Free Republic

Hope all is well! In the spirit of Christmas, last night I was good to my word. Amidst a successful telethon, I was waterboarded live on-air by special forces Army Ranger, Tim Kennedy. The goal was to increase awareness as to what waterboarding is, and whether we should allow our troops to use it. After watching this, make up your own mind. And guess how long I last...

The Washington Post gave audience to Ruth Everhart who said that the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, offended her. Why? Well her reason for being offended started off as a claim that the virgin part about Mary was offensive because rape victims could no longer obtain virgin status. But then, if you read further into her statements, the offended lashes out at the church and the "patriarchs" for, as she alleged, making "vaginas inherently dirty" and says that attempting to protect ones virginity until marriage won't work and was what she called, "the idol of sexual purity." This woman...

The scientific community remained silent for too long, accepting populism into the strict environment of cold blooded facts. The old have betrayed the young, teaching them that facts should not always come first. On the contrary, facts are the only relevant aspect in science.

ISIS has found another radical-Islamic Brit willing to butcher innocent hostages: Mohammed Reza Haque, 36, is depicted in the video using a serrated hunting knife to cut off a prisoner’s head in the middle of a barren desert. The vile killer was likened to extremist Mohamed Emwazi – dubbed ‘Jihadi John' – who beheaded five western hostages on video, after murdering his victim in an almost-identical fashion. Emwazi was known as "Jihadi John," ISIS' most infamous executioner. Before he was finally taken out by an American drone, Emwazi slaughtered at least five prisoners: David Haines and Alan Henning from Britain,...

The first hint of Donald Trump’s vision of a New World Order came when he said in a speech during the primaries that NATO was “obsolete.” The UK Independent wrote about that speech, As currently constituted, he says, NATO is ill-suited to combating international terrorism, which is for him the world’s “single biggest threat”. He especially objects to the US footing so much of the bill, saying that other allies should “pay up or get out”, and refuses to see the US as the “world’s policeman”. As he told a town hall meeting in Wisconsin: “Maybe NATO will dissolve and...

As college football ramps into bowl games and playoffs, fans are being exposed to teams they don't normally see because they are in different conferences and divisions. For example, North Alabama is playing Northwest Missouri for the division 2 national championship as I write. Another example, is the 2016 Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl which features North Carolina Central versus Grambling. During the game, announcers have cautiously walked into the phenomenon timidly referred to as HBCU. Those initials have become the preferred way of referring to a group of colleges known to be Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Oddly enough,...

When my mother struggled with cancer, her appetite dropped to nothing. In my state, medical marijuana is legal, so the doctor prescribed it to help her appetite. To say it worked would be an understatement. Within a couple of days she was eating normal amounts and felt hunger for the first time in a week. With the drug, she was able to maintain her weight and strength. She stayed with me during her treatment but went home to dad some as well. On one of her trips home to dad, she ran out of the medical marijuana and went to...

"By the People" by Charles Murray is a book looking at the rise of the unelected bureaucracy that has gained power over the years and ways of fighting back against it.

When social conservatives told libertarians (of which I am one!) and liberals about their fears that legalization of marijuana would cause a domino effect, they were blasted for supposedly using a 'slippery slope' argument. 'Stop nagging,' we told those conservatives, 'it won't be that bad! It's just that people who use marijuana right now won't be punished for it. Won't that be a considerable improvement?' Well, perhaps not so much: Newport Cigarettes, one of the world’s most popular cigarette brands, announced today that they will join the marijuana legalization trend and start producing marijuana cigarettes. Reynolds American Inc. Chief Marketing...

Monday, December 19th is a big day. On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December (December 19, 2016), the electors meet in their respective States to cast their votes for President and Vice President of the United States. It's supposed to be when electors vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidate who won their state by earning the most votes from the people. It happened when Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012 even though there were serious issues of concern to Republican supporters. There wasn't rioting, vandalism, or death threats against electoral voters. Republican and Libertarian...

I'm in my mid thirties, so I know I haven't seen it all, but I don't remember the topic of electors ever being an issue. I remember Ron Paul's supporters trying to become electors to vote for him in the primary in 2012 I think it was, but I've never seen it even mentioned much in the general election. It's like Trump has to win twice - first with the people and then with this small group of people who are receiving threats to vote for someone else. That is just so wrong. Does anyone here remember when electors actually...

