Free Republic

Aside from Ronald Reagan, no one did more than Sen. Jesse Helms to advance the cause of freedom in the world in the past 30 years. President Reagan's contributions - staving off a communist takeover in Central America, denying trade credits and technology to the Communist Bloc, and overseeing a military buildup that ultimately won the Cold War - are well known. But the indispensable role played by the North Carolina Republican, who died July 4th at age 86, may as well be ancient history to many Americans, especially to members of the under-30 You Tube generation, many of whom...

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, NRA President David Keene said gun-control activists threatened to kill his son and daughter. The threats began soon after the Newtown, Conn., shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which thrust the NRA to the forefront of the gun control debate. “Civility is only required of us, civility doesn’t count for them,” the NRA president told The Caller. is set to publish the interview on Monday, Feb. 4.

Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera said on his radio program Thursday that he's been in touch 'with some people in the Republican Party in New Jersey' about a run in 2014.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt (R.) introduced a bill to eliminate the salaries of the Democratic board members Sharon Block and Richard Griffin in the wake of a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling declaring their “recess appointments” unconstitutional. “This bill would terminate the salaries of Obama’s illegal NLRB appointees and block the board from taking any action until these appointees are legally confirmed,” Blunt wrote in an op-ed in Reuters introducing the bill. The bill has already gained a number of prominent GOP cosponsors since Blunt introduced it on Wednesday, including Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), Ted Cruz (Texas), Tim Scott...

<p>One of the nation's leading gay-rights advocacy groups, the Human Rights Campaign, has formed a coalition of major companies calling for the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.</p> <p>It's no surprise, of course, that the HRC in Washington would use its considerable clout to organize big businesses to fight DOMA, the law that excludes recognition of same-sex marriages.</p>

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration adopted a strict definition of affordable health insurance on Wednesday that will deny federal financial assistance to millions of Americans with modest incomes who cannot afford family coverage offered by employers. In deciding whether an employer’s health plan is affordable, the Internal Revenue Service said it would look at the cost of coverage only for an individual employee, not for a family. Family coverage might be prohibitively expensive, but federal subsidies would not be available to help buy insurance for children in the family. The policy decision came in a final regulation interpreting ambiguous language...

Of course it ended in a cliffhanger -- and also raised more questions than it put to bed. As the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax saga entered its third week, and with America seemingly desperate to finally look away, Part I of Dr. Phil McGraw's two-part grilling of admitted hoax mastermind Ronaiah Tuiasosopo turned out to be largely an appetizer for Part 2. The Dr. Phil show ended Thursday with McGraw confronting Tuiasosopo about the latter's assertion he was the actual voice of Lennay Kekua. Kekua is the character Tuiasosopo created and Te'o purportedly fell in love with, through on-line contact...

<p>An explosion at the main headquarters of Mexico's state- owned oil company in the capital Thursday heavily damaged three floors of the building, sending hundreds into the streets and a large plume of smoke over the skyline. Local media reported that at least one person had died and about 40 were injured.</p>

**SNIP** Under the new law, the interior lights of nonresidential buildings will have to be turned off an hour after the last worker leaves, and lights on building facades and in shop windows will have to be extinguished by 1 a.m. Ms. Batho also presented the decree as a matter of public health. Artificial lighting can damage sleep patterns, she said, and also “cause significant disruptions on ecosystems by changing communication between species, migrations, reproduction cycles or even the prey-predator relationships.”

The foreign ministry summoned the head of the U.N. force in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to deliver the protest a day after Israel hit what Syria said was a military research centre and diplomats said was a weapons convoy heading for Lebanon. "Syria holds Israel and those who protect it in the Security Council fully responsible for the results of this aggression and affirms its right to defend itself, its land and sovereignty," Syrian television quoted it as saying.

NEW ORLEANS -- Three black former NFL coaches say the league needs to rethink its Rooney Rule for promoting minority hiring after 15 top vacancies -- eight head coaching jobs and seven general manager positions -- were all filled by white candidates since the regular season ended a month ago. "I know the concept is good and something we need to do," said Tony Dungy, who was with the Indianapolis Colts during the 2006 season when he became the first black coach to win a Super Bowl. "Obviously, it's not working the way it should." The Rooney Rule, implemented in...

