Free Republic

Wednesday, June 19, 2013 Angry Liberals in America Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell is staring at me with the uncontrolled intensity usually reserved for serial killers and time-share salesmen. "We know how to get the country back to work. The government needs to lead the way." He folds a napkin in what looks like some expensive oyster bar, but is probably just a television studio backdrop. "The government has to get us back to work." O'Donnell already has a job. His job is to yell angry things on MSNBC. Most of his listeners...

Tuesday, June 18, 2013 Savages of Socialism Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog In Venezuela, savvy shoppers are hunting down scarce supplies of toilet paper with a smartphone app. The smartphones, compact packages of electronics, are several generations more advanced than the white square, but they are available when the toilet paper isn't, because unlike the toilet paper they aren't subsidized and price controlled. While Hugo Chavez did at one point unveil a Chavezphone for the poor, he succumbed to the wonders of Cuba's Socialist medicine before they could become as big as Obamaphones. But if Venezuela...

Our country and the world marked a great moment: 50 years since the flight of the first woman in space: June 16th, 1963, by Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova. At the time of her space flight she was only 26. The first woman cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union Tereshkova graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy with honors, and received a PhD in technical sciences. She was a professor and the author of over 50 scientific papers. She holds the rank of air force major general and was a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Valentina Tereshkova has...

Quietly, with almost no attention from the old media, a strong second front has been opened in the fight to restore the Second Amendment. There can be no doubt that knives, tomahawks, and other edged weapons were meant to be included as arms protected under the Second Amendment. They were commonly used weapons in the militias of the Revolutionary War, and had been part of military equipment since the dawn of history. Opponents of individual rights have been able to dig up a few town safety ordinances regulating the storage of gunpowder or the firing of guns in urban centers....

He also became one of the topics misused by Ahl al-Sunnah to revile the Shi’ah. Some of them transgressed the limits by making of it a point of mockery and derision, as they negate, or say, believe it impossible for a human being to be alive and unseen for twelve centuries. Some of the contemporary writers even dare to say: “The Shi’ah have fabricated and forged the idea of the occulted Imam who will verily deliver them, because of the much oppression and persecution they experienced from time immemorial to the present day. So they consoled themselves by the wish...

Full Title - "People worry that rather than catching bad guys, the Obama administration will use the info it gathers to create bad guys" One of the things that characterizes the rule of law is that it applies equally to all citizens. The rich man’s son who vandalizes a shop is prosecuted as vigorously as the poor man’s son who does the same. That the rich man’s son can afford a good lawyer is the random luck of life. America can provide equality of opportunity, but nothing, not even socialism, can guarantee equality of outcome. The important thing for purposes...

Two years ago available public evidence suggested a likelihood of Huma Abedin – now Huma Weiner – and Hillary Clinton having, shall we say, “an unusually close relationship.” This evidence began to surface in mid-2007 when rumors about the Huma/Hillary relationship being more than the “close colleague” kind floated around the halls of Washington. A logical question took shape, “If Hillary is bisexual (as) had long been thought (and occasionally uttered in public), what is the nature of her relationship with the dark eyed enchanting Abedin, a young lady from a strict Muslim family?” Although they were never asked publicly,...

Monday, June 17, 2013 The Urban Tyranny Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Every city is by necessity a tyranny. Density determines how people live and how they do not. Freedom is in part inefficiency and city living is fed by the need to achieve social efficiency. Bloomberg's much denounced nanny state tactics are only an extension of the same drive to maximize social efficiency. Bloomberg may have become the poster billionaire for such behavior, but the majority of cities have their own solutions to the problems of people that come at the expense of individual freedom....

When I pointed out that Lippmann is widely considered the Father of Modern Journalism, I did of course overlook one thing. A rather large thing. As I pointed out then, Harvard has a monument to Walter Lippmann on it's campus, (Lippmann House, 1 Francis Ave, Cambridge, Middlesex, MA 02138) but what about what goes on inside this and other locations? One of the items that I have had an extremely hard time locating is a book titled "A Test of the News", which Lippmann co-wrote with Charles Merz. The thought never really occurred to me until recently to go digging...

In a speech that will no doubt incentivize Palestinians to continue their campaign of terror and warfare against Israel, former President Bill Clinton told Israel that it would have to make peace with the Palestinians if it wanted to remain Jewish and democratic. He said that thanks to demographic changes, Israel will have to separate from the Palestinian population in order to maintain its majority. This theory has been proved false repeatedly. Israel’s demographic majority in Israel will remain strong for decades upon decades. But the goal of the left is to create pressure on Israel – the party willing...

