Free Republic

As America preps for the next presidential election, its voting machines are in need of a serious update. Almost every state is using electronic touchscreen and optical-scan voting machines that are at least 10 years old, according a recent Wired article, with Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Texas and Virginia are all using voting machines that are at least 15 years old. When these machines were introduced, dial-up Internet was used by most of the country, and the voting technology was equally primitive. . . . Microsoft is using its cloud technology and tablets in the election process. In the...

East European political leaders and their media allies have attacked 'politically correct' Germans in the wake of the New Year's Eve migrant sex assaults in Cologne and other cities, labelling the assailants "nothing but hyenas". In a huge "we told you so" gesture, politicians from across Eastern Europe have turned their fire on the German state's welcoming and tolerant attitude to the migrant crisis. Having warned Chancellor Merkel that her actions and the politically correct tyranny of media opinion risked bringing Europe to ruin, they now feel vindicated by events in Cologne, reports Spiegel Online. Robert Fico, the left-nationalist Prime...

Russian airstrikes help Syrian army gain major victory in strategic coastal region Most significant military win for Syrian troops since Russia began airstrikes in September The Associated Press Posted: Jan 13, 2016 1:17 PM ET Last Updated: Jan 13, 2016 1:17 PM ET Backed by relentless Russian airstrikes, Syrian troops and allied militiamen on Wednesday pushed deeper into a major rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Latakia, a day after seizing a key rebel-held town in the strategic region overlooking the coast, the government and opposition activists said. The insurgents in the opposition-held area near the Turkish border were...

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is not just an entertaining movie, it's a 144-minute rebuttal to everything the Obama administration has been saying about the attack since it took place on September 11, 2012.The "true story" of Benghazi, as told by the secret soldiers, is a powerful rebuke to the "tall tales" that were told by the White House, the State Department and their defenders. There was no "fog of war" that prevented the Department of Defense from sending military assets to Benghazi -- just a foggy narrative that was created by the commander in chief and...

This was the model pioneered by Bill Clinton in Arkansas in the 1980s: high-achieving, yuppie lawyer on the make makes his mark in politics and public service while highly credentialed spouse makes bank in the banking sector. The female bread-winner allows the husband to spend his prime working years in office, and running for ever-higher office. They can be public servants while living like one percenters. ... Heidi Cruz met her husband when they both worked on the Bush campaign. A graduate of Claremont-McKenna College, she has an MBA from Harvard Business School. When the Cruz's moved back to Texas,...

A supposed ally of Great Britain and The United States, the Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia started the New Year of 2016 in traditional style by executing forty seven people. Most of them were executed for committing terror attacks within the kingdom. Among those executed was a Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimra, an outspoken critic of the Sunni, Saudi regime. The "guilty" victims faced death by firing squad or beheading although as yet, no Western leader has asserted that the Saudis pervert and distort the true, peaceful meaning of Islam as is the case with Islamic State. The appalling execution...

We're always warning people that elections matter. And the quickly approaching presidential election could matter a LOT to gun owners. Why? Because there is a very real - and very frightening - possibility that Hillary Clinton could be our next Commander in Chief. Like most liberals, she supports a host of anti-gun laws. She has pushed for these laws for a very long time. And she has undoubtedly learned from Obama how to work around Congress to impose radical ideas on Americans through executive orders. When she testified before the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee years ago, Hillary Clinton was asked...

An hors d’oeuvre to whet your appetite for tonight’s debate. Good news for the guy who’s led nearly every poll for seven months: He’s now a slight favorite for the nomination over a guy who doesn’t lead anywhere and is having trouble cracking 15 percent. Donald Trump is the new favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, Betfair said, less than three weeks before Iowa caucus-goers cast the first votes of the 2016 election.The odds on a Trump victory are 15/8, or 34 percent, putting the billionaire real-estate mogul as favourite in the market for the first time, Betfair...

Three former Philadelphia elections officials pleaded guilty Wednesday in Common Pleas Court to misdemeanor charges of violating the state's election code and were each sentenced to one year of probation. Under a plea deal, felony fraud charges were dropped against Robin Trainor, 56; Laura Murtaugh, 57; and Cheryl Ali, also 57.

The leader of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday assailed the "very loud" voices in the Republican presidential race who advocate "walling off America," taking what appeared to be a swipe at Donald Trump. While Chamber President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue did not mention Trump by name, he denounced candidates who he said "are attacking whole groups of people based not on their conduct but on their ethnicity or religion." "This is morally wrong and politically stupid," Donohue said in his annual State of American business address. Donohoue later denied that his remark was aimed directly at Trump,...

