Free Republic

WASHINGTON (CH) – In a bold effort to improve the educational fortunes of students who perform at academic levels significantly below the average of their peers, Congress has mandated a minimum grade to be assigned to each student in each course taught at any school in the country. Starting in September, it shall be unlawful for any teacher, professor, or instructor charged with assigning course grades to assign to any student a grade lower than C-. Sponsors of the Fair Academic Standards Act decry the injustice that occurs each time a student earns a low grade, such as a D...

We've seen health insusrance rates rise up to 20% in recent months for many plans. But this is just a drop in the bucket compared to what will happen when Obamacare is fully implemented. Washington Post: Many young, healthy Americans could soon see a jump in their health insurance costs, and insurance companies are saying: It's not our fault. The nation's insurers are engaged in an all-out, last-ditch effort to shield themselves from blame for what they predict will be rate increases on policies they must unveil this spring to comply with President Obama's health-care law. Insurers point to several...

There are two teams. One in white, one in black. The white team passes the ball to only white team members. The black team only passes the ball to black team members. Can you follow the white team ball and tell us how many times they passed the ball? It’s harder than it looks. Video at Link

There’s a story told about a Paris chief of police who was called to a department store to stop a burglary in progress. Upon his arrival, he reconnoitered the situation and ordered his men to surround the entrances of the building next door. When questioned about his actions, he replied that he didn’t have enough men to cover the department store’s many entrances but he did have enough for the building next door. Let’s see whether there are similarities between his strategy and today’s gun control strategy. Last year, Chicago had 512 homicides; Detroit had 411; Philadelphia had 331; and...

Sarah Palin turns 49 years old today, still relatively young and poised for the third act of her public life, whatever she chooses for that to be. Act I: Ambitious young woman rises through the ranks in local Alaskan politics to become the state's youngest governor (and first female governor). Picked in 2008 as the unconvential running mate for Republican John McCain's presidential bid. Her presence on the ticket certainly didn't help McCain, but her image as a folksy soccer mom and an arch-conservative firebrand energizes her own base and she becomes a Tea Party icon. Act II: After McCain's...

Media coverage of the George Zimmerman shooting of Trayvon Martin has been skewed for months by wild charges of racism against George. NBC News infamously edited tape of Zimmerman to make it appear that he thought Martin was suspicious thanks to his race; CNN reported that Zimmerman had used a racial slur during his 911 call. That thematic stretched all the way to the White House, with President Obama suggesting that Zimmerman was acting out of racism, since as Obama put it, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” The truth is far different. Not only was Zimmerman...

Smokers, beware: tobacco penalties under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act could subject millions of smokers to fees costing thousands of dollars, making healthcare more expensive for them than Americans with other unhealthy habits. The Affordable Care Act, which critics have also called “Obamacare”, could subject smokers to premiums that are 50 percent higher than usual, starting next Jan 1. Health insurers will be allowed to charge smokers penalties that overweight Americans or those with other health conditions would not be subjected to. A 60-year-old smoker could pay penalties as high as $5,100, in addition to the premiums, the Associated Press...

The American Kennel Club says the Labrador retriever is the nation's most popular dog for the 22nd straight year - for attributes that range from family-friendly pet to search-and-rescue nose.

Alabama has won the title of the most conservative state in the nation, followed closely by North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, and Utah, a new Gallup poll reveals. Rounding out the Top 10 reddest of the red states are Oklahoma, Idaho, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Arkansas. Alabama took the crown after a majority of residents — 50.6 percent of those polled — told Gallup they identified their ideology as conservative. North Dakota and Wyoming tied for second place with 48.6 percent of residents in those states saying they are conservative. “The Top 10 conservative states are all red states that vote reliably...

The common media view of the South is as a regressive region, full of overweight, prejudiced, exploited and undereducated numbskulls. This meme was perfectly captured in this Bill Maher-commissioned video from Alexandra Pelosi, the New York-based daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Given the level of imbecility, maybe we’d be better off if the former Confederate states exiled themselves into their own redneck empire. Travel writer Chuck Thompson recently suggested this approach in a new book. Right now, however, Northeners can content themselves with the largely total isolation of Southerners from the corridors of executive power. Yet even as...

Gun control advocates say deadly assault weapons have no business being on the streets of America. But, apparently, those same people who would restrict you of your ability to defend yourself have no objections to fully loaded military gunships flying over American population centers. That’s exactly what happened in Miami, Florida recently when the U.S. military, in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies, staged an “urban training exercise,” justifying the action as as preparation of our troops for deployment overseas. If we’re supposedly pulling our military out of Afghanistan and Iraq, which urban environment is it that the military and...

