Free Republic

Reaction from lawmakers, privacy groups, foreign leaders, industry and the intelligence community to President Barack Obama's proposals to change the way U.S. intelligence agencies collect information: ...

A viral video making the rounds in December bore the very descriptive title “Ten Germans Try to Say the Word ‘Squirrel’” — and nobody seemed to think that it was racist or xenophobic, even though our Teutonic friends were being held up as figures of fun for something that is deeply embedded in their culture. Indeed, the Germans seemed to be as much amused as anybody else. The phenomenon is nothing new to students of linguistics: Not every phoneme exists in every language, and it is extraordinarily difficult for adults to process phonemes that are not part of their linguistic...

WASHINGTON – Given the moral and spiritual state of the nation, some have called it “the most important speech given in modern American history.” It was delivered by Jonathan Cahn, author of the best-selling book “The Harbinger,” Jan. 21, 2013, the morning of Barack Obama’s second presidential inauguration, at the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast. The unofficial gathering, which included members of Congress, government leaders and Christian ministers, took place just one hour before Obama took the oath of the presidency. “[The address] was a prophetic exposé of America’s fall from God, a revealing of the biblical signs of judgment manifesting...

Although most Americans claim to venerate the ideal of freedom of speech when it comes to actual practice there are few purists. Unfortunately, most so-called advocates of freedom of speech in America subscribe to four basic rules: 1) Revere freedom of speech when you agree with what is being said, and revile it when you don't 2) Don't gauge the offensiveness of speech by what was said, but by whether it supports or contradicts your political, religious, social, and/or economic agendas 3) Realize that your hypocrisy will be camouflaged by the failure or refusal of most people to engage their...

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken….” A Reflection on the Sin of GossipBy: Msgr. Charles Pope One of the more under-rated categories of sin are the sins of speech. There are many ways we sin, but perhaps the most common way is by speech. Too easily, almost without thought, do we engage in gossip, idle chatter, lies, exaggerations, harsh attacks, uncharitable observations and remarks. With our tongue we can spread hatred, incite fear and maliciousness, spread misinformation, cause temptation, discourage, teach error,...

So, one of the Christmas presents I got for my wife is a wax warmer. My 6-year-old son was walking through the living room today as I was moving it and he asked, "Daddy, where did you get that for Mommy?" So I said, "What, this?" "Yes." "At the store." "Oh." He walked a little further and asked, "What store?" And I said, "A store that sells these." "Oh, okay!" and he walked off completely satisfied. My wife, who had been reading on the couch, began to laugh and said, "What kind of conversation was that?!" And I jokingly replied,...

"Like the National Christmas Tree, our country is a living,  growing thing -planted in rich American soil.   Only our devoted care can bring it to full-flower..." Video/more at Reaganite Republican... ______________________________________ YouTube   Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Over 1 million people support boycotting A&E following the suspension of “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson. As of Thursday evening, more than 1 million people have “liked” the “Boycott A&E Until Phil Robertson Is Put Back On Duck Dynasty” Facebook page. “This page is to show support for the freedom of speech of Americans. Unless Phil is reinstated to the show, we refuse to watch the A&E Channel!” the page states. The page exploded when it was launched Wednesday, breaking over 200,000 likes in less than six hours and 700,000 after 20 hours. The page received more than 1 million...

An interesting concise analysis and admonition of speech patterns in today's America by comedian, Taylor Mali. ( Not sure of topics, so I called it an editorial)

First men became enamoured with grooming regimes, but now it seems the metrosexual man has started talking in a more feminine way too. A new study has revealed that modern men are starting to ‘uptalk’ by rising in pitch at the ends of sentences. The speech pattern is associated with young women from southern California, notably Clueless lead character Cher Horowitz, but is now common amongst younger people.

It's not lost on me that I find myself just a stone's throw from Boston Harbor where the greatest of wars -- the fight for freedom and individual rights -- broke out here in 1774. Nowhere, at no time, has there been a more righteous of cause in the history of humankind. Then, as today, an out-of-control government took outrageous and egregious actions against our most basic individual rights -- and in this case, the most precious of all freedoms, the freedom of speech. Today Robert Spencer and I went to court in Boston. David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise represented...

It’s been over six months since the IRS inspector general’s report was released, revealing that the agency had improperly targeted conservative groups for extra scrutiny by withholding approval of what have traditionally been routine applications for organizations to operate as social-welfare organizations under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. Despite assurances that both the FBI and the IRS were conducting investigations of the wrongdoing, many of the conservative groups that were targeted complain that they have yet to hear from anyone in the government. Meanwhile, dozens of conservative groups still are waiting on IRS approval, and the National Organization for...

Obama is on television AGAIN, this time in Boston speaking about the Affordable Health Care Act. He's attaching Romney to the ACA as a way of dragging Republicans into the mess he's created.

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - One lawmaker in the eye of the storm that is the government shutdown offered his encouragement to residents in the Tennessee Valley Tuesday night. Texas Senator Ted Cruz spoke at a dinner held by the Huntsville Republican Women. He gave a speech and then took questions from the crowd, via a video link from Washington. Cruz had been scheduled to appear in person but the turmoil in Washington kept him there. During the event, Cruz took the opportunity to blast the Obama administration on a wide range of issues. "We're seeing the constitutional rights of law-abiding...

Rand Paul Values Voter Summit 2013 FULL SPEECH. Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Ryan are among the speakers scheduled for the opening day of this weekend's annual Values Voter Summit meeting of social conservative activists hosted by the Family Research Council.

Ben Carson Values Voter Summit 2013 FULL SPEECH. obamacare slavery. Dr. Ben Carson, a conservative commentator and neurosurgeon,Ben Carson, fresh off signing a new contributor contract with Fox News, told the crowd that Obamacare is "the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery." In fact, Carson said, "in a way, it is slavery, because it is making all of us subservient to the government." He went to explain that the Affordable Care Act "was never about health care, it was about control." For Carson it all comes down to a quote from Vladimir Lenin, who said, "Socialized...

Just announced on Fox.

I am trying to find the speech where Obama actually said he was going to, "Fundamentally transform America"

Streamed live on Oct 1, 2013 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 68th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on its last day.

Razib’s Dialect SimilarityLanguage dialect is something that we often pick up unconsciously, so I find it an interesting if narcissistic project to query my own dialect affinities. The above was generated using a 140 question test (warning: server often slow). In case you were curious, my most ‘similar’ city (to my dialect) is Sunnyvale, California. Though most of my life has been spent on the West coast of the United States, I did spend my elementary age years in upstate New York. You can see evidence of that in the heat-map. There are particular words I use and pronunciations that...