Free Republic

In a Breitbart column insisting that Ronald Reagan was not as assertive as commonly believed on military and foreign policy issues, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) mentions, in passing, “I met Ronald Reagan as a teenager when my father was a Reagan delegate in 1976.” . But his father, Ron Paul, is hardly a Reaganite today. Indeed, he is now claiming that Crimea has a right to leave Ukraine and join Russia, and that U.S. sanctions against the Russian regime are “criminal.” “That’s just people looking to start a war,” Paul said. “This is criminal, it’s stealing and will just aggravate...

The major news in the conservative world this week has been the goings on at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee meeting in Washington, D. C. It seems to have become a sounding board for possible future presidential candidates to stretch their legs, testing the wind beneath their wings, so to speak. Many of the speakers may be in the running for the 2016 Republican nomination for President. Since I am nowhere close to deciding who my favorite will be, I have not listened to any of the speeches, before now. I suppose I have just not been in the...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Same song, different verse. More of the same. All of these adjective phrases aptly describe what happened in Congress yesterday. Darrell Issa had requested Lois Lerner return to his committee and testify about the IRS targeting of conservative groups for political purposes. As it was last year, her answer was the same. She came, she sat, and when she was asked a question, she respectfully declined to answer on the advice of her attorney. She specifically stated she was exercising her Fifth Amendment rights. After a few short minutes, Darrell...

If the news from the past few days hasn't been enough to dampen your fire, try this on for size. Tis the season for budget proposals in Washington. President Obama is the first to reveal what he wants to spend our money on, with Paul Ryan soon to follow. I'll try to take a look at Mr. Ryan's, when he turns it loose, but for now, all we have to go on is what the President has listed as his priorities. My friends, it is not pretty. It's more of the same, really. He wants more infrastructure spending, more education...

Is this what Obama meant when he said he wanted to improve relations with Russia? As news continues to pour in, one thing is clear: The Russians have seized the Crimea, a part of the sovereign nation of Ukraine. Thousands of heavily armed troops wearing uniforms without any identification but in vehicles with Russian license plates have surrounded key buildings and facilities. The Crimea is just several hundred miles from Sochi, site of the recently concluded Winter Olympics. Despite the autonomous region's long held insistence on remaining part of Ukraine, the Russian's took advantage of the overthrow of Ukraine's government...

If ever there was evidence of the upside down world of our immigration system, it would be the story of the Romeike family from Germany. Uwe and Hannelore Romeike are Christians and because of their Christian beliefs, they decided to home school their children, even though German law does not grant them that right. They felt it important enough that they defied that law and were facing increasingly higher fines and the possibility of losing custody of their children. Because of their strong belief that they should be able to educate their children themselves, they moved to Morristown, TN in...

When Barack Obama was running for President, many of us had doubts about his commitment to Israel. Even though he claimed to support them with no reservations, we were not so sure of his real intentions. This is what he said when he was bidding for the White House, claiming Israel's security was non-negotiable and sacrosanct. He has repeatedly reiterated that statement throughout his first term and into his second. Again, many of us wondered if his actions would ever match his rhetoric. My friends, that day has finally came, but not in the way American Jews or their fellow...

A Western leader cannot look at Russia the same way he would a Western country. It's a huge mistake and Obama is making it!The lack of any real foreign policy expertise around Obama is really shocking. The White House staff is mostly populated with Obama cronies, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, known for lying about the Benghazi attack, is just a hack. Things are little better at the State Department. What did Hillary Clinton know about foreign policy? At least Sen. John Kerry had many years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but he's jetting around the world telling anyone...

[caption id="attachment_17054" align="aligncenter" width="332"] Demonizer-in-Chief[/caption] I have said many times, President Obama is good at what he does. And what does he do, you may ask? He divides our country, stirring up hate and strife wherever he goes. He uses the same tactics on every issue he addresses. It matters not if he is talking about income inequality or the rights of homosexuals, he always uses the same kind of inflammatory speech to stir up his captive crowds to action. Remember how he sent his minions out to the personal residences of certain CEOs, right after he took office? He...

Last weekend's meeting in Washington, D.C. of the National Governors Association was covered as a genial meeting of the governors with President Obama. I believe I have heard it described as positive and constructive. As it turns out, and is now being revealed, those adjectives do not seem to apply. Not at all. What really happened is something that many of us have grown to expect from President Obama. He has his say about any given issue and tries to bully the rest of the room into submission. Some of the governors in the meeting have been polite about the...

