Free Republic

At least 20 people have died after Ukraine launched a devastating strike on a building housing a bakery, Russian officials claim. The blast rocked the Russian occupied city of Lysychansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk today. Russia’s emergency ministry said its workers have recovered 20 bodies from the rubble following the attack. Videos shared by Moscow showed rescuers carrying people out on stretchers from the wreckage of the building. Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said ‘dozens of civilians’ were in the building when it was hit and also claimed that western weapons were used. The Russian-controlled Luhansk...

Western pundits like to make fun of the supposedly “no limits” partnership between China and Russia. But if they really want to know what no limits means in a state-to-state relationship and how tremendous self-harm can result, they need to look no further than that between the United States and Israel. What Israel wants, Israel gets; and does not even have to ask first when it comes to emergency financial aid and weapons. As Israel bombs its way across the Gaza Strip and Jewish settlers commit murder to seize Palestinian land in the West Bank, the weapons they are using...

Members of Kevin McCarthy’s staff have been working the phones on behalf of Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s run for speaker, multiple sources confirmed to Semafor. It’s unclear if McCarthy himself has sanctioned their work. One source familiar with their efforts described the staff as “consulting and providing guidance” to Jordan’s operation, which they distinguished from an endorsement. Jordan’s top competition is Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a longtime McCarthy deputy. McCarthy said he “might” endorse a successor at his post-ouster press conference on Tuesday night but has not suggested which candidates he’s inclined to favor.

f I asked you what most defines Donald Trump supporters, what would you say? They’re white? They’re poor? They’re uneducated? You’d be wrong. In fact, I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism. That’s right, Trump’s electoral strength—and his staying power—have been buoyed, above all, by Americans with authoritarian inclinations. And because of the prevalence of authoritarians in the American electorate, among Democrats as well as Republicans, it’s very possible that Trump’s fan base will continue to grow. My finding is the result of a national...

The tenor of our times requires this disclaimer: I think Ben Carson is a nice man who got attacked with phony charges regarding whether or not he was offered a chance to go to West Point. Oh, and I think he is brilliant. Now that Carson-the RNC’s current favor of the month-has bombed once again in the latest Republican candidates’ debate the man they are hoping will derail Donald Trump needs lots of help. In five available public polls Carson registered an anemic 5.5% of those who voted. In a Yougov.com survey released Wednesday morning on the question of who...

Although I’ve been attacked by fellow conservatives, FINALLY someone is speaking the truth about Paul Ryan lack of true fiscal conservatism. And John Boehner’s reply – together with complicit cover ups by some conservatives – had better damn well wake the rest of you up who are partying as if the Ryan nomination means the election is over.The entire 50 second video is here, but I will paraphrase it:Greta Van Susteren: Ryan’s supposed to be a fiscal hawk. How does he explain his vote for the stimulus in ‘08, the auto bailout, and TARP?Speaker John Boehner: He’s not a knuckledragger...

Now that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has announced he will not seek the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, all of the Republican donors, elected officials, and party activists pining for a savior to jump into the race must face the reality that the field is set. They need to channel Stephen Stills: “If you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with.” No doubt the fundraisers for Mitt Romney and Rick Perry are tying up the phone lines into New York’s financial district, wooing donors who had either been holding out for Christie or had used...

On last night’s Republican presidential candidates debate in Iowa, as William Buckley used to say, a few observations. Mitt Romney: He has the frontrunner role nailed, and his canned responses on Romneycare and Bain were enough to deflect attention last night. He escapes relatively unscathed for the moment. But his defense of Romneycare is a defense in substance of Obamacare. And his comments on his work at Bain haven’t improved much since his debate with Teddy Kennedy in 1994. He is one cold fish. Rick Santorum: I admired him greatly as a United States Senator, but his wipeout by Bob...

A Republican aide e-mails me: “The Speaker, Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell all agreed on the general framework of a two-part plan. A short-term increase (with cuts greater than the increase), combined with a committee to find long-term savings before the rest of the increase would be considered. Sen. Reid took the bipartisan plan to the White House and the President said no.”

While it is clear from the outset that a large percentage of lurkers and posters on FreeRepublic are staunch supporters of Sarah Palin, there are nonetheless a significant if considerably smaller number who avidly support Herman Cain. My curiosity piqued by this fact, I decided to watch Herman in his interview yesterday on “2012 One-on-One” with Chris Wallace, FOX NEWS Sunday. As the show opened, Chris ran a videotape of Herman at a campaign stop where he commandeered the stage with an undeniable presence, arms spread expansively, and said “Once I am president, Americans will be able to say, “Free...

