Free Republic

Carrying a gun for defensive purposes, with an empty chamber, is a controversial measure which proponents claim enhances safety. It is one of the reasons handguns appear to work better for self defense against bears than long guns. Long guns are more commonly carried with an empty chamber than are handguns. Handguns are more commonly carried for self defense than long guns. A recent bear attack illustrates the problem of carrying a long gun with an empty chamber. From Alaskapublic.org 2021: “I remember looking over my shoulder, and I was saying something to them when I kind of heard the...

While speaking at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner on Saturday night, President Joe Biden pushed for an “assault weapons” ban and asked, “Who in God’s name needs a weapon with 100 rounds in the chamber?” Biden did not provide an example of a gun that holds 100 rounds in the chamber, but simply added, “That weapon’s only meant for one thing…to kill people.” Biden emphasized that an “assault weapons” ban was enacted once at the federal level and declared, “As long as I’m in office I’m not going to stop until we get it done again.”

A total of 140 House Republicans and Democrats are lobbying President Joe Biden to cut United States tariffs on billions of dollars worth of China-made imports. Last month, Breitbart News exclusively reported how Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Ron Kind (D-WI), and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA) were courting lawmakers to sign their letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai — urging her to allow more “made in China” imports to avoid U.S. tariffs. The Section 301 tariffs on billions of dollars worth of China-made products were first imposed by former President Trump after a decades-long free trade...

One of the most interesting stories from the early days leading up to the American Revolution involves the events surrounding the Boston Massacre. On March 5th, 1770 the Stamp Act had just been repealed but British Soldiers were ever present in Boston as a show of force against the “rowdy” colonists. The British government, in order to save face, implemented the Townshend Acts instead as a means to continue taxing the colonies (without representation, of course). Anger was growing in the streets. The presence of the Red Coats in the city added to the public fury and protests were sparked....

The United States Chamber of Commerce’s chief political strategist has resigned from the business group after its endorsement of 23 House Democrats in swing districts across the country. Scott Reed, the Chamber’s longtime senior political strategist, has resigned, according to the New York Times‘ Maggie Haberman. “Scott Reed, who’s been the top political strategist at the US Chamber for years, tells me he has resigned, amid a perceived drift to the left at the Chamber on heels of nearly two dozen endorsements of House Dems,” Haberman posted online.

Six men were arrested after Dutch police discovered sea containers that had been converted into a makeshift prison and sound-proofed “torture chamber” complete with a dentist’s chair, tools, including pliers and scalpels, and handcuffs, a high-ranking officer announced Tuesday. Authorities said police conducted the raid before the torture chamber could be used and alerted potential victims, who went into hiding. The grisly discovery was made last month by officers investigating leads generated by data from encrypted phones used by criminals. The communications network was cracked recently by French police. Detectives in Britain and the Netherlands have already arrested hundreds of...

The current impeachment investigation by Congressman Adam Schiff is being conducted in a Star Chamber, according to Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, speaking Saturday on her Justice With Judge Jeanine program. The Star Chamber was an English court that was active from the late 15th century to the mid-17th century. It was originally established to ensure the fair enforcement of laws against socially and politically prominent people. But it became synonymous with social and political oppression through the arbitrary use and abuse of the power it wielded. That, Pirro said, is the situation that’s currently underway in this country. The...

Nato's Parliamentary Assembly recently published what some have called a "scathing" report on Turkey. Until now, Nato had given almost no input on the country's deterioration in human rights and rule of law, despite Turkey being one of its largest member states.The report mentioned the impact of emergency rule, elimination of independent media, and related concerns. But it left unmentioned other grave violations - namely, the fate of the thousands of people falsely imprisoned in the post-coup crackdown - including officials of Nato itself. One such Nato official is Cafer Topkaya, a Turkish man who was serving in Belgium at...

Yesterday at Dos Coyotes Border Cafe, I get my bill, I ask the food service professional, 'Where's the Tip Line'? (You know, the place on the Merchant Copy where you write in your 10-15%.)  This is the Roseville CA restaurant whose Owner practices Ba-Hum-Buggery. 'Oh, the Owner doesn't feel like paying the Credit Card Company the surcharge, So We Get No Tips.' (I go off on nazi restaurateurs in my comment, below.) I carry cash to give to homeless people, not for the workers who have earned my tip, deprival of which is a form of stealing a worker's wages...

