Free Republic

President Barack Obama will build his presidential library on Chicago’s South Side, choosing the city where his political career was born after searching for more than a year for a location. The nation’s third-largest city was seen as the front-runner from the start, and although stumbling at points, emerged from a shortlist that included such candidates as New York’s Columbia University, where Obama did his undergraduate studies, and the University of Hawaii, located in the state where Obama was born. “All the strands of my life came together and I really became a man when I moved to Chicago,” Obama...

“Either a path to citizenship, which I would support and that does put me probably out of the mainstream of most conservatives; Or a path to legalization, a path to residency of some kind…” Bush told Charlie Rose in 2012. During an appearance on “The Kelly File” on Monday, Jeb Bush disagreed with Megyn Kelly when she pointed out that, in the past, he had supported a path to citizenship (though he then went onto say he’d be open to it as part of a “compromise”). Kelly questioned the former governor of Florida about his past positions on immigration, specifically...

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) will introduce a bill in congress Tuesday to place restrictions on the sale of ammunition online. The bill would require that federally licensed ammunition dealers confirm the identify of their customers by verifying a photo identification and if those customers purchase more than 1,000 rounds within five consecutive days, their identifies would be passed along to the U.S. Attorney General. "This gives the ability to monitor large ammunition purchases and flag them for law enforcement," said Watson Coleman, speaking at a press conference at the Serenity Garden at the corner of Prospect Street and Bellevue...

The pope’s closest adviser on Tuesday slammed climate-change skeptics, blaming capitalist motivations from “movements in the United States” for opposing the Catholic Church leader’s upcoming environmental letter. “The ideology surrounding environmental issues is too tied to a capitalism that doesn’t want to stop ruining the environment because they don’t want to give up their profits,” said Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga at a news conference in Rome marking the start of Caritas Internationalis, an annual meeting of Catholic charitable groups, according to The Boston Globe. Pope Francis is expected to issue his encyclical letter on the environment this year, and Rodríguez...

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, one of the top Democratic opponents of President Barack Obama’s trade agenda, criticized Obama on Tuesday for what the senator saw as “disrespectful” comments toward Sen. Elizabeth Warren and indicated that Warren’s gender may have played a role. “I think by just calling her ‘another politician’,” Brown told reporters Tuesday when asked how Obama was being disrespectful to Warren. “I’m not going to get into more details. I think referring to her as first name, when he might not have done that for a male senator, perhaps? I’ve said enough.”

At least 220 Russian soldiers have died fighting in Ukraine despite the Kremlin’s denial of sending troops there, according to a new report started by the murdered Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. “The evidence provided by sources with whom Nemtsov began his work allows us to assert that all the key military successes of the separatists were secured by units of the Russian Army,” said Ilya Yashin, one of the report’s authors. Mr Nemtsov, 55, was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin as he walked home with his girlfriend in February. Two alleged hitmen have been charged with his...

Likely GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush says he will try to convince grassroots groups of parents who oppose the Common Core standards to flip-flop and embrace the education initiative. When Megyn Kelly of Fox News Channel’s The Kelly File observed how unpopular the Common Core initiative is with grassroots conservatives in particular, Bush responded: “Common Core means a lot of things to different people, so they could be right, based on what’s in front of them…but the simple fact is we need higher standards; they need to be state-driven. The federal government should play no role in this – either...

He’s on the road again. As violent crime soars in the Big Apple, Mayor Bill de Blasio has far more pressing matters to deal with — touting his progressive agenda in two more out-of-state locales. Hizzoner will be heading off Tuesday for his 11th trip outside New York in the last 12 months to address national or international issues. After speaking in three Midwestern states last month on income inequality, de Blasio is headed to DC to unveil details of his progressive agenda.

A controversy has emerged about whether granting the president Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) would result in expanded immigration. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), chair of the Senate’s immigration subcommittee, has written, “There are numerous ways TPA could facilitate immigration increases above current law – and precious few ways anyone in Congress could stop its happening.” To negotiate international trade agreements, a U.S. president needs Trade Promotion Authority. TPA allows a president to finalize an agreement and put it before the U.S. Congress for an up-or-down vote. Without such authority, other countries would not conclude trade agreements with the United States, since...