There are some cultures in which telling self-serving lies about your own ancestors would be so shameful as to be inconceivable. Michele Bachmann's culture is apparently not one of these. Bachmann, who's flirting with a presidential run, was in the early-primary state of Iowa last week for the Rediscover God in America conference. Bachmann was born in Iowa, as she told the crowd. But she couldn't leave it at just being an ordinary Iowan: "I'm actually even more than just an Iowan," she told her audience. "I'm a seventh-generation Iowan. Our family goes back to the 1850s, to the first...

War on Iraq was started in 1991 by the war criminal George W Bush the father which then reinforced by the subsequent attacks by the war criminal Bill Clinton. Along the time there was the most criminal act against humanity is the long run genocide and inhumane act of the blockade on Iraq since 1991. The barbaric inhumane act of sanction by the UN on Iraq and its consequences led to the death of hundred of thousands if not millions of Iraqi children especially if that was taken with the use of the weapons of mass destruction such as DU...

I watched the video of Gov Christie talking to the reporter and it reminded me why I just can't be in the GOP. Or any party, it seems. I thought I'd post my thoughts on the topic, which I wrote separately in a moment of introspection. I've never voted for a Democrat, just to be sure... But why can't the GOP be something besides simpering, terrified lapdogs, afraid of their own shadow? Seriously, why can't you grow some...something... and develop at least a minute fraction of the guts of Christie? Why is the RNC so utterly deferential to libs and...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants to allow the government to interrogate U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism without warning them of their right to remain silent—a proposal that would dramatically rewrite the rules regarding suspects captured inside the United States. “Miranda warnings are counterproductive in my view,” Graham said at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday. “The homeland is part of the battlefield. So this idea that you get to America, the rules dramatically change, to the benefit of the suspect – the terrorist – makes no sense,” he said. Graham told POLITICO he is working on...

Sarah Palin, 55 percent unfavorable poll ratings notwithstanding, is a political phenomenon the likes of which American public life rarely has seen. There's something distinctive, something deeply personal, about the way her legions of strong supporters rush not just to defend her but to counter-attack any and all of her critics. Palin has a way of establishing a sense of connectedness with her backers -- such a strong, attitudinal sense that she is not just like them but one of them -- that she has created what amounts to a one-woman, conservative "identity politics" writ very, very large. Yet if...

A former White House speechwriter, Mark Thiessen, has jumped to the defense of his former boss, writing for the Washington Post that George W. Bush “established a conservative record without parallel.” Even by the loose standards of Washington, that is a jaw-dropping assertion. I’ve been explaining for years that Bush was a big-government advocate, even writing a column back in 2007 for the Washington Examiner pointing out that Clinton had a much better economic record from a free-market perspective. I also groused to the Wall Street Journal the following year about Bush’s dismal performance. “Bush doesn’t have a conservative legacy”...

Sarah Palin said Wednesday that the embattled chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) is "doing a great job." During an appearance on conservative commentator Sean Hannity's show on the Fox News Channel, Palin said, "I support Michael Steele.... I think he's doing a great job. Michael Steele is an outsider. The machine, I think, is tough to penetrate... I think it's been good to have an independent outsider trying to create some change in the Republican Party." The former Alaska governor's remarks are in sharp contrast to the comments of other leading Republicans, who have criticized Steele in recent...

Is the tea party movement being hoodwinked by the establishment?Brian Shoemake The one thing I take away from today's rally in Searchlight Nevada, is that the tea party is without question coalescing, and fiercely I might add, around a single Presidential candidate for 2012. . .Already. It's early in the game yet, and the whole idea behind the Tea Party movement was to objectively review all of our potential choices, so we would never be led down the path again. At least that's what I thought. After today, I'll never again look at the Tea Party movement as one made...

(CNN) - The newest member of the Senate will soon hit the 2010 campaign trail for Arizona Sen. John McCain. A McCain source confirms Sen. Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts, will campaign with the 2008 Republican presidential nominee in early March. McCain is facing a primary challenge from former Rep. J.D. Hayworth. (snip) Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will also hit the campaign trail for McCain at the end of March.

When Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced her support for three prominent Republicans, her Facebook statement entitled “Ride the Tide with Commonsense Candidates” resounded with laudibles such as supporting those who offer “commonsense government,” and those “who promise to fight FOR the people and AGAINST politics as usual.” by Bob Adelmann SOURCE:http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/2806-sarah-palin-enigma