Free Republic

NYT put it thus: Certain types of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in [the San Bernardino attack], and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own these kinds of weapons to give them up for the good of their fellow citizens. NYT did not venture a guess on whether Islamists will quit carrying out San Bernardino-style attacks once they know we are unarmed.

Full Title: Turks Shoot Down Archduke Ferdinand's Jet as Obama's Abandonment of Iraq Causes More Pain in the Mideast BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Did you see where Turkey shot down a military jet of Archduke Ferdinand? Archduke Ferdinand's military jet shot down over... (interruption) It's just my way of saying what everybody thinks. You know, it is amazing to me, it really is... How? I don't know, what's the word? Unified? So you have Turkey shoots down a Russian jet, and you look at one place, you look at a hundred places and they say, "This is exactly how World War...

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength. And inequality is equality - at least in the mind of Karen Keller, the Bainbridge Island Review, and their enablers. Reported recently was that Keller, a kindergarten "teacher" at Captain Johnston Blakely Elementary in Bainbridge Island, Wash., was refusing to let the boys in her class play with Legos during free play time. As the Bainbridge Island Review (BIR) wrote: In Karen Keller's kindergarten classroom, boys can't play with Legos. They can have their pick of Tinkertoys and marble tracks, but the colorful bricks are "girls only." "I always tell the...

In new State Department emails obtained by Judicial Watch, Hillary Clinton's close personal aide, Huma Abedin, is seen warning another aide that Clinton is "often confused."

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is endorsing GOP presidential candidate Sen. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), because King says Cruz "is the answer to my prayers, a candidate whom God will use to restore the Soul of America." Having served Iowans for decades, King said endorsing a presidential candidate is a "rare opportunity, therefore, cannot be squandered." "It has become a great, great privilege, as the dean of the Iowa Congressional Delegation, to get to know each of the 17 original Republican candidates for president, both professionally and personally," King stated in a press release. I count many, if not all, as...

Missou Professor Dale Brigham resigned this week following outrage over his refusal to cancel an exam on campus.Missouri Professor Dale BrighamA beloved University of Missouri professor resigned after he refused to cancel a school exam during the hunger strike and athlete’s boycott.Campus Reform reported: Dr. Dale Brigham, considered one of the most beloved professors at the University of Missouri, has resigned after refusing to cancel an exam for students who claimed to feel “unsafe.”“If you don’t feel safe coming to class, then don’t come to class,” Dr. Brigham told his students. “I will be there, and there will be an...

Was a high school cross country runner disqualified from a state championship meet because there was a Bible verse embroidered on his headband? Georgia Congressman Douglas Collins seems to think so. "Religious expression being squashed right here in the Ninth District," the Republican lawmaker tweeted. "This is outrageous." Collins was referring an incident that occurred on Nov. 7th at the Georgia 5-A cross country state championship. Third place winner John Green was stripped of his victory just moments after crossing the finish line. The West Forsyth High School runner was disqualified because of a headband he was wearing - a...

On several different occasions over the years, I have taught as an adjunct at the University of Missouri campus here in KC. (How about them Royals?) I know MU politics well and have watched up close the university's desperate forty-plus-year quest to recruit and retain minorities both as students and as faculty, African-Americans especially. No one here is fooled by the ubiquitous Equal Opportunity posters. These signs, all understand, are a vestigial reminder of MU's brief liberal moment. Today, blacks are the first hired and last fired, and they get paid more for the same work. Nothing unique here -...

A mediocre team of subliterate football players is now running the University of Missouri. Maybe no one will notice the difference. The takeover occurred over the last week, when members of the sub .500 football team joined black activists in demanding the university president resign. They insisted there was lots and lots of white racism on the campus -- and the president's white privilege made him blind to see it -- or do anything about it. Lots of white students joined in, admitting they too were guilty of white racism. And because they could not quite figure out what it...

Embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi convincingly lost his bid for re-election Tuesday after spending months in the national spotlight as the face of his city's controversial "sanctuary city" policy on illegal immigration. Mirkarimi, 54, was defeated by Vicki Hennessy, a former sheriff's official who had the endorsement of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and the sheriff deputies association. With 42 percent of precincts reporting, Henessy had received 63 percent of the vote to 31 percent for Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi and his office received heavy criticism after Mexican illegal immigrant Francisco Sanchez allegedly shot and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle on San...

The Department of Education's office of civil rights says that a disguised boy has been discriminated against because he is not allowed to shower naked with girls. Federal education authorities, staking out their firmest position yet on an increasingly contentious issue, found Monday that an Illinois school district violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates on a girls’ sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room without restrictions.  The Education Department gave 30 days to the officials of Township High School District 211 to reach a solution or face...

