Free Republic

President Obama’s reelection guaranteed at least one thing for his second term – Obamacare is here here to stay. But that is not going to keep Republicans from trying to chip away at the law. House Speaker John Boehner wrote, in an op-ed, Tuesday that cuts to the president’s landmark legislative achievement should be included in efforts to deal with the looming fiscal cliff. “We can’t afford it, and we can’t afford to leave it intact. That’s why I’ve been clear that the law has to stay on the table as both parties discuss ways to solve our nation’s massive...

Sept. 25, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - Never in human history has there been a time in which the buying and selling of human flesh, in one form or another, has been more prevalent. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. Pornography depicting the brutalization of women and girls is among the most popular material on the Internet. And abortion, the financed destruction of tiny human beings developing in the womb, claims the lives of almost 42 million pre-born children each year. The first time I fully realized how dehumanizing the “sex trade” is was when I was...

September 16, 2015 Congressman Jim Jordan Chairman, House Freedom Caucus 1524 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 HAND DELIVERED Dear Jim: When the House Freedom Caucus formed in January, I fervently hoped that it would provide responsible and effective leadership to advance conservative principles in the House of Representatives. I know that every member of the HFC sincerely supports these principles, but as I have expressed on many occasions during our meetings, I believe the tactics the HFC has employed have repeatedly undermined the House’s ability to advance them. Allow me to review a few examples. On February 27th,...

Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)9% refused to acknowledge the controversial series of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood doctors negotiating prices for fetal tissue are real. Pelosi said, “I don’t stipulate that these videos are real. And the fact is — and fact is that the research that is being criticized there is research that has been supported. now. I haven’t seen — I’ve seen some news reports of it, but I also know that it’s not real and you can create any reality that you want.” She continued, “And I think...

Here is the Vatican translation of the Pope's address to victims of sexual abuse by the clergy, who he met with early this morning at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. Following his address, the Pope met privately with each of the individuals present at the meeting. * * * My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, I am grateful for this opportunity to meet you. I am blessed by your presence. Thank you for coming here today. Words cannot fully express my sorrow for the abuse you suffered. You are precious children of God who should always expect our...

Planned Parenthood supporters and Code Pink activists showed up at a Carly Fiorina event in Iowa yesterday at a tailgate before a Hawkeyes game. They screamed insults and threw condoms at her. They are furious that she brought up their baby harvesting practices at the last debate. Carly was asked about a female protester she had a confrontation with. “ She came on and said she was concerned about women’s health and as a cancer survivor I said, I was too. And, she said she was concerned about women’s rights and I said I was too. I said you ought...

Carly Fiorina on Sunday defended her assertion that an undercover sting video shows Planned Parenthood officials keeping a “fully formed fetus” alive “to harvest its brain.” At the second Republican presidential debate earlier this month, one of Fiorina’s strongest moments came when she described a gruesome scene from one of the controversial undercover videos. "A fully-formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says, 'We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain’,” Fiorina said at the time. Fiorina’s description of the scene, and her supporting super-PAC’s subsequent use of it in an campaign...

The abrupt resignation of House Speaker John Boehner shows that “the crazies have taken over the party,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Friday. “I think it signals the crazies have taken over the party, taken over to the party that you can remove a speaker of the House who’s second in line to be president, a constitutional officer in the middle of his term with no allegations of impropriety, a person who’s honest and doing his job. This has never happened before in our country,” King said in an interview on CNN. “He could have stayed on.” King praised Boehner,...

John Hawkins writes at Townhall: "Boehner Resigned? Good. Go Cry, Drink And Surrender Somewhere Else." Well, Boehner's resignation is far too late for me and especially far too late for the Fast and Furious investigation that he derailed because the FBI was blackmailing him. Long-time readers will recall that when the Issa committee got around to noticing the fact, uncovered by this blog and FOX News' William La Jeunesse, that the middle men who the ATF agents were forbidden by their superiors from following (the ones who actually transported the weapons across the border) were the Miramontes brothers who were...

The real religion of Washington conservatives is that having a government at all is offensive to the market. No wonder leading a branch of it is thankless work.House Speaker John Boehner’s last official moment in the media spotlight found him crying: sitting behind Pope Francis during the pontiff’s address to Congress, Boehner – a notorious public cryer – teared up at the homiletic spectacle, and was forced to dry his eyes with a handkerchief. It was fitting because, over the past five years, Boehner himself has presided over a far less decorous and infinitely more fractious show of ardent faith,...

