Free Republic

While Sen. Bernie Sanders (S-Vt) was first out of the gate for the 2020 presidential election with a proposal to give everyone who wants or needs a job a $15 per hour spot on a federal government payroll, other hopefuls are signing on to the idea. A poll indicating that 46% of potential voters like the idea has inspired imitators. Sens. Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) eagerly endorsed the idea. “I think it’s a good start on the road to an economy where everyone basically works for the government,” Booker said. “Then we could ensure that everyone gets...

The saga of ailing toddler Alfie Evans has thoroughly discredited the United Kingdom's National Health Service. According to the NHS, Alfie's death "would be best for all concerned." His parents' efforts to prevent this outcome with the assistance of humanitarians outside of the NHS have been thwarted with the connivance of the UK's courts. It's not a question of the parents insisting that the NHS provide care that the NHS considers inappropriate and futile. The parents haven't asked for anything more than to take their son out of the Alder Hey Hospital and take advantage of Bambino Gesu Hospital's offer...

Ready for Thanksgiving? Before you eat that turkey, I hope you think about why America has turkeys for you to eat. Most people don't know. Everyone's heard about that first Thanksgiving feast -- Pilgrims and Indians sharing the harvest. We like the drawings of it we saw in schoolbooks -- shared bounty. Fewer people know that before that first feast, the Pilgrims nearly starved. They almost starved because they acted the way some Bernie Sanders fans want people to act. They farmed collectively. But communal farming creates what economists call "the tragedy of the commons." Think about what happens if...

A Mexican federal court has made an unusual ruling that bans the import of U.S. potatoes on the grounds the imports violate Mexicans’ right to food sovereignty and a healthy environment. A group of Mexican potato growers had sought a constitutional injunction on the imports, claiming they threaten to spread agricultural diseases. The court said Mexican agricultural authorities had failed to use methods like radiation treatment of imports to prevent diseases. But because federal injunctions are intended only to protect constitutional rights, the ruling had to break some new ground. The court ruled the ban must be implemented to preserve...

The mainstream narrative would tell you that from 1950 to 1954, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy unjustly accused a wide variety of Americans of being communist spies, creating a hysterical witch-hunt that destroyed the lives of innocent people. What is the truth about Sen. Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism? What are the modern parallels between mid-1950s McCarthyism and the events of today? Sources: https://board.freedomainradio.com/topic/49028-youtube-the-truth-about-mccarthyism-modern-parallels/

The Department of Education expanded the grounds under which students may be freed from their obligation to repay college loans. Under the new rules, students may be absolved from the obligation to repay loans if the education they received was inadequate. Secretary John King, Jr. explained that “much of what passes as education in our major universities is just crap. Universities know that majoring in ‘women’s studies,’ ‘gender studies,’ philosophy, and the like, won’t prepare graduates for high-paying jobs. Why should naive and ignorant young people have to bear the consequences that could have been avoided if they had received...

First ladies generally are allowed considerable immunity from criticism, because they generally stick to feel-good issues, like literacy, roadside beautification, and other subjects most people can agree on. But not Michelle Obama, who has enjoyed some of the most unrealistic flattery in the history of first ladies, such as the concerted effort to convince the public she is a fashion icon.After becoming the national food and exercise scold, provoking vast waste and mass starvation as public school students discard the unappetizing and skimpy lunches she has forced on school cafeterias, she has now turned toward outright slander of those who...

North Dakota’s hog and dairy industries are hoping voters will bless state lawmakers’ decision to allow non-family corporations to own operations, but it could be a tough sell in a state that has safeguarded its family farming heritage for nearly a century. Up for vote in the June 14 election is whether to uphold the 2015 Legislature’s move to loosen North Dakota’s corporate farming ban, which has tried to keep crop and pasture in the hands of small-operation farmers and away from large out-of-state businesses that some believe might have little regard for the land. “Family farming agriculture has delivered...

You May Be A Communard If ... Definition of "communard" 1.1 (Communard) historical. A supporter of the Paris Commune. Origin Late 19th century: from French, from commune. #YouMayBeACommunardIf ... * You feel that you have the "right" to not be offended. * You think that you have the "right" to "feel safe" * You feel that you have the "right" to free healthcare * You feel that you have a "right" to a free college education. * You feel that you have the "right" to free housing * You feel that you have the "right" to enslave others * You...

