Free Republic

One day after the Islamic State group killed or injured about 500 people in a series of attacks in Paris, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., linked climate change to the spread of terrorist groups overseas. At the second Democratic presidential debate, held Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, Sanders was asked whether he stood by his previous claims that climate change was the No. 1 threat to national security. He said he did."Climate change is directly related to the rise of global terrorism," Sanders said, adding that it would cause nations to start "struggling over limited amounts of water, limited amounts...

Bernie Sanders persisted in using shopworn stats on income inequality and Hillary Rodham Clinton glossed over the well-heeled donors to her campaign in the latest Democratic presidential debate. Some of the claims in the debate Saturday night and how they compare with the facts: CLINTON: "Since we last debated in Las Vegas, nearly 3,000 people have been killed by guns. Two hundred children have been killed. This is an emergency." She said that in the same period there have been 21 mass shootings, "including one last weekend in Des Moines where three were murdered." THE FACTS: The claim appears to...

**SNIP** Clinton responded that she was representing New York in the Senate when downtown Manhattan was attacked and noted that she helped the city's financial hub rebuild. "That was good for New York and it was good for the economy and it was a way to rebuke the terrorists who had attacked our country," she said, her voice rising. Her response drew an incredulous response on social media sites like Twitter, and the debate's moderators asked Clinton to respond to one Twitter user, who took issue with her mention of 9/11 to justify the contributions. "Well, I'm sorry that whoever...

It was a rough night on the campus of the University of Missouri, thanks in large part to Student Body President Payton Head. Head posted on Facebook earlier in the night that the KKK was confirmed on campus and that he was working with “the MUPD, the state trooper and the National Guard.” The only problem with that terrifying statement is it wasn’t true and Head was forced to delete the post and apologize: Head then directed students to follow @MUalert — “The online emergency information center for the University of Missouri” — as the “ONLY account with confirmed information”:

Nazi comparisons remain a dime per dozen in the political discourse, wielded liberally and often outside historical context. Godwin’s law suggests that any online debate which lasts long enough will result in someone evoking the Nazis.That moment has arrived in our consideration of Donald Trump. Newsweek commentator Jeffrey A. Tucker asks, “Is Donald Trump a Fascist?” However, the question stands as more than provocation or insult. Tucker is serious, and offers evidence to bolster the suggestion: What’s distinct about Trumpism, and the tradition of thought it represents, is that it is not leftist in its cultural and political outlook...

The Environmental Protection Agency isn’t responding to claims by Todd Hennis, owner of the Gold King mine in Colorado that the agency coerced him to grant access to his property. Once taking over, of course, EPA’s incompetent attempts to remove debris created a massive 3 million gallon toxic waste spill from the mine. Hennis told the CBS Denver affiliate that unless he allowed the EPA to have access and authority to conduct operations on the site the agency had threatened him with daily fines of $35,000. “When you’re a small guy and you’re having a $35,000-a-day fine accrue against you,...

In 1944, Ludwig von Mises published one of his least-known masterworks: Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War. Drawing on his prewar experience in Vienna, watching the rise of the national socialists in Germany (the Nazis), who would eventually take over his own homeland, he set out to draw parallels between the Russian and German experience with socialism. It was common in those days, as it is in ours, to identify the Communists as leftist and the Nazis as rightists, as if they stood on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. But Mises knew differently. They...

For Kiev, winning the public relations war against Vladimir Putin would seem to be a no-brainer. For a year now, the Kremlin has conducted a thinly-disguised war of aggression in eastern Ukraine resulting in the deaths of thousands. Yet Kiev seems intent on squandering any international public support it might have had amidst a bizarre crackdown on free speech and censorship of controversial historical debates. Through its crackdown, Ukraine has actually played into Putin's propaganda war and facilitated Russia's PR efforts. At issue is Ukraine's contentious World War II past, some of which isn't particularly flattering. With the support of...

About 10 or 15 minutes after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its 5-4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which made gay marriage legal across the country, including the 13 states that up until now had banned it, a colleague of mine walked into the PennLive newsroom. A smile lit up her face and there were tears in her eyes. Up until about 10 a.m. on Friday, my gay colleague sat on pins and needles, waiting to see if nine lawyers were about to throw the life and her and her partner into absolute upheaval. We embraced and I offered...

