Free Republic

Everybody wants to see justice done in the Trayvon Martin case, and almost everybody acts as if they already know what that is. Never mind the Rev. Al Sharpton, activist and crusading journalist all in one. Nor his MSNBC colleague Lawrence O'Donnell, who recently announced he'd decided to forgo wearing a hoodie on TV to look more like a prosecutor. Here's GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum on "Face the Nation," assessing shooter George Zimmerman's mental health. "Someone has a very sick mind who would pursue someone like this, Santorum said. "This is clearly a heinous act. You know, there are...

Republican Jon Huntsman today refused to rule out running as an independent candidate for president should he fail in his quest for his party’s 2012 nomination. Jon HuntsmanAsked, “Is there any situation in which you would run for president as an independent?” Huntsman told The Boston Globe, “I don’t think so.” Told that anything but a flat denial could perpetuate speculation about the possibility, Huntsman replied: “I’m a lifelong Republican. I’m running as a Republican, and I fully anticipate that that’s where we’re going to be.” The former Utah governor has faced persistent speculation about an independent candidacy. He worked...

Tonight, Bill O’Reilly is celebrating Fox News Channel’s 15th anniversary LIVE from Faneuil Hall in Boston. He’s taking a look back at 15 years on FNC with some of his favorite moments. From big interviews with celebrities to fiery exchanges, here are some classic clips showing why ‘The Factor’ is the number one news program in primetime.

-snip- President Barack Obama is the Town Crier of the Internet. His message, like the one sent to millions last night, subject line “Frustrated” arrives on your PC in the middle of the night. With shades of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Obama is going to Congress. And if plebes didn’t know any better, they would think that Obama had been spending all of his time trying to put Americans back to work instead of frittering away the lion’s share of his time vacationing and golfing between working at the fundamental Transformation of America. It’s Congress and not We the...

They say that everyone talks about the weather, and no one ever does anything about it-- but since the mid-1980's we've been expected to do things about it. Two generations of children have grown up with the mantra that putting the empty soda in the right trash can is all that stands between them and the destruction of the planet, not to mention all the dead dolphins, paddling polar bears and crying indians. There are just too many people, we're told, and too many of them are buying things and eating things and living too long. And all that...

(AFP)US President Barack Obama warned the US east coast was in for a "long 72 hours" as he led his government's response to Hurricane Irene at a disaster command center in Washington. Obama on Saturday chaired a meeting at the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) set up at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) headquarters in Washington, which is marshaling federal and local hurricane-relief efforts. "This is going to be a tough slog getting through this thing," Obama said during a video teleconference including senior federal officials and local government agencies in the east coast path of Irene. "It's...

At a town hall meeting on his campaign-style tour of the Midwest, President Obama claimed that his economic program "reversed the recession" until recovery was frustrated by events overseas. And then, Obama said, with the economy in an increasingly precarious position, the recovery suffered another blow when Republicans pressed the White House for federal spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the national debt limit, resulting in a deal Obama called a "debacle." "We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, gotten the economy moving again," Obama told a crowd in Decorah, Iowa. "But over the last six months...

President Obama says Republicans will "never be satisfied" by the amount of border protection he has ordered. "Even though we've answered these concerns, I've got to say i suspect there's still some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time. You know, they said 'we needed to triple the border patrol.' Well, now they're going to say we need to quadruple the border patrol, or they'll want a higher fence. Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied.

March 15, 2011Last Haditha Defendant Denied Travel 0rders For Appeals Court Hearing SSgt Frank Wuterich remains the last Marine pending charges of manslaughter for the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi citizens in Haditha. His military appellate defense attorneys are presenting oral arguments before the highest military court, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (CAAF). The pre-trial motions and appeals that have reached the highest court, involve the fact that his assigned active duty military attorneys retired from the Marine Corps without first properly being relived from representing SSgt Wuterich under proper courtroom procedures, including asking Wuterich whether he...

