Free Republic

The son-in-law of the elderly couple killed this week in a package bomb explosion at their Tennessee home has been charged in the case, authorities said Thursday evening. A grand jury returned indictments of felony first-degree murder and felony first-degree premeditated murder against Richard Parker, 49, police said at a press conference. Authorities would not elaborate on how they came to identify him as the suspect, and said he was arrested at his home on Thursday.

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker apologized Monday for a newly surfaced photograph that shows him making the same gesture with anti-Semitic connotations that French footballer Nicolas Anelka displayed while celebrating a goal this weekend, creating an uproar in their home country. The photograph shows Parker and a French comedian making a gesture known in France as a “quenelle,” which critics describe as inverted Nazi salute. Parker said in a statement released through the Spurs that the photograph was taken three years ago. Parker, who was born in Belgium but raised in France, said he didn’t know...

Elenor Parker was one of my favorites and now she's gone.

If the last two presidential elections tell us anything, it’s that Republicans don’t succeed with candidates who lack clear vision and conviction consistent with the party’s conservative platform. Given this, I understand why Democrats think that New Jersey governor Chris Christie should be a leading contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. But why would any Republican see a typical political operative like Christie as presidential material? With the information we have in front of us today, there is every reason to believe that 2016 will be a year of opportunity for Republicans to run a serious and exciting reform-minded...

We ought to think about the cultural roots of the budget crisis in Washington. The political left says the shutdown is all about an ideological tantrum of a handful of Republicans. Certainly, tea partiers have an ideology and vision about what ground rules would produce a more prosperous, freer and fairer America. But let's be honest. The gentleman in the White House, our president, is as hard core in his ideological dispositions as any tea partier. Each side believes America would be better off if it were run according to their vision. What's the crucial difference? As a tea partier,...

In a clear attempt to woo largely establishment conservative commentators who have loudly opposed the GOP’s current government shutdown strategy, President Obama held an off-the-record meeting with the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer, the Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot, National Review’s Washington editor Robert Costa, syndicated columnist and former CNN co-host Kathleen Parker, and Byron York of the Washington Examiner.

PHOENIX - U.S. Representative Kyrsten Sinema was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation that made a three-day visit to Afghanistan this week. The Arizona Democrat's office says the delegation went to Afghanistan to see the drawdown of the American military presence and the transition of security responsibilities to Afghan forces.

<p>In April 2007, a mentally disturbed student showed up at the campus of his school, Virginia Tech, brandishing two semi-automatic pistols. He murdered 32 students, teachers and school employees and wounded 17 others before taking his own life.</p> <p>It was the one of deadliest mass shooting incidents in American history.</p>

I don't believe there are any spoilers in my review, most of the stuff is shown in the movie ads. Reader discretion is advised.

Rob Parker, the commentator who created controversy when he questioned whether Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III is a “cornball brother” because he has a white fiancee, has been fired by ESPN. (snip) So why did Parker’s discipline change from a 30-day suspension to termination? ESPN isn’t saying, but it may be that the network was unhappy with a recent interview Parker gave in which he said that ESPN knew what he was going to say on the air before he said it. In that interview, Parker also seemed to backtrack on his previous apology, complaining that people took his “cornball...

snip “But time and time we keep hearing this, so it just makes me wonder deeper about him,” Parker went on. “And I’ve talked to some people down in Washington D.C., friends of mine, who are around and at some of the press conferences, people I’ve known for a long time. But my question, which is just a straight honest question. Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother?” What does that mean, Parker was asked. “Well, [that] he’s black, he kind of does his thing, but he’s not really down with the cause, he’s not one of...

Robert M. Parker Jr., widely regarded as the world's most powerful wine critic, has some far-reaching changes planned for his 34-year-old newsletter, the Wine Advocate. Mr. Parker intends to phase out the print version of the newsletter, which he built over the past several decades into one of the most influential voices on wine. He also said he intends to step down as its editor in chief, turning over editorial oversight to his Singapore-based correspondent, Lisa Perrotti-Brown.

Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona offered a little bit of everything, including a Member vs. Member race and what GOP strategists are calling “a gift.” The 9th District is brand new, after the Grand Canyon State was awarded another seat in Congress through reapportionment, and its first general election could be a fascinating race between an openly bisexual Democrat and an African-American Republican. Kyrsten Sinema won the Democratic nomination with 42 percent over state Senate Leader David Schapira (31 percent) and former state party chairman Andrei Cherny (27 percent). Vernon Parker, an official in both Bush administrations and Paradise Valley city...

We all saw how the media reacted yesterday. Overnight, Chief Justice John Roberts went from a pariah to, literally in the eyes of the media, one of the great justices in the history of the Court. We also saw how the media suddenly found the dreaded 5-4 Supreme Court decision perfectly acceptable. Do not make the mistake of thinking that what you witnessed yesterday was some sort of bias or double standard. It wasn't. It was a payoff to a tactic the media's been using for years to co-opt narcissistic Republicans desperate for affirmation. Explaining what happened yesterday is going...

At her swanky Manhattan home, Sarah Jessica Parker held a fundraiser for Barack Obama. NEW YORK - Facing a tightening presidential race and onslaught of cash from pro-Republican outside groups, President Obama tonight got a boost from some of his loyal allies in the film and fashion industries with an exclusive multimillion dollar campaign fundraiser at the home of actress Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband, actor Matthew Broderick. A party of 50 donors, each paying $40,000 to attend, gathered around a long table just inside the entryway of Parker's four-story brownstone in the West Village to dine with the...

Former NC Democratic staffer may sueThursday, May 31, 2012 RALEIGH (WTVD) -- There may soon be more fallout from a sexual harassment scandal the state Democratic party recently faced. A former staffer is considering filing a lawsuit against the party and its chairman, David Parker. Raleigh attorney Kieran Shanahan sent a letter to Parker asking him to preserve all records related to Adriadn Ortega's employment and sexual harassment complaints.

N.C. Democratic Party Chair David Parker Refuses to ResignChairman calls alleged sexual harasser ‘a close talker’ By David N. Bass Apr. 19th, 2012 RALEIGH — David Parker, the embattled chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, refused to resign during a Thursday afternoon press conference convened to address salacious allegations of sexual harassment at the party. With students released for recess at the next-door Catholic day school screaming in the background, Parker said that he would not stand for re-election to the chairmanship and, instead, would request that an election for a replacement be rescheduled from June 17 to May...

Rick Santorum has announced his “Faith, Family, and Freedom” tour in Iowa. Santorum may be dragging up the rear in the line-up of Republican presidential candidates, but I am grateful to him for being the only candidate who insists that the so-called “social issues” remain an integral, explicit part of his agenda. That’s not to say that the other conservative candidates disagree with Santorum’s take on these issues – traditional values, abortion, marriage – but Santorum has been the only one to insist that you cannot consider the economy independent of the way the individual human beings that make up...

The legacy of 9/11 can’t be fully measured even now, but perhaps the most damaging aspect can be found in our national discourse. Taking the long view, it is possible to see the roots of today’s political dysfunction — the hate, fear, anger and resentment — firmly planted in the soil at Ground Zero.

Link only - Kathleen Parker: Perry's lead points to a battle within the GOP for 'godliest'