Free Republic

1. Lenin: Trade Unions are a School of Communism The "card-check" debates in the US Congress reminded me of my own experiences with trade unions in the USSR, where organized labor was part of the official establishment and union membership was universal and mandatory. It also reminded me of how that system's seemingly magnanimous goals - fairness, economic equality, and social justice - in real life brought forth a rigged game of wholesale corruption, forced inequality, and grotesque injustice. Years later, the same Orwellian misnomers are catching up with me in America. One of them is called "Employee Free Choice...

SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers Wednesday advanced a dozen gun-control measures, including background checks for ammunition buyers, and gave early approval to a tax penalty on the Boy Scouts for barring openly gay leaders. Californians who want to buy ammunition would have to submit personal information and a $50 fee for a background check by the state, under a bill passed by the Senate. The Senate also OK'd a bill that would outlaw the sale, purchase and manufacture in California of semiautomatic rifles that can accommodate detachable magazines. The measure, SB 374 by Steinberg, also would require those who own such...

One constant we have experienced under the reign of Barack Obama has been government and non-governmental agency (NGO) lies and distortions about the statistical state of our nation. Believing the unemployment numbers, for instance, has become an exercise in suspension of disbelief. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has used a fabricated dysfunctional formula for counting our unemployed neighbors for so long that people have forgotten they are being lied to, if they ever knew the difference. Recently a new insidious lie was quietly slipped into the public area. Under cover of Obama’s multiple scandals the Brookings Institute, a reliably liberal...

Chechen lawyer Dagir Khasavov fled Russia after receiving death threats following his calls for Sharia law to be introduced in the country. The Russian Political Immigrants society announced on Friday that he swiftly left the country, BBC reported. The lawyer left for “a European country” after receiving threats. His son, Arlsan Khasavov, wrote in his blog that his father was provoked, possibly by Chechen authorities, to make him a “ritual sacrifice” before the inauguration. Khasanov gave an interview to Ren TV on April 24, where he said that Muslims in Russia do not want to go to secular courts and...

Walt & Lillian Disney with Richard Nixon and his family at Disneyland, 1959 We tend to think of Hollywood as a bastion of leftism, and rightly so. Books like Ron Radosh’s Red Star Over Hollywood demonstrate the deep-seated left-wing dominance of the entertainment industry. Even with the leftism prevalent in Hollywood’s Golden Age, many unabashed conservatives found success without compromising their principles, including one of the most creative minds in the business — Walt Disney.Several biographers and writers that I’ve read have tried to declare that Walt Disney was apolitical, but I find this conclusion not to be true....

Cold Case Posse Commander Mike Zullo of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on submitted a devastating 57 page 207 paragraph affidavit to the Alabama Obama ballot challenge appeal case that is before the Alabama Supreme Court. He did this at the request of Attorney Larry Klayman representing the appellants. Now Alabama Democratic Party attorney's Barry Ragsdale and Thomas Woodall have fired back with a 'Opposition To Motion To Strike'. They slam Zullo and the Cold Case Posse's evidence confirming Obama's birth certificate and selective service registration card are forgeries. They state in their motion to strike that Mike Zullo's affidavit...

Russia’s FSB has foiled a terror attack in Moscow as they managed to kill two and detain one of the militants planning it, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said. The three men are “Russian citizens, arrived from Afghani-Pakistani region, where they have been trained,” the committee said. All three are said to practice Islam. Some reports suggest that the militants underwent training in Pakistan's Northern Waziristan, however, it is unknown which group they belong to. According to Russian special services, Waziristan is a hotbed of Taliban extremism. "There are also training camps for terrorists who come from all over the world....

Frontpage InterviewÂ’s guest today is Irina Tsukerman, the coordinator for Soviet Crimes Against the Jewish People, a new initiative which focuses on the digital documentation of sites and narratives connected to Soviet persecution of Jews, as well as sites and stories associated with acts of resistance.FP: Irina Tsukerman, welcome to Frontpage Interview.I would like to talk to you today about your new initiative, Soviet Crimes Against the Jewish People.But letÂ’s begin with you telling us a bit about your background and what inspired you to start this effort.Tsukerman: I was born in Ukraine, when it was still part of the...