Inquirer staff Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2013, 5:47 PM The son-in-law of Gov. Corbett, a narcotics officer with the Philadelphia Police Department, is under investigation by the FBI and was removed from the street today, sources said. The Philadelphia Police department confirmed that a narcotics officer was taken off the street and placed on administrative leave Thursday, following the results of an FBI and Internal Affairs investigation. The department said it would not identify the officer because he had not been arrested or formally charged. He was identified by sources as Gerold Gibson, Corbett's son-in-law. Gov. Corbett, attending a Chamber...

Oil And Politics: Beijing plays the debt card as the Obama administration quietly lets China acquire major ownership interests in oil and natural gas resources across the U.S. at the same time it blocks the Keystone pipeline. Normally, foreign investment in the U.S. is to be welcomed. It creates jobs, boosts economic growth and promotes trade and exports. But when that investor is an ambitious and increasingly belligerent China to whom we owe over a trillion dollars, eyebrows and concerns need to be raised. Reversing a Bush administration policy, the Obama administration is encouraging Beijing to acquire equity interests in...

A staffer at left-wing Media Matters for America committed numerous felonies in the District of Columbia and around the country by carrying a firearm to defend the organization’s founder, David Brock, The Daily Caller has learned. According to a knowledgeable source, multiple firearms used to protect the Media Matters founder were purchased with Brock’s blessing — and apparently with the group’s money. TheDC has previously reported that Brock’s one-time aide, Haydn Price-Morris, carried a concealed Glock handgun as he traveled with the liberal leader to public events in Washington, D.C. But the extent of Brock’s armed activities have been largely...

Watch the clip below. He’s also been reassuring senators that he won’t have a policymaking role as SecDef, in case they’re leery of tasking an unqualified incompetent with so much responsibility. He’s basically daring Democrats to vote no, isn’t he?

Dozens of Palestinian Authority Arabs re-entered a demolished outpost near Jerusalem and started to rebuild it, the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency reported. The illegal outpost, which Arabs have named al-Karamah (Dignity), was established last Friday near the PA Arab village of Beit Iksa, located between the Ramot and Mevasseret Zion neighborhoods of Jerusalem. On Saturday, the Arabs who set up the outpost said they planned to erect more tents in the outpost, as well as finish the construction of a small mosque in the encampment. The Arabs have said that the reason for the outpost is the fact that Beit...

Over three programs and two days, ABC devoted 15 minutes to a fawning profile of Hillary Clinton. On Wednesday's Nightline, Cynthia McFadden even compared the outgoing Secretary of State to Thomas Jefferson, hinting that Clinton could follow his footsteps to the White House. McFadden lauded, "There was a time not so very long ago when Hillary Clinton was seen as one of the most divisive figures in American politics." Noting Clinton's high approval rating, she announced this view was "changing." VideoIn an interview that, just coincidentally occurred in front of a statue of Jefferson, the reporter embarrassingly hyped, "As Jefferson...

LONDON - Archaeologists will reveal next week whether a skeleton with a cleaved skull and a curved spine entombed under a municipal parking lot is that of Richard III, the last English king to die in battle, more than five centuries ago. The grey, concrete parking lot with its red-brick walls and a payment hut in Leicester, central England, contrasts sharply with the grandeur of traditional sepulchres for English kings and queens such as Windsor Castle and Westminster Abbey. The defeated Richard’s lost grave has proved to be as elusive as the reputation of the monarch, portrayed by Shakespeare as...

It’s fascinating, actually, to see a nominee of this importance do so poorly. Chuck Hagel, nominated for defense secretary, has gone from awful to atrocious today, having to deny the obvious meaning of words he previously authored (on Global Zero), correct himself repeatedly (no, he didn’t mean Iran’s government was “legitimate”) and find himself simply unable to explain himself. Forgetting about his views, he does not radiate the confidence nor project the intelligence the job demands. It is unclear whether he was not prepped properly, whether he refused to be coached or whether he simply isn’t bright.

'A young couple who receive more than £17,000 a year in benefits appeared on ITV's This Morning to defend their taxpayer-funded lifestyle this week. Danny Creamer, 21, and Gina Allan, 18, who live in a comfortable two-bedroom flat in Portsmouth with their four month old daughter, Talulah Rose, infuriated viewers and Daily Mail readers as they argued they are better off on £17k benefits and that unless they are able to find jobs that pay £18,000 a year or more, there's no point in working. With hours of the show airing a business owner had contacted the show and offered...