Free Republic

Had it up to here with Windows? Can't take another "blue screen of death"? Another 10-minute wait for your laptop to boot? Another spyware or virus hassle? Heck, maybe you just think Microsoft got it so far wrong with Windows 8.1, it's time for a change.In fact, maybe it's time for Linux.The open-source operating system offers users a Windows-like alternative with a few key advantages: It's free.Most software for Linux: also free.It runs briskly with less horsepower under the hood, making it a good choice for older PCs.No viruses. No spyware. No adware.You can choose from a variety of user-interface...

Christian conservatives are trying to draft historian David Barton to challenge Sen. John Cornyn of Texas in the Republican primary this spring, Politico reports. Despite being voted one of the most conservative members of Congress by the National Journal in 2010, Cornyn apparently isn’t conservative enough for tea party activists who have elevated Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to hero status. Barton is an eloquent orator, broadcaster, and author who heads WallBuilders, a national organization that promotes “the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America was built,” according to its website. His critics have labeled him anti-gay and some historians...

Has abortion provider Steven Brigham opened a new clinic in Pennsylvania, even though the state has barred him from doing so, and even though abortion clinics are being scrutinized under a recently enacted state law? His critics think so. The new clinic, Integrity Family Health, is on Bustleton Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia. The state Department of Health did an initial inspection and issued a permit, called a registration, eight weeks ago, then added the facility to its online list of abortion clinics in the Keystone State. The new clinic's connections to Brigham are circumstantial but were enough to concern some...

Did Obama Lie for the Same Reason That Al Gore Lied? Al Gore’s position that man is the primary cause of global warming caused Gore to justify lying to the people because of the importance of his opinion. As I listened to Obama lie about his lies, I wondered if Obama applied Al Gore’s rationale to allow Obama’s mind to excuse his lie. Al Gore used the words “over-representation” when he lied. However, Al Gore never emphasized his lies by adding the word “period” to assure the people of the correctness of his lie. Al Gore said, in an...

What happens when government legalizes fraud? By STEVEN W. AUNAN Special to the Observer November 5, 2013 No one likes being defrauded. It’s bad enough to have your money taken by some huckster, but it’s even worse when you realize it was your own damn fault. My first exposure to fraud occurred at the county fair. I remember the feeling of excitement as I plunked down the first dollar and threw the first baseball. My dad, a former minor league catcher, was coaching my little league team that year, and I was convinced I’d win on the first try. Nine...

Last week's column, "Is There a Way Out?", generated quite a few responses, some a bit angry. Some people were offended by my reference to Social Security and Medicare as entitlements or handouts. They said that they worked for 45 years and paid into Social Security and Medicare and how dare I refer to the money they now receive as an entitlement. These people have been duped by Congress and shouldn't be held totally accountable for such a belief. Let's examine the plethora of congressional Social Security lies. I'll leave the Medicare lies for another column. The Social Security pamphlet...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Obama’s Tour of LiesPosted By Arnold Ahlert On November 6, 2013 @ 12:25 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 3 Comments President Barack Obama is a liar. Not a person who “misspoke,” as the New York Times editorial board ridiculously asserted last Sunday. His promise that if Americans liked their healthcare plan they could keep it — made on at least  23 separate, videotaped occasions — was not the ”half true” statement the equally corrupt politifact.com website contended it was. Nor did the president make a ”campaign pledge which did not hold up to the realities of governing,” as shameless TV host Bill...

The NRSC announced today that it will be spending money to defeat Mitch McConnell in the Kentucky primary. Well, at least that is the implication of their statement, according to Politico: Burned by intraparty warfare the last two election cycles, the Senate Republican campaign committee may take a heavier hand in contested primaries next year to push their preferred candidates across the finish line, a top official said Tuesday. The National Republican Senatorial Committee’s move would mark a dramatic shift from 2012, when the committee sat out contested GOP primaries to avoid meddling in the party’s internal affairs. But after...

President Barack Obama is doubling down on his Obamacare lies. He is now trying to erase retroactively his point-blank assurance to the American people that “if you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan, period.” Drawing on his golfing experience, he is insisting on a mulligan as millions of Americans are losing the health insurance policies they have chosen because of Obamacare mandates. “What we said was you could keep it if it hasn’t changed since the law was passed,” he told Obamacare’s political beneficiaries and contractors this past Monday during a speech they...

When the facts are considered in the slim victory that terribly flawed Democrat Terry McAuliffe had against Ken Cuccinelli, it’s hard to deny the conclusion that the Republican party decided it was better to abandon Virginia to the Democrat party than to allow the Tea Party and social conservatives to win. Here they are: The Republican National Committee spent three times as much in 2009 on the same race as they did this year. The Chamber of Commerce spent one million dollars in the last Governor’s race, and not one dime on Cuccinelli. While its often claimed that Tea Party...

