Free Republic

Republicans lost the 2012 presidential election during their primaries. By the time Mitt Romney secured his party’s nomination, the seeds of his defeat had already germinated. The challenge for Republicans in 2016 will be to keep that from happening again. And no issue is more fraught with dangers for Republicans than immigration. Of the three announced Republican candidates — Sens. Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul — Rubio is probably in the best position to avoid the mistakes of the past. OPINION Paul’s problem is that he has been all over the board on immigration. Although he has recently...

Only yesterday Jeb Bush was the Republican flavor of the week, the favorite of the Republican establishment, those wonderful folks who yearn for a nice man who oozes political propriety and respectability. Establishment Republicans — Rockefeller Republicans, they were once called — live in dread of frightening the horses.They’re something like the young man sent off to college with his mother’s entreaty to remember his raising ringing in his ears: “Remember, son, what you have been taught, go to church, say your prayers, avoid worldly temptations, stay away from loose women, and pay no attention to those who mock you...

As the days of America's future dwindle down to a precious few I take to my keyboard with a self imposed mission, that being to record the fall and a hope to minimize our casualties. I have long since come to terms with the reality that through America's collapse the death toll will be staggering and the misery felt by all so very hard to bear that many will break under the strain. My coming to terms with another reality is far more difficult, that being that so very few are even aware of the danger. They live comfortably in...

[Video only] Watch the full version of the 4th Annual “Salute to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans”, featuring General James N. Mattis, USMC (Ret.) at the Marines’ Memorial Club on April 16, 2015. The program included a Social Reception that followed General Mattis’ remarks.

Good Times actor Ben Powers has died, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 64. While a cause of death has yet to be revealed, an obituary created by his loved ones has surfaced that reveals the actor passed away April 6 in New Bedford, Mass. Powers was best known for his role as Keith Anderson on the '70s sitcom Good Times. His character was married to Thelma Evans played by BerNadette Stanis.

Interventionism, Allegedly a Middle-of-the-Road Policy A second group seems to be less radical. They reject socialism no less than capitalism. They recommend a third system, which, as they say, is as far from capitalism as it is from socialism, which as a third system of society's economic organization, stands midway between the two other systems, and while retaining the advantages of both, avoids the disadvantages inherent in each. This third system is known as the system of interventionism. In the terminology of American politics it is often referred to as the middle-of-the-road policy. What makes this third system popular with...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) celebrated Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day by denying its scope, Palestinian Media Watch revealed Sunday - claiming that instead of six million Jews killed by the Nazis, there were only 1-2 million. "Estimates regarding the number of Holocaust victims differ," an Op/Ed penned by columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul for the official PA Al-Hayat Al-Jadida claimed. "The supporters of the Zionist movement have exaggerated the number of victims, claiming that it amounts to 6 million, whereas others, unbiased researchers, have estimated that there were between one and two million Jewish victims." "Regardless of the number, the bottom line...

Ted Cruz rally in Spartanburg, SC

Billionaire biz baron Elon Musk has revealed a few more details about why SpaceX's latest attempt to land a rocket in one piece at sea had failed. The Register reported on the drama as it unfolded on Tuesday. Once again, Falcon 9 successfully launched the capsule payload to 'nauts on the International Space Station, only for the rocket to hit the "just read the instructions" deck hard on its shaky return to Earth.

“The difference is purely in implementation. If you had a philosophical discussion on what the world should look like, there would be no difference.”(AUDIO-AT-LINK) Rand Paul’s brother says that when it comes to ideology, there’s “no difference” between his brother, the Kentucky senator and Republican presidential candidate, and his father, the former congressman and three-time presidential candidate. Ronnie Paul, the eldest son of the former congressman and sometimes-surrogate for his brother, was speaking with libertarian podcaster Israel Anderson. He said that both his brother and father held the same beliefs, there’s just a difference in the implementation of how to...

