Free Republic

Pondering what the legendary civil rights figure might communicate in 140 characters or fewer on the social networking site Twitter is among the highlights in his niece Alveda King’s new book, King Rules.Alveda King offers sample tweets taken from the speeches and writings of the heroic champion of non-violence and of harmony between the races.“We are made to live together,” is among the quotes she envisions her uncle sending out into cyberspace. In Alveda’s view, the persons meant to live together would include unborn Americans.In King Rules, Alveda King provides persuasive arguments for her contention that the ‘60s icon would...

Our country’s future, the future of the American people – and indeed the future of the world’s people as they emulate the American example – could well be so spectacularly wonderful that the phrases “shining city on a hill” and “American exceptionalism” are one day looked back upon as historical understatements. There is no greater gift – no greater secular value – than the opportunity to live a human life upon the Earth, no matter how disadvantageous our circumstances. (As for spiritual values, we “see through a glass darkly” now and look forward to experiences beyond our comprehension.) Read more...

WASHINGTON, July 23, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has authorized more temporary housing to shelter an additional 5,000 unaccompanied alien children anticipated to arrive in the United States from Central America in the coming months.

On Wednesday's edition of "The Five," co-host Bob Beckel remarked on Snoop Dogg's revelation that he as smoked marijuana in the White House, by admitting to the same thing. “I can’t criticize this guy (Snoop) because I’ve done dope in the White House myself,” Beckel said. Co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle let out an exasperated, “Oh, God.” “Are you breaking news?” asked their colleague Eric Bolling. “I did, yeah,” Beckel said. (vid at link)

Added: The Smoking Gun was the first outlet to report this, and did so weeks ago. According to the Detroit News, anti-capitalism "everyman" filmmaker Michael Moore owns 9 homes. On top of a $2 million, 10,000 square foot lakefront mansion in Torch Lake, Michigan, there is a Manhattan condo that was once 3 condos, and 7 other properties. Moore's secret role as a land baron was revealed in divorce papers....

Secretary of State John Kerry is the latest to think the power of his personal diplomacy can bring "peace to the Middle East." But, once again, when one side publicly calls for the destruction of the other, what is there to discuss? Hamas, designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S., has governed the Palestinian territory of Gaza since they defeated rival Fatah, the group that governs the West Bank. Hamas, along with Hezbollah, Palestine Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Iraqi militant Shiite groups and other terror organizations, is funded in part by Iran,...

The militant group Islamic State (Isis) has ordered all girls and women in and around Iraq's northern city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation, the United Nations says. The "fatwa" issued by the Sunni Muslim fighters would potentially affect 4 million women and girls, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Jacqueline Badcock, told reporters in Geneva by videolink from Irbil.

Pro-lifers are regularly accused of waging a war on women when we want to protect women’s health and the lives of the children they carry within. Regulations of abortion clinics to protect women and their children are seen as an attack on abortion access by abortion advocates – not because they want women to have access to what they call safe abortion, but because they know tighter regulations will reduce the number of abortion clinics, and thus the number of abortions will be reduced.We who defend the right to life understood a long time ago that the interest of the...

The efforts of Northwestern University’s scholarship football players to unionize could have profound implications for the future of college education. northwestern university football According to the Associated Press, Northwestern University just filed a 60-page brief with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C. This comes after a regional director of the NLRB ruled this past spring that “football players who receive full scholarships to the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can unionize.” If the decision of the regional director is upheld, the framework between the players and the university would be redefined...

Sorry, no pop-culture referencesAstronomers have amassed such a gigantic database of identifiable celestial bodies, that naming these objects has largely fallen wayside in favor of efficiency. Devoting time and creative energy cooking up a unique name for a dot in the sky is not worth NASA’s (or other space agencies) time, considering the millions of stars in the observable universe. Exoplanets, planets orbiting a star other than our own, are a different story. Our spacecrafts and telescopes have only spotted about 1800 of them, including the first potentially habitable Earth-sized planet, a planet anticlimactically named Kepler-186F. This is all about...

