Free Republic

Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities.  The writers would face certain death at the hands of the Gulf Cartel if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Matamoros’ “JA Espinoza.”MATAMOROS, Tamaulipas — Raging shootouts between rival factions of the Gulf Cartel have rained gunfire on this border city. In just one of the shootouts, one police officer and six cartel gunmen died, according to official...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is poised to win a huge victory on education as the state legislature passed a budget that repeals state tenure guarantees while also slashing the budget of the University of Wisconsin. The victory was enunciated by the acquiescence of the university, which recognized its defeat by passing a spending plan that implements Walker’s cuts. All that remains is for Walker to consummate his victory by affixing his signature to the budget. The two-year, $73 billion budget approved Thursday makes a host of changes Walker has sought in the realm of education. Wisconsin’s school voucher program is...

On Saturday’s “Melissa Harris-Perry” on MSNBC, director of American Civil Liberties Union Cecillia Wang reacted to the media’s treatment of San Francisco, as well as other cities, for being a sanctuary city.Sanctuary cities are now under fire after Kate Steinle was shot dead on July 1, allegedly by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican felon who was in the United States illegally.

When we talk of guitar playing it is often in the text of rock and roll and what immediately comes to mind for most folks is the driving and powerful popular classics of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones and others. Because guitar playing and rock music most always conjure up the hits that made us stomp our feet and dance. A former hard rocker and “party ‘til you puke” concert consumer myself, I don’t quarrel with any of the hard rockers getting their due. But, just for fun on a slow Saturday night I’d like to offer up a couple of...

The Office of Personnel Management is under fire again today after it was revealed hackers, allegedly Chinese, stole 21 million social security numbers during a massive data breach discovered last month (which officials originally said only impacted 4 million people). The social security numbers belong to Americans who have, or who currently are, working for the federal government. This new information comes on the heels of news hackers were able to obtain extremely sensitive information, including classified background check information that can be used for blackmail, belonging to tens of millions of government employees. More bad news: Here’s the kicker:...

The illegal alien who murdered a father and two sons in San Francisco in 2008 not only evaded deportation with the city’s help but also had murdered before, the San Francisco Chronicle has revealed. Even worse, the FBI knew it and did nothing. According to the Chronicle, an informant from the Salvadoran MS-13 gang told the FBI that Edwin Ramos, convicted on July 30 for murdering 49-year-old Tony Bologna and his sons, Michael and Matthew, had murdered a gang foe before he cut down the three Bolognas in a hail of gunfire. Another son, Andrew, survived the attack. The revelation...

A woman dumps water on Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake during a One Baltimore event this morning at the Mondawmin Mall. Amy Yensi has more.Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake feeling upbeat as she dances at the Mondawmin Festival Saturday morning.The One Baltimore event happening at the mall now notoriously linked to April’s unrest.But the gathering aiming to connect the community and city agencies goes from festive to frantic in an instant.A bystander, later identified as 37-year-old Lacheisa Pailin-Sheffer, of Baltimore, throws water on the mayor as she speaks to the crowd.Pictures from our media partner The Baltimore Sun, show shocked on-lookers trying their...

When Donald Trump described Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug smugglers last month, Latinos took to social media to express their outrage and urge businesses to sever ties with the billionaire presidential candidate. In short order, more than 10 organizations canceled their deals with Trump, in what Latino activists are calling an unprecedented recognition of their economic clout. Latino spending power will hit $1.5 trillion this year, up 50 percent from 2010, according to the Nielsen Co, which analyzes consumer spending trends. At an average age of 27, the Hispanic population is a decade younger than the U.S. average and...

Wednesday on “The Stephanie Miller Show,” former President Jimmy Carter said because of the “stupid” Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case, America has become a “plutocracy.” Carter said, “The basic structure of our moral values of the framework of our democracy has gone down the drain in the last twenty years or so and it’s now become pretty much a plutocracy where money determines who will be the Democratic and Republican nominees. Money determines who will win election for Congress or for the U.S. Senate or for the governorship And the massive infusion of money that has come...

On Friday's edition of PBS NewsHour, The New York Times' conservative columnist, said Republicans should publicly object to GOP candidate for president Donald Trump's "xenophobia" and "nativism." "What Trump said is the dictionary definition of xenophobia, nativism," Brooks said. Brooks admonished Trump, responding with an anecdotal observation of the PBS NewsHour parking lot. "He had a factually inaccurate statement that generalized about a whole group of people, inaccurately, in a slurring manner," Brooks said. "We have got a parking lot right out here at the NewsHour where we brought a bunch of immigrants. And when you pull up, they’re not...

I have acquaintances that a decade ago decided to adopt some “leftover� frozen human embryos created with in vitro fertilization (IVF). Presuming they were essentially adopting children, the couple first consulted an adoption attorney. Imagine their surprise when he referred them to a property-rights lawyer. In our state, human embryos are considered to be “property,� not people. Back in 2002, a Rand Corp. report revealed that there were 396,526 frozen embryos in the United States. There are certainly many more today, and in many states, these little lives have no more legal worth than a house or a car. This...

It wasn’t just Harrison Ford’s familiar face that sent a wave of nostalgia through the Comic-Con crowd when Star Wars: The Force Awakens rocked the geek gathering this weekend. That behind-the-scenes clip J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy showed actually contained a number of apparent call-backs to the original trilogy, revealing a few more droids, creatures, and actors making a return. Here’s a rundown of what we spotted: First, the obvious. PRINCESS LEIA The last time we saw her, it was an Ewok hoe-down where she finally let down her waist-length hair. Three decades later, we finally found our...

The seemingly inevitable nomination of Hillary Clinton and an already crowded GOP primary field has left pundits and strategists debating the extent to which candidates should “go negative” when campaigning against other Republicans and ultimately, the former Secretary of State. Many Republican strategists are calling for the GOP to abandon or severely limit the negative attacks and focus on their positive vision for America in 2016. If this strategy is adopted, there is no doubt we will soon have another Clinton in the White House. The GOP has a choice in 2016: Lose again with class and dignity or fight...

As is our habit for July birthdays, my adult daughter and I go to a movie to celebrate. This is a decades long tradition for us and often the only movie we see at a theater all year. Now that she has children, they inevitably tag along for a fun family outing. We make a day of it – noon Mass at the Cathedral, lunch at a favorite restaurant, and then a movie. Our tastes are simple and tame, so it isn’t a problem for the kids to join us – usually that is.Although our birthdays fall on July...

One day in the mid-sixties I was on a Pan Am 747 from London to Chicago, sitting next to my then-employer, Omar Sharif. I was a member of the “Omar Sharif Bridge Circus,” an unlikely assemblage of professional card players from France, Italy, Egypt…and, given my presence, the United States. We played high-stakes exhibition matches against local teams in front of hundreds of spectators. Mostly my role was pure show-biz; I explained what the players were thinking, told anecdotes…you know, entertainment. Every now and then they even let me play a few hands. Life was spectacularly good, not least because...

Initially during Mr. Trump’s rise in the polls the Bush team was dismissive, declaring it a momentary blip. As days turned to weeks though, and Trump supporters appear to be multiplying at a pace that even has people associated with the Trump campaign surprised, the Bush 2016 operation is now openly declaring it wants help with the what is being called, “The Trump problem.” The call for help has even been issued to Jeb Bush’s seeming Democratic rival – Team Clinton. Apparently Bush operatives believe that between the two political dynasties and their many supporters among the Mainstream Media and...

Hey there. I'm helping a friend gather questions she wants to use in her Bible study this fall. She wants to help sharpen the skills of the people in her group in anwering questions asked by anybody, particulary unbelievers, but by anybody, really. There won't be answers forthcoming, just needing questions, and what better place to ask for questions than FreeRepublic?

When Christendom began to fall in the north and the modern elites started to consolidate power, banking engulfed us, industries formed, and men became more and more debased and enslaved; what was once right and wrong became only Right and Left. The realities of good and bad didn’t change, just our understanding of them. The terms ‘Right and Left’ were given to us during the French Revolution. (The most confusing terminology in our lost world has been handed to us by Leftists. When you bind the language you have control.) Ronald Reagan corrected this orientation for us. ‘Right and left’...

Democratic Party Platform; June 18, 1860 1. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union in Convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of the resolutions unanimously adopted and declared as a platform of principles by the Democratic Convention at Cincinnati, in the year 1856, believing that Democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature, when applied to the same subject matters; and we recommend, as the only further resolutions, the following: 2. Inasmuch as difference of opinion exists in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and...

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Serena Williams dominated at the Wimbledon championship on Saturday, winning it for the sixth time. This also marks Williams' fourth Grand Slam title in a row, not to mention her 21st major overall. Among the top-ranked athlete's many celebrity fans is author J.K. Rowling, who tweeted a steady stream of support for Williams throughout and immediately following Saturday's game. But it was her cutting response to a body-shaming troll that propelled Rowling to trending status in the United States: Rob ‎@diegtristan8 @jk_rowling @hansmollman ironic then that main reason for her success is that...

Last December when there were mass protests about the Smith/Garner cases a group of employees at York College (part of the public owned CUNY) in Jamaica, Queens, left their work stations and went outside to lay down in the street to protest the verdicts. It was staged of course but still these these workers could have been injured, bringing law suits against the city. Now I don't fault anyone for protesting what they think is wrong but on WORK HOURS? These are CITY OF NEW YORK employees. Your tax dollars payed for this time they were not at work. York...

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Federal immigration officials tell ABC11 a second illegal immigrant suspected of causing a serious wreck this week will not be allowed out of jail. Earlier this week, the I-Team covered the return of Efren Roblero to the streets of Wake County. Roblero is accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that injured two people over the weekend. He managed to post his $75,000 bond and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials approved his release from jail. Now, another illegal immigrant, Antonio Arellano, is accused of hit-and-run causing serious injury, driving without a license, and reckless driving.

Donald Trump just gave one of the most bizarrely captivating speeches of his several-week-old campaign. Standing in front of an animated screen in Las Vegas on Saturday, Trump spoke passionately for almost a half an hour, hitting some of his main talking points: President Obama's weakness, a 'porous' southern border, his business successes, and even Benghazi. Trump made illegal immigration the primary focus of his speech, railing against the Mexican government for supposedly sending illegal immigrants to the US. Trump faced widespread criticism after he said in his announcement speech last month that some Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug...

Within days, the United States will be concluding its Iranian nuclear deal. Those of us who have watched the negotiations up close are deeply troubled by the Obama Administration’s willingness to make a deal almost universally condemned as catastrophic to Israel’s security and a threat to nuclear proliferation throughout the Middle East. But perhaps the most troubling thing about the negotiations is that President Obama has not once demanded that Iran cease its public promises to murder the six million Jews of Israel. Can the leader of the free world really welcome back into the community of nations a government...

Leaks this past week from the negotiation room in Vienna show that the issue of ballistic missiles has been brought up by Iran, with the support of Russia, in the nuclear negotiations. This is despite that fact that so far, throughout all the months of negotiations, Iran has steadfastly refused to discuss this issue, claiming that it has nothing to do with its nuclear program. Nevertheless, at this time the Iranians have raised the issue of ballistic missiles and have demanded that the sanctions connected to them be lifted. The sanctions were imposed due to the fear that Iran is...

Iran's Ideological Camp Increases Pressure To Reject Upcoming Nuclear Agreement; Majlis National Security Committee Chairman: 'Kerry Is Talking Nonsense Because His Broken Leg Hurts... You Can't Expect Much From A Sick Man' In a June 18, 2015 interview with the Iranian website Snn.ir, Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Ala Al-Din Boroujerdi said: "In my opinion, John Kerry is talking nonsense because his broken leg hurts. He is sick, and you can't expect much from a sick man.

The Seattle City Council is expected to take up an ill-advised proposal that will impose a $25 tax on each firearm and a nickel tax on every round of ammunition sold by a retailer in Seattle. Proposed by anti-gun Council President Tim Burgess, the so-called “Gun Violence Tax” ordinance will have no effect on decreasing gun violence. It is designed to place a huge burden on legitimate firearms retailers and law-abiding gun owners. The City Council is expected to take up the proposed ordinance next Wednesday, July 15. The proposed ordinance would impose a tax on those “engaging in the...

Overall, what do you think about the Army down- sizing in Hawaii: 1,400 fewer troops and loss of the Stryker Brigade?

Uighurs from China's Xinjiang are being given Turkish identity papers in Southeast Asia by Turkish diplomats and then taken to Turkey where some are sold to fight for groups like Islamic State as "cannon fodder", a senior Chinese official said. Beijing says the Turkic language-speaking Uighur minority are firstly Chinese nationals, and those who flee China should be returned to their home region in the far west of the country bordering central Asia. "Turkish embassies in Southeast Asia will give them proof of identity," Tong Bishan, division chief of the Ministry of Public Security's Criminal Investigation Department, told a small...

[T]he Indian intelligence agencies could be looking to acquire know-how not just target-specific, but the ability to throw a sweeping net of surveillance over a large number mobile phones. ... This also means the agencies could be looking to side-step the need to get written permission of the Union home secretary before carrying out any interception. Every single case of telephone interception can be done only with the written permission of the home secretary at the Centre or his counterpart in a state.... ... In an email sent to Maharashtra police, one of its senior officials claims that their solution,...

Iran and the six powers involved in the talks - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - have given themselves until Monday to reach a deal, their third extension in two weeks, as the Iranian delegation accused the West of throwing up new stumbling blocks to an accord. "Now that everything is on the table, the moment has come to decide," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement sent to Reuters after speaking to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. Among the biggest...

We haven’t checked in on the state of affairs in the auto industry recently, but it may soon be back in the news in a big way. Ford is making noises about the fact that they are losing money on the smaller, high efficiency cars which they must produce to stay on top of the eco-minded consumer market, such as the Ford Focus. So what’s a business to do? One suggestion being floated is that they just give up on turning a profit in Detroit and head down south of the border. Ford Motor Co.’s decision to end production of...

The Remembrance Project, a 501(c)3 non-profit, was created in 2009 to honor and remember Americans who have been killed by illegal aliens. The Remembrance Project educates, raises awareness, and conducts outreach in order to support and protect Americansand their families' well-being and safety through upholding U.S. laws and following the Constitution.

What are some of the philosophical underpinnings behind Cardinal Walter Kasper’s controversial proposal to grant certain divorced and civilly remarried Catholics access to the holy Communion in certain cases?

Through exclusive investigations, we have discovered that crimes committed by foreign nationals, including illegal aliens, on American soil are not tracked, recorded, or reported by the FBI or the Justice Department as being committed by foreign nationals. This includes all crimes, including those committed by illegal alien terrorists to illegal alien criminals who are currently molesting, raping, killing, and murdering Americans in shocking numbers. FNCIC is the Foreign National Crime Information Center. It is a registry and data base for serious crimes committed against people by foreign nationals in the United States. VOIACM is the Victims of Illegal Alien Crime...

Promoting the liberal inclusiveness agenda by making any child or adult feel ashamed of their skin color and of their heritage is repulsive I’ve wondered for the longest time why Americans remain silent to the massive “fundamental transformation” of our country by a minority of well-organized progressives who use any means necessary to attain their communistic ends, including the phony notion of “white privilege” in the most tolerant nation on the planet. While history is being altered, rewritten in the revisionist view of Saul Alinksy’s activists on the payroll of the current regime, various communist non-profits, and by low information...

If doctors are allowed to surgically change the bodies of people who want to live as the opposite sex, shouldn’t therapists be allowed to help change the minds of people who want to be attracted to the opposite sex? Not according to the homosexual lobby, the powerful Southern Poverty Law Center, and a likeminded judge, they’re not. A New Jersey-based organization called JONAH, “Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing,” has found this out the hard way. JONAH offers what is known as “reparative therapy,” which seeks to help people struggling with unwanted feelings of same-sex attraction (SSA). Unfortunately for people...

A new filing in a legal dispute involving Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Arizona, is renewing the demand that the judge allow an investigator who was drawn into the case by others’ testimony be allowed to participate. And it suggests, strongly, that the judge is pursuing his own interests by delaying a decision on the motion to allow Dennis L. Montgomery to intervene. “By not granting the motions, but instead continuing to sit on them for the court’s apparent strategic reasons, Mr. Montgomery’s rights are being severely harmed, on an ongoing basis. Mr. Montgomery must respectfully be allowed to...

Euro group talks in Brussels have run into difficulty after signals that eurosceptic populists in Finland’s ruling coalition will bring down the two-month-old government if Helsinki backs a third aid package for Greece. Irish sources have said it was “increasingly difficult to reach common ground” as talks progressed in Brussels. Finnish opposition would prevent the euro group, meeting in Brussels, reaching a unanimous decision to open negotiations for a third Greek programe. ... The Finns party joined a three-way centre-right coalition in May but its leader Timi Soini, now foreign minister, has maintained that bailouts in general, and particularly bailouts...

