Free Republic

Republicanism was founded on a premise that all men are created equal. It is time we return to those values Washington, DC – Mat Staver, Chairman of Liberty Counsel Action and Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, responds to the 2012 election: “The political philosophy of the Republican Party and Governor Mitt Romney during the presidential campaign was to downplay social issues and focus solely on jobs and the economy. Four year ago, McCain, like Romney, could not and would not articulate the full panoply of conservative values. Their strategy didn’t work in 2008, and it didn’t work in 2012...

Mitt Romney's top campaign aides conducted a conference call with conservative journalists this afternoon, during which they assessed the damage from Tuesday's electoral loss.  The participants included campaign manager Matt Rhoades, political director Rich Beeson, polling director Neil Newhouse and digital director Zac Moffatt.  A few notes from the call: Matt Rhoades, on the overall race: "No campaign is perfect, and we certainly made our share of mistakes." On Paul Ryan: "He has come away from this race with a very bright future before him."Rich Beeson, on the campaign's strategy: "We won independents and held the base.  We thought that...

(CNN) - Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum offered no insight into his own political future in a Friday CNN interview, but did offer his thoughts as to why the Republican nominee lost to President Barack Obama on Tuesday. "What Mitt Romney, in my opinion, didn't do was go out and vigorously defend the beliefs that he said he espoused and didn't go on the offense," Santorum said in an interview to air Friday on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." "And when you're playing defense, which is what I believe the campaign was doing and Republicans were doing generally throughout the...

The Wednesday before the election, Mitt Romney sent a special message to volunteers about a special project his campaign was working on: “With state of the art technology and an extremely dedicated group of volunteers, our campaign will have an unprecedented advantage on election day.” What is it they say about something that sounds too good to be true? It probably is. That was the case with the Romney campaign’s “Project ORCA.” The idea behind Project ORCA was simple, albeit far too complex in execution. Romney’s Boston headquarters wanted a way to track who had been to the polls in...

Obama To Wealthy Americans: Read My Lips, I WILL Raise Your Taxes! By TOBY HARNDEN 9 November 2012 President Barack Obama has thrown down to gauntlet to Republican leaders, inviting them to the White House next week to discuss the so-called fiscal cliff but insisting any compromise will include higher taxes on the rich. A crisis is looming at the end of the year is agreement cannot be reached on how to avoid falling over the cliff - a scheduled combination of tax increases and spending cuts due at the end of this year. ‘We can't just cut our way...

San Francisco is preparing to become the first U.S. city to provide and cover the cost of sex reassignment surgeries for uninsured transgender residents. The city's Health Commission voted Tuesday to create a comprehensive program for treating transgender people experiencing mental distress because of the mismatch between their bodies and their gender identities. The vote was announced Thursday. The idea came out of conversations between public health officials and transgender rights advocates who wanted mastectomies, genital reconstructions and other surgeries covered under San Francisco's universal health care program.

EL CAJON — The husband of an Iraqi woman who was found beaten to death in March in their El Cajon home has been arrested in connection with her death, El Cajon police said Friday. Kassim Alhimidi, 48, was booked into jail Thursday evening on one count of first degree murder in the death of Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old mother of five. He was arrested at the El Cajon police station, authorities said. Alhimidi is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. “After months of hard work, we determined this homicide was the result of domestic...

Everyone saw this coming. Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic Senator from California and co-sponsor of the USA PATRIOT Act extension, has been rumored to be meeting with ATF officials in the past few days and trying to come up with an outline for her next attempt at passing a new assault weapons ban. It seems like she does this once a year anyway, but in the wake of the Obama re-election people are on high alert for anything gun control related. And this time, it seems like all that practice of introducing failed legislation is leading to a more disturbing version...

David Petraeus, the retired four-star general who led the U.S. military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, abruptly resigned Friday as director of the CIA after admitting he had an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, according to a new report.

