Free Republic

The Republican Party does not require a presidential candidate to win eight states to qualify to be placed in nomination at its upcoming Cleveland convention, GOP officials say. The Republican National Committee's "Rule 40(b)" makes eligibility for the GOP nomination contingent upon winning a majority of the convention delegates in at least eight states or territories, an achievement generally accomplished by winning at least eight primary or caucus elections. However, Rule 40(b) only applied to the 2012 Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., that nominated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Party officials and knowledgeable sources have confirmed over the past few...

Ted Cruz's foreign policy team is taking aim at Donald Trump's bromance with Vladimir Putin as it courts wary anti-Trump elements within the Republican establishment. Daniel Vajdich, a member of Cruz’s recently announced national security team, blasted out an email last week inviting “GOP Russia hands” to join a Ted Cruz Russia Working Group, slamming Trump’s praise for the Russian president last year and asking for help “pushing back against Donald Trump’s dangerous Russia policy.” ...

Cuban President Raul Castro told President Obama Monday that the U.S. must return the Guantanamo Bay naval base and lift the embargo against Havana for the countries to fully normalize relations. “The blockade stands as the most important obstacle to our economic development,” Mr. Castro said...

Ahead of resident Obama's historic visit, Castro's Cuba is more oppressive than ever. An Afro-Cuban dissident who spent time in Fidel Castro’s gulags, Oscar Biscet is one of many people that represent the real Cuba, the people who will be hidden from sight as resident Obama visits this week. While the resident basks in the Cuban sun and in photo-ops with its heavy-handed dictator, the fate and freedom of political resisters like Biscet remains grim. Biscet is free now in technical terms, but in reality, he remains among a cohort of dissenters who still live in an invisible prison: a...

In a recently released video from 1992, Al Sharpton calls for "offing the pigs" while speaking at a college. Jesse Watters and the "Watters' World" panel discuss who is really responsible for the violent political climate.

A top Homeland Security official told Border Patrol agents the Obama administration has “no intention of deporting” many of the illegal immigrants caught trying to sneak into the country, ordering instead that they be released so they don’t clog up the courts, a leading advocate for agents testified to Congress.Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said the orders are a new “catch and release” policy, which he said “amounts to amnesty” because it means many illegal immigrants are never asked to leave the country. It also suggests the Border Patrol is being ordered to break President Obama’s...

"FBI chief James Comey and his investigators are increasingly certain presidential nominee Hillary Clinton violated laws in handling classified government information through her private e-mail server," Charles Gasparino said career agents had told him. "Some expect him to push for charges, but he faces a formidable obstacle: the political types in the Obama White House who view a Clinton presidency as a third Obama term," Gasparino added. "With that, agents have been spreading the word, largely through associates in the private sector, that their boss is getting stonewalled, despite uncovering compelling evidence Clinton broke the law."

Veteran political strategist Roger Stone tells Breitbart News executive chairman and SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon that even if GOP frontrunner Donald Trump clinches the 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright, the party will fight like wild to steal it from him by changing the the rules at the convention. "In a number of states, the Republican chairman is essentially placing non-Trump people into Trump delegate slots," Stone said on Breitbart News Daily. "Under the party rules, anyone can register to be a delegate. You don't have to really be 'a Trump supporter.' While those delegates would be bound...

A federal judge has asked the Obama administration to shield from public disclosure court records related to the once-secret criminal history of a former Donald Trump business partner. In an unusual order prompted by an unsealing request from The Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan said that unless the Justice Department acts before April 18, he will decide whether to make the court files public under the assumption that federal prosecutors don't care. The case involves Felix Sater, a Trump business associate who pleaded guilty in a major Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme in the late 1990s and cooperated...

The man and the woman, who have not been identified, were walking on Claflin Street on the night of March 13 when they were allegedly approached by the men. One offered them a beer, while another took out a condom, officials said, according to The Metro West Daily News. Soon, officials said, the men grabbed the woman and physically detained the man. ...Ariel is accused of head-butting the boyfriend multiple times and trying to stab him with a knife to prevent him from stopping the alleged sexual assault. "[Ariel Diaz] said, 'I'm going to carve you up and rape your...

