Free Republic

BOISE, Idaho – Lawmakers fearful the U.S. Supreme Court might one day reverse itself on the issue of individual gun rights aim to change the Idaho Constitution's definition of a militia to include all the state's adults. That way, argued Sen. Jim Rice of Caldwell Wednesday in the Senate State Affairs Committee, the federal government could never swoop in and disarm residents.

Since President Obama took office the national debt has increased by $3.7 trillion. To put that in perspective, it took the U.S. 216 years, from 1776 until 1992, to accumulate the same amount of debt that Obama has borrowed in 2.5 years.

This Is A Recipe For Massive Hyperinflation Bankruptcy Economics / HyperInflationFebruary 27, 2013 - 12:25 PM GMT By: Money MorningMartin Hutchinson Nobody was really shocked when Venezuela devalued the bolivar earlier this month from 4.3 to the dollar to 6.3. When it comes to the currency wars, massive devaluations are simply one of the keys to this "race to the bottom" strategy. But Venezuela's bad behavior, and that of several other countries in the region, means that several Latin American countries are now likely to suffer hyper-inflation or declare bankruptcy. For investors in Latin America, that raises the risks for...

The 2013 Academy Award broadcast generally steered clear of overt political statements, but two aspects of the occasion demonstrated the movie industry’s strong liberal values. Most obviously, the selection of First Lady Michelle Obama to announce the Best Picture winner in a live satellite connection from the White House seemed odd and out of place. For one thing, her pairing with co-presenter Jack Nicholson constituted one of the strangest couplings in Hollywood history: the First Lady is noted as a champion of a healthy lifestyle and wholesome values, while the proudly out-of-shape, drug-indulging, aging playboy Nicholson has always represented an...

In his 1978 Harvard University honors thesis, current treasury secretary nominee and White House chief of staff Jacob “Jack” Lew wrote that Social Security payments should be a guaranteed right, regardless of whether the program’s “trust fund” contains enough money to distribute to beneficiaries. And progressive income taxes, he argued — not payroll taxes — should be used to fund the program to the point where America would guarantee benefit payments beyond what taxpayers have paid into the system. “Old age and Medicare benefits are guaranteed as a matter of right,” he noted, “even though many recipients draw more benefits...

The most destructive ideologies of modern times have favored the notion that an essential human nature does not exist or, at most, is faint and extremely elastic. The enemies of civilization must subvert the idea that humans cannot be conditioned to accept any behavior, no matter how grotesque. These practitioners of human desensitization understand that getting humans to accept a repugnant behavior requires a slow and incremental and persistent exposure to behaviors that were previously felt to be disgusting. The enemies of civilization believe that humans as humans share no guiding moral sensibility. “Little by little we were taught all...

Imagine browsing Facebook one day and discovered a photograph of your 14-year-old daughter wearing a burqa – at school. That’s exactly what happened to a parent in Lumberton, Tex. She asked me not to disclose her identity because she fears for her daughter’s safety. Her daughter’s world geography class was supposed to be learning about the continents. Instead, they were given a tutorial in Islam – complete with authentic Muslim garments. Some of the young ladies were photographed – and the image has now gone viral. The students were told the purpose of the class was to change their perceptions...

Army Pfc. Bradley E. Manning, who faces a possible life sentence for leaking classified U.S. diplomatic cables to anti-secrecy group Wikileaks, will attempt to plead guilty to lesser charges at a pre-trial hearing Thursday. ~snip~ Prosecutors said that Pfc. Manning’s partial pleas are not connected to any plea bargain and that they plan to bring him to trial in June, according to the NBC News report.

Breitbart News has learned exclusively that Clint Eastwood has signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry. The brief, which will be released later this evening, has signatures from more than 100 Republican and conservative activists. It involves the case before the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn CA's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state. A well-placed GOP source provided Breitbart News with an early glimpse of the brief.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: You know, this really is unprecedented. It's not getting any attention. It's not getting any commentary whatsoever. It's barely even being reported. But, I mean, this is serious stuff. The president of the United States has opened up the jails. The president of the United States, because of budget cuts which have not happened yet, has released 500 or so illegal immigrants, and, by definition, of law, they are criminals. We mentioned this late in the program yesterday. Hundreds of illegal alien criminals have been released from illegal alien jail. Janet "Big Sis" Napolitano says that because...

