Free Republic

The media love affair with the most suspicious person involved with the Left’s Jan. 6 hoax, Ray Epps, continues. On Sunday evening, 60 Minutes is planning to air a profile of Epps, a man whom they claim has been unjustly vilified in the conservative media. In doing so, they’re just calling new attention to the gaping holes in their Jan. 6 propaganda narrative. ... Over the intervening two years, the Left’s case has steadily unraveled, and one of the most glaring examples of its weakness has been the curious case of Epps .... Epps is the only person who was...

Former congressman, veteran, and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D, Hawaii) made news this week by leaving the Democratic Party, with a stinging public rebuke to the corruption and warmongering of its current leadership. She wins points with reasonable people whenever she's on television, and why not? Tulsi Gabbard is attractive, well-spoken, logical... always a welcome talk show guest because she's willing to call out her fellow Democrats for some of their extreme, destructive positions. But don't be fooled. Tulsi Gabbard is NOT one of us. America may owe Tulsi Gabbard a debt of gratitude for her wonderful takedown of Kamala...

President Joe Biden refused to be swayed by his top generals to keep 3,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, instead ordering their swift removal, a stubbornness that "paved the way for havoc" in the country, reports Politico. The move ultimately led to Taliban forces taking Kabul and declaring the war "over" and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country Sunday

Freshman [Representative] Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will grace the front page of the April 1 [2019] edition of Time Magazine...The Bronx-native, who shook the Democratic establishment by defeating longtime congressman Joe Crowly in 2018, appears in a headshot taken by photographer Collier Schorr next to the headline: “The Phenom.” The story accompanying the front page, written by Charolette Alter, describes Ocasio-Cortez as “the second-most talked about politician in America...

<p>David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland, Florida high school shooting, told Morning Joe on Monday that he thinks Gov. Rick Scott should be “held accountable” for the failure of three sheriff’s deputies to confront the gunman. Law enforcement sources confirmed to news outlets that three deputies from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office remained outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High as the shooter opened fire, eventually killing 17 people. Hogg, appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, said the news is “raising concern” in his community, before accusing elected officials of attempting the blame the shooting on “bureaucracy.” “They’re in charge of them,” Hogg said of those elected officials. “This is their fault.” “They should have been regulating them,” he continued. “I’m not going to allow them to pressure these people because at the end of the day it’s their fault. These elected officials are the boss of these sheriff personnel and just like the president is the boss of the FBI, Governor Rick Scott is essentially the boss of Scott Israel, the sheriff, and as such he should be held accountable. “He can’t just blame this on the bureaucracy and expect to get re-elected.” Hogg went on to praise high school football coach Aaron Feis, who died shielding students from the gunman, “unlike those cowardly Broward County Sheriff officials.” “Sadly, these are a few individuals that did not conduct their job correctly, but I don’t think it’s right that Governor Rick Scott is trying to blame this on the bureaucracy in an effort to get reelected.”</p>

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain says the Trump administration needs to explain how four U.S. soldiers were killed in Niger. Bryan Black, Jeremiah Johnson, Dustin Wright, and La David Johnson were told not to expect enemy contact on that mission to meet with community leaders two weeks ago. It will take an investigation to determine if any warning signs were missed, but Sen. McCain says the administration is not being upfront and he's demanding more information about the attack. In a pre-mission briefing they were told "no enemy contact expected," but the group, about 40 in all, were...

Macklemore may be a darling of gay rights activists and feel-good lefty types, but he's in potential hot water after the popular rapper played a show in a questionable costume. At a secret show in Seattle, Macklemore hit the stage appearing dressed to look like a stereotypical Jewish man. Last Friday, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were the surprise performers in honor of a new exhibit at Seattle's EMP Museum. Although it's difficult to determine who exactly Macklemore is supposed to be in his getup, it's clear fans on social media are just as confused. But anyone expecting a rousing statement...

Real estate mogul Donald Trump is tied for first in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, according to a new poll of Republicans. Nineteen percent of Republicans named Trump, who is flirting with a run for the party's presidential nomination, as their top choice for the nomination, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Tuesday. Another 13 percent said Trump was their second choice in a nominee. SNIP Trump scored 10 percent in last month's CNN poll, meaning he effectively doubled his support over the course of a month.

