Free Republic

I had my internet service upgraded today. The Frontier Communications tech was here to make some changes. After he was all set, while he was still here and his company truck still in my driveway, he asked my to connect to my network to see if all was well. I opened my iPad and as usual it listed a few local networks whose signal it was reading. It listed the usual few neighbors' networks that come up every time. It also listed: "NSA mobile surveillance unit 981" I've never seen this before, and since his truck left an hour ago,...

Opportunities for producing and assembling products and their components have spread worldwide, making it is easier for countries to climb the production value ladder. States at the bottom, extracting raw materials, can gradually move up, first making low-value components and then progressing to higher-value ones or basic assembly. But just as technology spurred globalization and the shifts in international trade that followed, so, too, will it revolutionize how countries again do business with one another. Compounded by the economic and demographic changes taking place today, automation, advanced robotics and software-driven technologies are ushering in a new era — one of...

Interesting, I am 77 years old, born and raised without parents. All my adult life I have been trying to get a birth certificate. Finally, 4 years ago I managed to get my delayed birth certificate. When I tried to get a passport card to go on a short cruise to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary I was told I cannot get one unless I have someone who can attest to my birth that was there. At my age, good luck on someone who is still alive. This is what is happening to our freedom. Paperwork upon paperwork just to...

Andrew Cash, a former student at Missouri State University, is suing the institution over his dismissal from a graduate program in counseling. Cash has retained counsel from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm, and has filed a federal civil rights complaint against the Governors of Missouri State University. Cash and his lawyers contend that he was dismissed from the university’s Master’s program in counseling because he expressed concern over counseling same-sex couples due to his religious convictions. In an exclusive interview, Spero News interviewed attorney Tom Olp of the Thomas More Society, which is representing Cash....

Ted Cruz is continuing to consolidate support from among many of his primary rivals. Recently, as leader Ben Carson has seen a virtual implosion within his campaign, and with his poll numbers in a freefall, Cruz has surged into the lead in Iowa, and is in a solid second place nationally as well as in South Carolina, Florida, Nevada and Georgia. Cruz's surge is largely based on picking up the support of Carson voters, especially evangelical voters who are leaving Carson for Cruz in large numbers. But Cruz is also seeing support come his way from the "Liberty" movement. Steve...

"Chatting" with a FB friend and discussing the 2nd. Send me to wikipedia for a quick view and noticed the following: "There are actually two different versions: As passed by the Congress and preserved in the National Archives, with the rest of the original hand-written copy of the Bill of Rights prepared by scribe William Lambert:[29] (p) A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, then-Secretary of State:[30] A well regulated...

In 35 years time -- time enough for several presidents, more than a few changes in the control of Congress, and a few dozen new seasons of "House of Cards" -- America will look different. Not entirely different of course, but, as we've noted in the past, its demographics will have shifted enough to be noticeable. And with the release of new projections from Pew Research tracking how religious beliefs are expected to evolve, we now have a fuller picture of how America will have changed by the time today's toddlers are stalking Capitol Hill. Even if we don't necessarily...

Did you listen to Jeb Bush make his announcement yesterday? Did you hear loud cheers from a crowd that seemed excited at the prospect that there could be another Bush as President? Was I the only one confused? I don’t know one person who doesn’t threaten to leave the Country if it’s Bush vs Clinton for President again. Can’t imagine folks actually excited and cheering for Jeb. It got me wondering, would someone like Jeb, or another candidate that’s been struggling like he has, hire a crowd? Pay people to attend their rallies to make them seem like their gaining...

Public education has been a slowly degenerating disaster throughout the West, and now it seems we’re exporting it to the rest. At a United Nations meeting 15 years ago, the world’s governments agreed on the goal of enrolling every child on the planet in primary schooling by this year. Indeed, they have nearly succeeded, with 2014’s reports indicating that 90 percent of children in developing regions now attend primary school. Presumably, the numbers for developed countries are above 95 percent. But strangely, this lofty plan did not say anything about the quality of the schooling into which we have now...

The Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) is spearheading a return to the non-interventionist policies of Robert Taft of the 20s to the early 50s. Taft was defeated at the 1952 Republican National Convention for the nomination by Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is telling that Barry Goldwater attended that convention as an Eisenhower, not a Taft delegate. The neo-non-interventionists are destined for far more success in the Republican Party than any economic libertarian will ever find in the Democratic Party. As usual, history is instructive. Our Wars of 1812, Mexican-American and Spanish-American were strictly imperialistic. Our entry into WWI was engineered by...