"In the first email I found evidence of outright collusion by the Justice Department by Assist. Attorney General Kadzick and John Podesta to protect Hillary Clinton in her email investigation. Kadzick and Podesta are close friends, and Kadzick was assigned by the Justice Department to investigate...Clinton’s use of a home server and the leaking of classified material ...The second email is concerning John McCain...which provides information proving ...McCain has no morals or compassion for the American people..."

The second -- 21 century version -- Cold War has officially started, courtesy of China: IMAGE CNN explains: The images, released by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, show anti-aircraft guns plus other weapons systems that would guard against cruise missiles sitting in hexagonal structures on the islands. China has already built military-length airstrips on three of these artificial islands, previous analysis by the AMTI, part of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), has shown. According to China, the weapons are purely meant for self-defense. Sadly for the red Chinese, nobody's willing to accept that explanation. China can...

In Britain, the debate about Brexit (Britain leaving the European Union) is still taking place. It's clear that Article 50 of the EU treaty will be triggered before the end of March 2017, but that doesn't mean there's nothing left to talk about. Most Brits, the government included, want a free trade deal in goods and services with the EU. That would be logical considering that the European Union and British economies are, to quite a large degree, intertwined. However, as Hugh Bennett -- deputy editor of pro-Brexit website BrexitCentral -- explains in a recent article, this doesn't mean that...

I've heard that CNN works for the Russian Government and is actually in on the hacking Regarding the Russian election hacking. I’ve heard that CNN works for the Russian Government and is actually in on the hacking. Since they were connected by debate questions to the Clinton campaign, and are probably connected to the Clinton Foundation, I think the CNN / Kremlin connection has to be investigated. We should probably get this to the electors before they vote. I think Congress has to hold hearings on this immediately.

"DISINFORMATION!" cries Congressman Peter King as claim Russian hackers helped elect Trump falls apart The absolutely incredible claim from the Central Intelligence Agency that Russian hackers somehow put Donald Trump over the top in the election is falling apart. Both the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which oversees all the U.S. intelligence agencies, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reject the CIA’s analysis.

On November 29, while speaking about flag-burning on MSNBC's Hardball, former U.S. representative Barney Frank said the late Justice Antonin Scalia was "the leading advocate of fag-burning." The interviewer, Chris Matthews, reacted to the hideous expression with amusement. Mr. Frank's image of Scalia as fag-burner dramatically illustrates what psychologists call a relational frame. His absurd and abusive statement is evidence that he is cognitively fused to a relational frame that is contextually functional for him. For years, left-wing ideologues like Frank have sounded mentally ill, in part because of their outlandish vilification of people they disagree with. The left wing...

Denial, excuses, and deflection... As the boss wrote this morning, Democrats are mired in denial about the 2016 election. Since nothing is ever Hillary Clinton’s fault (she’s always the victim, don’t you know) they need someone or something to blame for her spectacular implosion. They’ve tried to pin it on racism, sexism, bigotry, homophobia, voter fraud, and the FBI, all to no avail. Nothing seems to stick. So now they seem to have settled on “Russian hackers.” The theory is that Russia hacked the DNC, revealed information about Hillary Clinton, and that swayed the public’s opinion. To put that argument...

The UN today is a bloated organization, which is rightly perceived as non-transparent, non-accountable, ineffective and, at times, hypocritical United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres will commence his duties as secretary general on January 1, 2017, succeeding Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Guterres took the oath of office on December 12th in a ceremony presided over by the president of the UN General Assembly. Mr. Guterres, a former Socialist prime minister of Portugal, former UN high commissioner for refugees, and president of the Socialist International from 1999 to 2005, then delivered an address outlining his priority to restore trust in the United...

Pull it together, libs. You're embarrassing yourselves As president-elect Donald Trump nears completion of his top Cabinet nominations (VA and Agriculture undecided), the liberals and the Democrats continue to try and distract from the speed and quality of these nominations. They have one big problem. The public is getting sick and tired of their snarky, sniveling and irrational attacks on every move, every word, and every nomination by Donald Trump and his advisors.