Free Republic

With only weeks until the starting gun sounds off in Iowa, it's time to face some hard truths. In particular, the truth we've all denied for months as we chanted, "Trump can't win" into the wind like a mantra. I've spent most of that time believing there is no possibility of a Trump nomination. And now, nearly eight months after he fumbled onto the scene with a 45-minute improv session in front of reporters, it's time to come to terms with reality. Trump could be the Republican nominee for president. And his alternative could be much worse. Professionals all over...

The Granite State holds its primaries in less a month, and Donald Trump has a commanding lead in the state, beating John Kasich by 15 points. While Kasich has been doing poorly in both statewide, and national polling, he seems to be doing quite well in New Hampshire. His 15% gives him enough support to take at least a few of the available delegates. Donald Trump looks to take the majority of delegates, especially if Chris Christie and Ted Cruz stay below the 10% viability threshold.

Billionaire businessman and presidential candidate Donald Trump just received a welcome endorsement from a country music legend. According to The Daily Caller, Loretta Lynn recently announced her support for the front-running GOP candidate in an interview with Reuters. In fact, the 83-year-old star, who still tours and plays shows, said that she informed her fans after every concert that she was a supporter of Trump and was really looking at nobody else. "When you get up there and try to say you want to see Hillary Clinton win, that wouldn't go over so big," Lynn said, alluding to the generally...

There will be one candidate tonight on stage with 0.0% chance of winning Iowa, 0.0% chance of winning New Hampshire and 100% chance of being an obnoxious jerk. His name is John Kasich. Kasich thinks his road to the White House is through New Hampshire. Sure, according to the RCP average, Kasich is polling in 3rd. But when you dig a little deeper, the picture is not so rosy. Bush's support has doubled in the state, Cruz's support has nearly doubled, Chris Christie is on a meteoric rise according to Frank Luntz and Kasich is still around 20 points behind...

On Tuesday night President Obama delivered the yearly State of the Union address to the nation. This is an event where the President speaks to how well the nation is doing under his management. It is also an event in which the opposition party stages politically motivated gestures to gain some much needed publicity and the Washington D.C. pundit class spends hours analyzing it all. The “opposition” party this year was the Republican Party. This year the Republican Establishment chose the Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, to deliver their response to the President Obama’s State of the Union (S.O.T.U.)...

President Barack Obama's gaffe Tuesday night during his State of the Union address when referencing Russia has gone largely unnoticed by listeners and pundits alike. "Even as their economy contracts, Russia is pouring resources to prop up Ukraine's and Syria - states they see slipping away from their orbit," said Obama. There's a key discrepancy here: While Russia has been "pouring resources" into the conflict, it certainly has not been to "prop up" Ukrainian government, it has instead gone to those who seek to bring it down. Russia made headlines across the world starting in 2014 when Russian forces were...

The lawyer for the main suspect in the death of an American in Florence, Italy said Thursday his client fought with the woman after they had sex and did drugs but that he left her alive on her bed and had no intention of killing her. Attorney Antonio Voce told The Associated Press that Cheik Tidiane Diaw, a 27-year-old illegal immigrant from Senegal, reacted badly when Ashley Olsen tried to push him out of her apartment after they had consensual sex in the early hours of Jan. 8. Olsen's body was found the following day. Prosecutors say she suffered fatal...

BALTIMORE — House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that Republican lawmakers plan to support whoever wins the Republican nomination for president, even if it's Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz. Ryan, R-Wis., briefed reporters alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., at the GOP annual retreat, where lawmakers plotted their 2016 legislative agenda. "Yes, we are going to support whoever our nominee is," Ryan said. "Know why? Because it's the Republican primary voter that makes that decision. And that's what we respect." Ryan called questions about a brokered Republican National Convention "ridiculous," adding, "How do I know? Nobody knows the...

As the Republican candidates prepare for their next debate Thursday night in North Charleston, South Carolina, Donald Trump will once again be center stage -- as a result of the Fox Business Network's calculations of who has done best in various trial heat polls nationally and in key states. Despite his poll standing, Trump's image among Republicans is certainly not the most positive of the major candidates, and new calculations show that Trump has by far the worst image of any major Republican candidate among Democrats and independents. These results are based on Gallup Daily tracking data collected between Dec....

MUSKOGEE, OK - Two Muskogee women accused of beating a 5-year-old so severely that he suffered two strokes while in a hospital were arrested Tuesday on charges of child abuse and neglect. SNIP ...investigators determined that the boy had been locked in a room and bound with duct tape over his eyes. The boy told investigators that his mother, Stevens, and Stevens' girlfriend, Jones, had beaten him with a belt, the affidavit states. Police allege in the affidavit that Stevens hit the boy's hand with a hammer and that Jones "kicked him so hard in the groin that it made...

