Free Republic

. . . John Hancock echoed the reliance upon God and the belief that the destiny of nations is in the hand of God as he said: Let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the Universe…. Let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of Him who raises up and puts down the empires and kingdoms of the earth as He pleases.[8] Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence contained a recognition of God, in particular: the laws of nature’s God, the existence of a Creator, the equality of all men before...

Weatherby ribbon-cutting cermonyWhen Weatherby Inc. opened its doors to their new headquarters in Sheridan, Wyoming on June 13, 2019, it ushered in a lot more than customers, employees and the media. The company welcomed something they haven’t felt in years – freedom.You see, when Weatherby packed up their people and gun-building business in Paso Robles, Calif., one thing they couldn’t bring with them was California’s support for the 2nd Amendment. It doesn’t exist. And, as Adam Weatherby discovered immediately, Wyoming doesn’t simply tolerate the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution, they support it openly and passionately. California’s distain for American’s constitutional...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $99.4 billion HHS appropriations bill with several amendments including reversing a longtime ban on developing a national patient identifier, money for hospital emergency departments dealing with opioid overdoses, and a nod to the anti-vaccination controversy. For decades, Congress has prohibited HHS from funding the development or promotion of any national program where patients would receive permanent, unique identification numbers. Lawmakers previously argued such a program could violate privacy issues or raise security concerns, while the medical community and insurers claimed the ban kept them from properly matching patients with the correct medical information....

Americans in 1913 showed by their votes they had forgotten the purpose of the Framers’ design for the Senate. We today, by and large, have even forgotten that generation’s forgetting. We have forgotten so much of what Americans once knew about America. To choose just one example—a simple but telling one—there is the name of the city of Cincinnati. For decades, I have been conducting a kind of unscientific poll. Whenever I meet someone from Cincinnati, I always say, “Cincinnati. What an interesting name that is. Do you know where it came from?” The question generally elicits a blank look....

A bill to legalize recreational marijauna in Illinois needs only the signature of Gov. J.B. Pritzker to become law. Colorado has had legal recreational marijuana since 2014. The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice last year came out with an analysis of the effects of the state's legalization of retail sales of marijuana since it went into effect in 2014. It found teen use had not increased, but hospital visits and fatal accidents associated with marijuana use increased. The authors cautioned that many factors can influence the statistics in the report, including people's willingness to admit marijuana use now that it's...

Influence like the Frankfurt School, a German communist think tank that found a home within the American university system “The Eyes of the World Are Upon You.”—General Dwight Eisenhower to his troops - June 6, 1944 Our parents and grandparents, and for some, great grandparents, were very different people. They knew sacrifice, They knew pain and suffering. They knew hard work, being shaped by a great depression. They knew total war. For many of them two world wars. They also knew personal responsibility, duty, honor, country, and faith. They recognized God as the author of their freedom and honored the...

Seventy-five years ago today, heroes stormed the beaches to start the fight to free Europe from the evils of Nazi Germany. We owe those men a debt the world will never be able to repay. But in many ways, we are squandering their sacrifice by taking for granted the freedoms they protected and embracing the ideology they helped defeat. Have we forgotten the sacrifice of D-Day? Tens of thousands of men were killed or wounded in the invasion to retake continental Europe from the Nazis, yet as their friends and brothers in arms fell beside them on those cover-less beaches,...

Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe salutes attendees ahead of the fourth plenary session of the 18th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-la Dialogue, an annual defense and security forum in Asia, in Singapore, on Sunday, June 2, 2019.   | Photo Credit: AP Interference on Taiwan “doomed to failure”; Wei says war with U.S. would be a disaster China will fight anyone who tries to interfere in its “reunification” with Taiwan, Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said on Sunday in a combative speech peppered with threats against the United States over its military presence in Asia.Speaking at the...

Old School™—The Cure for Modern FollyEverything old is new again.—Peter Allen The passions of my life have converged. My interests have finally come together—Old School™ is here! It has always been in my bones. I just never saw it so clear until recently. My father was a World War II Navy veteran who went through some rough experiences in the war. He was a plumber—a simple, blue-collar guy with emotional complexities. My mother was a homemaker, as they used to call it, and I’m sure some still do. They were products of the war, and the Great Depression before it....

A Washington Nationals minor league affiliate apologized Monday for a Memorial Day tribute video that appeared to show an image of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., between dictators Kim Jong Un and Fidel Castro while former President Ronald Reagan spoke of the “enemies of freedom.” Fresno Grizzlies team president, Derek Franks, told KSEE-TV playing the video was “truly an oversight.” The team also released a statement apologizing for playing the clip. “A pre-produced video from outside our front office was selected; unfortunately what was supposed to be a moving tribute ended with some misleading and offensive editing, which made a statement...