I have been pondering the question posed in the title of this post for quite some time. I believe the main source of this pondering is the furor that is ongoing in America over the rights of individual business owners, who happen to be Christians and hold certain religious values, to refuse to service certain segments of our population. I was informed last year in a discussion on this blog that these Christian business owners had no such right, that if they did not want to serve a certain group of people, that constituted discrimination, and they should shut their...

For some reason the left can never see the dark red side of communism. Yet they'll trumpet every flaw about America!Yesterday I posted in pictures the story of student protests in Venezuela and asked why the left was either silent in support or on the side of the oppressive government thugocracy? A day earlier, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), an arch liberal reported on a recent trip to Cuba where he swallowed every bit of left wing propaganda that was served up to him by the Cuban government. Senator Rubio (R-FL) followed Harkin to the floor with the real story about...

I suspect many who will read this post already know who Justina Pelletier is. For those of you who do not, she is a 15-year-old girl from Connecticut who is trapped in Massachusetts. She was just ordered to a non-medical foster care facility by Judge Joseph Johnson on Monday. I'll try to fill in the back story as briefly as possible, but the details we know are important. Until just over a year ago, Justina Pelletier was living her life as a teenager in Connecticut. She loved to ice skate, if the pictures we have available are any clue. She...

Here is a flashback for you. On December 23, 2013, I wrote about ObamaCare had a surprise in store for New Year's Day, 2014. There was a planned cut of 14% to the funds that help provide home health services to patients who do not go to the hospital. As it turns out, not only is that 14% cut a reality, but Kathleen Sebelius has doubled down on the cuts, to the tune of causing a 40% reduction in the amount of services home health providers will be able to supply. I would wonder what she is up to, if it...

Many times, a given issue is defined by the rhetoric used to describe it. Its importance is determined by how well said rhetoric is accepted by the news media and the American people. Global warming, ie. climate change, is no different. The rhetoric abounds. Secretary of State John Kerry described those of us who disagree with the disproved theory that global warming and climate change are the greatest threats we face as akin to those who believe the earth was flat. As it is with almost every issue championed by the liberals, radical action is called for, if we are...

Do you remember the saying, truth is stranger than fiction? Much of the time, that is really the case and the IRS could be placed on display as a case in point. Remember now, the IRS is the most hated of all government agencies. They seem to be impervious to the pain and suffering of the American citizen, interested only if you are paying every red cent you are supposed to pay in taxes. They are a prime example of a bad debt collector, except they have the full weight and power of the federal government behind them, should they...

There are many things President Obama is consistent on. Lauding the woes of climate change is one. Income inequality comes to mind as another. And we should not forget spending reform. The current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue loves him some government spending. He likes to brag about reforming spending, but the reality of his actions speak much louder than his words. He has no intention of reforming anything to do with government spending and that includes entitlement spending. Any sane person who is capable of doing a little math knows there is no way we can ever dig our...

Both forecasts and warming theory predictions don't match reality![Note: Readers may be getting tired of this issue. But as long as Obama and friends keep pushing the lie it's necessary to have the correct information to refute it.] Living on the coast I pay a lot of attention to hurricanes. And every year since Hurricane Katrina, the forecasters predict a bad year with many large storms. Except that the exact opposite is what has been happening since Katrina. This year the Climate Prediction Center, an agency of the U.S. federal government gave this as their winter temperature forecast: Instead, this...

Arizona has passed a bill that is aimed at expanding the rights of businesses to refuse service to homosexuals and others. The usual rhetoric applies. The liberals declare it will open the door to discrimination and the state's economy will be damaged. They have even went so far as to say it will allow people to get away with criminal activity by declaring it as an expression of faith. Like I said, the usual rhetoric applies. What can not be argued against is this. Homosexuals have declared a war on businesses that refuse them service. I'm not talking about refusing...

I wrote last Saturday about the insanity displayed by some Oklahoma Senators, Republicans no less, by passing a bill that would tie Oklahoma's Electoral College votes to the national popular vote. In case you missed that discussion, you can find it here. For further analysis that goes beyond what I provided, The McCarville Report has a post that is a must read about the National Popular Vote Fallacy. In regards to the bill that was passed by the Oklahoma Senate, I have been concerned about how it would fare in the House. I can now report that the bill will...