.N. treaty on the subject. The vote, which fell five short of the necessary two-thirds majority, came right after 89-year-old Bob Dole, the...

When the facts and law are not in one’s favor, there is a natural temptation to appeal to the emotions of your target audience in order to win an argument. This is referred to as argumentum ad passiones—an attempt to manipulate an audience’s emotions by pulling on their heartstrings in order to bring them to your side. Such is the case with Senator John Kerry’s (D–MA) appeal in today’s Huffington Post in support of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), an international human rights treaty that is scheduled for an up-or-down vote tomorrow at noon. …...

(CNN) - Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum hinted Monday he may see another presidential run in his future. "I'm open to that possibility," the Republican said when asked on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" about a 2016 White House bid. – Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker "But we're a long way..." he added, pausing, then continuing, "I'm focused right now on trying to stay involved in the fray and make sure that we do the right thing up on Capitol Hill right now." Santorum proved a tough opponent to Mitt Romney during the Republican presidential primary, ultimately forcing the contest...

... will back him, say that it it is his turn, and not Chris Christie's turn, etc. /Sarc. I mean, George Bush defeated McCain, and so McCain was the presumptive "next in line," (that's how it works, right? /sarc) although he still had to fight for it and had at one point sunk pretty low --- even captioned carrying his own baggage. And McCain defeated Romney, so it was then Romney's turn --- and he was next in line --- right? But does this rule only apply to RINOs? Speaking of Chris Christie... Given what Limbaugh said about Christie, and...

Ever since Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, evangelicals have been a powerful political force. Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority organization were credited in part with Reagan's election, having registered millions of evangelicals to vote. Their influence would only grow over the next 25 years: Evangelicals were instrumental in Reagan's reelection, the Republican Revolution of 1994, and both of George W. Bush's victories. But on November 6, 2012, their reign came to an end. "I think this [election] was an evangelical disaster," Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told NPR. He's right, but it wasn't for...

Inside sources close to Rick Santorum are saying the former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 GOP contender is already organizing for a run in 2016. On the other side of the aisle, investor Warren Buffett is already touting his choice to succeed President Obama in the White House. A leading evangelical leader who is close to Santorum and asked not to be identified, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that Santorum is "organizing and making all the necessary preparations" for another run in the 2016 Republican primary. "Rick's getting ready organized and is not going to be behind the eight-ball when...

GO AWAY already It's over dude... As you've most likely already heard, the TEA Party right has declared all-out war on Karl 'Boss Hogg' Rove in the wake of numerous recent (expen$ive) GOP disasters in which 'The Architect' played an inglorious starring role. The final straw was likely his lack of willingness to take responsibility for an almost complete lack of success in the 2012 election cycle, instead pointing fingers and making excuses like an Italian cruise ship captain. Rove's flat-out whiffing in almost every race he backed -on top of improbable Romney defeat- would be enough for any sensible...