Free Republic

Back in mid-October, Business Insider ran a snarky little article, entitled, "Tea Party Or Occupy Wall Street? Bet You Can't Tell The Difference". Glynnis MacNichol starts out with this facile comparison: Ever since the Occupy Wall St. movement caught the mainstream media's attention the group has frequently been dubbed the Left's version of the Tea Party... Certainly the coverage often sounds the same. Namely, a lot of cable hosts and newspaper pundits broadly speculating in bold terms what it might all mean. For the most part their conclusions fall along partisan lines and sound something like this: * The [fill...

You all may remember that in mid-October, Vice President Joe Biden was in Flint, Michigan, speechifyin’ to police, firefighters, and members of the public. During his no doubt almost presidential eloquence, VP Biden made a dire prognostication about the safety of Flint’s citizens: “In 2008, when Flint had 265 sworn officers on their police force, there were 35 murders and 91 rapes in this city. In 2010, when Flint had only 144 police officers, the murder rate climbed to 65 and rapes–just to pick two categories–climbed to 229. In 2011, you now only have 125 shields. God only knows what...

I’m going to guess that 90% will claim you do, but then do nothing. Sorry, folks, but that’s who we are, and I hope by challenging you, you will prove me wrong. Let me explain: Take a look around you. Are you happy with where our society has gone? Does it bother you to see the amount of violence our society seems to accept as “normal?” Are you uncomfortable seeing children grow up with virtually no concept of right and wrong? Does it trouble you that young adults seem to make up their own rules as they go along, eschewing...

Too many debates, too little substance. I’m with Dennis Miller on this: I think President Obama won Tuesday’s debate. This is a losing strategy for every single one of the Republican candidates. So in the interest of eliciting more information from the candidates, which can only be helpful in determining who will be the Republican nominee, I humbly suggest that at the next debate, the following questions be asked: GOV. ROMNEY: We all know about your woes with illegal aliens working for your yard service. Now please tell us if you have any relatives in this country illegally. And if...

I know who my money’s on: Bill Whittle delivers yet another awesome Afterburner, taking to task the Wall Street Whiners... [video]

No, we’re not talking about Fast and Furious today. We’re talking about what a beautiful weekend it was, and how much fun it was to go to the bucolic and gorgeous Cape Cod Fish and Game club and do some shooting! Some of you may remember reading my post about the process of getting a license in Massachusetts from last year. Since then, about the only thing I’ve done, gun-wise, was purchase a S&W kit gun, which is a nice little revolver; but after taking it to the range and trying it out, I found I didn’t really enjoy shooting...

Not sure what Operation Fast & Furious is all about? You’re not alone, as most of the mainstream media still are not covering this travesty. But the Washington Post has done a stellar job of boiling it down to its essential pieces, complete with quotes from those involved...

Attorney General Eric Holder will soon be tossed under the bus. That’s my prediction based on the fact that Rep. Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has sent a letter to President Obama, requesting that Obama appoint a special prosecutor to investigate AG Holder for perjury in the Fast & Furious inquiry. Apparently Mr. Holder swore that he had only heard of the project “a few weeks” prior to his testimony before the House Committee: “I’m not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few...

One of the reasons I’ve been absent from Grand Rants lately is that I’ve been recovering at home from a recent double by-pass operation. During this time, I’ve been following the news, trying to stay current. The focus of my attention has been the economy ... as well as the building crisis in the Middle East (where the “Arab Spring” is rapidly turning into “the Winter of Israel’s discontent“). It appears to me that no-one on the left has the courage to face the gravity of either of these two major issues (and I’m hard-pressed to find many Republicans who...

Solyndra. LightSquared. AttackWatch. Operation Fast & Furious. US credit downgraded. Vacations on Martha’s Vinyard. Not-so shovel-ready jobs. Zero jobs created in August (first time since WWII). The list goes on and on. So far, our President hasn’t figured out how big a loser he becoming; he still seems to think that everyone loves him. Surrounded as he is by a gang of hand-picked thugs from Chicago and inside the Beltway, Obama seems to think he’s doing a great job, and that his agenda is being embraced by all right-thinking people. The reality, of course, is far different. His stumbling and...

Astronaut and blogger Ron Garan is coming home after nearly six months in space. Reflecting on his preparation for his trip, he writes: “As I prepared to leave for final launch preparations, I experienced an interesting phenomenon. Realizing that leaving Houston starts me on a journey that will take me off the planet for six months, I started to take note of things that I will not experience for half a year. Whether it’s a flock of birds against the sunset or early morning mist on the water of Clear Lake, or a million other things that define the beauty...

