Free Republic

Russia has used a closely guarded communications channel with America's top general to propose the two former Cold War foes cooperate to rebuild Syria and repatriate refugees to the war-torn country, according to a U.S. government memo. The proposal was sent in a July 19 letter by Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian military's General Staff, to U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Russian plan, which has not been previously reported, has received an icy reception in Washington. The memo said the U.S. policy was only to support such efforts if there...

When it comes to supporting families, paid parental leave is a solution to a number of problems. Studies show that paid leave can reduce infant mortality, increase breastfeeding rates, can improve maternal mental health and strengthen the connection between fathers and babies. There are a ton of benefits to parental leave, ones that American families should be seeing, but aren't. While some employers have been modernizing parental leave policies, federal policy lags behind. The last major policy change came in 1993, when the Family and Medical Leave Act passed with bipartisan support, guarantees more than half of American workers 12...

As Arizonans prepare for their final salute to Sen. John McCain, Republicans and political pundits in the state privately tell Newsmax they expect the appointment of his wife, Cindy, to succeed him in the Senate. Of course, no one in the Grand Canyon State who spoke to us wants to go on record discussing what will happen when the ailing McCain no longer holds his seat. But those who did agree, almost unanimously, that Cindy McCain following John in the Senate through appointment by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey is a near-certainty. "I've always assumed that was the arrangement," said a...

If, as expected, Mitt Romney wins his race for a Senate seat from Utah he may become the most powerful man in the United States Senate. As many of us remember, Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, ran for president in 2012 and lost to Barack Obama. It wasn’t one of those totally humiliating losses—the map did not turn blue—but we assumed Mitt Romney would fade into history. Well, maybe not. The seat will remain Republican-held for President Trump come January of 2019, but this one could very well turn out to be the swing vote in the Senate. If Democrats...

Parents across the country are being urged to let their children participate in the National School Walkout on March 14. Yet, few parents (and kids!) understand the walkout’s true mission. At my children’s elementary school in Northern Virginia, school officials are telling parents the walkout is meant to memorialize the 17 victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Yet, according to the National School Walkout website, the real mission of the walkout is to demand Congress pass more restrictive gun laws. The website specifically states: “Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation...

A new Gallup poll shows growing support for marijuana legalization, with 64 percent of Americans now in favor of the measure. The number is the highest level of support in nearly half a century of surveying adults on the issue, according to Gallup. Support has steadily increased in recent years, with the latest figure up 4 percentage points over last year and up 14 points from 2011. The poll also showed a majority of Republicans favoring legalization for the first time, with 51 percent expressing support. That number is up 9 percentage points from last year, according to Gallup.

Former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis says his party must do everything in its power to abolish the Electoral College. “Hillary won this election, and when all the votes are all counted, by what will likely be more than a million votes,” he wrote of the Democratic presidential nominee in an email to Politico Sunday. ADVERTISEMENT “So how come she isn’t going to the White House in January?” the 1988 Democratic standard-bearer asked. "Because of an anachronistic Electoral College system that should have been abolished 150 years ago. “That should be at the top of the Democratic priority list while...

Britain wanted to create a formal task force to work with Norway on a post-Brexit free trade agreement, but the Norwegian rejected the overture according to a new report. Business daily Dagens Næringsliv reported that the UK’s international trade secretary, Liam Fox, lobbied his Norwegian counterpart, Minister of Trade and Industry Monica Mæland, for Norway to join the United Kingdom in establishing a task force to prepare a new trade agreement for when the Brits formally leave the EU. But when Fox’s request was relayed to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, it was rejected. According to Dagens Næringsliv, the ministry’s director...

Has the shooter’s wife left the state of Florida?" a reporter asked Lynch during her press conference Tuesday. "Right now, I don’t know exactly the answer to that," Lynch candidly replied. "I believe she was going to travel but I do not know exactly her location now."

When this election started in what seems like a lifetime ago, I was contacted by the Bush people. After all, I had been a supporter of Bush 43 and one of his appointees. I expressed my concern that I thought it was bad for the country to have another election between a Clinton and a Bush. The world has changed dramatically since then to say the least. We now are facing a presidential election between a congenital liar and an egomaniacal opportunist. The person who can stop that is Ted Cruz by getting out of the race now. A Ted...

