Free Republic

The truth is that China’s maritime provocations in the South China Sea will continue until war ensues.As America, and much of the world, remains focused on conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to ramp up its bellicose actions in the South China Sea and in the waters and airspace around Taiwan.The PRC’s use of water cannons — capable of inflicting fatal injuries — against Philippine resupply vessels seeking to reach a Philippine outpost in Philippine waters; engaging in dangerous maneuvers at sea and in the air; and aggressively employing “gray-zone” tactics with...

Joy Reid might be gone from MSNBC's weekend-morning time slot, but her successor on the weekends, Tiffany Cross, is keeping alive Reid's tradition [documented here] of insulting Republican and conservative guests. [snip] Toward the end of the segment, after Republican Chuck DeVore yet again made the factual case about voter fraud, citing recent local elections in Texas and New Jersey that had been overturned because of obvious, documented fraud, Cross shot back: "It's a pet peeve when people spit in my face and try to convince me it's raining. This is voter suppression by no other name. That's very obvious...

Lawmakers pass bill to protect language freedom California would protect the freedom of a person to speak any language he or she chooses in a business establishment under a measure approved by the state Legislature today. The bill, authored by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, is the lawmaker's response to a controversial proposal by the LPGA last fall requiring golfers to speak "effective English." The organization scuttled the proposal after loud objections by Yee and others, and the Democrat says this legislation will ensure it does not happen again. "No one in the state of California should be compelled to...

One in five Americans calls California or Texas home. The two most populous states have a lot in common: a long coast, a sunny climate, a diverse population, plenty of oil in the ground, and Mexico to the south. Where they diverge is in their governance. For six years ending in 2010, I represented almost 500,000 people in California’s legislature. I was vice chairman of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation and served on the Budget Committee. I was even a lieutenant colonel in the state’s National Guard. Before serving in Sacramento, I worked as an executive in California’s...

One in five Americans calls California or Texas home. The two most populous states have a lot in common: a long coast, a sunny climate, a diverse population, plenty of oil in the ground, and Mexico to the south. Where they diverge is in their governance. For six years ending in 2010, I represented almost 500,000 people in California’s legislature. I was vice chairman of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation and served on the Budget Committee. I was even a lieutenant colonel in the state’s National Guard. Before serving in Sacramento, I worked as an executive in California’s...

Former GOP Assemblyman and U.S. Senate hopeful Chuck DeVore has given up his Orange County supervisor bid to move his family to Texas. DeVore has accepted a new job as a visiting scholar at the nonprofit Texas Public Policy Foundation, where he will write a book on "the Texas Model of how low taxes and low government spending, a light and predictable regulatory environment, respect for property rights, and a business-friendly legal climate has turned Texas into America's jobs generating dynamo."

Good-bye, California, I'm going to Texas It’s hard to say “good-bye” – perhaps “au revoir” is better (till we meet again). As some of my friends know, our family has been caring for my aged in-laws, 86 and 82. As with many people who have seen a full life of war and work and raising a family, they need our help. This assistance has consumed our whole family – in fact, it’s the toughest thing – and the most important thing – we’ve done, even more so than running for statewide office. In addition, as with many in the Golden...

A series of messages forwarded to The Daily Caller show a top aide to former Alaska Gov. and possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin mocking top political figures and even her boss’s own daughter, Bristol Palin. RedState.com founder and CNN contributor Erick Erickson is “a total douchebag,” wrote Palin speechwriter and domestic policy adviser Rebecca Mansour in a May 22, 2010, message. “Greasy dumb ass with a talent for self-promotion. He threw himself in at the Gov’s SC rally. Self-promotion.” (Erickson said South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley invited him to the rally). Mitt Romney supporters are “wacky as hell,” Mansour wrote,...

California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein recently criticized the intelligence community for failing to anticipate Egypt's political upheaval -- but looks like the CIA types should have been reading Chuck DeVore. That's right: the California GOP former U.S. Senate candidate published an analysis back in January warning Egypt was on "the brink of a chaotic transition of power" -- weeks before anyone had even taken to the streets of Cairo. The former Irvine Assemblyman raised his concerns on the issue of Egypt's future in a Jan. 11 piece in Investors' Business Daily entitled "A Restive Egypt Faces Succession; Islamacists May Make...

Proposition 19: NO – Marijuana legalization My biggest concern with this initiative, aside from the basic policy considerations, are two large unintended consequences: 1) will drug abuse grow, thus putting more of a strain on our out-of-control welfare system; 2) the impact of lawsuits on employers seeking to enforce a zero-tolerance policy (especially important in the defense industry). Proposition 20: YES – Redistricting reform extended to Congress Prop. 20 will make the independent State Commission on Redistricting re-draw Congressional Districts in 2011, instead of the legislature working with liberal interests, just as the independent commission will re-draw Legislative district boundaries...

California GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina is skipping a chance to appear with Sarah Palin at a major Republican National Committee fundraiser so she can campaign with Sen. John McCain instead. Fiorina has not yet announced the Saturday campaign appearances with McCain, but a campaign source tells POLITICO that she will be spending her time on the stump with the 2008 GOP presidential nominee rather than his running mate, the former Alaska governor. POLITICO reported last week that both Fiorina and GOP gubernatorial Meg Whitman would be skipping the RNC fundraiser in Anaheim, citing scheduling conflicts. The RNC is heavily...

I’ve poked around the California Senate race for the last several days, in preparation for a piece in the forthcoming National Review. And I discovered, or relearned, something I thought was kind of interesting. You know how many of our band blasted Palin for anointing Christine O’Donnell in the Delaware Senate race, disregarding viability (or so it appeared)? Well, you recall that the GOP Senate primary in California featured three contestants: Carly Fiorina (the ex-CEO and eventual winner), Tom Campbell (the former congressman who is a moderate, basically), and Chuck DeVore (the assemblyman who is a true-blue, four-square conservative). Palin...

[by Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine, CA), re-published with his permission] For years I have admired Congressman Ron Paul’s principled stance on spending and the Constitution. That said, he really damaged himself when he blamed President Lincoln for the Civil War, saying, “Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war… [President Abraham Lincoln] did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic.” This is historical revisionism of the worst order, and it must be addressed. For Congressman Paul’s benefit – and for his supporters who may not know – seven states illegally declared...

SACRAMENTO — Sen. Barbara Boxer's popularity with Californians is falling as she finds herself in a statistical tie with her Republican challenger, former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Carly Fiorina, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. The survey found 47 percent of likely voters support Boxer while 44 percent back Fiorina, a gap that is within the poll's margin of error. The result is similar to the last Field Poll, taken in March. That survey showed Boxer with 45 percent support, compared with 44 percent for Fiorina. Meanwhile, the senator's popularity has fallen. Just 41 percent of voters say they...

SARAH  PALIN! Sarah Palin Joins Us to Support the Troops Don't Miss This Historic Event!   Folks, we've just made a huge breakthrough for the troops! Governor Palin has agreed to support our efforts to send the largest care package shipment in history to U.S. Troops.You are the first to hear of this, and YES you heard right... SARAH PALIN is joining YOU, MAF, and the Troops for this momentous outpouring of support for the troops! RUSH LIMBAUGH IS OUR FIRST GUEST SO TUNE IN PROMPTLY AT 1 PM! AND STAY TUNED BECAUSE PALIN FOLLOWS AT 1:45!    TROOPATHON...

With the election season more than halfway over, the "tea party" movement has notched some impressive victories but also learned a hard lesson: There are limits to the power of its anger-fueled insurgency. The movement scored a big win this week in South Carolina, where state Rep. Nikki Haley romped past a four-term congressman to win the GOP nomination for governor. Still, for all the attention the tea party movement has gotten and all the passion of its followers, a rough accounting at the ballot box shows the movement has just about as many losses as victories. Money has proved...

Sarah Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina over Chuck DeVore in California, and Terry Branstad over Bob Vander Plaat in the Iowa governor's race. In doing so, she rebuffed standard "tea party" picks for candidates who were more mainstream. As usual, the mainstream media has found a way to criticize these choices. With a few surprising endorsements in recent Republican primaries, the self-styled rogue of GOP politics has reaped an angry response from some of her own supporters and a fresh round of speculation about her own presidential ambitions in 2012. ...Shelby Blakely, executive director of the Tea Party Patriots' online publication,...

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, the conservative Orange County Republican who began running for US Senate in November 2008, just conceded the race. Here's the prepared text of the concession speech of the man we liked to call Chuck D from the OC: My friends, I just completed my telephone call to Carly Fiorina, to congratulate her on her victory this evening. She is our party's nominee. I endorse her. I will support her. I will vote for her. And I call upon all of you to do the same in November. We traveled a long road to get here. When I...

Former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman and Former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina held early leads in the Republican races for governor and U.S. Senate respectively. With about 7% of the vote counted from around the state, Whitman is earning 65.6% of the Republican vote, compared to 25.3% for Steve Poizner. Fiorina has 59% of the early vote, leading former Congressman Tom Campbell and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), who have 22% and 16% of the vote respectively. In other races, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, a Republican, and San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, a Democrat, are leading...