Duck Dynasty is one of our favorite television programs. Obviously, we are not alone. Duck Dynasty has been a ratings success for the A&E television network. It averages 14 million viewers an episode. The question the main stream media should really be asking is - why? Maybe, just maybe, if they paid attention, they might learn something about this wonderful Nation and the longing in the human hearts of real, regular folks. Perhaps if political observers paid attention, they might actually recognize a growing resistance movement... I am tired of the agendas of the Cultural Revolution winding their way into...

Today in America, we see two kinds of libertarianism, which we might call “Calhounian” and “Heinleinian.” Both kinds believe in freedom, but they are very different in their emphasis—and in their politics. The names behind the adjectives are John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), of South Carolina, and Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988), of California. [Calhoun] was also a proud slaveholding South Carolinian who rose in politics to be vice president of the United States. Indeed, Calhoun spent the last two decades of his life making the case for states’ rights over national unity In particular, he was a passionate advocate of “nullification”—that...

North Korea might be said to be the exact opposite of the Free State Project. In this talk, north Korea expert -- and Kim Jong Il "autobiographer" -- Michael Malice will give a libertarian perspective on the history, culture, and propaganda behind the world's least-free state.

During Mass this morning priest's homily was about religious freedom. We also prayed for religious freedom and the unborn and at the end of Mass "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" was beautifully sung by a baritone.

We all know that a palindrome is a word or sentence that reads the same backwards as forward. But what should we call an essay that when read backwards, has the opposite meaning? This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite.

Some of the most terrifying words the parents of a newborn will ever hear are “there is a problem with the baby.” Sometimes the dreadful news comes later after a tragic childhood accident or disease. When such children grow to adulthood they are joined by an even larger number of those who lived perfectly healthy lives as children only to become disabled in some way as adults. Adults with a disability of some kind are many times unable to work or unable to make enough money from working to support themselves or their families, especially during periods of economic downturn...

Does anyone know exactly when it was that the government started cooking the books on unemployment, and counting people who have given up and left the work force, as "no longer being unemployed"? Seems to me that that one change in statistic-keeping set the stage for moving people from work onto welfare, and I think it was made during Clinton's regime? Or was it Carter? It appears to allow them to move people transparently from work to welfare, and the unemployment statistics only look half as bad as they really are. Look at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm The U3 is the figure that...

War is Peace Freedom is Slavery Ignorance is Strength Published during the Soviet Union's rise as a global superpower, George Orwell's 1984 offers a prescient window into the soul of the propaganda apparatus of a utopia dictatorship. While Barack Obama has yet to transform the United States from a constitutional republic, his effort to redesign Old Glory notwithstanding, enough similarities have arisen during his presidency and his campaign for re-election that it is worth taking notice. When reality is refracted through the prism of the state propaganda machine, we lose sight of who we are as a society. Inhabitants of...

John Hanson Story John Hanson (1721-1783) When we think of the President of the United States, many people do not realize that we are actually referring to presidents elected under the U.S. Constitution. Everybody knows that the first president in that sense was George Washington. But in fact the Articles of Confederation, the predecessor to the Constitution, also called for a president– albeit one with greatly diminished powers. Eight men were appointed to serve one-year terms as president under the Articles of Confederation. The first was John Hanson, in 1781. His exact title was the “President of the United States...

VIDEO: In this red-hot 16 minute debate, libertarian Wayne Allyn Root, obliterates a pitiful, whiny, parasitic, anti-freedom socialist. It's interesting and noteworthy how the broadcaster seems to label those rightfully afraid of socialism as being afraid of the "big, bad, wolf". Watch how quickly the socialist pulls out the race card (and how Wayne Allyn Root dismantles it). This is universally done by the left, regardless of whether the debate is with a democrat, socialist, or communist. Along with class warfare, it's the only tool they have. It's laudable how Root maintains his composure and pleasant disposition, even in the...

Washington (CNN) -- Briefly back in Congress doing his day job, Ron Paul met with high school students outside his office. True to form, he signed copies of the Constitution and wryly told them with a chuckle, "No one around here reads it very much. I'd like to get everybody to read it." [...] What Paul did not do was attend a closed-door gathering of House Republicans. In fact, the GOP presidential contender is known to never attend these meetings. But Paul's Republican colleagues who did go had no shortage of opinions about his strong showing in the presidential race...

