Free Republic

Being born in the Deep South when the Jim Crow laws were in full force and seeing, firsthand, the cruelty and downright stubborn foolishness of segregation and all it's attendant inequities, I have a very vivid and candid impression of what the word "racist" really means. Having lived through those days and, on my own, shook off the yoke of racial prejudice that was once so firmly ingrained in me, I deeply resent the careless and reckless use of the word by people who are merely trying to be insulting, having absolutely no idea of the gravity of it's meaning....

Canyon sheriff says no to Obama’s measures Idaho’s U.S. attorney says a local official’s position won’t affect enforcement of federal gun laws. BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF mcuniff@idahostatesman.com   © 2013 Idaho Statesman Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue says he won’t enforce any new federal firearms restrictions, joining a chorus of county sheriffs across the U.S. who have publicly denounced President Barack Obama’s executive orders. Donahue issued a statement Thursday calling Obama’s orders “political posturing.” “I’m not going to fight hysteria with hysteria,” the statement reads. Sheriffs in Oregon and several other states made similar announcements Wednesday, the day Obama issued...

january 18, 2013KNOX GUN-RIGHTS REPORT OBAMA'S DICTATES WILL COST LIVES Jeff Knox sees more background checks leading to more gov't data about our firearms by Jeff Knox ...Probably the most misunderstood and dangerous proposal the president put forward was his call for “universal background checks” for all firearm transfers. This insidious proposal is fueled by a lie which claims that 40 percent of gun sales are between private individuals and don’t involve a background check. Should a father have to acquire a background check on his son before passing down Granddad’s shotgun? Should background checks be required before selling a...

CONGRESS DECLARES BIBLE"THE WORD OF GOD" PUBLIC LAW 97-280   OCT. 4, 1982 Public Law 97-28096 STAT. 121197th Congress Joint Resolution Authorizing and requesting the President to proclaim 1983 as The "Year of the Bible" Whereas the Bible, the Word of God, has made a unique contribution in shaping the United States as a distinctive and blessed nation and people; Whereas deeply held religious convictions springing from the Holy Scriptures led to the early settlement of our Nation; Whereas Biblical teachings inspired concepts of civil government that are contained in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States;...

Legislators deal with ‘panic’ over gun laws Idaho lawmakers are getting an earful from constituents, and leadership is working to consolidate proposals. BY DAN POPKEY dpopkey@idahostatesman.com   © 2013 Idaho Statesman In one of the most Second Amendment-friendly legislatures in America, the pressure to respond to the Connecticut school massacre and President Barack Obama’s gun control ideas has prompted a flurry of behind-the-scenes action. Compounding the interest is the largest freshman class in Idaho history — a group eager to address constituent concerns. To manage the flow of legislation, House Speaker Scott Bedke has informally assigned a point person, Republican...

The Malian army, supported by French forces, has retaken control of the central town of Konna which fell to rebel fighters advancing from the north earlier this month and sparked France's military intervention. "We have wrested total control of Konna after inflicting heavy losses on the enemy," an army statement said on Friday. A spokesperson from the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Dine rebel group confirmed to Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow that its fighters pulled out of the town. "They withdrew from the town after [incurring] huge casualties in the fighting in the town. They say they will continue their fighting in other...

A new apartment building is being constructed just 12 inches from a family’s home in The Bronx, and the house’s owners are fuming mad. “This is what I get to see. Nice,” scoffed Fernando Justiniano, 49, yesterday as he drew open his dining-room curtains to reveal the “monstrosity’’ of gray cinder blocks a foot from his home at 3525 Bruckner Blvd. Justiniano and his wife, Patty, 44, said that when they bought the Pelham Bay home for $200,000 about 13 years ago, it overlooked another residence with a pristine yard. “It’s preposterous. The fact that [the developer] can build that...

In a paper published in 2008, comparing highly regulated Californian gun shows with relatively unregulated Texas gun shows, there was no statistical difference in suicide rates, but the Texas shows, with far less regulation, showed a statistically significant drop in the homicide rate. From the study: "But our results provide little evidence of a gun show-induced increase in mortality in Texas. In fact, we find that in the two weeks following a gun show, the average number of gun homicides declines in the area surrounding the gun show. Aggregating across all gun shows in the state, we find that there...

It’s easy to think that in the wake of Wayne LaPierre’s angry press conference and the National Rifle Association’s tin-eared web video on President Obama’s daughters that the NRA is losing — and losing badly — in the fight over the proper place for guns in American society. Easy and likely incorrect. The National Rifle Association is at the center of a debate on guns and gun control. There’s little doubt that the inside-the-Beltway crowd and those who have been longtime advocates of more gun control laws are outraged by the brash style that the NRA has adopted following the...