'Small Businesses Lament There Are Too Few Mexicans in U.S., Not Too Many' is the poison pill they're currently pedaling. The US Chamber and the Business Roundtable have made themselves the class enemies of small business yeomanry. (I live by an upper-middle-class neighborhood heavy with craftsmen and tradesmen; they are just as substantial as elite Ivy League 'Boaters' and Wall St. "We Ripped Their FACES Off!" Sharks.) Latino small biz owners don't need the Wall St. Journal's take on immigration, they are equally substantial with 'white' biz, if anything, more conservative. The Journo/Chamber/Rountable Axis only promotes defiance of law. Small...

#NeverTrump Republican Tim Huelskamp was defeated Tuesday night in the Kansas primary. Pro-Trump challenger Roger Marshall is up by 14% with 602 of 1338 precincts reporting. Ooops

At least he’s wearing appropriate footwear this time…

Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy. Watch it on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7gpgXNWYIWhat could Day Quayle have learned from Donald Trump?This is the Dan Quayle who, in an alternate universe, escaped from his handlers, and showed that he's really an intelligent guy.Senator Bentson, if Jack Kennedy could rise from the grave this moment, see a Democrat party that is the thrall of the abortion industry and homosexualists, he would think that the Communists had taken over his beloved party. If there's anything the American people are...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is gearing up to challenge some House Republicans in primary elections, frustrated after much of its agenda has been stymied by a small pocket of conservative GOP lawmakers. The influential and well-heeled business group is already eyeing several races, but the plans are still in their infancy and the targets have not yet been decided upon, according to more than a half dozen Republican sources on K Street and Capitol Hill. Story Continued Below . . The group’s apparent new willingness to engage in hand-to-hand political combat to take out sitting Republicans would represent a...

After Republicans sent mixed signals on immigration in their two official rebuttals to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus struggled to explain the disparity on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Wednesday. Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s State of the Union rebuttal made no mention of the topic, but the Spanish-language version of the rebuttal, delivered by Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo, said Republicans wanted to work with Obama to fix the immigration system. (SNIP) When pressed further on how that explained the disparity, Priebus said, “I think we’ve been talking about this executive amnesty action that...

DAVENPORT | Iowa's Republican congressional delegation unanimously backed a move in the U.S. House Wednesday to overturn President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration, tying the measures to a Department of Homeland Security bill that now will go to the Senate. Reps. Rod Blum, Steve King and David Young all backed passage of the bill, along with the amendments aimed at undermining the president's moves on immigration that would allow millions of undocumented immigrants the ability to stay in the U.S. (SNIP) On a conference call with reporters, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she had not decided yet whether it...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce may want the GOP to change its tune on immigration policy, but that isn’t stopping the powerful business lobby from pouring more than $15 million into efforts to re-elect nearly two dozen Republicans who disagree with them. In fact, in four Senate races in North Carolina, Georgia, Iowa, and Kentucky that could determine control of the Senate, the Chamber has spent nearly $7.8 million propping up Republicans against providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Earlier this year the Chamber made clear that it would not base its support for candidates solely on their...

Today, the Senate Conservatives Fund (SCF) made the following statement about Mike Rounds, the liberal Republican candidate running for U.S. Senate in South Dakota. "Mike Rounds is trying to hide his pro-amnesty record by pretending to oppose the Senate's immigration bill, but he co-signed a report in February endorsing the same misguided policies," said SCF Executive Director Matt Hoskins. "That's why his immigration task force welcomed the bill's passage in the Senate. "Mike Rounds now says he wants the border fence built before amnesty, but the report he signed earlier this year didn't call for more fencing and it didn't...

Over at the conservative web site Ace of Spades HQ, we’ve got some more eye-opening analysis on the Senate race: [...] Senator Hagan’s thin lead suggests a close race, much like what we saw in Alaska, Colorado, and Iowa, but unlike her collegues there, she has managed to stay ahead. (SNIP) As you can see, not even Elizabeth Dole, who lost her seat in 2008 by an 8-pt margin, did as poorly with white voters as Tillis is doing now. She carried them by 18-pts.

If you think the price of a fill-up at the local service station is steep, Thomas J. Donohue will not be your favorite guy. Donohue, the President and CEO of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, is concerned about the nation’s infrastructure. So much so, in fact, he’s written a piece titled, “Let’s pave the way for infrastructure funding,” in which he opines that it’s time to “raise the gas tax.” "The U.S. Chamber believes", he writes, "that the simplest, most straightforward way to fix the Highway Trust Fund is to raise the gas tax, which hasn’t been done in...