Free Republic

I’m starting to become concerned about President Joe Biden’s ability to pass a climate bill. They’re speaking sotto voce, but still: In the past few days, Democrats on the party’s left and right flanks have started to hint that, well, in some circumstances, given some contingencies, they might prefer no bill to a negotiated compromise with the rival flank. The most worrying signs so far have come from Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who has received more donations from the coal, gas, and oil industries in the current election cycle than any other senator. Manchin was never going...

The two divisions of the May 2 Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park continue to lose starters. Originally drawn with 11 horses apiece, they have nine-horse fields as of April 30. The connections of four horses - Shooters Shoot and Wrecking Crew (first division) and Saratogian and Fast Enough (second division) - have informed the Oaklawn racing department they will be scratched. According to a news release issued by Oaklawn Park publicity, official scratch cards for Shooters Shoot and Wrecking Crew had already been submitted. Cards for Saratogian and Fast Enough are expected to be submitted Friday. **SNIP** If the...

The Alt-Right has been a term that has triggered the Left in America. There are many misconceptions about who is involved in this new and polarizing movement. But it is growing in mentions in the media because it is growing in prominence. However, there are many different sections of the Alt-Right and it is very different from an even newer movement called the New Right. Ali A. Akbar in Medium wrote an enlightening piece recently differentiating the two and detailing who they really are. The New Right is a populist and nationalist coalition of disgruntled Republicans, put off Democrats, contrarians,...

A second civil war may very well be inevitable in the coming years if we keep this up. The United States of America has not been united in some time. We have continued to separate ourselves by geography and political affiliation. New England is totally different from the Deep South. The West Coast has little in common with much of the Midwest. The city folk have different beliefs than those in the countryside. But we used to all get along just fine. Things have changed. Our common ground is eroding. People are yelling past each other and not understanding the...

There is the commonly heard CoC 5 step plan of salvation which is “Hear, Believe, Repent, Confess, and Baptism“. But this is by no means the standard CoC plan of salvation. Many CoCers include living a faithful christian life, growing in the faith or continuing in the way of Jesus as a 6th step. And Walter Scott originally had 6 steps in his plan of salvation which he said was “Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Remission of Sins, Gift of the Holy Spirit and Eternal Life”. But before he had 6 steps Scott only had 3 steps in his plan and they...

My greatest contact with these men started about age nine when my dad began taking me out golfing on the weekends. There was a man who used the first golf cart I ever saw, because as a brigade commander of the 41th infantry in New Guinea he was debilitated by sickness. I remember one fairly good golfer who had kind of a weird back swing, because he was crippled while serving with the Big Red One in Sicily. I often ended up as a dishwasher at Michelbook Country Club. I noticed the chef always limped as he moved around the...

For now, let’s face the facts: associating superior food with multiculturalism is more than a cliché – it’s misleading. Why? Because one can live in a nation where there are great cappuccinos and superb Chinese takeaways, without multiculturalism. I have at least. Leaving Japan aside though, such arguments irritate many Australians for other reasons: Take the experiences of (say) Sydney’s more representative working-class families (worlds apart from the upper-middle classes). While a Labor bureaucrat eats a jolly good Indian meal in an upmarket eatery, his gardener is unable to order a rash of bacon on his KFC chicken burger because...

CHICAGO -- Jim Delany has spent more than two decades as commissioner of the Big Ten, overseeing two conference expansions and the formation of the Big Ten Network. None of it prepared him for the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the conference's new division names.Delany said during an interview with WGN AM-720 in Chicago on Thursday that the names Legends and Leaders were picked to highlight the conference's rich history, and that "to a great extent it's fallen on deaf ears." Many fans have instead mocked the names and asked officials to reconsider, which Delany said could happen after the first...

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats face deep divisions within their ranks as they begin debate Monday on President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, with the recent all-hands-on-deck coalition frayed over abortion and the option of government-run insurance. While majority Democrats will need 60 votes to finish, some in the party say they’ll jump ship from the bill without tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. Others say they’ll go unless a government plan to compete with private insurance companies gets tossed. Such concessions would enrage liberals, the party’s heart and soul.

With a rapidly changing political atmosphere, the 36 Senate seats up for election in 2010 are drawing a big field of office seekers. But before Republicans can try their luck after eight years of Democratic gains, both parties have to settle their own internal struggles. A look at three key primaries: Florida Republican primary Aug. 24, 2010 The combatants Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio is a conservative darling and the face of a possible new generation of Republicans. He's 38, the son of Cuban immigrants and a strong retail politician. His campaign to take the seat formerly held by...

