Free Republic

OKLAHOMA CITY -- As oil prices continue to slide with no recovery in sight, the Oklahoma economy has begun to contract. Oil prices have fallen to 12 year lows, and the industry is undergoing its largest downturn since the 1990's. Meanwhile, investment bank forecasts continue to become more bearish. According to the latest data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, gross domestic product in Oklahoma declined 2.4 percent in the second quarter, ranking last among U.S. states. Prompted by depressed oil prices, these numbers were a stark reversal of the 6.5 percentage growth that occurred during the first quarter....

Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz says he hates the conventional wisdom that the only way for a conservative to win a general election is to run as a "Democrat-lite.""How do we win?" Cruz asked voters at an Exeter, N.H., rally earlier this week, according to the Associated Press."Washington consultants always say 'the way you win is you run to the middle.' You run to the mushy middle, you blur the distinctions," he added. "Every time we do that, we lose."The Texas senator said he prefers his approach, which he characterized as "telling the truth with a smile.""That's how we win...

My daughter wanted Spam and eggs. She fetched a can of Spam from the pantry and told me there's a warning label that reads "Pork. Not for muslims." I thought she was trolling me, but it really is there.

Americans say the American Dream is suffering - and that our laziness and low morals may be partially to blame. Searches for "American Dream" have fallen 24% since Google began tracking this data in 2004 -- and when you type "American Dream" into Google, three of the four top autofills are "dead," "a lie" and "leaving America," according to an analysis of Google Trends data released Friday in a report by brokerage firm Convergex.

Time to worry. As the Iowa primary draws near, the Republican race has come down to some basic questions: Can Donald Trump's insurgent campaign maintain its support? And if it can't, where do his votes go? It seems unlikely his voters would flock to candidates like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio--not with the deep animus flowing towards the Republican establishment. Alternately, if Trump's voters flee him because they deem the reality television star unelectable, why would they turn to fellow insurgents like Ben Carson or Mike Huckabee, who are even harder to envision in the Oval Office? Standing in the...

"They say I have the most loyal people - did you ever see that? - where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters," Trump said, illustrating his point by pulling his fingers into a gun shape. "Okay? It's like incredible." The crowd laughed and clapped, and someone in the audience shouted out love for the candidate. "We love you, too, man," Trump said. Trump's comment came during a campaign rally Saturday at Dordt College in northwest Iowa. The 1,500-seat theater completely filled, hundreds more watched his speech from an...

A main problem with blaming a tool (firearms) for the willful actions of people (violence) is that you may then find yourself in the position where you need that tool to mitigate the actions of other people… and by then you're out of luck, and perhaps you may not live to learn from your mistake. Sadly, I don’t think Andrea Koller will learn the right lessons even after surviving her ordeal, even though she and her daughter survived the experience only because the criminals allowed it. An out-of-town teacher who publicly railed against gun violence was shot in the shoulder...

On today's show I wanted to go back to something that I haven't dealt with in a while, and that's the economy. I of course am not an economist, but I do put my trust in what economists and economic commentators say we need to be watching rather than what the government says the unemployment rate is. We've gotten off to a very rough start in 2016 when it comes to global markets, wealth lost in the stock markets, global trade, and companies looking to downsize their workforce. I don't like to talk negative but I do like to talk...

I’ve seen snowstorms take the blame for all sorts of things over the years, but this one may be a first. The State Department is due to release the last batch of roughly 55,000 of Hillary Clinton’s emails at the end of the month (before the voting begins) but they’re asking a judge for an extra month to complete their work. One of the reasons for the requested extension is apparently the snowstorm. (The Hill) The State Department on Friday sought to delay its final release of emails from Hillary Clinton's personal server, blaming a massive snowstorm hitting Washington as...

Guard the Big Gulps and the guns, and store up on the table salt while you’re at it. “Galled” by the lasting power of Donald Trump with Republicans and the incompetence of Hillary Clinton in closing the sale with Democrats, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg may enter the race as an independent. The New York Times reports today that Bloomberg will loosen up at least a billion dollars of his own money if he decides he can win in November: Galled by Donald J. Trump's dominance of the Republican field, and troubled by Hillary Clinton's stumbles and the...

