Free Republic

Back in February, former President Barack Obama launched an effort called the “Change Collective.” If you’re not familiar with it now, you probably will be soon. Supporters describe it as a “new community-based leadership initiative” meant to “empower emerging leaders to bring people together.” At the forefront of the effort will be “local changemakers across the country.” I’ll go out on a limb and say its endgame is the enforcement of a collectivist narrative, the abolition of local control, and the top-down centralized control of all communities. After all, that’s the pattern of every Obama policy, most notably health care...

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden vowed Wednesday to change his handsy ways after four women came forward to accuse him of inappropriate touching. “Social norms have begun to change, they’ve shifted and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset, and I get it,” said the former vice president in a video posted to his Twitter account. “I hear what they’re saying, I understand it and I’ll be much more mindful.” Biden maintained that he meant no ill will, and his penchant for hugs and shoulder rubs was “just who I am,” but conceded that it was on...

BILOXI, MS (WLOX) - Confederate statues and monuments across the country are coming down. Officials at Beauvoir said the statues would be welcomed at the last home of Jefferson Davis with open arms. “We ask the cooperation of any and all fair-minded people to help with Beauvoir’s acquisition of these statues,” said assistant director Andrea Little in a news release. Many Americans find monuments to the Confederacy offensive and feel they should not be displayed publicly. Officials at Beauvoir believe they have the proper place to display the statues with historical context. “Our vision is to include the monuments as...

New United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, and the two had "a very positive discussion on U.S./U.N. relations," said a U.N. spokesman, a week after Trump slammed the world body on Twitter.

For all the talk about the security risks of Muslim “refugees” coming from Syria, little is said about another refugee program that has been delivering thousands of Muslims annually to U.S. cities for 33 years. That country is Somalia, which, just like Syria, is a hotbed of Sunni jihad terrorism and warring factions of Shariah-compliant tribal clans. Every president since Ronald Reagan has his fingerprints on the Somali refugee program, but it really found its footing under President Clinton and hasn’t slowed down since. President Obama has, during his more than seven years in office, approved the resettlement of 47,500...

Holy Mitt, what a meltdown. Add this one to Donald Trump's lengthening list of firsts: He's forced a Republican Party reckoning overdue for years, all in a few days. It took the Trump-dominated Super Tuesday contests to awaken Republican leaders to the fact that the darkest elements of the party's base, which many of them have embraced or exploited, are now threatening their party.... At one point, Mr. Romney said: "Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes. He creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants"--with absolutely no sense of self-awareness. Mr. Romney himself played to the...

Two-time presidential loser and godfather of Obamacare Mitt Romney should stay on the sidelines. Go save somebody’s Olympic Games or tutor a budding venture capitalist. Anything other than delivering today’s sore-loser, Hail Mary address at the University of Utah. We don’t need Mitt’s views on the state of the Republican Party. Sorry, the panic attack is unbecoming and it’s a low blow for democracy. The voters have spoken and Donald Trump is the new face of the GOP. Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Ben Carson or any of the dozen-plus candidates who have jockeyed for party leadership are gone. Take a...

The mother of alleged shooter Kenneth Morgan Stancil III told a local television station that the victim, Stancil's former boss at the school's print shop, had made unwanted sexual advances toward her son. "We’re absolutely investigating that possibility," police Sergeant Jeremy Sutton told reporters at a news conference.

ObamaCare is poised to “destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.” And that’s the president’s supporters talking. The dire warning came last month in a letter from three of the nation’s most influential union bosses to Democratic leaders in Congress. “The unintended consequences of the ACA [Affordable Care Act] are severe,” the labor leaders bemoaned. “Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios.” Specifically, they noted, “the law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees’ work hours below 30 hours a week, and many of them are doing so...

Joe McGinniss, the best-selling author who moved in next door to Sarah Palin to get the scoop for a book he is writing about her, is packing it in after three-and-a-half months in Wasilla. McGinniss said he's leaving his rental home on Sunday, satisfied that he didn't have unpleasant encounters with anyone in Wasllla, except perhaps Sarah Palin's husband, Todd. He said the locals were for the most part willing to talk about their former governor and mayor, and offered him small gifts, ranging from blueberry pies to handguns, the Associated Press reported Saturday.

