Free Republic

Even before Scott Walker dropped out of the race for president, his Republican rivals for the White House were chasing after the remnants of his once high-flying campaign. Walker’s opponents openly gossiped about the Wisconsin governor's political challenges as they gathered in California for last week’s presidential debate. Once he formally left the race Monday afternoon, the jockeying only intensified. […] By the end of the night, several campaigns had moved from outreach to bragging about who from Walker’s team they had won over. […] Warning that the 2016 campaign had become too nasty, Walker said Monday he’s “being called...

Congress’ Republican leaders face stark tests as they fight to keep the government open past month’s end, amid fears a shutdown could imperil their party’s White House ambitions. For House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, any wrong move could throw his very future into question, opening him to a threatened showdown vote on the floor of the House over whether he can remain in his job. If that happens, there is no certain outcome. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., must contend with the ambitions of several GOP presidential candidates. One of them, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, has made it...

A bronze bust of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes has lost its nose to vandals who severed it with a power tool at a South African mountain slope overlooking Cape Town. South African officials have increased security in Table Mountain National Park after the vandalism at the temple-like Rhodes Memorial on the slopes of Devil’s Peak, Merle Collins, a national parks spokeswoman, said Monday. Parks staff have also been cleaning graffiti scrawled on the monument in the incident early Friday, Collins said. One slogan read: “Your dreams of empire will die.” …

Pope Francis flies to eastern Cuba on Monday for the next leg of his pilgrimage after having met with both Raul and Fidel Castro but missing out on an encounter with Cuban dissidents. The Vatican stressed that no official meeting had been planned with the dissidents. The Vatican embassy in Havana did make calls to some leaders “as a sign of attention to these people,” the Vatican spokesman said, but in the end the dissidents were prevented from reaching the cathedral where the greeting was planned. The Castro meetings went off without a hitch. The Vatican described the 40-minute session...

Iran’s official IRNA news service says the country has given samples to the U.N. nuclear agency from its Parchin military site, where it once allegedly worked on triggers for nuclear weapons. Monday’s report quotes Iran’s atomic energy agency spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying that “last week, several environment samples… taken by Iranian experts without the presence of the agency’s inspectors, were given to the U.N. nuclear inspectors.” …

A 31-year-old British man was shot dead in Berlin early on Sunday morning, according to reports in the local media. The man was found by a passerby at around six o’clock in the morning on Sunday in the neighborhood of Neukölln, one of the best-loved boroughs among young expats, reports the Berliner Kurier. […] According to the Kurier, the suspect is a 62-year-old Berliner who was wearing a black leather jacket and a cowboy hat at the time of the incident, and was armed with a shotgun. …

Angela Merkel will expect David Cameron to drop his opposition to an EU army in exchange for supporting Britain’s renegotiation, the Telegraph has been told. The German chancellor will ask Britain to stand aside as she promotes an ambitious blueprint to integrate continental Europe’s armed forces. It comes as Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, said Britain will get a deal if it gives the green light to a raft of powerful new EU institutions. A Berlin source said agreeing not to “block” Merkel’s defense plans is a “favor” that she would seek from Mr Cameron as he looks...

Lawmakers in the U.S. territory of Guam narrowly approved a bill earlier this month that would allow chemical castration of convicted sex offenders ahead of their release back into society, the Pacific Daily News reported on Sept. 4. […] “Pending Gov. Eddie Calvo’s signature, the bill would launch a four-year pilot program at [Department of Corrections] in which eligible sex offenders could be selected to undergo anti-androgen treatment,” the media outlet reported. The hormone treatment reduces a person’s sex drive, the article explained. …

Politicians who may have thought they wouldn’t have to say much at all about gay marriage once the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized it now must answer a different question: Do you support Kim Davis? The Rowan County clerk, who has become a darling of many conservatives despite being a Democrat, cited “God’s authority” and religious liberty in choosing jail time over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Some social conservatives have cast Davis as a hero, shifting the gay marriage debate from one about civil liberties—a matter that appeared to have been settled—to one about religious liberty. …

Female employees in California are poised to get new tools to challenge gender-based wage gaps and receive protection from discrimination and retaliation if they ask questions about how much other people earn. A bill recently passed by the Legislature and that Gov. Jerry Brown has indicated he will sign won’t suddenly put all women’s salaries on par with men’s or prod employers to freely disclose what every employee makes, which could make it easier for workers to mount pay discrimination claims. But the legislation expands what supporters call an outdated state equal pay law and goes further than federal law,...

