Free Republic

Change Blindness: In visual perception, change blindness is a normal phenomenon of the brain which show in light that the brain does not have a precise representation of the world but a lacunar one, made of partial details. Despite the name, this phenomenon does not affect the eyes but the brain, and as such is bound to happen to all the human senses. This phenomenon is still in research, but results suggests that the brain estimates the importance and usefulness of information prior to deciding to store them or not. Another issue is that the brain cannot see a change...

Given the recent history of such brazen actions by American citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, it was believed that the federal government would step in and begin detaining protesters in free speech zones or temporary holding facilities so that the buses could get through. But that never happened. Now, a highly credible insider speaking with GMN in a recorded interview has shed some light on what happened, and according to him things could have gone a whole different direction. According to the whistleblower, who has thus far remained anonymous for fear of reprisal, the Department of Homeland Security on...

Jedediah Purdy, a professor of law at Duke University Law School, is vexed by the two biggest problems facing the United States. No, not a chronically low labor participation rate, not an economic recovery which often looks more like a recession, not the renewed aggression of great powers like China or Russia, or the collapse of smaller powers in Central America and the Middle East. Taking to the pages of Politico Magazine, Purdy warned in stark terms of the real problems facing the country. They just happen to be problems which have always been and always will be problems; the...

As a Conservative, I do not have a set political ideology. What I do is hold to certain truths to be, well, self evident. For example, I believe abortion is murder in all cases, no matter what. And why? Common sense tells us that live begins at conception. As another example, I also believe that the United States Constitution is the law of the land. And why? 2+2=4, and never 5, no matter what the liberals on the short bus say. The US Constitution is the law of the land. I expect and demand that the federal government stays within...

Charles Cooke of National Review summed up the real message behind Obama's praise of Australia perfectly: “You simply cannot praise Australia’s gun-laws without praising the country’s mass confiscation program. That is Australia’s law. When the Left says that we should respond to shootings as Australia did, they don’t mean that we should institute background checks on private sales; they mean that they we should ban and confiscate guns. No amount of wooly words can change this. Again, one doesn’t bring up countries that have confiscated firearms as a shining example unless one wishes to push the conversation toward confiscation.”

Happy Patriots' Day. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. ...   As we peer into society's future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to...

Harry Reid seems to have taken the Bundy standoff rather personally: "Well, it's not over. We can't have an American people that violate the law and then just walk away from it. So it's not over," Reid said. It is a very scary thing when a government officer takes such things personally -- given that the government can and does order the use of lethal force against citizens. What is the rationale for Reid's We-Must-Not-Let-This-Insult-Pass attitude? Were Reid talking about a slight from a hostile foreign power -- such as Russia, or, for that matter, al-Qaeda -- he's more than...

Barack Obama has finally managed to drive Vladimir Putin from the front pages and BREAKING NEWS alerts by deploying armed US federal rangers from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in order to deal with “illegal cattle grazing” on the ranch of Cliven Bundy in Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced today that it was ending its effort to seize Cliven Bundy’s herd of cattle that has been illegally grazing on federal land. The reason the BLM suspended the cattle round up was to protect the safety of federal employees and members of the general public. Bundy and a smattering of his right-wing supporters have threatened to wage a range war if the government continues with its effort to enforce the law. Let that sink in for a minute. The government is halting their efforts to enforce the law because of the threats being...

Ukraine's state security service (SBU) said they arrested a Russian woman accused of being a saboteur sent by the Kremlin to stir up unrest and violence across the border. Maria Koleda, 22, was detained in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, from where she was overseeing the setup of armed subversive groups and spying on Ukraine's defence forces deployed at the border with Crimea, the SBU said. Koleda was also allegedly involved in this week's clashes in the city of Mykolaiv, during which pro-Russian protesters stormed the regional administration offices. The SBU said the woman, who visited Ukraine nine times...

Dan Zimmerman at The Truth About Guns asks Could Connecticut Gun Laws Spark Another Waco?There’s been a lot of discussion among members of the Armed Intelligentsia lately about how Connecticut’s finest might proceed if they decide to confiscate unregistered guns from the state’s 100,000 or more newly-minted felons. The level of concern is evidenced by daily long comment threads, speculative posts by people who are not members of law enforcement, and even a couple of contributed opinions from the LEO community. The rational consensus seems to be that if the gun-grab order were given, cops would pinch a registration scofflaw...

