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The first step toward an in-depth understanding of adult behavior is to comprehend its origins in childhood. Whether adaptive or maladaptive, the enduring patterns of thinking, emoting, behaving and relating that define adult personality begin in the early years of life. In fact, our earliest experiences with caretakers and others, acting on inherited temperament factors, strongly determine our later personality traits, including those expressed in political values and beliefs. The dispositions of the liberal mind are no exception: his hopes and fears, beliefs and passions, values and morals are in great measure the legacy of his childhood from birth through...

At Arizona State University (ASU), students can now learn about the “problem of whiteness” in America. The public university is offering an English class to its students this semester called “Studies in American Literature/Culture: U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness.” According to the class description on ASU’s website, students will be reading The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, Critical Race Theory, Everyday Language of White Racism, Playing in the Dark, and The Alchemy of Race and Rights. At time of publication, 18 students were enrolled in the course offered at ASU’s Tempe campus. Students can receive three credits for...

Second Amendment supporters took to OpenCarry.org’s forum to spread the word about the event, and to plan out their attendance to make maximum profit. “A $25 gift card for "high capacity magazines - like the ones you can buy for $8?” questioned one forum member. Another forum member, named "We-the-People," explained he would be attending the event to “make $200 profit off of the two junker pistols that I purchased for the purpose.” Members also planned to intercept attendees bringing in valuable guns, offering them cash before they could go inside and accept the gift cards. “I picked up five...

I was expecting some action out of the new Congress, but I really never saw this one coming. A group of Republican Senators led by Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) are floating the idea of further extending the nuclear option enacted by the Democrats to take filibusters off the table when considering nominees to the Supreme Court. Clearly wiser heads than myself have been able to determine why this is such a great idea, because I’m not seeing it at the moment. Top Senate Republicans are considering gutting the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees — a move that could...

The United States intelligence community funded, nurtured and incubated Google as part of a drive to dominate the world through control of information. Seed-funded by the NSA and CIA,Google was merely the first among a plethora of private sector start-ups co-opted by US intelligence to retain ‘information superiority.’ The origins of this ingenious strategy trace back to a secret Pentagon-sponsored group, that for the last two decades has functioned as a bridge between the US government and elites across the business, industry, finance, corporate, and media sectors. The group has allowed some of the most powerful special interests in corporate...

Walker is likely to announce the arena-funding plan before his budget address [on February 3] because the arena issue would otherwise be a distraction to his main budget messages, an influential Republican legislator told the Business Journal Friday. Walker has been hearing from the MMAC and other Milwaukee-area business executives who support the arena project."Ninety-five percent of what (Walker) puts in the budget stays," the influential Republican legislator told the Business Journal Friday. "It would take a lot of momentum to get something out of the budget."Another source familiar with the arena push said that while the "jock tax" will...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama became the latest state to see its ban on gay marriage fall to a federal court ruling Friday, as the issue of same-sex marriage heads to the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Callie V.S. Granade ruled in favor of two Mobile women who sued to challenge Alabama's refusal to recognize their 2008 marriage performed in California. The ruling is the latest in a string of wins for advocates of marriage rights. Judges have also struck down bans in several other Southern states, including the Carolinas, Florida, Mississippi and Virginia. The U.S. Supreme Court announced this...

Subprime Scandal: We've long suspected the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission wasn't honest in examining events before the meltdown. But an ex-commissioner says the probe was actually a full-blown political cover-up. In a just-released book, former FCIC member Peter Wallison says that a Democratic Congress worked with the commission's Democratic chairman to whitewash the government's central role in the mortgage debacle. The conspiracy helped protect some of the Democrats' biggest stars from scrutiny and accountability while helping justify the biggest government takeover of the financial sector since the New Deal. Wallison's sobering, trenchantly written "Hidden in Plain Sight: What Really Caused...

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Billionaire Donald Trump, the most prominent “birther” to question Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, asserted Friday that Sen. Ted Cruz must clear up legal doubts about his own eligibility due to his birth outside the United States. “It’s a problem. It could be a difficult problem, but he admits that he was born in Canada,” Trump told reporters in Iowa on the eve of the first major gathering of 2016 presidential hopefuls. “He’s a friend of mine. I have great respect for him. But …certainly it’s a stumbling block and he’s going to...

