Free Republic

President Obama thrilled liberals and Internet activists last week by calling for the "strongest possible" net-neutrality regulations to ensure that all Internet traffic is treated equally. **SNIP** "The net result is that every single American broadband customer will have to pay a new tax or taxes to access the Internet," Ajit Pai, a Republican FCC commissioner, warned in a speech last week. "That translates into less broadband adoption, especially among the millions of families that still struggle to make ends meet in this lackluster economy." Technically, the FCC does not have the authority to "tax." But the agency already collects...

In the U.S. city of Baltimore on Thursday, an undocumented mother from Mexico named Jessica Mejía, 31, was praying that President Barack Obama’s executive action would protect her from deportation along with several million other illegal immigrants. Mejia said her greatest wish is to have a work permit — and to become legalized like her boyfriend, who was granted “deferred action” on deportation two years ago, and their 5-year-old son, who was born in the United States “This is my great hope,” said Mejía, who went to a branch office of the CASA de Maryland immigrant advocacy group in anticipation...

WASHINGTON (CNN) —Opponents of President Barack Obama's plan, which makes sweeping changes to the nation's immigration system by use of executive order, focused their criticism on the legal case, saying Obama has overstepped the boundaries of his authority and is ignoring the will of the people. -snip- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said he "will not sit idly by and let the President bypass Congress and our Constitution." "President Obama is not above the law and has no right to issue executive amnesty. His actions blatantly ignore the Separations of Powers and the principles our country was founded on. The President...

A group of activists welcomed President Obama’s unilateral changes to immigration policy by saying that it’s not expansive enough. “Today’s victory is tremendous, but to be real, it is incomplete,” United We Dream managing director Cristina Jimenez said Thursday evening. “But too many of our parents, LGBTQ brothers and sisters and friends were left out. United We Dream doesn’t agree with that decision and we are determined to fight for their protection. Our community sticks together. This is a long-term struggle. We will continue organizing until our entire community can come forward and enjoy the full rights of citizenship.”

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. We serve coffee, tea, conversation and music. Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here. No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Grab a cup and start a conversation. You never know who you might meet in the Cafe. Glad you could...

prior to this change “Russians were only allowed to own firearms for hunting or target practice.” Because of this, there are only “13 million” privately owned firearms in Russia compared to approximately 310 million the US. On the other hand, “there were 21,603 murders in Russia” in 2009 compared with just over 13,600 in the US, “which has a population almost twice as large [as Russia].” In other words, in the past few years fewer guns equaled more murder in Russia while more guns equaled fewer murders in the US. Under the new law, Russians can acquire a license to...

Pope Francis warned Thursday that planet earth would not forgive the abuse of its resources for profit, urging the world's leaders to rein in their greed and help the hungry -- or risk a doomsday scenario in which nature would exact revenge. "God always forgives, but the earth does not," the Argentine pope told the Second International Conference on Nutrition (CIN2) in Rome, a three-day meeting aimed at tackling malnutrition, a global scourge which afflicts poor and rich alike. "Take care of the earth so it does not respond with destruction," he warned representatives from 190 countries gathered for...

The Democrats have rolled out a couple of dishonest talking points in support of Obama’s executive order amnesty. One is that Presidents Reagan and Bush 41 both used executive orders on immigration. What that ignores is that both were cleaning up a law duly passed by Congress. In this case, Obama is explicitly acting because Congress won’t bend to his royal will. The new talking point, trotted out here by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) is that this executive order is just like Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and that Obama should do it and then just let the courts decide whether...

Speaking to Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren after the president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi attempted to justify his unilateral action raising the minimum wage of federal contractors; she acknowledged that it would be “much better for Congress to act and for it to be the law of the land more generally.” “But, I remind you,” Pelosi added, “the Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order, many things that happened over time that would not have ever happened waiting for Congress, but then Congress followed through with, in fact, abolishing, you know, slavery.” Actually,...

In a very political move, the president has announced new rules for a specific group of illegal aliens. If your parents brought you to America when you were under 16, if you have completed high school, or served in the military, and if you are under the age of 30 now, then you are most likely going to stay in America. ... As for the policy, how can you blame kids when they are dragged to the US? It's not the child's fault that laws were broken. Thus the new policy is humane, and the President believes it will make...

