Free Republic

President Biden on Tuesday is set to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency will allow E15 gasoline—gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend—to be sold in the United States this summer in an effort to expand Americans’ access to affordable fuel supply amid the surge in gas prices across the nation. The EPA is set to issue a national, emergency waiver. Without the action, the White House said E15 cannot be used in most of the country from June 1 to September 15. The EPA is expected to take final action to issue the emergency waiver closer to June 1.

Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., announced Saturday that he will mount a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., next year. The 38-year-old Kennedy -- the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy – formally announced his candidacy at a community center in Boston after weeks of rumors that he was mulling entering the race. [Snip] The challenge to Markey, 73, is likely to leave local Democrats, including 2020 presidential hopeful and fellow Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., with a difficult choice of who to back. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has already endorsed Markey, with whom she has worked closely on the Green...

Recent Chinese cyber-espionage against the U.S. has put China's spy network back in the spotlight. Despite the growing threat, presidents since Nixon have continued to pursue engagement with China as if our relationship with China is quite normal and beneficial. It is neither. The current U.S.-China relationship is not one of mutual prosperity; it's a parasitic one. A too trusting and naive America under Democrat leadership has maneuvered our country into a highly dysfunctional trade relationship. And President Obama is seeking another such trade relationship with Latin America countries. Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/letters/8538951-74/china-america-chinese#ixzz3d1wKJgSS Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on...

The purpose of this post is to introduce My Little Pony to Free Republic in a positive fashion, to counter much of the negativity that has been unfairly heaped on the show. I had been trying to decide the best episodes to put forward, when the producers dropped the Season 5 premiere in my lap. What could be better than a no-holds-barred trashing of liberalism and forced equality in a ponified Harrison Bergeron type town? Complaining about a lack of good, new, family oriented television? All new TV is trash? This is what you're looking for. There's a certain kind...

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has revealed to Newsmax that he is looking at a possible bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. Asked in a Newsmax TV interview if he is considering another White House run, Huckabee declares: “Yeah, I’m not ruling it out at this point. “I’m not sitting around having meetings with the strategic team, but it’s something I will certainly look at and I’m talking to some people just to determine whether it’s a kamikaze raid or whether it has potential and possibility.” Huckabee, who was governor of Arkansas for more than a decade up...

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush met Monday with a group of his former staffers at the J. W. Marriott hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, just steps from the White House. Bush, a potential 2016 presidential contender, spent an hour in the hotel’s Cannon room, reminiscing and entertaining questions about his political future. In an interview with NRO, Bush did not rule out a presidential run. “I am here to catch up with folks and promote education reform,” he said, smiling. When asked again whether he will issue a Sherman-type statement about his future, Bush remained coy. “We have an alumni group...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell operates with a steely resolve, a political discipline that leaves nothing to chance. A childhood bout with polio instilled in him an enormous capacity for patience. And for 25 years in Congress, the Kentucky Republican has waited for the moment now before him: the chance to become Senate majority leader. With four seats needed to flip the chamber, or three if a Republican is elected president (because the vice president could break a tie), the GOP has its best opportunity in years to gain full control of Congress. But McConnell and his party must first...

Christie is leaving the door open. "If Gov. Romney comes to me and wants to have a talk about that, we'll have a full conversation about that and then Mary Pat and I will make that decision about what we want to do with our future," Christie said in a Fox News interview before Christmas. "But my view is, I think if you fast-forward the tape to a year from now, I think it's going to be President-elect Romney and some other VP-elect - and Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey." Christie repeatedly has said he would not be...

ATLANTA (AP) --- Newt Gingrich, the House speaker who led a national GOP resurgence in the 1990s before facing ethics questions and resigning, is running for president. Gingrich's announcement, made on social networking websites Monday, came after months of public flirting with a bid. He enters a slow-to-form GOP presidential field that has left some Republicans craving more options as they search for a nominee strong enough to credibly challenge President Barack Obama. The former Georgia congressman, well-known to most Republicans, brings to the race a years-in-the-making political machine with ties to early nominating states as well as a network...

ABC News' Rick Klein reports: Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn has provided some of the most contentious exchanges of the rather tame Elena Kagan confirmation hearings. He's raised questions about Kagan's generally liberal political beliefs, and contends that Kagan would usher in vast expansions of government power as a member of the Supreme Court. On ABC/Washington Post’s “Top Line” today, Coburn ratcheted up his critique of Kagan, saying she hasn’t been as forthcoming about her views as she should be, and questioning her interpretation of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause as well as her expressed willingness to follow court precedents. “I think...

MIAMI — When Jeb Bush left office four years ago, his public appearances were as scarce as bi-partisan man hugs. He didn't want to upstage his successor in the governor's mansion nor his brother in the White House. Instead, he quietly cashed in by joining corporate boards and an elite speakers bureau, penned policy essays and gave infrequent interviews to conservative media. But in recent months, as the Republican Party of Florida has grappled with a leadership vacuum, Bush's political profile has grown as fast as the national deficit ...

Are we really headed into another Great Depression?Here's my Op-Ed in today's National Post arguing that no, we're not: So we’re in for another Great Depression, are we? Don’t believe it. Now that the epic U.S. presidential race is over, a caffeinated press corps is in withdrawal, so hyperventilating about a new Depression is their new fix. Just to pick one newspaper at random, Toronto’s Globe and Mail used the phrase “Great Depression” over 300 times in December alone — or about a dozen times each edition. And that’s restrained compared to U.S. cable news shows. It’s not just bored...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she would not support a short-term increase in American troop presence in Iraq unless it was part of a more comprehensive plan to stabilize the country. Clinton also offered the broadest indication yet that she was close to a decision on whether to enter the 2008 Democratic presidential field. "I want to make sure the decision is right for me, my family, my party and my country," Clinton said during an interview on NBC's "The Today Show." She appeared on the show to promote the rerelease of her best-selling book on child rearing, "It...

<p>State budgets could be passed more easily, with only a 55% vote. But so could tax increases.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO – Every summer, it's the singular drama that consumes the state Capitol: For weeks and even months, lawmakers haggle, dicker and struggle toward a two-thirds majority needed to pass a budget.</p>