The UN says militant Islamist group Isis has ordered all women and girls in Mosul, northern Iraq, to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). UN official Jacqueline Badcock said the fatwa, or religious edict, applied to females between the ages of 11 and 46.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in nearly 8-1/2 years last week, suggesting the labor market recovery was gaining traction. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 19,000 to a seasonally adjusted 284,000 for the week ended July 19, the Labor Department said on Thursday. That was the lowest level since February 2006, and confounded economists' expectations for a rise to 308,000. The prior week's claims were revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.

The National Hockey League (NHL) has announced a partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to promote climate hysteria. The NHL “says it's confronting climate change to help ensure ice hockey’s long-term survival. 'We need winter weather,' NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, said in a statement Monday. 'We have a vested interest in this cause.'”

Union president, Lee Saunders, of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees sent a letter to the United Negro College Fund President Michael Lomax announcing that the union was severing ties with UNCF because he accepted a donation of $25 million dollars from Koch Industries and the Charles Koch Foundation and spoke at a Koch-funded summit. In a letter, Lee Saunders wrote that he was “deeply troubled” by Michael Lomax’s decision to accept $25 million from David and Charles Koch. He assumed that by accepting those funds Mr. Lomax was “in no way supporting or lending the name...

Having ream trouble supporting an alcoholic Friend. He's been in Hollywood business for years and literally screwed up his life. He's spent most of the last twenty years in jail for his stupid behavior. Likes to promise people a good time, dinner and drinks but, consistently leaves people hanging with the check. If he's not doing that, then he's walking into restaurants, bars and hotels, then getting busted for defrauding an inn keeper. There are drunks, lousy drunks and terrible drunks. Of course, he has to be a terrible drunk. Alters his mind and he gets verbally combative, aggressive or...

Decked out in keffiyahs and stocked with vulgar posters, anti-Israel demonstrators have been descending upon cities across the United States rallying for what they call peace. One such group gathered on Sunday, July 20, 2014, just blocks from the Israeli consulate in Miami. The flier for this protest declares, “Stop the bombing – Stop the Killing – Free Palestine” and includes logos from: the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida, the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Students for Justice in Palestine, the American Muslim Association of North America, American Muslims for Emergency & Relief, Syrian American Council of South...

Ecologist Craig Layman says scientists should have looked into this long ago and calls Lauren Arrington's project "one of the most influential 6th-grade science projects ever conducted." But wait… Marine biologist says 6th-grader stole his idea Using only six fish and six tanks, a 6th-grade science fair entrant was able to demonstrate last year what is being hailed as a remarkable discovery: Lionfish, an invasive species found up and down the Florida coast, can also survive in nearly fresh water. There's just one catch: That student may have stolen her idea from a former graduate student her scientist father may...

I thought of that quote when I heard White House Spokesman Josh Earnest say, “It is pretty obvious what the congressional intent was.” He was talking about the D.C. Court of Appeals ruling that Obamacare subsidies apply only to states that set up exchanges because, well, that’s what the text of the Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act says. The Obama administration, it seems, has a newfound respect for the intent of lawmakers. As George Will pointed out back in January, “Four words that threaten disaster for the ACA say the subsidies shall be available to persons who purchase health...

Nearly 70 years ago, on Aug. 1, 1944, Lieutenant General George S. Patton took command of the American Third Army in France. For the next 30 days they rolled straight toward the German border. Patton almost did not get a chance at his summer of glory. After brilliant service in North Africa and Sicily, fellow officers -- and his German enemies -- considered him the most gifted American field general of his generation. But near the conclusion of his illustrious Sicilian campaign, the volatile Patton slapped two sick GIs in field hospitals, raving that they were shirkers. In truth,...

In the Georgia Republican runoff this week, David Perdue won the right to represent Republicans in the general election this fall. His win has placed the final piece of the puzzle for the political landscape this season in Georgia. With less than four months until the fall election, not a minute can be wasted by either side. The Senate race has become an oddity, with two CEOs (one business, one non-profit and both with politically recognizable family names) vying to become the next United States Senator from Georgia. David Perdue, (former Republican Dollar General CEO and cousin of former Georgia...

The illegal immigration crisis on the border is showing no signs of stopping and the problem has spread well beyond states sitting side-by-side with Mexico. The Obama administration has been shipping unaccompanied minors to family members living illegally in the United States for months. Illegal aliens under the age of 18 have been shipped to states as far away as New York and Massachusetts, prompting non-border state governors to demand answers from the White House about what the President is planning to do to stop the crisis. In an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren last night, Utah...