Lindsey Graham is talking tough and taking a hard right turn in his bid to win the GOP primary in South Carolina. Graham is apparently attempting to appeal to his base and win over conservative voters in light of recent polls that show his support in the South Carolina GOP primary race may be eroding, thanks in part to his soft stance on Obamacare, as well as his support for amnesty for illegal immigrants and spying on American citizens by the NSA. On Fox News Sunday on Nov. 3, Graham promised to introduce legislation that would ban abortions after 20...

A Canadian company has applied to build the largest oil pipeline yet from western North Dakota’s booming oil patch and will soon begin courting oil producers to reserve space, a key step in a $2.6 billion project that would move millions of gallons of oil to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge Energy is proposing the 612-mile Sandpiper pipeline to each day carry 225,000 barrels of oil to a hub in northern Minnesota and 375,000 barrels to one in northwestern Wisconsin. If approved by regulators, it would be the largest pipeline moving oil out of North Dakota, the nation’s second-leading...

Conservative firebrand Ann Coulter is slated to speak at the University of Southern California this Sunday, an event that has prompted talk of a protest and a firestorm of online controversy on Facebook, where many USC students called the best-selling author and political pundit an anti-Muslim xenophobic demagogue. “I’m gonna be really surprised if this women makes it out of USC alive lol,” wrote one student on the event’s evite on Facebook. “Based upon her ignorance and the amount of hate she’s brought, I expect a riot this Sunday. Not advocating such a thing of course but if it were...

Students on the University health insurance plan may see an increase in premiums, a change in benefits or even closure next year in the wake of the Affordable Care Act. “So whether or not there will be a student health insurance program next year is going to be really dependent on a really simple question: Can we offer an equal or better plan for less?” said Rick Curtis, director of Curry Health Center. Since 2010, the student program has faced declining enrollment and higher monthly premiums. Enrollment in SHIP declined sharply with the passing of health care reform in 2010,...

The market is fine for some things, people will say, but other activities are too important to be left to the market. Or too complicated. Or too fundamental to our democracy. I say: Privatize everything. To some of you, that will sound callous -- but failure to privatize services, keeping them in government hands instead, is what impoverishes and kills people. Nothing compassionate about that. Take organ donations. Regulations forbid buying and selling organs, so the market cannot operate. Desperate patients must wait and hope someone gives out of sheer generosity, that someone dies at just the right time, and...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the Palestinians for the apparent stalemate in their peace talks, accusing them of creating "artificial crises" and incitement. He spoke after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is attempting to revive the peace process. The direct negotiations launched in July have shown little sign of progress and are due to end next April. Mr Kerry will later meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The secretary of state has denied media speculation that he may propose a new interim peace deal. Kerry confident Mr Netanyahu said Israel stood by the terms...

NOVEMBER 5--A Wisconsin man was arrested early today after zapping his wife with a stun gun after winning a bet with her on last night’s "Monday Night Football" contest, police report. According to a criminal complaint, John Grant, a 42-year-old Chicago Bears fan, and his wife Nicole, a Green Bay Packers backer, made a taser wager on the game at Lambeau Field. If the visiting Bears won, the couple agreed, John would be able to tase Nicole for three seconds. When the Bears prevailed 27-20, Nicole was tased several times while the couple partied at the Sidelines Tap bar in...

Former model and Baseball Wives star Anna Benson pleaded guilty today to attacking her Mets pitcher husband Kris Benson, with whom she has three children, in Georgia. The 37-year-old was sentenced to 15 years probation and 90 days of inpatient psychiatric therapy at an out-of-state facility in exchange for her plea. Benson broke into her estranged husband's home on July 7 with a gun and a metal baton and threatened to kill him if he didn't give her $30,000. She plead guilty to aggravated assault and gun possession but prosecutors have dismissed the burglary charge and aggravated assault charge for...

CORALVILLE, Iowa -- After an election season unlike any other in this town’s – and probably Eastern Iowa’s – history, Coralville voters Tuesday chose to stick with the status quo. And that earned congratulatory phone calls from Vice President Joe Biden, who spoke Tuesday night with mayor-elect John Lundell and City Council member Tom Gill, who won re-election. The message in his five-minute conversation, Lundell said, was “to congratulate Coralville for smashing Americans for Prosperity, and he was really proud of our city.” Americans for Prosperity is a national organization founded by the conservative billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch....

Arnold Schwarzenegger won re-election handily in 2006, defeating his hapless opponent Phil Angelides by a 56% to 38.9% margin. Yet this sizable win was a meaningless victory for the GOP. Similarly, Chris Christie’s thumping victory on Tuesday night over an equally forgettable candidate contains almost no national meaning, save that Chris Christie is good for Chris Christie. Like Schwarzenegger, Christie cruised to re-election not as a real Republican but as a preening non-partisan moderate. Like Schwarzenegger, Christie’s popularity hasn’t translated into any support for Republicans in his own legislature.Which raises the question: How could Christie turn blue states red nationwide...