The so-called “Pizza Boy Rapist” pleaded not guilty to rape and burglary yesterday as police released his creepy, barely literate, handwritten confession. “Cesar got type of disea in away he never had felted before . . . So then him self starts to check for open apartment, ” Cesar Lucas, 16, of The Bronx, allegedly wrote, recalling entering a sleeping woman’s unlocked apartment on West 61st Street early on a September morning after delivering a pie to another floor.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: I will repeat the EIB amnesty program, as announced in the first hour of this program today. 'Cause I see where the trend is going. I see where we're headed. I see that amnesty's heading this way. It's gonna happen, folks. You know, losing elections has consequences. There will be amnesty in this country. When you hear the phrase "comprehensive immigration reform," that's what it means. Amnesty for whoever is here. And it's gonna be blanket, and it's gonna be pretty quick. That's where we're headed. So I want to get in the game. I want to...

The Interior Department on Friday issued a final plan to close 1.6 million acres of federal land in the West originally slated for oil shale development. The proposed plan would fence off a majority of the initial blueprint laid out in the final days of the George W. Bush administration. It faces a 30-day protest period and a 60-day process to ensure it is consistent with local and state policies. After that, the department would render a decision for implementation. The move is sure to rankle Republicans, who say President Obama’s grip on fossil fuel drilling in federal lands is...

Two to go and this week it's PHoenix.. To the victor the spoils and a likely leg up in the Chase for the Cup.. to the rest of the pack, it's just one more race to go after Sunday. Who has the stuff to finish ahead of the pack? Place your bets!

Ronald Kessler reporting from Washington, D.C. — The resignation of David H. Petraeus as CIA director followed an FBI investigation of many months, raising the question of why he was not forced out until after the election. In his letter of resignation, Petraeus cited an extra-marital affair he had been having. “After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” Petraeus said in his letter to President Obama. “Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.” Petraeus, who had a distinguished...

The Interior Department on Friday issued a final plan to close 1.6 million acres of federal land in the West originally slated for oil shale development. The proposed plan would fence off a majority of the initial blueprint laid out in the final days of the George W. Bush administration. It faces a 30-day protest period and a 60-day process to ensure it is consistent with local and state policies. After that, the department would render a decision for implementation. The move is sure to rankle Republicans, who say President Obama’s grip on fossil fuel drilling in federal lands is...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: This is Salvador in Wichita, Texas. Great to have you on the program. Hi. CALLER: Hi, Rush. It's a pleasure and an incredible honor to be able to talk to you. RUSH: Great to have you on the program, Salvador. CALLER: Thank you. I'm sorry if I'm a little nervous. RUSH: Oh, you don't sound nervous at all. CALLER: Well, thank you very much. I was born in Mexico and I came to this country 21 years ago. I've been listening to you for 15 years. RUSH: Thank you very much. CALLER: Well, thank you, because you...

The Interior Department on Friday issued a final plan to close 1.6 million acres of federal land in the West originally slated for oil shale development. The proposed plan would fence off a majority of the initial blueprint laid out in the final days of the George W. Bush administration. It faces a 30-day protest period and a 60-day process to ensure it is consistent with local and state policies. After that, the department would render a decision for implementation. The move is sure to rankle Republicans, who say President Obama’s grip on fossil fuel drilling in federal lands is...

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours." Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus has resigned, citing "extremely poor judgment" for having an extramarital affair. Petraeus, 60, told President Barack Obama of the affair on Thursday and offered to resign, a senior official told NBC News. Obama accepted his resignation in a phone call Friday afternoon. "Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Mitt Romney is everything about this country Obama despises. Everything. He's too normal. He's too rich. He violates the Obama way to get things done, sort of like Clarence Thomas is despised by the Reverend Jackson and Al Sharpton. You know why? Because Clarence Thomas has become the most powerful in his position, he is the most eminently qualified for what he does, and he got there without going through the traditional prescriptions said to be necessary for African-Americans by the civil rights coalition. He didn't need them. He got there on his own. That can't be...

Find a Regulatory Agenda and List of an Agency's Agenda Entries Twice a year in the Spring and Fall, each agency publishes a Regulatory Agenda. On this page, you can find information about regulations that each agency plans to issue or has recently completed. Read FAQs about the Regulatory Agenda

Appearing on CNN Friday morning, comedian Pauly Shore told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien that he believes the Republican Party lost the 2012 presidential election because it has gone “too far to the white,” echoing a theme that many Republican pundits have voiced as well in recent days. “If you look at the Mitt Romney audience, they’re all white people,” he said. Shore’s visit was prompted by the launch of his new nation-wide comedy tour promoting $5 downloadable show he created called “Pauly~tics,” in which he interviews and attempts to humanize national political figures. “When you went around for your special to...