The business community in an Irish village has hit back at a cafe owner who has refused to serve "loud Americans". Peter Fitzgerald of Waterville, County Kerry, annoyed villagers when he posted a notice in his cafe banning coach parties and loud Americans. The story went viral on social media and was picked up by dozens of newspapers around the world. The village, however, has assured all, loud or not, of a warm welcome. Business people and residents took to the streets on Tuesday to send out a strong message to visitors. Albert Walsh, chairman of Waterville Business Association, said:...

When Adam Smith put to paper the principles of market systems that Marx would later dismiss as capitalism, people were still dedicated to their religious faiths. Smith -- who was not in Washington at the time (ba-dum-tssshhh) -- knew this, and, even prior to releasing this monumental work, he laid the foundation of what his market system would be based on: “moral sentiments”. Smith was not a relativist, but he believed that morals were commonly held -- after all, Christendom was still holding on, albeit just barely and for dear life. True, enlightened capitalism, while inferior to distributism, is at...

A hipster pro-choice couple from North Carolina created a Tumblr blog dedicated to making fun of pro-life supporters protesting outside of abortion clinics. Called “Saturday Chores,” the blog documents the abortion enthusiasts’ trips to various abortion clinics holding signs they consider “funny” in a form of political counter protest.

A federal judge in Denver declared Colorado's gay marriage ban unconstitutional Wednesday, but he temporarily put the ruling on hold to give the state until next month to seek an appeal.... Colorado Republican Attorney General John Suthers and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper had requested a stay so the issue could eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court — though both agreed the state ban should be declared unconstitutional.

Americans who oppose same-sex marriage often face "intolerance" from those who support it, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said Wednesday in a speech about values that appeared aimed at wooing social conservatives. In remarks he said were likely to get him criticized as a bigot, the Florida Republican told an audience at Catholic University that a strong America is impossible without Americans who hold strong values. Seeming to seek a debate over those values, he criticized liberals who defend abortion rights for women but not protections for "the unborn."

Protests in central Budapest remain ongoing since Sunday (20 July), after a controversial monument dedicated to “all the victims” of Hungary’s German occupation was erected during the night of 20 to 21 July, the Hungarian press reports. The plan to set up the monument for the 70th anniversary of Hungary’s Nazi German occupation was announced at the end of last year and was heavily criticized by opposition parties and civil society ever since, contending that it was aimed at distorting the nation’s role in the Holocaust. Critics of the monument—which depicts Hungary as the Archangel Gabriel being attacked by a...

Demonstrators fell to the ground as protest leaders read names of Gaza casualties in Operation Protective Edge at rally Saturday.BOSTON – In a corner of America’s oldest public common, some 200 anti-Israel demonstrators held a so-called “die-in” Saturday to protest Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. For the third time in eight days, Boston police were forced to intervene when a small group of student Israel supporters was swarmed by demonstrators screaming anti-Semitic epithets and initiating physical contact, said students involved in the incident. The two-hour “die-in” on the Boston Common climaxed when protest leaders read the names of Palestinians...

The National Science Foundation has committed $10 million to build robots that will act as “personal trainers” for children, in an effort to influence their behavior and eating habits. The government has spent $2.15 million so far for the five-year project, which is being led by Yale University. The project, “Robots Helping Kids,” will ultimately “deploy” robots into homes and schools to teach English as a second language, and encourage kids to exercise.

While record-setting wildfires engulfed Central Washington, budding marijuana businesses in the area suffered from scorched plants unfit for production, pop-up fires on farms and road closures that slowed deliveries to retailers. A 15,000-acre wildfire encroached on the Columbia River Cannabis farm in Douglas County earlier this month and burned its 5-week-old medical-marijuana plants that were eventually to be used to start growing in the recreational market. Columbia River Cannabis in Douglas County was finally close to getting a marijuana-producer license after nine months. That is, until a 15,000-acre wildfire encroached on its farm July 10 and burned its 5-week-old medical-marijuana...

EPA will hold public hearings in four locations for the proposed Clean Power Plan the week of July 28, 2014. The hearings will provide interested parties the opportunity to present data, views or arguments concerning the proposed action. EPA is pleased by the tremendous public interest in the proposed Clean Power Plan. Already, we have received nearly 300,000 written comments on the proposal. We have found that there are some additional speaking slots still available in Pittsburgh on August 1st, and are reopening the registration for Pittsburgh ONLY. Register for the Pittsburgh hearing on August 1st. The other hearings in...

