Free Republic

"This time I'm actually hearing somebody who's telling me the truth; they're actually going to go in and do something they say they're going to do." -- Ted Cruz-supporter Dave Conger, as quoted in The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2016. Oh, Mr. Conger, kindly step this way. Which fist I'm showing you has the silver dollar in it? And when that fun is done, shall we consider, you and I, the current availability of the Brooklyn Bridge? I mock. I know that's not nice. Neither, I submit, is the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency, that awful possibility to...

For years Democrats have claimed a "gender gap" advantage over the GOP because women tend to support their party's candidates in disproportionately high numbers. The last two presidential elections clearly illustrate this pattern. In 2008, Obama ran nearly even with John McCain among men but captured female voters by a whopping 14 point margin. And in 2012, while losing male voters to Mitt Romney by 8 points, Obama's 12-point margin with women guaranteed his re-election. But it turns out that Republicans have their own version of the gender gap. The basic idea is to substantially out-perform the Democrats among men...

Bernie Sanders now leads Hillary Clinton by 14 points in New Hampshire, according to the latest Monmouth University Poll of likely New Hampshire voters who are likely to vote in the first-in-the-nation primary in February. Fifty-three percent of these voters choose Sanders, compared to 39 percent for Clinton. And the new poll shows that Clinton has also lost her edge over Sanders among registered Democrats, women and older voters. Sanders has now surpassed her with these voters, while holding onto his lead among registered independents, men and younger voters.

David Brooks' all-out assault on Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has reached unforeseen heights today with a column in which he labels Cruz "brutal" and un-Christian for his harsh rhetoric against the left. Here's Brooks' reprehensible, religiously bigoted attack: Cruz is a stranger to most of what would generally be considered the Christian virtues: humility, mercy, compassion and grace. Cruz's behavior in the Haley case is almost the dictionary definition of pharisaism: an overzealous application of the letter of the law in a way that violates the spirit of the law, as well as fairness and mercy. What, pray tell, did...

Following is a schedule for the Democratic National Convention: Saturday, 27 August 2016 11:15 AM Free lunch, medical marijuana, and bus ride to the Convention. Forms distributed for Food Stamp enrollment. 2:30 PM Group Voter Registration for Undocumented Immigrants. 4:00 PM Opening Flag Burning Ceremony (Sponsored by CNN) 4:30 PM "How to Bank $200 Million as a Public Servant and Claim to be Dead Broke" by Hillary Clinton 4:45 PM “How to have a successful career without ever having a job, and still avoid paying taxes!” A Seminar Moderated by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson 5:30 PM Invitation-only $10,000 donation...

resident Obama's eighth veto of his presidency came last Friday, when he quietly nixed legislation passed by Congress to repeal major portions of Obamacare. By allowing the crippled health care law to remain on life support for all of 2016, Obama and the Democrats handed Republicans a winning campaign issue for retaking the White House in 2017. Officially named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Obamacare's manifest failure is the primary reason why Republicans regained a majority in the House of Representatives in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. Along with even greater successes at the state level, Republicans...

After police began circulating his mugshot, they say Pugh himself sent them a different photo, with a caption that reads, "Here is a better photo that one is terrible." The department released the Pugh's self-selected photo on its Facebook page. Though police and potential tipsters may now have a more flattering photo of Pugh, he remains at large. "We thank him for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the LPD about his charges," the Lima Police Department wrote on its Facebook page.

Appearing on the O'Reilly Factor last night, with guest host Juan Williams, radio host Leslie Marshall and conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart agreed that a potential Donald Trump candidacy is a bad sign for America. Marshall warned America about what happens when you elect a celebrity for office like they did in California with Arnold Schwarzenegger. "No experience, a lot of celebrity and a lot of cult of personality. And we see more of that in politics. So I would say don't underestimate the Donald. -snip- "Quite frankly, this celebrity goes a long way. Remember, the number one reason people vote...

Harvard professor and legal eagle Alan Dershowitz talks about political correctness and 'safe spaces' on college campuses. Dershowitz tells college students to "stay home" if they want a safe space. ... they don't want to hear opposing points of view. They know everything they need to know about race, about gender, about rape, about you name it, climate control. They don't want to hear opposing points of view... ... We have to distinguish between safe spaces for ideas, where there should be none, and physically safe places where you're not intimidated or you're not threatened. And christian speakers, pro-Israel speakers,...

Could abortion become a wedge issue in North Carolina-the South’s last semi-swing state-in 2016? That's question raised by a New York Times piece published Sunday about an anti-abortion law that took effect on Jan. 1. The new measure requires doctors who perform abortions after the 16th week of pregnancy to send an ultrasound of the fetus to the State Department of Health and Human Services. The state says that demanding the ultrasounds, which can be used to determine "probable gestational age," is a legitimate way to make sure that clinics are complying with the cutoff for legal abortion in North...

