Free Republic

... "She was known for the "Kirkpatrick Doctrine", which advocated U.S. support of anticommunist governments around the world, including authoritarian dictatorships, if they went along with Washington's aims—believing they could be led into democracy by example. She wrote, "Traditional authoritarian governments are less repressive than revolutionary autocracies."[2]"

Here is why veteran Statehouse observers are high on Charlie Baker: No politician in modern Massachusetts history has come to the governor's office better prepared or more qualified than Charlie Baker. And it is beginning to show, not only because he has scored high in the public opinion polls -- polls are fleeting -- but because, even as a Republican in a sea of Democrats, he has had an exceptionally successful beginning. There are few governors of Massachusetts you can say that about. "I think he has gotten off to a terrific start," veteran Democrat House Speaker Robert DeLeo said....

I've received several inquiries asking me to spell out some implications of this week's editorial. Here goes: 1) No deal is better than a bad Iran deal. And a bad Iran deal is not just a foreign policy setback. It's a foreign policy disaster. 2) The administration is heading toward a bad deal (see Kissinger-Schultz, and now even James Baker). 3) The Corker bill only helps, if it does, after a deal has been signed—and then 67 votes in the Senate and 290 in the House are needed to overturn a deal. That's unlikely. And a lot of damage in...

Hamas met with a delegation of "important Democrats" who expressed interest in relations with the Palestinian terror group even if it doesn't recognize the right of Israel to exist, a Palestinian news website claimed today. Maannews quoted a source in the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority stating the terror group felt it important to meet with members of the Democratic Party since, the Hamas source said, the party will likely win 2008 presidential elections. Stacie Paxton, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, told WND the party was not aware of any meeting. Maannews is an independent Palestinian news website based in...

Jeb adviser James Baker to keynote J Street conference Leading talk show host and best-selling author Mark Levin assailed Jeb Bush last night over the revelation that one of his top foreign policy advisers, James Baker, will keynote an anti-Israel conference this weekend. The annual conference of the activist group J Street features an array of anti-Israel speakers, including proponents of the Boycott, Sanctions, and Divest (BDS) movement, which seeks Israel’s destruction, and advocates for the terrorist group Hamas. Jeb Bush’s selection of Baker as a foreign policy adviser has sparked concern among conservatives and in the Jewish and pro-Israel...

A spokeswoman for former Florida governor Jeb Bush says the possible Republican presidential candidate "disagrees" with one of his foreign policy advisers who spoke at a left-wing anti-Israel group this week. James Baker, the former secretary of state and GOP foreign policy veteran, addressed the annual conference for J Street this week. An unpaid adviser to Bush, Baker criticized Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli prime minister's "diplomatic missteps and political gamesmanship" and expressed his support for a nuclear deal with Iran. As Politico reported, he also said he disagreed that President Barack Obama has hurt the United States's relationship with...

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a foreign policy adviser to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening at the Washington gala dinner for J Street, a Soros-funded left-wing group that is devoted to disrupting the close U.S.-Israel alliance. Baker said that Netanyahu had been too forceful in his opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran, and that he had shown insufficient commitment to peace with the Palestinians. “If the only agreement is one under which Iran agrees to cease all enrichment, then there will likely be no agreement,” Baker said....

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is to deliver the keynote at this weekend’s J Street conference, a gathering of left-wing activists opposed to the Israeli government and to recently re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Baker, who served under President George H.W. Bush, is also advising Gov. Jeb Bush on foreign policy in his presidential effort–at Bush’s invitation. Baker is considered hostile to Israel and is controversial among Jewish voters. As the Algemeiner notes: Baker is of course infamous for reportedly saying in private conversation, while George HW Bush’s secretary of state, “F**k the Jews, they didn’t vote...

A homosexual couple goes into a known Christian bakery and asks for a wedding cake for a same-sex “marriage,” is refused and then files a government complaint or sues. “Intolerance! Bigotry! Equal access!” is the cry. Many Americans have read of such stories in the news. Often the attempted purchase is a set-up, with activist-minded individuals targeting bakers whom they know will decline the request and then be vulnerable to state persecution by zealous bureaucrats. It’s a new front in the war on faith, legitimate freedom and private property rights. Many point out that it constitutes an unprecedented trampling...