An alleged CIA agent has been briefly detained in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer, Russian media report. The alleged agent was held overnight before released to US officials, Russia's Federal Security Service said. He is said to have been working as a secretary at the US embassy in Moscow. The man was reportedly arrested with a large sum of money, technical devices and written instructions for the agent he had tried to recruit. He was named as Ryan Fogle, said to be a third secretary at the US embassy in Moscow. There is no comment...

he grandson of US political activist Malcolm X has died in Mexico City following a fight in a bar, say Mexican officials. Malcolm Shabazz, 29, succumbed in hospital to multiple injuries he suffered on Thursday. Mexico's attorney general's office said an investigation into the incident was under way. The US state department said that it was in contact with the family and offering appropriate assistance. Shabazz was discovered with fatal wounds at Plaza Garibaldi, a popular tourist area packed with bars and restaurants, in the early hours of Thursday, officials said. Miguel Suarez, a union activist who was travelling with...

LOS ANGELES — A California law that created an agency to oversee national health care reforms granted it broad authority to conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions, potentially shielding the public from seeing how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent. The degree of secrecy afforded Covered California appears unique among states attempting to establish their own health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's signature health law. An Associated Press review of the 16 other states that have opted for state-run marketplaces shows the California agency was given powers that are the most restrictive...

Michael Hirsh, one of Washington's ablest commentators on foreign affairs, has a provocative piece in the Atlantic arguing that Mitt Romney got a bum rap during the election campaign when he declared that Russia is America's No. 1 geopolitical foe, a clear and present danger to our national security. Romney's observation created an uproar. Russian President Vladimir Putin observed, "“I’m grateful to him (Romney) for formulating his stance so clearly because he has once again proven the correctness of our approach to missile defense problems." At the same time, Romney was roundly mocked, including by yours truly, for indulging in...

MOSCOW – The U.S. Secretary of State’s motorcade often halts traffic when he travels abroad, but today it proved no match for columns of Russian tanks, ICBMs and armored personnel carriers. Secretary John Kerry arrived in Moscow for meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but he had to cool his heels at the airport for about 30 minutes because a rehearsal for an upcoming military parade was blocking his route downtown. Every May 9, Russians celebrate Victory Day, marking their triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II. Moscow hosts an annual parade in Red Square...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) wrote Tuesday he believes major revelations about the lead up to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, are eminent, in a Facebook message: “I think the dam is about to break on Benghazi. We’re going to find a system failure before, during, and after the attacks. “We’re going to find political manipulation seven weeks before an election. We’re going to find people asleep at the switch when it comes to the State Department, including Hillary Clinton. “The bond that has been broken between those who serve us in harms...

A slain Canadian jihadi gave Russian counter-terrorism agents the tip that put alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev on their radar two years ago, Bay State U.S. Rep. William R. Keating confirmed yesterday — raising questions about whether Tsarnaev’s direct link to the known militant was ever passed on to the FBI or local authorities. Keating told the Herald yesterday his staff in Russia has learned William Plotnikov, while under interrogation in the militant hotbed of Dagestan, named Tsarnaev as a fellow extremist. “That’s when the Russian government started looking at Tamerlan and he showed up on a jihadist website,”...

Dick Durbin Defends Commies and Socialists at May Day Rally (Video) Posted by Jim Hoft on Thursday, May 2, 2013, 11:07 AM Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke at the Chicago May Day rally yesterday in Chicago. After his speech Durbin defended the communists and socialists at the leftist event. Rebel Pundit interviewed him: Rebelpundit: There is a large contingent of Communist Party USA, anarchists, international socialist groups here today that you just spoke to… Durbin: How do you know that? Rebelpundit: Because I’ve filmed them all day, and you just spoke to them, so I’d like to ask about your...

CHICAGO - At Wednesday's annual May Day rally in downtown Chicago, Rebel Pundit was on hand to ask U.S. Senator Dick Durbin why he had no problem identifying with the radical factions that participated in the parade for amnesty, Marxism and anarchy. Durbin was aware he was talking to a "rightwing" news source after he asked his staffer "Breitbart?":

<p>A well-known female liberal blogger and radio host at the University of Wyoming (UW) is being accused by police of fabricating a rape threat against herself to appear as if it came from a conservative.</p> <p>The obscene message directed at activist Meg Lanker-Simons was posted on a college “crush” Facebook page earlier this week and immediately ignited outrage from the college community.</p>

We're now getting reports of group smashing windows @ Broadway/Pine business. #SeaMayDay See more, including pictures at link.

SACRAMENTO -- Los Angeles Roman Catholic Archbishop Jose Gomez and several other Catholic Church officials in California took time from their retreat in Sacramento on Wednesday to make a push for Congress to keep up the momentum on changes to the country’s immigration laws. In a gaggle with reporters, Gomez said reform of the country’s immigration laws is “long overdue.” Gomez, who was joined by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, as well as several bishops from around the state, urged Congress not to delay in passing a bill, saying the bipartisan package of legislation that has come together offers hope...

