Free Republic

On Monday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said that the White House doesn’t understand why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a planned Israeli delegation to the U.S. over the U.S. abstaining from a vote on a U.N. ceasefire resolution because the resolution is “a non-binding resolution that has absolutely no effect on Israel’s ability to defend itself.” And is consistent with U.S. policy of wanting a ceasefire in conjunction with the release of hostages. Kirby said, [relevant remarks begin around 3:35] “We’re perplexed by this decision. Because, first of all,...

The Republican Party — populated with cranks, crooks, clowns, bigots and deranged conspiracy theorists — has spent five years alienating women, minorities and young voters. The party — and its entire leadership from the grassroots to Congress — remains in thrall to a disgraced, defeated, one-term president, who is reduced to issuing increasingly crazed screeds from his exile in Mar-a-Lago. Every day we learn more about Republican complicity in the events of Jan. 6 and their attempts to whitewash an attempted coup. The GOP is the party of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and Louie Gohmert. Sane Republicans...

Senators went into a recess skeptical over whether they could agree to legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare. They will return on Monday more doubtful than ever. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) most loyal allies, said Thursday that it’s “unlikely” the GOP will get a healthcare deal. “I don’t see a comprehensive healthcare plan this year,” he told a local news station. Senate Republicans hoped to have a draft bill this week, but it now looks like there will at best be an outline.

...'Would the response have been more urgent if the victims had been mainly white? Is economic class a factor even more than race? In Orleans Parish, where the boundaries are the same as the city limits, 66.6 percent of the residents are black. The black population nationwide is 12.1 percent. snip.. When 80 percent of the city's population, according to the mayor, evacuated before Hurricane Katrina, that left behind those with no cars, no resources, no way out. Twenty-one percent of Orleans Parish households earn less than $10,000 a year. Nearly 27,000 families are below the poverty level. Most of...

Conservatives have traditionally embraced religious issues, often giving Republicans the image of being the more "pro-God" party. But now some Democrats are fighting to change that image. In the 2004 election, many voters cited "morals" along with candidate stances on issues like gay marriage and abortion as key to their election picks. These so-called "values voters" overwhelmingly backed President Bush, but Democrats insist that Republicans don't have a monopoly on morality.

Not long ago, the FBI taped two crooked campaign fundraisers talking about how a high profile political figure had massively under-reported his campaign earnings from the 2004 election cycle. This was part of a wider probe into campaign finance violations by this figure and portions of his party. “Ah!” you may be saying (with tongue clucking disapproval), “those Republican money grubbers are at it again. How can they line their pockets with the donations of honest people!” And yet if you said that, you’d be wrong. The man is Al Sharpton and the fundraisers worked for the Democratic Party. So...