Obama's Two Hundred and Eighth Week in Office1/17/2013Gunrunner-GateFast And Furious Scandal: Man Claims To Have Shot U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian TerryHolder Begs Court to Stop Document Release on Fast and FuriousObama Attacks the Second Amendment'No Guns, No Guns!': WH Posts Vids of Kids Begging For Gun ControlObama gun order triples Cabinet agencies required to track gunsBiden on guns: 'We're going to go around the country.'San Diego top cop boasts 'we broke the NRA' as some chiefs aim for gun controlDemocrat introduces bill to restrict access by minors to violent video gamesCutter: Obama Will Activate Campaign Apparatus To Take On...

Later today, when I'm hosting the Ed Morrissey Show, you'll probably notice a deep red welt on my forehead and wonder how it got there. It's from banging my head on my desk repeatedly after reading the results of two polls released today. The first comes from Gallup, where overwhelming majorities of Americans of every party affiliation demand Congressional term limits and an end to the Electoral College --- just two months after re-elected almost every incumbent than ran for federal office: Even after the 2012 election in which Americans re-elected most of the sitting members of the U.S. House...

Heavy and grey is the head that wears the crown - a lesson that President Obama and many of his predecessors have learned the hard way. When Mr Obama takes the oath of office next Monday marking the beginning of his second term, it will not be the same smooth-cheeked, black-haired man who first joined the exclusive club of leaders of the free world in 2008. Comparing pictures of the 51-year-old commander-in-chief from four years to those taken more recently reveals a startling yet obvious truth: standing at the helm of the U.S. government takes a heavy physical toll. Read...

As President Obama searches for ways to suggest and further enforce federal laws that he supposes will have some kind of a mitigating effect on gun violence, his Most Transparent Administration, Evah is still trying to block Freedom of Information Act requests that might possibly puncture the well-orchestrated smokescreen surrounding the gun violence that they directly perpetrated. Perfect. Breitbart has the scoop on the Obama administration wondering whether we all just can’t pretend that Operation Fast & Furious — the deadly gunrunning scheme and the subsequent investigation, coverup, invocation of executive privilege, and Attorney General Eric Holder being held in...

Surprisingly little attention has been paid to former Sen. Chuck Hagel's 2008 memoir, America: Our Next Chapter. In it, Hagel lays out his thoughts on a wide range of issues, including the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Iran, to which he devotes one chapter each. Hagel's attempt to describe the origins and history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reveals that he does not know the facts--and fills the void with anti-Israel bias. Hagel identifies the origins of the conflict by claiming: "the Arab-Israeli standoff was first set in motion by the Balfour Declaration of 1919 promising the Jewish people a homeland and the...

Featured Term (selected at random):LEX FUNDAMENTALIS The basic law of the Roman Catholic Church, similar to a constitution for the Church, is a new feature in the history of ecclesiastical legislation. It was called forth by the decisions of the Second Vatican Council. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Realizing that a shooting war with American citizens would not bode well for an Obama legacy which will already require a blanket guarantee of willful amnesia on the part of historians, the president’s handlers on Wednesday decided it best to propose an Executive ban on gun owners rather than on the guns they own. If fact, nowhere in the list of 23 executive actions recommended by Obama will the American public find the words, “these weapons will be banned” or “confiscation will begin on…” The president wisely left the heavy lifting of “assault weapons” bans and other unconstitutional offensives on...

Thousands of Sunnis rallied Friday in western and central Iraq, denouncing the Shiite-led government’s policies they claim sideline their sect and saying that recent concessions by the authorities are not enough. The protests—the fourth Friday in a row of rallies in Sunni parts of the country—come as tensions are rising among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian groups, threatening to plunge the country into more instability. … Sheik Hassan al-Samarie, one of the organizers of the Samarra rally, said the Sunnis there are disappointed by the slow response of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government in fulfilling their demands. “We are fed up...

ORLANDO, Fla. - The defense team for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman charged with shooting and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, has received Martin's school records, but won't release it to the public, according to the defense website. Zimmerman's attorney, former Local 6 legal analyst Mark O'Mara, writes on GZLegalCase.com that Martin's records are protected and shouldn't be part of the public record. "A number of parties have expressed concern that we will use information found in the school records to “demonize” Trayvon Martin," O'Mara writes. "The Zimmerman defense has no intention to demonize Trayvon Martin. While we believe that George...

CLARK COUNTY, Nev. — Official Washington has the collective attention span of a fruit fly. This condition is exacerbated by the Obama administration's proclivity for declaring selective events and issues to be crises that require immediate action. The problem is aggravated because the loyal opposition is in nearly total disarray, and few in the so-called mainstream media have any idea what they are talking about. That's the summary assessment of many attending the annual Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show here in Harry Reid's Nevada. Note to editors and broadcast producers: The SHOT Show isn't a gun show. Nobody here can...

"The Gun Is Civilization" by Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret) Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it. In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction and the only thing that removes...