Free Republic

It becomes a difficult task for those in power to resist the lure of acquiring even more power. The more they have, the more they want. No such example exists greater than that of New York City mayor-king Michael Bloomberg. This is the man who brought into existence the absurd and absurdly named National Salt Reduction Initiative, an incentive-based program designed to reduce the amount of salt in restaurant and prepackaged food. This is the man who, last year, banned the sale of sugary drinks, like sodas, in more than 16-oz containers. Why? Because what’s good for Bloomberg is what’s...

Senator Rand Paul talks to Peter Schiff on his radio show about his response to the State of the Union address, economics, and government spending. 14:00

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on Glenn Beck’s radio show this morning to discuss a variety of topics. After commenting about the need to combat President Barack Obama’s use of executive power, the politician dove into the spiritual realm. Noting that he believes America’s problems run deeper than political schisms, Paul called for a spiritual awakening and revival. The senator made his comments about the need for faith leaders to rise up and called for increased religious fervor after Beck asked him about his own spiritual well-being. Paul said that when he was first running for office he appreciated people...

According to a new study by the George Soros-funded Center for Economic Policy and Research, minimum wage should be $21.72 an hour to keep up with the increase of worker productivity. Highlighting that study, The Huffington Post bemoaned President Barack Obama’s call for a higher minimum wage as a “far cry from what workers really deserve,” in a Feb. 13 blog post.

Economic growth is in the negative, unemployment is on the rise, Walmart's forecasting a disastrous February for retail sales, poverty's up, gas prices are up, the cost of health care premiums are up, middle class incomes are falling, consumer confidence is at a two year low, our deficit is unsustainable, and Barack Obama has just signed up for private golf lessons with two of the top teachers in the country.

<p>‘I’m also issuing a new goal for America,” declared President Obama at his State of the Union on Tuesday. We’ll come to the particular “goal” he “issued” momentarily, but before we do, consider that formulation: Did you know the president of the United States is now in the business of “issuing goals” for his subjects to live up to?</p>

Authorities say fugitive former cop Christopher Dorner died of a single gunshot wound to the head as authorities were pumping tear gas into a mountain cabin during a deadly gun battle with sheriff's deputies. San Bernardino County sheriff's Capt. Sheriff John McMahon told reporters Friday that it appears the wound was self-inflicted. Deputies said they heard one final gunshot from the cabin as it was going up in flames during Tuesday's gunbattle. Before he died, Dorner killed one sheriff's deputy and wounded another during a fierce shootout. Authorities initially were unsure whether Dorner killed himself, had been struck by a...

A team of FBI agents has been conducting interviews in recent weeks in the Dominican Republic and the United States, looking into allegations that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) patronized prostitutes in the Caribbean nation, but has found no evidence to support the claim, according to two people familiar with the investigation. One person said agents have asked about whether a Florida eye doctor — a close friend and major campaign donor to Menendez — provided the senator with prostitutes on vacations there. Another person said investigators are looking into allegations involving underage prostitutes and sex parties. The two, who spoke...

DENVER — The first of four Democratic gun proposals to be heard Friday, a ban on high-capacity magazines, cleared the statehouse on an initial voice vote around 3 p.m. after a six-hour debate. “Over the course of the last four or five years, we’ve had 34 mass shootings using high capacity magazines,” said Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, whose district includes the Century 16 theater where 12 people were killed in a mass shooting last July. “That is the common thread we see in these massacres. They’re using these high-capacity magazines so they can unload as many bullets as they can...

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, South Carolina Congressman Jeff Duncan announced that he would be returning a significant portion of his office budget to the taxpayers for the second year in a row. Duncan’s wish is that the returned funds be used to pay down the national debt. Duncan announced that his office would be returning around $200,000 or 15.2% of his overall budget. That figure is on top of a mandatory 11.1% cumulative cut to all Congressional Offices over the past two years.

As stranded Carnival Cruise passengers began finally disembarking in Mobile, Alabama, late Thursday evening, MSNBC had NBC News correspondent Mark Potter on the scene to speak with them. One young lady during her over three minute interview tried to cite a Bible verse that helped her get through the ordeal, but Potter pulled his microphone away and quickly ended the discussion (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Liberals all over America are just giddy over the way newly elected Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren blasted bank regulators in a Senate hearing this week. They are singing her praises as the champion of the consumer. The Huffington Post reported on her performance with the headline, “Elizabeth Warren Embarrasses Bank Regulators at First Hearing.” A YouTube video was also posted with the same title. The 4 minute video shows Senator Warren confronting top bank regulators from the FDIC, SEC, OCC, CFTC, Fed, and Treasury. The video is shown below. Another site, Gawker.com, reported the same story with the headline, “Elizabeth...

