Free Republic

In the wake of intense vocal opposition to a series of military exercises planned for this summer in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has instructed the Texas State Guard to monitor the operation dubbed Jade Helm 15. Abbott sent a letter Tuesday to Maj. Gen. Gerald “Jake” Betty, commander of the Texas State Guard, directing him to provide regular updates to the governor to ensure that residents’ “safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed” during the eight weeks of training from July to September. U.S. military officials have described the Jade Helm 15 operations as...

If House Republicans do not act on immigration in the way Barack Obama wants soon, then the president will simply "borrow" Congress' legislative powers and unilaterally rule on the issue, bypassing Congress once again, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Thursday.

Pardon the vanity, but does anyone know if the old weekly "24" thread is still somewhere in the FR archives; and if so, is it going to be re-booted for the upcoming "24" mini-series?I've searched, but haven't been able to locate it. It was lot's of fun live-blogging Jack Bauer's exploits every week. (Especially the "Freckles" epssodes...LOL)

Maria Conchita Alonso, the Cuban-Venezuelan actress who counts as one of her best-known films “Moscow on the Hudson” with Robin Williams, is drawing controversy over a political ad in which she appears with a California Tea Party lawmaker who is running for governor. Several Latino organizations criticized the actress for endorsing Tim Donnelly, an assemblyman who founded a state chapter of the Minutemen, an armed vigilante border patrol group, and who has pushed for a hard line on immigration.

My sources tell me House Republicans have postponed tonight’s vote on their plan to end the fiscal impasse. “The votes aren’t there,” says a leadership aide. “We’ve been amending the bill all day, but we’ve been unable to get people around this strategy.” This development leaves Speaker John Boehner with few options as Thursday’s debt-ceiling deadline nears, and it throws the action back toward the Senate, which has been working on a bipartisan package.

Tompall Glaser, a country music singer, publisher and studio owner best known for his association with the outlaw movement against record labels, died Tuesday. He was 79. Louis Glaser, Tompall Glaser's nephew, said the singer died in Nashville, Tenn., after a long illness. Thomas Paul Glaser, a Spalding, Neb., native, began performing with his brothers, Jim and Chuck, as The Glaser Brothers in the 1950s and eventually moved to Nashville after meeting Marty Robbins, who tapped them to sing backup. Glaser and his brothers immediately chafed under the label system in place in the 1960s and '70s — just like...

Donald Trump claimed on Fox news he has a major announcement to make about the president on Wednesday that will change the election. I can reveal exclusively what the surprise is likely to be. My Trump sources tell me it is one of the following ten things; 1. The Mars Rover has found Obama’s birth certificate on Mars 2. That means Obama is an alien Or it could be: 3. Obama and Hillary have had an affair, mostly conducted on Air Force One 4. This explains what happened over Benghazi – they were on date night and missed it. Or...

Now the band has suddenly decided to become political correct. Gary Rossington, the only original member, grovelled to CNN's Fredricka Whitfield. He says he doesn't want to offend anyone by using the Confederate flag. He said the band will no longer display the flag. Lynyrd Skynyrd "Sweet Home Alabama" in 1977. This was three months before the plane crash that killed three of the original members. --SNIP-- The band released a new studio album just days ago ironically titled "Last of A Dying Breed." The band is preparing to go on tour to support their new album. However, there is...

Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks ever perpetrated on America, our embassy in Cairo and our consulate in Benghazi were attacked by violent Islamic mobs. In Cairo, they scaled the walls of our embassy, destroyed our flag, and replaced it with a black Islamic banner. In Benghazi, the armed gunmen set fire to our consulate and killed an American staff member. The Islamic radicals claim that these attacks are in protest to some film criticizing Islam. In response to this, the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a...

There are new rumblings in the Sarah Palin Reconsider movement. A new group on Facebook, called Sarah Palin’s Iowa Earthquake, is in the process of producing a new TV ad for Iowa and is considering an ad campaign and possibly a write-in campaign as well. Shelly Dankert has posted a preview of their new ad at Nebraska Attitude. You can read her article here. An ad sponsored by Conservatives4Palin, called The Challenge, is currently running in Iowa. This new ad, or possibly a series of ads, planned by the new Facebook group should intensify the Reconsider effort in Iowa.

One thing I find fascinating as governor is the disconnect between those in and around the capitol and real New Mexicans. The issue of giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants is perhaps the best example. They say it's controversial, but New Mexicans are remarkably united - across ethnic, party, and religious lines. Critics can attack my heritage, accuse me of being a "bad Catholic" for my position, but I will keep my word to you and continue the fight to repeal this dangerous law.

Governor Susana Martinez Requalifies for Concealed Carry License in August of 2011. 100% score with .45 and .38 caliber handguns.

Ohio is one of the all important swing states, a must win, if someone wants to become President of the United States. Making a favorable impression on Ohioans goes a long way towards winning over the entire nation. Though some national polls that over sample democrats and don’t include likely voters [the only reliable group to sample] have shown Sarah Palin has a “favorability problem,” every legit poll that specifically targets likely Republican voters and Republican leaning independents has shown Sarah Palin to have the best favorability among the candidates. This has been consistent since serious polling for 2012 started....

I think it may be a good time to remind everyone that once Rick Perry announces that he’s not running for the presidency, Governor Palin will be the only one in the field who can say that she vetoed some of Obama’s stimulus package. In the unlikely event that Rick Perry enters the contest, Governor Palin will still be the only person on stage who can say that she vetoed the energy portion of Obama’s stimulus package. She didn’t just oppose Obama’s stimulus package through her words, nor did she just cast the same vote that every other moderate or...

When I was back in high school, a popular phrase was, “Get a clue.” When it comes to media and everyone doubting whether Palin is running for president, I can only say, “Get a clue.” Here are six CLUES for the doubters.

There is an interesting thing about the Wisconsin recall process. Essentially, if you read the document regulating it you will discover that the designation of a particular date for a recall election assumes that there was no primary; if there is a primary, it occurs on that date, with the general election taking place a month afterward. Also of note… political parties do not have veto power over who can participate in a recall primary. The restrictions are that the candidate be a non-felon voter and resident of Wisconsin who presents a valid petition with at least 400 signatures; said...

Just suppose your neighborhood was invaded by terrorists and they were shooting at your front windows from across the street and you heard a knock on the back door would you rather open the door and find…? A. A conceited wimp who writes for the New York Times with a bottle of white wine in his hand. B. Sarah Palin with a couple of 50 caliber Barrett assault rifles and plenty of ammo.

Sorry for the vanity, but did anyone see Megyn Kelly's interview with Michael Reagan in the noon (MST) hour? I've searched for a post here, as well as for a link to the interview at Fox News, to no avail. He was "handicapping" GOP Presidential contenders for 2012, and essentially seemed to put Huckabee at the head of the field, and basically said Sarah hasn't a chance because she's "too polarizing."

Senate sources confirm to me this evening that Senator Mitch McConnell and his leadership team are trying to scuttle Republican efforts to force a vote on repeal of the entire health care legislation during the reconciliation process. I’m told reliably that moderate Republican senators who voted against Obamacare in December do not want to vote against it again because it would just be “symbolic”. McConnell agrees and is not inclined to push Republicans to go along with any effort to force a vote on repeal during reconciliation, despite David Vitter offering up an amendment to do just that and separate...