Courtney Stodden is doing her part to give back to the community — by donating the cash she was offered for her 'stolen' sex tape to charity. For those of you who are unaware of the sex tape saga (what, too busy following the world news or something?), the 20-year-old admitted she filmed a “solo sex tape” and was then offered a million bucks from Vivid Entertainment for the distribution rights. Initially, she refused, saying that it was personal footage for her — and, presumably, husband Doug Hutchison’s — eyes only. She has since clarified her story, explaining to that...

Lotta buzz about this in the political Twittersphere this afternoon. I can’t figure out why. The likely Republican presidential candidate will instead attend a competing event, the RedState Gathering in Atlanta, the day of the Iowa event, GOP sources in Iowa told The Des Moines Register Tuesday. A spokesman for Bush confirmed the report…

Congressional Republicans have joined the legal battle over President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration, which he announced late last year. Currently, 26 states have challenged the president’s executive order, which temporarily stops deportations and grants work permits to specific groups of immigrants living in the country illegally. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, and Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia filed an amicus brief with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to counter the executive actions. “Congress has created a comprehensive immigration scheme — which expresses its desired policy as to classes of...

Man… it’s a sad, sad day when I find myself in agreement with the Communist Chinese. I believe in freedom of religion and before 9/11, I was a strong proponent for all religions, including Islam, to be left alone to worship as they saw fit. Now, I have a severe issue with Islamists – those who in the name of Islam rape, enslave, murder, torture and conquer. Being a tyranny, China has no such qualms. They will ally with Islam in battle to accomplish their goals and then they will turn on them and put them down – all factions...

In a news story titled “Nearly half of Obamacare exchanges are struggling over their future,” The Washington Post reports the following: Nearly half of the 17 insurance marketplaces set up by the states and the District under President Obama’s health law are struggling financially, presenting state officials with an unexpected and serious challenge five years after the passage of the landmark Affordable Care Act. Many of the online exchanges are wrestling with surging costs, especially for balky technology and expensive customer-call centers — and tepid enrollment numbers. To ease the fiscal distress, officials are considering raising fees on insurers, sharing...

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.(Revelation 12:3-4)The vision of Revelation 12 corresponds to the account of the fall of man in Genesis 3. What do we have in Genesis 3? A Woman,a Serpent and the promise of the...

Senate Republicans Tuesday accused Democrats of reneging on deal that would give President Obama "fast track" authority to approve trade pacts. Senate Finance panel Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Democrats broke an agreement struck in committee that Trade Promotion Authority legislation would move separately from two provisions dealing with trade enforcement and preferences. "This demand materialized last week and came from the Senate Democratic leadership, virtually all of whom oppose TPA and their president outright," Hatch said, moments after Democrats voted to block the trade bill. Democrats said Tuesday they opposed the bill because they wanted the legislation to include...

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's comments last month opposing legal immigration came as a shock. How could a man who until a little over month ago was even willing to consider a path to citizenship for undocumented workers pull such an "Olympic-quality flip-flop"? But the real story is not Walker's switcheroo, but the conservative punditocracy's switcheroo that paved the way for his. Walker, who is fast sprinting into the first place for the Republican presidential nomination, told Glenn Beck recently that "The next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that's based, first and...

BREAKING:Charges will not be filed against MPD Officer Matt Kenny in the shooting death of Tony Robinson Updated: Tue 3:17 PM, May 12, 2015 MADISON, Wis.---BREAKING: DA Ozanne: Charges will not be filed against MPD Officer Matt Kenny in the shooting death of Tony Robinson. UPDATED: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 ---3:17 p.m. MADISON, Wis.---BREAKING: DA Ozanne: Charges will not be filed against MPD Officer Matt Kenny in the shooting death of Tony Robinson. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Officer Matt Kenny of the Madison Police Department will not face charges in the March shooting death of biracial teen Tony Robinson, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday. "I conclude that this tragic and unfortunate death was the result of a lawful use of deadly police force and that no charges should be brought against Officer Kenny in the death of Tony Robinson Jr.," he said.

The last several decades, the Left has done its best to change America’s religious landscape. According to a new Pew study, they’re succeeding better than many thought possible: "The number of Americans who don’t affiliate with a particular religion has grown to 56 million in recent years, making the faith group researchers call “nones” the second-largest in total numbers behind evangelicals, according to a Pew Research Center study released Tuesday." Christians are still the majority, but their numbers have fallen from 78 percent to just under 71 percent. The main reason? Increasingly more Americans consider themselves “non affiliated” with any...