Conservative critics of government are “freaks,” are “in for a pretty rough ride,” and “will need their Kevlar,” i.e., bullet-proof vests. These statements didn’t come from the Obama administration or some radical leftwing organization. They are Facebook posts of a Republican elected official in Virginia’s Fauquier County. Fauquier drew national attention in 2012 for charging farmer Martha Boneta with violating the law by having a birthday party for eight little girls without a permit and zoning site plan. The highly charged posts of county supervisor Holder Trumbo came shortly after two recent events, and are emblematic of the civil war...

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut officials are urging owners of now-illegal assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines to relinquish them to the police or make them permanently inoperable. The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection announced Friday it had sent a letter to owners who had failed to register the items by a Jan. 1 deadline, part of last year's gun control law. Officials offered advice on what to do now with the weapons and magazines.

SAN DIEGO – With a search warrant in hand, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confiscated computers, customer lists and the questionable polymer 80 percent lower receivers from four Ares Armor store locations throughout San Diego County over the weekend. “There were women and children inside our retail establishment when the (ATF) agents came in with guns drawn,” said Ares Armor Executive Officer Dimitrios Karras. “They came into our firearms manufacturing facility saying, ‘Arms up!’  like they were invading Iraq.” The raid happened three days after Ares owner was granted a temporary restraining by a...

>The latest gun control law in Connecticut has crossed a very frightening line. A standoff has been created between the government and tens of thousands of gun owners now considered felons. It marks the beginning of an Orwellian new phase. Gun owners saw it coming, as evidenced by their recent adoption in recent years of the defiant expression “molon labe.” The phrase originated from Spartan General-King Leonidas, who reportedly responded with “Come and get them!” to Persian Emperor Xerxes’ demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons at the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans fought valiantly, but were ultimately defeated. With...

The CT cop told him, “I cannot wait to get the order to kick your door in.” This comment comes on the heals of another story in which a CT Lieutenant told a woman over the phone that she was anti-American

John Cinque, a Navy veteran who told Connecticut lawmakers last year he would not comply with the state's new gun control law, told Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Joe Visconti that a Branford police officer said he couldn't "wait to get the order to kick your door in," Freedom Outpost reported Saturday, citing a YouTube video posted Friday. "I live in Branford, and his words straight out were 'I cannot wait to get the order to kick your door in,'" he told Visconti. Freedom Outpost's Tim Brown said Cinque provided the name of the officer in the incident, and posted a screenshot...

Last weekend, I reported on Connecticut John Cinque's 2013 warning to lawmakers that he would not comply with their attempts to force the citizens of Connecticut to register their semi-automatic weapons and high capacity magazines. Since that time, the video, though a year old, has gone viral. However, in a recent video between Mr. Cinque and Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Joe Viconti, Cinque reveals that a Branford, Connecticut police officer told him, "I Cannot Wait to Get the Order to Kick Your Door In."

How the Secession Movement Could Break Up the US 1:00PM EST 3/4/2014 DAVID BRODY/CBN NEWS A new map of the U.S. could include a state called Jefferson, made up of Northern California and Southern Oregon, a new state called Western Maryland and a new state called North Colorado. (CBN) If you mention the word secession most people think of the South during the Civil War. But today, a new movement is gaining steam because of frustration over a growing, out-of-control federal government. A number of conservative, rural Americans are taking about seceding and creating their own states, meaning a new...

Now that tens of thousands of gun owners in Connecticut are in direct violation of a hastily-passed gun control law, a video of a fed-up Navy veteran warning lawmakers that he “will not comply” with the law is just going viral. As previously reported by TheBlaze, as many as 100,000 gun owners technically became felons overnight because they chose not to register their semi-automatic rifles and/or high-capacity magazines. A man, identified as John S. Cinque, reportedly appeared at a public meeting in North Haven, Conn., on April 22, 2013, to confront lawmakers over the gun control law. Cinque started by...