Free Republic

Many people believed that President Trump would preside over an era of decreasing firearm sales. Firearm sales dropped a little from the record levels in the 2016 presidential election year. They did not drop much. 2017 had the second highest ever yearly total NICS checks. 2018 is trending higher than 2017. In 2017, at the end of June, the total NICS checks were 12,601,112. 2018 is becoming the second highest year on record. In 2016, the all time record year, they were 13,829,491 at the end of June. In 2018, they have moved up from 2017 and are approaching...

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Yes, Virginia, the fake news media is the enemy of the people. – In an interview with CBS that aired on Sunday, President Donald Trump said this in response to a question about who are America’s “foes”?: “Well, I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe. Russia is foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn’t...

From the American Federation of Teachers newsletter, Our Hero and Champion, Hillary Clinton: Every two years, the AFT presents the Women’s Rights Award to a woman whose vision and courage have raised the game for other women. This year’s recipient, Hillary Clinton, is a role model for women in politics, in the workplace and in society as she strives to make our democracy equitable for all people, especially women and girls. Who other than the AFT would give an award to a woman as corrupt (and tired) as old Hilz? Hillary begins speech: “I’m so tired, I can barely...

My hunting rifles don’t have an easy life. So when I had a series of Texas hog and varmint hunts lined up in January and February, it was decided for me to test the Mossberg Patriot Revere. Originally, I wanted it chambered in the popular 6.5 Creedmoor, but they were in such demand that they were unavailable, so I went with the old tried-and-true .30-06. My first deer rifle, which I bought with my paper route earnings in sixth or seventh grade, was a .30-06. That's what my dad hunted with, so of course that's what I had to have....

Hillary Clinton may have visions of 2020 — if she can just keep her eyes open. The failed presidential candidate started her speech to the American Federation of Teachers union on Friday in a bizarre way: by telling everyone how tired she was. “Well, I’ll tell you,” she said, “I’ve been back there listening to Randi (Weingarten) and I’m so exhausted, I can barely stand here.” Clinton flashed moments of bitterness and anger to the unionists gathered in Pittsburgh. Receiving the Women’s Rights Award from the union, she railed on how she has been oppressed in life.

San Francisco spends $37,000 on each homeless person per year. So why are they still homeless? I just came across this news article from the San Francisco affiliate of NBC News:San Francisco is slated to spend nearly $280 million this year on housing and services for the homeless — a roughly 40 percent increase compared to just five years ago. Over that same span, however, the number of homeless in the city has largely remained the same at about 7,500 people, according to city counts.In other words, San Francisco spends $37,000 on each homeless person per year.So why are they still...

The first distinction between Progressives and Constitutional Originalists is their polar opposite emphasis on process. Progressive couldn’t care less for constitutional process. Oh, they’ll utilize constitutional processes if they can arrive at the desired progressive conclusion, but it ultimately doesn’t matter whether they arrive at social justice via popular referendum, statute, administrative regulation, or judicial decisions. Constitutional Originalists cherish proper processes, and the most important process in the American republic is lawmaking, and limited lawmaking, by Congress. To paraphrase Edmund Burke, Originalists sniff out tyranny with every regulation or court decision, regardless of its perceived social justice benefit, which has...

The University of Minnesota is considering a policy to discipline students or professors who refuse to call someone by their preferred gender pronoun, with penalties that could include being fired or expelled. The draft policy under review may change, but as of now it states that “university members and units are expected to use the names, gender identities and pronouns specified to them by university members, except as legally required.” When someone does not go along with a person whose biological sex does not match their preferred gender — such as refusing to call a biological man a woman —...

Anthony Bourdain pulled no punches in one of his final interviews as the celebrity chef slammed Bill Clinton for being 'rapey, gropey and disgusting' and spoke of how he imagined Harvey Weinstein dying alone in a bathtub. The globe-trotting food chronicler, who hanged himself in a French hotel in June, gave a lengthy and wide-ranging interview to journalist Maria Bustillos for her recently launched magazine Popula. The interview was conducted in one of Bourdain's favorite Irish pubs in New York back in February and was only published on Sunday. It covered everything from Weinstein's downfall, the Clinton-Trump election and even...

Durham Miners Gala, 134th to be held was held this weekend, the first I have missed in many years. And how I now wish I had been there because this is beyond ridiculous, it is now against the law to fly the Union flags at it because it may cause trouble according the “Durham police Farce”???? The Miners Gala is and has always been a celebration of the history of the area both of the mines and the people of Country Durham and surrounding areas, which includes tens of thousands of men that fought under the Union flag with the...