I interrupt my discussion of sexual harassment in the military for major breaking news. Sen. Bill Nelson, Democrat - Florida, in effect said that President Barack Obama committed treason by claiming that Edward Snowden's revelation of NSA monitoring of American phone calls was an "act of treason". Nelson served on the Senate Intelligence Committee for six years. Burgess Everett reports in Politico that Nelson said, “On the issue of if this a whistleblower or is this an act of treason, I think it directly is [treason]. And I think most of the people who served on intel will tell you...

Once again, our Commander in Chief is going to drag us into a war with no defined mission or compelling national interest. This time, he's going to send small arms, ammo and possibly anti-tank weapons to the Syrian "rebels". At first blush, that could make sense--the people rising up against the murderous Assad regime and all that. Unfortunately, the "rebels" have been taken over by al qaeda affiliated groups who have become far stronger than the original grassroots bunch of anti-Assad protesters. Essentially, the battle is now between Hezbollah and al qaeda--both enemies of the United States and Israel. Common...

Monday, June 17, 2013 Coming to America Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog How does one define a nation? That is truly the fundamental question of amnesty. The libertarian argument in favor of amnesty comes down to the question of whether nations even necessary at all. If the only characteristic that matters is freedom then borders and the other vestiges of nationhood only interfere with the flow of the free market. America then becomes a set of ideas and its only usefulness is as a space for harboring those ideas. This ideological definition of a nation demands...

Please help spread the message. At Midnight on July 1st, 2013, the unenforceable and unconstitutional Colorado ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, a number that was arbitrarily chosen with no logical reason, goes into effect. This 'law' is so bad, that sheriffs from 54 of Colorado’s 64 counties are suing to have it overturned. In defiance of this law, which is repugnant to the Constitution and therefor null and void, we as free Citizens of Colorado and of the united States of America, will join together to freely trade, buy and swap "high-capacity" firearm magazines in...

While Director of Boston’s EMS, Richard Serino (now the Obama Deputy FEMA Director) developed and authored a 39 page PDF publication entitled “A Tale of Two Cities and the Running of a Planned Mass Casualty Event.” (1) In 2009, Serino retired from his Boston post to serve under FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. Prior to his promotion, Serino created Course 18 which contains the following seven chapters: “Presentation Overview, Planned Disaster Concept, Groundwork, Collaboration , Planning, Execution, and Evaluation and Analysis.” Florida Atlantic University Professor James F. Tracy is being credited for bringing this important publication to our attention in...

With all the banter going around concerning this ‘rouge element’, we need to take an honest look at what information has been revealed and more important - what makes this leaked information so damaging, and why Snowden is so dangerous?

When Wisconsin passed its Shall Issue concealed carry law in 2011, there was strong support for constitutional carry. As a result, Act 35, the Wisconsin Law, is one of the most advanced shall issue laws in the nation. It offers multiple means to meet the required the training requirement required. Here are the relevant portions of the law: (4) Training requirements. (a) The proof of training requirement under sub. (7) (e) may be met by any of the following: 1. A copy of a document, or an affidavit from an instructor or organization that conducted the course or program, that...

He didn't believe in democracy; he believed simply in government. In "Roosevelt, an Autopsy", Mencken makes the following observations: I have no doubt that Roosevelt himself, carried away by the emotional storms of the moment and especially by the quasi-religious monkey-shines that marked the first Progressive convention, gradually convinced himself that at least some of the doctrinaires, in the midst of all their imbecility, yet preached a few ideas that were workable, and perhaps even sound. But at bottom he was against them, and not only in the matter of their specific sure cures, but also in the larger matter...

Friday, June 14, 2013 Friday Afternoon Roundup - A Brief Roundup Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog This has been a very long week and while there has been Thank G-D some important progress, there is still a road ahead. That means more reruns and shorter less edited new articles. Thank you for your understanding and patience.  THE DISPENSABLE OBAMA The Dispensable Nation is the story of a struggle between two Democratic administrations; the one that exists and the shadow administration that Hillary Clinton attempted to create as Secretary of State. Like any fawning propaganda text, The...

