Free Republic

Saudi authorities have swooped on a house in the eastern province city of Khafji, on the border with Kuwait, and arrested 27 people for using the premises as church last week. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) also confiscated copies of the Bible and various musical instruments from the people during the raid. The swoop was prompted by a tip from a citizen, reported the English-language newspaper Saudi Gazette. Those arrested on September 5 were of various Asian nationalities, including women and children, the newspaper reported.

Kelvin Cochran is a decorated firefighter. He is also a devout Christian. He’s a deacon at a Baptist church and also teaches Sunday school. By all accounts – he is a decent and honorable man. And now – he is unemployed. Cochran, who served seven years as the chief of the Atlanta Fire Departmant lost his job over a book he wrote about biblical morality titled, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” A small portion of the book contained what critics called homophobic language. .... hundreds of Christians were expected to gather at the Georgia capitol to protest the...

Conundrum: Free people are not equal. Equal people are not free. A gun is like a parachute. If you need one, and don’t have one, you’ll probably never need one again. The definition of the word Conundrum is: Something that is puzzling or confusing. Here are six conundrums of socialism: In the United States of America: 1. America is capitalist and greedy – yet half of the population is subsidized. 2. Half of the population is subsidized – yet they think they are victims. 3. They think they are victims – yet their representatives run the government. 4. Their representatives...

Do you know what an “extremist” is? In the wake of the horrible terror attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in France, Barack Obama is speaking very boldly about the need to win the war against “extremists”, and he has announced plans to host a major global summit on “extremism” next month. And on the surface that sounds great. But precisely how are we supposed to determine whether someone is an “extremist” or not? What criteria should we use? As you will see below, your definition of an “extremist” may be far, far different from the definition that Barack...

We Are Entering An Era Of Shattered Illusions Brandon Smith Activist Post The structure of history is held together by two essential and distinct kinds of links, two moments in time to which no one is immune: moments of epiphany, and moments of catastrophe. Sometimes, both elements intermingle at the birth of a singular epoch. Men often awaken to understanding in the midst of great crisis; and, invariably, great crises can erupt when men awaken. These are the moments when social gravity vanishes, when the kinetic glue of normalcy melts away, and we begin to see the true foundations of...

The Moroccan-born mayor of Rotterdam has said Muslim immigrants who do not appreciate the way of life in Western civilisations can 'f*** off'. Ahmed Aboutaleb, who arrived in the Netherlands aged 15, spoke out in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris last week. Appearing on live television just hours after the shootings, Mayor Aboutaleb said Muslims who 'do not like freedom can pack your bags and leave'. 'It is incomprehensible that you can turn against freedom,' Mayor Aboutaleb told Dutch current affairs program Nieuwsuur (Newshour). 'But if you don't like freedom, for heaven's sake pack your bags...

Full size image below. It is not necessary for me to recount for you the events in Paris, the controversy that led up to them, or the consequences in the last week. This you already know. The whole world knows. It is enough to say that, in the name of Islam, terrorists murdered. In response to satire, terrorists, attacked. In the presence of free speech, terror tried to silence. As the millions marching in Paris and other cities around the world yesterday attest, the free nations of this earth are not prepared to give up their freedom. Not just yet.

I would like you to imagine something with me. I would like you to imagine that you are in your kitchen, preparing the evening meal for your family. It's something you've done countless times before, and will do countless times again. And as you stand there, cutting carrots, your eyes drift up again to the spot. That spot. Every house has them - tiny scars of documented memory, incidents of life written in wood and plaster. In some houses it's the scratched door where an over-eager dog always begs to go out. In others a series of pencil marks on...

For the first time since Gallup has conducted polling, people say that the "biggest problem" in America is "the government." It topped all other categories, including terrorism. "2014 was the first year ever in Gallup records that dissatisfaction with government topped the list," the 80-year-old firm said. "Government includes dissatisfaction with President Obama." And angst over government has been climbing each year since 2009, when Obama took office, breaking a long period of relative satisfaction with government. Beyond Obama, Americans are rejecting what the Left is selling — the idea that government should determine our fate. No, they're saying that...

Oath Keeper Patch: Wordlessly making a statement supporting freedom, individualism, free speech, and anti-establishment views Almost cut my hair It happened just the other day It was getting kind of long I could have said it was in my way But I didn’t and I wonder why I feel like letting my freak flag fly I feel like I owe it to someone I’m not giving in an inch to fear Cause I promised myself this year I feel like I owe it to someone David Crosby (CSN&Y)—Almost Cut My Hair Many readers won’t remember this, but before liberals became...

