Free Republic

Speaking in front of hundreds at a rally in South Carolina on Tuesday, Donald Trump read a number he said people could use to reach South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s private cell phone. Trump and Graham have engaged in an ongoing feud in the past few days as they battle for the Republican presidential nomination. In Trump’s speech Tuesday, he called Graham an “idiot,” after Graham called him a “jackass,” in an interview Monday with CNN’s Kate Bolduan. Trump gave out the number and urged attendees to call it. “Give it a shot,” Trump said, urging people to call the...

Controversial Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leads the GOP primary in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll... That's even though a majority of Americans, including most Republicans, say Trump does not represent the Republican Party's core values, and six in 10 overall -- including three in 10 in his own party -- say they wouldn't consider him for president were he the GOP nominee. ... How long the Trump surge will last is an open question; this poll was conducted Thursday through Sunday before his controversial criticism Saturday of Sen. John McCain's status as a war hero. And Trump's support...

I was interested to read the article from The Sun News on Thursday about the last-minute delay of the permit to pave International Drive. This project will take thousands of cars off of the gridlock of Highway 501, and relieve congestion in Carolina Forest. On the day before we were to receive the permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coastal Conservation League filed an appeal. It seems they want the road to be redesigned to include multiple bear crossings, at a cost of millions of dollars to the taxpayers of Horry County. That’s millions of scarce taxpayer dollars...

SUMMERVILLE, SC (WCBD) — Dozens of trucks with the Confederate Flag flying from the back met in Summerville Saturday afternoon.

Congressman Jeff Duncan Announces Ted Cruz as First Confirmed Speaker for 5th Annual Faith & Freedom BBQ on Monday, August 24, 2015 Anderson, SC-South Carolina Congressman Jeff Duncan announced today that US Senator and Presidential candidate Ted Cruz will be one of the special guests at this year's 5th Annual Faith & Freedom BBQ. "Senator Cruz has been a strong voice for the people in Washington, and I'm looking forward to bringing him to South Carolina for this important event," said Duncan. Duncan used a combination of public feedback and consideration of previous event speakers to help determine who would...

There was a brief time this year when it almost seemed like the nation’s biggest newspapers, including the Gray Lady, were going to be giving Hillary Clinton the same level of required scrutiny which should apply to every candidate for elected office. It came when they actually covered the email server story and went into a fair amount of depth on it. Of course, it would have been embarrassing in the extreme to not do so, since everyone else on the planet was talking about it. But all good things must come to an end, as they say, and New...

Supporters of the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers clashed outside the South Carolina Capitol in Columbia on Saturday. The South Carolina Department of Public Safety reported five arrests. Seven people were transported by ambulances for medical treatment. Both the Loyal White Knights of the KKK and the New Black Panther Party held rallies on the statehouse grounds. The KKK rally in support of the Confederate flag came a week and a day after the flag was removed from outside the Capitol building. "The Confederate flag does not represent hate. A lot of Americans died for that flag," one...

Ted Cruz is getting a boost in South Carolina from Rep. Jeff Duncan, who on Monday will announce Cruz as the first headliner for his Faith & Freedom BBQ next month. The event, which in five years has ballooned to the largest Republican event in the Palmetto State, will present a key opportunity for GOP presidential candidates to connect with conservative voters in a state that will help decide the Republican nominee. But, unlike at many party events, where often all candidates are invited to speak, Duncan will this year select only three or four of his favorite Republican contenders,...

Angry clashes have erupted between members of the Ku Klux Klan and the New Black Panther Party as both groups rally at the South Carolina statehouse. Confederate flags were stolen and ripped up to cheers and applause from the New Black Panther demonstrators - while KKK members stood on the steps of the capitol performing Nazi salutes. The white supremacists came out in force on Saturday afternoon to condemn the governor's decision to remove the Confederate Flag due to its associations with racial hatred. Countering their demonstration, around 400 people with links to the New Black Panther Party marched in...

