Free Republic

The Great Gun Debate shows American political discourse at its irrational worst; with both left and right promoting panic and hysteria that distracts attention from the nation’s truly menacing problems. Instead of addressing crushing deficits, economic stagnation, political gridlock, and the erosion of middle-class security, politicians and pundits obsess over gun violence—one of the few challenges where the United States has made dramatic progress in recent years. How can the president and his supporters work themselves into a self-righteous lather over minor regulatory adjustments that have been tried before with no measurable impact on the rate of firearms crime? And...

'God, Guns and Constitution' leader fears 'civil unrest' coming WASHINGTON – The highest levels of the U.S. government are fomenting “civil unrest” that soon could leave “blood in our streets,” a key Christian pastor said Tuesday at a pro-Second Amendment rally in Washington. Rev. William Owens Jr., director of community outreach for the Coalition of African-American Pastors and leader of God, Guns & the Constitution, said America has in many ways has passed the point of no return and its citizens will have to be “chastised” before they awaken to the reality of their situation. His goal now is “strengthening...

<p>Give the administration credit for its creativity. The theatrical show President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are putting on in their effort to foist gun control on the public disguises a more subtle push to disarm America in the name of protecting cops. On Monday, Mr. Obama invited police chiefs from towns that have had mass shootings to the White House for a discussion on firearms and, more importantly, a photo opportunity.</p>

President Obama is riding a wave of personal popularity into his second term, with his highest favorability ratings since his first year in office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.Fully 60 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Obama in the new poll, up slightly from October but a clear shift in opinion from an election year in which his ratings hovered in the mid-to-low 50s. And by 39 percent to 26 percent, the president now has more “strongly” positive ratings than strongly negative reviews, breaking a two-year stretch in which intense opposition was on par...

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that President Obama’s “recess appointments” to the National Labor Relations Board last January were invalid. The decision effectively nullifies every action taken by the NLRB over the last year. The Obama Administration is expected to appeal the Court’s decision, alleging that “the pro forma sessions convened by the Senate to avoid being in a ‘recess status’ were a sham aimed at denying the President the opportunity to make valid recess appointments as provided for in the Constitution.” The fact that the Senate is controlled by the...

News Alert: Economy Shrinks in the Fourth Quarter, 2012 – unexpectedly, of course. Big Guy, Te’oing the Recovery What? I thought we would be in the middle of a massive Keynesian recovery by now; that’s what swept Big Guy to reelection, right? I guess the the economy in retrograde is good news for Senator Mary “I am not going to keep cutting the discretionary budget, which by the way is not out of control, despite what you hear on Fox News”  Landrieu, however. Although it looks like we may have a bigger problem than Fox News, this latest economic report...

For all the talk about President Obama’s liberalism, his immigration agenda is the last thing you might expect: conservative. His enemies might deny it. His staff might not recognize it. But the argument Obama presented Tuesday for a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants is rooted in economic and social conservatism. First, in a Las Vegas address that included the words “economy” or “economic” 10 times, Obama argued that immigration fuels corporate innovation. “It keeps our workforce young. It keeps our country on the cutting edge,” he said. “And it’s helped build the greatest economic engine the world...

The White House on Wednesday blamed a surprising economic decline in the fourth quarter of 2012 on the uncertainty of the ‘fiscal cliff’ feud with Congress and the effects of Superstorm Sandy. Alan Krueger, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, said the first contraction of the GDP in 3½ years was partly because “federal defense spending declined precipitously, likely due to uncertainty stemming from the sequester” — deep automatic defense and non-defense spending cuts that were narrowly avoided at the end of last year. He also said Sandy, which struck the East Coast in late October, “disrupted economic...

According to CNN, Gabrielle Giffords, Mark Kelly and the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre will testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on America’s gun violence crisis. You can watch it below. It begins at 10:00 AM ET.

Did you see that hard-hitting report on "60 Minutes" Sunday, the one that charged that one of our nation's most famous leaders and role models is a shameless liar, a ruthless intimidator and even "incinerator" of enemies, a man who operates like the Mafia? No, that wasn't the interview with Barack Obama alongside Hillary Clinton. It was an interview later in the same show about the drug-enhanced bicyclist Lance Armstrong. That's CBS News for you -- a guy who pedals a bike through France is hammered as if he is the most powerful man in the world, while the most...

