Free Republic

As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee responded to a fiscal crisis by working with Democrats in the Arkansas legislature to raise taxes and eliminate the deficit. Then, in his first presidential campaign in 2008, Huckabee converted himself into a starve-the-beast Republican, signing a pledge not to raise taxes and proposing to replace the income tax with a national sales tax, which would likely amount to a large tax cut for the wealthy.On this record, it isn't clear whether Huckabee truly is a fiscal conservative who was simply pandering to the Republican base when he promised not to raise taxes in his...

Commenting on the two men who were killed while trying to shoot up a “Draw Muhammed” contest on Sunday in Texas and the woman who organized the contest, activist Pam Geller, Lt. Gen. William Boykin (ret.) said there is a “double standard” when it comes to Islam and that U.S. leaders need to “stand up against this evil in America” that uses violence to threaten the First Amendment. VIDEO 2:40 minutes: Gen. Boykin supports the First Amendment and Pam Geller “I wish that as a nation there were more and more of our leaders that had the same kind of...

Regardless of how Dr. Ben Carson chooses to try to convince Republican voters that he should be their candidate for president, Carson's personal story is particularly worthy of the attention of all Americans during these troubled times. His story defies much of the conventional wisdom we get from both the left and the right to "explain" the grave social problems in our poor minority communities and the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to success facing poor black children. From the left, we hear that black life in America would have no hope but for government programs to ease the burdens of an...

As the Western establishment works to bolster the communist regime ruling mainland China, Beijing has been intensifying its brutal campaign of persecution against Christians and other believers as part of a broader war on dissent. In fact, according to a recently released report by Christian human-rights organization China Aid, the dictatorship’s crackdown on believers of numerous faiths last year reached levels unseen in at least a decade, surging by more than 10,000 percent in one category over 2013. Analysts are warning that the worst may be yet to come as the Communist Party of China seeks to smash any and...

TEL AVIV – In an extraordinary move that could mean billions lost to the American economy, Gulf monarchs meeting Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, took a closed-door decision to potentially withhold investments from U.S. military firms if the terms of any final agreement with Iran causes significant harm to the Sunni Arab states. The meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council brought together leaders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. All of those countries, aside from Oman, participated in the Saudi-led strikes targeting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. According to a source who took part...

George Pataki was back in New Hampshire Tuesday for this ninth visit since last autumn. When he returns a tenth time later this month, the former three-term New York governor will most likely announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. “I think this is a critical moment in American history where we need the right leadership to change the direction in Washington. I know I have the ability to provide that leadership if I choose to run. So sooner rather than later and if I were to bet, I’d bet that I will be in the race,” Pataki said...

Intimacy is the key to your breaking through in your days ahead . So persevere as Daniel and Gabriel for I will send My angels of My Presence as Michael (AS GOD) as you spend time in mine . . . DANIEL 10:12-21 12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael,...

An N.F.L. investigation has found that “it is more probable than not” that New England Patriots personnel intentionally deflated footballs to gain an advantage in the A.F.C. championship game last season, and that Tom Brady, the Super Bowl most valuable player, was probably aware of it. No penalties have been announced. The long-awaited report into so-called deflategate, released on Wednesday, concluded that it was probable that Patriots personnel were “involved in a deliberate effort to circumvent the rules.” The report said that Jim McNally, a locker room attendant, and John Jastremski, an equipment assistant, released air from the footballs. It...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s opponents in the race for the White House who are senators should either resign or drop out of the contest, he said on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday. “If a person has a job that the taxpayers are paying for, shouldn’t that person do that job?” Huckabee, a Republican who said Tuesday he was running for president, told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on GMA. Three of his opponents in the Republican presidential field are U.S. senators: Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Asked whether he thought his opponents should resign, he called it...

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday described stock market valuations as high and said the central bank was carefully monitoring their impact on financial stability. "I would highlight that equity market valuations at this point generally are quite high," Yellen said in conversation with Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, at an economics conference. Coupled with weak economic reports in the morning, her remarks drove stocks broadly lower in Wednesday trading. Yellen added, however, that the overall risks to financial stability are "moderated, not elevated" and she does not see the hallmarks of any bubbles. She...