The nightmare of collectivism is the defining battle of our age. It is in this era that we will decide whether or not individual liberty and freedom of thought are more important than the illusory security and “harmony” of the collective. Collectivism and individualism cannot coexist; confrontation is inevitable. Recognizing this, and preparing for it, is our duty as free human beings.

“The West is empty, even if it has not yet become really aware of it. An extraordinarily inventive civilization, surely the only one capable of meeting the challenges of the third millennium, the West has no soul left.” “At every level – nations, races, cultures, as well as individuals – it is always the soul that wins the decisive battles. It is only the soul that forms the weave of gold and brass from which the shields that save the strong are fashioned. I can hardly discern any soul in us.” So wrote the great French novelist, Jean Raspail, in...

K-12 schools in the United States are characterized by three outstanding traits. First of all, there's less academic activity and achievement. The general thrust of the Education Establishment is to simplify the curriculum, strip away the harder content, keep discussions airy and empty, and in general to make classrooms focused on feelings rather than facts. Second, even as facts are not taught, specific opinions are taught again and again. Global warming is the fault of human activity. Gay marriage is hugely important. Islam is a fine thing and schools should have a section on this religion and only this religion....

Is there morality in government? It is expected that our politicians be moral and of good character and integrity. But given the power unlawfully and unconstitutionally usurped by our elected officials, can it be said that any member of congress fits within a recognized set of moral parameters? After all, it is the moral nature of our legislators which must affect the life, dreams and hopes of not only this generation, but the generations to come. The amount of power which a foolish and cowardly American public has permitted our politicians to take for themselves is staggering. But what else...

It is not too many centurions, particularly 100-year-old-plus writers, whose vision of the world is as relevant today as it was when first shared with the public over half a century ago. It is this vision of Orwell, the X-ray view through the cant, platitudes and lies to that ugliest of human drives, the lust for powers absolute, that still distinguishes the British writer, born 112 years ago this week on June 25, 1903. He was only 46 when he died on January 21, 1950. It is his frightening acuity that keeps him not only in the pantheon but even...

Thursday while making a statement about the Charleston church shooting, President Barack Obama raised the issue of dealing with guns and gun violence. Transcript as follows: This morning, I spoke with Vice President Biden and with Mayor Joe Riley and other leaders of Charleston to express our deep sorrow over the senseless murders that took place last night. Michelle and I know several members of Emanuel AME church.

According to the latest Census Bureau data, 21.3% of those living in America are receiving welfare benefits. This includes more than 41% of Blacks, more than 36% of Hispanics, more than 17% of Asians and more than 13% of whites. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell called it "a good start on the President's transformative agenda. Ideally, all output would be put into a common pot and doled out to individuals and families based on need. The notion that a person should be self-supporting is archaic. In another generation it will be completely replaced by an appreciation for the...

Self-described socialist and candidate for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders promised voters that “everything will be free when I’m president.” “In a country as rich as ours it is shameful that mere lack of money should block anyone from having all the good things of life,” Sanders said. “No one should be stigmatized by having to grovel to qualify for food stamps or be denied entry into college because they can’t afford it or don’t have good high school grades. Anyone who wants to eat should simply be permitted to take food from a grocery store...

Almost everyone has heard the phrase, "a gift that keeps on giving"; a reference to a charitable undertaking that encourages beneficiaries in the direction of self-reliance & personal responsibility. Such a gift is likely to involve recognition of important aspects of human nature--a concept or concepts that encourage individuals to identify & employ actual talents--that inspire beneficiaries to solve real problems, rather than look to others to solve those problems for them.

The undertold story of how the Pilgrims tried hard to live under what we could call communism and nearly starved to death. In 1623 they abruptly switched to private property and free markets and never went hungry again.

In what some project to be the opening gambit of a potential 2016 presidential campaign, Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley (D) declared that access to WiFi is a human right. “I’m not saying that people should merely be free to purchase and use WiFi at their own expense,” O’Malley clarified. “Doing what you please and paying for it out of your own pocket is an archaic conception of basic human rights. It may have been fine for our nation’s Founding Fathers because they didn’t know any better. Fortunately, we’ve made significant advances in our thinking since then.” A key phrase that...