Free Republic

One summer's evening, a skinny, not-particularly athletic boy, perhaps eleven years old, scored the most glorious touchdown of his life.  This was not a real game.  My friend and I, along with his older brother Phil, were just tossing a ball around in the park.  But it was a memorable triumph because I scored my touchdown by outmaneuvering Phil with a head fake, and then outrunning him for half the length of the field.  It was almost too easy!snip...today, addressing myself to any Trump supporters who are not already lost to the irrational anger he feeds on -- please don't...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Tuesday said it will no longer require incoming U.S. citizens to pledge that they will "bear arms on behalf of the United States" or "perform noncombatant service" in the Armed Forces as part of the naturalization process. Those lines are in the Oath of Allegiance that people recite as they become U.S. citizens. But USCIS said people "may" be able to exclude those phrases for reasons related to religion or if they have a conscientious objection. USCIS said people with certain religious training or with a "deeply held moral or ethical code" may not...

Caesar's death was more than the end of an extraordinary life; it was the end of an era. Karl Theodor von Piloty, The Murder of Caesar (1865), oil on canvas “No country was ever saved by good men,” Horace Walpole once observed, “because good men will not go to the length that may be necessary.” I thought often of Walpole’s remark while reading Barry Strauss’s thrilling account of the assassination of Julius Caesar, which is full of robust men going to incarnadine lengths. [snip] I have always been slightly puzzled about what exactly Caesar did to rouse the murderous fury...

Dear Readers. I received a survey request (filled in below) from the Media Research Center (MRC). Initially I was expecting just another multiple choice form that misses many of the key issues of the day. Much to my delight, this one actually had, in addition to MRC's preferred topics,  "other" as choices. And what was even more special, MRC provided a space in which to spell out the other choice(s). Burned out naif that I am, I have my doubts they will actually read what I put in the boxes. I know, many of you think I must be crazy...

It’s worth considering the risks and rewards in the budget standoff, which is first and foremost a battle for control of the Republican Party and the shape of the 2014 and 2016 primaries. --Snip-- [Following his strategists' recommendations that if the debt ceiling is not increased, the president should disregard it, and honor spending and tax legislation] is political overreaching of the worst kind. If Obama refuses to postpone the implementation of his health care plan in return for an extension of the debt ceiling, Republicans should stand their ground, and force the president to tear up the Constitution and...

Or are you one of their mindless bots who believes you are somehow special? At Liberty's Torch, Weetabix asked me a question whose answer is too long to put into a small comment. Pascal - I must admit up front that a surfeit of current projects has undermined my normal willingness to research - have you any links to further explain the "Malthusian Sustainability nuts?"  The answer is even too long for a single post, but I need try at least this once. For my recent thoughts, the Sustainability label at my blog will provide you many examples of news...

I received yet another email request for funds from the Tea Party "Patriots" Citizens Fund. Here is the maddening segment of Jenny Beth Martin's reasons for her request for funds. 2) We need to bombard targeted Senators with ads. The constituents of every single wishy-washy “Republican” need to understand what is at stake. We just don’t yet have the funding we need to buy these ads.  Someone this stupid has no business being in the business of fighting the Establishment. As far as I am concerned, she is essentially an antidisestablishmentarian.  Hey, maybe I'm overly sensitive, but am I wrong...

Aside from the often ignored coincidence that left and sinister share a common meaning, the very fact that the Left, particularly the moderate sounding Leftists, have long disguised their intentions with pleasant sounding labels should automatically send our native instincts on edge that there has been something sinister going on over there. So let us always be ready to review their history. The Left has a pattern that it consistently follows. They call themselves progressive; but their lust for power makes them regressive. Concentrated power comes at the expense of individual rights. There is no exception.They call themselves liberal; but...

Rising ocean waters. Bigger and more frequent forest fires. More brutally hot summer days. These aren't the usual predictions about global warming based on computer forecasts. They're changes already happening in California, according to a detailed new report issued Thursday by the California Environmental Protection Agency. Climate change is "an immediate and growing threat" affecting the state's water supplies, farm industry, forests, wildlife and public health, the report says. The 258-page document was written by 51 scientists from the University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,...

