Free Republic

Two gunmen opened fire Sunday evening outside a contest for cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad at Garland ISD's Curtis Culwell Center, police said. The two men pulled up in a vehicle and shot a Garland ISD officer. The men were fatally shot by Garland police, and their bodies remain on the street outside the events center. The security officer's wounds were not believed to be life-threatening, but he had been hospitalized. No one was being allowed to leave the facility, where an art show centering on caricatures of Muhammad was being held. Nearby businesses, including a Walmart and Sam's Club,...

Two House Democrats want the Department of Homeland Security to grant a temporary immigrant status for Nepalese nationals affected by the country's earthquake. Democratic Reps. Al Green (Texas) and Mike Honda (Calif.) have introduced a bill to establish a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to citizens of Nepal so that they are protected from deportation or detainment. TPS is frequently authorized in conditions that prevent safe return of a country's citizens, such as a civil war or natural disaster. Under the legislation, Nepalese applicants would be eligible for TPS if they had been legally present in the U.S. since April 25,...

Last year, as part of his Imperial decree of amnesty for illegal immigrants, resident Barack Obama created the White House Task Force on New Americans, whose goal is to vastly increase the numbers and rates at which immigrants were naturalized and granted citizenship. This Task Force works hand-in-hand with the George Soros-funded, open borders-promoting Migration Policy Institute, as well as the openly racist group La Raza, a Mexican nationalist organization that has called for the mass murder of white Americans and a return of the western states to Mexico. The Task Force is headed up by one Cecilia Munoz, Obama’s...

Where do we stand on this so far among the GOP field? Rubio’s a yes, Santorum’s a no, Cruz is noncommittal, Walker said he’s already attended a gay-wedding reception but not an actual ceremony. Anyone I’m leaving out? People are dismissing it as a gotcha but I think it’s interesting as a gauge of whom each candidate’s trying to appeal to. The only real surprise among the five who have already answered is Cruz, whom I would have guessed would be a “no” to please social conservatives.Free advice from Ben Domenech to the 300 Republican candidates who haven’t yet gotten...

There are three things driving a surge in organic imports: 1.U.S. farmers have been systematically pushed into growing mostly GMO crops; grown primarily for fuel, animal feed and cheap processed foods. Russia even used our food supply as an example for the EU to dump us and join them instead. 2.U.S. consumers are not only demanding fresh, organic produce as well as non-GMO convenience foods – but also want meat, dairy and eggs from animals that were fed non-GMO or organic feed. 3.Other countries primarily grow non-GE crops, and plenty of organic. They’ve got the goods and they reap the...

At the end of March, two weeks before he declared his candidacy for President, Marco Rubio visited New York City’s Upper West Side to meet the moneyed class and hand out his new book American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone. In a gorgeous apartment overlooking the Park and the Museum of Natural History, Mr. Rubio delivered a spellbinding speech, skewering the president and articulating a cohesive worldview, especially in the arena of foreign policy. The smart and funny senator from Florida also took questions on all topics, impressing the room of well-heeled elites, plus journalists like Bret Stephens and...

Ted Cruz remains a conservative favorite in 2016. In 2012, the establishment backed his Senate opponent in Texas, then Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. The conservative grassroots backed Cruz and pushed him over the finish line. Cruz has since remained a favorite of the grassroots with a continually antagonist relationship with the Republican establishment. In 2010, Rand Paul, before Cruz, was a grassroots favorite. The Republican Establishment backed his rival, Trey Grayson. Paul rallied a coalition of conservative grassroots and Ron Paul acolytes to trounce Grayson and win the Kentucky Senate seat. Since then, Paul has wobbled between maintaining grassroots support...

The NRA’s annual convention is coming up. They invited possible/announced 2016 candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Scott Walker, and Jeb Bush. Two people they didn’t invite: Chris Christie and Rand Paul. It is not surprising that the New Jersey moderate was not invited. But the lack of an invitation for Paul stands out.The Daily Beast reports that Paul did request an invitation to the convention, but was denied: However, a source with knowledge of Paul’s dealings with the NRA said the claim that he did not request an invitation to the convention was “not true.”Further, the...

Rand Paul likes to say that the Republican Party should follow the advice of painter Robert Henri, who said people should "paint like a man coming over a hill singing." But Paul, one week away from an announcement that he is running for president, often seems like a man running down a hill so fast that his feet can't keep up with his momentum. As he prepares to take a formal step onto the biggest stage in politics, Kentucky's junior U.S. Senator has previewed his campaign message as one of "winnability." "Ted Cruz is a conservative — but it also...