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - Corning is cutting up to 4% of its salaried workforce worldwide and the plant in Wilmington is currently considering how much impact it will have here locally. WECT.com reached out to the company's corporate communications after getting a call that layoffs were mentioned Friday at the plant in Wilmington. A spokesperson said a plan to reduce costs and restructuring will continue into 2013. Those actions include a layoff of about 500 salaried people companywide and adjusting the hourly workforce. The company would only say that Wilmington leaders are "evaluating the situation to determine the level of...

House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday that Obamacare was “the law of the land” – apparently conceding that GOP efforts to repeal President Barack Obama’s healthcare law have ended. Boehner, the nation’s top elected Republican, hinted in an interview with ABC News that Congress would not undertake efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. “The election changes that,” Boehner responded to a question about whether Congress would undertake repeal efforts next year. “It's pretty clear that the president was re-elected. Obamacare is the law of the land. Alert: Do you support Obamacare? Tell us what you...

America has added 5 million jobs since February 2010, when employment hit its Great Recession low. But the nation still needs to add another 9 million jobs just to get back to pre-recession unemployment levels, according to data crunched by the Economic Policy Institute. While that is a pretty big number, the jobs gap is starting to shrink as the economy picks up steam. A year ago, the deficit was 10.3 million jobs. And in September 2010, it was 11.3 million. "We've reduced the gap, but it's still massive," said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute....

Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini said his company is preparing for a potential "fiscal cliff" by entering contingency mode and considering either a hiring freeze or laying off some employees. If the country does go off the so-called fiscal cliff, which refers to a perfect storm of upcoming tax increases and spending cuts, Bertolini predicted unemployment and healthcare cost trends each will increase one percentage point, CNBC reported. "It's a bit like, you know, the 15th century castle gates closing during The Plague, if you think about it," Bertolini said on CNBC's Squawk Box, according to the Hartford Courant. "We're going...

The town did some slicing and dicing last week, reducing the tax levy increase by half to 4.4 percent on an $11.2 million budget proposal, and offering more possible cuts that would get it under the two percent tax cap. Supervisor Kelly Myers put $394,000 in cuts on the table last week. Of those cuts, the board would need to select $225,000 to get the tax increase under two percent. Implementing all the cuts would bring the tax levy increase to around zero percent. The biggest cut on the table is closing the town’s transfer station, which has been losing...

WASHINGTON – New Pentagon details show that the first U.S. military unit arrived in Libya more than 14 hours after the attack on the consulate in Benghazi was over and four Americans, including the ambassador, were dead. A Defense Department timeline obtained by The Associated Press underscores how far the military response lagged behind the Sept. 11 attack, due largely to the long distances the commando teams had to travel to get to Libya. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his top military adviser were notified of the attack about 50 minutes after it began and were about to head into...

The race for Florida’s 18th Congressional district has taken an ugly turn, with charges of incompetence, illegal activity and possible fraud on the part of local election officials. Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy has declared victory with an apparent 160,328 votes to West's 157,872. However, serious questions arose immediately about the integrity of the vote count, especially in St. Lucie County. On election night incumbent Republican Allen West had maintained a district-wide lead of nearly 2000 votes until the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections inexplicably “recounted” thousands of early ballots, resulting in 4,400 vote shift -snip- A physical barrier had...

The economy has taken a toll on two long-established family businesses in Luzerne County. Bartikowsky Jewelers, a landmark business in downtown Wilkes-Barre for 125 years, will close its doors in January and is starting a "going out of business" sale on Tuesday, owners Lynn and Mac Ahmad said today. Twenty-five people will lose their jobs and many of them have been employed by the business for decades, they said. Penn Refrigeration in Hanover Township, which has been in business for 68 years, is laying off about 30 employees as of 3:30 p.m. today, co-owner Al Finarelli Jr. said today. He...

