Free Republic

As former Florida Governor Jeb Bush struggles to rise in the polls, blame has begun mounting on the spending tactics of the man in charge of Bush Super PAC Right to Rise, Mike Murphy. Of the more than 22 million dollars spent on ads attacking Sen Marco Rubio since the start of December, $20 million has come from Right to Rise. The Super PAC has also spent money on iPad-style video mailers and a 47-page magazine sent out to supporters in NH.

Sheesh. Seems like there's one around every corner. Intelligence Community Inspector General Charles McCollough wrote a letter to to senior lawmakers in Congress informing them that "several dozen" Hillary Clinton emails stored on her pathetic private non-secure server contained information known as "Special Access Programs", which is regarded even above Top Secret. Hillary now is whining about this being a vast conspiracy: WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton's spokesman accused the Intelligence Community Inspector General Wednesday of working with Republicans to attack the Democratic presidential front-runner. "I think this was a very coordinated leak," Brian Fallon said on CNN. "Two months ago there was...

Knife rights is having a good year.  In Wisconsin, a reform bill to de-criminalize switchblades for concealed carry permit holders and police was determined to be an insufficient  by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety.   A strengthened reform bill, to include knife preemption and decriminalization for the State, was written and passed as a substitute amendment, by a bi-partisan vote of 8-2. The bill was passed by the full House on 27 October. The bill number is AB 142.  Yesterday, 20 January, the Senate passed the bill by unanimous voice vote.  It is likely that Governor Walker will sign...

... The former Alaska governor maintains a community of millions of Facebook fans, and while some cheered her backing of Mr. Trump, others called her a sellout who was only seeking another moment in the political spotlight. "Very sorry to see that Sarah Palin has decided that being a maverick is more important than being a conservative," said Dale Roberts, of Calvert City, Ky. "Trump supports gay marriage. He is pro abortion. He is anything but a conservative." John Guy Lockwood Burpee, of Fort Worth, said that he was disappointed that Mrs. Palin would be...

On Tuesday, the Congressional Budget Office released its preliminary budget and economic outlook for 2016-2026. The report shows that despite temporary improvements over the past few years, the country continues to be on an unsustainable budget path. From the report it remains clear that our nation is on the wrong path. Spending, deficits, and debt are expected to expand significantly over the next decade, while entitlement and interest spending will continue to consume more and more of the budget. It is time for Congress to take steps toward fixing the country's spending problem and put us back on a path...

As the 2016 election looms, ESPN sent employees a memo telling them to avoid making any political or partisan comments. "At ESPN, our reputation and journalistic credibility are of paramount importance - and that extends to our coverage of the Presidential Election, candidates, issues and the intersection of sports and society," the memo reads, which was also posted to ESPN's website two weeks ago. "Our audiences should be confident that political pressures or personal interests do not influence our news decisions."

In a previous article I attempted to examine the Scriptural, patristic, and canonical evidence for a belief in Universalism, the belief that eventually all will be saved (including, according to many universalists, Satan and the demons). I concluded that the evidence all went the other way, and I reaffirmed the traditional teaching that the punishments of Gehenna will be eternal. I acknowledged in passing the legitimacy and even the necessity of trying to explain how a belief in the eternity of Gehenna can be combined with a belief in the love of God. I will attempt to do that now....

Hosni Kaliya pulls a cigarette out his pack with his mouth. When he poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire, most of his right hand was consumed by the flames and all that remains is a stump without fingers. He still has four fingers on his left hand, but they jut out like claws, burned, stiff and contorted. His fingernails are curled. He wears black wool gloves with the fingertips cut off, so that they won't dangle emptily. A knit cap protects Kaliya's head, where his hair was burned off, and his unusually small ears. But the...

i Russian Orthodox believers swim in frigid water at a pond outside St. Petersburg in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Warmly dressed emergency medical technicians stand by in case anyone is overcome by the cold. Dmitry Lovetsky/AP hide captiontoggle caption Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Russian Orthodox believers swim in frigid water at a pond outside St. Petersburg in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Warmly dressed emergency medical technicians stand by in case anyone is overcome by the cold. Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Tuesday was an important holiday in the Russian Orthodox Church: Epiphany, which celebrates the baptism of Jesus in the...

An utterly shocking video has emerged that was shot inside a German school, which shows "integrated" Muslim migrants making a stunning admission about the "disgusting" Germans that took them in, and it should serve as a warning of what's to come for America. The clip shows a woman speaking to a group of Muslim teens inside of a German high school. In it, she asks if they know what the word "integration" means, which starts a discussion about how they really feel about the German people, and it's not pretty. One of the girls says that "integration" means to "exclude...

