Free Republic

Sweden really is annoying. We've made both Germany and Russia look like fools on battle fields. We haven't experienced war for two centuries by now, but we're prepared for the next one. We once were poor, but today, we enjoy a standard of living that clearly is better than that of the average American or any other country on Earth for that sake. Few Americans could afford a car like the Volvo V70 (best selling car in Sweden) and only a small percentage of the American population own second homes (very common in Sweden). Furthermore, my Sweden is more technologically...

Foundation renamed for all three Clintons By: Maggie Haberman April 8, 2013 03:42 PM EDT Introducing the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation, set up after the 42nd president left the White House, was renamed a few weeks ago to include all three Clintons in the name, sources familiar with the move said. An email sent around from the Foundation yesterday was addressed from the “Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.” The move was made shortly after Hillary Clinton left the State Department, and was long planned to reflect the work the three have had with the...

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger. And, as two educators have recently learned, it’s also generally good advice to avoid stomping on Jesus and the American flag in public schools. The Florida Atlantic University instructor who asked students to step on the word “Jesus” has been placed on administrative leave on the same day that the high school teacher in South Carolina who stomped on an American flag in front of his students way back in December finally resigned. The incident in South Carolina...

At first glance, Spec Ops: The Line looks like nothing more than a straight-ahead military shooter. Its story tells of some future date when the desert-bound high-tech city of Dubai is being blasted by incredibly deadly sandstorms. These biblically proportioned tempests are leaving luxury hotels and skyscrapers buried beneath shifting dunes and swirling debris. Dubai's wealthy elite initially downplay the situation before evacuating in secret, leaving countless "lesser" citizens behind. And so, the United States steps up to help evacuate the populace with an infantry battalion led by American hero Col. John Konrad. By the time gamers are inserted into...

Jose Serrano is a Democratic congressman who represents the South Bronx of New York City (the 15th District). He is also an imbecile. Upon hearing the news of the death of Hugo Chavez, the tyrannical "President" of Venezuela, Serrano could not hold back his thoughts and emotions. He quickly went to twitter and posted this comment: Making certain that no one would misunderstand his sadness, Serrano released an official statement entitled “Chavez Changed the Conversation In Latin America” on his government website. Serrano explained, in part: “I met President Chavez in 2005 when he came to my district at my...

H/t to @seanhannity for giving me the idea on his radio show today. Based on how this is set up you should simply know the answer without even thinking about it.Pass it on at Facebook....Here's a version for Twitter...

Speaking to a group of German students, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry defended the core freedoms of speech, religion and thought telling them that in America, "you have a right to be stupid if you want to be." "People have sometimes wondered about why our Supreme Court allows one group or another to march in a parade even though it's the most provocative thing in the world and they carry signs that are an insult to one group or another," he said. "The reason is, that's freedom, freedom of speech. In American you have a right to be stupid...

<p>The Associated Press on Thursday updated its stylebook so that married individuals will be referred to as husband and wife, regardless of whether they are in a same-sex marriage. The change comes a week after the AP received criticism for an internal memo designating the word "partners" for individuals in same-sex marriages.</p>

Michigan’s U.S. senators – Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow – are among those urging the Army Corps of Engineers to allocate money to help the Great Lakes recover from Hurricane Sandy damage. “While the Great Lakes navigation system is threatened due to underfunding, which has been worsened due to lakes levels that have hit record lows, the system also was damaged by Hurricane Sandy,” a group of Midwest senators wrote in a letter Thursday to Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy. “This storm covered 900 miles, and impacted 24 states, including states surrounding the Great Lakes. Across the Great...