Syrian government media says that Israel attacked an airbase southwest of Aleppo tonight. The foreign government funded Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says warehouses near the base used by Iranian militias and the Syrian army were hit. The group reports that five were killed in the attack involving multiple aircraft. The attack comes on the eve of a summit meeting between the President of Syria's close ally Russia, Vladimir Putin, and President Donald Trump. Topics like Syria, Iran, Ukraine and other matters.... Meanwhile, there's talk in Washington of an impeachment document being filed this week in the House involving Rosenstein....

<p>So I'm doing a little research on worthwhile charities. And I came across Samaritan's Purse. I read their write-up on Charity Navigator. It all sounded good, until I came across the compensation paid to its CEO. W. Franklin Graham III makes over $600,00 per year!</p>

Starting a business entails understanding and dealing with many issues—legal, financing, sales and marketing, intellectual property protection, liability protection, human resources, and more. But interest in entrepreneurship is at an all-time high. And there have been spectacular success stories of early stage startups growing to be multi-billion-dollar companies, such as Uber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Airbnb, and many others. In this article, I give an overview of 35 key steps for entrepreneurs who are starting a business, with links to additional articles addressing some of the topics in more depth. 1. Understand the Commitment and Challenges Involved in Starting a Business Starting...

There will be no names on the hundreds of resumés the hiring committee of a Toronto law firm sifts through this summer. Lenczner Slaght plans to remove every name from every resumé submitted as part of the 2019 summer student hiring process, which begins next month and will see upwards of 450 candidates whittled down to fewer than 10 hires. It’s an attempt to prevent unconscious bias from seeping into hiring decisions and knocking white women and men and women of colour out of the running on the basis of non-white and non-male sounding names....

No wonder my listeners demanded this episode. Saifedean Ammous takes an economic perspective informed by the Austrian School and applies it to Bitcoin and why it matters. He discusses the various roles Bitcoin can play, and parries common objections. (We also take an animated detour into the BCH/BTC discussion, for those of you interested.)

Over the past several decades, the left has convinced United States citizens that it is the only option for black and other minority voters. If any blacks dare to deviate from this narrative, they get labeled as an “Uncle Tom” or worse. Fortunately, for the benefit of America’s black community, many black intellectuals have risen to prominence who challenge the left’s perceived ownership of the black vote. And while I do not think the color of someone’s skin matters when seeking truth, these intellectuals provide a perspective and persuasive ability that can’t be matched by others. Thomas Sowell Perhaps one...

A group of army generals rolling tanks and troops into Seoul to seize power. Paratroopers firing at large crowds calling for democracy. Tanks and armored vehicles stationed at universities to intimidate student protesters. Such scenes of military intervention in South Korea have been nonexistent since the country achieved democracy in the late 1980s. But revelations this past week of a document showing the military drafted plans to mobilize troops to suppress protests last year have struck a nerve among people in one of Asia’s most vibrant and wealthiest democracies. Some allege the plans even included a scenario for a coup....

Police in Scotland have arrested the paragliding protester who was able to get surprisingly close to President Donald Trump on Friday night as the President visited his Turnberry golf resort. In a statement, Police Scotland said a 55-year-old man has been charged and will appear in Ayr Sheriff Court on Monday. After the President arrived at his Turnberry resort, the paraglider, a Greenpeace activist, flew by the President with a banner that read, "TRUMP, WELL BELOW PAR #RESIST," and then managed to escape. Greenpeace tweeted an image of the incident with the caption, "We've just delivered a message to @RealDonaldTrump...

Some opponents of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have latched onto revelations of his heavy spending on Washington Nationals baseball tickets as “the smoking gun” that will derail his appointment. It appears that Kavanaugh maxed out his credit card purchasing the tickets. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn) called the revelation “very suspicious. Normally, lobbyists provide these kinds of perks to members of government. For Judge Kavanaugh to reach into his own pocket to buy something that others of us obtain gratis from grateful constituents raises a ‘red flag.’ What’s wrong with him that those who routinely pick up these sorts of...

Lawsuit Hearing To Remove Xavier Becerra as California Attorney General Should the powerful be allowed to ignore or change the laws they don’t agree with? Of course not. But that issue is at the heart of a lawsuit filed in May by former Attorney General candidate Eric Early against the unelected, appointed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is running to keep his office. The case was heard Friday morning in Sacramento Superior Court. When Becerra filed his election paperwork with the California Secretary of State, he represented that he was qualified for the position of Attorney General. However, according...