The RevPac event I attended on Monday night was an quite an experience. First of all, the choice of setting seemed designed to highlight some of the recurring themes in Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. While most of his primary opponents have held Manhattan fundraisers targeting donors in this city’s ever-dwindling, yet still potent, financial services sector, the rigidly anti-corporatist, free market dogma of the Paul campaign-highlighted by the appearance of bearish Euro Pacific CEO Peter Schiff-lent a new dimension to what would otherwise have been a routine campaign fundraiser. The optics of the event were pleasing, which I suppose was...

The dueling-perspectives political panel is compatible with the aims of CNN, MSNBC and the other progressive broadcasters. Here is how it works: You invite a member of the Republican establishment – often a RINO, preferably a bimbo – to do battle with a lefty from similar circles. The sides are ideologically so close that, in all likelihood, the panelists hang out after the show. This format is positively postmodernist. Why? Because, by presenting the public with two competing perspectives you mislead viewers into believing that indeed there are two realities, and that it is up to them to decide which...

Sentinel events arise in everyone’s personal history like a volcano in the middle of a barren plain – obvious and undeniable. I was taking a music composition course in the bell tower on the quadrangle at the University of Michigan when President Kennedy was shot. As the giant bells inexplicably began to toll, the date and time were etched forever in my memory. While an intern at Yale-New Haven Hospital, I watched Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon from the house staff break room. And on an otherwise ordinary morning in September 2001, I watched, horrified, a small TV...

John King who is anchoring with Wolf Blitzer on CNN the Bin Laden coverage is clearly 3 sheets to the wind--and falling all over himself to give Obama all the credit. By the way, why are libs celebrating Bin Laden's death? I thought Bush carried out 9-11 according to them. Now that they have the death of Bin Laden to give the credit to Obama for, I guess Bush is no longer the culprit. It's nauseating listening to Obama claim he tasked the CIA with killing Bin Laden as it's number one goal the killing of Bin Laden as if...

Last week I wrote of the religion of power. This linked article contains a doctoral level diagnosis of America's problems with herself, and, I dare add, the foreplay to American Suicide. We had best get out, hunt and find or beg for some readable version of the Judeo-Christian Bible. Only there can you find The Divine POV through which to ingest, digest and eventually comprehend this diabolically doomed marriage between Marxism and Islamic Jihadists. That Infernally Odd Couple now threatens to destroy the entire Free World as we know it. But, given my own estimate of the child-aborting Free World,...

As we initiate new military action in another Arab country (Libya), we must question and demand answers from this administration about the goals of the mission. How realistic are the chances for success? What is the true risk to our military personnel and what exit strategy is in place?

Congressman, Wake Up Mr, or Ms, Freshman (or any Congressman seeking tea party support): Please Vote against the Continuing Resolution. The eyes of the Tea Party are watching. The Continuing Resolution is a Democrat Trojan Horse that contains $105 BILLION life support for Obamacare. Mr. Congressman, don’t get fooled by the laid back Republicans who don’t see this as a golden opportunity. This is your chance. Don’t blow it. Pay attention to Michele Bachmann. Forget about Boehner. It will take courage. Do you have the right stuff? Don’t fall under the spell of the go-along, get-along crowd. You were sent...

California Reapportionment A call to arms, CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS! Are you interested in California Reapportionment? You’d better be. The latest issue of The American Spectator has an article by Grover Norquist on page 52 titled “The Battle Moves to the States.” Near the end of his piece, Norquist comments: Perhaps the most important task for state-level Republicans will be redistricting.In California, reapportionment is being done by a committee consisting of five state senators, three liberal Democrats, and two apparently conservative Republicans. California has 53 Congressional Districts. The Democrats could, feasibly, put 20 districts in Los Angeles, 10 in San Francisco, 3...

Unvetted (i.e., without credentials) individuals such as the Wright brothers and Thomas Edison have had a far more beneficial effect on mankind than have all the vaunted, vetted collectives such as the Service Employees International Union, or Napoleon's Army for that matter. Here are a few unvetted individuals I have in mind: Wright brothers, A. Einstein, H. Ford, Thomas Alva Edison, Moses, Abraham Lincoln, Jesus of Nazareth, John Adams, Benito Juarez, Robert Goddard, Ronald Reagan, Frederick Douglass. Often they were at odds with the Establishment and the power structure. They were likely to be dismissed as unusual or strange. On...