<p>Multiple sources within Bakersfield, North Carolina, & on Capitol Hill tell Gotnews.com that Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Renee Ellmers (R-NC) have been carrying on a long-running affair since 2011.</p> <p>The affair is something of an open secret in Washington, D.C. Reporters at other publications, lobbyists, congressional staffers of both parties all know about it. One staffer for a congressman describes it as the “biggest open secret” in D.C. A lobbyist describes Ellmers as a “social climber who has ingratiated herself” with McCarthy.</p>

Scorched Earth. If you're an unpopular lame duck President whose terrible policies have granted your opponents two wave elections, you're bound to start noticing dissent among your supporters. For some Presidents that might mean that your pet projects will languish as your political friends become scarce. Not so for a petulant, frustrated man like Barack Obama. For Obama, it simply means that he's going to have to start destroying members of his own party. As the Daily Mail reports, the President is ready to lash out at any Democrat who would dare attempt to rein him in: A White House...

The government of Zimbabwe has pledged to seize the last remaining handful of white-owned farms in the impoverished African country, confident that turning over a few hundred farms to the majority black population will improve its terrible living standards. Since 2000, President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party have pursued a series of “land reforms” that have seized farmland belonging to whites in order to redistribute it to landless blacks. About 4,000 farmers had their lands seized in the first wave, leaving only a few hundred commercial white farmers operating in the country. Now, that number is poised to drop...

Say conservatives have their way with Obamacare, and the Supreme Court deals it a death blow or a Republican president repeals it in 2017. Some people who got health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act may lose it. In which case, liberals like to say, some of Obamacare’s beneficiaries may die. Columnist Jonathan Chait wrote recently that those who may die are victims of ideology — “collateral damage” incurred in conservatives’ pursuit “of a larger goal.” If these are the stakes, many liberals argue, then ending Obamacare is immoral. Except, it’s not. In a world of scarce...

Medi-Cal applicants who have been waiting for more than 45 days can receive temporary health benefits while officials determine eligibility for the public insurance program, a state Superior Court judge ruled this week. The suit, which was filed in Alameda County Superior Court by a coalition of health advocates and legal services groups, cited delays in enrolling pregnant women, children and adults with life-threatening conditions. Advocates said many either had to postpone treatment or pay cash to see doctors. Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid, the publicly funded insurance program for poor and disabled residents. Prompted by the Affordable Care...

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide a case on the constitutionality of the new lethal injection drug combinations that some states are using for executions. The court agreed to hear a challenge to Oklahoma’s choice of drugs even though on Jan. 15 the court declined to stay an execution there, using the same contested drugs. In April, Oklahoma botched the execution of Clayton D. Lockett, who appeared to gasp and struggle after the drugs were administered before he finally died in the execution chamber of a heart attack.

2014 was, according to NOAA and NASA, the warmest year on record for the entire world. Locally, it was also the hottest year in California’s history. The world’s climate is changing, at least according to science and data. 2014 was also the year of Frozen, Disney’s animated musical blockbuster about two sisters and a snowman (more or less), amassing over $1.2 billion in worldwide box office receipts and billions more from countless sing-a-long showings, DVD sales, and merchandise since its November 2013 release. And now, in 2015, we’re learning where these two seemingly disparate facts intersect: the State Department’s Admiral...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition… it’s America’s Clean-Up Hitter! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811.

Rep. Renee Ellmer, who shuttered a pro-life bill with 60% public support on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade may have a challenger in the Republican Primary. According to GOP operatives who spoke to Roll Call politics the Chatham county GOP chair, Jim Duncan has been interested in a primary challenge of Rep. Renee Ellmers for some time and this most recent betrayal of a core Republican principle may be enough to push Duncan to commit. Ellmers already started the 2016 cycle with a couple cracks in her hold on the seat. In 2014, local activists were angry over her...

Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy leads among Republicans potentially seeking to replace Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) in the Senate. According to a poll conducted by conservative North Star Opinion Research on behalf of Kennedy, the state treasurer takes 18 percent support, ahead of Reps. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), at 13 percent, and John Fleming, at 7 percent. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu would be the strongest Democratic challenger in the Senate race. He took 39 percent in the poll, which is the baseline of support for any Democrat in the state, according to the poll. Louisiana has gone deep red in...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today introduced the Operation United Assistance Tax Exclusion Act, which provides that service members deployed to combat the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa be entitled to the same tax benefits as those serving in a combat zone.The bill is cosponsored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The benefit shall only apply to service members who are required to undergo a 21-day quarantine. Fort Hood deployed about 500 troops for this mission. About 80 have returned and are currently in isolation at North Fort Hood."While we take...