Free Republic

MILWAUKEE —A new Marquette University Law School poll finds Hillary Clinton leading a possible presidential matchup against Gov. Scott Walker. However, Walker leads Republicans in the presidential race. Forty percent support a Walker run while 10 percent favor Rand Paul, 8 percent for Jeb Bush, and 6 percent each for Chris Christie and Ted Cruz. The poll finds that among Wisconsin voters, Clinton leads Walker 52 percent to 40 percent. The poll also showed that Walker's approval rating in the state has slipped. The most recent poll showed a 41 percent approval rating, compared to 49 percent in October. Looking...

Ted Cruz hauled in more than $4 million during his first nine days as a formal presidential candidate—with help from a handful of Rick Perry's top donors. Five members of Perry's leadership PAC advisory board contributed to Cruz's presidential campaign in late March, a National Journal review of Federal Election Commission records found. San Antonio auto dealer Red McCombs, Austin oil executive Ben "Bud" Brigham, Houston chemical company executive Steven P. Mach, retired Houston technology executive Holloway Frost, and Houston Republican Kathaleen Wall each wrote four-figure checks to Cruz's campaign in late March. Those five donors were also among the...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to learn to “play ball” with Democrats instead of trying to roll them, Sen. Charles E. Schumer said Thursday in a hallway interview. Schumer, the heir apparent to Minority Leader Harry Reid, called the Kentucky Republican’s decision to hold hostage Loretta Lynch’s nomination as attorney general over the abortion dispute on the sex trafficking bill “a big mistake” and said Democrats are still holding the line against any expansion of the Hyde Amendment restrictions on abortion funding. “Look, the Democrats, we hung tough on every time they’ve challenged us,” the New York Democrat said....

<p>At this time of year, the last thing anyone wants to think about is paying more taxes. But there's one tax I'm in favor of - and you should be, too, if you care about your health and the health of the planet: a sin tax on meat, cheese and other animal-based foods.</p>

"I don't look at a man who's expert in one area as a specialist," McGregor told Esquire. "I look at him as a rookie in ten other areas...It would take me less than thirty seconds to wrap around him like a boa constrictor and strangle him."

Neither Sens. Rand Paul nor Marco Rubio signed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the Supreme Court to allow the question of marriage to be decided by the states. Ted Cruz is the only announced presidential candidate from the Senate who’s signed the brief which was joined by 57 members of congress, but only only six Senators. The brief argues that that — based on the ideas of Federalism — the issue of marriage has traditionally been left to the states and that is where the Supreme Court ought to let it stay. “[O]ut of deference to the States as separate sovereigns...

Top Russian officials accused the United States on Thursday of seeking political and military dominance and sought to put blame on the West for international security crises, including the conflict in east Ukraine. Evoking Cold War-style rhetoric, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said a drive by the United States and its allies to bring Kiev closer to the West was a threat to Moscow and had forced it to react.

Congressional leaders announced they had reached a deal on legislation Thursday that if approved by Congress would speed consideration of President Obama's trade agenda. The fast-track legislation, formally known as trade promotion authority, would make it easier for the administration to negotiate trade deals by preventing Congress from amending them. It could ease negotiations on an agreement with 11 Latin American and Asian countries known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would be the largest trade deal for the United States since the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. Finishing the deal, a top priority for the White...

When asked in February what his proudest accomplishment was as a leading figure in the Obama administration, former White House advisor David Axelrod replied by touting the administration’s record on ethics. “I’m proud of the fact that basically you’ve had an administration that’s been in place for six years in which there hasn’t been a major scandal,” he said. To this, conservatives laughed. There is a difference between being scandal-free and deftly navigating the media environment to ensure that no individual controversy shatters the foundations of the public’s trust in the president. While the administration’s political team has been able...

Nearly two weeks ago, just prior to his appearance at Steve King’s Iowa Freedom Summit, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz carved out some time to meet with leading liberty activists from around Iowa. The low-key meeting, held in Des Moines, was many activists’ first time to meet the libertarian-leaning Tea Party firebrand. It was also Cruz’s first time fielding questions from a crowd comprised almost exclusively of members of the thriving Iowa Liberty Movement. Cruz opened with high praise for former Rep. Ron Paul’s rapidly-maturing political army. “The power, the energy of the Liberty Movement is inspirational,” said Cruz. “I think...