A man who struck officers with a broomstick was twice shot with Tasers that didn't work before he was killed in a police-involved shooting in Miami Gardens, officials said Tuesday. Miami Gardens Police Chief Stephen Johnson said two officers deployed their Tasers on 25-year-old Lavall Hall shortly before he was killed Sunday by an officer who was also involved in a fatal 2013 shooting.

It’s official: the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has found that Aaron and Melissa Klein, the Christian bakers who gained national attention after they refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in 2013, were guilty of discrimination — and could be forced to pay up to $150,000 in damages. “A Gresham bakery unlawfully discriminated against a same-sex couple by denying them full and equal access to a place of public accommodations,” read a statement released by the agency on Monday. The government has found the Kleins — owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa — guilty of...

DENVER — If bakeries can be compelled to make wedding cakes for same-sex marriages, can they also be forced to create anti-gay cakes? That’s the question before the Colorado Civil Rights Division after a customer filed a complaint against Azucar Bakery in Denver for refusing to write anti-gay messages on a Bible-shaped cake.

Memo to incoming Gov. Charlie Baker: Don't touch the drapes. Outgoing Gov. Deval Patrick spent $27,000 on those damask drapes in the governor's office, along with some fine furniture, when he first became governor, and he took a lot of heat over it. So leave the drapes alone. First impressions are very important. Do not repeat his initial mistakes. Also, be careful where you sit. The entire governor's suite on the third floor of the Statehouse has recently been refurbished to its historic 1798 Charles Bulfinch setting at a cost of $11.3 million.

Gov.-elect Charlie Baker this morning said he would nix a Patrick administration plan to issue special driver’s licenses to non-citizens to comply with new federal rules. “I don’t support issuing driver’s licenses to people who are undocumented,” he said this morning on Boston Herald Radio’s “Morning Meeting” with Joe Battenfeld and Jaclyn Cashma

Lieutenant Governor-elect Karyn Polito’s history of opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender rights as a state representative has members of the LGBT community warily eyeing the Republican political leader. Just a day after the Republican gubernatorial ticket of Charlie Baker and Polito was elected into office, Sue O’Connell, co-publisher of LGBT-focused publication Bay Windows, said she has “serious concerns” about Polito on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio.

Update: MA Dem governor candidate Martha Coakley will not concede tonight; they are hoping to be within one half of one per cent which would trigger an automatic recount. Repub gov candidate Charlie Baker may say a statement soon but probably would not give a victory speech, as it's not polite (or good karma) to declare victory without getting concession from your opponent. Coakley supporters being sent home. 95% OF PRECINCTS REPORTING Charlie Baker (R) 969,110 48% Martha Coakley (D) 945,815 47%

Republican Charlie Baker has climbed to a 3-point lead over Democrat Martha Coakley in the race for governor, while a push to repeal casinos in Massachusetts appears to be headed for a lopsided defeat, a new Suffolk University-Boston Herald poll shows. Baker's 46-43 percent lead is well within the poll's margin of error but the GOP nominee holds several key advantages over his Democratic opponent heading into the campaign's final few days, according to the Suffolk-Herald poll of 500 likely voters. Just 6 percent of voters say they are undecided.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker has a nine point lead over Democratic rival Martha Coakley in the latest Boston Globe/SocialSphere. Nine points.

Attorney General Martha Coakley is locked in a dead heat for governor with Republican Charlie Baker because she’s struggling to win over the two demographic groups she needs most. Partisan Democrats and women voters formed the backbone of the recent Democratic victories in Massachusetts. But three weeks before Election Day, Coakley is still struggling to close the sale with the state’s Democratic base. Democrats have established a winning formula in recent contests: Roll up big margins with women voters, turn out the party faithful and capture just enough independent voters to allow Democrats’ built-in numerical advantage to overwhelm Republicans. This...

The same newspaper that crucified President George W. Bush for the Abu Ghrab scandal even though Bush was many, many layers of government removed from the American military guards at the heart of the Iraqi prison scandal has given President Barack Obama absolution for the gross incompetence of the Secret Service even though Obama is in direct contact every minute of every day with the agency charged with protecting his life. Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent for the New York Times has written a churlish, excuse-making article published Tuesday night that at once hints Republican lawmakers want to see...