Free Republic

Republican National Committee members, meeting here Friday, said they will support New York billionaire Donald Trump if he wins the GOP's nomination. Beating Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is more important than worrying about Trump's impact on the party, those leaders said. Some GOP leaders have expressed concern that caustic statements by the GOP front-runner could damage the party with women and minority voters. "Whoever it is, we'll get behind them and do our best win the White House," said Glenn McCall, a Republican National Committee member from South Carolina. Cindy Costa, an RNC committeewoman from South Carolina, said she came...

Iran announces that Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and three Iranian Americans have been freed from prison

Excellent! We have our first Cruz Birther Suit.We all remember the questions regarding Big Guy’s eligibility as a natural born citizen and some of us still wonder what his real birth certificate said.Although much was written about the rumor that BHO was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii, that was never the real issue. Since Barry’s father was clearly not American the real question - while nowhere near as sexy – was whether his American born mother was actually old enough to confer natural citizenship on her son, regardless of where he was born.The statutes in effect at the time...

Philadelphia's Mayor Jim Kenney has earned himself a place in the Doofus Hall of Fame for telling a press conference about an attempted assassination a police officer by a man who told police he acted "in the name of Islam" because "the police defend laws that are contrary to the teachings of the Koran": "In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what you've seen on the screen. That is abhorrent. It's just terrible and it does not represent this religion in any way...

Until now conventional wisdom assumed that candidates of both major parties had to back ethanol welfare to win the Iowa caucuses. In 1988 Pete du Pont challenged agricultural subsidies, but he didn’t triumph there or in New Hampshire, after which he dropped out of the race. In contrast, when Sen. John “Straight Talk Express” McCain ran, he flip-flopped on ethanol, proclaiming himself a true believer in the subsidy after criticizing it for being “highway robbery.” Sen. Hillary Clinton attacked ethanol welfare as “equivalent to a new tax” on gasoline; candidate Clinton lauded the dubious fuel for “limiting our dependence on...

If the Republican Presidential Primaries came down to these candidates, for whom would you vote?

Obama's lucky that next to nobody pays attention to his Cuba policy. He's made such a mess of domestic matters that nobody has the time. He's even luckier that the media, academia, Hollywood and Castroite agents of influence (but I repeat myself) have rendered most Americans so  pathetically clueless on the Castro regime that poll after poll shows a majority favor Obama's relentless groveling and surrender to it. (i.e. "rapprochement.")Even Donald Trump seems semi-duped. "I think its fine. I think its fine, but we should have made a better deal," Trump added. "The concept of opening with Cuba is fine."...

A former Dutch soldier has been arrested on suspicion of killing Islamic State militants while fighting alongside Kurdish militiamen in Syria. The 47-year-old was later released but had to surrender his passport to stop him returning to Syria. Prosecutors said that Dutch law did not allow the use of force apart from in exceptional circumstances. "Killing an IS fighter therefore could mean being prosecuted for murder," a statement from prosecutors said. Foreign fightersEven though the Netherlands is part of the international coalition against the so-called Islamic State (IS), the prosecutors said there was "an important difference between Dutch nationals who...

The Obama administration decision Friday to halt new coal leases on federal lands amid a program overhaul only "attacks middle-class jobs and punishes the poor," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. "At a time when Americans are calling on the Obama administration to protect our nation and strengthen the middle class, the administration is again making clear that its priorities are elsewhere," McConnell said. The six-term Kentucky Republican was among many GOP legislators who attacked the administration's decision Nearly 40 percent of the coal produced in the United States comes from federal lands — primarily Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah and...

The U.S. Navy has been in discussions with shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls about the possibility of building a missile defense variant of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock (LPD-17). The new vessel could eventually be equipped with new radars, railguns and lasers. The massive 25,000-ton troop carrier has the size and weight margins for the mission, according to industry officials. “You can put a lot of additional weight on the ship and you can put … some modern technologies like ballistic missile defense radars that are very heavy,” Huntington Ingalls vice president Brian Cuccias told reporters at the Surface Navy Association...

Her name is Alyssa Rosenberg and I will not link to her wretched piece on the movie which is at the Washington Post, but in her twitter account she boasts of how her husband works for Media Matters. Why does the Washington Post allow her to write anything which is obviously so partisan? She makes no attempt to even hide it. What a partisan hack.

Hello all, I am a junior high SS/Religion teacher in one of the Cincinnati Catholic Schools. We are using an updated textbook from Prentice Hall (Pearson). To be blunt, I hate this textbook! It's all over the place on our American historical roots as well as very biased against American ingenuity and foresight. My principal and parish priest are very open to using resources that have not 'revised' the world's history. Can anyone suggest a textbook company that is not revising history? The textbook we use now is called "America, History of our Nation."

Some anti-PC humor Achmed the Dead Terrorist

De Oppresso Liber? We Shall See This is addressed first and foremost to the entire U.S. military, but especially to the military Special Operations Command and community. Secondly, it is addressed to federal LEOs, and especially to their SRTs, such as the FBI HRT (many of whom are former military special operations). This comes from combat arms and special operations veterans, along with veteran Sheriffs and police officers, within the Oath Keepers organization: Critical Warning: The Ammon Bundy led occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon must be handled as a normal, non-crisis, law enforcement matter, and preferably...

Donald Trump is finding himself with strange bedfellows after Thursday's Republican debate, after he gave a rousing defense of "New York values" in response to attacks by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Among those who seconded his comments: prominent Democrats Hillary Clinton, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

For discussion... What would happen if Ted Cruz were to file in Federal Court and sue Congress for Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment? In his suit, he must demand that Congress applied the same standard to him that they applied to Obama and McCain in 2008. Congress found that Obama was eligible with one citizen parent, the mother. Ted Cruz qualifies under that standard. Congress also found the McCain was eligible despite having been born on foreign soil...that standard must also be applied to Cruz if he wins in court. Let's bypass all the arguments about Vattel, Naturalization Acts,...

Unlike the chatter amid most of the professional punditry we don’t view the Ted Cruz -v- Donald Trump debate confrontation as the most consequential part of the GOP debate in South Carolina. The exchange between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush regarding China and trade economics was actually the most revealing. Donald Trump pointed out because of the size of our market we have tremendous leverage on China; leverage we have failed to use for the past three decades. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to accept that most readers here are familiar with who is funding and directing Jeb...

It's been 50 years since the War on Poverty was launched and after all that time and trillions of dollars spent about one of every seven people in the country is still living below the poverty line. Everyone on the right and the left seems to agree: in the war on poverty, poverty is clearly winning. So what should be done? You may have noticed that Paul Ryan and the Republican presidential candidates were guests of the Jack Kemp Center in North Carolina the other day, trotting out their ideas on how to combat poverty. But what about the Democrats?...

Do your Allen Iverson imitation, but instead of "practice," try saying "alleged" in your most disbelieving voice. . . On today's Good Morning America, the normally politically-correct Dan Harris took surprising issue with Ron Claiborne's insistence on calling a caught-on-tape convenience store shooter an "alleged" robber. The show rolled the security video several times, showing the "alleged" robber repeatedly shooting right at the woman at the register. Said an incredulous Harris "I like how you call him an 'alleged' robber. I think we can say, given the video, he did it." Responded Claiborne: "I'm not going there, Dan. Innocent till...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Paul (Paul's Letter to The Romans) 3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to...