Free Republic

A gunman in a black BMW opened fire on crowds of people Friday night in a Southern California seaside town near UC Santa Barbara, killing six people and injuring seven others in what investigators described as a "mass murder" rampage. The gunman was later involved in at least one shootout with sheriff's deputies and died of a gunshot wound to the head, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said at a Saturday morning news conference. He could not confirm whether the gunshot was self-inflicted. Seven victims were hospitalized and at least one of them had undergone surgery for life-threatening injuries,...

The second inauguration of our sitting president will take place this coming weekend as this is being written. It is a time of great happiness for most of my neighbors and friends inside the beltway, indeed for most people in the country. But I find myself in despair for our beloved country. It is quite likely that a large minority of the nation’s citizens agree with my pessimistic mood. The reasons for that despair are not difficult to discern. Our beloved country is in terrible condition. The awful evidence is easily seen everywhere, for those willing to look. Our economic...

When President Obama put forth his first offer on the fiscal cliff, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said, “You can’t be serious.” We could say the same thing to the Speaker after his counteroffer yesterday. In a letter signed by House Republican leadership, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), Boehner offered to raise taxes by $800 billion and cut spending by $1.4 trillion, with no substantive reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving U.S. spending and debt. Heritage’s Alison Fraser, director of the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, and J.D. Foster,...