Free Republic

If you really want to get depressed these days, strike up a conversation with a Democratic pollster. I did the other day with a friend of mine who told me the saddest story I’ve ever heard in my 20 years in campaigning, but at least he explained why Barack Obama is having a problem with black voters. My pollster friend asked me to keep his name out of it because he was talking out of school. In fact, we were speaking in a bar, and he was staring into his scotch as he told me about some focus groups he...

The muted GOP reaction to Sarah Palin’s departure from the Republican presidential field Wednesday suggests the party had moved on months ago. Not so for the thriving cottage industry that grew at her feet, and whose future is now in danger. Palin-lovers, Palin-haters, a half-dozen publishing houses, and elements of the mainstream media who tracked her plans long after the Republican campaign bypassed her suddenly face a future without their entertaining, unpredictable, and now scarcely-relevant subject. Palin’s circle of online admirers greeted her announcement with shock and dismay. The camp who saw her as a nascent American Mussolini, with shock...

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) won't join President Obama when he visits St. Louis on Tuesday, prompting claims by Republicans that she is avoiding an appearance with the president, whose poll numbers are underwater in Missouri. An aide to McCaskill told The Hill that though she had hoped to be there, competing events scheduled for the senator and likely votes in Senate on Tuesday precluded her from returning to Missouri. The aide added that McCaskill hopes the timing will work out better in the future. But Missouri Republicans have pointed to a more cynical reason for the first-term senator to stay...

“They call me ‘Mama Poo,” Anne told me matter-of-factly as we strolled through a dusty pathway in Silanga, a small neighborhood in the expansive Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya. “And I like that,” she added. Anne Nudge is a sales representative for Peepoople AB, a Swedish social enterprise that, last October, launched a pilot project in Silanga marketing and selling “The Peepoo" – a single-use, personal toilet that sanitizes human waste quickly, preventing it from contaminating the surrounding environment. After just a few weeks, the bag transforms the waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer. The Peepoo bags, which sell at a...

The harbor porpoise that washed ashore last month at San Francisco's Fort Funston was clearly a victim of foul play. It had two badly broken jawbones, fractured ribs on both sides and a broken scapula, evidence of a sadistic attack. Worst of all, the female porpoise, which had been seen twice before and identified by researchers in Monterey Bay, was lactating when she was killed, according to marine biologists. It was a clear case of what scientists are calling "porpicide," the deliberate slaying of a harbor porpoise by a surprising and, to most people, unlikely culprit. "We suspect that it...

Hundreds of Muslims defied a French ban on outdoor prayer -- which came into force Friday --and took to the streets and sidewalks of Paris to pray. The French government announced Thursday it was banning praying outside, with officials pledging to enforce the ban from Friday. But 200 Muslims ignored the ban and prayed on the streets in the neighborhood of La Goutte d'Or, Le Parisien newspaper reported. French interior minister Claude Gueant said he had nothing against Islam but wanted it out of the public eye because France was a secular state. Muslims gathered on a street in Paris...

As a health care provider and pandemic expert, I have never been interested in movies or television shows involving a massive outbreak. I want entertainment to escape from my work, not to watch it unfold again in front of me. Few movies aside, the medical realism could also hinder my ability to generate compassion, empathy or fear. But "Contagion," which opened in theaters last week, is different. "Contagion" tracks the anatomy of a viral pandemic, from its zoonotic origin to social disruption. The fear of a cough, disintegration of basic social services, the ineptitude of governmental officials and the death...

It seemed like a trivial matter: On Wednesday, House Republicans forced the president to delay his speech to a joint session of Congress by one day. Who cares? The White House cares. Very much. “It is a big deal that the House said ‘no’ to the president from our end,” a White House source with intimate knowledge of what took place between the House and the president told me Thursday. “This confirms what we all know: They will do anything in the House to muck us up.” On Wednesday, the White House staff did not know exactly what President Barack...

The uncle of President Obama arrested here last week on drunken driving and other charges has been a fugitive from deportation since 1992, according to two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case. Onyango Obama, who is from Kenya and is known as the president's Uncle Omar on his father's side, had lived a quiet life in Massachusetts until last Wednesday, when police said the car he was driving darted in front of a police cruiser, nearly causing the officer to hit his car. The federal officials, who spoke about Obama's immigration status on condition of anonymity because...