Plans are underway to build a MILE-HIGH skyscraper in Japan. If approved the huge tower would be the tallest building in the world, dwarfing the current record-holder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which is half as tall at 2,717ft (828m). Located in Tokyo Bay, an inlet southeast of the city proper, the plan - dubbed Next Tokyo - wouldn't just be a single massive building, but if approved would emerge as a mini city designed to combat climate change. Envisioned as part of Tokyo's effort to protect itself from rising tides, Next Tokyo would feature a chain of man-made,...

Chaz Bono cannot find love because he “repels” women. Lovelorn Bono, 46, says he has been out on dates but just cannot connect with the opposite sex even though the transgender LGBT advocate was once a member of the opposite sex. (snip} “I seem to repel women that I am attracted to,” Bono told Confidenti@l at the Les Girls charity fund-raiser in Los Angeles.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation, one of many communist groups in the U.S., argues that “the long period of reaction that began in the late 1970s and greatly accelerated under Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United States is drawing to a close.” Leaving aside the Marxist rhetoric about “reaction,” one has to say there may be some validity to what the communists are saying. After all, Bernie Sanders seems to be leading the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Marxist Jeremy Corbyn has become head of the Labor Party in Britain, and the socialist New...

Sen. Lindsey Graham is also now considering a run for the White House. The South Carolina Republican, up for re-election next month, told the Weekly Standard he might make a bid in 2016 if he feels like no one represents his views on foreign policy. Graham also criticized Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential presidential candidate, saying he is “not quite ready” to become president. “If I get through my general election, if nobody steps up in the presidential mix, if nobody’s out there talking — me and McCain have been talking — I may just jump in to get...

Olympic figure skating champion Brian Boitano came out Thursday, two days after he was named to the U.S. delegation for Sochi along with openly gay athletes Billie Jean King and Caitlin Cahow. The 1988 gold medalist had always kept his personal life private, saying in a statement that "being gay is just one part of who I am." But President Barack Obama's decision to include openly gay athletes in the delegation for the opening and closing ceremonies — and not send high-ranking officials — was widely seen as a message to Russia about its treatment of gays and lesbians. "First...

This holiday season, getting a lump of coal in your stocking might actually be preferable, considering the alternative gift from the folks at Organizing for Action is Obamacare. Their newest cult campaign is called "Health Care for the Holidays." How festive. "This holiday season, make sure to talk to your loved ones about getting covered," the group's newest ad campaign says. "These conversations don't have to be tough — OFA can help." Because your family holiday gathering should actually be an opportunity for you to register them for Obamacare, or something. OFA even provides you with these handy talking points...

The main provision of the bill is that any transfer of a firearm, no matter how fleeting, needs to go through an FFL and the transferee needs to have a background check performed through the NICS system. There are some exceptions, but they aren’t very good ones. As one of the provisions designed to “alleviate the fears” of the gun-owning public, it looks like there’s a provision in here that permanently sets the price of all FFL transfer fees to the same amount. That number will be set by the Attorney General, which these days is still Eric Holder. The...

I would like to address an issue that is apparently of concern to a significant number of people. In my “Ask Fred” column, several people have expressed concern (some have been adamant and angry) that Marco Rubio should not be selected as the Vice Presidential nominee because he would not be eligible to be President, if the need arose. They contend that at least one of his parents were required at the time of his birth to have been a citizen for him to fulfill the constitutional requirement of eligibility, even though he was born on American soil.

Republi-crats - The Two Parties of Tyranny Dr. David M. Berman www.smellthetruth.com There was a day when Constitutional Americans saw hope in the Republican Party. After years of liberalism, and the four years of the inept, big government administration of President Carter, Reagan was elected. Reagan brought back a sense of belief in the American system of freedom, and personal responsibility. Through the presidency of Ronald Reagan conservatives gave the President a pass on many things because we all saw this as a transition to sanity and doubled our efforts to get the House and Senate into Republican control. We...

It has been a busy day for the Rick Santorum campaign, which reeled in two endorsements for the former Pennsylvania senator that he can tout on the campaign trail in the last two weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Sioux City talk-show host Sam Clovis is backing Santorum, the first time he has endorsed a candidate in the caucuses. He has a popular conservative radio show on KSCJ, an ABC News affiliate. Clovis said in a statement that his listeners were “always asking me who I will be supporting in the upcoming caucuses” and “it’s time to take a stand and...