Earlier today the Associated Press reported that a Department of Homeland Security official had resigned in the wake of the Obama administration’s decision to release thousands of illegal aliens awaiting the judicial process. The department cited budget cuts as the reason for the releases, despite the fact that the cuts would hit about one percent of DHS’s budget, and they have not even happened yet. The AP’s story turns out to have been premature. No one has been fired or resigned in the wake of the release scandal. The senior Homeland Security Department official in charge of arresting and deporting...

A 15-year-old girl in the Maldives who was allegedly raped by her stepfather was sentenced to 100 lashes for having premarital sex with a different man. During an investigation into the alleged rape by her stepfather, the girl eventually told police that she had consensual sex with a second man, Sky News reports. Sex outside marriage is illegal in the Maldives, which operates under Islamic law. Amnesty International said the punishment was "cruel, degrading and inhumane," while the Maldivian government didn’t agree with the sentencing and is considering changing the law, the BBC reports. In addition to the rape, the...

...snip... The company, based in Plano, Tex., says it lost $552 million, or $2.51 per share, for the period ended Feb. 2. That compares with a loss of $87 million, or 41 cents per share in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped 28.4 percent to $3.88 billion. Analysts were expecting a loss of 23 cents on revenue of $4.08 billion. Revenue at stores opened at least a year dropped 31.7 percent. ...snip

The big winner of the fight over Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense is not President Barack Obama, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Democrats have called Paul’s views on Israel “deeply disturbing” because he wants to end foreign aid to Israel (eventually). Yet they have forever lost the ability to lecture anyone about their views on Israel, least of all Paul, who has made a serious effort to understand Israel’s challenges. Here is a partial list of the bizarre views on Israel that Democrats have proven willing to accept in a high official by backing Hagel to lead the...

Planned Parenthood is airing a new TV ad attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican joined a brief with 10 other GOP lawmakers this week supporting the craft chain Hobby Lobby in its lawsuit seeking to avoid mandatory health coverage of birth control pills in its employee health plans. Utah GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch led the group of senators in their effort, The Washington Times reported. Planned Parenthood, displeased with that development, today unveiled this TV ad running on network affiliates in the Lexington and Louisville markets: The group did not say how much it is spending to...

Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. (NYSE-RGR), announced today that for 2012, the Company reported net sales of $491.8 million and fully diluted earnings of $3.60 per share, compared with net sales of $328.8 million and fully diluted earnings of $2.09 per share in 2011. For the fourth quarter of 2012, net sales were $141.8 million and fully diluted earnings were $1.00 per share. For the corresponding period in 2011, net sales were $93.2 million and fully diluted earnings were 54¢ per share. The Company also announced today that its Board of Directors declared a dividend of 40.4¢ per share for...

Twenty years ago, on February 28th 1993, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) launched an assault on the Branch Davidian religious compound just outside Waco, Texas. The resulting siege ended more than seven weeks later, on April 19, but not before claiming the lives of 80 men, women and children -- many burned to death in the final inferno that destroyed the compound. Even today, videos of the burning buildings remain vivid reminders of an assault gone horribly wrong, from start to finish; and, lessons from what has become known as the “Waco Tragedy” should be borne...

President Barack Obama is pulling out all the stops to warn just what could happen if automatic budget cuts kick in. Americans are reacting with a collective yawn.They know the drill: Obama raises the alarm, Democrats and Republicans accuse each other of holding a deal hostage, there's a lot of yelling on cable news, and then finally, when everyone has made their points, a deal is struck and the day is saved. Maybe not this time. Two days before $85 billion in cuts are set to hit federal programs with all the precision of a wrecking ball, there are no...

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: $85 billion sequester quickly approaching and a debt quickly headed towards $17 trillion. Sound like reasons for concern? Well, not if you ask Vice President Joe Biden, the vice president saying the American people are no longer worried about our economy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're no longer traumatized by what was a traumatizing event, the great collapse in 2008. They're no longer worried, I think, about our economy being overwhelmed either by Europe writ large, the EU, or China somehow swallowing up every bit of innovation...

The people of Gaza live their lives in constant fear. Fear is what motivates their every action, their every choice in life. On one side they face the formidable might of Israel, whom they see as the enemy. Within, they face the unrelenting, barbaric control of Hamas and their leadership who consider them expendable. Whom do they fear more? Is it the Israeli reprisals or the Hamas chokehold? There is no contest here! Hamas is much more threatening to the man in the Gazan street than Israel is. Hamas is a constant threat to every Gazan individual. One false move,...