President Barack Obama acknowledged on Friday that he wished his father had been a bigger part of his life as he argued that stronger families are just as important as gun control in reducing crime and violence in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Obama returned to his old home neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago with a different take on his gun control message - that it will require an improved home environment for children to reduce the possibility that they will one day resort to violence. To do that, he said, will require better economic conditions for low- and middle-class Americans,...

Moscow, February 11, Interfax - Egypt is undergoing complex historical transformations; one should be patient and hope for a positive outcome, Russian Ambassador to Cairo Sergey Kirpichenko said in an interview with Voice of Russia radio. The scale of Egypt's Islamization should not be exaggerated, he said. The country took the Islamization course back in the 1970s when Anwar El Sadat was the president, the diplomat recalled. It was when the authorities started flirting with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic political forces, and the revolution of 2011 brought those forces to power. "I do not think there is a...

My Dear Senator Feinstein, Thank you for your personal reply to my concerns about the banning of AR-15's and similar weapons. I think that neither justice nor the Constitution is served by punishing an entire nation for the act of a random madman. I have recently re-read both the 2008 Heller and the 2010 McDonald United States Supreme Court opinions. I believe that these decisions put your legislation on tenuous Constitutional grounds at best. The Heller case found that to ban an entire class of firearms was clearly unconstitutional under the 2nd Amendment. The case specifically referred to handguns, quote,...

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was charged in federal court Friday with conspiring to use campaign funds for personal use -- in an alleged $750,000 spending spree that included purchases of a gold-plated Rolex and pricey children's furniture. It had been expected that a plea agreement would be entered into court Friday, but that agreement is apparently still pending. Instead, federal prosecutors charged Jackson Friday with conspiracy. Prosecutors separately charged his wife Sandi with filing false federal tax returns, but according to her attorney she has reached a plea agreement. In a statement, the former Illinois Democratic congressman said he...

Universal background checks before gun purchases can have an enormous impact on reducing firearm-related deaths, according to testimony presented before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee this week. Missouri, the site of President Barack Obama’s recent gun control speech, had a firm “permit-to-purchase” law in place until 2007, when it was repealed. The law -- which both the Missouri Sport Shooting Association and NRA helped overturn -- required Missouri residents to obtain a sheriff’s permit before purchasing a concealable weapon. Control... Groupon Ends Gun-Related Deals After Sandy Hook Massacre Groupon Ends Gun-Related Deals After... Sponsored Link Image Ad AT&T® Official Site...

Beijing: China's new Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has warned cadres of a Soviet-style collapse if the party is confronted with ideological dissent, military disloyalty and corruption, the deadly mix that led to the dramatic disintegration of once mighty Soviet Union. China must heed the still "deeply profound" lessons of the former Soviet Union, where political rot, ideological heresy and military disloyalty brought down the governing party, Xi, 59, reportedly told party leaders during his tour of Guangdong province in December last year soon after his election as the General Secretary of the ruling party a month before. "Why did...

I’m not one to ramble on about abuses of freedom. It isn’t really my style. But every now and then something comes up that I feel needs a wider audience. And the controversy surrounding 3D printed gun parts has brought up some big issues for me this week. In 3D Printing to End Gun Control, Guns.com writer S.H. Blannelberry looked at new uses for an emerging manufacturing technology. 3D printers, which are becoming more affordable, smaller, and more efficient, are used to print just about everything imaginable. Even gun parts. The fear, obviously, is that printed guns will get in...

Cheaper Than Dirt just made the largest single contribution to the Second Amendment Foundation and first “Diamond Level” donation of $100,000. The Second Amendment Foundation is pretty happy about this. “The level of support from CheaperThanDirt both delighted and shocked me,” said Second Amendment Foundation director Ray Carter. “SAF has never before received a single donation of this size and by itself Cheaper Than Dirt’s contribution will make possible a major expansion of SAF legal action and education efforts. We are privileged to consider Cheaper Than Dirt a partner in our efforts.” “Created in response to the generous donation from...