Are you ready for rioting, looting and mindless violence in major U.S. cities all summer long? According to a brand new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 96 percent of all Americans believe that there will be more civil unrest in America this summer. That leaves only 4 percent of people that believe that everything will be just fine. In this day and age, it is virtually impossible to get 96 percent of Americans to agree on anything. So the fact that just about everyone agrees that we are going to see more civil unrest should really tell you something. The...

NEW YORK (AP) — An NFL investigation has found that New England Patriots employees likely deflated footballs and that quarterback Tom Brady was "at least generally aware" of the rules violations.

Early last month we warned that California’s drought was approaching historic proportions and that if climatologists were to be believed, the country may see a repeat of The Dirty Thirties as experts cite “Dust Bowl” conditions. Governor Jerry Brown has called for statewide water restrictions aimed at reducing consumption by 25%. Now, the conservation calls are getting much louder as the state’s water regulators have approved “unprecedented” measures aimed at curtailing the crisis. Via AP:  California water regulators adopted sweeping, unprecedented restrictions Tuesday on how people, governments and businesses can use water amid the state's ongoing drought, hoping to push reluctant...

A report commissioned by the NFL has found that there was "no deliberate attempt" by the New England Patriots to deflate game balls to gain an advantage over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Champsionship game—but that a Patriots locker room attendant and equipment assistant "participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee." The report by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP also said "it is more probable than not that Tom Brady...was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities." Brady denied knowing anything about deflated balls.

In January, Matt Debenham got a job at the grocery story in his Connecticut town. There's nothing unusual about that, except for the fact that 44-year-old Debenham, married father of two, earns more stocking shelves and bagging groceries than he does working his other job as an adjunct college professor. "Adjunct" is industry speak for "part-time," an arrangement that's increasingly common at colleges and universities. Huffington Post reports that while the majority of college professors are now adjuncts, 60% of them admit to having at least one other job. In the 2015 edition of its annual report, the American Association...

The Democratic Party's plans for the upcoming presidential debates has stirred up some behind-the-scenes controversy. One Democratic 2016 campaign adviser who spoke to Business Insider said they believe the Democratic National Committee's debate schedule was "worked out" to benefit Hillary Clinton and hurt her opponents. The adviser, who requested anonymity in order to speak frankly about the party's campaign arm, suggested the DNC is hosting a small number of debates in an attempt to give Clinton's more low profile rivals "less screen time." They also suggested the relatively late schedule of the debates will make it harder for Clinton's lesser...

A State Department assistant secretary said Wednesday it's "not acceptable" for any agency employee to conduct government business on a private email server as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did. Joyce Barr, the agency's chief freedom of information officer, made the comment under questioning from Republican senators who used a Senate Judiciary hearing on open records laws to attack Clinton over her email practices. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said that Clinton's approach amounted to a "premeditated and deliberate" attempt to avoid open records requirements.

A Kansas City mosque that petitioned Barack Obama to ban free speech defaming Islam in 2012 will hold the funeral for one of the two jihadists killed in a shootout Sunday outside a Dallas-area convention center that was hosting a “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest.The Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City (ISGKC) will hold a funeral on Thursday for Nadir Soofi, according to KCTV5: The funeral for one of the people suspected in a chilling attack outside a Texas art contest will be held in the metro.While Nadir Soofi never lived in the metro his father lives in an Overland...

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) | Federal investigators say a leaking oil train that hauled crude oil from North Dakota to Washington in January had tank cars with faulty valves, which also are installed on thousands of tank cars nationwide. A federal directive in March ordered tank car owners across the U.S. to replace the flawed valves, saying they were an "immediate safety issue." The Federal Railroad Administration investigated the 100-car BNSF train because it had to have 14 cars with slow leaks removed after traveling across Montana and Idaho to a Washington refinery, the Spokesman Review reported. The first leak was...

He supported the most reprehensible pro-gun legislation in recent memory. When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders jumped into the 2016 presidential race, he was widely hailed as a far-left socialist who would appeal to the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. A liberal challenge to Hillary Clinton, said Politico. True progressives’ liberal alternative, trumpeted FiveThirtyEight. But before liberal Democrats flock to Sanders, they should remember that the Vermont senator stands firmly to Clinton’s right on one issue of overwhelming importance to the Democratic base: gun control. During his time in Congress, Sanders opposed several moderate gun control bills. He also supported...