Free Republic

The 2024 Republican Iowa Caucus is now history. Donald Trump scored a decisive victory, capturing 98 of 99 counties and winning 51 percent of the vote. Trump’s opponents — Nikki Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) — find themselves struggling to continue. Haley jetted off to New Hampshire where she hopes to get enough support from independents to either win or finish a close second. DeSantis decamped to Haley’s home state of South Carolina hoping to appeal to that state’s evangelicals. But the reality is that Donald Trump has an unshakeable base of support and is all but certain to...

After enjoying years of taxpayer-funded protection from agencies and departments, many of which avail themselves of AR-15 rifles, Hillary Clinton tweeted Friday, “No one actually needs an AR-15.” This is not the first time Clinton has a taken a position against guns that runs totally counter to the fact she has spent many years of her life living with the peace of mind that comes from being protected by good guys with guns. Following the December 2, 2015, San Bernardino attack that killed 14, Clinton said, “Guns, in and of themselves…will not make Americans safer.”

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said Monday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that former President Donald Trump needed to be prosecuted for not trying to stop the violence during the January 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol. McCaskill said, “We can go through, and we can put the images at a specific time. And we can then fill in the text messages, the phone calls that were flooding the White House saying, get him to call them off. Now, what was he watching on TV at those moments? He was watching windows being broken. He was watching police officers being stabbed with...

U.S.—Pioneering smart thermostat company Matrimostat announced a brand-new thermostat that will automatically set the temperature to whatever your wife wants. “The Matrimostat 2000 uses advanced quantum technology to identify your wife’s temperature preference before she even mentions it --often before she even knows it!” says CTO Ted Shmarmanarf. “It’s a lot more challenging than it sounds. Research showed that many women don’t know what they want until at least an hour after they wish it had already happened, so the thermostat had to be able to accommodate for that.” "Now this is one smart thermostat." Shmarmanarf says that the solution...

LECANTO — When Florida lawmakers signed off this year on a bill creating more than 300 miles of toll roads, they did so with scant evidence the project was needed. More than five months later, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law and the project has been vetted in two rounds of public hearings, local officials are growing frustrated by the persistent lack of details about what would be the largest expansion of Florida’s toll system in decades. “We’re beating a dead horse right now before it’s even born,” said Dixie County Commissioner Mark Hatch, who sits on a...

Will allegation against Kavanaugh derail his nomination? Democrats are doing everything possible to keep Judge Brett Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court because they don’t want to confirm a conservative jurist who will faithfully and accurately apply the Constitution to cases that come before the high court. The framers who signed the Constitution knew it would need to change with changing times, so they set up a process to amend the document – a process that has led to the adoption of 27 amendments. It was never the intention of the framers to have Supreme Court justices effectively amend the Constitution...

<p>A 10-year-old special-needs boy was on life support after bullies allegedly lured him to a field, doused him with gasoline, and lit him on fire on Sunday.</p> <p>Kayden Culp of Kerrville, Texas, has burns on 20 percent of his body from his ears to his belly button, and his organs are failing, according to a YouCaring page set up by the boy’s family to cover his health expenses.</p>

Are you as confused about the Trade Promotion Authority bill/trade agreement/drama as much as I am? Sen. Jeff Sessions is one of it’s most outspoken critics, and was on “Hannity” recently to warn about what’s being discussed… “I’ve been there three times and I can tell you it is far more than a trade agreement,” he said. “It is a creating of an economic union. The congressional resource said it is a wide-ranging political and economic partnership that is created where the Sultan of Brunei gets one vote. The president of the United States gets one vote. Twelve countries –...

Wednesday, 'Wheel of Fortune' had a very inspirational contestant in Trent Girone. The 21-year-old Peoria, Ariz., resident is a self-described "Wheel of Fortune" fanatic, but more important, he's the first special needs contestant ever to compete on the show.Girone has had nine brain surgeries and has both Asperger's and Tourette's syndromes, but that didn't stop him from taking early control of the wheel by successfully guessing the first puzzle, "a smashing success." Girone ultimately didn't win the game -- he hit the dreaded Bankrupt slot -- but he won viewer hearts from coast-to-coast.  WATCH:

President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare,” will make it more difficult for parents of special-needs children to pay for tuition at special schools and to purchase medical equipment, according to a new report. More than 30 million Americans place money into a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through their employers to help save emergency funds to pay for their families’ medical costs. Obamacare institutes a brand new $2,500 cap for FSAs, which will make more money taxable and could raise $13 billion in taxes for the federal government over the next decade. “Before Obamacare passed, there was no...