On Tuesday, Politico ran an article with this blaring headline: “Ben Carson’s Godly Riches: He reaped $2 million in fees from Christian groups in 2014 alone. Now he wants their votes.” The headline, which implies some sort of hypocrisy on Dr. Carson’s part, is belied by the actual content of the article.“Clearly if you were to read in great detail Politico’s article, they are clearly only admonishing Dr. Carson in their headline and not the true substance of their story,” Armstrong Williams, Dr. Carson’s business manager, tells Breitbart News in an exclusive interview.“The reason being they truly had nothing to report,”...

One of the most revolting and disgusting traits of liberals is their insatiable appetite for tearing down anything American in order to build up anti-American sentiment and people. The ongoing hysteria over the Confederate Flag is an excellent example. As current events make clear, most liberals have nothing but contempt for one the most lasting and cherished symbols of the South. Liberals routinely label those who respect and revere the Confederate Flag as red-necked racists and hate mongers. To far too many liberals, diversity is a terrific concept, except when it spawns tolerance for ideas and practices that the left...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday gave what one attendee described as a quintessential Trump speech before a group of Hollywood conservatives — brash, self assured, and plenty of humor. Trump’s appearance before Friends of Abe — a fellowship of showbiz right-of-center professionals — was met with protests outside the Luxe Hotel in Brentwood over remarks he has made about Mexican immigrants. Chanting “Donald Trump has got to go” in English and Spanish, the protesters drew occasional honks from passing cars on Sunset Boulevard, with a heavy presence of Los Angeles Police Department officers on watch. But Trump told...

Won't be starting for another 15 minutes. Already 3000 people in the building.

A document prepared by Germany’s finance ministry and seen by The Wall Street Journal floats a “timeout” for Greece from the eurozone for “at least the next five years” as one of two options for dealing with the debt-ridden country. ... In the document, dated July 10, Germany takes a tough line on spending cuts and policy overhauls Greece submitted to its international creditors, the other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund late Thursday. ... Under the first scenario, Greece and its creditors would start negotiating a third rescue package, but only once the government has made improved proposals,...

Donald Trump met with families of people slain by undocumented immigrants in Beverly Hills, noting countries send people they "don't want." Donald Trump met privately in Beverly Hills today with families of people who were killed by assailants in the country illegally and repeated his condemnation of U.S. immigration policies, insisting that other countries send criminals to the United States, which gladly accepts them.“So you have the illegals come in and the illegals kill their children, and we better get smart in the United States,” Trump said. “So we’re housing people from all over the world that other countries don’t...

Seriously, don’t these people have anything better to do?Curley Clark, the head of the Jackson County Mississippi NAACP is now setting his sights on the Mississippi State Flag and states that he wants to see it changed to something less offensive. Clark who believes that Mississippi should adopt a new flag that can be embraced by all Mississippians is now calling for the national NAACP’s help in shaming the state into changing their current flag. “It is time to have the divisive Confederate symbol re-moved from our state flag and replaced with a symbol that all Mississippians can embrace”, Clark stated.Via...

To understand the challenge that both Democrats and Republicans face in appealing to the increasingly important Latino vote in the 2016 race for the White House, consider Jose Garcia. He wants Donald Trump to know he's dead wrong about Mexican immigrants bringing a wave of crime to the United States. "He is trying to say we're all bad, that we're dumb -- that's just not right," said Garcia, a 53-year-old native of Mexico who crossed the border illegally in 1980, was granted amnesty under a 1986 law signed by President Ronald Reagan and now owns San Jose's Three Flames Restaurant....

LIVE coverage of the #StandWithTrumpAZ event! GOP Presidential hopeful Donald Trump will give a speech on illegal immigration among other topics at The Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Due to high ticket demand, Trump was forced to move the event from The Biltmore Resort. We will have live coverage inside and outside of the venue.

GOP presidential contender Donald Trump told a Las Vegas crowd on Saturday that while he "loves" Mexico and China, both pose a threat to the United States. "You can't be great if you don't have a border, no matter what you do," Trump said. "And you can't be great if China is taking all your jobs." Trump, who has been under fire for his controversial comments on immigration, was speaking at the annual FreedomFest conference. The conservative festival bills itself as the "world's largest gathering of free minds." He assured the audience that he loves China — "How can you...