The obvious candidates for word of the year are the labels of the year's big stories -- new words like "microaggression" or resurgent ones like "refugees." But sometimes a big theme is captured in more subtle ways. So for my word of the year, I offer you the revival of "gig" as the name for a new economic order. It's the last chapter in the life of a little word that has tracked the rise and fall of the great American job. "Gig" goes back more than a century as musicians' slang for a date or engagement. Nobody's sure where...

There was a time in my life when I was a campaign communications consultant, responsible for helping political campaigns come up with new and intriguing ways to engage voters using digital media. There is a reason I don't do it anymore, and that reason is, because no matter how many times I or any of my colleages explained that most Republican consultants had the pop culture knowledge of 80 year old men and couldn't find a connection to Millennials if they were accosted by an entire room of Urban Outfitters employees, they still produced things like this. Though, in fairness,...

Whom Donald Trump has insinuated is unintelligent — fired back on Monday, calling the billionaire developer and Republican presidential front-runner a "lefty liberal" who's "thin-skinned" and "all mouth." In an explosive interview with Newsmax TV's Steve Malzberg, the former New Hampshire governor who also served as chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush, lashed out at Trump's nose-thumbing barb which was reported by the Wall Street Journal. "Can you believe this guy? He was fired like a dog and he doesn't even realize it," Trump said of Sununu. "That's funny coming from a guy who's got four major billion-dollar...

Law requires stores to verify carry license or turn them away.More laws, more problems. That's always the way it is. The more rules you have, the more trouble it is for everyone. And in this case, stores like Wal-Mart are reportedly bearing the brunt. Texas recently began allowing open carry of handguns by folks who are licensed for concealed carry, and naturally, some folks are doing just that. But that creates a problem for retailers who sell alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine. Apparently, Texas has a law that dictates that any business selling alcolohic beverages cannot "knowingly allow"...

Our expectations for a global economic downturn, including a U.S. recession, have hardened considerably in the past few weeks, with a continued expectation of a retreat in equity prices on the order of 40% to 55% over the completion of the current cycle as a base case. The immediacy of both concerns would be significantly reduced if we were to observe a shift to uniformly favorable market internals. Last week, market conditions moved further away from that supportive possibility. As I've regularly emphasized since mid-2014, market internals are the hinge between an overvalued market that tends to continue higher from...

Right to Rise, the "super PAC" supporting Jeb Bush, has released its third advertisement criticizing Senator Marco Rubio, this time attacking him over immigration. The ad is called "Vane" - no doubt a deliberate homophone. On Screen The ad opens on a picture-perfect scene of a rural barn, then zooms in on a weather vane on the roof, in the form of a smiling Mr. Rubio, one hand insouciantly in his pocket, the other pointing west - or is it east? As a swirling wind blows this way and that, Mr. Rubio reverses himself again and again. Over the faint...

Even as Obama takes his anti-gun crusade to new highs with every passing week, having recently started dispensing executive orders, the president conveniently continues to ignore the state of affairs in his native Chicago - a city in which guns are banned - yet where the shooting epidemic has never been worse, and is truly emblematic of the "gun problem" America has. Judging by the most recent developments, Obama will have nothing to say about Chicago gun violence either during tonight's state of the union address, or ever for that matter, because recent developments are downright disastrous. According to the...

In a really good debate between Republican activist Liz Mair and right-wing firebrand Ann Coulter, they go at each other about whether Trump is actually a conservative and whether he's good for the country. Watch below: Ann Coulter basically lays out all her cards very early on when she says that nothing else matters as long as Trump is far right on immigration. She doesn't care that he's liberal on a lot of other issues, including the power of the federal government, executive orders, eminent domain, and crony capitalism, as long as he's tough on immigration. Liz Mair hits her...

One doesn't exactly have to reach to come up with reasons why 2016 will be an important year. Particularly in political and policy circles. After all, this is President Obama's last year in office, with any number of the administration's priorities still on the table, and Congress scrambling to get its last bills passed before the political season. Oh, and speaking of the political season, there's also that little thing called a Presidential election coming up. However, if you spend any time covering the world of emerging technology, it looks like 2016 will be an important year for an entirely...

The 2016 Summer Olympics kicks off on August 5 in Rio de Janeiro -- but with less than seven months until the Opening Ceremony, a slew of problems still show no signs of improvement. Will Connors had a good, if troubling, piece in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday laying out the concerns in Rio. Not only does the list of concerns appear to be trending in the wrong direction as the Games draw closer, it also shows no signs of improvement. Let's break down the biggest problems: 1. Questions over Rio's mobility plan Rio is racing to build a...