Free Republic

On Monday, during an interview with the Des Moines Register, 2020 presidential hopeful mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg said drug possession should not result in jail time. Buttigieg said, “Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession. What I have seen is while there continues to be all kinds of harms associated with drug possession and use, it is also the case that we have created in an effort to deal with a public health problem, we have created an even bigger problem — a justice problem, and it’s own form of a health problem when...

President Barack Obama will come to London in April and urge British voters to back continued membership of the European Union, The Independent on Sunday newspaper reported. Britons vote in June on whether to remain part of the world's biggest trading bloc and Obama has previously said he wants Britain to stay in the EU and help maintain the post-war transatlantic partnership. Most opinion polls show voters are split with a large number of people as yet undecided. Obama is due to attend a technology fair in Germany in late April and a source told the Independent on Sunday he...

Following a crescendo of terrifying violence, the Ukrainian uprising has had a surprisingly positive outcome. Contrary to all rational expectations, a group of citizens armed with not much more than sticks and shields made of cardboard boxes and metal garbage-can lids overwhelmed a police force firing live ammunition. There were many casualties, but the citizens prevailed. This was one of those historic moments that leave a lasting imprint on a society's collective memory. [...] I established the Renaissance Foundation in Ukraine in 1990 – before the country achieved independence. The foundation did not participate in the recent uprising, but it...

Secretary of State John Kerry demanded Monday that Uganda “repeal” its new anti-gay law and warned that the State Department has begun a “review” of U.S. assistance to the impoverished East African nation. “This is a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care about the cause of human rights,” Kerry said in a statement. “Ultimately, the only answer is repeal of this law.” President Yoweri Museveni signed into law on Monday legislation enacting tough prison sentences for homosexual acts, which were already illegal in Uganda. Kerry threatened to cut the more than $400 million the country receives in...

Lawyers from California have cast accusatory eyes on Mississippi, declaring that the state’s Confederate symbol on its flag that’s flown at a Santa Ana display is racist and needs to go. The Orange County Bar Association has passed a resolution to remove the Mississippi flag from the Santa Ana civic center where it now hangs, along with the flags of all other states, The Los Angeles Times reported. Members of the group say the Confederate symbol is an outdated relic that represents racism and hatred, The Associated Press reported.

The President will deliver a statement on Syria at 1:15 pm today in the Rose Garden today.

The U.S. federal budget cuts are an inappropriate measure that will weigh on potential growth, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said on Sunday, urging Washington to present "credible" fiscal plans. In its annual check of the health of the U.S. economy, the IMF forecast economic growth would be a sluggish 1.9 percent this year. The IMF reckons growth would be as much as 1.75 percentage points higher if not for the rush to cut the government's budget deficit. While the budget cuts that took hold on March 1 do not appear to be hitting government payrolls directly so far, some economists...

Paul McCartney lent his voice to the gun control proponents this week. The former Beatle joined singer Tony Bennett's "Voices Against Violence" campaign which allows Americans supporter tougher new regulations on the gun control issue to text a number to receive contact information for their local legislator. McCartney, a British citizen, is the latest celebrity to join Bennett's push for harsher gun control regulations. Gloria Estefan, Alec Baldwin, Rosie O'Donnell and Josh Groban are some of the other voices callers will hear in addition to Paul McCartney's plea that nobody has to "Live and Let Die" in his view. "Tell...

A very courageous fifth teacher in the Chicago Public Schools has written a scathing critique of the almost comical misery she and her students endured when they participated in a massive February 28 event kicking off Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Active Schools campaign. The First Lady’s campaign is an effort to improve (and in some cases, bring back) physical education in American schools. White House officials called the event “a groundbreaking, earth-shattering, awesomely-inspiring day.”

I was listening just now to a$$wipe Hannity blithering on the radio about the proposed Romney idea to "Repeal and Replace" regrading ObamaCare, as all the while an astute listener tried to get a word in edgewise about his idea to "Repeal, and Return to the People". Hannity kept going on and on about his Federal, statist solutions, because, "We've GOT to insure that everyone has access to affordable healthcare," and "We've got to make it FAIR for people with pre-existing conditions" and such. What struck me was Hannity's strident insistence on Federal solutions that are found nowhere in the...

