Free Republic

Fox News is amplifying a racist conspiracy on the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. Because of course it is. At about 1:40 a.m. EST on Tuesday, a 1,000-foot cargo ship careened past large concrete obstacles ahead of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, colliding with one of its structural pillars and toppling it into the Patapsco River. Mere hours later, conservatives were already hurling their racist conspiracy theories against the wall to see what sticks. In an early morning broadcast, Fox Business attempted to tie the horrific situation—which was deemed a developing mass casualty event by the Baltimore City Fire Department—to...

Elizabeth Taylor was an intelligent and sizzling goddess of the silver screen in The Golden Age of Hollywood. (Please click the red link below the above title for word art and prose showing and examining how appealing she was.) Marriage liberated her sexually. She wasn't perfect. She was human. God Bless The Freedom Where We Can Start With Who We Are And Grow To Be Our Best

he George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened seven years ago and anchors the southeastern corner of campus at Southern Methodist University, where I teach history. In late November 2016, I took a tour of the facility with five college friends who were visiting from the East Coast. The recent presidential election was much on our minds as we wandered through the building, contemplating various artifacts from Bush’s two terms in office. Although we were hardly fans of his presidency, one of my pals—fearful, like everyone in our group, of a Trump administration—got misty-eyed when reflecting upon Bush’s obvious...

Ivanka Trump is no stranger to the style world — she was the CEO of her own eponymous brand, after all — but with her new role as first daughter, the former Trump Organization VP is upping her fashion game. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Trump, 35, is officially tapping Hollywood stylist Cat Williams to revamp her wardrobe. Ivanka Trump Ivanka Trump has reportedly officially hired Cat Williams, Micaela Erlanger's former assistant, to be her stylist. Credit: Ida Mae Astute/ABC via Getty Ivanka Trump Is Getting a West Wing Office, Security ClearanceIvanka Trump Is Getting a West Wing Office, Security...

President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Obama’s signature health-care law with the goal of “insurance for everybody,” while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid. Trump declined to reveal specifics in the telephone interview late Saturday with The Washington Post, but any proposals from the incoming president would almost certainly dominate the Republican effort to overhaul federal health policy as he prepares to work with his party’s congressional majorities. Trump’s plan is likely to face questions...

(This conversation has been edited and condensed.) *** There have been some high-profile lies this election season. The most recent that comes to mind is the story about the thousands of Muslims that were supposedly having tailgate-style parties celebrating after 9/11. In the book, you say, essentially, we’re OK with lies. Can you walk me through why we’re built not only for being deceptive, but also tolerating deception? Trump’s supporters don’t particularly care whether he’s lying or not. Our brain doesn’t really care—I know that’s appalling. Our default position is we simply want to be right. This is why our...

These days, pretty much everybody, world leaders, Christian leaders, newspaper editors, celebrities and, well, anybody with a Twitter feed has attacked Donald Trump for his proposal to temporarily halt Muslim immigration to the United States. Dale Price: Rancid carnival barker and all-around POS Donald Trump has proposed that we bar entry to the U.S. of all Muslims. This is clearly a garbage policy from a garbage human being, unworthy of consideration. However, there is one thing that can be said for it: had we been doing it a year ago, Tashfeen Malik, the murderous jihadi sow who abused our hospitality...

You know that racist flag? The one that supposedly honors history but actually spreads a pernicious myth? And is useful only to venal right-wing politicians who wish to exploit hatred by calling it heritage? It’s past time to pull it down. Oh, wait. You thought I was referring to the Confederate flag. Actually, I’m talking about the POW/MIA flag.

m from Boston. Over the years, I lived in two apartments within a stone's throw of Monday's bombings. Over the years, I stood and cheered marathon runners countless times. I know every square inch of the area in all the pictures, which is hardly unusual. It's the center of Boston. My nephew was around the corner when the explosions went off. This week's terror hit home for me. And what to do? That is always the question. Do you stop going to sporting events? Cultural events? Outdoor rallies? I was raped around the corner from where the bombs hit. I...

Michele Bachmann's efforts in 2007-8 to have Drug Dealer and Money Launderer Frank Vennes pardoned for his 1987 convictions have begun to receive some light scrutiny in the media. Some embarrassing details have emerged, including the fact that, while Bachmann was lobbying hard to secure a pardon for him from President Bush, Vennes himself was engaged in a brand new, massive $3.65 billion ponzi scheme, for which he was recently indicted by a Federal Grand Jury. Worse yet, Vennes and his family had donated money to Bachmann--a lot of money--in the 2006 and 2008 campaign cycles, $27,400 to be exact,...

This year's spectacular Rose Bowl game attracted a phenomenal 35.6 million viewers because it featured what we want: rugged men playing football and attractive women cheering them on. Americans of every class, men and women, remained glued to their television sets and nearly 95,000 spectators watched from the stands. The runaway success of this game proved again that stereotypical roles for men and women do not bother Americans one bit. Political correctness lost out as all-male teams battled and women cheered.

To the editor: One would think that the president of the United States holds the most stressful job ever. Isn't it wonderful that our pompous president is in such excellent condition healthwise? And why not? His eligible daughters aren't in Iraq protecting our country like so many others, more than 1,800 who have given their lives for a war that he started. With a smirk on his face, he says, "We will stay the course." Who is "we?" Not him or his family. Heck no. He's on a month's vacation. If he's so gung-ho about this war, show us some...

Science feeds on mystery. As my colleague Matt Ridley has put it: “Most scientists are bored by what they have already discovered. It is ignorance that drives them on.” Science mines ignorance. Mystery — that which we don’t yet know; that which we don’t yet understand — is the mother lode that scientists seek out. Mystics exult in mystery and want it to stay mysterious. Scientists exult in mystery for a very different reason: it gives them something to do. Admissions of ignorance and mystification are vital to good science. It is therefore galling, to say the least, when enemies...

As an oncologist I frequently deal with the terminal care of patients and with end of life situations, and these are invariably complicated by the potential availability of medical interventions that can prolong life indefinitely. Such cases need to be individualized.  They are never easy, are invariably wrenching and take their emotional toll on everyone –patients, relatives, loved ones and myself. But in such difficult situations with enough thought and concern and empathetic communication between the patient, their relatives and the hospital or hospice staff, a course of action that is decent, humane and compassionate usually can be reached for...

I am starting this thread since I saw the episode from a few days before when everyone's knickers were in a twist.

More Evidence that Bush Is a "Dry Drunk"? By Katherine van Wormer Ms. van Wormer is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa and co-author of Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective. Paul O’Neill’s revelations, the primary source for Ron Suskind’s book The Price of Loyalty concerning the timing of George W Bush’s plans to overthrow Saddam in Iraq should have come as no surprise. The ostensible reasons for going to war -- the claimed link between Iraq and al-Queda and the claimed possession of weapons of mass destruction -- have been shown to be without substance....

<p>AL GORE, remarkably, has stepped into a leadership vacuum and said several things that most congressional Democrats may well believe but have been too fearful to utter.</p> <p>Gore, speaking Monday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, warned that unilateral action against Saddam Hussein would ''severely damage'' the more urgent war on terrorism and ''weaken our ability to lead the world.'' Gore declared that the president has turned the broad reservoir of good will for America ''into a deep sense of misgiving and even hostility.'' In a pointed dig at President George W. Bush's go-it-alone cowboy rhetoric, he added, ''If you're going after Jesse James, you ought to organize the posse first.''</p>