Free Republic

Joy Milne has always had a keen sense of smell, so she was unfazed when her husband, Les, began emitting a subtle musky odor. He was an anesthesiologist who worked long hours, and Milne assumed the smell was just sweat. But with the change in scent came a growing tiredness that was explained by a devastating diagnosis six years later: Les had Parkinson’s disease.“I could always smell things other people couldn’t smell,” Milne said during a BBC broadcast Thursday. After attending a meeting for the charity Parkinson’s UK, where the other Parkinson’s patients shared her husband’s musky scent, she realized that the...

Jeb Bush, the man who once pledged famously/infamously that he would run for president "joyfully," had this to say on the campaign trail in South Carolina: "If this election is about how we’re going to fight to get nothing done, then I don’t want anything, I don’t want any part of it. I don’t want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people literally are in decline in their lives. That is not my motivation. I’ve got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable,...

Marco Rubio is a U.S. senator. And he just can’t stand it anymore. “I don’t know that ‘hate’ is the right word,” Rubio said in an interview. “I’m frustrated.” This year, as Rubio runs for president, he has cast the Senate — the very place that cemented him as a national politician — as a place he’s given up on, after less than one term. It’s too slow. Too rule-bound. So Rubio, 42, has decided not to run for his seat again. It’s the White House or bust. “That’s why I’m missing votes. Because I am leaving the Senate. I...

A nuclear weapons command exercise by NATO in November 1983 prompted fear in the leadership of the Soviet Union that the maneuvers were a cover for a nuclear surprise attack by the United States, triggering a series of unparalleled Soviet military re­sponses, according to a top-secret U.S. intelligence review that has just been declassified. “In 1983, we may have inadvertently placed our relations with the Soviet Union on a hair trigger,” the review concluded.

JENNIFER RUBIN, WASHINGTON POST: What strikes me is not only the outsider/insider, but how backward looking Jeb Bush's ad was. He's talking about what he's done. His family has an esteemed record, one of the great political families of our era. And it's not enough this time. I'm also struck in that opening segment that you showed, how small he seems. How petty, how put upon.

HOUSTON — Right to Rise USA, the super PAC supporting former Florida governor Jeb Bush's campaign for president, is considering deploying ground staff to key states after focusing most heavily on running television ads so far. It's a notable strategic consideration that comes as Bush's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has struggled to gain traction in early-voting states and as it makes moves to curtail costs in what began as a sprawling operation.

The day after the first Democratic presidential debate, Donald Trump called Bernie Sanders a maniac. "This socialist-slash-communist," Trump said to raucous cheers. "I call him a socialist-slash-communist, because that's what he is." Well, no. The terms "socialist" and "communist" are often confused, thanks in large part to the Cold War. Layer on top of that the nuance of the term "democratic socialist," which is how Sanders describes himself, and it's easy to see why people might generally be confused... To offer America a bit of a primer, I reached out to Dr. Lawrence Quill, chairman and professor of political science...

The headlines recently have been full of suggestions that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is solidifying his lead while the other real outsider in the race, Ben Carson, is firmly in second place — and that the political class’s favorites, including Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Marco Rubio, can’t gain traction. I don’t buy it. Republicans should not overcommit to the notion that Trump, much less Carson, are serious candidates for the Republican nomination for 2016. I’ll admit to being a little perplexed by the polls right now. When Trump entered the race, I said he would max out somewhere...

Islamic State video features Hebrew-speaking militant for the first time By Hugh Naylor October 23 at 12:22 PM JERUSALEM — The Islamic State's slick — and grisly — propaganda videos regularly feature militants who speak flawless Arabic or English or French. Now, the Islamist group is using the language of the Jewish state. A video it released this week shows a masked militant speaking impeccable Hebrew as he praises a wave of Palestinian attacks on Israelis and threatens to eradicate Jews from the Holy Land. It’s the first time the group has released a video in Hebrew, but the message...