Due to the background of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the half-Chechen half-Avar brothers who bombed the Boston marathon, many Americans are suddenly very interested in the tortured history of the North Caucasus. I can’t credibly claim to be an expert on the multitudinous ethnic and linguistic groups that populate the area, so if you’re looking for in-depth analysis of Chechen politics, a data-driven account of the economics of Dagestan, or a blow-by-blow account of the past 20 years of the region’s history you should look somewhere else. If you’re still wondering “where in God’s name is Chechnya?” or “why are...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities have long cast a wary eye on counterterrorism intelligence from Russia, Obama administration officials say, raising questions about whether a "trust deficit" clouded efforts to determine if Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev posed a danger. Any intelligence disconnect between the United States and Russia could have broader repercussions, complicating plans to cooperate on security for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, not far from Russia's restive north Caucasus region. U.S. officials said they consider counterterrorism information emanating from Moscow's bitter conflict with Islamist militants in Chechnya and other parts...

Senate Republicans say the Labor Department appears to be spending millions in taxpayer dollars to establish labor unions and promote collective bargaining in foreign countries and is asking top Obama administration officials for a full audit. The request was sent by Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the leading Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “At a time when our federal budget is deteriorating rapidly … it is troubling to us that the department appears to be spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funds to establish...

MOSCOW, April 27 (UPI) -- Russian citizens should not be allowed to freely own guns for purposes of self-defense, says President Vladimir Putin. His comments were made after a gunman with a rifle killed six people in southwest Russia Monday, RIA Novosti reported Saturday. "I do not support the idea of free arms distribution in Russia," Putin told a Russian television station. "It is dangerous to artificially stimulate this process." snip

Police are searching for a suspect in the Monday shooting in the Russian city of Belgorod. A gunman opened fire near an arms shop, leaving six people dead and one injured. A 14-year-old girl is among those killed. Police have asked Belgorod residents not to leave their homes because of the special operation. The photo of the suspect – Sergey Pomazun, 32 – and his description have been posted on the internet. Law enforcers also warn that the man at large may be armed with a gas pistol and a semi-automatic rifle. Belgorod authorities earlier stated that the suspect had...

Is N.Y.'s Gun Confiscation Scheme Tied to Larger Federal Plan? Written by Dave Bohon A report from TheBlaze.com alleges that the state of New York is using its recently enacted NY SAFE Act as justification to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens — specifically individuals who have been prescribed anti-anxiety medication. But some Second Amendment advocates allege the scheme is part of a larger federal gun control plot. According to the Blaze, on April 1 a legal gun owner in upstate New York, later identified by a Buffalo newspaper as 35-year-old David Lewis, “received an official notice from the state ordering...

Mark Potok, a fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center, appeared on MSNBC to discuss the rise of right-wing militias over the course of the Obama presidency in connection with the bombing of the Boston Marathon on Monday. He said that foreign nations view Americans as being “insane” for allowing hate speech to continue to be protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Alex Wagner said that it remains unclear whether the attack on the Boston Marathon was perpetrated by foreign or domestic elements. “But the mere fact that both are being treated with the same amount of suspicion...

The Democrat Comic-Strip Narrative Series present: TALES FROM THE WAR ON WOMEN™ By the DNC-Media Complex SYNOPSIS It's the beginning of the 21st century. The US economy is crumbling because of George Bush. The Republicans prevent young President Obama from fixing it because they get rich off the people's suffering. To distract from the economic issues, the Republicans begin an unprovoked War on Women with a surprise attack on a young attractive activist, who has quickly become a sex symbol for all American men and a role model for all women - except Republicans. The narrative is still being created,...

In a surprise move, the CPUSA (Communist Party USA) has announced a lawsuit against the Democratic Party and its leadership for the alleged theft of intellectual property. The plaintiffs claim that the entire so-called "new" Democratic agenda is, in fact, the product of a decades-long, painstaking campaign by CPUSA theorists, agitators, and underground subversive cells - which makes it the intellectual property of the Communist Party USA, protected by American copyright laws. "They stole our entire platform, rebranded it 'progressive', and claimed it as their own," declared a CPUSA spokesperson at a press conference in San Francisco. "And we communists...