Switzerland is one of the most gun-friendly nations in Europe. It has one of the highest rates of gun ownership per capita on the continent, and those numbers are probably skewed low because many households contain guns technically owned by the military as veterans keep their service weapons at home for rapid call-up purposes. (I haven’t been able to find a definitive answer as to whether those weapons are counted or not.) Switzerland also isn’t part of the European Union. However, the country does enjoy a good relationship with the EU. That relationship is threatened right now because the EU...

Control mobility – free movement – and you have controlled the population. Their other rights are automatically cheapened into functional irrelevance if the right to come and go without permission and free from interference is denied.And so it has been.It took a couple of generations, but most Americans seem to implicitly accept the idea that travel  – even on foot – is a conditional privilege conferred (and legitimately regulated) by “the government.” Which of course is just an evasive euphemism for the busybodies and control freaks who have somehow acquired a legal monopoly on the use of force –...

What is happening in the UK is terrifying. No, I’m not talking about Brexit, the event that has gripped news media and turned it into a frenzy. I’m referring to far more important matters. Matters that, if left unchecked, will turn the UK into one of the most authoritarian countries in the world. Just one example of this authoritarian trend; soon everyone in the UK will require age verification or the purchase of a special pass from a local retailer or newsagent in order to view pornography online. I say soon since the British government have in the past been...

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a powerhouse of civil and religious rights advocacy, has joined other groups in denouncing the Equality Act proposed in the Democratic-majority House as a threat to faith. “Essentially, the Equality Act gives people of faith an ultimatum: Change your faith-based practices or face government punishment,” wrote ADF’s Sarah Kramer. WND reported it would amend the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit and the jury system. And it would specifically prevent Christians from relying on the Religious Freedom...

The stakes are high – will we be able to keep our much envied “antiquated” American way of life, our very freedom and mobility which defines who we are? Americans hold constitutional elections in order to choose, among many positions in government, the local mayor. But a non-governmental organization (NGO), Bycs, which created the bicycle mayors’ program, wants to change that. How can an unelected ‘mayor’ be constitutional? “It is nice to have one, centralized voice,” … “And, honestly especially in the U.S., it’s so much easier to do as a party of one, than a committee, meeting, month to...

President Trump announced Friday that he would un-sign the global arms pact known as the Arms Trade Treaty in the latest illustration of his aversion to international pacts and world governance. “We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom,” Trump said during a speech before the National Rifle Association in Indianapolis. “I’m officially announcing today that the United States will be revoking the effect of America’s signature from this badly misguided treaty.” The origins of the treaty, which sets out international rules for sales and transfers of everything from small arms to large planes and...

The Declaration of Dependence signed by 547 New York City Loyalists in November 1776 was not the only such declaration written and signed by loyal inhabitants of the colony of New York soon after British military forces established their presence in the region. At least three others are known to exist, bearing a total of 3,414 signatures of individuals willing to pledge their support of, and subservience to, the British government.In the December 1776 issue of the London publication The Lady’s Magazine or Entertaining Companion the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amusement under “Home News,” this article...

Scotland’s first minister says ‘independent nations’ wield more power in EU than Scotland does within the UK. Scotland should hold a referendum on independence before 2021 if the U.K. leaves the EU, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said. “A choice between Brexit and a future for Scotland as an independent European nation should be offered in the lifetime of this parliament," the Scottish National Party leader said. "If Scotland is taken out of the EU, a referendum within that timescale must be open to us. That would be our route to avoiding the worst of the damage that Brexit would do.”...

Human freedom is a cornerstone in providing wellbeing to individuals, whether political, economic, health-related, emotional or religious. Accordingly, Teleios Research analyzed the top 50 countries from the Human Freedom Index (https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new) compared to the 50 top countries persecuting Christians from the Open Doors 2018 World Watch List (https://www.opendoorsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WWL2018-BookletNew.pdf). Christianity recently has been identified as the world's most persecuted religion (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/21/key-findings-on-the-global-rise-in-religious-restrictions/).

   What’s wrong with kids these days? And by “kids” I mean anyone under 40. They don’t want to get their drivers’ license, don’t want to drive, don’t want to be out on their own. They seem perfectly happy relying on mom, dad, public transportation to get them anywhere they think they want to be. This isn’t really a new trend, it started with certain Millennials. I first noted it when my friends’ granddaughter – who they raised – was reluctant to take drivers training, reluctant to get her license and then reluctant to drive herself around. In fact I...