As the 2012 election begins to heat up, conservatives will be looking to find alternate ways of getting information, since much of the so-called mainstream press tilts heavily to the left. One way conservatives can connect is through the use of "microblogging". Microblogging is defined as a web service that lets subscribers broadcast short messages to other subscribers of the service. These short posts can be made public on a Web site and/or distributed to a private group. One example of a microblog is Twitter, currently in use by thousands worldwide. Barack Obama used Twitter heavily during the 2008 election,...

Grassfire Nation Update On December 20, President Obama will use the FCC to seize control of the Internet. If successful, the move could have a devastating impact on the U.S. economy, investments and innovation while squelching your freedom of speech! Citizen Petition: Stop the Fed Takeover of the Internet Petition Sponsor: Grassfire Nation The Issue Undaunted after a stunning loss of control in Congress, liberals are poised to steal the Internet after a new series of Federal Communication Commission rules are introduced on December 20, and likely approved the following day. Threatened by the Tea Party successes, and determined to...

Let’s say you wanted a way to put fraudulent ballots into innumerable ballot boxes throughout a large county, or even an entire state, even while poll watchers are on duty, and while honest observers are present while the votes are processed at all steps, from the polling places to the data entry points at a secure location. The ideal way to do this is the provisional ballot in the hands of sympathetic municipal union people. continue

Deciding which politician to support has long been frustrating for libertarians. Both the liberal and conservative perspectives conflict with cherished libertarian views, so few Democrats or Republicans present a package that libertarians can embrace with enthusiasm. Libertarians do find common ground with conservatives on some issues, and with liberals on others. Roughly, libertarians are economic conservatives and foreign and social policy liberals. So, depending on the pressing issue of the day, libertarians can sometimes identify one candidate or another as “the lesser of the evils.” Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, however, have presented libertarians with a more fundamental...

Is The Tea Party Movement Another “Great Awakening?” Dr. David M.Berman The Tea Party movement is truly a powerful force. When this movement is compared to others such as the one under Ross Perot, it is clear that the Tea Party movement is much stronger. Both the Republican and Democrat establishments have been forced to acknowledge that the Tea Party has motivated, empowered, and given voice to Conservatives in this country. Primary election surprises have sent shockwaves and the shakeup continues……so what? Does it really matter in the long run? Some may feel that the goal is to stop Obama...

Event is open to the public The Liberty & Freedom Foundation (LFF) is proud to host former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on Wednesday October 6th, 2010 at 10:30am. Governor Palin will speak at a public forum in the Waterfront Theatre, located in the American Airlines Arena. The 2008 GOP Vice Presidential candidate will address a variety of critical issues facing our nation today and its impact on South Florida residents. Tickets for the forum are available through www.ticketmaster.com, www.aaarena.com or the American Airlines Arena box office. For those interested in sponsorship opportunities or attending the reception and luncheon, please contact...

Representative Lincoln Davis of Tennessee, described by Democrat Party Chair of Tennessee Chip Forrester as a "key vote" for Barack Obama, is in real trouble in the polls. This video is making the rounds in TN-04 on youtube, showing Lincoln "Houdini" Davis as being in favor of a single-payer healthcare system. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLgpLGh3n5o Davis, a self-proclaimed "blue-dog" democrat, votes one way in Washington and walks a different walk back home in his district. His Houdini act must come to an end. Dr. Scott DesJarlais, of Jasper, TN. is seeking to relieve Davis of his duties. He's a conservative physician that wants...

It was called Operation Iraqi Freedom but it should have been called Operation Iraqi Self-Rule. "Autonomy" and "self-rule" are the political values which largely dominate the US and the world. Certainly more so than "democracy." And almost infinitely more so than "liberty." After over 7 years, $700 billion, and 4000 killed, a fairly-bad, socialist, shariaist dictatorship (headed by Saddam) was replaced by a moderately superior one (headed by Maliki). Was this death-agony of effort worth it? Did this unending exercise in nation-building and self-sacrifice profit us? Consider all the resultant violations of civil liberties at home, and support for friendly...

When it comes to politics, economics, and sociology -- as well as individual happiness and greatness -- freedom is 100% good in theory, and 100% good in practice. How is it people don't understand this? Freedom, free enterprise, free trade, capitalism, laissez-faire, live-and-let-live, voluntary social cooperation, unfettered personal interaction, socio-economic libertarianism, and other such similar ideas and lofty goals, are all flawless, and without conflict or contradiction, in both philosophic principle and real-world application. All are end-of-history correct and ideal, both intellectually and pragmatically. How can anyone not know this?

