Free Republic

During a brief, little-noticed speech in May, Rep. Mick Mulvaney implored Republican presidential contenders and their supporters to stop tailoring their rhetoric to satisfy true believers and instead prioritize expanding the conservative tent. (SNIP) This concern was clearly influential in his decision to endorse Paul. Comparing the Kentucky senator with rival Republican contender Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mulvaney had this to say in an interview with the Associated Press: "Ted is not bringing anybody new into the party. Rand is."

As a visitor to the United States, Pope Francis faces a minor challenge: His English isn’t so great. Over the course of the trip, he’ll give 18 speeches, and only four of them will be in English; he’ll mostly use his native language, Spanish, to give homilies and addresses. But at Wednesday’s mass in Washington, D.C., at which Francis will canonize Father Junipero Serra, he’ll add another linguistic twist. The main prayers of the service, along with the celebration of the Eucharist—the part of the service when people take communion—will be in Latin. Latin! This is an exclamation-mark-worthy fact for...

Pope Francis will deliver all but four of his 18 addresses during his forthcoming visit to the United States in Spanish because he is still not comfortable speaking in English, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Gov. Jeb Bush has released a Spanish-language Internet ad, in which his Mexican-born wife makes her first appearance of the campaign to deliver a halting, accented and simple English pitch, while he speaks happily in confident Spanish. Columba Bush rarely speaks in public, and English is not her native language. She was born in Mexico, and moved to the United States with Jeb Bush. Her 15-second scripted comments are very simple. “I have lived more than half my life here. So, you know, I agree that we all have the same interests, the same feelings. We go to church every...

An implicit rebuke to Trump for scolding him a few weeks ago for speaking Spanish to a reporter. In fact, the Spanish spoken by Jeb here is so basic that even English speakers with a rudimentary grasp of the language can probably piece out what he’s saying. I wonder if that was deliberate. What better way to demonstrate cultural fusion than by showing non-Spanish-speaking Americans how much Spanish they’ve picked up idly in the course of their lives?For the one or two readers who might need it, here’s a translation from MSNBC: Jeb Bush: Los Estados Unidos de América es...

A defiant Jeb Bush struck back at Donald Trump on Thursday, declaring in English and Spanish that he would campaign with "los brazos abiertos" -- arms wide open. It was an admonishment of Trump's suggestion to Breitbart News on Tuesday that Bush should refrain from speaking in Spanish and "set the example by speaking English while in the United States." During a town hall in Hampton, New Hampshire, Bush didn't back down in the face of Trump's criticism, alleging that Trump would lead the Republican Party to defeat in next year's election. In another sign that the Bush's campaign no...

Here’s another demonstration, says David Frum, that Bush is never more passionate than when he’s talking about immigration and biculturalism. The Trump/Bush debate over whether it’s appropriate to address Latino voters in Spanish is like the Christie/Paul argument over the NSA and civil liberties: Each man’s position on the issue speaks directly to what it is his fans like most about him. Trump’s the guy who’s demanding assimilation, Jeb’s more comfortable with multiculturalism, at least as Spanish speakers transition to their new culture. He also says Trump “doesn’t believe in tolerance,” which means … what, exactly? If cracking down...

Alternate headline: “Trump rises 10 more points in latest GOP poll.”I’ll say this much for Jeb answering questions in Spanish. If nothing else, it’s a case of him actually following his strategy of “losing the primary to win the general,” an approach he’s moved away from as the Bush/Trump war has developed. Speaking Spanish to reporters when conservatives are screaming that he’s a pro-amnesty sellout is as clear an example of positioning for the general irrespective of primary dynamics as there is. And if, in spite of everything, he ends up winning the nomination anyway, half the people on...

Bidder offers just €10,000 for showpiece in Spanish bankruptcy auction. A Chinese company that was the only bidder for one of Spain's "ghost airports" wants to revive the site as a cargo hub for the Asian market. Ciudad Real airport, one of the most notorious emblems of Spain's economic crash, cost €1 billion (HK$8.4 billion) to build and was on sale at a knockdown price of €40 million. Tzaneen International was the sole bidder in the bankruptcy auction, however, and it offered just €10,000. The facilities of the deserted site, 160km south of Madrid, include a runway long enough to...

The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes. The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the US plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million). Among the sources cited in the report is the US Census Office which estimates that the US will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest...