Two New York legislators are launching a campaign to designate the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village as the first national park site honoring LGBT history. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler are making their announcement in front of the tavern that was the scene of a 1969 uprising that was a key moment for the nascent gay rights movement. …

The new leader of the British Labor party, Jeremy Corbyn, is saying that he has some Jewish ancestry, the Jewish Chronicle reports. Speaking in an interview with the Church Times, Corbyn revealed that there was a “Jewish element” in the family. […] Corbyn, who was elected Labor leader a week ago, has stirred up some controversy as he infamously called Hamas and Hezbollah as his “friends”. In the days before the vote he also received an endorsement from Hamas, with the terrorist group hailing him for his “sympathetic” stance towards them. Corbyn’s election as head of Britain’s opposition was a...

In a surprising about-face, Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik has decided to back down on its decision made just last Wednesday to boycott all Israeli goods. Reykjavik Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RUV that the decision is to be withdrawn, saying he was “angry” with himself for supporting the move. […] The decision was to have all city agencies boycott all Israeli goods. It came under harsh criticism by Jewish groups who noted a full boycott of Israeli goods would have to include computers and cell phones. Even Iceland’s Foreign Ministry slammed the move, saying...

When Iranian crowds chant “Death to America” during rallies in Tehran, Americans shouldn’t take it personally, according to Iran's president Hassan Rouhani. Speaking in an interview with 60 Minutes due to be broadcast on Sunday, Rouhani explained that the famous Friday ritual is a reaction to previous Washington policy decisions that hurt Iran. […] “This slogan that is chanted is not a slogan against the American people. Our people respect the American people,” he insisted, according to AFP. “The Iranian people are not looking for war with any country,” continued Rouhani. […] Rouhani, despite his comments, has personally presided over...

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said the Government will cut taxes to bring the overall rate for low and middle income earners below the 50 percent threshold. Outlining a broad approach to taxation reform, Mr. Kenny said the current 51 percent rate is penal and “bad for recovery”. […] “I am committing this evening that as part of the upcoming general election campaign, that Fine Gael will publish a detailed, fully costed five-year economic plan,” he said. […] Mr. Kenny also committed to “protect and further” Ireland’s often controversial corporate tax regime as well as publishing a “comprehensive multi-year capital plan...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signaled his intention to establish a Russian military air base in neighboring Belarus—a move sure to unnerve Poland and the Baltic nations. Belarus has made clear it would not welcome a Russian base, but the former Soviet republic remains dependent on Moscow for credit and energy. […] Belarus is a desirable location for Russia because it borders Ukraine and three members of the European Union and NATO: Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. …

The top brass of Spain’s ruling conservative Popular Party including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy have attended the same-sex marriage of their deputy secretary-general, giving tacit approval to a law they once bitterly opposed. Javier Maroto exchanged vows with Josema Rodriguez late Friday at a ceremony in the northern city of Vitoria attended by Rajoy, secretary-general Maria Dolores Cospedal and other party dignitaries, the party said in a statement. “In Spain, the right to marriage is for everyone and we all share that message today,” Maroto said afterward. “Parties evolve,” he added. “Now my party and the government join in backing...

Speaking on the House floor Friday in opposition to the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 3504), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said the requirement that a baby who survives an abortion be taken to the hospital “may kill children.” “It may be that the baby is too frail to transport, but along comes this bill and says, we don’t care about the real situation that doctor faces with that infant. We know how to practice medicine in every situation—we in Congress. So we’re going to say it must be brought to the hospital, even if that may kill the child....

Color me stunned, but I do believe Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) just admitted to hating abortion. Not that it will have any impact on the way she votes on the matter, but the Democratic House minority leader admitted that “we all” hate abortion during her weekly press briefing on Thursday. After accusing Republicans of a “lack of respect for women” because “they don’t believe in family planning,” Pelosi employed the Royal “We”:“I’ve never—you know, as a mom and a grandmother and all the rest, I respect people’s view on subjects—but I cannot understand why, if you abhor and you view...

Based on numerous polls and countless surveys, we already knew Americans didn’t trust Congress or the Executive Branch—but now, it looks like they don’t trust the courts, either. A new Gallup poll released Friday shows only 53 percent of Americans say they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the United States’ judicial system, a record low since Gallup first began measuring government trust in 1997. Conversely, about half (47%) of all Americans think the courts can’t be trusted. …