In a Politico article, Chuck Schumer explains how an anti-freedom ad should be structured to obtain support of normally pro-freedom people. He advises this approach: “Now I’m an NRA member. I’m proud of that,” Schumer narrated, taking on the persona of a Nevada gun shop owner. “My daddy was, his daddy before him, and my kids are going to be NRA members. But on this one? Background checks? They’re wrong. That background check ain’t gonna affect me. I’m a law-abiding citizen. It’ll just affect felons, spousal abusers, people [who are] mentally ill. So on this one, I don’t agree with...

On Playing God For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, … , and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. [Hebrews 4:12-13] When a storm or a hurricane causes damage it is called “an act of God.” Civil-government rushes in to pay for the damage. What...

On December 1, 2001, Argentina’s economy was in trouble. Unemployment was high, debt was high, and recession had taken hold. But life was somewhat ‘normal’. Basic services still functioned. And no one had to really worry about… food. Or water. Then it all changed. Literally within a day. On December 2nd, our bankrupt government imposed measures that essentially froze everyone’s bank accounts. You can just imagine– one day having access to your funds, and the next day being completely cut off. Within a matter of days, people were out in the streets doing battle with the police. The government soon...

Who is Obama's Real Father? Find out when Joy Tiz talks to filmmaker Joel Gilbert, producer of "Dreams from My Real Father"--the video that made him a target for the IRS and a Soros funded journalist. In Dreams from My Real Father, Barack Obama is portrayed by a voiceover actor who chronicles Barack Obama's life journey in socialism, from birth through his election to the Presidency. This is a don't miss interview at 2 pm PDT.

I have been thinking of late about the coming Fourth of July holiday. (AKA: Independence Day) With the current state of the nation and our daily loss of freedoms once guaranteed I don’t really feel like celebrating something we no longer have. It feels like going to a wedding anniversary dinner knowing the couple both cheat. So what to do? Not go out, ignore the day, throw my hands up and just go with the flow? None of these seem to be acceptable options. What about some form of protest to show the country and our “leaders” I will not...

Phote Credit: Oleg VolkThe North Carolina Senate has passed a reform bill that moves the state closer toward constitutional carry. The reform bill eliminates the permit required to purchase a handgun that was implemeted in the Jim Crow era as a means to keep black people disarmed. It eliminates a number of "gun-free" zones that have been found to be attractive to mass killers. Concealed carry permit holders would be able to store firearms in a locked car on school property. The bill strengthens state preemption of local gun laws. Private property rights are respected, as owners are allowed to...

Thursday, June 13, 2013 Little Brother in the Big City Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 0 Comments When the big things start getting out of control, we start focusing on the little ones instead. Tackling small problems we can't solve is a good way to feel good about the big ones that we can't. Can't do anything about the nice young men from Nigeria, Somalia and Bangladesh who occasionally stop maxing out social welfare and working odd jobs to set off bombs in the London Underground or butcher a soldier within sight of his base? Just...

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 You Can't Outleft the Left Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog The dominant struggle of the 20th Century was the attempt to reconcile the growth of industrial economies with the social welfare demands of the left. The various attempts to "Steal the Thunder" of the left by adopting its social programs led to horrors such as Nazism on the one hand and the growth of the welfare state on the other. Communism was finally defeated by adopting its program. The national battle against a Russian Communist empire was won while the domestic struggle...

In "The Gathering Storm", which is the first volume of Churchill's memoirs, he writes the following: (page 64) Amid the excitement of the election the exultant columns of the National Socialist Party filed past their leader in the pagan homage of a torchlight procession through the streets of Berlin. It had been a long struggle, difficult for foreigners, especially those who had not known the pangs of defeat, to comprehend. Adolf Hitler had at last arrived. But he was not alone. He had called from the depths of defeat the dark and savage furies latent in the most numerous, most...

Monday, June 10, 2013 The Art of Building Things Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Creativity is an individual act. The act of building something, whether with hammers, blueprints, words, boards or plans is individualistic. Collectives can build, but not creatively. A mass has no vision because it has no personality. It can follow rules but not dreams. American exceptionalism emerged out of a society which empowered the creative talents of the individual, not through grants, regulations, instructional pamphlets, inspectors and guidelines, but through the simple virtue of leaving men alone to do their work. Freedom is...

Sunday, June 09, 2013 We'll Keep the Red Flag Flying Here Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Ever since FDR made it his campaign song in 1932 while running for office during the Great Depression, the unofficial anthem of the Democratic Party has been that Tin Pan Alley classic, "Happy Days are Here Again." But no matter how often the old Victor spun, it would not be until well after Roosevelt's death that happy days would be here again. Like Hope and Change, Happy Days are Here Again was a blandly optimistic and non-specific promise that good...

