Free Republic

There's only a few weeks left until the summer recess swallows Congress' legislative agenda for 2014, but a group of key Republicans haven't given up immigration quite yet. Helping guide a secretive effort to informally gauge support for legislative action on the issue before August are two expected names: Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Paul Ryan (R-WI). But joining them is a young conservative lawmaker whose efforts on the issue have shocked conservative power brokers and prompted a behind-the-scenes backlash. “Absolutely,” Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) told Breitbart News, “I have been talking about immigration with my colleagues for months. Talking...

First Ad Showcasing Immigrant Inventions Released Today at Event Featuring Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25) and Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC-5). Watch the new ad: www.immigrantmade.org New York, NY — The Partnership for a New American Economy today launched a new ad campaign calling on Congress to act on immigration reform this year. The campaign includes a series of ads that highlight the need for immigration reform across broad sectors of the economy, including technology, business, and agriculture. The first ad – released today on DC Taxi TV, on television, and online – showcases the role of immigrant-led innovation in the creation...

Editor's Note: This column was co-authored by Michael Petrilli. Ever since election results from May 5th were finalized, a number of voices have loudly touted cherry-picked upsets—namely, the primary defeats of two incumbent Republicans in the Indiana legislature—to build what they want to present as a larger narrative of rising opposition to Common Core. This narrative is misleading. In fact, the GOP primary results from throughout this month showed, if anything, that opposing Common Core is not a ticket to office for a right-flank challenge to an incumbent, and the efficacy of attempts to take out Republicans from the right...

President Obama is passionate about education, especially for underprivileged kids … or so he says. An ardent opponent of school choice, except when it comes to his own kids, one of his first acts was to try to kill the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship that provides poor kids in the nation’s capital the chance to escape failing schools. He’s repeatedly tried to ax the program, only to be blocked by Republicans. But the President’s assault on education doesn’t end with just young kids, it continues throughout the entire education system. For the last few years, the Obama administration has waged a...

In 1996 California voters passed Proposition 209, which prohibited discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity or sex in admissions to public college and universities. But the moment 209 passed, UCLA, according to a new book, set about figuring ways around it. "Cheating: An Insider's Report on the Use of Race in Admissions at UCLA," by Professor Tim Groseclose, describes what the author insists are illegal admissions practices that he witnessed at UCLA. Groseclose's story begins in 2008 when, as a member of a faculty oversight committee for admissions, he asked for a random set of application files. He...

Ultimately, it will not matter if people in government cynically promote the theory that human activity is destroying the global climate as a means of taking control of your life, or if they take control of your life because they sincerely believe human activity is destroying the global climate. Either way, government will control of your life. The National Climate Assessment the Obama administration released this week describes in Sisyphean terms the task government faces in limiting carbon dioxide emissions, which the assessment says make up 84 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions it holds guilty of artificially warming our...

I am not generally a conspiracy believer, but last week, as the result of a Freedom of Information action by Judicial Watch - a conservative legal organization - at least one email was released that directly linked the White House to the immediate reaction to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the American Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. The Benghazi attacks took place on September 11, 2012. The Obama Administration's first response - and it was a significant response - was that the attack on the American compound in Benghazi was a reaction...

On April 30, 2014, we invited Adrian Smith, Tom Brewer and Mark Sullivan to attend a Townhall type meeting. Tyson Havranek was our moderator. Adrian Smith could not be present but sent his campaign manager to give a short statement at the beginning. This is the full 1 hour and 29 minute video. For your convenience this video is available in 6 parts also for those who wish to split up their viewing.

Former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican and shockingly, her Democratic opponent Rep. Gary Peters is accusing her of waging a war on women (Democrats are being really original with their attack strategy this year). Now, Land is taking on the issue directly with her first campaign ad openly mocking Peters for accusing her, a woman, of waging a war on women. "I'm Terri Lynn Land and I approve this message because as a woman, I might know a little bit more about women than Gary Peters." The ad is...

The Internal Revenue Service has revoked the tax-exemption for a conservative charity, saying the group’s criticism of Hillary Clinton and John Kerry violated rules against political activity. The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty engaged in “deliberate and consistent intervention in political campaigns,” according to the IRS decision released Friday and first reported by USA Today... Tax-exempt groups are restricted from engaging in certain political activity, including participating in partisan campaigns in support or opposition to a candidate. The IRS said the Patrick Henry Center violated this rule, in part, by publishing “alerts” on its website that highlighted columns by...

