Free Republic

“Hope that in the future, all is well, everyone eats free, no one must work, all just sit around feeling love for one another.” — George Saunders Believe it or not, the above statement is printed on the bag issued by the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. Saunders, a fiction writer who teaches at Syracuse University, has been converted to Buddhism and has adopted an anti-consumer, anti-corporate-culture and anti-capitalist philosophy. It’s a sad commentary when a major consumer corporation buys into his hippie-style philosophy and encourages people to live off of others and to adopt the welfare, no-workfare mentality. Food,...

A former member of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl‘s platoon interrupted a Democrat on Capital Hill Wednesday as he asked an academic expert about conditions the soldier might have endured in Afghanistan to tell him “nobody else deserted.” Much to the consternation of U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., former Army Specialist Cody Full asked for permission to speak as the lawmaker was in the process of building a case that Bergdahl may have had reason to act in “an inexplicable manner.”

Just a pep talk in the wake of all our anger at the crooked pro-amnesty and H1b RINO Lindsey Graham winning the SC primary, even amid the jubilation at David Brat's win-- I was in South Carolina myself recently and Lindsey Graham really has suffered tremendously for his support of that disgusting immigration reform bill as a Gang of 8 member. But it didn't surprise me that he was able to hang on, due to simple circumstances he was going to be all but impossible to unseat in this go-around, and in fact the lessons from 2014 will guide us...

Full Title: ABC Hypes Potential Gitmo Closing: ‘Allegations of Waterboarding...Have Turned This Place Into A Terrorist Recruiters Dream’///   With the exchange of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for the release of five Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo Bay complete, ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos used the opportunity to promote the possibility of Gitmo closing its doors.  On Sunday, June 8, Byron Pitts, ABC’s Chief National Correspondent peddled the line that “700 men have come through Gitmo since the beginning of the war on terror when these pictures of shackled and hooded men shock the world. Some say past allegations of...

They heard someone saying that an American soldier was looking for an English speaker so he could talk with the Taliban. "Following his disappearance, IEDs started going off directly under the trucks. They were getting perfect hits every time. Their ambushes were very calculated, very methodical,"

Two Republican lawmakers said President Barack Obama violated U.S. laws when he approved the exchange of an American soldier believed held by Islamist insurgents for five years for five Afghan detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon of California and Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma said Saturday in a statement that Obama is required by law to notify Congress 30 days before any transfer of terrorists from the U.S. detention facility.

Republican Rep. David Valadao says he’s not worried that Congress’ failure to pass immigration legislation will hurt his prospects for re-election to a district in California’s agricultural heartland. Same goes for GOP Rep. Jeff Denham, who represents a neighboring district in the state’s San Joaquin Valley. Still, the California congressmen are making sure voters know they support an immigration overhaul. They’re aware that Democrats will try to turn the congressional gridlock into an advantage during this year’s midterm elections. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $300,000 on television ads in Valadao’s district, noting that he is the son of immigrants....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican National Committee wants to take more control over how the party picks a White House nominee. The RNC was to meet Wednesday in Memphis, Tennessee, to choose members who will effectively set the calendar for 2016's long list of potential presidential contenders. If the party's chairman, Reince Priebus gets his way, the GOP will pick its nominee more quickly than during past contests and have fewer debates in which candidates could criticize each other. The RNC also was expected to put penalties in place for candidates who don't follow the committee's plans. RNC officials described...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton needs to provide "hours and hours" of private depositions if any House select committee is effective in uncovering what happened in the 2012 Benghazi deaths that killed four Americans, former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said on Saturday. "The public hearings that get so much attention are the last things that should happen," Bolton, who served in the George W. Bush White House, told Jeanine Pirro on her Fox News program. "We need former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton giving hours and hours of depositions before they put her back out in public testimony. That's...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama is getting a number of critical report cards on his foreign and domestic policies lately. Here at home, Janet Yellen, in her first monetary policy address as the head of the Federal Reserve Board, said the labor markets were still weak, and that it will likely take two years or more before the U.S. fully recovers from its recession. Ouch. If Yellen's forecast proves right, this means it will have taken Obama's administration nearly eight years to lift our economy out of its long and painful lethargy.