Marco Rubio with the pro-amnesty Gang of Ocho. In a little noticed interview earlier this year Senator Marco Rubio told Univision's Jorge Ramos that he would not cancel Obama's executive amnesty. Breitbart.com reported: In a little-noticed interview earlier this year with Univision's Jorge Ramos, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) declared that, as President, he would keep Barack Obama's executive amnesty for DREAMers in place until it was permanently codified through legislation. Rubio said, in part: DACA ... applies to young people that arrived in this country at a very young age before they were adults and I don't think we can...

Ever in search of benefits to hand leftist constituencies, Democrats have decided to give goodies to their most natural constituency of all: criminals. According to the Associated Press, President Obama will announce executive orders Monday attempting to prevent screening for prior criminality in government hiring. The so-called “ban the box” program would prevent government agencies from asking about criminal history until later in the interview process. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Vermont Senator Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (D-Loonbag), and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley have all joined Obama in calling for banning “the box” – meaning the check...

If there was any doubt in any sane person’s mind about Jared Fogle, the following will erase it. As disgusting as it is, I think it’s important to bear witness. It’s important not to turn a blind eye. When he makes his inevitable rehabilitation tour, we need to remind him who and what he is. Bob Fredericks, NY Post: Disgraced Subway pitchman Jared Fogle was caught on secretly recorded audio tapes boasting of his sick attraction to children — and said he wanted to travel “across the world” to fulfill his desires. “I would fly us clear across the world...

Mexico High School quarterback Dante Turo was raised by his parents to give glory to God – especially on the football field. “When you score touchdowns, when you make big plays, it’s easy to become proud,” Geno, his dad, told me. “It’s easy to take credit for yourself. I didn’t want my son to get caught up in that.” Geno, who lives in a small town north of Syracuse, New York, encouraged his son to find a subtle way to praise the Lord after making big plays. “He wanted to do something at that moment to take credit away from...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number one. You know, big kerfuffle, big kerfuffle yesterday over Trump and his comments about George W. Bush. (imitating Trump) "Hey," Trump said, "he was in office when 9/11 happened. I mean, we weren't safe, we weren't safe, 9/11 happened." Trump says, "Jeb's out there saying he kept us safe. Maybe afterward, but we weren't safe before it because it happened." And Trump's saying, "I'm not blaming anybody. I'm not blaming George Bush. I'm just telling you what happened." Well, it turns out Trump has written about this in a book that he...

The months and months of hype have paid off for Disney and Lucasfilm this afternoon, as theater chains began offering advance ticket sales for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which hits theaters two months from today on December 18. Perhaps a little too well, however. Legions of Star Wars fans immediately rushed to online ticket sellers to secure their seats but alas, the force is not strong with them. The sudden rush of demand from Jedi-happy fans has caused loading issues and site outages on purchasing platforms including Fandango, the Alamo Drafthouse, and AMC Theaters. Fandango was most seriously affected...

October 17, 2015 is the centenary of the birth of Arthur Miller, one of the literary left’s shining lights and righteous crusaders against some of liberals’ worst demons: Joe McCarthy, “HUAC,” and, more generally, anti-communism. Yes, anti-communism. As often noted by Harvard’s Richard Pipes and the Hoover Institution’s Robert Conquest, few things have animated liberal animus quite like anti-communism. It’s not that liberals have been pro-communist so much as they are anti-anti-communist. They dislike anti-communists more than they dislike communists. Their preferred demon isn’t Joe Stalin but Joe McCarthy. As James Burnham, the great ex-communist, put it, “for the left,...

Bill Whittle is always good. A furious Bill Whittle is even better — and Bill Whittle is mighty angry as he looks at illiberal “liberals” who blame guns for the societal diseases they’ve created, diseases whose outbreaks take the form of angry, vindictive, fatherless boys who need desperately to make all men in the world finally pay attention to them. These are boys and young men, moreover, who are constantly being told that their innate manly virtues, things such as physicality, energy, and loyalty, are disgraceful flaws that lead to rape and murder, and that must therefore be eradicated so...

As President Obama heads Friday to the community rocked by last week's Oregon college shooting, the president reportedly is considering executive action on gun background checks -- after he called for Americans to turn gun control into a political issue in the wake of the shooting. Obama will meet Friday with survivors and families of those killed in the attack at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. The gunman killed nine before killing himself. The Washington Post reported that the White House is considering executive action that would compel background checks for "individuals who buy from dealers who sell a...