Heather Larrison, the Jeb Bush campaign finance director who may have pocketed $1.3 million in 2015, either directly or through companies in which she may have an ownership interest, from the Bush campaign and the pro-Bush Right to Rise USA Super PAC, certainly has chutzpah. The Washington Post reports that Larrison spent time last week trying to persuade Bush donors that the campaign has a good financial plan: Though the Bush campaign has not responded to our question, Bush donors may be asking that same question at an emergency meeting in Houston today. It will be harder for the Bush...

This Trump brag line goes like this: He had the vision and foresight to oppose the Iraq War ahead of the invasion in 2003. His opposition was so vocal, and his reach so great, that the White House approached him and asked him to tone it down. Really? We examined the slim evidence. The Facts At The Fact Checker, we place the burden of proof on the speaker. Trump has not responded to repeated requests by us or other media outlets for proof of his early opposition to the invasion. Military action began on March 20, 2003. An extensive review...

The late President Richard Nixon may not have been good for the country, but he's certainly been good for Bob Woodward. Woodward is the famous Washington Post reporter who, along with Carl Bernstein, broke the scandalous Watergate break-in and cover-up story 40 years ago that eventually led to Nixon's resignation.

On Monday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer sounded off on the prospects of Vice President Joe Biden entering the contest for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

Vladimir Putin has the United States’ foreign policy establishment swooning. One columnist admires the “decisiveness” that has put him “in the driver’s seat” in the Middle East. A veteran diplomat notes gravely, “It’s the lowest ebb since World War II for U.S. influence and engagement in the region.” A sober-minded pundit declares, “Not since the end of the Cold War a quarter-century ago has Russia been as assertive or Washington as acquiescent.”

In an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker, South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy offered his honest — and correct — assessment of his party in Congress. Here's the key bit: I think the House is bordering on ungovernable right now. ... Being Speaker is a very difficult job. We need to have a family conversation and sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before that conversation starts. We're getting close ... Now, Gowdy was explaining to Welker why he wouldn't be interested in the soon-to-be vacant job as speaker of the House. But his reasoning is almost certainly why Paul Ryan...

Obama not invited when Rep. Frank marries longtime partnerBy Alicia M. Cohn - 05/18/12 05:04 PM ET Although Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) earlier this month said he is “pleased” with President Obama’s decision to publicly support same-sex marriage, in a new interview the congressman revealed the president will not be on the guest list when Frank marries his longtime partner this summer. “If he and Michelle wanted to come, I would be delighted and honored to have him, but he will bring the Secret Service,” Frank said in an interview that will air Sunday as part of C-SPAN’s “Newsmaker” series....

An Iranian judiciary spokesman said Sunday that a verdict has been reached in the espionage case of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, though he offered no details and it was uncertain what the verdict is and whether there is a sentence. “The ruling on this case has been issued,” Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said in a regularly scheduled televised news conference. “There is still the possibility of this ruling being appealed, and it is not final.” “We’ve seen the news reports concerning a verdict in the case of U.S. citizen Jason Rezaian, but have not yet seen any official confirmation or...

SORRENTO, Italy--What's going on with Donald Trump? And why is he leading the field of Republican presidential candidates? These are the questions I've been asked most frequently during my trip to Europe to promote my new book, "Celebrity in Chief: A History of the Presidents and the Culture of Stardom." Three dozen people to whom I've spoken individually this week did not represent a scientific sample but they were consistent in their perceptions. They showed a strong sense of unease, and sometimes deep concern, at Trump's rise and puzzlement that the bombastic real-estate developer is doing so well. Many political...

Take a moment and watch the rally for more free stuff by the nation's victims. Justice a moment a go there was some "divisiveness" when the native Americans demanded more time from the organizers for addressing their grievances. LOL Farrakhan is supposed to be shortly.

Give him credit. Most elected officials are content to tinker at the edges, but Governor Jindal of Louisiana actually wants to solve problems. Look what he’s done, for instance, on fiscal policy. He sought to abolish his state’s personal income tax, a step that would have dramatically boosted the states competitiveness. That effort stalled, but he actually has been successful in curtailing state spending. He’s amassed one of the best records for frugality of all governors seeking the GOP presidential nomination. And he’s now joined the list of presidential candidates seeking to rewrite the internal revenue code. Since we’ve already reviewed...