Free Republic

During a severe drought in 2011, JennaDee Detro noticed that many trees on the family cattle ranch in Cat Spring, Texas, withered, but a certain evergreen holly appeared vigorous. It's called a yaupon."The best we can tell is that they enjoy suffering," Detro says with a laugh. "So this kind of extreme weather in Texas — and the extreme soil conditions — are perfect for the yaupon."Detro began researching yaupon — a tree abundant in its native range, from coastal North Carolina to East Texas — and discovered that the plant contains caffeine and has a remarkable history.A thousand years...

Senior IRS officials set up a special internal committee after congressional investigators sent information requests to the IRS’s two White House political appointees to investigate conservative and tea party non-profit applicants. Mary Howard, the IRS’s director of privacy, governmental liaison and disclosure division, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Wednesday she never saw any of the information requests because the requests were forwarded to the special committee. Howard is also the tax agency’s chief Freedom of Information Act officer. “I think Lois Lerner was just the tip of the iceberg,” Howard said. “You’re telling me your group...

At almost the same time last week that the outgoing U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald Machen, gave Lois Lerner a get-out-of-jail free card over her contempt of Congress citation, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service suffered a huge procedural loss in a court fight in Ohio. In litigation filed in 2013 by conservative organizations targeted by Lerner and her colleagues at the IRS, a federal judge granted a motion to compel and ordered the IRS to produce the names of the 298 targeted organizations identified by the IRS for the Treasury Inspector General. In 2013,...

The First Lady of these United States is now urging Americans to stop drinking sweet tea. Yes – friends – you heard correctly. Mrs. Obama has declared war on the House Wine of the South. It’s all part of her anti-obesity campaign — called Let’s Move. The website Free Beacon was the first to report on her latest culinary atrocities – urging us to wash down our lettuce and bean sprouts with unsweetened tea. The First Lady also told Americans to stay away from all-you-can-eat buffets — which I’m sure is great news for all those folks employed by all-you-can-eat...

Former Arizona county sheriff Richard Mack, a fierce opponent of Obamacare and a leader in the "constitutional sheriff" movement, is struggling to pay his medical bills after he and his wife each faced serious illnesses. The former sheriff and his wife do not have health insurance and started a GoFundMe campaign to solicit donations from family and friends to cover the costs of their medical care. "Because they are self-employed, they have no medical insurance and are in desperate need of our assistance," reads a note on Mack's personal website. Mack, the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers...

In late 18th century New York, with a revolt against tea in place and plain water mostly undrinkable, coffee’s popularity surged.And the city’s love affair with coffee beans began.Coffee houses soon sprang up. Unlike the cafes of today, these were more like taverns, where the city’s political and merchant elite met to exchange ideas and do business while nursing a cup of joe (and probably stronger drinks as well).One coffee house on the bustling corner of Wall and Water Streets, the Tontine (the second building on the left, above), bore witness to some of the events and the development of...

Friends don't let friends vote RINO... I don't give a damn how much moolah Jeb Bush is currently shaking out of people with more money than sense... it's impossible to picture this charmless Gee-Oh-Pee establishment tool in the White House: not only does the Republican base despise him, but no Bush is going to beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.  I actually consider her a more flawed candidate than most do, but you can't run a clown who's practically family with the Clintons and expect him to take the requisite fight to Shrillary by discussing her serial scandals/failure.  And the Clinton...

Nearly a year ago, tea party agitators in Arizona managed to get John McCain censured by his own state party. Now, he’s getting his revenge. As the longtime Republican senator lays the groundwork for a likely 2016 reelection bid, his political team is engaging in an aggressive and systematic campaign to reshape the state GOP apparatus by ridding it of conservative firebrands and replacing them with steadfast allies.

Jon Huntsman Sr., father of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and a self-described “lifelong Republican,” argued that the tea party has ruined the Republican Party, and that the GOP doesn’t stand a chance unless someone like his son is elected. “The tea party has completely captivated and ruined the Republican Party today and they’ll show this in 2016,” Huntsman Sr. said last week, Yahoo News reported. “Unless a Jeb Bush comes in or John Huntsman Jr., the Republicans don’t have a prayer.” The Chinjunior Mr. Huntsman, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in 2012, now serves as the U.S....

Yesterday, Limbaugh said that Republicans were elected "to stop the Democrats. Republicans were not elected to govern." Democrats, on the other hand, are elected to govern. (SNIP) A quick scan of some of the newest members of the House shows just how extreme this latest crop of Tea Party Republican members of Congress truly are. From Georgia to Maine, Virginia to Wisconsin, Illinois to Iowa, extreme Tea Party Republicans have been elected to seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. (SNIP) Meanwhile, Illinois Republican Mike Bost (IL-02) once had an outburst while serving in the Illinois House over a pension...