Saturday, June 08, 2013 Saturday Night Notes Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Note 1. Regular readers may have noticed that there was no roundup on Friday. I am dealing with the illness of a close family member and posting will be spotty right now. Some older articles will likely show up on the site.  Hopefully that will change soon, but for the moment I am making multiple trips to the hospital a day and balancing everything isn't easy. Note 2. The site is under sustained spam attack. Today I came on to find over 700 comments...

War is politics by other means.  This is attributed to General Clausewitz, and I believe it is true.  I also believe that "Political Power grows from the barrel of a gun" as spoken by Mao Zedong is also true. In a successful revolution the underdog wins.  The American Revolution, the Soviet Revolution, the Chinese Revolution.  In a coup the stronger actor wins.  Understanding that there is no government, no entity, so strong that it is unbeatable is the first step in understanding that "political power grows from the barrel of a gun" and that revolutionary war is truly politics by...

Aleksandra's Note: June 10th marks the anniversary of when the Mihailovich Trial began in Belgrade in 1946. This trial would end in a "Guilty" verdict, a "Conviction", an "Appeal Denied", and an execution that would be carried out on July 17, 1946, only two days after the verdict and conviction were handed down. The trial was a sham, one of the biggest of the 20th century. It didn't last long by today's standards - just over a month. I'm convinced that General Mihailovich knew he was a "dead man walking" from day one, but he remained calm and testified and...

Hitler uses the Obama excuse: "I don't blame people for being outraged. I'm outraged too. I learned about this holocaust from the news reports, just like the rest of you." One of the comments by C Stanley on the Althouse blog made this darkly humorous comment in the headline. Remember, there are no written orders from Hitler ordering the extermination of the Jews. Perhaps his supporters just assumed that's what he wanted done and went ahead on their own, like the IRS underlings in Cincinnati. Could it be that Hitler has been wrongly accused all this time? That he would...

Credits: (Photo courtesy of ATF via Getty Images) On October 27th, in a townhall meeting in Yuma, Arizona, before his election as senator, Jeff Flake promised to hold those who had allowed and covered up the Fast and Furious scandal accountable. The time has come for Senator Flake to start making good on his promise. On June 11th, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to begin hearings on the confirmation of B.Todd Jones as the Director of the BATFE. Senator Flake is a member of that committee. B. Todd Jones was present at a key meeting that occurred just...

Friday, June 07, 2013 Government is the New Race Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog MSNBC is to news channels as Ringling Bros' Clown College is to Harvard University. There's a certain distant resemblance. Everyone sits behind desks and reads from teleprompters. And that's where the resemblance ends. The cable news version of Air America only has two topics. 1. How Congressional Republicans are obstructing some bill or measure that would finally end discrimination against the designated victim group that MSNBC has decided to care about this moment. 2. Racism. Which is to say that it actually...

Reports this last week that the federal government is compiling records of every phone call made in America and securing copies of every email and Internet posting stunned those who took then 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama’s promise to “end spying on citizens who are not suspected of a crime and to stop tracking those who do nothing more than protest a government policy they disagree with” seriously. A leak from a career intelligence officer to the Washington Post broke the news on the PRISM project—a covert program to collect and mine data from a slew of Internet service providers....

Viktor Kalashnikov is a Russian freelance journalist and a former KGB colonel. In the autumn of 2010, he and his wife Marina, a historian, were treated in a hospital in Germany for mercury poisoning in what they said had been an attempt on their lives by Russia’s FSB, the successor to the KGB. He is a distant relative of Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK-47. Kalashnikov and his wife have been publishing articles critical of the Kremlin since the 1990s. After living in Europe for several years they are now back in Moscow. A Russian Analyst’s View, Part One...

American colleges and universities are so flushed with cash that among the top ten schools in terms of the ratio between their endowment money and enrolled students are three schools most of us have never heard of. Colleges are businesses and will grab money from wherever they can. For decades they have worked hand in hand with Congress, (mostly Democrats) to raise tuition and fees knowing student loan money would keep coming from the US Treasury. College presidents have become experts in whining about not having enough money no matter how much they have. They NEVER lower tuitions and fees...