[The following are just excerpts from the first 5 sections of an extensive very revealing multifaceted 2014 Pew Research survey. My focus is mainly on the Protestant and Catholic views. Complete Report PDF] Religion in Latin AmericaWidespread Change in a Historically Catholic RegionLatin America is home to more than 425 million Catholics – nearly 40% of the world’s total Catholic population – and the Roman Catholic Church now has a Latin American pope for the first time in its history. Yet identification with Catholicism has declined throughout the region, according to a major new Pew Research Center survey that...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Portland Trail Blazers had a laminated card in their locker room at the FedExForum on Sunday that included the phrase "We don't lose to Spanish players." The Memphis Grizzlies, the Trail Blazers' opponent in their Western Conference first-round series, feature one of the NBA's most prominent Spanish players, All-Star center Marc Gasol.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, said he believes that President Barack Obama’s first executive amnesty for so-called DREAMers—the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)—is “important” and he won’t reverse it himself if elected president. He delivered these remarks in a Spanish-language interview he gave to Univision’s Jorge Ramos. “I believe DACA is important. It can’t be terminated from one moment to the next, because there are already people benefiting from it,” Rubio said in Spanish on Ramos’s television program, according to an English translation provided by the media service Grabien. “But yes, it is going to...

Sensing vulnerability in the GOP’s control over state government after four rocky months under the Ducey administration, Arizona Democrats are wasting no time in trying to crank up voter turnout for 2016. And if Andy Dresden, D-Casa Grande get his way, that aggressive posture will swim in waters never before tested in Arizona, or any other state for that matter. “I am proposing a bill to make Spanish the official language of the Great State of Arizona,” said Dresden, who admitted he, himself, ‘even in a Taco Bell drive-thru,’ does not speak Spanish, “There’s a reason America has never had...

Ted Cruz won’t sit around and wait, because waiting is a loser’s game. Cruz, the first-term Republican senator from Texas, officially announced his candidacy for president of the United States early Monday morning. While there are many fascinating aspects to Cruz’s candidacy announcement—his climate change denials, his political grandstanding that led to a government shutdown— there is one question that immediately arises in my mind: What will he, a Cuban-American, do to speak directly to Latino voters over the next several months? Cruz has been dismissed in the past for not being “Latino enough.” And although he doesn’t speak fluent...

It was one of the most searing paintings of the modernist era: Pablo Picasso's scream of a masterpiece inspired by the fascist bombing of Guernica in the Spanish Civil War, a horror that would prove but a prelude to the Second World War that began a couple of years later. The same evil empires that conspired to crush republican Spain in the 1930s -- Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia -- would unite again to invade Poland at the end of that decade, and set off worldwide calamity. Spain was only an early victim. While the West continued to dither,...

A judge in Burgos has called for the arrest of exorcist, Jesús Hernández Sahagún, along with the girl’s priest after she went through 13 exorcisms while still a minor. Sahagún, the official exorcist of Valladolid, is facing charges of gender violence, causing injury and mistreatment according to local newspaper, Diario de Burgos, and has been asked to make a statement on the events. The events date back to 2012, when the girl began to suffer from anorexia. According to El País, her religious parents became convinced she was possessed by the devil and decided to have their child exorcised. She...

WASHINGTON – A plan that would dedicate two public high schools in suburban Washington to immigrants and second-generation students struggling with English is pitting black and Hispanic communities -– usually allies -- against one another. The Prince George’s County, Md., chapter of the NAACP is strongly opposing the plan -- which would take effect next school year, and cover about 800 students having English language difficulties -- claiming it will pull resources from other students and unfairly redistribute them to Hispanic students. Some critics go so far as to compare the plan to segregation. “It’s a slap in the face,”...

Based on House Republican documents reviewed by Breitbart News, pro-amnesty Republican freshman Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida will be delivering the Republican’s Spanish-language address in response to Obama’s State of the Union speech. Curbelo recently made waves with a January 18 interview in The Hill, which focused on his strong dissent from the basic Republican position on immigration and all but stated his support for Obama’s executive amnesty.... The Florida Republican is a vocal supporter of actions on immigration reform that many in the GOP have rejected, including a Senate-passed bill that House Republican leaders have refused to bring up...

The Partnership for a New American Economy today launched a new ad campaign calling on Congress to act on immigration reform this year. (SNIP) The ad will premiere tonight at the PNAE, FWD.us, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce event, “#iCodeImmigration: Accelerating Immigration Reform,” in Washington DC, featuring Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25) and Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC-5).