When President Obama secretly authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to begin arming Syria's embattled rebels in 2013, the spy agency knew it would have a willing partner to help pay for the covert operation. It was the same partner the C.I.A. has relied on for decades for money and discretion in far-off conflicts: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Since then, the C.I.A. and its Saudi counterpart have maintained an unusual arrangement for the rebel-training mission, which the Americans have code-named Timber Sycamore. Under the deal, current and former administration officials said, the Saudis contribute both weapons and large sums of...

Ted Cruz spent part of his late 20s in Kingston, Jamaica trying to help build a Caribbean-focused private equity fund. We didn't believe it either, but The Washington Post swears it's true: In a group that included three Jamaican entrepreneurs, one participant seemed out of place -- a 27-year-old former U.S. Supreme Court law clerk of Cuban descent who was visiting from Washington. Ted Cruz had been invited by his roommate from Princeton and Harvard Law, David Panton, who was eager for the group to win the rights to manage a new Caribbean-focused investment enterprise launched by one of the...

President Barack Obama will visit the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., on the evening of January 27, where he will take part in the first ever ceremony in the United States posthumously honoring four Righteous Among The Nations. The event is being held in partnership with Yad Vashem. Set to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the reception will honor two American and two Polish citizens. This is the first ceremony of its kind to be held in the United States. The families of the four honorees will be in attendance, along with many other distinguished guests. ...

Be like Bill -- is the new hilarious guideline for social media use that could seriously make the world a better place. The memes are the creation of Eugeniu Croitoru, a Moldovan man who lives in Milan, Italy. Be like Bill -- employs tongue-in-cheek humor to advise readers on things pertaining to social norms in real life and online behavior.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush unleashed a fury of criticism against Donald Trump on Saturday before imploring New Hampshire voters to forgo the billionaire businessman in the state's Feb. 9 primary. "You have a chance to reshape this whole primary," Bush told hundreds of voters at a state Republican Party presidential candidate forum.

Future parent? Recent Parent? As a fairly old first-time parent, I thought I'd share some things I hadn't known about for entertaining young kids. (I'd be thrilled if this thread was eternal because new parents share their discoveries.) My son is 3. He still seems a long way away from when he cares whether a toy was a brand name or a home made. Fantastic. Home-made entertainment isn't nearly so hard. But this isn't ONLY about home-made entertainment. Modeling clay is much better than Play-dough. Play-dough actually sucks. With a young kid, you can't control when it's going to dry...

Why has America been blessed in many ways in the past? At its core, the answer has to do with the Judeo-Christian tradition. We are living off of the residue of that great heritage. As one author put it, "one of our nation's primary advantages over many others lies in the greater strength of religion in American life." That author is Dr. Rodney Stark, a professor at Baylor, who is a specialist on the sociology of religion. Last week I mentioned a remarkable book he wrote that I feel did not get the attention it deserves. It's called America's Blessings: How Religion Benefits...

Former Family Research Council president Gary Bauer endorsed GOP hopeful Ted Cruz Friday, saying the Texas senator embodies traditional family values. "Ted Cruz is a courageous conservative who has built a consistent record on the issues that matter most," Bauer wrote in a statement. Bauer, who served as under secretary of education and head of the White House Office of Policy Development in Ronald Reagan's administration, said Cruz is the "clear choice" for Reagan-aligned conservatives. The pro-family leader ran for president in 2000 before founding the American Values nonprofit organization, which supports pro-life principles and traditional marriage values. Bauer cited...

Why are the Washington elites flocking to Donald Trump in preference to Ted Cruz? Trump, who has thus far been running as an outsider businessman who was going to upend the political order, even boasted about the phenomenon recently. Cruz may be an outsider who is interested in shaking things up, but at least he has been a Republican all of his adult life. Trump, not too long ago, was a liberal Democrat, who favored partial-birth abortion and high taxes.

Got my first iPhone as a gift. Tried to get an Apple ID. I have entered an email address and all the other info. Apple sent me a verification code. Actually, five codes because none of them work to activate my account. Got a 6th code to try but when I again try to access the ID page, it asks for my account ID and then says it is already taken (Duh!) and won't let me to enter the code. How do I access the page into which to enter the verification code? This is why people avoid computers.