Full title - "VIDEO: BLACK COP Shocked by ‘Evil’ Behavior of Trump Protesters; Praises Restraint of Trump, Tucson Supporters" Tucson police officer Brandon Tatum attended Saturday’s Donald Trump rally in Tucson on Saturday as a curious civilian. What he witnessed shocked his conscience so much he recorded a video to describe his experience as a Black man at a Trump rally. Tatum described violent protesters tackling Trump supporters, getting in Trump supporter’s faces, loudly yelling ‘Black lives matter!’ and swearing such that parents had to shield their children from the protesters. He also said the Trump supporters were not racist...

HAVANA (AP) -- Brushing off decades of distrust, President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro shook hands Monday in Havana's Palace of the Revolution, opening a meeting aimed at advancing the diplomatic opening that both leaders have pursued. Obama and Castro stood together as a Cuban military band played the national anthems of Cuba and the United States - stunning sounds in a country where resistance to the U.S. has been part of the government's national mission for decades. Obama and top U.S. officials warmly greeted their Cuban counterparts before the two presidents sat down for their meeting. For...

Here is my take on the state of play regarding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State and the FBI’s investigation of the matter: 1. There’s a good chance that Hillary Clinton, the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, has committed a felony. And not just any felony, but a violation of the Espionage Act. 2. Given the consequences associated with a felon being nominated, or worse yet elected president, there is a strong national interest in a prompt determination by the government as to whether Clinton committed one or more felonies. 3....

As you may know Senator Ted Cruz more or less sided with the left in Chicago, blaming the violence on Trump and his supporters. Glenn Beck supporter's also stood side by side with MoveOn in Chicago. Since Glenn Beck supports Ted Cruz, I think it's fair to say they were also Cruz supporters. Donald Trump held a rally in Arizona on Saturday, March 19th. Fascist anti-free speech leftists blocked highways, chained themselves to cars all in an effort to stop Trump supporters from getting to the rally. They do not seem to understand that their right to protest is NOT...

GOP presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that as president, he would consider nominating D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick. “Well, you know, he received overwhelming support, I think even from Senator Hatch. So, of course we’d think about it,” Kasich said when asked if he would “take a look” at Garland if he were president. […] “I don’t care about their peccadilloes 30 years ago, but, yes, we have a process. I have appointed over 100 judges in Ohio, including a woman that, fortunately,...

The White House refused to say Sunday whether President Obama would be talking to Cuban officials about US fugitives who have found a refuge there, but critics blasted the historic trip Sunday for rewarding Cuba while convicted cop-killer Joanne Chesimard remains free and President Raúl Castro’s human-rights abuses have worsened. […] Critics, led by New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, blasted Obama. “The simple truth is, deals with the devil require the devil to deal,” Menendez said in advance of the visit. […] Critics believe conditions in Cuba are terrible and Obama is too focused on making a legacy-defining trip rather...

The Secret Service and the presidential campaign of Donald Trump are increasing security for the candidate and his rallies after threatening letters were received by Trump family members and violent protests by leftists broke out at a string of several recent Trump rallies.Donald Trump turns to face down the threat as Secret Service agents and Trump’s personal security rush to protect Trump from a leftist protester who jumped a barricade and reached the back of the stage at a rally in Dayton, Ohio March 12, 2016. NBC News reported on Friday: Secret Service Tightens Trump’s Security Amidst New Threats“The Secret...

We thought you’d like to know. If you’re wondering who paid Hillary Clinton, and how much they paid her from 2013-2015, to give speeches, we’ve got the list for you right here. Come one, come all, see who has Hillary Clinton in their back pocket.

Once the Oligarchy is above the law, the Republic is already dead. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway: How did you lose your Republic? Two ways, gradually and then suddenly. The Romans experienced this when their Republic was extinguished by Empire. The erosion of the Republic was gradual: slowly but surely, the lower classes' representation in governance was curtailed; the Oligarchy of the wealthy and powerful cemented their privileges at the expense of the many; Oligarchs rose above the laws that were supposed to apply to all, and executive power was consolidated in top administrators and the wealthy at the expense of...

Last week, in America, I was in one of the country’s most celebrated tourist spots – renowned for it’s natural beauty, swanky resorts and marine life. I spent the first part of the week in what could be kindly termed as a service hub. Let’s call it Depresso. On my morning walk – instead of the vista of palm trees, beaches, gelato shops and yachts I was expecting, the footpaths stopped abruptly, or crumbled, the roads buckled, people were searching for food in bins, buildings were vacant with the paint and signs peeling and there was rubbish everywhere. I can...