Free Republic

For many Americans, privacy has become a hot topic of discussion. As story after story rolls out about the NSA, CIA, FBI, DHS, and any other overreaching government organization abusing its power, Americans find themselves asking the hard questions and not liking the answers that fly back and smack them in the face. The Fourth Amendment reads as follows: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing...

GM foods are banned from restaurants in the Houses of Parliament despite government claims it is ‘probably safer’ than other meals. Government ministers are demanding that ordinary families should abandon their reluctance to eat genetically modified food, however they are banned from MPs’ plates. This week the food and farming secretary, Owen Paterson, launched an extraordinary propaganda campaign to encourage the nation to accept GM crops and farming. He bolstered his campaign with claims that some seven million children in the Far East could have been saved from blindness or death in the last 15 years if only people had...

A single sentence, uttered in the trial of George Zimmerman for the shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin, has catapulted an issue into the national spotlight. When asked if she could read a letter in court, witness Rachel Jeantel, her head bowed, murmured with embarrassment, "I don't read cursive," according to court testimony. Is it any surprise that cursive -- the looped, curvaceous style of handwriting that's been a mainstay of education for generations -- is all but dead? [15 Weird Things We Do Everyday, and Why] "Cursive should be allowed to die. In fact, it's already dying, despite having been...

The NSA is systematically monitoring the Internet posts and telephone conversations of U.S. military returning from Afghanistan, according to a civil-liberties attorney. “The FBI and the Secret Service are showing up to request an interview to question specific Internet posts the veteran has placed on websites such as Facebook,” explained attorney John Whitehead, founder of the Rutherford Institute. Whitehead said the agencies are looking for “anti-Obama views that can be interpreted to reflect psychological problems of sufficient seriousness to disqualify the veteran from ever owning a firearm.”Rutherford told WND credible sources within the National Security Agency have told him the...

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "poison" as "a substance that is capable of causing the illness or death of a living organism when introduced or absorbed." The legal definition of the term is "any product or substance that can harm someone if it is used in the wrong way, by the wrong person, or in the wrong amount." The medical condition of poisoning is even broader: It can be caused by substances that are not even legally required to carry the label "poison." Therefore, can food become poisonous? Of course it can if it is infected, tampered with or altered...

The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), a group headed by former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, released a poll showing voters support for the controversial Common Core national standards in the state. The poll found more than “4 in 10” strongly support the national standards after being read a description of them. The exact question posed to participants was not provided by SCORE, the polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, nor the newspaper that wrote a story, DNJ.com. What the poll proves is that the poll-tested language developed by the proponents of Common Core is working. Big surprise. Voters want...

On Memorial Day weekend, 2 million people marched in protests against seed giant Monsanto for the purpose of bringing awareness to hazards from genetically modified food, which it and other companies manufacture. Organizer Tami Canal said protests were held in 436 cities in 52 countries. Genetically modified plants are grown from genetically modified, or engineered, seeds, which are created to resist insecticides and herbicides so that crops can be grown to withstand a weed-killing pesticide or integrate a bacterial toxin that can ward off pests. The Chicago Tribune reported that because genetically modified organisms are not listed on food or...

100 million database set up to store extensive records on millions of public school students has stumbled badly since its launch this spring, with officials in several states backing away from the project amid protests from irate parents. The database, funded mostly by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is intended to track students from kindergarten through high school by storing myriad data points: test scores, learning disabilities, discipline records - even teacher assessments of a child's character. The idea is that consolidated records make it easier for teachers to use software that mines data to identify academic weaknesses. Games,...

The passage for the seventh-grade lesson was blatantly offensive — an excerpt from a 1938 anti-Semitic children's book. But that was the point: to provide students in the Santa Ana school district with a perfect illustration of insidious propaganda. In the book, a mother and her son gather mushrooms in the forest, and she explains that, as with mushrooms, there also are poisonous people. Slapping his chest in pride, the boy says, "Of course I know, mother! They are the Jews!" When teachers expressed misgivings about the material, which also included an excerpt from a speech by Hitler, officials struck...