Although Vice President Joe Biden says he is “a practicing Catholic” and believes that life begins at conception -- but he would not “say that” to people who “have a different view” -- his former bishop forbade Biden from speaking at Catholic schools, and the bishop for Colorado Springs has said Biden should not present himself for Communion at Mass. Also, in a document cited by the Wilmington, Del., office of Biden’s former bishop – Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli, who died in 2009 – it states that “Catholic politicians who take pro-abortion legislative positions … should never be put forward...

Cuba has got to be one of the most revolutionary places on the planet -- if you're naïve enough to believe the official slogans, street signs and the rest of the prolefeed on display in the Castros' crumbling little police state. The old Soviet Union used to be heavy on talk of revolution, too, though most Russians came to realize it was only talk. In the grim, gray reality, Russia was anything but revolutionary. When that evil empire collapsed, so did the empty slogans about revolution, the workers' state and all the rest. Official lies may hold up for a...

A top fundraiser for the March of Dimes in two Southern states has been ousted after questioning her employer on whether it has ties to Planned Parenthood’s business of supplying aborted babies for scientific research. The March of Dimes has always said publicly that it has no involvement in the abortion industry and “no relationship” with Planned Parenthood. It remains “neutral” politically on the issue of abortion, it says on its website. The MOD slogan is “A Fighting Chance for Every Baby.” It raises nearly $200 million annually for research into cures for birth defects and premature births. Joy Barr,...

The surging candidate’s remarks on Planned Parenthood drew Steinem’s ire. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem blasted Carly Fiorina in a post on her Facebook page, saying the presidential hopeful’s commentary on Planned Parenthood at the Republican debate last week “was a 100 percent lie.” “I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes,” Fiorina railed during the debate. “Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.” Fiorina was referring to a series of “sting” videos produced by the Center for Medical...

Today, speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC, Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) ripped into the leadership of outgoing Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). “Yesterday, John Boehner was Speaker of the House,” Cruz said. “Ya’ll come to town and somehow that changes.” Cruz added that the crowd should come to DC more often. But Boehner’s exit also sets up a major choice for Cruz – and a potential moment of strength. Boehner reportedly intends to ram through a budget deal with the help of Democrats in order to forestall a potential government shutdown over funding...

Pope Francis praised America’s Roman Catholic church for its “unfailing commitment” to the pro-life cause on Wednesday, saying it was “the primary reason” for his visit to the country.

WASHINGTON — Hours after House Speaker John Boehner announced that he would be resigning from Congress, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz added fuel to the fire by saying he’d heard “early reports” that Boehner cut a deal with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to continue funding some of President Barack Obama’s most controversial measures. “I will say, the early reports are discouraging. If it is correct that the speaker, before he resigns, has cut a deal with Nancy Pelosi to fund the Obama administration for the rest of its tenure, to fund Obamacare, to fund executive amnesty, to fund Planned Parenthood, to...

(Sep 24, 2015) The allegation of a conservative turning on his own and becoming an enforcer for Republican leadership came to light as House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, arrived at a dilemma. If he sides with House conservatives and defunds Planned Parenthood in the upcoming budget bill, he will almost certainly face a government shutdown, a prospect that terrifies GOP leadership. If he doesn’t try to defund the abortion provider, that will likely trigger a brewing revolt by conservatives seeking to dethrone Boehner as speaker. And, if Democrats play along, they may have the votes. If Boehner isn’t feeling the...

As Pope Francis embarks on his historic visit to the United States, His Holiness will spread his message of hope, faith and unity in the form of a prog-rock-infused album titled Wake Up! this November. The Vatican-approved LP, a collaboration with Believe Digital, features the Pontiff delivering sacred hymns and excerpts of his most moving speeches in multiple languages paired with uplifting musical accompaniment ranging from pop-rock to Gregorian chant. Wake Up! arrives November 27th, with the iTunes pre-order now available with an instant download of "Wake Up! Go! Go! Forward!," which Rolling Stone is proud to premiere.

On the day after Pope Francis spoke to Congress about the dangers of violent extremism in the name of religious fundamentalism, presidential candidate Ted Cruz, appearing at a Values Voter summit, threatened to murder Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Texas senator vowed that, if elected, he would “rip to shreds” the Iranian agreement deal recently passed through Congress, and kill the country’s leader if it didn’t give up its nuclear ambitions. “If the Ayatollah doesn’t understand that, we may have to help introduce him to the 72 virgins,” Cruz said to wild cheers from the audience of conservative Christians. The...