<p>If the Rev. Al Sharpton, the bigoted, anti-Semitic, non-tax paying race-hustling poverty pimp, had any credibility left, it just vanished.</p> <p>The beneficiary of a lifetime of passes from our race-conscious mainscream media, Sharpton ran into an outlet not afraid of him -- The Smoking Gun. They obtained material that exposed Sharpton as an FBI "informant." Sharpton, of course, denies that this constitutes "snitching." No, he says he "volunteered" to "cooperate" with the FBI -- and for the most honorable of motives.</p>

The March for Life attracts hundreds of thousands of people to Washington, DC each January. A large percentage of these people come in groups, and if there's one things groups love, it’s matching apparel. Here’s a quick look* at of some of the best-dressed matching marchers at the March for Life: *In no particular order as everyone looked fabulous. 1. These students from Illinois looked pretty stylin’ in their yellow-orange scarves. 2. These bright orange hats traveled to DC all the way from Kansas! 3. Waldo’s been found. He’s at the March for Life. 4. These marchers from Richmond braved...

A new power in conservative media By: Hadas Gold January 4, 2014 05:59 PM EST A player in Christian and talk radio stations is buying up popular conservative websites — moves that could make Salem Communications the next big thing in right-wing media. The California-based company has recently gobbled up sites that reach millions of readers, like Michelle Malkin’s Twitchy.com, the Eagle Publishing group which is home to RedState.com, HumanEvents.com and the conservative publishing house Regnery. The Salem empire already includes more than 100 Christian and conservative talk-radio stations and several Christian-themed websites, as well as HotAir.com and TownHall.com. Though...

Passing immigration reform is a way for Republicans to get on a positive agenda and regain some of the approval of the American people, Sen. John McCain said Tuesday during a town hall in Tucson. He said the prospects of passing comprehensive immigration reform this year are still strong despite some Republicans saying the government shutdown and the way it was handled by President Obama affected any chance for compromise. But “the same people that said that are the people that oppose immigration reform. They are just trying to find another reason,” McCain said after the town hall meeting attended...

John McCain’s handlers should do a better job of screening participants in his town hall events: Kudos ma’am. McLame’s nervous laughter at the end acknowledges that he won’t sit down for a week.

Excuse me if this has been posted prior. I did do two different searches and didn't see this title pop up. It was new to me so might be new to others, too.

Conservatives such as Larry Holland say President Barack Obama’s health-care law will doom the nation and are urging Republican leaders to not abandon the fight against it. The 57-year-old retired firefighter was among about 650 people to pack a town-hall meeting in Columbus last night, calling on Congress to withhold funding in a last-ditch effort to block implementation of the law. “I want (House Speaker John) Boehner to defund it, but he doesn’t have the guts,” said Holland, of Mt. Vernon. “Our country is going down the tubes, and Obamacare is going to put companies out of business.”As implementation of...

We arrived precisely at one o'clock, the scheduled time for the meeting, following a giant Harley decorated with American flags in to the parking lot. We were surprised to have to wait in line for ten minutes to get in to the hall as they had underestimated the turn out. There was a member of some lefty alliance with a table sporting enviro-weenie stuff that we (conveniently for them) had to pass by, but once we got in it was standing room only, about two hundred of us standing. Dr. Benishek was giving a canned summary of his activities when...

At the bottom of this post you will find a list of congressional town halls for the next week. It is important that you stay focused because Republican leaders are about to dangle shiny objects in front of you knowing that, like with a sardine dangling in the spotlight of a circus big tent, the GOP leaders can get you to clap like a seal. Republican Leaders are preparing a series of shiny objects to distract you. You must stay focused. Shiny object number one will be the GOP grandstanding to get Planned Parenthood’s navigator grant rescinded. The Administration gave...

Last night at 6:00 pm the phone rang and it was my Senator, Lindsey Graham hosting a "townhall" telephone meeting sponsored by Townhall (I think this was Townhall.com, but I am not sure). The purpose of this meeting was for Lindsey to answer questions from his constituents in a live format.