Mitt Romney's new book, "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," will debut on top of the New York Times bestseller list due out March 21.Romney's book tour has, so far, attracted pretty large crowds, serving -- along with the book sales -- to reassure his supporters that, though he may not draw Sarah Palin style hordes, he's a figure of genuine popular interest. http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0310/Romney_tops_bestseller_list.html?showall

ABC Radio news just announced Sen. John Edwards will admit to the affair with Rielle Hunter in an interview with the network, but insists the child is not his. We return you to your regularly-scheduled FReeping.

This is where life imitates ... what exactly? What began two years ago with a quirky jump-pass in a college football game has evolved into this extraordinarily surreal life: communicating with heads of state, preaching to prisoners and, yes, circumcising children in a Third World country. All in one offseason. Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy in December, the first sophomore to do so. In the six months since, the Florida Gators' iconic 20-year-old quarterback has traveled more than 15,000 miles to be honored by 15 organizations in nine states. A devout Christian, he has spread the gospel all over...

Yesterday I posed a question to Governor Huckabee about whether his new immigration proposal punishes children for the actions of their parents - something he decried just weeks ago in an exchange with Mitt Romney. Here's the response I received last night from Governor Huckabee: "Under my Secure America plan, immigrants and their families here illegally would have to return to their home countries. "Because we are talking about a policy that has profound implications for people's lives, I suspect that some people will attempt to use these hard cases to discredit the idea that anything can be done about...

From an interview on August 3, 2007: Governor Huckabee: You know, I looked for people who embodied those very things I just mentioned. A commitment to a strict constructionist view of their job, viewed the Constitution as something that they were simply to apply, not to reinterpret and rewrite. But I also looked for people who embodied the kind of temperament that we needed on the bench, who would, uh, divorce themselves and distance themselves from their own personal passions in the sense of letting their emotions drive them, but [instead] letting the Constitution drive them. And, uh, the kind...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that calling the families of the campaign staffers taken hostage at her Rochester, N.H., office last week was the most difficult part of the ordeal. "Those were the most emotional moments, I have to tell you, calling them in the first instants to tell them what had happened," she told reporters after a campaign stop in eastern Iowa. Clinton said that while it was a traumatic experience for her staffers, "they performed magnificently under pressure." "They were cool, they looked out for one another," the Democratic presidential candidate said. "They kept...

“Politics has become so bitter and partisan,” Senator Barack Obama said, “so gummed up by money and influence. . . .” Though the rest of his sentence petered out into a bureaucratic “big problems that demand solutions,” what struck me was the forceful word picture evoked by the verb phrase gummed up. Here was a presidential candidate unafraid to use a slang verb with verve. It’s an Americanism in the sense of “spoiled,” first cited by the O.E.D. in the college slang at Yale in 1901. Rudyard Kipling helped it along to trans-Atlantic status with a pregnant observation in a...

WASHINGTON - Republicans looking at Rudolph Giuliani's campaign for president always ask two questions - is he really running, and is he a "real Republican?" They're probably not going to like the answers found by Newsday in Giuliani's government filings. The ex-mayor still is holding back from submitting the simple one-page form declaring himself a possible candidate, despite raising $1.4 million to run. And asked what party he belongs to on a different form, Giuliani didn't say - he left the answer blank.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), a White House hopeful in 2008, said Monday that the party has plenty of work to do to regain the backing of GOP voters frustrated by deficit spending, the Iraq war and illegal immigration. Five months before the midterm elections, McCain spoke about the outlook for the Republican Party amid concern within the Bush administration and the GOP leadership about losing majority control of Congress. "Spending is out of control and a significant part of our Republican base is angry because we have allowed this to happen," he said....

Librado Romero/The New York TimesSenator John McCain delivers commencement speech during The New Schools ceremony at Madison Square Garden. Students holding leaflets and turning backs during McCain's address. Librado Romero/The New York Times Senator John McCain, the keynote speaker at the New School University graduation, was received with jeers, boos and insults. The jeers, boos and insults flew, as caustic as any that angry New Yorkers have hurled inside Madison Square Garden. The objects of derision yesterday, however, were not the hapless New York Knicks, but Senator John McCain, the keynote speaker at the New School graduation, and his...

McCain Finds Unfriendly Audience in NYC By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) received a cantankerous reception Friday at the New School's commencement, where dozens of faculty members and students turned their backs and raised protest signs and a student speaker mocked him as he sat silently on stage. The historically liberal university has been roiled in controversy in recent weeks over the selection of the Republican and likely 2008 presidential candidate to speak to its 2,700 graduates and thousands of family, friends and faculty. The Madison Square Garden crowd...