A prominent super PAC of key allies of President George W. Bush and failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, formed to give Republicans who support amnesty legislation air cover, failed to raise any money during the first quarter of this year. Carlos Gutierrez, the former Bush Commerce Secretary, and Charlie Spies, the co-founder of Restore Our Future, which was the biggest pro-Romney super PAC, formed the Republicans For Immigration Reform super PAC "to provide political support for Republican candidates" backing comprehensive immigration reform. According to its Federal Election Commission report, which was filed on April 15 and covers the period from...

The mention of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was resoundingly booed when Donald Trump brought up Bush's comments about illegal immigration being "an act of love." Speaking at the inaugural Freedom Summit in New Hampshire on Saturday, which was organized by Americans for Prosperity and Citizens United, Trump said he has heard a lot of crazy things but that Bush's comment was “out there.”“And he was talking about people that come into this country illegally, they do it for love,” he said, according to The Hill. “And I said, say it again I didn’t get — that’s one I’ve never heard before…...

Tea party groups are organizing this weekend to protest the “betrayal” by GOP House leadership and twenty-five other members at a tropical summit organized by a group working to undermine the Tea Party. “Come to Amelia Island for our rally, and if you have time and resources, stay for a weekend of RINO hunting!” a local Florida tea party announcement touted. The summit, sponsored by a sub group PAC of the Republican Main Street Partnership, is taking place at the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. Tea party protesters are expected to begin rallying Thursday evening and throughout the weekend...

Two House GOP moderates—Reps. David Joyce (R-OH) and Mike Simpson (R-ID)—made comments this week that are sure to infuriate the House GOP conference. In an interview published on YouTube as part of a series called “Solon Speaks” in Solon, Ohio, hosted by Terry Dean, Joyce said Obamacare is the law of the land—and here to stay: "The Affordable Care Act, like it or not, is the law of the land. The Supreme Court passed it. Now we’re struggling to implement what is the law of the land. In the last Congress, they put up 23 odd bills that tried to...

Ever the happy warrior of the left, Sen. Chuck Schumer is not giving up on his pipe dream: amnesty for illegal aliens in 2014. Appearing on MSNBC on Monday, Schumer said he thinks it still can happen this year thanks to a group of liberal Republicans—what he thinks is the majority of Republicans—who will stand by silently, letting amnesty pass while voting against it in the end. He called it the “vote-no, pray-yes caucus,” meaning that certain Republicans would publicly claim they are against amnesty, vote against it in the end, but behind the scenes either fight for its passage...

The clumsiness and incoherence, if not madness, of this administration’s foreign policies are creating havoc around the world. No one wrapped up the story of the chaos better than Sultan Knish did this week: When Bush left office at the end of his second term, the region was mostly stable aside from Iran’s nuclear program. By the time Obama had finished his first term, it was in a state of endless war.

South Carolina Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan is dropping his co-sponsorship of an immigration bill House Republicans have been quietly working to include in the upcoming Department of Defense authorization bill, saying the language should never have been considered to be added to the unrelated measure. Late Wednesday, Duncan said he hadn't been aware of efforts by the bill's author, California Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), to add the language to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) – and that if it were added, “NDAA would lose my vote as well.” At issue is a proposal to allow so-called DREAMers to obtain...

Islamofascism: With an eye toward the 2016 election, the radical Muslim Brotherhood has built the framework for a political party in America that seeks to turn Muslims into an Islamist voting bloc. 'Muslim voters have the potential to be swing voters in 2016," said Nihad Awad in launching the benign-sounding U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, whose membership reads like a Who's Who of Brotherhood front groups. "We are aiming to bring more participation from the Muslim community." USCMO also aims to elect Islamists in Washington, with the ultimate objective of "institutionalizing policies" favorable to Islamists — that is, Shariah law....

State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) was charged Wednesday with conspiring to commit wire fraud and traffic firearms, part of a sweeping public corruption case outlined by federal prosecutors. The charges sent shock waves through the San Francisco and Sacramento political establishments, as FBI agents searched Yee's Capitol office. Last year the FBI raided the offices of Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello), who was targeted in a bribery sting. SNIP The indictment alleges Yee and Jackson defrauded "citizens of honest services" and were involved in a scheme to traffic firearms in exchange for thousands in campaign donations to the senator. SNIP...

Liberal Democrats and the Republican establishment have disliked Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) mainly because of his staunch fiscal conservatism and his association with the Tea Party. Now, they may be colluding to try to oust him from his House seat by manipulating California's "jungle primary" system in which the top-two finishers advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.