Normal, average, mainstream, moderate Muslims seem to support the hell out of this upcoming, loathsome, heinous "Cordoba House." It isn't just the "radicals" and "extremists." Enthusiastic support for the massive new World Trade Center mosque is evidently the true face of current world Islam. Rather than call it the Cordoba House, it could easily be renamed the To Hell with Freedom or Death to America or 9/11 Victory Dance or Osama's Glorious Triumph Over the West mosque. Privately, no doubt, most Muslims do call it thus. Mainstream, moderate Muslims are being deliberately, grossly insensitive here, as usual. It's hard to...

I'm not sure if we can believe anything in The Washington Post but this one needs mentioning even if they fabricated the story since it has to do with actually making Sarah Palin look good. What's wrong with this picture? Since when would the WaPo want to make a conservative like Palin look good under any circumstances? Nonetheless, Matt DeLong of the Washington Post quoted Sarah Palin as saying Barack Obama lacks 'the cojones' to tackle immigration. Here's the exact quote, copied and pasted from the WaPo story: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Sunday that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer...

The fight to preserve the liberty of all citizens in this nation is a fight that should be actively and prudently fought. Liberty is not a tangible thing. However, the American people would be at a loss without it. And that is where we are headed. America faces a series of challenges in the near and distant future, challenges that will affect not only you and I, but all Americans, Rich or Poor, Liberal or Conservative, Old or Young. Yet some Americans seem to not understand this, they do not understand that the impending end of freedom in America will...

Individual liberty vs. coercive social equality -- that's pretty much the uber-debate and story of the past 220 years! Freedom for the individual to economically and socially rise or fall, based on justice and the merits -- or at least based on the fairly-reliable and relatively-fair opinions of the free market and free society -- is the great political and social goal of all time. Forced equality of the individual with his fellows -- based on some sort of allegedly-wise-and-virtuous tyrannical and coercive government social mechanism -- is the all-time great evil.

  As the discussion of individual liberty and civil order enters its 2,363rd year, the forum welcomes a new voice, pleading for definition, definition. In the September 11, 1962 issue of National Review an essay of signal importance was published under the title, “Freedom or Virtue?� Written with the grace and knowledge typical of all of Brent Bozell's work, the essay mounted an attack on the “fusionist� efforts of Frank Meyer and Stanton Evans, in effect affirming that there can be no peaceful coexistence of the “libertarians� and the “traditionalists� among conservatives. First, let’s take a moment to review Mr....

Beginning in 1793, England and France were intent on crushing each other. For over 20 years they fought a war over territories staked out by both sides during the previous 200 years. The Americans, having won their independence only recently, entered the war in 1812 after many of their merchant ships had been confiscated or destroyed by the British.

Not once in the history of man has the government ever successfully "stimulated" the economy. Not once has the state ever "rescued" the economy or "made it grow." If the government could genuinely perform such financial magic -- successfully printing money, or conjuring wealth from the clear blue sky, etc. -- wouldn't it do it all of the time, and at a much higher level? In the history of the world, all that government intervention in production and trade has ever done is make various economic actors -- both labor and management -- behave in ways that they don't want...

In every serious and important sense, Hamas-controlled Gaza and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon have declared war on Israel. These two jihadi states are overwhelmingly committed to conquering and enslaving the local Jews -- if not exterminating them. And these Muslim monsters are very open and confident about achieving this new holocaust. Pretty much nothing could be more heartlessly evil. So why doesn't Israel effectively counter these massive threats, and defeat these two obvious Islamo-fascist enemies? The nations of Gaza and Lebanon profoundly need to be decisively and resoundingly defeated. Their two dictatorships need to be crushed into oblivion for all time. The...

All those "humanitarians" on the Turkish/Gazan armada were anti-Western, anti-freedom savages, and ENEMY JIHADIS of Israel. Not only should all the boats have been sunk, in my view, but the responsible parties in Gaza and Turkey should have been heavily bombed in retaliation, as well. This open, brazen, shameless attempt to bring "aid" to Hamasistan and their neo-Nazi citizenry was an ACT OF WAR. It should have been dealt with as such.

A Warning Label — on the U.S. Constitution Posted by Walter Olson Knowing of my interest in oddball warning labels, reader Clark S. alerts me to this $4.95 paperback copy of the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Articles of Confederation, which contains the following advisory (readers may need to scroll to the “Copyright” section, depending on how the page displays) Wilder Publications 2008 "This book is a product of its time and does not reflect the same values as it would if it were written today. Parents might wish to discuss with their children how views on race, gender,...

WWJD to this moneychanger?