Nobody needs 24/7 media coverage of mass killings. It leads to the copycat effect where unbalanced people are given an incentive to kill masses of innocents in order to become famous. Nobody needs to go to the church of their choice. One state sponsored church is plenty. Nobody needs to refuse police questions. What have you got to hide? This practice allows child killers to roam the streets. Nobody needs to assemble in large groups. It is dangerous and leads to riots. Small children are trampled to death. Nobody needs Automobiles. Mass transit is more efficient and safes the lives...

Does anyone really need old family snapshots? Pictures of your child as a baby, or of your grandparents on their honeymoon have no monetary worth and nearly no practical value. What can you do with them, besides looking every few years. Would you be OK with government taking away by an arbitrary decree? We don’t need apples. Pears are close enough and can be used in the same recipes. Would you be OK with apple growing being prohibited? Nobody needs to read Jonothan Swift. Should the books be destroyed for their supposed advocacy of cannibalism? When we are robbed of...

A “Wants” based consumption = Satisfying Wants = Greed = Spending = Waste = Not Being Green = Being Mean = Socialism Or A “Needs” based consumption = Satisfying Needs = Conservation = Thrift = Saving = Investment = Increased Efficiency = Lower Prices = Less Waste = Being Green = Being Nice = Capitalism

I know Newt's team reads FR and I have a message. Please read the following: What the hell is up your home page? I get how to look for navigating around it but to 80% of America it looks blank. You need a simple, clean and intuitive landing page and it isn't. Fix it! I'm arguing/persuading against many people who worked in the Reagan Administration and people who count on their opinion, for Newt amazing accomplishments and his new proposal for America. We will have a Majorities in both houses that will enable Newt to accomplish the bold and audacious...

BREAKING -- The unemployment rate in June rose to 9.2 percent, the government reported Friday morning, as the economy added just 18,000. President Obama will speak about the new data in the Rose Garden at 10:35 a.m., the White House says.

While the Obama administration worries about security issues half way around the world in such places as Afghanistan, Iran, and North Korea, a serious problem is brewing right on our southern border. Drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed some 29,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the cartels four years ago. The situation is now so bad that some analysts worry that Mexico could become a “failed state.” That outcome is a relatively unlikely, worst-case scenario, but the violence is already bad enough that it warrants far more attention from America’s

In a segment shortly after 3 p.m. EDT today looking at how much President Obama has aged in the two years since winning the presidential election, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts and guest Douglas Brinkley concluded that the commander-in-chief needs to take it easy more often. The MSNBC host and the liberal presidential historian also blamed the amount of stress President Obama faces in office on unrealistic expectations Americans may have about his handling of the economy (emphases mine): DOUGLAS BRINKLEY: The stress factor gets so high on these

I need to put gas in my dad's 1996 Chevy Caprice. He's in the hospital for a short stay. My brother drove my dad's car and tried to put gas in the car but could not figure out how to unlock the cap. We tried the ignition and trunk keys, and have not seen another special Chevy key for the gas cap. My dad (he's 88) is on meds that make him a little goofy so he can't tell us how to do it. I am logged in; my beber is on stune; my sister gave the moose the cheese;...

Advertising often results in overspending and over-consumption by creating artificially induced needs. The usual catch phrases are "New", "An exclusive offer", "Everyone has one of these", and/or "You deserve the best." Other fallacious "Protect your children with ..." not to mention lastly "Want to know what women really like?" manipulate the minds of targeted groups and raise/lower self esteem to encourage people to purchase their products.

Who needs vaccine against regular winter flu, and who should be first in line for the swine flu shot? There's lots of overlap. Regular flu vaccine is available now, and people who need it most include: _Adults 50 and older. _All children age 6 months to 18 years. _Pregnant women. _People of any age with chronic health problems like asthma, heart disease or a weakened immune system.