Free Republic

Donald Trump has a fallback option for his main GOP opponent, Ted Cruz, in case the Texas senator comes up short in his bid to capture the Republican nomination for president of the United States: become Canada's prime minister. At least that's what the GOP front-runner tweeted Friday night in his latest swipe at his closest competitor, who was born in Canada. "Cruz did not renounce his Canadian citizenship as a US Senator- only when he started to run for #POTUS. He could be Canadian Prime Minister," Trump tweeted. Trump has repeatedly questioned Cruz's eligibility to be president of the...

RENTON, Wash. (KOMO) -- A 29-year-old man suspected of shooting a woman inside a Renton theater Thursday night told detectives he brought the gun to the movie fearing a mass shooting. The incident happened at The Landing in Renton during a showing of the film "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi." It is the action-packed movie of the terrorist raid on the U.S. Embassy. About 15 minutes into the movie, a gun went off and a 40-year-old Michelle Mallari had been shot through the back of her chair. "I believe the lady in front of us that got shot...

Urinating and drinking in public would no longer be treated as crimes under a package of bills New York's City Council will consider to ease enforcement of quality-of-life offenses that lawmakers say clog the courts and have been disproportionately enforced against minorities.

In a recent Egyptian TV show, Heba Kotb, a consultant on Islamic medicine and marital life, said that the Jews "have had the highest rate of sexual perversions in history." Kotb said that this was due to a "psychological imbalance" caused by strict rules. "In Jewish thought, sex has to be for a reason," she said. The show aired on Al-Hayat TV on January 16, 2016. Interviewer: A common theme in our viewers' questions is that sex is a means for procreation only. Others view sex merely as a means for pleasure. What's your opinion? Heba Kotb: Neither is true,...

A Billboard on Brainerd Road in Chattanooga that proclaims 'Blue Lives Matter' and features the badges of the Chattanooga Police Department and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office is causing some local controversy, according to GOPUSA. On Wednesday, Williams started receiving calls and social media comments about the billboard, many of them expressing violent anger: 'They wanted to tear it down, to burn it down, but I was like, we don’t need to take that approach. There are other ways.'

One can only hope that the Trump phenomenon will bring into the sunlight several fictions, most, but not all, of which GOP boosters have been promoting for years. The first is that there are two fundamentally opposed forces within the Republican Party: "the Establishment" and "conservatives," "anti-Establishmentarians," or "outsiders." In reality, the conflicts that beset the GOP are internecine battles within one political establishment. There is no "anti-Establishment." Nor is Trump an "anti-Establishment" outsider. Trump has been peddling and receiving political influence for years courtesy of both Republican and Democrat politicians alike. Few "outsiders" have had so many "ins" with...

The Supreme Court orders the president to prove that he is faithfully executing the law. On four separate occasions, President Obama swore that he would "faithfully execute the Office of President." Yesterday, the Supreme Court told him to prove it. As expected, the justices voted to review Texas's challenge to Obama's executive action on immigration, known as DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans). Critically, the Court ordered the Obama administration to answer a pivotal question: Whether DAPA"violates the Take Care Clause of the Constitution." In 225 years, the Supreme Court has never had occasion to ask the president whether...

Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Al-Tirawi told the Maan News Agency that "Palestine stretches from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea" and that "a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital, is just a phase." The former PA intelligence chief also said that "Hitler wasn't corrupt" in the January 19, 2016 interview. Tawfiq Al-Tirawi: "I believe that the current Palestinian Intifada has united the Palestinian people. The Intifada united the people in all geographical parts of Palestine. If you ask for my opinion on this issue, I have an 'extremist' view. Interviewer: "Yes, I'd like...

.@realDonaldTrump on his loyal supporters:"I could stand in the middle of 5th avenue and shoot people and I wouldn’t lose voters."— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) January 23, 2016

I know this is a little old. But still funny.

