Free Republic

It’s February and we ring in another Black History Month. So, what have blacks learned from our history? As a black Republican and former congressional candidate from Southern California, I am dismayed to this day as to our lack of representation on Capitol Hill, and the ineffective nature of our local representation. Of the more than five hundred congresspersons and senators in Washington D.C., there is only one black Republican on Capitol Hill. And it is understandable why we find ourselves in this predicament. And forgive me if I jump around. I have issues.

“In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate,” a terrorist declares on the Flight 93 cockpit recording. That’s followed by the sounds of the terrorists assaulting a passenger. “Please don’t hurt me,” he pleads. “Oh God.” As the passengers rush the cabin, a Muslim terrorist proclaims, “In the name of Allah." As New York firefighters struggle up the South Tower with 100 pounds of equipment on their backs trying to save lives until the very last moment, the Flight 93 passengers push toward the cockpit. The Islamic hijackers call out, “Allahu Akbar.” The Islamic supremacist term originated with...

On August 29, 2005, monster Hurricane Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Mississippi. In the catastrophe that resulted, over 80% of New Orleans was flooded and 1,836 people in Louisiana and Mississippi died. The storm caused over $150 billion in damages and forced thousands of New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents to relocate, some permanently. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the population of New Orleans was 484,000, while today only 391,000 people live in the city. It forever scarred a 300-year old city that has faced a number of challenges, but none greater than Hurricane Katrina. Before the disastrous storm hit the...

"Keep the pressure on. Never let up». Saul Alinsky, "Rules for Radicals", Rule #8August 15, 2017 there were two seemingly unrelated events. Israel marked the 12th anniversary of the voluntary withdrawal from Gaza. And in New York, President Trump once again, for the third time, condemned all the participants in the brawl in Charlottesville. It seems that Trump did not learn the lessons of Gaza. And continues to attack the same rake. Under the pressure of the world’s “progressive humanity” in 2005, Israel decided to withdraw troops and forcefully withdraw the Jewish population from Gaza. Thus, a springboard was established...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote: “a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance, passed in 2014, exemplifies courageous experimentation by a local government. The ordinance aims to increase earnings of low-wage workers as one response to the troubling rise in income inequality and stagnant wages of low-wage workers. There is national and international interest in knowing how it is working. Unfortunately, not all social experiments work entirely as planned. On April 1, 2015, the...

As far as I know, Rodney Stooksbury is an actual living human being. I have even spoken with someone who has spoken with someone who swears he exists. Certain people, however, are convinced that Rodney Stooksbury does not exist. This is because, even though Rodney Stooksbury was the 2016 Democratic congressional candidate in Georgia’s 6th District, nobody could ever actually seem to find a photograph of the guy. Or a campaign website. Or any campaign material. Or anyone who has actually met Rodney Stooksbury. News outlets tried to track down Stooksbury, to no avail. According to one investigation, “when reporters...

Democrats are concluding that Jon Ossoff’s disappointing loss to Karen Handel in the special election for Georgia’s 6th congressional district on Tuesday means they must move even further left, and reject calls for more civility. That might seem odd, especially in the wake of last week’s shooting attack against Republican members of Congress, and given that Handel won partly by tying Ossoff to the left and to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. But Democrats are convinced that Ossoff fell short by moving towards the center after running as the darling of the “#Resistance” in the primary election in April, and...

Bernie, like Corbyn, offered hope that another world was possible. He’s exactly the kind of candidate the Democrats must rally behind in the futureHad he been the Democratic party’s nominee, Bernie Sanders could have won the presidency. I’ve been waiting more than half a year to say this aloud, and today’s as good a day as any to get it off my chest. I’m not saying this just because Jeremy Corbyn’s amazing candidacy, inspiring perhaps more than 70% of 18-24 year-old British people to vote, skewered Theresa May’s trash austerity politics and imperiled her prime ministership. I’m saying this because...

The good news is no one can say President Trump didn’t try to persuade House Republicans that they should pass the American Health Care Act. He invited lawmakers to the White House, dispatched his key aides to Capitol Hill, worked the phones, cajoled, charmed, arm-twisted, threatened . . . He did everything short of actually attempting to understand why House Republicans didn’t want to vote for it. President Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan chose to cancel the vote on the AHCA late Friday afternoon. Earlier this week, the loudest argument from Trump was that if House Republicans didn’t pass the...

