Free Republic

Before you read on, I want to make one thing clear: I'm not trying to convert you. I'm not trying to lecture you or judge you. Honestly, I'm not. It may come over like that here and there, but believe me, that's not my intent. In this piece, I'm just trying to ... explain. People who knew me in a previous life as a policy adviser to the British prime minister are mildly surprised that I'm now the co-founder and CEO of a tech startup . And those who know that I've barely read a book since school are surprised...

STANBUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber thought to be from Syria killed at least 10 people, many of them German tourists, in Istanbul’s historic heart on Tuesday, an attack senior security officials said was probably planned by Islamic State. President Tayyip Erdogan condemned the bombing in Sultanahmet square, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, major tourist sites in the center of one of the world’s most visited cities. He said a Syrian was thought responsible and that the blast would only harden Turkey’s resolve in fighting terrorism. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the bomber had been identified from...

Mom Becca Edwards is "pissed" about a racist remark that her state's governor made, and she's calling him out on it, offering her own biracial family as an example of how very wrong he is. Maine Gov. Paul LePage issued his offensive comment at a town hall meeting in Bridgton on Jan. 6 while speaking about the influx of heroin in the Pine Tree State. "These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty -- these types of guys -- they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home," the...

In Michigan, government entities, such as school districts, must pay all contractors union wages for construction projects — the so-called prevailing wage. This wage rate is established by the state and is based on wages collectively bargained for by unions in the region where the construction work is being done. Market wages set by open competition are explicitly forbidden. The law was first enacted in 1965 when a much larger portion of Michigan’s construction force was unionized, but today, in the construction industry, only one-fifth of workers belong to labor unions. In other words, when companies bid on government construction...

The prime minister will call for a revolution in child rearing this weekend by suggesting that all parents should attend classes on how to discipline their children. In a move likely to enrage those fearful of an encroaching "nanny state", David Cameron will say that it should be the norm for parents to receive instruction on how to behave around their offspring. As part of a speech on the family, Cameron will announce plans for a parenting classes voucher scheme, claiming that all parents need help and that there is too little state-sponsored guidance on offer. "In the end, getting...

Two weeks ago I wrote that the GOP establishment fears Ted Cruz more than Donald Trump. What has transpired over the last two weeks has proven that hypothesis. Here's what I wrote then: Cruz is the larger threat to establishment because, if he wins, they lose all the levers of power. McConnell and his allies would be tossed out of organizations such as the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, etc... If history is any guide, the sitting president of a political party has a large leeway in choosing those in key power positions. That...

The super PAC supporting Jeb Bush released a new TV ad entitled "Vane" on Monday - a 30-second spot that attacks Sen. Marco Rubio for changing his position on immigration reform and supporting "amnesty." Politico reports that the ad was first reported by the Washington Examiner on Monday and noted that the spot opened with an animation of Rubio shown as weathervane atop a barn who shifts with the "political winds." "Marco Rubio: He ran for Senate saying he opposed amnesty," the ad says. "Then he flipped and worked with liberal Chuck Schumer to co-author the path to citizenship. He...

American Airlines Group Inc on Tuesday said it has written off more than half a billion dollars in revenue stuck in Venezuela because of currency controls. American, the world's largest airline, said in a regulatory filing it will recognize a $592 million special charge in the just-ended fourth quarter "due to continued lack of repatriations and deterioration of economic conditions in Venezuela." The South American country's socialist government had compelled carriers to sell tickets in bolivars but made reconverting the sales into U.S. dollars difficult. Globally, airlines have around $3.7 billion trapped in Venezuela as a result of its 12-year-old...

At the “Brown and Black Forum” in Iowa Monday, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton could not differentiate between ISIS and “white terrorism.” A moderator asked Clinton, “Personally, I know many minorities who are much more concerned with racist attacks at the local level than radical Islamists. So, question to put it plainly since often issues of race are tiptoed, do you believe that white terrorisms and extremism is as much a threat to some in this country as something like ISIS?” Hillary’s answer only briefly addressed the question before veering off on to a talk of gun control. “I think we...

In a text that is coursing about on social media, professional God-slayer Richard Dawkins begrudgingly admitted that Christianity may actually be our best defense against aberrant forms of religion that threaten the world. “There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings,” Dawkins said. “I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death.” In a rare moment of candor, Dawkins reluctantly accepted that the teachings of Jesus Christ do not lead to a world of terror, whereas followers of radical...