Former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Sunday became the latest pundit to concede that while Mitt Romney may not be the perfect candidate, conservatives should prepare to support him as their nominee. As Ben Smith reported, when Huckabee was asked Sunday by 77WABC New York "Investigative Radio" host Aaron Klein to comment on whether the tea party will sit out the 2012 election if former Massachusetts Gov. Romney is the Republican nominee, Huckabee responded with the following: It would be real tragic if they stayed out because Mitt Romney may not be their first choice, but...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - President Felipe Calderon said Monday that the death of a Mexican migrant after being shot with a stun gun by a U.S. immigration officer was an unacceptable human rights violation. Migrant Anastasio Hernandez was shocked by a Customs and Border Protection agent May 31 at the San Ysidro border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. A U.S. coroner has ruled the death a homicide. Calderon said he wanted to repeat Mexico's "energetic protest of the torture and death of Anastasio Hernandez, a Mexico who died at the hands of North American migration authorities."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday praised President Obama's health care overhaul, called his push for stricter financial regulations "great news" and, standing alongside Mr. Obama at the White House, said he hopes their administrations can team up "to go even further in regulating world capitalism." Mr. Sarkozy, a fierce advocate for tougher rules on global financial markets, said France will use its position next year as leader of a group of the world's top finance ministers to push for a new economic regulatory regime. "During the French presidency of the G-20, [Treasury Secretary] Tim Geithner, [French Finance Minister] Christine...

The police officer who arrested a Harvard professor for disorderly conduct said Thursday he wants President Obama, who is the educator's friend, to butt out of the incident. Cambridge, Mass., Sgt. James Crowley arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his home last week after he responded to a report of two black men attempting to break in to Gates' home. It turned out that Gates, head of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, had broken into his own home after being unable to find his keys upon his return from a trip to China. Asked...

ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from its Statehouse grounds, in part because the nation should unite under one banner while at war.

RICHMOND -- Stephen Murmer is known to his students as a popular art teacher who is always quick to crack a joke. But another side to Mr. Murmer has agitated school officials and resulted in his suspension. A side that focuses, almost entirely, on his backside. Outside of class and under an alter ego, the self-proclaimed "butt-printing artist" creates floral and abstract art by plastering his posterior with paint and pressing it against canvas. His creations sell for up to $900. This has not gone over well with Chesterfield County school officials, who placed Mr. Murmer on administrative leave Friday...

Ohio Department of Health Director J. Nick Baird, M.D., today issued the following statement to clear the air over confusion surrounding implementation of Ohio’s indoor smoking ban. “Despite rumors and some news reports to the contrary, the Ohio smoking ban is alive and well. The law took effect Dec. 7 and remains in effect today. Under the language of the law passed on Nov. 7, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is not able to levy any fines until the enforcement mechanisms are in place. During this implementation period, ODH will follow up on all notices of potential violations with...

A federal judge in New York today gave class-action status to a lawsuit that poses a major new threat to the tobacco industry by asserting that tobacco companies purposely misled consumers by marketing “light” cigarettes as a safer alternative to regular cigarettes. The ruling opens the door for millions, if not tens of millions, of Americans to join the lawsuit as plaintiffs. In his ruling, Judge Jack Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York, essentially said that any United States resident who has ever purchased a cigarette labeled “light” is part of the class represented in the suit. In...

SACRAMENTO Californians who smoke in motor vehicles carrying young children could be slapped with $100 fines under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate. But a measure to force automakers to produce more lower-polluting, alternative-fuel vehicles fell four votes short of passing. The smoking ban, in a bill by Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, would cover vehicles carrying children who were required to ride in a child safety seat. Under current law, that would be children who were younger than 6 or who weighed less than 60 pounds. But a bill on the governor's desk would require children younger...

Concerned about the booming trade in online cigarette sales, New York state officials have begun using a variety of techniques to clamp down on the trade, saying New York City alone is losing more than $75 million a year in uncollected tax revenues because of the sales.In recent weeks, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been pushing local postal officials and private carriers to stop delivering cigarettes bought online. His office has also recently begun negotiations with credit card companies to block transactions of online cigarettes.These efforts were given added push recently as local officials from the federal Bureau of Alcohol,...