Free Republic

The millennial generation might be surprised to learn that theirs is the first without guns in school. Just 30 years ago, high school kids rode the bus with rifles and shot their guns at high school rifle ranges. After another school shooting, it's time to ask: what changed?

The publisher of Newsweek and the International Business Times has been engaging in fraudulent online traffic practices that helped it secure a major ad buy from a US government agency, according to a new report released today by independent ad fraud researchers. IBTimes.com, the publisher’s US business site, last year won a significant portion of a large video and display advertising campaign for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency. Social Puncher, a consulting firm that investigates online ad fraud, alleges in its report that the ads were displayed to an audience on IBTimes.com that includes a significant amount...

…There is little chance they can hold this seat in 2020 (unless Republicans nominate Roy Moore again). Meanwhile, Jones deprives them of their favorite talking point that Republicans are all drooling knuckle-dragging morons. Worse, it means Al Franken will likely have to go through with his resignation after all…

Together we contend for the truth that politics, law, and culture must be secured by moral truth. With the Founders of the American experiment, we declare, “We hold these truths.” With them, we hold that this constitutional order is composed not just of rules and procedures but is most essentially a moral experiment. With them, we hold that only a virtuous people can be free and just, and that virtue is secured by religion. To propose that securing civil virtue is the purpose of religion is blasphemous. To deny that securing civil virtue is a benefit of religion is blindness.

If Trump keeps giving this speech, and variants on it, for the next 90 days he will win the election. He needs, above all, to maintain message discipline. Yesterday, he riffed a bit here and there, but not substantively. He stuck to his script and delivered his message powerfully. He needs to keep that up until Election Day.

And now there appears to be a leak from a New York medical office that shows a diagnosis. According to the leaked document, Clinton was diagnosed with "Complex Partial Seizures, and Subcortical Vascular Dementia."

"That is not within an area code of satisfactory. "Hell, it's barely in the neighborhood of English. It is legalistic gobbledegook. You can turn an ankle trying to get from premise to conclusion in that tangled thicket of weaselspeak. It ought not to matter at this point, and it never has mattered all that much to me, but, Lord above, if HRC and her people ever wonder why her trust numbers are so abysmal, they ought to read back her answer to that question. "That's the way you talk when the mule you sold somebody died on the way home."

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- His own mother told him not to run, and on Saturday, Jeb Bush finally caved to her political wisdom, suspending his presidential campaign after another disappointing showing in South Carolina's primary. "The people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken and I really respect their decision. So tonight I am suspending my campaign," he said at a post-election party in Columbia.

Watch out NRA, Hillary Clinton’s coming for you! During a meeting with her supporters at Broward College in Florida today, a visibly angry Hillary Clinton promised “new effective gun control measures” if elected president — whatever that means — and a “national movement” to take on Republicans who “put the NRA ahead of families.” And we do mean Hillary was angry. Here’s the video along with excerpts she tweeted out. But check out the bro-for-Hillary at the 1:43 mark.

The Church is not a bureaucratic organization, but a love story. This was Pope Francis’ message during Wednesday’s Mass in the Chapel of the Casa Santa Marta… The day’s readings tell the story of the growth of the first Christian community. In his homily, the Pope warned against being tempted to make "deals" simply to get "more partners in this enterprise." Instead, he said, “the road that Jesus willed for His Church is otherwise: the way of difficulties, the way of the Cross, the way of persecution . . . And this makes us wonder: what is this Church? Because...

He served out of duty, not ambition. After John Paul II’s death, Benedict emerged as the indispensable man, without the least bit of angling for that role. He didn’t seek the papacy; it simply fell upon him. He had hoped the college of cardinals would select someone else. But his acute intellect, grasp of the Church’s crisis, and closeness to John Paul II made him the obvious choice. Given this background, his resignation appears more understandable. He entered the papacy humbly and now leaves it humbly. His resignation is a great loss for the Church and the world. He represented...

Tucker Carlson on Hannity discussing the video of a speech by Barack Obama given to Hampton University.

Cardinal Dolan gave a fiercely pro-life prayer to the Democratic Convention after President Obama's nomination speech.

Small amounts of three plutonium isotopes were detected in soil sampled at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant last week, but the levels do not pose a health risk, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. has announced. Plutonium-238, 239 and 240 were detected in soil samples taken at five locations inside the plant between the afternoon of March 21 and the morning of March 22 morning, TEPCO said Monday night.

DALLAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- "Many people will have their credit scores lowered this year if they're not watchful, know what to do and take action," said Eddie Johansson, president of Credit Security Group, a leading nationwide credit score analysis and rescoring firm. Credit scores are used by lenders to determine credit risk. Lower scores result in loss of credit and higher interest rates. Financial analysts predict cuts up to $2 trillion in credit card account lines over the next 18 months. "This will have very bad consequences for consumers who are not prepared," said Johansson, speaking recently about credit...

Single Nonvoter Tipped Election To McCain-Palin Ticket [Video at link...]

With the sorry choices of McCain or McCain left, how about a write-in of Thompson in Texas? Is it allowed under Texas primary rules? Beats not voting and beats supporting McCain.

04/29/2007 VATICANTogether with Mary, say “yes” to Christ, and pray for vocationsIn front of 40 thousand people, Benedict XVI, asks everyone to pray for priests, those who form them and families, so that they may nurture the seed of those called to follow Christ the Good Shepherd. Vatican City (Asia News) – Today’s Regina Caeli prayer was also dedicate to the theme of vocations.  Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study overlooking St Peter’s square, after his ordination of 22 priests, which took place in the basilica.  The square was filled with over 40 thousand people, among them...

The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte's and Melissa McEwan's posts personally offended me. It's not how I talk to people, and it's not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it's intended as satire, humor, or anything else. But I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake. I've talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone's...

Dredge material is pumped into the island during the grade raising after the 1900 hurricane. Residents endured years of pumps, sludge, canals, stench and miles of catwalks during the project. Photo courtesy of Rosenberg Library. GALVESTON - The great storm that came roaring out of the Gulf of Mexico 100 years ago, destroying this island city and assuring its place in history, deserves its due. But the wind and water and death brought by the unnamed hurricane, even the acts of courage and sacrifice played out in its face, are only half the story. For while the story that...