Donald Trump may not have to win the White House for the Senate to start voting on his agenda. Senate Democrats plan to force their Republican colleagues to take sides on the GOP presidential frontrunner's most controversial proposals by offering them as amendments to other bills this year. "Since Republican leaders in the House and Senate have pledged loyalty to Trump, the obvious next step is to vote on his policies, including his unconstitutional plan to bar people from entering the United States based on their religion," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a Thursday statement, referencing Trump's...

The Obama administration is taking a $4 billion gamble on self-driving cars as the vehicles of the future. This past Thursday at the Detroit Auto Show, Department of Transportation secretary Anthony Foxx unveiled a plan to develop a legal framework for autonomous driving technology that would encourage consistent rules across all 50 states. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will be in charge in drafting the framework. Although the federal government can dictate manufacturing regulations, non-interstate highway traffic laws are left to the states. California, Nevada, Michigan and Florida have their own respective regulations on self-driving cars, creating a...

My Letter Responding to Speaker Paul Ryan's email to me I recently received an email from Speaker Paul Ryan on behalf of the RNCC, which I have contributed to and supported in the past. When it became apparent that John Boehner would not keep faith with the Republican Platform or with the millions of Americans who gave him a majority in the house...I stopped contributing. Now, they want me back. The following is my letter in response to Speaker Paul Ryan: Speaker Paul Ryan, January 14, 2016 Re: Response to your letter to me on behalf of the NRCC CC:...

"America is in critical condition," according to evangelist Franklin Graham. Graham delivered that warning in Florida hours before Tuesday night's State of the Union address. At a prayer rally in Tallahassee in front of Florida's state capitol, Graham said, "America is being stripped of its biblical heritage and God-inspired foundations." He warned that "we've got maybe one election left" to preserve America's liberties, or "the game will be over." The prayer rally was the second stop on Graham's 50-state Decision America Tour. He's encouraging Christians to pray for America, vote in this year's elections and consider running for office. The...

The US government could end up having to bail out the oil industry. In a note to clients on Thursday Greg Valliere, chief global strategist at Horizon Investments, wonders if the oil industry won't get lifeline similar to what Washington gave the banking industry during the financial crisis. Here's Valliere: "If Washington can bail out big banks and the auto industry, why not a bailout for oil companies? That's the new buzz, and we suspect this will become a huge issue as the U.S. energy industry faces massive layoffs and potential bankruptcies [...] We're now at the point where the...

The Anglican Communion voted to censure its American branch, the Episcopal Church, during a meeting in Canterbury, England, called to reflect on the future of the communion. The vote Thursday (Jan. 14) to suspend the Episcopal Church from voting and decision-making for a period of three years was leaked a day ahead of a press conference that had been scheduled for Friday.

In the lone piece of good news from last night, we have endured the last State of the Union speech from our current president. However, when South Carolina governor Nikki Haley delivered the Republican response, she inadvertently demonstrated the fundamental problem with today's Republican party. It is completely out of touch with its own base and the majority of ordinary Americans, and doesn't even realize it. Gov. Haley by all accounts is a very pleasant individual and a woman of character and faith. I'm sure she has genuinely conservative convictions. But you would have to look pretty hard to find...

From: http://marymargaretoliver.org/ MMO to hold press conference to discuss HB 731 - Assault Weapons ban MMO is co-sponsoring with Rep. Gardener HR 962 and HR 963 establishing an independent, non-partisan commission to deal with redistricting. A press conference was held on January 5 which included both MMO and Rep. Gardener along with Sen. Elena Parent and representatives of the state and national League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union and Common Cause. The hope is for and honest and open discussion during the 2016 Legislative Session. Details on the two resolutions can be found on the House of...

The Defense Department announced Thursday that 10 Yemeni detainees have been set free from Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. All of them were sent to the Gulf state of Oman, the Pentagon said. Less than 100 detainees now remain at the military facility. “The Oman transfer of 10 is the single largest transfer to a single country at one time under the current administration,” A Pentagon spokesman told the media. Since the beginning of 2016, 14 detainees have been released from the detention facility. Previously released detainees include Al Qaeda terrorists and a man who pledged to kill Americans...

Hollywood loves a sequel, but on Thursday it was an unwelcome one when people of colour were shut out of all the Oscar acting races. Again. All the 20 lead and supporting actor and actress nominees were white as for the second straight year, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences overlooked critically-acclaimed movies featuring black actors and directors. Hip-hop hit movie "Straight Outta Compton" failed to get a place in the best picture category, and the Twitter hashtag #Oscarssowhite, which sprung up a year ago, was quickly revived. Will Smith ("Concussion"), Idris Elba ("Beasts of No Nation"), and...