President Reagan's Address at a United States-France Ceremony Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion/D-Day - 6/6/84. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Leb7ynduCU

Archaeology, linguistics, and genetics have demonstrated a Nilo-Saharan dispersion across a vast expanse of the global south extending from the Niger-Benue Trough to India during the Holocene Wet Period. I have termed this the “Afro-Asiatic Dominion.” It is older than the Vedic Age and the dominate religion diffused with the dispersion of Proto-Saharan and Kushite priests variously called O-piru, Apiru, Habiru (Hebrew) and Horite (Horim) in ancient texts. Tool evidence Discoveries made by Michael Petraglia, from the University of Cambridge, cast doubt on the theory that the volcanic eruption of Toba in Indonesia was catastrophic for humans living even great...

A 542 page Justice Department investigation of FBI tactics at Ruby Ridge concluded that the Bureau Rules of Engagement employed that day in 1992 “…flagrantly violated the US Constitution” as they afforded agents “practically a license to kill.” According to the Report, “…a member of an FBI SWAT team from Denver remembered the Rules of Engagement as ‘if you can see ‘em, shoot ‘em’.” Within one hour of FBI snipers taking up positions around Randy Weaver’s rural home, “…every adult in the cabin was either dead or severely wounded — even though they had not fired a shot at any...

H.L. Mencken had Roosevelt nailed when he wrote the following: He didn't believe in democracy; he believed simply in government. In 'The "New Freedom" and the Courts', Theodore Roosevelt said the following: The "New Freedom" is nothing whatever but the right of the strong to prey on the weak, of the big men to crush down the little men, and to shield their iniquity beneath the cry that they are exercising freedom. The "New Freedom" when practically applied turns out to be that old kind of dreadful freedom which leaves the unscrupulous and powerful free to make slaves of the...

Wednesday, June 05, 2013 The Apotheosis of Chris Christie Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Turn on the television and wait five minutes and it begins playing. "It's in our blood, our DNA," the painfully high voice sings, "Because we're stronger than the storm." The ad closes with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his family playing on the beach. The 25 million dollar ad campaign feels like it has been in rotation forever.  The earnest warbling of the song can be heard everywhere. It probably isn't doing much to move tourists to the Jersey Shore, but...

To understand the rage and news from Turkey and the alleged “Turkish Spring” being promoted by some websites and commentators, one has to have a deep understanding of the friends and enemies the nation of Turkey has acquired in eighty plus years of independence and Westernization thanks to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In the West, the British still resent the Turks for their unwillingness to take up arms against the Nazis in World War II. Believe it or not, some Germans hold the same animosity because a Turkish alliance with Nazi Germany would have crushed the Allies in Europe and the...

Field researching and reporting on arms and the arms trade often leads to the same old discoveries in war after war, fight after fight. But most trips also turn up the odd and unusual item. This pair of disc-shaped ordnance packages bearing Russian labels (above) was one of the unexpected finds in the possession of Ahfad al-Rasul.

On May 21st, an FBI agent and 2 other members of law enforcement questioned Orlando resident, Ibragim Todashev about the Boston bombing and an unsolved, 2011 triple murder committed in Waltham, Mass. Though initially cooperative, several hours into the session Todashev became violent and attacked the FBI agent. Forced to defend himself, the agent shot and killed Todashev. This was the simple, straightforward explanation of Todashev’s death originally related by officials on the scene—the story of an agent defending himself against a sudden and unforeseen attack by a dangerous suspect. But in the days following the killing, the once simple...

Tuesday, June 04, 2013 Kerry and the Peace Idiots Ride Again Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Few figures in American political life have been as consistently wrong as often as John Kerry. The former Senator bet on every Communist leader and Middle Eastern tyrant he could find only to watch the wheels of history roll over his mistakes. And now as Secretary of State, Kerry is at it again. In between peddling a Syrian peace process that no one but him believes in, he took a break to peddle the even more discredited peace process between...

Watch as this young lady gives Maryland gun grabbers an education on the true meaning of the 2nd Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.

Monday, June 03, 2013 The Crash of Socialism 2.0 Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog In the digital pages of the New York Times, Ezekiel Emanuel, Obamacare whiz kid and brother of Rahm, has a modest proposal to lower suicide rates by ending the sale of Tylenol in bottles. From now on there will be just be small packages of Tylenol blister packs as a kind of seven day waiting period for committing suicide. Emanuel is no great humanitarian looking to save lives by making it slightly harder for Pete, who has been laid off work because...