Are you typically lost when co-workers discuss current events around the water cooler? Do you have trouble figuring out the national debt or who that Ben Ghazi dude is, but you know exactly what's on Britney Spears' grocery list? If you think you only deserve fun answers to all life's questions… you're right! This primer will help you look smart and morally superior in any political discussion. Just memorize these big words, explained in easy terms you already know from TMZ and The Daily Show: BIASED: If you have a weird friend who goes to church and her parents are...

Support for a process providing legal status to undocumented immigrants reached a new high in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, while vast public backing for expanded background checks on gun sales held strong – two prominent issues coming to the fore in Congress.With a vote on gun control measures pending, 86 percent support extending background checks to gun sales at gun shows and online. Much smaller majorities support banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, 56 percent in each case, with the latter down from its peak, 65 percent in January, a month after the elementary school shootings in Newtown,...

<p>Come on. Can’t even the media hacks stop the political BS for just a few hours while we pray for the people and victims of the bombings in Boston at the Marathon? Already, CNN leftist hack Wolf Blitzer is blaming ‘anti-tax’ groups or in other words the Tea Party for the explosions at the Boston Marathon. I’ll post video as soon as it comes out. Go F*ck Yourself Wolf Blitzer and CNN. Seriously!</p>

Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili admitted responsibility of Georgia for the outbreak of the war in August of 2008. He stated that the actions of the authorities of the country before crossing the border of Georgia by Russian forces were inadequate. This statement will have tangible consequences, first of all, for President Mikhail Saakashvili. "The political noose" around the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's neck is getting tighter. He is not yet being investigated, but the new authorities have already talked about the possibility of his interrogation about the events of 2008. The country may begin a new investigation into...

How have we come to the point where so many criminals, terrorists and radical leftists from the 1960′s hold so many prominent positions in American academia? Michael Moynihan of The Daily Beast explains. How 1960s Radicals Ended Up Teaching Your Kids Last week, Rutgers University fired its mercurial basketball coach after he was videotaped “shoving, grabbing and throwing balls at players in practice and using gay slurs,” according to ESPN. Under pressure from school administrators, Rutgers’ athletic director, who had previously defended the coach’s behavior, resigned. It was an appropriate response: violent oafs should be fired from their university jobs...

Five years after Obama was elected you still hear the left wail and cry over George W. Bush's "trampling" of American's rights. Interesting isn't it? One could argue that immediately after the worst attack on American soil the surveillance of anyone, including Americans, OUTSIDE of our borders was the prudent option to fight the enemy. In fact The Patriot Act had a sunset date so that Americans could debate in the future whether it was needed anymore. Now we have a President who says its perfectly legal to assassinate Americans on American soil with drones. Bu..bu..but, supporters sputter, it will...

(VIDEO AT LINK) MELISSA HARRIS-PERRY: Americans will always want some level of inequality because it's a representation of a meritocracy. People who work hard and sacrifice and save their money and make major contributions: we think that they should earn a little more. And they should have more resources. And that's fine. But we also however have to have a floor under which nobody falls....

Eighth-graders in Wisconsin’s Union Grove school district were assigned to fill out a “Liberalism vs. Conservatism” crossword puzzle, and they learned some new and very questionable “facts.” Students learned conservatism is “the political belief of preserving traditional moral values by restricting personal freedoms … ” Conversely, they learned liberalism is “the political belief of equality and personal freedom for everyone, often changing the current system to increase government protection of civil liberties.” See the photos here. The crossword puzzle was part of a civics assignment that was forwarded to EAGnews by Tamara Varebrook, a local conservative activist whose eighth-grade daughter...

Pyongyang, April 10 (KCNA) -- An oath-taking meeting of young people took place before the statues of Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill Wednesday. They vowed to uphold the leadership of the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un with loyalty, true to the behests of the great Generalissimos. Laid before the statues were a floral basket in the name of the participants in the meeting and flowers. Jon Yong Nam, chairman of the Central Committee of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, read out a letter of pledge. Thanks to the pure loyalty and...

Following what she describes as a “flood of vitriolic responses” from conservatives outraged at the implication that the state should have more responsibility for child-rearing than individual parents and families, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry took to the pages of MSNBC.com to mock concerns about the network promo’s implications. She said that conservatives’ fears may be illogically rooted in the fact that America has, in the past, seized and “re-educated” the children of African slaves and Native Americans. “One thing is for sure: I have no intention of apologizing for saying that our children, all of our children, are part of...