Friends, it's Sunday night again and time to relax. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio Americana. Listen LiveInfo *tonight's show will be available at the "Info" link starting tomorrow.Official OTR blog of "The Big Broadcast" thread: http://kallmansalley.com/

Oh, the delicious, delicious irony.Yesterday was Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day, which was celebrated with a concert and other festivities on the National Mall. While the concert itself was powered by solar energy, the attendees could have learned a lesson or two about taking care of planet Earth.For instance, check out these trash and recycling cans I spotted near the National Mall, close to the Washington Monument: scenes from the Earth Day concert on the Mall pic.twitter.com/3kKQOe2qax— Christine Rousselle (@crousselle) April 18, 2015 Disgusting. Granted, there should have been more attention to detail/park workers actually emptying the trash cans, but...

On Friday, the New York Times stated, in a blaring headline, that my support for Second Amendment rights is “strange.” In particular, the writer took issue with my statement that “”the Second Amendment to the Constitution isn’t for just protecting hunting rights, and it’s not only to safeguard your right to target practice. It is a constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty.” In addition to “strange,” the NYT described this view as “ridiculous,” “silly,” and “absurd” (methinks the...

... Having had the good fortune to serve beside [Ruth Bader Ginsburg] on [the U.S. Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court], I can attest that her opinions are always thoroughly considered, always carefully crafted and almost always correct (which is to say we sometimes disagree). That much is apparent for all to see ...

Clowns Brawl With Protesters Under Circus Big Top in San Bernardino • Hundreds of spectators watched the fight break out when workers allegedly tried to stop the activists from forcing their way inside Clowns brawled with animal rights protesters under a circus big top in San Bernardino Friday night, witnesses say. Hundreds of spectators watched the fight break out when workers allegedly tried to stop the activists from forcing their way inside after the Ramos Bros. Circus show began. Two protestors were arrested following the melee, while two circus employees were injured when the fight broke out at 8:08 p.m.,...

A. Alfred Taubman, an art collector and shopping-mall tycoon who sold Renoirs and root beer with equal panache and turned a sleepy Sotheby’s auction house into a global power of art sales, but went to prison in a commission-fixing scandal involving its archrival Christie’s, died on Friday at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He was 91.

With a presidential election on the horizon, maybe we should try to figure out what makes each side of the political aisle tick. Knowing what someone else cares about, instead of just lobbing insults on message boards, can sometimes help you land on something close to understanding. A social psychologist named Jonathan Haidt has spent the bulk of his career trying to figure out what motivates both conservatives and liberals. He’s uncovered some interesting points, which have been published in a book called “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.” According to Haidt’s research, there are five...

The massive efforts of the Texas open carry advocates, with thousands of open carry marches all over the state, seem to be about to pay off.  While second amendment enthusiasts may not get everything that they wish, they will have instituted a modest reform that moves Texas toward a return to the strong protections of a right to bear arms that it was born with.  Like the American revolution, the Texas revolution started with a distant government ignoring the rights of the people with an attempt to disarm them.    The original Texas declaration of rights of 1836 and the...

In oral arguments Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear the government defend its kleptocratic behavior while administering an indefensible law. The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 is among the measures by which New Dealers tried and failed to regulate and mandate America back to prosperity. Seventy-eight years later, it is the government’s reason for stealing Marvin and Laura Horne’s raisins. New Dealers had bushels of theories, including this: In an economic depression, prices fall, so a recovery will occur when government compels prices to stabilize above where a free market would put them. So Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “brains trust”...

My colleague Jay Cost flags this Newsweek article, which is ostensibly about the scandalous revelation that one of the largest Clinton Foundation donor has trade ties to Iran. But here's the first paragraph: >>>>Enemies of Hillary Clinton waiting to discredit her bid for the White House are likely to seize on news that one of the biggest benefactors to the Clinton Foundation has been trading with Iran and may be in breach of US sanctions imposed on the country.<<<< Why on earth would a story about Clinton cashing large checks from a shady Ukranian oligarch be framed not about the...