The further I travel down this rabbit hole, the more I feel divorced from the good conservative people that I choose to call my own. I hold some stories back from our readers. My thought is that people have a hard enough time embracing the basic fact that our government is corrupt on both sides of the aisle. If you knew how corrupt I thought these people really were, I feel like you’d rush to the phone and soon bad men would show up to haul me off in a straight jacket. Do they still do that? Regardless, today I...

Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report is somewhat baffled. A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll gave Republican voters a list of potential presidential candidates and asked whether the voters could support each candidate in the primaries. On that measure, Marco Rubio finished first. And yet when pollsters have asked GOP voters to name a top pick, Rubio inevitably finishes far from the top. Why is that? And why is Scott Walker doing better? Walter writes: Yet, if Rubio’s got such obvious advantages, why is he stuck in the low single digits while Walker has become a “co-frontrunner” with Bush?...

War On Terror: The head of U.S. Southern Command has warned lawmakers that IS is radicalizing converts and other Muslims in Latin America and could train and send them north via human traffickers. Gen. John Kelly issued his warning in a hearing Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee on defense appropriations for fiscal 2016. He's concerned that in addition to the Iranian terrorist puppet Hezbollah being active in Latin America, the Islamic State is promoting and recruiting for jihad against the United States in the region. "Last year, IS adherents posted discussions on social media calling for the infiltration...

In the interview, Cornell issued some chilling warnings: “I got orders from the brothers overseas because I’m with the Islamic State. My brothers over there, in Syria and Iraq, gave me specific orders to carry out jihad in the west, so I did so.” “What do I think is coming? Many things. There will be many, many attacks. Like I said, we are ready for the battle over the Capitol.”

Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul earned a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, with members of the conservative activist crowd chanting “President Paul” at one point. Paul made clear overtures to a presidential run. The video of his speech is below. Here are some highlights: “Your rights are in your DNA and the government, quite frankly, can get over it.” “I say that your phone records are yours! I say that the phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of their damn business.” “Hillary’s war made us less safe. … As Hillary was declaring victory in...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Monday night that a federal judge has “granted” his request to “halt” President Barack Obama’s “Executive Amnesty Order” across the country. Abbott didn’t immediately offer any other details, but promised for information later. BREAKING: Federal Judge just granted my request to halt Obama's Executive Amnesty Order Nationwide. More later. #txlege #tcot @TexasGOP — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) February 17, 2015

Marco Rubio sees room for himself in the GOP's crowded 2016 field — and is starting to throw elbows to make space. The Florida senator is moving full throttle towards a White House bid, hitting the road hard to raise money and elevate his profile. While allies and advisors say he hasn’t made a final decision, most now privately expect he’ll take the plunge.

Why don't candidates -- Republican/Conservative ---go after the media bigtime for this kind of BS as soon as the stories pop up?

I stand with the Santa Barbara News-Press. How about you? The newspaper is under fire for refusing to kowtow to left-wing word police and militant propagandists who demand unfettered illegal immigration. Last week, in the wake of angry protests against the publication, vandals threw paint bombs and spray-painted graffiti on its offices. So, what exactly is the News-Press' unforgivable crime? Calling illegal aliens "illegals" in a headline for a story about illegal aliens descending on California DMVs. A new law went into effect last Friday allowing illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses without proof of lawful residence. The article featured...

12 DEAD IN PARIS MASSACRE: Islamic gunmen execute French police officer as he pleads for his life after terror attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo at centre of Mohammed cartoon storm Masked gunmen storm Paris headquarters with AK-47s shouting 'Allahu akbar!' and 'the Prophet has been avenged' Stalked building asking for people's names before killing the editor and cartoonist during weekly editorial meeting Horrific footage shows a police officer begging for his life before being shot in the head at point-blank range Killers fled in stolen car across eastern Paris after a 'mass shoot-out' with police officers and remain on...

Every generation of conservative leaders must rise to the occasion to confront the challenge of the time. The challenge at present is to stop Obama’s war on our borders and thereby his war on the rule of law. Will conservatives rise to the occasion? When the 114th Congress convenes in January, Republicans from across the political sphere will be offering advice concerning the focus of the new GOP-led majority in both houses of Congress. Conservatives will want to focus on taxes, others want to focus on entitlement spending. Still others want to focus on an anti-regulatory agenda. All of these...