Free Republic

Vernon Jordan has died. He was 85. Jordan was a partner and an institution at the law firm where I worked. He had an office on the same floor I did. I never really got to know Jordan, but did have the opportunity to observe him. Jordan didn’t just care about young people. My observation was that he cared about everyone he worked with. When working long hours, I would set myself up in a conference room near the elevators on our floor. If Jordan popped by the office at night or on weekends and saw me on a regular...

Southwest removed a passenger from a flight amid concerns over coronavirus... Passenger had recently been to Beijing and was displaying 'flu-like symptoms'... The sick passenger had completed the journey from Las Vegas but was escorted off the plane once it landed at Baltimore/Washington Airport Saturday afternoon... Local medical personnel met Flight 2889 'due to reports of an ill customer'

Ben Carson has surged into the lead of the Republican presidential race, getting support from 29 percent of GOP primary voters, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. That's the highest percentage any GOP candidate has obtained so far in the survey. Carson's 29 percent is followed by Donald Trump at 23 percent, Marco Rubio at 11 percent, Ted Cruz at 10 percent and Jeb Bush at 8 percent. These findings are similar to a New York Times/CBS poll released last week, which also showed Carson in first place in the national GOP contest.

Mitt’s Off: Stop conceding the character issue by Daniel Clark You’ve surely heard by now that President Obama is really a nice guy. It isn’t true, of course, but you’ve surely heard it. That’s because Mitt Romney’s strategy, such as it is, has been to criticize Obama’s policies, while refusing to question his character. That’s the wrong approach to take, for reasons that political pundits might find quaint, or even sappy. Contrary to the prevailing cynicism, not all politicians are dishonest, and truthfulness is a quality that Romney’s conservative base has come to expect of him. This poll-tested concession that...

MONTREAL — Police have named a suspect in the shocking case where dismembered body parts were mailed to Ottawa, including the headquarters of the governing Conservative party. Montreal police say 29-year-old Rocco Luka Magnotta is wanted in connection with a suspected homicide. A man by that same name has a huge presence on the Internet -- as a low-budget adult film actor and for controversial videos he has posted online in the past. There is considerable online chatter that the killing and other gruesome acts on the body were videotaped and posted on the Internet. Magnotta, believed to be originally...

There is a reflexive desire among a certain species of moderate Republicans to be perceived as "civil" by liberal opponents who believe that the mere existence of free-market, limited-government conservatism is an indecent affront to humankind. All aboard the U.S.S. Lost Cause. This disastrous, bend-over bipartisanship is a hard habit to break. In 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain rode the "Barack Obama is a nice guy, but vote for me" wave to crashing defeat. In 2012, McCain's endorsee, Mitt Romney, has made "Barack Obama is a nice guy but in over his head" a standard stump-speech talking point. Conservatives of...

"We have come together at critical times times and made the sacrifices necessary to preserve our liberty. So a campaign based on attacks, a campaign based on demonizing one another, that's not going to be successful. This country is going to be successful by pulling together, by recognizing that we have some common challenges and working together to overcome those things," Mitt Romney said on "Hannity" tonight. "The President's a nice guy, but we just can't afford him for four more years. Our kids can't afford him. We have to get back to machine who know what is it takes...

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) announced Wednesday it is reviewing whether to downgrade ties with Israel and halt security cooperation in light of the moribund peace process "This is the current Palestinian move as the Israeli government stalled the peace process and completely locked the political horizon," PLO executive committee member Wasel Abu Yousuf said of security arrangements with Israel. "A change in the status quo is a must," said Abu Yousuf, stressing that walking away from unfair prior agreements with Israel remained a key option for the PLO. "The Paris Economic Agreements will also be re-reviewed and amended should...

11/23/2009 US Foreign Policy Obama's Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage By Gabor Steingart AP US President Barack Obama is back in the US after an Asian trip that produced few results. When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it's not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming. There were only a few hours left before Air Force One was scheduled to depart for the flight home. US President Barack Obama...

Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a standup comedian, in films including the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and his acclaimed sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show." Mac died Saturday morning of complications from pneumonia. "The world just got a little less funny," said "Oceans" co-star George Clooney.

A 63-year-old California man faces child abuse and assault charges for allegedly shoving his 6-year-old granddaughter dangerously close to a herd of calving elk and then attacking bystanders who protested his actions. Estes Park Police Commander Wes Kufeld said Harold Wellsted also faces a charge of second-degree assault for allegedly attacking an officer in the booking room of the jail. A group of spectators near the Estes Park Visitor's Bureau information center was watching an elk herd Friday morning from behind a fence when a van with a woman, an older man and two young children got out. Despite a...

Syndicated talk show host Phil Hendrie will broadcast his radio show for the last time tonight.

There have been more minuses than gains in the Iraqi war, said Shane Claiborne, a Maryville native who returned to East Tennessee Wednesday from Iraq. Claiborne, 27, spent the last three weeks on a peace mission visiting Iraqi orphanages, hospitals and homesteads. "Within the first three hours of the bombing, one hospital had reports of 100 casualties," Claiborne told media, family and friends in McGhee Tyson Airport's baggage-claim area. "I think if the American people could see the effects of the war and the previous years with the sanctions, they would support other solutions for liberating the people. My purpose...