President Obama got the Marine Band to give him a special musical introduction at the Gridiron Club's annual dinner on Saturday night. After the traditional “Hail to the Chief,” Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Bennear sprang to the stage and as the band struck up the familiar chords of Bruce Springsteen’s anthem, belted out: “Born in the U-S-A! Born in the U-S-A!” “Some things just bear repeating,” said Obama, as an audience of more than 600 government officials and media executives broke up at the allusion to the long-running rumors over the president’s birth certificate. Obama’s speech, a series of jokes about...

<p>These tea-party folks seem to most liberals-well, to most of us who live in the "reality community," or, as I like to call it, "reality"-like crazy fuckers.</p> <p>As a recent NY Times article reports, this hodgepodge of people and groups spout frankly paranoid beliefs as received wisdom, e.g. the Federal Reserve is our enemy and should be abolished, citizens should stock up on ammo, gold, and survival food in anticipation of an impending Civil War, states should "nullify" federal laws and even secede, medical records are being shipped to federal bureaucrats, the Army is seeking "Internment/Resettlement" specialists, Obama is trying to create crises in order to destroy the economy, convert Interpol into his personal police force, and create a New World Order. Conspiracy theories involving shadowy elites like the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations have resurfaced. Self-defense and armed resistance are frequently called for. Racist stereotypes, innuendo, and hostility run rampant. The Constitution is its sacred text and Glenn Beck its most beloved prophet. They don't usually wear aluminum hats but perhaps they should.</p>

Geraldo resists labeling Hasan a terrorists. Speculates it could have been a toothache that set him off. VIDEO

Congressman Eric Massa (D-N.Y.)addressed other issues during his talk with progressive online activists at Netroots Nation 2009. He commented that a statement made by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) last week was an “act of treason.” Mr. Grassley recently made waves after saying that there should not be a government healthcare plan that would “pull the plug on granny.” In the video, above (:38 seconds in) Mr. Massa says: MASSA: I mean, what Grassley said the other day was an act of treason. I'm sorry. It's not being called on.

CNN: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday on a visit to Gaza that he had to "hold back tears" when he saw the destruction caused by the deadly campaign Israel waged against Gaza militants in January. Carter was wrapping up a visit to the region during which he met representatives of all sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Top White House adviser David Axelrod on Monday said that President Obama's trips to Europe, Turkey and Latin America in the last three weeks have made anti-American sentiment uncool and "created a new receptivity" to U.S. interests. "What's happened is anti-Americanism isn't cool anymore," Mr. Axelrod said, speaking to an audience of a few hundred at a conference in Washington sponsored by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "This president has not only engaged the leaders of the world, he's engaged the people of the world," Mr. Axelrod said, arguing that Mr. Obama's approach to foreign policy has restored...

"This initiative is funded by the high end - we call call it astroturf, it's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class."

LOS ALAMITOS, — The mayor of a small Orange County city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title "No Easter egg hunt this year."

The alleged perpetrator might call it art. But others consider it defacing the Shrine of Texas Liberty. An Illinois man suspected of defacing the Alamo was arrested Wednesday and charged with criminal mischief after authorities witnessed him writing on the historic site’s northeast wall, police said. Stephen Henry Wise of Evanston, Ill., remained jailed on a $2,000 bond. “Defacing the Alamo is like desecrating a grave,” said Alamo Director David Stewart. According to a police report, the 44-year-old suspect wrote the letters “LCC” on a patch of limestone at a corner near Avenue E and Houston Street. The wall is...

Tom Hanks, Executive Producer for HBO’s controversial polygamist series “Big Love,” made his feelings toward the Mormon Church’s involvement in California's Prop 8 (which prohibits gay marriage) very clear at the show’s premiere party on Wednesday night.

Eliot Spitzer, former governor of New York, has a new calling: online commentator. At 5:59 p.m., Slate, the online magazine, published the first of what it says will be a series of biweekly columns by Mr. Spitzer on financial matters. Mr. Spitzer’s first column argues against using bailouts to prop up giant financial conglomerates, asserting that the money could be better spent elsewhere, whether it’s supporting “basic research and development that could give us true competitive advantage” or restructuring “our bloated health care sector.” The flaw in consolidation, Mr. Spitzer writes, is that it has created mega-banks that are deemed...