Singer Tony Bennett brought up Nazi Germany at a press conference in Washington where he demanded gun control. TONY BENNETT: It's the kind of turn that happened to the great country of Germany, when Nazis came over and created tragic things, and they had to be told off. And if we continue this kind of violence and accept it in our country, the rest of the world's going to really take care of us, in a very bad way. Video @ link

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) will deliver the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address on Feb. 12. Rubio's response will be delivered in both English and Spanish, according to Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) office. "Marco Rubio is one of our party’s most dynamic and inspiring leaders. He carries our party’s banner of freedom, opportunity and prosperity in a way few others can. His family’s story is a testament to the promise and greatness of America," Boehner said in a statement on Wednesday. "He’ll deliver a GOP address that speaks from the heart to the hopes and dreams...

Earlier this month Oprah Winfrey grabbed headlines with her blockbuster interview with serial doper and international pariah Lance Armstrong. Now, an animated Oprah keeps the momentum going with a harrowing interview with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, another major figure who is equally dependent on artificial stimulus to juice his job performance.  In this mock animated interview produced by the Peter Schiff Show, the daily radio broadcast by noted author and economist Peter Schiff, Oprah gets Bernanke to confess to repeated attempts to push up economic statistics through direct and repeated injections of powerful monetary stimulants. His motivation: a competitive central banking culture fixated...

As military officials formulate plans to open combat positions to women, the Commander of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command is vowing any changes in job requirements will be handled fairly. "Soldiers - both men and women - want fair and meaningful standards" Gen. Robert W. Cone said. "I think that fairness is very important in a values-based organization like our Army." Last week, Secretary of State Leon Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced the end of the 1994 policy that prohibited women from serving in combat positions below a brigade level....

Christie, by his own admission, is "not a subtle personality" and he likes to take charge. Those two traits figured prominently in how the rising Republican handled Sandy. From his frequent, televised updates to residents as the storm's winds whipped the state's beaches to his criticism last week of fellow Republican John Boehner's decision to delay a U.S. House vote on federal storm aid, his handling of his native state's worst natural disaster may one day be considered the defining moment in the political career of a budding presidential contender. The timing of the storm _ days before a presidential...

After Wayne LaPierre spoke of the NRA's desire to help make children safer by using its own money and resources to train teachers and work with police departments to have an armed presence at every school that wants it, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former RNC chair Michael Steele joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg in crying foul. Said Christie: "In general, I don't think the solution to safety in schools is putting an armed guard because for it to really be effective in my view, from a law enforcement perspective, you have to have an armed guard at every classroom."...

The Left's love affair with N.J. Gov. Chris Christie continues ... so long as the outspoken pol is trashing his own party. Christie made headlines today by blaming the death of a Hurricane Sandy relief bill loaded with pork squarely on the GOP. “There is only one group to blame,” he ranted. “The House Majority and John Boehner. Last night, the House Majority failed the basic test of leadership and they did so with callous disregard to the people of my state. It was disappointing and disgusting to watch. Shame on you, shame on Congress.” That sentiment earned kudos from...

[. . .] Nationwide, at least 23,000 schools — about one-third of all public schools — already had armed security on staff as of the most recent data, for the 2009-10 school year, and a number of states and districts that do not use them have begun discussing the idea in recent days. . . Plus the NRA plan was much more comprehensive than just armed guards.

A new poll has New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie leading the 2016 GOP presidential field.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said concerns that his weight would prevent him from serving as president were “ridiculous” in an interview set to air Wednesday. In an interview for Barbara Walters’s “10 Most Fascinating People” series, the broadcast veteran asked the New Jersey governor how he would respond to “people who say that you couldn’t be president because you're so heavy.” “That’s ridiculous, I mean, that’s ridiculous,” Christie responded. “I mean, I don’t know what the basis for that is.” …

I keep thinking, “Christie can’t possibly come back from this.” And then I think, “Wait, did we actually just nominate John McCain and the guy responsible for RomneyCare?” Never underestimate the Republican capacity to forgive, my friends: But behind the scenes, the intensity of the reaction from those in Mr. Christie’s party caught him by surprise, interviews show, requiring a rising Republican star to try to contain a tempest that left him feeling deeply misunderstood and wounded...The tensions followed Mr. Christie to the annual meeting of the Republican Governors Association in Las Vegas last week. At a gathering where he...