During a radio interview that had him declaring the United States as racist and using the N-word to emphasize his point, Barack Obama made some other remarks that have gone largely unnoticed by the Mainstream Media that offer further and troubling insight into a man seemingly obsessed with the belief he should remain the center of the known political universe… During that same already infamous interview, the president indicated his belief that he would be an even better presidential candidate if he was running again for a third term because, “I know what I’m doing and I’m fearless.” Self-declared as...

Religious institutions could be at risk of losing their tax-exempt status due to their beliefs about marriage if the Supreme Court holds that gay couples have a constitutional right to wed, President Obama’s attorney acknowledged to the Supreme Court today. “It’s certainly going to be an issue,” Solicitor General Donald Verrilli replied when Justice Samuel Alito asked if schools that support the traditional definition of marriage would have to be treated like schools that once opposed interracial marriage. “I don’t deny that.”

The First Lady of these United States is now urging Americans to stop drinking sweet tea. Yes – friends – you heard correctly. Mrs. Obama has declared war on the House Wine of the South. It’s all part of her anti-obesity campaign — called Let’s Move. The website Free Beacon was the first to report on her latest culinary atrocities – urging us to wash down our lettuce and bean sprouts with unsweetened tea. The First Lady also told Americans to stay away from all-you-can-eat buffets — which I’m sure is great news for all those folks employed by all-you-can-eat...

The latest version of a top-selling study guide for the Advanced Placement European History exam explains the French Revolution with a chart which identifies Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as a fascist and pairs him with the Ku Klux Klan.“Barron’s AP European History” (7th edition) makes the claim, intended for consumption by American high school students, on page 168. The chart attempts to compare modern American political affiliations with the various factions involved in the French Revolution. The chart moves politically from left to right.The far right of the chart is labeled “fascist.” The authors demonstrate modern-day “fascists” by pairing “Clarence...

Court Nixes Faith-Based Birth Control Mandate Challenge JOE MANDAK Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh answers questions after a news conference in Pittsburgh. Zubik responded on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015, to a federal appeals court decision that reversed lower court victories that challenged birth control coverage mandates as part of federal health care reforms. Zubik said that the church is no longer free to practice what it preaches. . PITTSBURGH (AP) — An appeals court has ruled that the birth control coverage required by federal health care reforms does not violate the rights of several religious groups...

Looks like we have yet another actor who can’t help but alienate a large portion of their audience. Australian actor Hugh Jackman has thrown his hat in with the anti-gun crowd and made a post on his Facebook page and Twitter account pushing the “Not One More” campaign (a Bloomberg production).

As the United States Senate prepares to vote on a non-binding resolution on whether or not manmade global warming exists, Pope Francis weighed in on the issue with his most extensive and forceful comments on the subject to date. Let's just say that the pope is not aligned with many Senate Republicans, who doubt the reality and threat of manmade global warming, on this issue. Speaking to reporters aboard his plane while flying to Manila from Sri Lanka, Pope Francis said the "majority" of global warming is manmade, which is a view that is consistent with mainstream climate-science findings. “I...

Paris — “To misname things is to add to the world’s unhappiness.” Whether or not Albert Camus really did utter these words, they are an astonishingly apt description of the situation in which the French government now finds itself. Indeed, the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius no longer even dares pronounce the real name of things. Mr. Fabius will not describe as “Islamists” the terrorists who on Wednesday, Jan. 7, walked into the offices of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo, right in the heart of Paris. Nor will he use “Islamic State” to describe the radical Sunni group that now controls...

...Obama has begun his administration's final phase the way he began several other chapters of his presidency: seeking to recover from disaster. Obama has moved vigorously since his party lost the Senate in November. Without consulting Congress, he's offering legal status to millions of immigrants. He's restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. Above all, he's striving to show he will not be a lame duck. ....Obama [says] that it's fair to think of him as a president who thinks he has done what he had to do, and now is free to focus on what he wants to do. But Obama...

Interest in reforming the immigration law remains high as Republican lawmakers prepare bills that would make changes to the current system. President Obama received harsh criticism after proposing an executive action steering clear from congressional approval to halt deportation for nearly four million immigrants. However, Republicans remain up to the task to enact their own proposals into the bill.

DONETSK, Ukraine — At first glance, the prisoner swap between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists appeared fair enough: On a deserted stretch of highway along the front line, each side released 28 captives, observing a principle of numerical parity. Under the watchful eyes of mediators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the prisoners walked past one another to freedom. Then the questions started to pop up. The pro-Russian separatists — who with the aid of the Russian Army routed the Ukrainians in battles in August, taking many captives — released men appearing to be actual prisoners...