Proposition: The following equation provides a quite accurate prediction. Gay Marriage combined with loosening immigration enforcement requirements is equivalent to providing to undeclared cells of terrorists a legal means to bring in their undeclared terrorist "spouses."

Colorado is suffering wildfires this summer, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes, with our own Stephen Green possibly among them. If Colorado’s experience this year is anything like Texas’ experience last year, then it can expect little to no help from the federal government. But Texas is a red state, Colorado is a swing state, so perhaps there’s hope that Obama won’t quite go Soviet on it as he did on Arizona on Monday. Still, the Obama administration has slashed the US Air Force budget by about $4 billion. Sequestration threatens even more cuts. This is relevant to the wildfires...

According to this news source, Michigan Department of Natural Resources agents are forcing farmers to shoot their piglets due to a new ruling labeling the pigs an invasive species. Found it on Drudge, but I can't vouch for NaturalNews. Never heard of them. Of course, I'd never heard of Barack Obama until 2007, either. Farmer forced to shoot his own baby piglets in cold blood, screams the headline, in Hearstian manner. If true, this reminds me of FDR's Hog Reduction Program of 1933, one of his first "accomplishments." Two billion pounds of pork, mostly piglets and sows, were slaughtered to...

Persists everywhere. The idea that voting or individual activism will fix the trouble we’re in is a big part of what got us into this mess to begin with. Our republic is strong, and is filled with hardworking people who will carry it anywhere it wants to go. Pitiably, the leadership of that Republic has been usurped by a shadow empire, a ruling class which has it’s own set of rules and it’s own hierarchy. Nobody “Elected” Rahm Immanuel, nobody ran against him. Wingnuthead got “voted” in despite being as worthless as tits on a boar. The Ruling Class, despite...

welcome...to the savage lands of the Left Coast. You are here in California to answer an important theoretical question and now you have your answer. Yes, this is what Barack Obama’s second term would look like. Study it. Fear it. And then go home and make sure that it never happens to the rest of the country. ... the tale of how, in the span of a single generation, the most prosperous and golden state in the nation became an economic basket case. ... The political Left gradually gained dominance over California’s government and has imposed a disastrous agenda of...

The GOP is having a presidential candidate debate tomorrow tonight in South Carolina. Fox News Channel, 9 PM EDT. Your challenge is to listen to the questions and answers and decide what the best answer YOU would come up with. In the past, TV tells us who wins, and they've rigged the set-up. IOW, they NAIL our minds with this set up time and again. I have myself come up with better answers, some of which were quite funny while being practical. It is my thinking that the American public is far smarter than any currently serving politician or well-known...

***Update: Now $125 thanks to Joan of Argghh! I've been complaining for some time now that the label Republican In Name Only, and its acronym, RINO, are ineffectual to say the least. My topmost reason is that a dichotomy exists in the word republican. Conservatives think of republicans as representing the people who elected them, with an eye fixed on protecting and preserving the American constitution with its limits on government and its recognition of personal rights. Progressives think of republicans as elitist and doing what they think is right no matter what the common folk think, and "The...

[See the video at the link for the broadcast and pictures of the billboards] “Who's walking through the door?” asked WFTV reporter Melonie Holt. “They come from every walk of life,” said Debbie Brakefield, advanced practice nurse at Marion County Health Department. For now, there are no income restrictions. The health department received a family-planning grant under the federal Title 10 program. Title 10 already provides family-planning dollars to every health department in the state. Marion County’s grant provides an additional $100,000 in funding a year for three years. It's allowing the department to streamline its clinic and lift income...

Ee-e-e-yikes, wot-a-bum Ee-e-e-yikes, wot-a-bum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum In the congress, the dreadful congress The jackal speaks tonight In the congress, the cupid* congress The jackal speaks tonight Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum For the pillage, the dreadful pillage The jackal speaks tonight For the pillage, the stupid pillage The jackal speaks tonight Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Bamabum, bamabum, bamabum, bamabum Hush my darlings, don't gripe my darlings...

Well, you’ve heard about Sham-Wow – here’s the Real Wow: Find God in Just 60 Days or we’ll return your meaningless existence with no obligation! My new Klavan on the Culture video with visuals once again by Justin Folk who actually personally decapitated Richard Dawkins to get that shot of his head floating in muck. Is that dedication or… what? Anyway, here’s the vid: Cannot embed here