RBS has advised clients to brace for a “cataclysmic year” and a global deflationary crisis, warning that major stock markets could fall by a fifth and oil may plummet to $16 a barrel. The bank’s credit team said markets are flashing stress alerts akin to the turbulent months before the Lehman crisis in 2008. “Sell everything except high quality bonds. This is about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit doors are small,” it said in a client note.

On the last day of 2015, a reporter took a photo of a large buck hanging vertically on the front of a Jeep while being driven down I-10 in Texas. Some people think its a bit of a show-off strutting it down the 160 mile drive. Obnoxious or practical? Read the rest of the story from Hunter Bobby Wuest (70 yrs old) here.

Last week, I received news from a contact who is friends with one of the biggest billionaire shipping families in the world. He told me they had no ships at sea right now, because operating them meant running at a loss. This weekend, reports are circulating saying much the same thing: The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its waters. Instead, they are anchored. Unmoving. Empty.

A Syrian suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a historic district of Istanbul popular with tourists Tuesday morning, killing at least 10 people and wounding 15 others, Turkish officials said. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in televised remarks that both Turks and foreigners were among the dead in the explosion in the Sultanahmet district. Turkey's state-run news agency said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a telephone conversation with German chancellor Angela Merkel, in which he said most of the victims were German. A spokesman for Davutoglu was not immediately available. "I strongly condemn the terror incident that occurred in Istanbul,...

I rarely agree with liberal Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, but she’s recently penned two pieces that actually make sense.  Though Marcus is a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton, she acknowledged a couple weeks ago that Donald Trump’s threat to go after the Democrat frontrunner for enabling her sexually predatory husband was perfectly legitimate.  Now, as Ted Cruz is under attack from Trump (and some on the left) for being born in Canada, she’s sensibly calling for the end of the presidential natural-born citizen test. I heard a lot about this test from a young age.  My father was...

One of the most interesting facts in the debate about guns and crime in the United states over the last 20+ years is that the murder rate has fallen in half while the number of guns per capita has increased from .89 in 1993 to 1.18 in 2014, an increase of 33 percent.  One of the thesis that is put forward for the decrease in murder rates is better medical technology.  Clearly, there have been significant improvements in the availability of emergency transport, access to emergency personnel through the ubiquity of cell phones and emergency providers, and better surgical...

To be precise, it's his Super PAC, Right to Rise, that's responsible for this. One of the criticisms of Jeb after he feebly attacked Rubio for his Senate absences was that he was forced to hit Rubio on a minor liability because he wasn't well positioned to hit him on a major one. After all, how could Jeb Bush, who (in)famously described border-hopping as an "act of love" and who so identifies with Hispanic Americans that he once erroneously described himself as one on a voter registration form, possibly go after Rubio for his Gang of Eight work? Poor Jeb...

Israel National News describes a Kuwaiti newspaper's report about President Barack Obama's post-presidential plans as "somewhat far-fetched," but apparently plausible enough to bounce through publications around the world. According to the Al Jarida report, President Obama wants to be appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations after he leaves the White House, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to thwart his ambitions. Al Jarida has Netanyahu exclaiming, "Is it not enough that we have had to live through eight years of Obama's rule, in which he ignored Israel? Now he wants to be in a position to cause us...

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in his weekly radio interview that it was proof of a crisis of liberalism that reporting of the sexual assaults in Cologne had been suppressed in Germany, adding that the press in Hungary is much freer than that in western Europe. Orban added that Hungary is in the right on the refugee issue and that migration into Europe must be completely stopped. Hungarian media went even further in its criticism of the German government.¨ Orban ally Zsolt Bayer described the Cologne attackers as “North African and Arabic animals - nothing but hyenas,” in an...

Get ready: what with all the whooping and hollering from the rabble in the peanut gallery this could well turn into a 5-bucket popcorn night. Big Guy has a ton of accomplishments to run through during his SOTU 2016 highlights reel. And his final victory lap is certain to include many crowd pleasing soundbites like "Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive," and “ObamaCare: Because Death and Taxes Weren't Certain Enough…” And if that’s not enough grist for your popcorn eating machine, tune into the Clinton Crime Family reality show. Did Hillary violate public corruption laws by “accepting”...