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed into law a measure aimed at reducing deportations of legal immigrants who are convicted of misdemeanors. :snip: The legislation aimed at reducing deportations of noncitizens who are legal residents cuts the maximum possible misdemeanor sentence in California by one day, from one year to 364 days. Under federal immigration law, a felony is a crime punishable by 365 days or more, in which case a noncitizen legal resident can face deportation, according to state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens). Deportable crimes that carry a maximum one-year sentence include theft, fraud and forgery. "As a...

The researchers traced 95 percent of canvas fingerprinting scripts back to share buttons provided by AddThis, the world’s largest content sharing platform.One in 18 of the world’s top 100,000 Web sites track users without their consent using a previously undetected cookie-like tracking mechanism embedded in ‘share’ buttons. A new study by researchers at KU Leuven and Princeton University provides the first large-scale investigation of the mechanism and is the first to confirm its use on actual Web sites. The mechanism, called “canvas fingerprinting,” uses special scripts — the coded instructions that tell your browser how to render a Web site...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Jim Gilchrist — one of the founders of the Minutemen Project — said he’s reaching out across America to recruit at least 3,500 volunteers who will go to the border to patrol and cover the “porous areas” between San Diego and Brownsville, Texas. The campaign is called “Operation Normandy,” and it’s set for May 1, 2015, Raw Story reported. “If you are familiar with the Normandy invasion of France in 1944, then you have an idea how large and logistically complicated this event will be,” Mr. Gilchrist said, Raw Story reported. “However, there is one difference. We are not going...

An Iranian judge sentenced a Christian man to have his lips burnt with a cigarette for eating during the day in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, The Daily Mail reported. The barbaric punishment was carried out in public in a square in the city of Kermanshah. Five other Muslim men were also flogged in public with 70 lashes for not fasting during Ramadan, the city’s deputy governor Ali Ashraf Karami said. […] At least 49 Christians were among 307 religious minorities being held in Iranian jails as of January 2014, noted the UN, which also criticized the regime for...

Beijing (AFP) - Beijing on Wednesday closed the first of four large coal-fired power plants that are set to be shut down as part of efforts to curb its choking air pollution, media reported. The 50-year-old Gaojing Thermal Power Plant is to be replaced with a gas-fired power station, one of four that is to be built as the Chinese capital aims to boost its reliance on cleaner energy, Xinhua news agency said. The other three major coal-fired power plants in Beijing will be closed by 2016, the state-run agency added. A five-year plan was introduced in the city last...

An Edmond teenager faces a possible life in prison sentence after authorities say they learned about shocking crimes he allegedly committed on an African mission trip. The suspect was volunteering at a Kenyan children’s home when he allegedly raped and molested a number of young children. According to court records, 19-year-old Matthew Durham confessed to raping several young girls, forcing some boys to perform oral sex on him and even making other kids watch. “This is a young man in our community that made choices to exploit children in an orphanage,” said United States Attorney Sanford Coats. “It’s a...

We’ve grown accustomed to senseless liberal logic insinuating that anything that has to do with the color spectrum is somehow racist or racially charged, however; the most recent attack by The Guardian filth-spiller, Tracy van Slyke, is so stupid it just made me chuckle. Check out what she said about the demonic Thomas the Tank Engine. From The Guardian: �For the record, all the “villains” on Thomas and Friends are the dirty diesel engines. I’d like to think there was a good environmental message in there, but when the good engines pump out white smoke and the bad engines pump...

Islamic Jew-hatred and genocide — it’s an Islamic imperative.What Rabbi or Priest ever talks this way? Islam is not like other religions. “Jihadi cleric calls for Muslim fighters to join the fighting in Gaza,” J Post, July 23, 2014“Our heart yearns to arrive and fight the sons and brothers of the apes and pigs,” says rebel fighter. isis caliphate,”A new jihadi media outlet called Al-Fawaris released a video calling on Gazans to endure the military operation, saying that victory looms and that Muslims all over the world support them.According to a report published on Monday by the MEMRI (Middle East...

Rep. Wolf from Virginia made a speech yesterday at the House of Representatives in which forewarned the country on the current genocide of Christians in Iraq. He stated:Mr. Speaker, the international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found in article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.It says:Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the...

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ K-9 COMPETITION Air Force Staff Sgt. Rocky Thompson takes his military working dog, Aron, through a window obstacle during the K-9 competition on Minot Air Force Base, ND, Aug. 14, 2013. Thompson, a military working dog handler, is assigned to the 319th Security Forces Squadron. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Kristoffer Kaubisch Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. ASSAULT EXERCISE Army 1st Sgt. Kevin Mulcahey, left,...

A physician at the helm of Sierra Leone's efforts to contain and control the Ebola epidemic has just been diagnosed with the virus, according to reports from Reuters and the BBC. Sheik Umar Khan, a virologist, has treated more than 100 patients with the deadly disease and was admitted earlier this week to a high containment treatment facility, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the government. A source inside the ward told Reuters that the doctor is receiving treatment, though no details were given on his current state of health. Health Minister Miatta Kargbo called Khan a "national...

by Gina Cassini | Top Right NewsIt's all about race.Everything, that is. Just when you think it's ok for your child to enjoy an innocent, wholesome cartoon that has been thrilling little tikes for seven decades, you find out that it's -- what else? -- RACIST! That is, according to the ridiculous screed of Tracy van Slyke, of The Guardian, which is so stupid it just must be a joke. Right? Wrong! She's serious. Check out what she said about the evil Thomas the Tank Engine: For the record, all the “villains” on Thomas and Friends are the dirty diesel engines. I’d like to...

OAKLAND -- Wednesday was a day off from politics for former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who spent the morning in Oakland with babies, small children and their parents, talking about talking. It was the local kickoff for the "Too Small to Fail" campaign, an early childhood education effort designed to let parents know that talking is teaching when it comes to the youngest children.

Iraqi Christians are begging for help from the civilized world after Mosul, the northern city where they have lived and worshiped for 2,000 years, was purged of non-Muslims by ISIS, the jihadist terror group that claims to have established its own nation in the region. Assyrian Christians, including Chaldean and Syriac Catholics, Syriac Orthodox and followers of the Assyrian Church of the East have roots in present day Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran that stretch back to the time of Jesus Christ. While they have long been a minority and have faced persecution in the past, they had never been...

While President Obama was raising hundreds of thousands of dollars at two Bay Area fundraisers Wednesdays, protesters urged him to keep a promise he made to ensure that the Internet remains a level playing field. Back in 2007, then-candidate Obama said during a campaign stop at Google that as president he would “take a backseat to no one” in terms of his commitment to preserving net neutrality. But Obama’s appointments to the Federal Communications Commission don’t back up that commitment. In May, three Democrats he appointed to the agency voted to allow broadband carriers to provide an online “fast lane”...

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Tony Dungy told the Tampa Tribune that he would NOT have drafted Michael Sam if he were still coaching. “I wouldn’t have taken him,’’ said former Bucs and Colts coach Tony Dungy, now an analyst for NBC. “Not because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it. “It’s not going to be totally smooth … things will happen.’ What are your thoughts on Coach Dungy’s statements???

Well, it seems “Papergate” just ensnared Montana Democratic Senator John Walsh. Mr. Walsh was appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock to replace outgoing Sen. Max Baucus, who decided to become the Obama administration’s Ambassador to China. Walsh is described by the New York Times as having something the Democrats lack in their political ranks: a seasoned military record. Walsh is a decorated Iraq War veteran, but his reputation might be marred by a final term paper he wrote in obtaining his master’s degree, where a substantial portion was written without crediting anyone (via NYT): An examination of the final paper required...

Not an unusual data point at all, based on the polling trend -- but a timely reality check for the delusional "people love Obamacare!" propagandists. CNN's latest national survey includes a number of noteworthy nuggets, including the "Affordable" Care Act fallout verdict referenced in the headline (via Ed Morrissey): (1) President Obama's job approval rating is mired at (42/55), languishing roughly where it's been for months. He is underwater with men (39/58), women (45/52), young people (45/49), and independents (34/62). Seventy-seven percent of Democrats and nearly two-thirds of non-white voters continue to give Obama high marks, but virtually everyone...