Rosa Parks gave the first installment of her papers to Wayne State University’sWalter Reuther Library in 1976, explaining, “I do hope that my contribution can be made use of.” Thirty-five years later, nobody is making use of the rest of her papers. After her death in 2005, all of her effects and the rights to license her name became the subject of a dispute between Parks’s nieces and nephews and the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, which she co-founded in 1987 with longtime friend Elaine Steele. In 2007, a Michigan probate court awarded custody of Parks’s possessions...

A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of Alabama's new law cracking down on illegal immigration, ruling Monday that she needed more time to decide whether the law opposed by the Obama administration, church leaders and immigrant-rights groups is constitutional. The brief order by U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Blackburn means the law won't take effect as scheduled on Thursday. The ruling was cheered by opponents who have compared the law to old Jim Crow-era statutes against racial integration. But Blackburn didn't address whether the law is constitutional, and she could still let all or parts of the law take effect...

Americans have a more favorable view of every other industry — including oil and gas — than of the federal government, according to a new poll released Monday. Only 17 percent of Americans surveyed have a positive view of the federal government. According to Gallup, this is the first time the federal government has ranked at the bottom of a list of industries, displacing even the oil-and-gas industry, which came in second to last this year. The poll results highlight the negative opinion of government most voters have indicated in various polls following the controversial debt-ceiling vote in early August....

The U.S. Postal Service, expecting $7 billion in losses this year amid slumping mail volume, is still paying thousands of its workers millions of dollars each year to do nothing. But it’s paying tens of millions of dollars less for “standby time” than it did just two years ago, according to a new report. Long-standing labor agreements with two major postal unions prohibit the Postal Service from laying off or reassigning workers because of broken equipment or periods of low mail volume. Instead, idled employees show up for work, sit in a break room or cafeteria and do nothing. Standby...

From the start of his history-making tenure, the nation’s first black president took care never to be seen making policy or political decisions aimed solely or directly at black America. His position: He is a president of the whole country, focused on broad-based fixes to “lift all boats.” The race-avoidance strategy served President Obama well, helping him attract support from many whites while also mobilizing African Americans energized by the powerful symbol of a black commander in chief. But a soaring jobless rate among African Americans and a newfound comfort by black lawmakers to criticize Obama’s economic policies are prompting...

THE Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday — exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been postponed.) These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil rights movement — culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 — warrants our attention and elation. Yet the prophetic words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel still...

The growing rift between labor and their Democratic allies was on full display Thursday, as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters that labor groups are planning to scale back their involvement with the Democratic Party in advance of the 2012 elections. Going forward, Trumka said, the labor movement will build up its own political structures and organizations rather than contribute to and depend on the Democratic Party’s political operation. “We’re going to use a lot of our money to build structures that work for working people” Trumka said. “You’re going to see us give less money to build structures for...

The phrase of the day is "new lows." It blares from every screen. The number of Americans satisfied with the ways things are going hits new lows—11%. President Obama's popularity: new lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average this year: new lows. Maybe it will enter ordinary language. "Charlie, it's been ages. How are you, how's Betty?" "I'm experiencing some volatility, but she's inching toward new lows." The market is dispirited. I'm wondering if the president is, too, and if that won't carry implications for the 2012 race. You can imagine him having lunch with political advisers, hearing some unwanted advice—"Don't...

With a view to maximize use of immigration-enforcement resources, the Obama administration has decided it will, on a case by case basis, allow many illegal immigrants who face deportation to remain in the U.S. A senior administration official said Thursday that federal authorities will review individually the cases of some 300,000 illegal immigrants in deportation proceedings. Those who haven't committed crimes and aren't deemed a threat to public safety will have a chance to stay in the U.S. and apply for a work permit. "The idea is to make sure that we are investing enforcement resources where they are best...

I’ve developed an interest in President Obama’s speeches not because they are eloquent or uplifting — they are neither — but because of what they reveal about his emotional state of mind. And Mr. Obama’s remarks in Holland, Michigan yesterday are helpful in that respect. After once again blaming the economic slowdown on (among other things) the Arab Spring and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Mr. Obama said this: Unfortunately, what we’ve seen in Washington the last few months has been the worst kind of partisanship, the worst kind of gridlock — and that gridlock has undermined public confidence and...

The British government has pledged to take a firm stance against those arrested during this week's riots. Courts across the country have been working around the clock to deal with the flood of cases. The hearings provide an insight into Britain's frustrated and violent underclass. John M. is desperate. The 43-year-old, who is wearing torn jeans, stumbles aimlessly around in the corridors of London's Highbury Corner Magistrates Court, begging for help. M., who is from Liverpool, explains that he got a call on Wednesday morning, telling him that his 19-year-old son David had been arrested in London on Monday evening....