Free Republic

More than 200 new Florida laws take effect Saturday… … DeSantis has taken a hard line on illegal immigration as he campaigns, saying he’ll finish the Mexican border wall his one-time supporter, Donald Trump, promised to build... he doesn’t just talk tough on illegal immigration, but he’s put in place what some critics say the harshest state law in the country… Any company with 25 or more employees to use E-Verify to document new hires’ eligibility to work or face a loss of business license or fines of $1,000 per day per employee… Hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask patients...

...While Amash would obviously have no chance to win the presidency if he ran as a Libertarian, he could theoretically peel off voters from Trump in the battleground state of Michigan, which may be the ulterior motive behind his potential run...

In an interview on SiriusXM’s “Sway in the Morning” show, President Barack Obama named Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar as two of his favorite rappers, but stressed that Jay Z is still the undisputed “king” of the genre. “I think the young guys, Kendrick and Chance, are doing amazing work. I love Drake and the girls love Drake, so he’s commercially just doing great, and unbelievably talented,” Obama said. “Jay Z’s still the king. I mean he’s got a track record. Same with Kanye so there’s a lot of talent out there, but when I look at who’s breaking...

Kolkata: A group of organisations have launched a campaign against a move by UN Women, a United Nations organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, to decriminalise pimping, buying sex and brothel-keeping. "Such a move will fuel huge sex-trafficking as those who buy and sell women will get off scot free," Ruchira Gupta of Apne Aap Women Worldwide, an anti-sex trafficking NGO, told reporters here today. More than 1,000 individuals and organisations representing victims and survivors, women and dalits have signed a petition that the NGO would submit to UN Women in Delhi on January 7. The...

Obama Fundraiser With Jay-Z And Beyonce Features “Floor-To-Ceiling” Tower Of 350 Gold Champagne Bottles Costing $800 Each, White House Bans Photos Of Event… Now why would they ban photos of an event like this?Via New York Post: Nix the flags and the podium. Cue the opulent 18-foot tower of gold-bottled French champagne.When President Obama addresses an elite roster of hipsters and multimillionaires, including hosts Beyoncé and Jay-Z, in New York tonight, he will do so next to a custom-designed tower of $800-per-bottle champagne that dominates the main room at Jay-Z’s 40/40 nightclub.The 350-bottle champagne tower — designed by Jeffrey Beers...

This guy Jason Mattera is AWESOME! I came across some of his videos confronting corrupt politicians, and then stumbled upon this one. I WANT THIS BOOK!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdHIsax3hSE

(Political Animal) HUCKABEE AND THE MONEY-CONS....Matt Yglesias notes that Christian conservative darling Mike Huckabee is gaining on Mitt Romney in Iowa: In retrospect, it all sort of makes you wonder why social conservatives didn't just get behind Huckabee in the first place, rather than blessing Romney's preposterous conversion to religious right values and trying to drag Fred Thompson into the race. Sure, Huckabee's not well-liked by the economic hard-right, but cultural conservatives' objections to Giuliani didn't stop his backers from pushing him on the party. Part of the answer, of course, is the obvious one: it's hard for an also-ran...

Former Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee received the endorsement of the Republican Sportshooters Association at a sportsmen’s “meet and greet and skeet shoot” just outside Spartanburg, South Carolina yesterday. “The Second Amendment is not about loving guns, it is about ensuring freedom,” said Huckabee. During his remarks, Huckabee told the crowd the story about the rusty old 20 gauge shotgun in his rifle cabinet at home that was his father’s gun, and how one day that gun will be his sons. “You don’t hear stories about fathers passing down video games to their sons,” he quipped. Wayne...

For Bob Vander Plaats, January 3--the day of the Iowa caucus--can't get here quickly enough. Vander Plaats, chairman of the Mike Huckabee campaign in Iowa, can read the polls, and in the latest surveys of likely Republican caucus-goers Mike Huckabee came in second, trailing Mitt Romney by only two points in the American Research Group poll and by four points in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll of the same voters. "Our goal is like that of a good basketball team," he says. "It wants to peak at tournament time. And we want to peak at caucus time." When the...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, despite heavy spending and intensive campaigning, finds himself in a tightening race in Iowa with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, forcing Romney to aggressively confront an opponent with far less money and organizational backing who was far back in the polls a few weeks ago. (snip) Seven weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses, a New York Times/CBS News Poll published Wednesday had Romney capturing support from 27 percent of likely Republican voters in Iowa - and Huckabee within striking range at 21 percent. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was third with 15 percent, former...

Mitt Romney, despite heavy spending and intensive campaigning, finds himself in a tightening battle with Mike Huckabee in Iowa, forcing Romney to confront aggressively an opponent with far less money and organizational backing who was far back in the polls a few weeks ago. more stories like this (snip) Seven weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses, a New York Times/CBS News Poll published yesterday had Romney capturing support from 27 percent of likely Republican voters, but Huckabee within striking range with 21 percent. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was third with 15 percent, Fred Thompson had 9 percent,...

Recent surveys, however, have shown Huckabee picking up steam, and he is well within striking distance in the CBS News/New York Times poll, where he trails Romney, 27 percent to 21 percent, with a 5 percent margin of error. Rudy Giuliani was in third at 15 percent. All other candidates were in single digits, including Fred Thompson, who had 9 percent support among likely caucus-goers. While Romney still leads in Iowa, his support base is far softer than that of Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor whose campaign has gained momentum in recent weeks. Half of Huckabee supporters said they had...

I will be one of the first to admit the entire violent incident involving the Jena Six is a disgrace, not only to our justice system, but to our society as a whole.

I wanted to let you know that YouChoose also has an active petition to Save Jericho. We also allow signers to create their own personal page in support of the show. As we are the first social network to combine networking with activism, we would appreciate your support and a change in your link to our petition on YouChoose. http://youchoose.net/pledge/save_jericho/from/xavierr We also offer ‘widget’s for the campaign to promote on your site here: http://www.youchoose.net/views/linkto.php

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Scientists in Ireland may have found the country's most fertile male, with more than 3 million men worldwide among his offspring. The scientists, from Trinity College Dublin, have discovered that as many as one in twelve Irish men could be descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, a 5th-century warlord who was head of the most powerful dynasty in ancient Ireland. His genetic legacy is almost as impressive as Genghis Khan, the Mongol emperor who conquered most of Asia in the 13th century and has nearly 16 million descendants, said Dan Bradley, who supervised the research. "It's...