Free Republic

During one of my waking moments this morning, I was struck by this realization: within MOMENTS of Donald Trump speaking out about a temporary halt of Muslim immigration, there were GOP apparatchiks like Lindsay Grayed Ham and others denouncing the idea. Over the past seven years, there have been good Christian people who have lost livelihoods and standing in the community on ACCOUNT OF THEIR RELIGION. No, it wasn't a religion of hate, but one of principles. They didn't chop someone's head off or shoot them. They merely said "no" to a celebration of an event that violated their deeply...

Social media is big, and with old media embracing it we've seen local media in particular pump their social media follower count like it's the new ratings standard.... ....two days ago, when a tipster alerted me to WPLG's Twitter account @WPLGLocal10 and how fast they were gaining followers. They were literally adding 1,000+ followers per hour. Shortly after a few others emailed SFLTV about it, even viewers who found it humorous they're being followed and unfollowed by WPLG on Twitter. ....People we talked to alleged WPLG bought Twitter followers.... ...All told in the span of less than 3 days WPLG...

It took a Muslim couple's killing spree of Americans in San Bernardino, California, the worst terrorist attack since 9/11, for the New York Times to conclude America has a "gun epidemic." America does have a gun problem. But it's not a legal-gun-owner/mass-murder crisis. It's an illegal-gun/black-children epidemic. Guns in the US have killed over 40,000 black children. Fewer than 800 people have died in America at the hands of mass shooters. ...Why has this wholesale killing of black children been ignored by Democrats like Obama and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton? Democrats’ refusal to even address the problem is particularly vexing...

As an Alaskan, I am flattered that this year's Capitol Christmas tree comes from our own Chugach National Forest. Selected by the U.S. Forest Service for its perfect, conical shape and evenly dispersed branches, the 74-foot Lutz spruce is a statuesque symbol, for sure. But it symbolizes much more than holiday cheer.

At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, one of which he manned. The mob, instead, attacked the headquarters of abolitionist Horace Greeley's New York Tribune until forced to flee by the Brooklyn Police.

So watching the news today, the American media is DROOLING with fake delight over the killing of the terrorist Jihadi John.....with a subtext that military prowess was able to target the bad guy. Two thoughts came to mind: 1. This administration can somehow make it a priority to target some British sleaze in the middle east, but REFUSES to find murderous illegal aliens in our own borders. 2. This administration ALSO tries to lecture Israel whenever that nation targets those who kill her citizens.

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”:

“Workers of all lands unite,” reads the marble engraving atop Karl Marx’s grave in London. But if said workers were to congregate at the tomb of their advocate, they’d have to part with some of their capital: It costs about $6 to enter the portion of Highgate Cemetery where he lies. Some modern-day admirers of Marx who want to abolish private property are understandably upset that it’s not free to get in. “There are no depths of irony, or bad taste, to which capitalists won’t sink if they think they can make money out of it,” whined one 24-year-old Marxist...

Since his first run for the Presidency, Obama has claimed to be a Christian even though he was schooled in a Madrassa in Indonesia. He also claimed he was an immigrant to get into college and was a member of Rev. Wright’s church for many years. There he heard that America needed to be brought down and that our “chickens have come home to roost.” As groveling, pro-Obama boot-lickers, the media would never let us know the truth underlying the personal history Barack immediately locked away upon being placed in the White House. Of course we can be certain that...

California governor Jerry Brown used state experts to prepare a 51-page report on the prospects for oil development on his family's private land in Northern California, according to an Associated Press investigation released early Thursday morning. "Senior staffers in the state's oil and gas regulatory agency over at least two days produced a 51-page historical report and geological assessment, plus a personalized satellite-imaged geological and oil and gas drilling map for the area around Brown's family ranchland near the town of Williams," the AP reported. Brown's office declined to comment, referring the AP instead to the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, which...

An atheist professor said Tuesday that it’s acceptable to criticize Christians but not Muslims, because he does not “fear” retaliation from Christians. “I know what keeps me from critiquing Islam on my blog is just fear,” Phil Zuckerman said at a discussion on religious liberty at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “I’ve got three kids. “So I know I can say anything about Christianity or Mormonism, and I’m not living in fear, which is a testament to Christianity and Mormonism, and that’s wonderful. Thank you,” said Zuckerman, who is a self-described atheist and professor of secular studies at Pitzer College...