HAZARD — Officials with TECO Coal Corporation on Friday announced the layoffs of around 90 people from several different mines across the region. Perry County Coal, a subsidiary of TECO, will be losing around six employees from support and administrative staff, but no coal miners. Back at the first of the year TECO announced the company would layoff 13 percent of their workforce at Perry County Coal due to the economic downturn in the coal industry. This translated to around 85 people, most of whom were coal miners. Paul Matney, personnel director for TECO, said that while around two-thirds of...

An Arizona medical pilot has been cited for harassing wildlife for flying a helicopter just above an elk herd after dropping off a patient at a hospital in Grand Junction. Owen Park, 35, of Page, was assessed 10 penalty points against his hunting and fishing privileges and fined $200, which he has paid, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a news release issued Thursday. The agency said the incident happened Sept. 23 in a canyon near the headwaters of Granite Creek, southwest of Grand Junction. It said Park, a pilot for Classic Lifeguard Air Medical in Page, was returning there...

BROWNSVILLE - The Rio Grande Valley's newest congressman is vowing to make the Obama administration aware of the security problems plaguing the region. Filemon Vela Jr. on Tuesday was elected to the newly created 34th Congressional District. He said the border region has changed and Washington needs to get that message. "We used to go eat (in Mexico) - once, maybe twice a week. We used to take people to shop ... people would come in from out of town. It was a very fun thing to do," he said at the B&M International Bridge in Brownsville. "That's a part...

US Goes Left, NC Goes Rightby John Hammer Editor November 08, 2012 North Carolina and Guilford County took a sharp right turn while the nation continued on a leftward course on Tuesday, Nov. 6, with the reelection of President Barack Hussein Obama. **SNIP** North Carolina went the other way. The state elected Republican Pat McCrory governor, Republican Dan Forest as lieutenant governor, solid Republican majorities in both the North Carolina state House and state Senate, and preserved the Republican majority on the nominally nonpartisan state Supreme Court. So Republicans will control all three branches of state government.

Political losses are interesting to watch. Generally speaking, the left and the right handle them differently. Too often, the tendency of the right is to talk about how certain groups are holding the rest down. Primarily the debate is between those who favor social conservatism and those who favor economic conservatism. Each group insists that its approach is the correct one to get back to a ruling majority vote. There certainly are quite a few larger problems facing the conservative movement. Right now, particularly among Hispanic, black, and Asian voters, the conservative side has a number of trends that do...

Clear Channel Liberal Talk 620 KPOJ Portland will flip to Sports “Fox Sports 620“. KPOJ garnered a 1.0 share in the October ratings, up from a 0.8 in September. It will join a Portland Sports battle that includes Alpha Broadcasting’s “750 The Game” KXTG and Entercom’s “1080 The Fan” KFXX. 620 will remain the co-flagship of Oregon State University play-by-play along with sister Talk 1190/102.3 KEX. Willamette Week has more details including a statement from KPOJ morning host Carl Wolfson.

Congresswoman Nan Hayworth (NY-R) has conceded defeat to Sean Patrick Maloney. ...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Yes, yes, I know Obama's got a dog and pony show going, and we're rolling on it. I wasn't gonna JIP this because I don't know what it is. He's addressing the fiscal cliff but I can tell you it's a campaign appearance, because there's a crowd of people on risers behind him, and they apparently represent every faction of America. Yeah, middle class wallpaper, you have a rabbi, you have a priest, you have a pregnant woman, a single woman, a married woman, you probably got a couple gay people in there, got some blacks. I...

COULD THIS BE WHAT HAPPENED IN WISCONSIN POLLING PLACES?>>READ THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT, AND WATCH uncovered hearing video about how it may have been achieved.

“This was a central question during the election,” Obama said in his first postelection comments on the economy. “The majority of Americans agree with my approach.” Following up, Obama’s spokesman said later that the president would veto any legislation extending tax cuts for families making $250,000 or more. The president, speaking in the White House East Room, said he wasn’t wedded to every detail of the plans he outlined during the election, adding, “I’m open to compromise.” But he offered no indication that he was willing to back down.