Hi there. I voted for Obama, but have been reading a lot of Freerepublic lately to see how the other side is reacting. I'm not trying to troll here - honestly - but if you feel I am, that's understandable. I just wanted to offer a perspective on this that I think may be interesting to some of you. Oh, and this is much longer than I intended. And I'm fairly certain I'm not posting this the right way...for which I apologize. When Bush was elected in 2000, I was upset. And yes, I whined about him "stealing" the election....

As the mighty tide swept the land on Tuesday night, I was transfixed. As the pundits pondered red states and blue states, projections and exit polls, I was swept with emotion. Not because America was "electing its first Black president." That comes a little late in the day. It was because America was electing the right President. Our long national nightmare is ending. America will not soon again start a war based on lies and propaganda. We will not torture. We will restore the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of privacy, and habeas corpus. We will enter at last...

Drudge has pic of Obama flipping McCain the bird on top of his site!

Chevy Chase recalls the precise moment he hit bottom. It happened in front of unflinching television cameras, as he sat alone on a dais with his eyes masked by tinted sunglasses. Offered a hundred grand by Comedy Central to do a televised Friars Club roast, Chase was introduced to his place in history. And it was brutal.

2008 A.D. THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE MUCK © by Norman Liebmann It may be time to delete the phrase on the Statue of Liberty “Send me your huddled masses”. America is already over-huddled and over-massed. Nancy “Grossie” Pelosie, that unsightly bulge in the House of Representatives, declared, “I am trying to save the planet”. She promises to get on it first thing in the morning. (Change of life strikes again!) Welfare is the Liberals' way of telling God they are sick and tired of picking up after Him. The most precipitous decline in American history is from Mount Vernon...

NOTWITHSTANDING a shift by big business to become more socially responsible, Big Oil prides itself in being an island of bullheadedness and smugness. In a capitalist system, rewards of success go to shareholders. But Big Oil has virtually ignored an equally important constituency - the citizens of the United States - who have granted Big Oil the right to extract the nation's most strategic natural resources. In return, they expect them to act as responsible fiduciaries

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The putting up of a nativity scene at Green Bay's City Hall has prompted a tongue-in-cheek request from a suburban man for permission to display a Festivus pole on the overhang of the building's northwest entrance.

1.) Tragically, horrifyingly, but quite predictably, it’s going to happen. The only question being which American city or cities? In a recent conversation with a former high level intelligence operative of our government, I raised the possibility of terrorists successfully detonating a nuclear weapon within the United States. His response was sobering in its hopelessness. First, he stressed how grateful he was that he did not work in Washington, DC, and that his family lived far enough out to survive the coming nuclear blast. When I pressed him as to why he was so sure that Islamic terrorists – with...

Fed up with war, some won't pay taxes By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer 43 minutes ago When the United States invaded Iraq more than four years ago, war opponent David Gross asked his bosses for a radical pay cut, enough so he wouldn't have to pay taxes to support the war. "I was having a hard time looking at myself in the mirror," Gross said. "I knew the bombs falling were in part paid with my tax dollars. I had to actually do something concrete to remove my complicity." The San Francisco technical writer was making close to $100,000...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Mayor Bloomberg is decrying the state of the 2008 presidential race, faulting the major party candidates for offering shallow, simplistic prescriptions, and scolding the press for failing to demand more from those seeking the White House. During an appearance at Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said the televised debates among the presidential candidates have been, in essence, a waste of time. "They have absolutely nothing to do with the job and the qualifications. And they don't tell you anything about whether or not any of those candidates would be good or bad presidents....

Associated Press New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg left the Republican Party on Tuesday and switched to unaffiliated, a move certain to be seen as a prelude to an independent presidential bid that would upend the 2008 race. The billionaire former CEO, who was a lifelong Democrat before he switched to the Republican Party in 2001 for his first mayoral run, said the change in his voter registration does not mean he is running for president. "Although my plans for the future haven't changed, I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to...