A team of acclaimed filmmakers is spearheading “Unfair”, a ninety minute documentary motion picture intended for all audiences. It will be the first major theatrical documentary to shed light on the certain damage the Income Tax and the IRS have wrought on our liberties, our businesses, our families, and our religious, charitable and civic organizations, while empowering a political agenda contrary to America’s heritage. This film will be promoted to mainstream audiences based on its factual and dramatic content. In addition, the Picture will be marketed heavily to interested grassroots audiences that identify themselves strongly with any and all of...

In February 2013, Move America Forward announced an ambitious fundraising goal. The charity, launched in part by one of the most prominent figures in the Tea Party movement, had adopted the 800 Marines in a battalion fighting in Afghanistan and wanted to send them all care packages. ......................................................... Yet an examination of its fundraising appeals, tax records and other documents shows that Move America Forward has repeatedly misled donors and inflated its charitable accomplishments, while funneling millions of dollars in revenue to the men behind the group and their political consulting firms.

How May I Introduce An Idea to the Tea Party Representatives? Free Republic is an amazing national resource that I think should be able to help direct me. How do I seek the opinion of a Tea Party Republican member of Congress? I have an idea for a legislative proposal that I believe would benefit the Tea Party Movement, the Republican Party, and the nation. I emailed Ted Cruz some time back and received a nice form letter suggesting a later response that never arrived. I have given my idea considerable thought and I of course realize that it may...

GETTYSBURG, PA – One of the hottest-selling t-shirts at souvenir shops outside Gettysburg proclaims, “If at first you don’t secede, try, try again.” While the pun is popular among Civil War re-enactors at the historic battlefield, the message also has growing appeal in contemporary politics, especially among fractious Republicans. On both the Right and the Left, activists are convinced that the Republican Party is not pure enough on their issues, and perhaps it is time to break away and create a new political organization to shake up the system. “It's hopeless; Republicans are as much at fault as Democrats for...

The Tea Party, the popular political movement that grew from widespread public concern over the growth of government, died on Tuesday, June 24, in Mississippi. During its short life, the Tea Party grew from a passionate patchwork quilt of grass-roots efforts to become an important and effective political force capable of altering elections and influencing national, state and local policies. It died a fractured, ineffective confederacy of discordant coteries that bore little resemblance to its original incarnation. (snip) For a time, it appeared possible that the Tea Party would redefine, or perhaps even replace, the Republican Party. Until, that is,...

(Reuters) - A prominent leader of the Mississippi Tea Party who was arrested in connection with photos posted online of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran's bedridden wife died on Friday of an apparent suicide, the man’s lawyer said. Mark Mayfield, 58, was vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party and a Central Mississippi Tea Party chairperson, according to those organizations' websites. "This is a terrible tragedy that shouldn’t have happened," Mayfield's lawyer John Reeves told Reuters. Mayfield was one of three men accused last month of conspiring with a blogger who was charged with taking photos of Cochran's bedridden wife in...

By most accounts, going into tomorrow's Republican primary for U.S. Senate, state Sen. Chris McDaniel of Laurel has a commanding advantage over the incumbent, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. That is, among likely GOP voters. Over the weekend, Chism Strategies—a Democratic firm that has commissioned several polls since the June 3 primary election that resulted in a runoff—unveiled its latest survey of Republicans that shows McDaniel leading Cochran by eight points. For the first time since Chism began polling, the lead is well outside the 4 percent margin of error. "Unless Cochran expands the electorate with general-election Republicans and crossover Democrats,...

The tea party has claimed its first spot in House leadership with the election of Rep. Steve Scalise to the No. 3 post – majority whip. Will he ease GOP tensions or make them worse? ...The Louisianan will take the position of whip, making him responsible for corralling votes in order to pass legislation. He fills the slot left vacant by Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who was elected – and elevated – to the No. 2 job of majority leader, who decides what legislation comes to a vote.

Now they have it. Now tea party-backers finally have a strong conservative in the Republican leadership of the GOP-controlled House: Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who was elected by party members on Thursday to the No. 3 job in the leadership. The Louisianan will take the position of whip, making him responsible for corralling votes in order to pass legislation. He fills the slot left vacant by Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who was elected – and elevated – to the No. 2 job of majority leader, who decides what legislation comes to a vote. The changes were triggered by...

One day after the GOP’s Lee Terry opened the door to closing off compromises on Capitol Hill, Democrat Brad Ashford tells Nebraska Watchdog that Terry’s talk is “ridiculous, it’s disappointing.” Following Eric Cantor’s tea party ambush on Tuesday, Terry, an 8-term incumbent, told CNN, “Do we compromise? How do we work together? All of this is now in question.” Ashford says the “Cantor lesson” is just the opposite. “You can’t find solutions without working together,” says Ashford. Terry, of course, is coming off his own Cantor-like primary—just last month Terry survived a threat from his right wing, defeating Republican Dan...