Free Republic

There is one question, and only one question, that you should ask President Obama or U.S. Sen. John McCain about their amnesty — sorry, their “pathway to citizenship” — immigration reform proposals: If every illegal immigrant were granted instant citizenship this Monday, what would happen to the illegal immigrant who slips across the border on Tuesday? We all know the answer already: Nothing. Everything you’re hearing in both Obama and Senate proposals about “heightened border security” and “unmanned drones” is three-card-Monte stuff. Obama, who helped kill an immigration reform deal in 2007 authored by U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, isn’t interested...

... According to a press release, three Congressional leaders sent a letter on Monday night to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, seeking documents related to the Dept. of State's Accountability Review Board (ARB) report on the failures that led to the attack that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. "Unfortunately, the ARB did not address some important questions about the attacks in Benghazi, which we believe may contain crucial lessons learned for other U.S. facilities abroad to follow,”the letter states, citingthe board’s failure to interview the Secretary and key deputies, a lack...

If you (and President Obama) thought everyone was getting a little too excited about a potential Hillary Clinton 2016 run, these longtime Clinton supporters are getting a head start by launching their Super PAC now. Why wait, right? It's all legal, and for all four years this time around. The Week's Marc Ambinder reports that Allidia Black and Judy Beck are the two chiefly responsible for "Ready for Hillary," the new Super PAC that will officially launch next Monday. While it doesn't have any official affiliation to Clintion, the group will serve as common ground for supporters donors who are...

<p>Jason London crapped himself in the back seat of a cop car Sunday morning ... minutes after the "Dazed & Confused" actor was punched in the face in a bar fight ... this according to a police report obtained by TMZ.</p>

The FBI has raided the offices of Dr. Salomon Melgen, an opthalmologist and Democratic Party donor reportedly connected to New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s alleged solicitation of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. The Miami Herald reports: FBI agents raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor accused in the conservative press of providing free trips and even Dominican Republic prostitutes to New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez — who has denied what he calls the "fallacious allegations." Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, late Tuesday night...

If sovereignty is to mean anything, then a country is entitled to decide whom it wants to join its ranks and whom it wishes to exclude from them.If, on balance, an exhaustive amnesty for those who have deliberately ignored the law is determined to be a fair prospect for America, then there is a case for doing it; if changing the law to allow certain people to become part of the American polity is regarded by Americans as being advantageous to them, then there is a case for doing it; if allowing nobody in or everybody in is good for...

Conservatives should oppose the Senate immigration proposal, and can gain much from doing so. Well, here it finally is: the long-threatened “bipartisan” comprehensive immigration reform proposal, and as the old joke has it, when the Stupid Party and the Evil Party get together, they come up with something that is both stupid and evil. The principles underlying the proposal (the actual bill will ascend from the depths next month) have been conveniently laid out by the senatorial “Gang of Eight.” If after reading them you feel an irresistible urge to send your bank-account number and a power of attorney...

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The execution of Kimberly McCarthy was postponed by a Texas judge on Tuesday, the day she was to die, to give her lawyers time to argue that racial discrimination played a role in choosing the jury that convicted her. It was rescheduled for April 3 and, if carried out, McCarthy will be the first woman to be put to death in the United States in nearly three years.

A former Akron, Ohio, police captain who was convicted of murdering his wife in 1997, has been cleared of the crime and released after more than 14 years in prison. Douglas Prade walked out of the Madison Correctional Institution around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, CNN affiliate WOIO reported, a few hours after Summit County Common Pleas Judge Judy Hunter ruled he was innocent of the crime and ordered him released. County officials said they will appeal the decision. Margo Prade, a popular doctor, was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in her vehicle in her office's parking lot in November 1997....

“A decade of war is now ending,” U.S. President Barack Obama declared Monday. Maybe that’s true in America, but it isn’t true anywhere else. Extremists are still plotting acts of terror. Authoritarian and autocratic regimes are still using violence to preserve their power. The United States can step back from international conflicts, but that won’t make them disappear. Fortunately, there is another power that shares America’s economic and political values, that possesses sophisticated military technology and is also very interested in stopping the progress of fanatical movements, especially in North Africa and the Middle East. That power is Europe. …...