While questions continue to arise about the alleged plot to blow up a fuel pipeline beneath JFK Airport and surrounding neighborhoods, some are questioning why New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn't had a louder voice since the plot was foiled on Saturday. On Monday, Bloomberg finally weighed in, but his response was not what some would have expected. "There are lots of threats to you in the world. There's the threat of a heart attack for genetic reasons. You can't sit there and worry about everything. Get a life," he said. That "What, me worry?" attitude pretty much sums...

Police in Clackamas County are looking for a man they say locked three live pigs in his house in the hopes that they would trash the place. All because he was upset the home went into foreclosure. Lovett bought a home on SE Wildcat Mountain Drive in Eagle Creek a few years ago. In January the house went into foreclosure. Neighbors told police that Lovett was extremely distraught over the the situation. He apparently told several that he had put the animals inside the house over a week ago and even joked about the fact that they did not have...

Alec Baldwin has taken a vow of silence after a recording of a volcanic tirade by the actor to his 11-year-old daughter appeared in US media reports.The Oscar-nominated star of "The Departed" unleashed a heated tirade at daughter Ireland, who has been caught in the middle of tit-for-tat legal battles between Baldwin and ex-wife Kim Basinger in recent years. Baldwin's April 11 rant -- where at one point he informs his daughter that she is a "rude, thoughtless, little pig" -- was reported widely in US broadcast and online media Friday... Baldwin's spokesman said in a statement that "in the...

In his commentary on last night’s “60 Minutes,” Andy “Negro is a perfectly good word” Rooney said that today’s military is like the military during World War II, which was made of “losers” who did not complete high school.

Virginia Man Faces Charges for Assaulting Republicans Wednesday, February 21, 2007 AP ADVERTISEMENTClick here to find out more! FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — A Fredericksburg man is facing several assault charges after police say he hunted down a group of Republicans and confronted them in their home over their beliefs. Police said Andrew Stone, 23, recently went to a home in Fredericksburg at around 5:30 p.m. after he saw a name and nearby address on a Republican Web site. Stone confronted three residents about their political viewpoints, police said. When he found out the residents supported the Republican-led war effort in Iraq,...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to the national spotlight on Valentine's Day to tell U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he misses her verbal attacks. "It had been days since she had given me any attention. How are you, Condoleezza?" Chavez asked in a speech Wednesday to pensioners in the capital of Caracas. It was Chavez's first response to Rice's testimony last week to a U.S. congressional committee that the Venezuelan leader was "destroying his own country" economically and politically — an apparent reference to a centralization of power in Venezuela and moves to nationalize key...

The federal prosecutor who helped convict two U.S. Border Patrol agents sentenced to more than a decade in jail for shooting a suspected drug smuggler who illegally crossed the border from Mexico understands why the case stirred public outrage. However, he attributes the anger to the portrayal of the case by the news media and said the media version "is unfortunately not the narrative the jury heard" before convicting the two...

Dec. 29, 2006 — In yet another moral blow to Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys called for the prosecutor to step down from the Duke lacrosse case. The group, which represents district attorneys from across North Carolina, said in a statement that "it is in the interest of justice and the effective administration of criminal justice that Mr. Nifong immediately withdraw and recuse himself from the prosecution." "It's extraordinarily unusual and it means a great deal," said Joshua Marquis, a district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore. The district attorney group also called...

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a brief statement late Tuesday on the death of former President Gerald R. Ford. Annan released the brief, two-paragraph statement to media through his spokesman Stephane Dujarric: "The secretary-general mourns the passing of former President Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, who died yesterday at the age of 93. He extends his sincere condolences to Mrs. Betty Ford, to the family of the former president, and to the government and people of the United States. "President Ford will be remembered for the leadership, calm resolve, and broad experience he brought to...

