Free Republic

At one of the most important events on the GOP calendar, Scott Walker showed his crash course in foreign policy is paying off. OKLAHOMA CITY — Like most other recent GOP presidential forums and meetings, the Southern Republican Leadership Conference this week teemed with 2016 candidates aiming for a breakthrough moment. Nothing like that happened here. But in attending one of the most important events on pre-primary season calendar — one that drew roughly 2,000 conservative activists, mainly from the Republican Party’s Southern heartland — the White House hopefuls revealed a little more about themselves and the paths they see...

Scott Walker and his legislative minions have no respect for local democracy. One of Walker’s early acts as governor was to sign a law that pre-empted Milwaukee’s paid sick days ordinance — which voters had approved by 69 to 31 percent and which the state Court of Appeals had upheld. Dana Schultz of 9to5, the National Association of Working Women, described the state override of the Milwaukee law as “an assault on democracy, local control and working families." The assaults have continued, with Walker and his allies moving again and again to prevent Wisconsin’s towns, villages and cities from acting...

The feud between John McCain and Rand Paul worsened on Saturday morning after the presidential candidate successfully held up a temporary extension of controversial provisions of the Patriot Act. McCain, a leading GOP hawk and Paul, the leader of his party’s libertarian wing, have never exactly seen eye to eye. But the relationship became even more toxic after Paul successfully blocked the Senate from extending NSA surveillance programs for even one additional day.

"............Chillingly, free speech, academic freedom, and the safety of Jews can no longer be taken for granted on college campuses. The deteriorating situation is described and analyzed meticulously in Volume IV of The Black Book of the American Left (subtitled Islamo-Fascism and the War Against the Jews). In the book, author David Horowitz assumes the mantle of fearless truth-teller, as he explores how Islamists and leftists work together to limit freedom of thought and speech, defame the only democracy and reliable US ally in the Middle East, and aid the spread of Islamist ideas and policies.The book aptly begins by...

Nothing quite so blatantly sums up the victory of neoliberalism in 21st-century London, and that city’s relentless commodification of every aspect of its literary and historical legacy, like Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross. If anything, the vulgarity and banality of Platform 9 ¾ are too blatant; it’s a crack in the façade that demonstrates how thoroughly London has become Londonland, a nearly convincing scavenger-hunt simulation of itself, chock-full of royal bones and references to Dan Brown novels. To enter Westminster Abbey – which is still nominally a house of worship for the Anglican Communion, rather than a historical theme...

Matt Drudge took to Twitter to deliver an ongoing tirade against Republicans’ eagerness to deliver a fast-track trade bill to President Obama’s desk. The bill’s details have not been made public — which hasn’t stopped Republicans from surrendering Congress’s power to make amendments to a president’s future trade deals. Should a Republican presidential candidate lose the 2016 general election, the Trade Promotion Authority bill could be to blame. Keeping the bill’s details from voters was “clearly treason,” Drudge tweeted...

President Vladimir Putin signed a bill into law Saturday giving prosecutors the power to declare foreign and international organizations “undesirable” in Russia and shut them down. […] The law is part of a Kremlin campaign to stifle dissent that intensified after Putin began his third term in 2012. His return to the presidency had been accompanied by mass street protests that Putin accused the United States of fomenting. Russian suspicions of Western intentions have been further heightened because of tensions over Russia’s role in the conflict in Ukraine. The new Russian law allows prosecutors to declare an organization undesirable if...

In the first part of an exclusive interview with B&B Media, Alan Bowers, former National Commander of the Disabled American Veterans (2003-2004), talks about the history of the DAV, as well as the current VA scandals affecting today's veterans and their families. Special thanks to AOTV, Athol, Massachusetts

http://www.weatherbell.com/saturday-summary-may-23-2015

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) speaking before voting on the Democrats' massive government takeover of health care: "... and look at how this bill was written. Can you say it was done openly? With transparency and accountability? Without backroom deals struck behind closed doors hidden from the people? Hell no you can't.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency has begun winding down its collection and storage of American phone records after the Senate failed to agree on a path forward to change or extend the once-secret program ahead of its expiration at the end of the month. Barring an 11th hour compromise when the Senate returns to session May 31, a much-debated provision of the Patriot Act — and some other lesser known surveillance tools — will sunset at midnight that day. The change also would have a major impact on the FBI, which uses the Patriot Act and the other...