- A strain of genetically modified wheat found in the United States fuelled concerns over food supplies across Asia on Thursday, with major importer Japan cancelling a tender offer to buy U.S. grain. Other top Asian wheat importers South Korea, China and the Philippines said they were closely monitoring the situation after the U.S. government found genetically engineered wheat sprouting on a farm in the state of Oregon. The strain was never approved for sale or consumption. Asian consumers are keenly sensitive to gene-altered food, with few countries allowing imports of such cereals for human consumption. However, most of the...

•Application submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office shows Microsoft's plans for tracking viewing habits of Xbox owners.• The company plans to reward viewers who watch adverts or shows with credits and achievements.• The new Kinect sensor can follow eye movements, track your reaction to shows using heart-rate monitors and see you in the dark. Microsoft has submitted a patent that could see the company track every TV show and advert watched via its Xbox One console and other devices. The application called 'Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem' was submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office earlier...

The shocking minutes relating to President Putin’s meeting this past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry reveal the Russian leaders “extreme outrage” over the Obama regimes continued protection of global seed and plant bio-genetic giants Syngenta and Monsanto in the face of a growing “bee apocalypse” that the Kremlin warns “will most certainly” lead to world war. According to these minutes, released in the Kremlin today by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation (MNRE), Putin was so incensed over the Obama regimes refusal to discuss this grave matter that he refused for three...

The Illinois Ag Dept. illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News. Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years. “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of hisstock.

This will make you puke. Reading, writing and arithmetic are out – Communist indoctrination is in! The radical left is indoctrinating FIRST GRADERS in communist doctrine disguised as educational tools for first graders. The indoctrination is part of the Common Core curriculum for elementary students. Creating young radicals – one child at a time. Why wait until they’re in high school? They’re after the babies now. Via Utahns Against Common Core:

Bill Gates took a shot at the iPad while explaining Microsoft's rationale for the Surface this morning on CNBC. He was asked about the declining PC market. He said that tablets are growing in popularity, and it's "going to be harder and harder to distinguish products" that are PCs versus tablets. The Surface, he says, brings the "portability of the tablet but the richness of the PC." He then said of people using iPad-like devices, "A lot of those users are frustrated, they can't type, they can't create documents, they don't have Office there." While some people are frustrated by...

Michigan legislators are working to put the brakes on Common Core and restore authority over what is taught in Michigan classrooms to state policymakers, local school leaders, and—most importantly—teachers and parents. As the Washington Times reports, “The state House on Wednesday passed an amendment, attached to the Education Department budget, that prohibits any funding for the controversial Common Core system.”

Exxon employs thousands of engineers and geologists. Naturally, it is concerned about the quality of the U.S. educational system. Like many large corporations, Exxon believes the Obama-Jeb Bush -Bill Gates-backed Common Core scheme will improve education. Reality check: This top-down federalization of academic standards and testing will do just the opposite not only for math education, but across the pedagogical board. Today, Exxon aired pro-Common Core ads during the Masters golf tournament. Informed parents, activists, and educators gave the edu-propaganda a big, fat “F.”

‘I Am Willing to Give Up Some of My Constitutional Rights…to Be Safer’ The words are written in crayon, in the haphazard bumpiness of a child's scrawl. "I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure." They're the words that Florida father Aaron Harvey was stunned to find his fourth-grade son had written, after a lesson in school about the Constitution. Florida 4th Grader Brings Home Paper That Says, I Am Willing to Give Up Some of My Constitutional Rights in Order to Be Safer...paper Aaron Harvey's son wrote as...

Thanks to grass-roots activism, limited-government think tanks, whistle-blowing educators and bloggers, vigilant local and state legislators, and tireless parents committed to protecting their children, the truth about federalized Common Core standards is spreading.… Some stalwart conservatives inside the RNC get it. They’re bucking the mooooooderate Republican line on Common Core and have put forth a resolution being considered this afternoon at the RNC spring meeting. I heard from one of the co-sponsors of the resolution today, who believes it will pass. I’ll update with developments. Here’s the full text of the resolution, via Shane Vander Hart at Truth in American...

Heard on his radio program today. My close paraphrase: "I will not send another one of my children to college. I don't care if they're a mechanic, even a really bad mechanic that no one goes to. As long as they're not in the system. I know what's coming. And I don't want my children in the system. They can intern for someone, but I don't want them in the system." His comments were prompted by two things, the new "Core curriculum," and the prevailing Marxist ideology that we're all familiar with.