The 2016 Oscars nominations were announced at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills by directors Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee, 13 Hours actor John Krasinski and Academy President Cherly Boone Isaacs early Thursday morning.ABC will broadcast the Oscars, hosted by Chris Rock, from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, February 28. Best PictureThe Big ShortBridge of SpiesBrooklynMad Max: Fury RoadThe MartianThe RevenantRoomSpotlightPerformance by an actor in a leading roleBryan Cranston, Trumbo Matt Damon, The Martian Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs Eddie Redmayne, The Danish GirlPerformance by an actress in a leading roleCate Blanchett, Carol...

New Jersey lawmakers have proposed expanding the state’s oversight of Atlantic City’s troubled finances, sparking outrage from local leaders who say they are already under heavy state control. Atlantic City’s budget and administration have been subject to approval by a state monitor since 2010, and an emergency manager has overseen the city’s day-to-day finances for the past year.

Officials in a small German community have sent a message to protest the government's open-arms refugee policy: A busload of migrants bound for Chancellor Angela Merkel's office. Bavaria's Landshut district put more than 30 migrants on a 340-mile journey Thursday to Merkel's office in an attempt to highlight the difficulties it is facing in coping with an influx of migrants. "The housing situation in our region is very difficult and there is a good chance these people will become homeless," Elmar Stoettner, a spokesman for the district, told NBC News by telephone on Thursday. All the migrants had chosen to...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - A new bill in Washington state seeks to create a statewide registry of people convicted of animal abuse. Senate Bill 6234, sponsored by Republican Sen. Joe Fain, is modeled on a law that recently took effect in Tennessee. Under the measure, the registry would be posted online by the state Attorney General's office and would include the names, addresses and photos of people convicted of first or second degree animal cruelty, animal fighting or poisoning. Convicted animal abusers would remain on the registry for 10 years after conviction.

After I wrote about the twisted codependency of Donald Trump and the media a few weeks back, some readers got in touch to complain that the attention paid to Trump had all but obscured the rise of Bernie Sanders. In an interview with CNN that week, Sanders himself made the same point, referring to a report that claimed network news shows had devoted 234 minutes to Trump and only 10 to his campaign. (Yes, 10 - for the entire year.) Judging from what's happening right now in Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders and his avid supporters have a legitimate point....

The Metropolitan Police officer who was arrested Monday on domestic battery charges was arrested four years before on similar charges, but that case was dismissed, the Clark County district attorney's office confirmed Wednesday. James Burt, 41, was taken into custody Monday on suspicion of domestic battery by strangulation and kidnapping involving his girlfriend, an arrest report shows. In 2011, he was arrested on two counts of domestic battery, coercion with force and kidnapping involving his then-wife. They divorced about a year later. That first case was dismissed less than six weeks after he was arrested. "What it looks like on...

Russian Intervention Emboldens Syrian Kurds Moscow’s operations allows fighters to ignore U.S. concerns and gain ground against other rebel groups y Yaroslav Trofimov Jan. 14, 2016 7:04 a.m. ET 7 COMMENTS ISTANBUL—Russia’s entry into the Syrian war and its subsequent conflict with Turkey have been a boon for one other belligerent in addition to the Assad regime: the Syrian Kurds. That is the same Syrian Kurdish forces that—after Washington’s failure to bolster “moderate” Arab rebels—have also become America’s indispensable local partner in the campaign against Islamic State. That partnership with the U.S. remains vital for Syrian Kurdish forces. Yet, recent...

If you think Cruz’s success irritated Mike Huckabee before, wait until he sees this play for southern authenticity. Where does a damned Canadian get off hunting duck with the Robertsons? Huckabee on Cruz's eligibility: "It's an issue that should give everybody a little concern. It's got to be dealt with."— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 13, 2016 Hard to watch this and not wonder if Cruz’s dig at Trump for embodying “New York values” wasn’t more carefully scripted than it seemed. It’s also further evidence after that spot about lawyers and journalists crossing the Rio Grande that Team Cruz has settled on...

Ben Carson's finance chairman resigned early Thursday hours after the release of a critical news story that questioned his lofty salary and other spending as rising costs cut into the former pediatric neurosurgeon's Republican presidential campaign's bottom line. A statement from the campaign announced the departure of Dean Parker, who panned the report. "It has been a great honor to serve alongside Dr. Carson as he seeks the office of President of the United States," Parker said. "While current allegations towards me are misrepresentations, my primary goal is to help Dr. Carson save our nation. I am excited about the...