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served during the Obama administration, has turned into a harsh critic of the president, saying that Barack Obama always thinks he's the smartest person in the room. Gates also bashed Obama for bringing on advisers who do little else but constantly agree with his proposals, fostering a group-think environment where dissenting opinion essentially does not exist, The Free Beacon reports. In other words, there are no "strong" people around the president. And when there is dissent, Obama tries to crush it. Back in October, Politico reported that Obama's advisers urged him to deal with...

Today, a dollar bet on a Donald Trump primary victory will turn a profit of $1.52 on Betfair. His odds are ranked the best of any GOP candidate on the site. Trump's share price to win the entire election reached its all-time high Wednesday on PredictIt, a site that allows users to trade futures on candidates' chances. Trump's price sits tied with Bernie Sanders for second place at 27 cents, and 16 cents behind leader Hillary Clinton. At 48 cents per share at press time, Trump holds a 23-cent lead over Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination. Trump is now...

Proving to be unstable, combative and petty, an FBI agent interjected himself in a family custodial dispute on behalf of his girlfriend and her estranged husband, who was two hours late in dropping off their baby. But FBI Agent Gerald Rogero’s intrusive attempts at heroism led to him assaulting and threatening to shoot the 15-year-old son of the estranged husband’s girlfriend. He then threatened the teen’s mother with arrest when she tried to intervene

NORTH CONWAY, N.H. (AP) -- Ted Cruz is decidedly at odds with the scientific consensus that Earth is warming because of human activity. A look at some of the Republican presidential contender's claims on the subject in New Hampshire this week and how they compare with the facts:CRUZ: "The satellites that actually measure the temperature, that we've launched into the air to measure the temperature, they have recorded no significant warming whatsoever for the last 18 years."THE FACTS: Scientists, including those who work with the very satellite measuring system that Cruz refers to, say he's misusing the satellite data. They...

DAVOS, Switzerland (CNN) -- Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged to CNBC Thursday that some of the money Iran received in sanctions relief would go to groups considered terrorists. When asked about whether some the $150 billion in sanctions relief to Iran would go to terrorist groups, Kerry reiterated that, after settling debts, Iran would receive closer to $55 billion. He conceded some of that could go to groups considered terrorists, saying there was nothing the U.S. could do to prevent that. "I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities,...

Will Smith will be joining his wife Jada Pinkett Smith in boycotting the 88th Academy Awards over this year’s all-white acting nominees, the actor said on Thursday’s Good Morning America on ABC. “My wife’s not going. It would be awkward for me to show up with Charlize [Theron],” Smith joked to Robin Roberts. “No, we’ve discussed it, and we’re a part of this community, but at this current time, we’re uncomfortable to stand there and say this is okay.” Pinkett Smith posted a video online last Sunday, in which she lamented the treatment of black actors in entertainment. “Maybe it...

The National Archives released an announcement that the William J. Clinton Presidential Library will soon be publicly dumping almost 500 pages of information on Donald Trump. All of this has been made possible by a Freedom of Information Act request. Some of the information will be benign. There is an autographed copy of one of Trump's books, for instance, and a photo of Trump with Bill Clinton. It is just that relationship that makes the documents interesting, though: Republicans will be eager to get their hands on anything that links Trump to the Clintons. As Sarah Palin mentioned last night...

Reprinted from InvestigativeProject.org. In the aftermath of New Year's Eve's mass rapes of European women by Muslim refugees, the questions have been repeated: Should we have known this kind of thing would happen? Could we have known? And from local bars to parliaments, from family dinners to the nightly news, the answers keep coming back: Yes; we could. Yes, we should. But interestingly, the people who say this with the most conviction are not right-wing Muslim-bashers, or activists opposed to the settling of Syrian refugees in Europe. They are Muslims, and mostly Muslim women. Over and over, these women,...

Bernie Sanders has turned to folk icons Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel for an ad set to run the week before the Iowa caucuses. The non-traditional, soft TV spot focuses almost exclusively on idyllic shots of Americans in different everyday scenes and supporters at Sanders' rallies. Simon & Garfunkel's "America," a song about a young couple hitchhiking across the county, carries the 60-second ad. It isn't until the end that Sanders' voice says he approves the message. "They've all come to look for America," the folk duo sing in the ad over shots of people working in fields and organizers...

Plunging prices have neither halted oil production nor stimulated a surge in global growth OIL traders are paying unusual attention to Kharg, a small island 25km (16 miles) off the coast of Iran. On its lee side, identifiable to orbiting satellites by the transponders on their decks, are half a dozen or so huge oil tankers that have been anchored there for months. Farther down Iran's Persian Gulf coast is another flotilla of similarly vast vessels. They contain up to 50m barrels of Iranian crude--just what a world awash with oil could do without. The lifting of nuclear-related sanctions against...