If youÂ’re like AWD, youÂ’ve been perusing stores looking for ammo. ItÂ’s very difficult to find these days. And, if you can find it, it has astronomical prices. It seems Americans are buying up anything and everything gun related fearing Obama and his big-government statist friendÂ’s aims to destroy the Second Amendment. Ammo isnÂ’t the only thing flying off the shelves. Go to a Cabelas or any other gun store and youÂ’re likely to see empty shelves and crowded counters. Obama is the greatest gun salesman in the history of the world. There is nothing to be found! In Texas,...

“"A right unexercised is a right lost!" Motto of OpenCarry.org OpenCarry.org was founded by Virginians John Pierce and Mike Stollenwerk in 2004. It's primary goal is encouraging the right to openly carry holstered handguns. It is the social networking headquarters of the open carry movement. They are working hard to end the intentional hoplophobic (fear of weapons) discrimination perpetrated against law abiding gun owners. These grassroots activist planted the seeds in 2004 and activism has sprouted across the nation. Alabama Open Carry (AOC) is leading the charge to "Dare Defend Our Rights". AOC is a grassroots effort to educate Alabama...

Schadenfreude's a bitch, isn't it? When Jacque Chirac was president, the French did everything they could to torpdeo our efforts in Iraq. They refused to send troops to fight Saddam and continuously opposed us in NATO councils. Now, suddenly - France needs help in Mali. And no one is lifting a finger to help them. "The French aren't alone, they are the trailblazers," he said, after European ministers approved a contingent of more than 200 military trainers for Mali. He added: "It is completely possible - but this is up to them - that others or the same European countries...

<p>In the last 24 hours, the media have scrutinized Notre Dame All-American linebacker Manti Te'o's life more completely than they did President Barack Obama's in the last eight years. And that is shameful -- on both counts. The crux of the Te'o story, of course, is whether Te'o conspired to fabricate his seemingly tragic relationship with imaginary girlfriend Lennay Kekua or whether he is a victim of a cruel hoax. Much is at stake -- or so we are told. If Te'o proves to be a willing participant in a hoax, NFL scouts will question his character and downgrade his stock in the upcoming NFL draft. For those who care, Deadspin has some excellent reporting on this story -- better reporting, in fact, than anyone in the major media has done on that other Hawaiian fabricator of girlfriends, Barack Obama. Although I and others in the blogosphere had made the case early on that the girlfriends Obama wrote about in his memoir Dreams from My Father were not real, the major media ran from the story. To see how far and fast they ran, please check out my AT articles on the subject: "What Does 'Composite Girl' Tell Us About Obama" and "Did Maraniss Commit Fraud to Protect Obama." The Deadspin reporters rightly chastise a "compliant press" for buying into "Notre Dame's mythmaking," but in the press's defense, who would think it necessary to vet a linebacker? There is no excuse for how our media have failed to vet the president.</p>

Virginia Representative Jim Moran has taken PC, pop psychology to its logical extremes by claiming that "older white guys" are the "most insecure" part of American society . Moran, one of the nation's most left-wing Congressmen, appeared on Al Sharpton's MSNBC show on January 16 and went into an aspect of the next election cycle that seemed to trouble him. It was during this discussion that he found what is wrong with our nation. Clearly, we had a very successful election in November. I worry a bit about 2014, when we don't have the President at the top of the...

Democrats Can Become As Power-Mad As Any Neo-Con I think it is important to point out how quickly most Democratic values went out the door as soon as Barack Obama was placed in the White House. Let’s be clear; you cannot claim to be anti-war, anti-torture, anti-assassination, anti-surveillance, anti-corporate, anti-bank, anti-rendition, etc. while defending the policies of Obama at the same time. This is hypocrisy.

If there is one city in the world that represents all the hope, change, ideology and character of Barack Obama, it is his adopted home of Chicagoland. Where other than Chicagoland can a lazy, pot-head, communist, racist, beneficiary of Affirmative Action rise to be the most respected position in the city…..a Community Organizer? It’s no small accomplishment to become a Community Organizer in Chicagoland. With all the Minister X’s and Rhyming Reverends on every corner being held down by ‘the man,’ it takes some real talent…and connections…to rise to the highly-esteemed level of Community Organizer. But that is exactly what...

As I wrote on Jan. 11, Jackson County Kentucky Sheriff Denny Peyman has made it clear that gun laws which violate the United States Constitution or the Kentucky Constitution will not be enforced in his county. On Jan. 12, he followed this up with a press conference in which he explained that a Sheriff's powers are predominant over the powers of federal and state agents. When he says these things he drives gun-grabbers batty because he says them with the conviction that rests on knowledge, and he has no intention of backing down. During the press conference, he took time...