In a press conference today, Toyota slammed the mechanics behind Brian Ross' ABC News report on unintended acceleration, showing how they were manipulated by recreating the same fault on a Chevy, Mercedes, Honda and Ford. Here's how the hoax occurred.

TAMPA - Unwanted nonnative pets ranging from shy hedgehogs to lumbering boa constrictors can be handed over with no questions asked this weekend at an amnesty event sponsored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The program is offered only a few times a year in cities across the state. Saturday's event at Busch Gardens is co-sponsored by the city of Plant City.

Harry Potter: The Archetype of an Abortion Survivor By Marie Peeters-Ney, MD and Philip G. Ney, M.D., M.A., FRCP(C), FRANZCP, RPsychOriginally published in Catholic Insight December 2003Republished with permission and encouragement of authors One could speak about a worldwide "Harry Potter phenomenon," appearing soon after the Pokemon craze. The object of this discussion is to reflect on the possible reasons for the remarkable popularity of Harry Potter. Can the current craze be only due to good marketing skills? Does this book have exceptional literary value? Could the book be an indicator of a deeper cultural trend?  We wish to hypothesize...

As he steered his Straight Talk Express across the United States in recent weeks, Republican Sen. John McCain has tried to stay a-head of the immigration issue. But Friday the immigration issue delivered 36 or so heads to his Phoenix office — heads of lettuce, that is. McCain has been getting skewered in the media for comments earlier this month to a union group in Washington, D.C., that immigrants are taking jobs no one else wants, and offered them $50 an hour to pick lettuce in the Arizona sun for a summer, suggesting they couldn't do it. The senator didn't...

WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who took a leading role in the Terry Schiavo case, said Sunday it taught him that Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions. Frist, considered a presidential hopeful for 2008, defended his call for further examinations of the brain-damaged Florida woman during the last days of a bitter family feud over her treatment. Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state. The case became a rallying point for right-to-life advocates, an important segment of the Republican Party. It also drew interest from those supporting the right to refuse life-sustaining medical...

The mine roller offers soldiers protection against improvised explosive devices. It was built by mechanics from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment at Forward Operating Base Lagman, Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Vincent Fusco Mine Roller Offers Protection for Troops With some old-fashioned ingenuity, unwanted equipment and creative minds, the U.S. soldiers created a unique machine to combat improvised explosive devices. By U.S. Army Pfc. Vincent Fusco 20th Public Affairs Detachment FORWARD OPERATING BASE LAGMAN, Afghanistan, Jan. 12, 2006 — A trailer pushed by a Humvee may look strange, but there's a reason why this cart is put...

<p>Were on to your shenannagans. When ever a progressive posts a a very smart posts of you,re warped conservativeism, you bravely delete his arguments.</p> <p>However, when some body of the right wing mind set but some what flawed posted a less than brilliant screed, you leave that up and make fun of it just becausee it is typical of the intellect of progressives.</p>

I click the link in my favorites for the FR Hompage, but it took me to a subscriptions page(which I have never signed up for in the first place). I clicked the unsubscribe link, the did not want. I went to the subscription page my personal FR Profile and de-clicked all subscriptions (which I never click 'on' in the first place), but it refuses to let me unsubscribe from any of them. I have done everything in my power to fix this on my own and it does not work. I could use some help.

PASADENA, Calif. - David Lee Roth (news) got an unwanted visitor when a man being chased by police climbed over a fence and tried to hide in the rock star's yard. The former Van Halen frontman's publicist said Roth used a shotgun to hold the man at bay until police arrived, but police spokeswoman Janet Pope could not confirm that Wednesday. "He was laying on the grass when our officers arrived," Pope said of the man arrested. She said Charles Cooley, 47, was being pursued by officers responding to complaints of someone throwing rocks at windows around 2 a.m. Saturday....

<p>GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL STATION, Cuba — Most countries with citizens detained here on allegations of having terrorist links aren’t interested in getting them back, a U.S. general said Wednesday.</p> <p>There are 300 men from 33 countries being held at this remote outpost in eastern Cuba. They are accused of having links either to the fallen Taliban regime of Afghanistan or the al-Qaida terrorist network it harbored.</p>