Stop crying your heart out, Oasis singer tells British troops in Iraq Tue Nov 21, 8:22 AM ET Noel Gallagher of the British rock band Oasis has told soldiers fighting in Iraq to stop complaining when they get wounded. The chief songwriter and lead guitarist said Tuesday troops loved getting involved in war-zone action until they get hurt. In a wide-ranging rant, the fired-up 39-year-old also turned his guns on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, environmentalists, Elton John, his brother Liam -- the lead singer in the band -- and predicted his own daughter would become a "mental, axe-wielding, cyber-punk...

Reason Magazine Blogger Finds Pleasure in Tears of Rick Santorum's 8-year-old Daughter Because the libertarian universe has no place for the vulnerable, weak, or the dependent--since none are autonomous adult-choosers in search of virtual kiddie porn--it has no qualms in providing a forum in which children and their families can be verbally abused and have profanities hurled at them. Read and weep Julian Sanchez's "Your Tears Are So Yummy and Sweet" in which the writer says he finds joy in the tears of Rick Santorum's eight-year-old daughter, who is pictured crying next to her father as he gives his concession...

Snipets to fit excerpt rule -- Page 50: Why did Kerry, a Vietnam War opponent, decide to enlist? In addition to feeling obliged to serve his country (and wanting to go on the same adventure that his Yale friends were going on), Kerry says that part of the reason he enlisted in Vietnam was fear of the draft: "I called [the draft board] because I was thinking one of the options was, maybe I'll go study abroad, which was a euphemism for screwing around a bit, but it was clear to me that I was going to be at risk....

WASHINGTON (AP) - During a Vietnam-era run for Congress three decades ago, John Kerry said he opposed a volunteer Army because it would be dominated by the underprivileged, be less accountable and be more prone to "the perpetuation of war crimes." Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran who turned against the war, made the observations in answers to a 1972 candidate questionnaire from a Massachusetts peace group. After Kerry caused a firestorm this week with what he termed a botched campaign joke that Republicans said insulted current soldiers, The Associated Press was alerted to the historical comments by a former law...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2006 — Karl Rove, President Bush's top advisor, talked to ABC News' Ann Compton about the remarks Sen. John Kerry says were a botched joke about the president, and about Bush's future. Here is a transcript of the conversation: COMPTON: Senator John Kerry has made a statement about Iraq. Do you take him at his word that he was talking about the president and not the troops? ROVE: I take him at his word when he insulted America's fighting forces. This is a habit that he's had over the years. He did it when he came back...

Just announced on the FNC.

Former President Bill Clinton gestures during remarks before the Center for American Progress, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2006 at Georgetown University in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the BBC in an interview set to be broadcast on Monday that his country would be prepared to hold talks with Israel provided that "an impartial arbiter" could be found. In a wide-ranging television interview to be broadcast later Monday, Assad accused the U.S. of neither having "the will or vision" to pursue peace in the Middle East. Assad suggested that U.S. President George Bush could not be an impartial arbiter and said no direct dialogue had taken place between the two nations.

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria's president said in remarks released Sunday that he has increased the number of troops on the border with Lebanon, a move apparently aimed to appease international demands to bolster security following the Israel-Hezbollah war. But the troop movement was still likely to draw criticism from the U.S. and Iraqi governments, as President Bashar Assad said Syria shifted forces away from its eastern border with Iraq to fortify its frontier with Lebanon. The U.S. and Iraq have long accused Syria of not doing enough to stop insurgents crossing into Iraq to fight U.S. troops. Syria denies the...

In case you somehow missed it, Venezuelan dictator, Hugo Chavez, provided entertainment for the UN body this week. After Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clearly disappointed the UN body with his uncharacteristically (and ridiculously) sappy “we love everyone, even Jews – so why can’t we have nukes” speech, the UN was desperate for fireworks and entertainment of some sort from somebody. Since Ahmadinejad had been muzzled by France, who is hoping to keep Iran’s nuclear ambitions off the UN Security Council table, enter Cindy Sheehan’s President of choice, Hugo Chavez, stage right…