You almost have to feel sorry for Barack Obama. Almost. Obama unwisely attempted to upstage next week’s Republican Presidential Candidates Debate by scheduling his highly anticipated “Jobs Plan” speech to occur at the same time. As if that wasn’t brassy enough, President Obama in his ever growing need for attention, decided to go for broke by presenting his jobs plan to a joint session of Congress. One problem: He forgot this would require the cooperation of Speaker of the House John Boehner. ...On the surface, it might seem to be a simple game of one-upsmanship. But it’s a far more...

Have you heard the one about the man who shot a bear in his yard? It seems that earlier this year, Mr. Jeremy Hill of Idaho shot a young male grizzly when the bear appeared with two others in the yard where his children were playing. Mr. Hill promptly grabbed a rifle and protected his children by shooting the bear. Since the grizzly is a protected species, Mr. Hill promptly called the state Department of Fish and Game, reporting what had happened. According to the Spokesman Review: Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas has sent a letter to media outlets with...

Remember when we used to hear horror stories about how organized prayer was banned at public events held in communist countries like the former Soviet Union? Well, welcome to 21st Century Amerika, comerades, courtesy of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg! It should bring great comfort to those terrorists who played a role in creating the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has banned the participation of all religious groups in the 10-year anniversary memorial services held at ground zero. He’s also barring political speeches. A spokesman for the mayor said, “The...

Yes, you. You know who you are. You’re liberal; an academic, perhaps, or a writer/journalist/opinion-shaper of some sort. You spout the liberal line (I’m not really sure whether you really believe it, or just realize that it’s a good gig that pays well) to your adoring audience, who gobble it up and regurgitate it to others ad nauseum. This I can deal with. What I cannot deal with, what I cannot comprehend, is the dangerous mentality that sometimes accompanies basic liberal elite thinking. The mentality that actively wishes harm on our country and its citizens–all in the name of progress,...

Let’s be fair here. The President must be exhausted. And why not? Consider: He’s just spent 3 solid days on board one of the most luxurious buses you and I could possibly pay for. Correct me if I’m wrong, but did he get even ONE round of golf in during the past 3 days? I don’t think so. It gets worse: The travel agency that booked this 3-day tour – for some reason – did NOT book him into any urban areas where blacks and Hispanics are suffering from unemployment rates as much as two or three times the national...

Serial art plagiarist Shepard Fairey, the man responsible for stealing a photo and making it an icon, was attacked last weekend in Copenhagen after he failed to understand that history has meaning. Fairey had been in the city creating a series of “street art” murals on the sides of buildings. The Guardian reports: “The LA-based artist believes the attack was sparked by a misunderstanding over his mural commemorating the demolition of the legendary “Ungdomshuset” (youth house) at Jagtvej 69… Fairey’s installation, painted on a building adjacent to the vacant site, depicted a dove in flight above the word “peace” and...

Allen West, who is one of our very favorite Tea Party Congressmen, had a General Anthony McAuliffe moment yesterday, when he gave a pithy one-word response to the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ request that he stop associating with Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Joe Kaufman, and Joyce Kaufman, and others whom the Hamas-linked group considers to be anti-Islamic extremists (which, entre nous, they are not). Rep. West’s response evidently baffled Nezar Hamze of CAIR, who said: “When I first saw that, I wasn’t sure if he was calling me nuts, or he was calling my concerns nuts.”...

You know, I’m beginning to have some frightening thoughts. For example, on Monday, as I simultaneously watched the President say nothing useful and the Dow plummet nearly 200 points, I found myself thinking that maybe Joe Biden wouldn’t make such a bad president after all. Yes, I know, good old open-mouth-insert-foot Joe, they guy who, while introducing wheelchair-bound Sen. Chuck Graham, called to him to “[S]tand up, Chuck, let the people see you!” The same Veep who was caught on mike during the Obamacare signing ceremony telling the President, “This is a big f*ing deal!” The very same gentleman who...

London is burning. Following the shooting death (by police) of a young black man suspected of being a gang member, thugs and looters have taken to the streets en masse, baring the ugly side of humanity by employing random violence throughout the Tottenham area in North London. On some streets, not a single business has been left un-looted. In some ways, it’s not unlike similar riots we have seen here in America: A police action against a minority that is seen as questionable (or, in the eyes of the minority community, racially motivated). And before all the facts are uncovered,...