Family: An MSNBC contributor revisits the statist notion that while you gave birth to your children and feed and clothe them, they are only on loan to you by their true parent — a benevolent and all-knowing government. Melissa Harris-Perry, an African-American professor at Tulane, has endorsed the concept of human ownership by the state, something we thought history would teach her is a bad thing, saying in a promo for MSNBC that "we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong...

AFP - President Barack Obama accused Republicans of stooping to political stunts to block gun reform, in a fervent appeal delivered close to the site of the Newtown school massacre.

The Obama administration came under fire last week for a presentation that classified Catholics and Evangelical Protestants as “extremist” religious groups in the same vein as al Qaeda and the Ku Klux Klan. The Washington Free Beacon has more information about the Defense Department presentation: The presentation detailed a number of extremist threats within the U.S. military, including white supremacist groups, street gangs, and religious sects. The presentation identified seventeen religious organizations in a slide titled “religious extremism.” They include al Qaeda, Hamas, the Filipino separatist group Abu Sayyaf, and the Ku Klux Klan, which the slide identifies as a...

DENVER — Colorado Democrats are planning sweeping changes to how elections are run in the state, to the dismay of Republican leaders who say they've been excluded from crafting a bill that that would allow same-day voter registration and require mailed ballots to every eligible voter. A bill of more than 100 pages is expected to be introduced this week, likely sparking a big partisan fight over whether the changes benefit one party over the other. Supporters of the changes, which also include eliminating the so-called "inactive voter" status, say the goal is to make voting more accessible. "I think...

Government compels, restrains and takes. Thomas Jefferson understood that when he wrote that our liberties are inalienable and endowed by our Creator, and the only reason we have formed governments is to engage them to protect our liberties. We enacted the Constitution as the supreme law of the land to restrain the government. Yet somewhere along the way, government got the idea that it can more easily protect the freedom of us all from the abuses of a few by curtailing the freedom of us all. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that's where we are today. The anti-Second Amendment...

President Barack Obama is bringing 11 relatives of those killed in the shooting at Connecticut´s Sandy Hook Elementary School to Washington on Air Force One on Monday so they can personally encourage senators to back gun legislation that faces tough opposition. A nonprofit organization that works with the families, Sandy Hook Promise, said that after Obama´s speech on gun control in Hartford, he is flying with relatives of seven children and one staffer killed during December´s massacre at the school. The White House says Obama is going to argue that lawmakers have an

For venal politicians on the front lines of the movement to subvert the Second Amendment, it’s a cunningly effective strategy: if they can’t ban it, they’re going to tax it. By adding a ‘sin tax’ to gun and ammo purchases they make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. It’s just a principle of economics. Participation drops the more expensive a hobby or a recreational activity becomes, even on an incremental scale. Of course, as mentioned, we’re not just talking about a hobby or an activity or even a bad habit. We’re...

Former Navy SEAL Dom Raso has a special message for NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others like him who are pushing for more gun control: "If you really cared about the American people, you'd stand up for more freedom for them, and not more power and status for yourself." The 12-year veteran is one of the newest NRA News contributors and has just released a diatribe against politicians who say they stand up for American safety but are quick to sacrifice essential freedom.

Glasgow: More than 300 people attended impromptu street party London: Over 100 people gathered in Brixton to 'celebrate' MP George Galloway met with disgust after tweeting 'tramp the dirt down' Facebook campaign to take 'Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead' to number one Durham Miners' Association: Her death was a 'great day' for coal miners Second most trending topic on Twitter: #nostatefuneral NUS National conference reported to have cheered at news of her death Champagne was flowing tonight as the Left took to the streets to celebrate the death of former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. More than 300 people...

RUSH: Melissa Harris-Perry is a professor. I believe she's at Tulane. It's a major university, wherever she teaches. She's an African-American professor at Tulane. That's right. She also has a show on PMSNBC. Of course they've got this slogan over there called "Lean Forward" or some such thing. Hosts of their shows are cutting promos that they run on the network, and last week they began airing a new Lean Forward promo for her show, which airs on the weekends. This is that promo. HARRIS-PERRY: We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we've...

Weatherman domestic terrorist Bill Ayers is now confirming what the White House has previously denied – that he held a fundraiser in his living room for Barack Obama. That 1995 meeting was said to have launched Obama’s political career. In an October 2008 interview on MSNBC host Chris Matthews’ show, Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Obama’s presidential campaign, categorically denied the fundraiser was ever held. Matthews asked Gibbs: “Did [Ayers] have a fundraiser for [Obama], or not?” Gibbs, who would become the White House spokesman, replied: “No, he did not have a fundraiser for our candidate as he said ten...