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Just hours after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a controversial comment about 2008 presidential candidate John McCain's military record, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham came out swinging in defense of McCain. Additional Links Trump on John McCain: 'I like people who weren't captured' The Latest: Rick Santorum favors curbs on legal immigration Trump, in a campaign visit in Iowa, told a crowd of supporters he was not a fan of McCain. “He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said. “I like people who weren’t captured.” In a series of tweets posted to...

We’ve written quite a bit about worsening race relations in America over the past several months. As Robert Putnam recently made clear with "Our Kids”", the real threat to the fabric of American society may be the growing class divide and indeed, the post-crisis monetary policies that have served to exacerbate the disparity between the rich and everyone else have a polarizing effect, as Main Street watches helplessly while the very same bankers who took taxpayer money in 2008 become billionaires on the back of the Fed’s printing press. And while it might very well be that America’s future is...

It’s time to draft Al Gore: If Democrats want to win, it’s clear neither Hillary nor Sanders is the way The presidential election is still sixteen months away, but this much is clear: Hillary Clinton is a vulnerable candidate. Since announcing her candidacy in April, Clinton’s stature has steadily slipped. Things got even worse this week. We learned, first, that Bernie Sanders eclipsed Clinton in small, individual donations, which is an indicator of popular support among likely voters. Second, and more problematic, the newest AP poll revealed significant weaknesses among Democrats on a host of issues, including trust, character, and...

I am standing across the street waving the tallest Marine Corps flag you see. We did this to bring honor to the fallen Marines from their murder yesterday in Chattanooga.

Scorching temperatures near the triple digits weren't driving away the 325 people gathered to hear Scott Walker speak at a Lexington, S.C., barbecue joint Wednesday. Packed under an open-air porch with fans that were hardly helping, the heat didn't seem to affect the enthusiasm for the Wisconsin governor on just his second day as an announced presidential candidate — and it's the type of excitement he'll need to generate to win the important South Carolina GOP primary. Clad in his Harley boots, jeans and a button down shirt, Walker bounded onto stage that afternoon to Dirks Bentley's "I Hold On."...

2016: If only Wall Street bankers had listened to St. Hillary during the subprime mortgage frenzy. She now claims she warned about the risky loans. Yep, a Clinton actually went there. Her campaign may regret it. While bashing Wall Street for risky acts and "criminal behavior," Clinton in her first economic stump speech portrayed herself as the voice of financial sanity in a casino of wild greed. "As we all know, in the years before the crash, financial firms piled risk upon risk," she intoned, "and regulators in Washington either wouldn't or couldn't keep up. "I was alarmed by this...

A foreign-born alien who sought help with his immigration papers has been arrested for the alleged brutal beating and rape of the woman who was helping him. Zenen Alvarez-Alguezabal, is behind bars in Seneca, South Carolina and has four previous felony convictions in the United States. It is currently unclear how the man had immigration papers, considering he had four felonies that spanned South Carolina, Texas, California, and Washington state.

What are the odds that this petition will have any success? The African American Monument on the South Carolina State House grounds was erected in 2001 as part of a bi-partisan compromise reached in 2000 to move the Confederate battle flag from the State House dome and place it at the Confederate Soldier’s Monument. Given the recent outcry to remove the battle flag from the State House grounds completely, the people of South Carolina view this as a reneging of the 2000 compromise. Therefore, the people of South Carolina implore the South Carolina State Legislature to pass legislation calling for...

An unknown man came into a Spartanburg Wal-Mart waving a Confederate flag and threatened to come back and shoot people after being escorted out of the store.The man, who was not identified, walked into the store with a Confederate flag around his neck and shoulders and began waving the flag and dancing with it, according to an incident report from the Spartanburg Police Department.The man left in a black moped and was wearing a white T-shirt, black shorts, an orange hat and camouflage cowboy boots.

I don’t care about the Confederate flag or the Confederacy. Additionally, I was and continue to be largely indifferent as to whether the Confederate flag flies over government buildings. If I were forced to make a call on it, I’d generally lean toward taking it down just because I do understand how many black Americans could genuinely see the Confederate flag as a symbol of slavery and racism. It isn’t a Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the #blacklivesmatter idiots that are looking for something they can use to get on TV thing; it’s something real that anybody can empathize with,...

Click image to watch video on PatDollard.com: