Free Republic

President Barack Obama’s recent claim about the real meaning of his 2009 Cairo speech “is patently unsubstantiated by the text,” former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren told The Algemeiner on Thursday. Oren, today a member of Knesset with the centrist Kulanu party, was responding to statements Obama made in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the just-released April edition of The Atlantic. “My argument was this,” Obama told Goldberg, “Let’s all stop pretending that the cause of the Middle East’s problems is Israel… We want to work to help achieve statehood and dignity for the Palestinians, but I...

I was the first national political commentator to see the potential of Donald Trump. I believed Trump could win the nomination when only two people in all of America believed it- me and Trump. I wrote about it at FoxNews.com last June. I was the first to compare Trump to Reagan. I was the first to talk publicly about Trump’s appeal to blue-collar working class Americans. So I think I am in perfect position to make some suggestions to the Trump campaign. Here’s my plan to “close the deal” for the man who wrote "The Art of the Deal." First...

If you like the current condition of our Republic, then vote for Rubio. Rubio and Obama for the most part agree across the board. 1) Illegal Immigration and a Pathway to Citizenship 2) Rigged Trade Agreements that exports jobs overseas 3) Big supporter of H1-B that encourages U.S. companies, through taxes and regulations to fire their American workers and replace them with someone from overseas. 4) Going to war with Syria and endless perpetual state of war. 5) Rubio is in favor of big government. 6) Rubio is for the Police State. He wants to spy on all Americans, but...

When President Obama announced executive actions that would require that all firearm sales undergo background checks, he did so with the blessing of more than 50 faith communities. Vincent DeMarco, national coordinator of Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, a coalition of Baptists, Methodists, Catholics and Mennonites among others, said, "Since Congress won't do anything, he's doing the best that he can do, and we think that's wonderful." Archbishop Thomas Wenski said the nation's Catholic bishops "welcome reasonable efforts aimed at saving lives and making communities safer." Mr. Obama's move on guns also marked the reappearance of an old friend....

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." ~ Benjamin Franklin ::Separating the Wheat from the Chaff:: By: Larry Walker, II ::Each 2016 GOP presidential candidate has proposed to reform the tax code. While seven have offered legitimate proposals, five have advanced theories, which are basically maniacal. Those proposing to abolish, or end, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may be classified as crackpots, because, let's face it, that's never ever going to happen. With taxes of such fundamental concern, it's difficult to take anything else these kooks say seriously. Unless such candidates are willing...

Author and human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali argued President Obama's position on radical Islam is what he believes is strategic, but "it's a strategy that has failed" on Monday's "Hannity" on the Fox News Channel. Ali stated, "I'm always surprised to see people of authority here saying, what we see, these terrorist acts, the subjugation of women, the hatred of Jews and Christians, it has nothing to do with Islam. I mean, I watch that with amazement. I obviously have come to understand that it is a strategic position, that if we say these things, maybe the Islamist extremists...

Ben Carson's remarks on foreign policy have repeatedly raised questions about his grasp of the subject, but never more seriously than in the past week, when he wrongly asserted that China had intervened militarily in Syria and then failed, on national television, to name the countries he would call on to form a coalition to fight the Islamic State. Faced with increasing scrutiny about whether Carson -- who leads in some Republican presidential polls -- was capable of leading US foreign policy, two of his top advisers said in interviews with The New York Times that he had struggled to...

Economics: Japan is back in recession, the EU is again slumping, once fast-growing nations such as China and Brazil are slowing dramatically, and the U.S. "recovery" looks pretty threadbare. Why are our policymakers so clueless? The second recession in three years for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is bad news not just for his country, but for others as well. Not only is Japan a major world economy, but it has unfortunately recently served as a kind of model for what not to do in economic policy. Following the same failed neo-Keynesian prescriptions of easy money, debt-fueled government spending and heavy...

The currently considered TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade deal has the potential to be the fulcrum under every plank in the 2016 presidential election. Many people view immigration as the #1 concern underlying further economic issues – however, few people recognize that immigration is actually part of the TPP construct. Globalists, via Wall Street international financiers, are determined to get TPP passed into law. Few of the GOP candidates stand in the way; Donald Trump is the primary roadblock to the current globalist goals.

The head of a consulting firm founded by one of Bill Clinton's closest aides pushed back against allegations by Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that the firm had undue influence on Hillary Rodham Clinton's diplomatic work. In a letter to the committee in October, Declan Kelly, the Irish-born chief executive of the firm, Teneo, responded to questions about an agreement that permitted Huma Abedin, one of Mrs. Clinton's closest aides and the vice chairwoman of her campaign, to receive income both from her position at the State Department and as...

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES COMPARISON Click on a rating to read more.

The state’s most potent power is the ability to penalize a person for crimes committed. Thus, the manner in which the state administers that responsibility is a fundamental issue of liberty. The fiscal component is of concern as well; every year Michigan’s corrections budget consumes nearly 2 billion state taxpayer dollars. The business community, always interested in a talented and vibrant workforce, recognizes the value of training and societal assimilation for former inmates. Finally, it is appropriate to evaluate how free-market solutions can improve the efficiency of the justice system. A focus on criminal justice reform is not new for...

He didn’t plan to say it. But two hours into the second Republican presidential debate, Jeb Bush took a firm stand. “He kept us safe,” he said. The quick and simple defense of his brother, former president George W. Bush, earned one of the loudest rounds of applause of the night. Aides said it was an impromptu decision spurred by an attack from Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner. But those four words refocused a campaign in desperate need of a “moment,” and signaled the extent to which Jeb Bush has become comfortable — even eager — to highlight rather than...

Donald Trump has put his Second Amendment position on his web page for the 2016 election cycle.  The positions put forward are not new or bizarre.  They follow the Donald pattern of political positions that are enormously popular, but which have been declared “non-viable” by political correctness and the Washington Cartel. Donald Trump, once again, ignores the political taboos created by the ruling elite to prevent the electorate from enacting changes that the electorate desires, but the elite fears. Here is a summation of the Donald’s Second Amendment positions.  You can go to Trump’s site, donaldtrump.com, and read them yourself....

Former Senator George Mitchell famously said that,“God does not take sides in politics.” Mitchell’s observation might be about to change in the upcoming 2016 election. The highest ranking Catholic in government, Vice President Joe Biden is rumored to be considering a presidential run. The timing of his announcement is reportedly in late September. With the critical 25% swing Catholic vote at play in this election, Biden may find a powerful, and surprising ally in his presidential bid. As they say, politics make strange bedfellows, and this upcoming fall, Biden will have a powerful compadre in his presidential election bid: a...

It is no secret that the recovery from the recession that ended in June of 2009 has been virtually non-existent. More striking, however, is the impact that this recession and its aftermath have had on the conventional wisdom in Washington regarding America's long-term economic future. This is clearly seen in current forecasts of America's future economic potential from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which predict that a large portion of America's economic potential has been permanently lost. We believe that this remarkably pessimistic forecast is wrong. An economic policy agenda aimed at... [snip] The CBO's June 2015 estimate of America's...

This is a HTML LIST version of full text of IMMIGRATION REFORM THAT WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN [Full text of Trump's Immigration plan]. Personally I find it easier to get information when the entire document is in a kind of outline format.

Amnesty approves policy to decriminalize sex tradeLONDON (AP) — Amnesty International has approved a controversial policy to endorse the de-criminalization of the sex trade, rejecting complaints by women’s rights groups who say it is tantamount to advocating the legalization of pimping and brothel owning. At its decision-making forum in Dublin on Tuesday, the human rights group approved the resolution to recommend “full decriminalization of all aspects of consensual sex work.” It argues its research suggests decriminalization is the best way to defend sex workers’ human rights.

My inbox is full of emails touting Donald Trump’s “Time to Get Tough” book, now with Rush Limbaugh’s endorsement. He blames most of America’s problems on a “tidal wave” of illegal Hispanic immigrants and unfair Chinese trade practices. He reminds me of H.L. Mencken’s classic one-liner: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” One might add, “dangerous,” because Trump appeals to our desire to blame someone else for problems we created. If you want something to worry about, have a look at the math questions that Chinese high school students have to...

Seven long years into the presidency of Barack Obama, The Washington Post continues its obsessive quest to suggest that Obama may be lying when he professes to be a Christian. The latest fringe assertion from the Post about Obama’s religion emanated this weekend from national political correspondent James Hohmann. A previous instance occurred in February. Both recent times when the Post raised questions about Obama’s private religious beliefs, the newspaper also focused on Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker. The reasons that the Post has used reporting about Walker to channel its bizarre questions about Obama’s Christianity remain unclear. At a...