I have an important message for President Trump and the GOP Congress. Study the lesson of the Nevada GOP. When people think of Nevada, they think of Las Vegas aka “Sin City.” They think of neon, glitzy casinos, gambling, strip clubs, Elvis and Liberace. What they don’t think of is politics…or more specifically, Obamacare. Yet Nevada holds the lesson for President Trump and the GOP Congress for how to handle Obamacare. Nevada is a place for bigger-than-life-personality, gunslingers and riverboat gamblers, not boring, wishy-washy moderates who stand for tinkering around the edges. In Las Vegas you’ve “got to go big...

On Feb. 20, President Donald Trump announced that Army Lt. Gen. Herbert Raymond “H.R.” McMaster will replace retired Army Gen. Mike Flynn as his national security advisor. A career officer, he served during the Persian Gulf War as well as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. McMaster joined the military in 1984, and is still serving on active duty. Prior to accepting this role as national security advisor, he served as the director of Army Capabilities Integration Center and deputy commanding general with U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. In 2005, he commanded 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and secured the...

Since President Trump has expressed his admiration for the New England Patriots, perhaps there is still hope for his flailing administration. The president has on many occasions cited his support from the Super Bowl winning Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft and its nonpareil coach Bill Belichick. He also frequently brings up his friendship with the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, who led the Patriots to a stunning comeback victory in Super Bowl 51 Sunday night over the Atlanta Falcons, 34-28.

Yes natural talent, divine luck all come into play but the lessons we learn on the field can apply to the greater "games" at work in life and the world. What are some political takeaways from tonight's game? For starters: "It's not over till it's over." "The defense was tired."

Tim Keller / January 6, 2017 Many say that Christians who maintain the historic, traditional doctrines are behind the times, are too exclusive, and are “on the wrong side of history.” Two recent books that cast doubt on this view are from historian and biblical scholar Larry Hurtado: Destroyer of the Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World and Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries?. The earliest Christians were widely ridiculed, especially by cultural elites, were excluded from circles of influence and business, and were often persecuted and put to death. Hurtado says Roman authorities were uniquely hostile...

Yesterday North Korea made the claim they were close to development of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM). As you look at the tweet reply from Donald Trump about this claim, it’s worth remembering two very important details: 1.This issue came up in one of the February 2016 GOP debates. 2.The sequencing of the two tweets below.

How did this debacle come about? First, in calling for the overthrow of Bashar Assad, who had not attacked or threatened us, we acted not in our national interests, but out of democratist ideology. Assad is a dictator. Dictators are bad. So Assad must go. Yet we had no idea who would replace him. It soon became clear that Assad’s most formidable enemies, and probable successors, would be the al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, or ISIS, then carrying out grisly executions in their base camp in Raqqa. U.S. policy became to back the “good” rebels in Aleppo, bomb...

No surprises here. Obviously, the vast majority of the polls were wrong. Wrongful thinking. Bad models. Bad assumptions. Bad methodology. Bad programming. The adage "Garbage in, garbage out" applies in spades. The entire media (including Faux News) has their collective (no kidding) heads up their proverbial butts. The GOPe should be ashamed (for being wrong about everything, 100% of the time), but they won't be. Romney is an idiot. Now they begin the endless studies, debates and analysis trying to figure out why they all had it so wrong. But the answer was written ages ago and the writing is...

One hundred million people watched the last debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. For the next debate, Mr. Trump should learn from the last one. Instead of speaking of substance, the Clinton campaign went down and dirty, baiting Mr. Trump to spend his precious time defending himself instead of pivoting to her illegal actions. What the Democrats, press, and Hillary Clinton are doing is trying to distract Americans from the real issues. ABC/CNN are allowing Americans to vote on some of the questions for the second debate. Currently, the liberals are dominating the question process. For example, one question,...

THE FALL OF ROME was a culmination of external and internal factors. GREAT WALL OF CHINA By 220AD, the Later Eastern Han Dynasty had extended sections of the Great Wall of China along its Mongolian border. This resulted in the Northern Huns attacking west instead of east. This caused a domino effect of tribes migrating west across Central Asia, and overrunning the Western Roman Empire. OPEN BORDERS Illegal immigrants poured across the Roman borders: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Alemanni, Thuringians, Rugians, Jutes, Picts, Burgundians, Lombards, Alans, Vandals, as well as African Berbers and Arab raiders. Will and Ariel Durant...

Regardless of who wins the election in November, here are 10 things that I think he or she should keep in mind: --The old media rules do not apply. Do we still have to emphasize this in an era of smartphones, Facebook and Twitter? You do not control the media, and the media does not control the message. Oh, I know that the Obama administration has made media manipulation an art form -- and that the media has been more than happy to comply. But everyone is the media now. We found out about Hillary Clinton's pneumonia because of a...