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released the following statement on the fiscal cliff:“On Tuesday, Americans from across the political spectrum made it clear that they want a balanced approach to tax policy that asks millionaires and billionaires to pay a little bit more. The sooner Republicans come to grips with this reality, the sooner we can forge an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff and prevent a tax hike on middle class Americans.“The Senate passed a bill to cut taxes for Americans making less than $250,000, and the House should pass it immediately. Our bill cuts taxes...

The rain falls on the just and the unjust; foxes have holes and birds have nests, while lilies adorn the fields. Everything in creation is under the providing care of God. Not only does God supply all things, but He arranges them according to His plan and for His glory. For Christians, this ought to produce peace and comfort even when it appears that all is against them. Dr. Sproul begins this series by exploring many of the different aspects of the Providence of God.

After winning a second White House term, US President Barack Hussein Obama aims to start direct, fast-track nuclear talks with Tehran as soon as December, even before his January swearing-in, on the assumption that Iran’s window of opportunity is very narrow – just three months, Washington sources disclose. White House go-betweens with the office of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warn that Iran’s campaign for the June 14 presidential election gets going in March. After then, it is estimated in Washington, that Khamenei, whose ill health keeps his working-day short, will be fully absorbed in a struggle to purge...

Yayoflautas give out refreshments while participating in a general strike in Barcelona on March 29, 2012. (Oscar Martinez/Special to The Washington Times) BARCELONA — They occupy banks, stage sit-ins at government buildings and roar their rage at their own government and at German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They also use canes and crutches to get to these so-called “actions” — because their average age is 70. These Spanish grannies and grandpas, part of a protest movement for seniors called the “yayoflautas,” say you are never too old for a revolution. The change they want is for Spain to slow down...

Chris Christie, the bombastic New Jersey governor who has been under fire from conservatives for his effusive praise of Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy telephoned the president after his election win but only sent an email to Mitt Romney.

Yesterday, Buster Wilson of the American Family Association said that God will punish and curse America for re-electing Obama over his supposed mistreatment of Israel. He also lamented that health care reform will not be repealed and that if Obama has the opportunity to appoint new justices to the Supreme Court

SCARY THOUGHT: Did “Project Orca” Cost Romney the Election by Diverting Resources to Failing Computer Program? One of the big differences between Democrats and Republicans is that when Republicans lose an election, the knives come out and they eat their own. We’ll be seeing this for the next few years — much like we did after the McCain campaign — with Cocktail Party GOP operatives lashing out at various members of the Romney staff, blaming them for the loss in order to elevate themselves and get exposure for their own careers on tee-vee. Steve Schmidt, McCain’s campaign manager, is a...

Senior intelligence, State Department and FBI officials can expect to be grilled next week as congressional hearings resume on the terror attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya that killed four Americans. Lawmakers want answers to many outstanding questions surrounding the September 11 armed assault on the diplomatic facility and a CIA annex in Benghazi. Specifically, they want to know who was responsible, whether it was planned, the intelligence reporting on the threat to Libya prior the attack, and whether security was adequate. The Senate Intelligence Committee will conduct a closed-door hearing on November 15. Scheduled witnesses include Director...

a former oil executive who was made a bishop just over a year ago, will be the next leader of the Church of England, Downing Street confirmed on Friday morning. A press conference at Lambeth Palace took place to announce that the 56-year-old bishop of Durham will be the 105th man to sit on the throne of Saint Augustine, succeeding Rowan Williams. Welby will be enthroned as archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. He said: "To be nominated to this post is both astonishing and exciting. It is something I never expected, and the last few...

The Supreme Court said Friday that it will consider whether laws designed to protect minority voters are unconstitutional. The announcement comes just days after an election that demonstrated the increasing electoral clout of black and Hispanic voters, who helped propel President Obama to a second term. It's against that backdrop that the court will consider rolling back part of the Voting Rights Act, first passed in 1965, to prevent states from disenfranchising minorities. Specifically, the justices will hear a challenge to the section of the Voting Rights Act that requires certain states with a history of discrimination to get permission...