Tyler DurdenJanuary 11, 2015

In the wake of the Muslim terror attack in Paris, in which three jihadis murdered journalists and police in cold blood, President Obama said it was an assault on the freedom of expression. He said that as a free people, we must stand against such efforts to silence people’s views. I agree. But I’m surprised he does. Because American progressives, of whom Barack Obama is the nominal leader, have sought to suppress freedom of expression for years. I am certainly not comparing the techniques of terrorists and progressives, but I am contrasting the results. And I would suggest that that...

Cartoonists worldwide reached for their pens on Wednesday in response to the horrific attack on the satirical Parisian newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which killed ten journalists and two policemen. The attackers repeated shouts of “Allahu akbar” and claims of “aveng[ing] the prophet” make it likely that the newspaper’s publication of cartoons mocking the Islamic prophet Mohammed prompted the slaughter. But cartoonists around the globe made it clear they would not be intimidated into silence..... [SNIP] Dave Brown - The Independent ------ More......

This profound question, "Who told you that you were naked?, meant much more than, "Who told you that you do not have on clothes?" From God's perspective nakedness meant so much more. It meant condemnation and deprivation to his most precious creation-mankind. Though He reconciled Adam's condition by clothing him in coats of lambs' skin, Adam never got over what he had done. Condemnation has dominated ever since. Now we have a more permanent solution. We have been clothed with Christ! Redeemed men who carry the curse of condemnation and deprivation cannot fulfill their purpose as husbands, fathers, community and...

For those of us who have managed to survive 2014 with our lives intact and our freedoms hanging by a thread, it has been a year of crackdowns, clampdowns, shutdowns, showdowns, shootdowns, standdowns, knockdowns, putdowns, breakdowns, lockdowns, takedowns, slowdowns, meltdowns, and never-ending letdowns. We’ve been held up, stripped down, faked out, photographed, frisked, fracked, hacked, tracked, cracked, intercepted, accessed, spied on, zapped, mapped, searched, shot at, tasered, tortured, tackled, trussed up, tricked, lied to, labeled, libeled, leered at, shoved aside, saddled with debt not of our own making, sold a bill of goods about national security, tuned out by those...

....Obama signed the executive order, which is aimed at the North Korean government as well as members of the “Workers” party of North Korea. Obama pointed to North Korea’s hack as, “provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies … including its destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December 2014.” ....Despite private security experts pointing to the Sony hack now being an “inside-job” the Obama Administration and the FBI insist that North Korea had direct involvement in the hacks. The FBI continues to stand by its own findings insisting that North Korea is indeed directly tied to the hacks.

Tobacco and Firearms. Gifts that keep on giving to the left. (Vanity/Opinion) Let’s use the historic fight against Big Tobacco as a backdrop for the Eric Garner case. Many of us are familiar with the history of the left’s crusade against Big Tobacco. There were epic Congressional and Judicial battles to prove that Big Tobacco lied about the effects of cigarettes. Then followed lawsuits against Big Tobacco which extorted vast transfers of wealth from Big Tobacco to the Government. The hatred of the left to Big Tobacco compared only to the hatred of Kahn to Captain Kirk.

I first fell in love with America 49 years ago. I flew from the UK to Denver visit my parents in Christmas 1965, and it was love at first sight. I fell in love with America, the land; I fell in love with America, the people. And I fell in love with the American way of life, the unconsciously optimistic approach to life and work and the future. I applied for citizenship as soon as possible and my naturalization certificate is dated January 3, 1975. So, in just about a week, I'll have been a U.S. citizen for 40 years....

There is a debate in this country over whether or not our schools should teach American exceptionalism. Few people, however, seem to understand what American exceptionalism is. It has nothing to do with democracy. Many countries have democratic elections. Neither is exceptionalism a claim of supremacy. Americans do not claim to be better than people living in other countries. Exceptionalism does not refer to superiority in wealth, status or any of the other advantages derived from civilization. The United States has high economic productivity, good schools, technologically advanced infrastructure and a high standard of living. Still, so do many other...

IT feels like terror has come to our home town. After this week’s events, Sydney joins New York, London, Madrid, Mumbai and Ottawa on the list of great cities visited by politically motivated ­violence since 2001. ..... Australians are not innocents when it comes to terrorism. Nearly a dozen Australians were killed in the September 11 attack in 2001. A year later, 88 died in the Bali bombings in Indonesia. Australians died in the 2005 Bali bombings, the 2005 London bombings, and the 2009 Jakarta hotel ­attacks. All those incidents took place thousands of kilometres away. This event occurred in...