FORT HUACHUCA — For years, Building 66050 has been vacant. It is deteriorating, but members of the Southwest Association of Buffalo Soldiers are determined to save the structure, which during World War II housed the Colored Officers Club. The building, its paint now peeling, windows broken and interior unsafe, is where black entertainers such as Lena Horne would come to the post to perform for black soldiers when the Army was segregated. The fort is where two black divisions, the 92nd and 93rd, trained before heading off to combat in World War II. One division went to Italy and the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 1, 2006 -- Iraqi officers will soon command all four Iraqi army divisions operating in northern Iraq, a senior U.S. officer said today. “By February, all four Iraqi divisions in Multinational Division North will be under Iraqi ground-force command,” U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon told Pentagon reporters during a satellite briefing. Mixon is the commander of Multinational Division North as well as commander of the 25th Infantry Division. The two-star general’s area of responsibility covers six Iraqi provinces in northern Iraq that include the cities of Kirkuk, Balad, Tikrit, Mosul and Samarra. The general said...

By Spc. Rick Rzepka124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Two Iraqi 4th Army Division Soldiers stand guard outside FOB Dagger prior to their division assuming security responsibility from the American 101st Airborne Division. Department of Defense photo by Spc. Rick Rzepka. TIKRIT -- The Iraqi Army took an important step forward Aug. 8 by marking the halfway point for division headquarters to take the lead for security operations throughout the country. The 4th Iraqi Army Division assumed control of their area of responsibility, encompassing regions spanning three of Iraq’s northern provinces, Salah Ad Din, Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk provinces. Its area...

FORT HUACHUCA — America’s history has been defined and shaped by what happened in the Old West. Part of that record was due to the achievement of black soldiers who help protect settlements in places such as Southern Arizona, Tom Stoney said Wednesday during the monthly luncheon hosted by the Greater Sierra Vista Area Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs Committee. And part of the story of the Buffalo Soldiers legacy needs to be saved, Stoney said to nearly 90 people. That can be done by ensuring the World War II black officers club on the post remains, he told nearly...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2006 – President Bush expressed optimism today that the Iraqi people will move beyond sectarian divisions fueled by the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Sunni Muslim mosque to continue their path toward democracy. Bush, speaking at the annual American Legion Convention here, said violence between Iraq's sects, set off by the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, presents what he called "a moment of choosing for the Iraqi people." The attacks sparked widespread protests, attacks on Sunni mosques and killings. Bush praised Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and other Iraqi leaders for urging restraint following the...

In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision to uphold university admissions preferences, affirmative action remains a deeply divisive issue. But recent research shows that college admissions preferences do not offer even the practical benefits claimed by their supporters. Because preferences do not help minority students, policymakers and administrators of all political persuasions should oppose their use. Affirmative action defenders frequently and correctly tout the importance of college to the goal of improving life prospects. But preferences at selective schools have not increased college access. They cannot do so because most minority students leave high school without the minimum...

One of the most significant moments in John Kerry's concession speech came when he spoke of the "desperate need" to heal the country's political wounds. The tone of his speech was in stark contrast to the presidential campaign itself, one of the most ferocious and rancorous in recent US history. The tight race, which ended with 51 per cent of the popular vote going to Bush versus 48 per cent to Kerry, polarised the American people into two almost equal camps and left deep scars on the national psyche. This will have lasting effects not only in America itself but...

Here is an excerpt of the CBO report. "Increase the Army's End Strength. In this option, the active Army would grow by 80,000 personnel--enough, CBO estimates, to provide the service with another heavy division, one more light division, and 19,000 additional support personnel.(21) CBO assumed that the additional support units created would be largely military police, civil affairs, and psychological-operations units. Those types of support personnel have been in high demand in peacekeeping operations over the past decade and are concentrated in the Army's reserve component. Thus, creating additional active units of those types could reduce the levels of mobilization...

MILWAUKEE - Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) sought to rally voters in this battleground state Saturday, invoking the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., and urging Americans to come together on "the things that unite us, not the things that divide us." Just two days before the start of the Democratic National Convention, Edwards focused on one Midwest swing state while presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) set his sights on another — Iowa. The ticket's No. 2 said one of his missions is to introduce himself and the party's soon-to-be presidential nominee...

Just wondered if any other Freepers besides myself were going to France in six weeks to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. This has been in the works for me for over a year, and as a general goal for the last twenty years. Ever since Ronald Reagan spoke at the American cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach in 1984, really. Part of the motivation is that this will undoubtedly be the last such gathering of American veterans who actually participated in the assault. As such, it will be the last occasion to honor this extraordinary group of Americans and...