American Family Association (AFA) is alerting parents about the upcoming "Day of Silence," sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which urges teen students to practice homosexual activism in the public school classroom on Friday, April 17. On this day, AFA reported in an Action Alert yesterday to its 1 million friends and supporters, thousands of public high schools and an increasing number of middle schools will allow students to remain silent throughout an entire day—even during instructional time—to promote GLSEN's socio-political goals. "Parents must actively oppose this hijacking of the classroom for political purposes," said AFA...

Muslims who were among migrants trying to get from Libya to Italy in a boat this week threw 12 fellow passengers overboard -- killing them -- because the 12 were Christians, Italian police said Thursday.

The Vatican on Thursday unexpectedly ended its controversial reform of the main umbrella group of U.S. nuns, cementing a shift in tone and treatment of the U.S. sisters under the social justice-minded Pope Francis. The Vatican said it had accepted a final report on its overhaul of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and declared that the “implementation of the mandate has been accomplished” nearly two years ahead of schedule. It was an abrupt about-face given that just last year, the head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, sharply rebuked the LCWR for its “regrettable” attitude and behavior...

President Obama’s long-stalled nominee for attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has refused to commit to investigating former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email secrecy scandal if confirmed as America’s top cop. Responding to a question submitted by Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, Mrs. Lynch said in a letter Thursday that she didn’t have enough information to form an opinion about investigating Mrs. Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email account to conduct official business at the State Department. “In my current role as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, my awareness of this issue has...

RUSH: The New York Times -- let me get to this later, too. But I just want to tease you with it. They have a column here by Thomas B. Edsall. Now, that name might ring a bell. Thomas B. Edsall used to write at the Washington Post. Be "Warshington," for those of you in Rio Linda. And after leaving the Washington Post and now writing opinion pieces now and then for the New York Times, he has been involved in, I think, the Obama campaign somehow. Not a direct paid participant, but there's been a linkage there. Anyway, he's...

IRAN BILL BATTLE: "Congress’s Role in Iran Nuclear Deal Shows Limits of Obama’s Power" by Peter Baker: "In his assertions of executive power to advance his agenda in an era of gridlock, President Obama has been largely on offense. But his latest battle with Congress not only left him on defense, it actually broke the gridlock. Against him. Mr. Obama’s abrupt decision to sign a compromise version of legislation on Iran that he had previously vowed to veto was a bruising retreat in his larger campaign to act without Congress’s getting in his way. In this case, partisanship gave way...

Mason High School is in Mason, Ohio. Several parents have passed on to me the notice below, which they received from the school. Note that the Muslim Student Association is involved — a group with tie to the Muslim Brotherhood. When is A Cross-Wearer’s Challenge day at Mason High? When is A Yarmulke Wearer’s Challenge day at Mason High? Or is it only Islam that gets this treatment?

The oil-rich nation is opening its stock market -- the largest in the Middle East -- to foreign investors on June 15, the government announced Thursday. The Saudi market -- worth an estimated $530 billion -- is more than double the size of the Tel Aviv stock exchange in Israel. Previously, only Saudi-based investors could buy stocks there. By mid-June, international firms will be able to buy stocks in the country's exchange, the Tadawul All Share Index. This will likely encourage mutual funds and ETFs to add some Saudi stocks to their holdings, especially in emerging market funds. The move...

Researchers working in Kenya's archaeologically prolific Lake Turkana region claim to have uncovered a set of 3.3-million-year-old stone tools. That's 700,000 years older than the previous record, and predates evidence for the evolutionary origins of the genus Homo by half a million years. Above: A satellite image of Lake Turkana, where the stone tools – and many other artifacts and fossils of human ancestors – have been recovered NPR's Chris Joyce reports on the findings of Stony Brook University archaeologist Sonia Harmand and her colleagues, which were announced Tuesday at the annual meeting of the Paleoanthropology Society in San Francisco:...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZNUDKes0VM