Some grass-roots supporters of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have formed a super PAC to help a potential Clinton presidential campaign in 2016—even though Clinton says she hasn’t decided her plans. A super PAC called “Ready for Hillary” was registered with the Federal Election Commission on Friday and the group plans to launch its website in the coming weeks. …

Groupon Support Hi, Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us. We understand that this is a sensitive topic, and that some of our customers may not agree with our choice to pause the promotion of firearm-related deals. Groupon has always aimed to offer a diverse range of products and services to meet the various tastes and interests of our subscribers. However, at this time, enough customers and merchants have voiced their opinions that we believe a hiatus is warranted. Please note that we have never sold guns, and this hiatus only applies to firearm-related deals including...

PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Hawaii and the District of Columbia were the most likely to approve of President Obama in 2012 while Utah and Wyoming were least likely, Gallup said. This year's top approval rankings saw Rhode Island move into the top 10 states plus the District, and Illinois drop out, Gallup's analysis of its Daily tracking for last year, released Monday, indicated. Among the bottom 11 states, Kentucky and South Dakota dropped out, replaced by Alabama and Nebraska. Obama received majority approval in 14 states and the District of Columbia, compared with the 26 states and the...

President Barack Obama laid out his plan for comprehensive immigration reform Tuesday that largely mirrored an immigration proposal unveiled by a bipartisan group of senators a day earlier – with some important differences. Both plans agree on the same four core principles for comprehensive immigration reform: strengthening border security, create an employee verification system, a pathway to citizenship, and fixing the legal immigration system. But here is how they differ: Pathway to Citizenship The most striking difference between them is how to get an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the United States on the pathway to citizenship. The...

"beside a stream there was a dwelling. Blackened by time and rain, the hut was piled up on all sides with taiga rubbish—bark, poles, planks. If it hadn't been for a window the size of my backpack pocket, it would have been hard to believe that people lived there. But they did, no doubt about it.... Our arrival had been noticed, as we could see."

A spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner warned President Obama Tuesday not to derail bipartisan efforts to overhaul immigration laws by pushing more liberal proposals than those under consideration in Congress. “There are a lot of ideas about how best to fix our broken immigration system,” spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement, responding to Obama’s Las Vegas speech on immigration. “Any solution should be a bipartisan one, and we hope the President is careful not to drag the debate to the left and ultimately disrupt the difficult work that is ahead in the House and Senate.”

A dog fight ended with a hail of bullets in a Philadelphia suburb, leaving residents shocked and looking for answers. The incident started on Friday at around noon when a stray dog got into a pickup truck at a red light in Chester, Pa., and began fighting with another pooch, NBCPhiladelphia.com reported. [cell-phone video at source]

Yes, Dear, I Mean Yes, Sir, I mean Yes Ma’am, I mean Yes, Ms., I mean… It’s absolutely stunning that we’re even talking about this. Have we taken total leave of our senses? --snip-- Opening combat positions to women, our clueless commander in chief says, is an “historic step toward harnessing the talents and skills of all our citizens.” If Obama imagines that one woman in a hundred has what it takes to be a kick-butt, infantry ground-pounder, he’s led a more sheltered life than I ever imagined. Obama ends his statement with this howler: “Today, every American can be...

January 30, 2013 Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Heb 10:11-18 Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins.But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool.For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated.The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying: This is the covenant I will establish with themafter those days, says the Lord:“I will...

A sinkhole swallows an entire building complex in China's southern Guangdong province.The group of buildings was totally swallowed by the hole which appeared near the construction site of a new underground train station in Guangzhou, one of China's biggest cities. The first building collapsed at 1620 local time (0820 GMT). The other three buildings then fell into the ten metre hole later that evening, according to China state television CCTV.