Free Republic

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Did you see the stock market was up nearly 270 points yesterday? How did this happen, folks? The stock market came back, futures are up 100 points, sky isn't falling, wizards of smart said that the world's financial markets were gonna go to hell all because of the Brexit vote. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Everything happens predictably except when the doom and gloom sets in, they want you to believe it's permanent and it's all over. And, sadly, it works. It creates cumulatively this overwhelming attitude of doom and gloom that the establishment and the left predicts...

OUR FIRST PHILOSOPHICAL ARTICLE ON VIRTUES OF MEN The western way of thought, whether contemplating god, philosophy, mathematics or science, has evolved over many centuries with traceable roots originating as far back as ancient Greece. For all its failings, ancient Rome was heavily influenced by Greek thought. Enlightened wise men from even earlier cultures as far back as historical study can determine existed and thought about the things we still think and struggle with today. From antiquity on, the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, and other civilizations all pondered the same issues but perhaps from different angles. We wish that those...

ABC was the last of the “big three” networks to break in Monday morning with the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down a pro-life Texas law, but they didn’t hold back their approval as the assembled cast of smiling correspondents hailed the “fairly sweeping decision” and expressed glee at the “party right here” by abortion activists “lining up since 4:00 am. to witness this moment.” Chief anchor and Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos broke in at 10:20 a.m. Eastern to announce “breaking news from the Supreme Court closing at its term with what could be the most important abortion case in...

The next day, all of us who signed the petition were called into a meeting where we thought our proposal would be discussed. Instead, we were informed that due to our “unprofessional” behavior, we were being let go from our internships. We were told to hand in our ID badges and to gather our things and leave the property ASAP. We were shocked. The proposal was written professionally like examples I have learned about in school, and our arguments were thought out and well-reasoned. We weren’t even given a chance to discuss it. The worst part is that just before...

Howard Baker, then a senator from Tennessee, captured the essence of the Watergate scandal that took down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon in these simple words: “It is almost always the cover-up rather than the event that causes trouble.” Nixon resigned 42 years ago, but Baker’s words have lived on in Washington, because the impulse to conceal a misdeed is shared by politicians of every persuasion, including Hillary Clinton, who is now running for the office Nixon vacated. One irony has not been missed: In her first major job out of law school, Hillary Clinton joined the special committee,...

A Marine who survived the terror attack in Benghazi is featured in a new pro-Trump ad which was produced by the NRA. It’s a pretty powerful spot.

IN HAWAII and California, the minimum age for buying cigarettes was raised recently to 21. Now Massachusetts lawmakers, addicted to the rush that comes from limiting other people's choices, are keen to jump on the bandwagon.A bill banning the sale of tobacco products to anyone younger than 21 — and, for good measure, making it a crime to sell cigarettes in drugstores — passed the state Senate by an overwhelming vote last month. The bill is now before a House committee; it could reach the full House for a vote in a matter of days. Soon after the Fourth of July, adults...

You may have noticed that something is disturbing the balmy tranquility of the great British summer at the moment. Uber drivers are swerving more dangerously than usual, BMW owners are angrily shouting at old ladies to hurry up on the Zebra crossings and, if you drive through some neighbourhoods you can even see gangs of youths looking longingly through the windows of fried chicken shops. It’s an annual phenomenon that can only can mean one thing: Ramadan is once again upon us.

Reverse discrimination is alive and well in the United States, judging by what transpired at the Supreme Court last Thursday and a bill that recently passed New York’s state assembly.In a 4 to 3 ruling, the court upheld the University of Texas’s affirmative action program to admit minorities over similarly or more qualified white applicants.Abigail Noel Fisher, who is white, had sued over her rejection in 2008.  Her case reached the Supreme Court in 2013, was remanded to the Fifth Circuit, and re-emerged this term.  Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy denied her claim that the university’s race-conscious policy violates...