Of all the troubling aspects of the Obama presidency, none is more dangerous than the president's persistent pattern of lawlessness, his willingness to disregard the written law and instead enforce his own policies via executive fiat. On Monday, Mr. Obama acted unilaterally to raise the minimum wage paid by federal contracts, the first of many executive actions the White House promised would be a theme of his State of the Union address Tuesday night. The president's taste for unilateral action to circumvent Congress should concern every citizen, regardless of party or ideology. The great 18th-century political philosopher Montesquieu observed: "There...

Since joining the Trump campaign as a national spokeswoman in November, Katrina Pierson has served as an attack dog of sorts for Donald Trump, attempting to expose his critics and opponents as faux conservatives who are simply pulling the wool over the eyes of the American people. And yet, Ms. Pierson’s own statements reveal she is a self-proclaimed devotee of Malcolm X (whom she has referred to as her “idol”) and has a history of attacking conservatives as racists, sneering at Christians who are unable to “handle the truth” and mocking candidates who open up about their faith on the...

Could not copy and past, but the whole thing is worth a read. If someone knows how to copy and paste this document please let me know and I will repost.

From 22 to 27 January 2016, at the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, the works of the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches are being carried out.At the opening of the event, His Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, delivered a speech thanking the other Primates of the Orthodox Churches, as well as the delegations, for accepting to change the place of the Synaxis from the Ecumenical Patriarchate's residence in Istanbul, Turkey, to the Chambésy Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is "meant for serving the pan-Orthodox unity, and which for a long time...

The Schengen system of free movement could be suspended for two years under emergency measures to be discussed by European ministers on Monday, as the French Prime Minister warned the crisis could bring down the entire European Union. Manuel Valls said that the “very idea of Europe” will be torn apart until the flows of migrants expected to surge in spring are turned away. On Monday, interior ministers from the EU will meet in Amsterdam to discuss emergency measures to allow states to reintroduce national border controls for two years. The powers are allowed under the Schengen rules, but would...

Dear Mr. Levin, My name is Lauren Stephens. I’ve been involved in politics for a long time – mostly just as a pissed off American, but I also own a campaign services company. I do not work for any of the Presidential Campaigns. I am not coordinated with any of them. I have not spoken to any of them. I am not being paid by anyone for this. I am getting absolutely nothing for writing this. First off, I would like to let you know that I have been a huge fan and follower of yours since probably about 2007...

One of the most anticipated movies at this year's Sundance Film Festival also turned out to be among the most divisive. On Friday afternoon, the Eccles Theater had to turn away hundreds of movie fans, and even a few industry VIPs, at the packed premiere of "Swiss Army Man," starring Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano. But the bizarre fable about a lost man (Dano) who befriends a farting corpse (Radcliffe) could win the festival's award for the most walk-outs, as a continuous stream of audience members kept standing up and bolting for the door throughout the film.

My colleague Ben Domenech was one of the many smart conservative and libertarians writers who took part in National Review's symposium on Trump. He, like many of the others, offered a measured piece, rationally pointing out the multitude of reasons Donald Trump is neither conservative, principled, nor equipped to be the president. I hope it'll matter. I did notice, though, as I read through the pieces that I felt far less charitable than most of the writers towards Trump's supporters--perhaps the most sensitive constituency to ever appear in American politics. Trumpism is an ideology that judges all things on how...

Fierce battles continue around the strategic city of Deir Ezzor in northern Syria between regime forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), according to human rights groups. Hundreds of combatants and civilians have been killed over the past week, and Russian aircraft have been dropping supplies to beleaguered army units.

Cameras swarmed around abortion supporters trying to interrupt this year’s annual March for Life, but will journalists report an event that shows groups like Planned Parenthood in a bad light? During the 2016 March for Life Friday, a few dozen pro-abortion activists staged a “die-in” by lying down outside the U.S. Supreme Court to represent women dying from back-alley abortions. It was the second year straight where radical protesters tried to halt the thousands who came to D.C. to speak for the voiceless. Last year, the group’s behavior caused arrests at the march. The group Stop Patriarchy took credit for...