Free Republic

The housing data will roll in again and it could reveal much more about the economy than the jobs report. There are interesting dynamics, such as the young adults who settle with paying rent, while putting off ownership. And for those looking to own, thereÂ’s a growing appetite for new homes.Later this morning, we get the latest data on housing starts and permits, which have mostly been disappointing. While, the starts are up from the trough, they are still below the historical average and more than 50% below the peak of 2004.Although, there have been a lot of miscues with...

Hillary Clinton: Six Big Questions Liberals Want Her To Answer – Now Immigration reform, LGBT rights and dark money are sources of concern for many on the left as the Democrat’s campaign gets off the ground Ed Pilkington 17 April 2015 1. Immigration reform: Can she clear a pathway to citizenship? On the first leg of her campaign in Iowa, Clinton implied that she was in favour of comprehensive immigration reform. She didn’t spell out what she meant by that, however, and in the past has taken a much harder line. In 2006, she voted in favour of building more...

After teasing reporters earlier Friday that he was set to reveal his presidential ambitions for 2016, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee went on Fox News to instead say that he will announce his plans in his home state next month. "Come to Hope on May the 5th. You'll find out what's going to happen," Huckabee told Bret Baier on "Special Report" Friday night. "I think it'll be worth tuning in for." Huckabee told Baier that, if he ran, he did not think he needed to win the Iowa caucuses—which he won in 2008—to earn the GOP nomination, but that he...

Supreme Summoning: Chief Justice John Roberts Called For Jury Duty By John Verhovek and Ariane de Vogue, CNN April 16, 2015 Washington (CNN)Most Americans often seek ways to avoid jury duty. But one potential juror in Maryland on Wednesday morning had quite the excuse. Chief Justice John Roberts was seen at a Montgomery County courthouse performing his civic duty as a prospective juror for a car crash case, according to a report first published by The Washington Post. Although Roberts ultimately was not chosen to serve on a jury, that's probably just as well, because oral arguments before the Supreme...

Activists from AFGE Local 1920, AFGE Local 2109, and AFGE District 10 rallied in solidarity at Fort Hood Army Base Wednesday in support of a $15/hour minimum wage and a union for all workers. They joined labor activists all across the country who protested on April 15 to demand higher wages for low-wage workers, including those employed by the federal government.“We’re standing up for our colleagues,” said Cheryl Eliano, AFGE District 10 National Vice President. “These dedicated workers support our troops every day, but can’t afford to support their own families.”AFGE stands in solidarity with the Fight for 15 campaign....

WASHINGTON - The American people are overtaxed by a waste-ridden government whose grotesquely swollen budget could be shrunk by hundreds of billions of dollars without harming its necessary functions and programs. We know this is true because of years of shocking audits produced by Congress's Government Accountability Office that have exposed massive levels of waste, inefficiency, duplication, mismanagement and thievery throughout the federal bureaucracy. Keep this in mind the next time you hear the Democrats in Congress and President Obama proposing that we raise taxes on wealthier Americans who, they say, "aren't paying their fair share." It's one of the...

Dr. Langdon Winner, who describes himself as “very liberal to put it mildly,” believes that the terrorist organization is “imaginary.” Dr. Winner has also written that white people don’t exist, the Black Panthers of the 1960s have been right all along, and that conservatives “love to humiliate the poor.” He works as a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute... ...Yet most stunning is that Professor Winner believes that ISIS is an "imaginary foe" and that the true enemy of the United States is capitalism:

Republican Party Wrestles With Immigration Stance as It Courts Hispanics Texas fight over college benefits for immigrants highlights GOP split By LAURA MECKLER April 17, 2015 HOUSTON—Republicans here want to repeal the 14-year-old law that allows immigrants, legal or not, the benefit of in-state college tuition, and for Artemio Muniz, defending the law is both personal and political. As the U.S.-born son of Mexican parents who lived as illegal immigrants, Mr. Muniz sees higher education as the American way to the middle class. As a Republican activist eyeing an increasingly diverse electorate,...

Joe McGinnis, a young writer who got access to the advertising agency with the Nixon account in 1968, changed the way we thought about electing presidents with his best-seller, "The Selling of the President." The very idea that a presidential candidate could be packaged like a tube of toothpaste, a can of shaving cream or a pack of cigarettes was shocking. Americans held elections as something close to a sacred trust, and the cover of the McGinnis book featured Richard Nixon's face on that pack of cigarettes, suggesting (this was before "Mad Men") that Madison Avenue would stoop even so...

Waynesboro Police Department News Release: The Waynesboro Police Department arrested a Waynesboro man Friday morning after he stole a box of fruit snacks from a local grocery store and then fled from officers. Marquis Lamar Pullen, 19 years old, faces two misdemeanors after last week's incident at the Kroger, 245 Arch Avenue, which happens to be across the street from the Police Department. At11:15 AM on March 20, an officer responded to the store for a report of a male shoplifter, later identified as Pullen, who had taken some merchandise. Before the officer arrived, the WEOC broadcast that the suspect...

Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) has endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for president, giving the 2016 contender his first endorsement. “Ted Cruz is committed to restoring the America we know and love," Culberson said in a statement. "He will restore the true meaning of the 10th Amendment to get the federal government out of our lives, out of our pockets and out of our way. President Ted Cruz will ensure that Texans truly run Texas.” Cruz's campaign has struggled to get support from his colleagues in Congress. Fellow Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) said that he would stay neutral in the...

CBS NEWS April 17, 2015 REENA FLORES Obama: Loretta Lynch Delay "Embarrassing" President Obama criticized the delay of Loretta Lynch's confirmation as U.S. attorney general, calling it "embarrassing" and a "crazy situation." "What we still have is this crazy situation where a woman who everybody agrees is qualified... has been now sitting there for longer than the previous seven attorney generals combined," Mr. Obama said during a joint press conference with Matteo Renzi, Italy's prime minister. "And there's no reason for it. Nobody can describe a reason for it beyond political gamesmanship in the Senate. "There are times where the...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Florida governor Jeb Bush on Friday once again defended his decision to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman whose death capped an intense national debate about ethics and politics, but also suggested that Medicare recipients should be required to outline end-of-life care plans before accepting the benefits. "I don’t think I would have changed anything," he said in response to a questioner during a "Politics and Eggs" breakfast here Friday. "I stayed within the constitutional responsibilities or authority that I had. We changed the law first and then a year later it...

Incestuous Washington Publication Bravely Reports on Washington Incestuousness by BRENDAN BORDELON April 17, 2015 Politico ran a lengthy piece revealing the romantic relationship between House Transportation Committee chairman Bill Shuster and Shelley Rubino, a high-powered airline-industry lobbyist. The story’s length, prominent placement, and breathless tone raised more than a few eyebrows, given that legal experts interviewed for the piece say the relationship “would not appear to violate ethics laws.” But there’s another reason the piece warrants a double-take: For all the hand-wringing over romantic relationships between politicians and lobbyists, the reporters and staff of Politico itself, as much if not...

Psychologically healthy people do not commit suicide. Changing genders is an outward expression of some form of depression that started long before the suicide.

Dear Richard Meek, Here is today's Sixty Second Activist ACTION ITEM: ISSUE: Hillary Rodham Clinton has been trying for years to give government more control over children. Critics say the efforts undermine parental authority. Now, conservatives suspect Sen. Clinton may be hitching her political ambitions to still another "wagon." Citing her concern for the health needs of children amid the threat of bioterrorism, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., recently introduced legislation that would establish a new task force and preparations for an attack in which children are affected.[snip]ohn Paulton, of Focus on the Family, is suspicious of the New York...

Last month, Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican, became one of the first major candidates in the marathon slog that is our modern presidential election cycle. Usually, when I want to see people get hit while running an obstacle course, I binge-watch Wipeout, the popular ABC show. But as anyone on social media is certainly well aware, there is no escaping our country’s least-enjoyable reality show: America’s Next Top Presidential Candidate (until the Next One, and the Next One, and the One After That). This year, my election fatigue is already so bad, I won’t even watch political gaffes on...

"Could a U.S. response to Russia's action in Ukraine provoke a confrontation that leads to a U.S.-Russia War?" This jolting question is raised by Graham Allison and Dimitri Simes in the cover article of The National Interest. The answer the authors give, in "Countdown to War: The Coming U.S. Russia Conflict," is that the odds are shortening on a military collision between the world's largest nuclear powers. The cockpit of the conflict, should it come, will be Ukraine. What makes the article timely is the report that Canada will be sending 200 soldiers to western Ukraine to join 800 Americans...

At the top of this year Magpul announced yet another ground-breaking product, the PMAG 17. An inexpensive polymer 17-round Magpul magazine for Glock 17s, the PMAG 17 was guaranteed to succeed even before it hit the market. About the only thing that could go wrong was if some small, but critical step or test was overlooked. A small but critical mistake was made. Just a few days after the public release of the PMAG 17 Magpul has confirmed that some magazines are not feeding correctly when paired with other 9mm Glock pistols, specifically the Glock 19 and Glock 26. “Of...

Officer accused of Tasering unarmed man in 2013 but police report said he was 'exonerated'..."He said he wanted to come in, but didn't say why," said Givens, now 33. "He never said who he was looking for." Then, without warning, Slager pushed in the door, he said. "'Come outside or I'll Tase you,"' he recalled the officer saying as he burst in. "I didn't want that to happen to me, so I raised my arms over my head, and when I did, he tased me in my stomach anyway." Though initially accused of resisting the officers, Givens was later released...