When it came time for the US Senate to vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline, Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) “clout” did not have much of an impact on fellow Democrat senators. In fact, 35 of the senators who voted against the project were given campaign cash by Landrieu since the 2008 election cycle. Take a look here at the list of senators who don’t seem to acknowledge Landrieu’s “clout.” Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) $10,000 Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-CT) $5,000 Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) $10,000 Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) $7,000 Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) $10,000 Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) $3,500 Sen....

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) claims that a strong plurality of Americans do not support President Barack Obama's executive amnesty because they are in the dark about the specifics of what Obama will do and what executive amnesty is. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 48% of Americans disapprove of Obama's executive amnesty. Republicans opposed to it have vowed to prohibit Obama from using federal funds to enact unlawful grants of amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. When asked about the poll on Wednesday's The Ed Show on MSNBC, Gutierrez refused to see the poll numbers as a strong...

Sen. Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor Thursday to deliver a slightly changed version of a very old speech as a form of protest against President Obama's planned executive action on immigration. The Texas Republican, in a four-minute address, gave a gently edited version of Cicero's first oration against Cataline. Obama was substituted for Cataline, the U.S./Mexico border was swapped in for the Palatine Hill, "women" was added to references to men, "pen and phone" made an appearance, "execution" was changed to "defeat" and the IRS scandal showed up near the end. The video is above, and the text...

With only hours before President Obama is expected to announce a major unilateral amnesty for illegal immigrants, Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill appear flummoxed at what they might do to stop him from going forward. “We’ve been trying to figure out what leverage we have. And we’re all finding it very difficult to actually stop the president in the next two months,” said Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN). Iowa Republican Steve King, however, did not lack ideas. Speaking to a scrum of reporters off the House floor, he offered a a specific, three-step plan on how to respond in the weeks...

Two Russian strategic bombers circled the U.S. island of Guam last week in what U.S. defense officials say is the latest in a series of nuclear provocations by Moscow. The bombers were identified by air defenses as Tu-95 Bear H nuclear-capable aircraft that circumnavigated the strategic U.S. military outpost on Friday—amid heightened tensions with Moscow regarding a new buildup of Russian forces in and along the border of eastern Ukraine. “U.S. Pacific Command can confirm that two aircraft circumnavigated Guam on November 13th,” said spokesman Maj. Christian Devine. “The aircraft were flying safely in international airspace and in accordance with...

The Obama administration’s much-touted enrollment figure of 7.3 million includes nearly a half-million people who have only purchased dental plans, the House Oversight Committee has found. Without the 400,000 people enrolled in dental-only plans, the total enrollment for ObamaCare drops to 6.97 million, according an investigation by the committee, which was first reported by Bloomberg News. “Instead of offering the public an accurate accounting, the administration engaged in an effort to obscure and downplay the number of dropouts,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the committee, wrote in a statement to Bloomberg. Enrollment figures have strayed from the initial 8...

A nationally-known pro-abortion activist has been arrested on charges of raping a 15-year-old boy. Terrance Patrick Bean is the founder of Human Rights Campaign, a group that pushes other political issues but also takes a steadfastly pro-abortion position.Human Rights Campaign, in addition to advancing abortion, has also lobbied Congress to end all federal funding for abstinence education, and hailed one piece of legislation that cut off funding because it “would end abstinence-only-until-marriage programs once and for all.” Bean is also a prominent supporter of pro-abortion President Barack Obama.The Portland Oregonian newspaper has more on Bean’s indictment, reporting that “Detectives from...

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama could be bad news for the Democratic Party. Obama’s biggest problem over the next two years may not be coming from recalcitrant Republicans, writes the National Journal. Instead, it could be from members of his own party blanching at his activist agenda over the last two years of his presidency. Obama is planning to press forward with several polarizing decisions that could advance his legacy but come at the expense of the Democratic Party’s long-term health. Issues like threatening a veto of the Keystone XL pipeline, reaching a nuclear deal with Iran and legalizing unauthorized immigrants...

The head of the NSA issued a blunt warning Thursday to lawmakers: China can shut down the United States. The grim forecast came from Admiral Michael Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency and commander of the U.S .Cyber Command

Firearms manufacturers looking for a favorable, pro-gun political climate are moving to Montana. The Flathead Valley in the northwest corner of the state has had a steady gun manufacturing industry for decades, and it's now looking to expand. Despite 10 percent unemployment in the area, gun industry jobs have increased during the economic downturn. Manufacturers now say they can't find enough trained machinists for all the jobs they have to offer. From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel. The firearms industry is booming in Montana. Throughout the economic downturn, the state's gun manufacturers have added jobs....