Archbishop-elect Alexander Sample speaks with John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews' editor-in-chief WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 29, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the Obama administration and the U.S. Bishops remain locked in battle over the HHS mandate, the question on the minds of many observers is: what lengths are the bishops willing to go to to oppose the mandate? The prelates LifeSiteNews spoke to after the Vigil Mass for Life in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 24th indicated that they intend to do everything they can to oppose the mandate, including risking imprisonment if necessary. "I would be willing to go to jail in defense of religious...

President Obama, looking for a high school with a majority Hispanic population to use as a backdrop for his demagogic speech on immigration reform, settled on Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, the same children to whom Obama spoke of opportunity are deprived of it at Del Sol, which dramatically underachieves academically. According to Del Sol’s 2010-2011 School Accountability Summary Report, 54% of Hispanic students attending Del Sol were “non-proficient” in math. The school lags behind both the statewide standards and the standards of the school district on reading, writing, and mathematics; just 27% of the school...

They’re not contributing members. They take away jobs from Americans, leech off the social benefits system and commit a number of crimes besides the whole “illegal entry” deal. Jails tend to be full of illegal aliens for a reason. "Every day, like the rest of us, they go out and try to earn a living. Often they do that in a shadow economy — a place where employers may offer them less than the minimum wage or make them work overtime without extra pay. And when that happens, it’s not just bad for them, it’s bad for the entire economy....

Only Rebellion Can Save America The US federal government has strayed so far from the Constitution and the rule of law that it can now be considered rogue and illegitimate. Written by Lawrence Sellin The thoroughly irresponsible rate of government spending projected over the next twenty-five years will drive federal debt to unsustainable levels. The country is heading for a financial meltdown and economic ruin. The Republican Party is inept and impotent and cannot provide the necessary political opposition to the crimes and unconstitutional policies of the Obama regime or stand against the rampant voter fraud which is now polluting...

There is one question, and only one question, that you should ask President Obama or U.S. Sen. John McCain about their amnesty — sorry, their “pathway to citizenship” — immigration reform proposals: If every illegal immigrant were granted instant citizenship this Monday, what would happen to the illegal immigrant who slips across the border on Tuesday? We all know the answer already: Nothing. Everything you’re hearing in both Obama and Senate proposals about “heightened border security” and “unmanned drones” is three-card-Monte stuff. Obama, who helped kill an immigration reform deal in 2007 authored by U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, isn’t interested...

... According to a press release, three Congressional leaders sent a letter on Monday night to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, seeking documents related to the Dept. of State's Accountability Review Board (ARB) report on the failures that led to the attack that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. "Unfortunately, the ARB did not address some important questions about the attacks in Benghazi, which we believe may contain crucial lessons learned for other U.S. facilities abroad to follow,”the letter states, citingthe board’s failure to interview the Secretary and key deputies, a lack...

The House, under the leadership of Speaker John Boehner, has precipitated a postponement in the debt ceiling fight until May. This represents a strategic choice by Boehner to make the Sequester fight, not the debt ceiling fight, the next major engagement. Much of the mainstream media now is accusing Congress of “kicking the can down the road.” They are missing the strategic implications. In retrospect, at the Battle at Fiscal Cliff, Boehner took President Obama to the cleaners. He did it suavely, without histrionics. While Obama churlishly, and in a politically amateurish manner, publicly strutted about having forced the Republicans...

According to Gallup, President Obama is tied with George W. Bush for most unpopular re-elected president since Gallup began measuring presidential job-approval in 1945. In fact, Gallup found that apart from Bush, "every president...has had a higher job-approval rating in the January following his reelection than Obama has." Obama´s approval rating is at 52. Think about it this way--following reelection, President Reagan´s approval numbers beat Obama´s by 11 points, President Eisenhower´s beat Obama´s by 21, and a much-derided Republican President named Richard Nixon

This afternoon in Las Vegas, President Obama reminded most American citizens that they were descended from immigrants themselves. Obama warned that the issue was an emotional one, but that it was important for Americans to not view it as “us versus them.” “It’s really important to remember our history,” Obama continued. “Unless you were one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from someplace else, somebody brought you,” he said

Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director John Morton. “Last year, I joined with my colleagues at a press conference with the top representatives of the nation’s rank-and-file immigration law enforcement officers,” Sessions said on Tuesday. “The president with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office and the Border Patrol. Those associations or unions elected to serve as the voice of their fellow officers gave a chilling report at that press conference right over in the Senate building with several other senators. They gave a chilling report about the administration’s systemic...