On Friday, President Obama spoke at a Jewish American Heritage Month celebration being held at the Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, D.C. Wearing a yarmulke, Obama addressed his Jewish gravitas, citing his two Jewish former chiefs of staff, saying he has been called America's "first Jewish president" by Jeffrey Goldberg, who recently interviewed him for The Atlantic. Goldberg was in attendance.

Ireland became Saturday the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriages by popular vote. Within the U.S., Maine, Maryland and Washington in 2012 were the first states to legalize such unions through popular votes. Meanwhile, 37 states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A measure to legalize such unions via popular votes could be added to the ballots in the 13 other states during the 2016 general elections, when it conceivably could have the support of at least one presidential candidate, as IrelandÂ’s action motivated one White House...

Despite the characterization by police that the afternoon gathering at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas that led to Sunday’s bloody shooting incident was a gathering of criminal biker gangs with violent intent, the meeting appears to have been a legitimate, organized gathering of motorcycle riders meeting to discuss political issues. The group that met was the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents (CoC&I) and a look at that group’s website and history gives a very different impression of the group’s purpose and goals than what has been said repeatedly by Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton.

A group of 14 Democrat senators has written a letter to President Obama urging him to “dramatically increase” the number of Syrian refugees being resettled into American cities and towns. They say the U.S. needs to take in at least 65,000 Syrians as permanent refugees over the next year-and-a-half. “While the United States is the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to Syrian refugees, we must also dramatically increase the number of Syrian refugees that we accept for resettlement,” says the four-page letter to Obama, copied to Secretary of State John Kerry and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. More than 3.5...

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ben Carson won the straw poll at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference Saturday, demonstrating his popularity among conservative activists at one of the party’s traditional presidential cattle call events. Carson, a former surgeon who formally launched his underdog campaign this month with an appeal to the GOP’s tea party wing, finished first with 25 percent. He was followed by Scott Walker, who received 20 percent, and Ted Cruz at 16 percent. Chris Christie and Rick Perry tied at 5 percent, with Jeb Bush narrowly behind. Marco Rubio tied with Bobby Jindal and Rand Paul at 4 percent....

Friday at the 2015 Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Oklahoma, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush, John Bolton, said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is “responsible for the tragedy of the murder of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans,” in the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi Libya. Bolton said, “I think the most telling information that we have seen in this limited number of emails is that there are repeated examples of Secretary of State Clinton being told in 2011 and 2012 that the security situation of our personnel in Tripoli...

DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland – A pro-gay marriage Irish Senator has told journalists at Dublin Castle he hopes today’s vote will lead to change across the world, just as Ireland inspired the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. Senator David Norris (IND), was talking about how Ireland was a “small island on the edge of Europe” but that it could have a much wider impact. The example he cited was the General Post Office (GPO) uprising in Dublin in Easter 1916. A group took over the GPO and fought against the British Army to maintain control of it for several days. The...

But today, Republicans control both the state Senate AND the state Assembly, which means “Amanda’s Law” should finally be approved with no fuss or muss whatsoever, right? Indeed, the bill passed easily in the Assembly. But two Republican senators – for unknown reasons (the ones they give are total bull$#!+) – are trying to kill the bill: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Greg Brower, and his boss, Senate Majority Leader Michael Roberson. The pair blocked a hearing and committee vote on Amanda’s Law last week before the deadline, killing its chance to get a stand-alone up-or-down vote on the Senate floor....

We must engage the global economy to ignite growth and opportunity at home May 22, 2015 | 202-228-7561 WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), today released the following statement regarding legislation to establish trade promotion authority: "The American middle class is getting crushed by the Obama economy," said Sen. Cruz. "Middle class incomes are stagnating, and the labor force participation rate has not been this low since the Carter Administration. While I have serious concerns about the all-too-typical Washington backroom deals that enabled this bill to get to the floor, I could not in good conscience vote against...