Some U.S. lawmakers still take their jobs seriously, especially members of the House Committee on Homeland Security. You see, as a crowning component of his fetish for “normalizing” relations with (embracing and subsidizing) the Terror-Sponsoring Castro-Family-Crime-Syndicate (called “Cuba” by Obama and his lapdog mainstream media) President Obama has given rapid and enthusiastic approval for six U.S. airlines to start flying one hundred direct flights a week from nine airports in Terror-Sponsoring Cuba to fifteen airports in our homeland.In light of this, some members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security thought it prudent to check on what security measures...

The minimum age in Chicago for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products goes up to 21 at the end of the week. […] Hawaii and California have raised the tobacco purchase age to 21 statewide. Illinois lawmakers are considering a similar measure. The Chicago City Council approved the age increase in March, along with higher taxes and other efforts to combat tobacco sales. …

The Miss Teen USA pageant is dropping the swimsuit portion of its competition. This decision reflects an important cultural shift we're all celebrating...

The British separation from the European Union of June 23, 2016 doesn't precisely replicate the American declaration of independence from the British Empire on July 4, 1776. However, Britain's 21 century rebels and their 18 century American cousins share several provocative and encouraging traits, which Americans should laud this coming July 4. Let's deal with the numbers first, and the names. Both numbers and names do relate to the rebellion. In the United Kingdom's June 23 referendum, common sense Rebels whipped Remainers -- 52 percent to 48 percent. Yes, a narrow margin. However, it is a clear win obtained in...

The US Supreme Court today denied to hear a case involving pharmacists in Washington state who, for religious reasons, declined to dispense RU-486Plan B, the “morning-after pill,” which causes abortion. Effectively this means that Christian pharmacists who refuse to sell drugs that intend to exterminate life in the womb cannot work in the new society. More: The Supreme Court will not review Washington state’s requirement that pharmacies dispense emergency contraceptives to women, prompting a complaint from conservative justices that it was an “ominous sign” for religious liberty. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a sharp dissent Tuesday to the court’s...

OBAMA'S AMERICA: School district hires full-time 'homeless student liaison' SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Springfield Public Schools is reconsidering how it spends federal Title I funds, and officials plan to hire a full-time homeless liaison at a cost of $100,000 to $150,000 a year. Barack Michelle ObamaThe district’s chief learning officer, Mike Dawson, told the News-Leader the district is required to set aside Title I funding for helping homeless students, which is typically between $100,000 and $150,000 a year, and plans to use the money to hire a full-time person. “Historically, these set aside funds have been used to support after-school tutoring,...

It was off to one side of the train line but not too far away. The tower of an ancient church stood up in golden sunshine. Before it and beyond it rolled fields of brilliant green, crossed by hedgerows and accented by occasional trees. Stretching out in front of the church was a small village of solid stone houses. How old was that church? How old were those houses? How long had farmers tilled the fields around them? How long had this architecture -- this village -- stood in this rural part of England? The answers were impossible for a...

The transcript of Omar Mateen’s call to 911 during the Orlando nightclub shooting paints a man on an unshakable mission of terror in the name of Islamic State, or ISIS. While the call is a chilling reminder of Mateen’s horrible act, it is not the only window we have into the killer’s mind. Equally disconcerting are the selfies that have emerged showing Mateen in poses more common to a narcissistic teen than an ISIS operative.

On Monday, the Supreme Court issued yet another politically driven leftist decision, this time over the contentious issue of abortion. The court explained that not only did the Constitution of the United States mandate that states not infringe upon the phantom right to abortion but that health regulations on abortion clinics in Texas had to be overturned if they made it less convenient for women to kill their babies at such clinics. To this decision, "The Daily Show" had but one well-considered response: "Celebrate the #SCOTUS ruling! Go knock someone up in Texas!" The right reacted without outrage; even the...

I’m quite aware that we will be branded haters and bigots if we simply teach that marriage is the union of one man and one woman or if we believe that kids deserve a mom and a dad. And I know only too well that if we hold to historic Judeo-Christian sexual morals, we will be vilified in the ugliest imaginable terms. No matter how gracious and respectful we are, no matter how carefully we present our views, we will be attacked, and there’s nothing we can do about that other than continuing to speak the truth in love. Some...

Europe's leaders met without premier David Cameron and warned London must accept EU migrants to win access to the bloc's free trade zone.