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, who was criticized for how she moderated the first GOP presidential debate, is herself critiquing the CNBC moderators from Wednesday night’s debate, saying it was “uncomfortable to watch.” “How about personalization of so many of the questions: I, I, I — you heard Becky Quick saying — there was one when she said, ‘I too had student loans, Senator Rubio, and I can’t figure out the math of that; And Harwood, ‘I have spoken with The Economist’; Back to Becky — ‘our cause’ talking about working women; ‘our cause,'” Kelly said in her analysis of the...

If we’ve learned anything here in America in the last few months, it is this: When your religious faith comes in conflict with your job, if you are a Muslim, your faith is protected and sacred; if you are a Christian, it is not. We all know what happened to Christian bakers, florists, photographers, and county clerks who refused to participate in same-sex “marriages” because of their religious faith. They were found guilty by the courts and fined or punished or even imprisoned. And we know where the Obama administration stood on these issues, to the point that last year,...

The lingering question from last night’s Republican presidential debate is not for the candidates or their party, it is for the press. And that question is: Is that you? The conduct of CNBC and its panel of inquisitors – is that you? Is that what has become of American journalism? Because those weren’t reporters, they were insolent idiots. Self-important crusaders engaged in a condescending and partisan attack on people they have dehumanized through their evident disgust. If that is the role to which American journalism has devolved, if the conduct and questions of the CNBC panelists seem reasonable to the...

Senator Bernie Sanders has repeatedly denounced campaigns that he says are built around their candidates attending fund-raisers. He has insisted he will not “go out hustling money from the wealthiest people in the country,” and declared at the first Democratic debate that he is “not raising money from millionaires and billionaires.” Yet Mr. Sanders was cheered at a fancy campaign fund-raiser at the Hollywood home of Syd Leibovitch, a high-end real estate agent, and his wife, Linda, on Wednesday night. Tickets for the event sold for a minimum of $250. Those who spent the maximum, $2,700, or who raised $10,000,...

Following last night's Democratic presidential primary debate in Las Vegas, DNC chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) was grilled by Fusion's Jorge Ramos on the lack of diversity on the debate stage. Wasserman Schultz said electing and then re-electing a black president shows the diversity in the party. "When I was watching the debate what I was thinking was the Democratic Party lacked diversity. I didn't see a Latino, or an African-American, or an Asian on that stage," Ramos observed. "Well, we have Latinos and African-Americans," Wasserman Schultz boasted. "Our president of the United States, who is a Democrat, is...

Matt Lee questions Mark Toner on the parallels between the Kunduz bombing and the Israeli shelling of a UNRWA school.

ED. NOTE: As this article is posted, Pope Francis begins his visit to the United States. In his encyclical released in June of this year, the pope singled out air conditioning as being a "harmful habit" that is a symbol of rampant capitalism that is blind to the plight of the poor and disadvantaged. These comments by Matt Michel, CEO of Service Roundtable, serve as a timely response. ————— Since becoming pontiff, Pope Francis has repeatedly made the news for his criticism and condemnation of capitalism and free markets. Worse, in his encyclical, he singled out air conditioning as particularly...

Jumping into the issues of the day, Pope Francis opened his visit to the United States with a strong call Wednesday for action to combat climate change, calling it a problem that “can no longer be left to a future generation.” President Barack Obama, in turn, hailed the pontiff as a moral force who is “shaking us out of our complacency” with reminders to care for the poor and the planet. The White House mustered all the pageantry it had to offer as the pope arrived at the White House before an adoring crowd of thousands and a nation that...

I've been a Roman Catholic since 1954. I have great respect for Pope Francis. When it comes to matters of faith and morals, what he says, goes. But when it comes to politics and economics, the pope is about as far from infallible as anyone can get. For example, he was in Cuba earlier this week, meeting informally with Fidel Castro and touring the island to say Masses and meet with priests. Apparently the pope was having such a good time he forgot that for more than half a century Cuba has been a rotten communist prison camp and his...