Free Republic

Chicago's rats are a brazen, shameless group, as likely to stare back at you as they are to scurry away underneath that alley mattress. Every Chicagoan breathes a little easier when they see the Streets and Sanitation Department's yellow, ever-present "Target: Rats" signs advertising that their neighborhood vermin are about to get poisoned. Bill Healy was walking home from dinner Tuesday night near North Wolcott and West North avenues in Bucktown when he thought he saw one of those signs heralding the end for area rodents. But a closer inspection revealed that the sign actually read "Target: Bums."

As a first year, I came into the University knowing I was passionate about social justice, but I did not necessarily have the vocabulary and resources to articulate my beliefs. I knew that there were practices in place that exploit marginalized people economically, but I did not know that the driving force behind this was called unregulated capitalism. I knew that there was a difference between the way half of my family lived versus the other half, but I did not know the driving force behind these differences was due to institutionalized racism. I knew that there were more than...

Left-wingers and progressives in America are becoming insufferable, are they not? It's quite apparent that they have no desire to "live and let live," but want to force their delusions off onto everyone else. You will live, think, and do as the Left tells you, whether you like it or not. Even in the pettiest of way, they can't help themselves. Take, for example, this story coming out of the University of Oregon. To summarize for the reader, a student named Elle Mallon, who was running for office in student government filed a number of grievances against a rival student...

The last time some Twitter leftist sneered at me and called me a “breeder,” I wondered whether this collectivist genius considered not reproducing to be a wise long-term strategy. The fact is that in America, most of the time it’s the traditional, conservative people who choose to have children. Between their contempt for traditional family life, their abortion fetish, and the vexing problem of the fact that neither XX+XX nor XY+XY equals “baby,” leftists are dropping below their replacement fertility rate. But letting them die out is not enough; we conservatives need to outbreed them. Basically, we already erotically high-achieving...

Ben Affleck persuaded the producers of Finding Your Roots to edit out details of how his ancestors were slave owners even though it was a breach of PBS editorial rules. The new Batman star, who supports a number of liberal causes, objected to the ancestry TV show airing how his distant relations were racist, leaked Sony emails reveal. Instead viewers were shown heartwarming stories of how his third grandfather was a mystic in the Civil War and how his sixth grandfather was a patriot who fought in the American Revolution. Daily Mail Online has reviewed a transcript of the show...

For the first time in just over a decade, the U.S. House of Representatives today will vote on a bill to abolish the death tax, otherwise known the federal estate tax. H.R. 1105—the “Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015″—has bipartisan support, which is evident by its co-sponsors: Congressmen Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Sanford Bishop (D-Georgia). Attempts to repeal the federal death tax acknowledge what the 32 states without a death tax already understand: a tax on an individual’s personal property, business assets and investments, even with a $5 million exemption, results in high compliance costs, little revenue and bad incentives....

If anyone but a law enforcement official carries a gun into an Ann Arbor school, administrators will ask the person to leave and call the police. Under a new policy, a weapon such as a gun in a school constitutes an emergency. The Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education on Wednesday, April 15, unanimously voted to ban dangerous weapons, including guns, from school buildings and property. The vote approved three policies that outline the superintendent's ability to be able to close schools, cancel buses or student and staff events before, during and after school in the case of an...

Today is tax day in America. As always, it features a lot of confusion with tax forms, some rushed trips to the post office and a whole lot of heartburn as taxpayers are reminded just how much they paid in taxes over the previous year. Despite the fact that every American constantly is affected by local, state and federal taxes, there is still a large number of Americans who don’t know about taxes. Here are seven things many every American should know about taxes. 1. Taxes Cost a Whole Lot Taxes on all levels consume over a quarter of gross...

One of the wonders of modern times is that reality is often seen as a social construct and therefore optional. Thus, if one finds a particular reality offensive or inconvenient, he just "changes" it. Say that one is born a male or a female but believes that nature made an error. Some believe that nature's "error" can be corrected by calling oneself another sex. Possibly a medical procedure on one's genitalia can correct nature's error. However, Mother Nature is ruthless. Sex determination is strictly chromosomal. Females are XX, and males are XY. There is no medical procedure that can change...

Businesses should not discriminate, liberals proclaimed loudly in explaining their opposition to religious freedom laws. Three recent actions supported by liberals demonstrate that is not true. 1. Bakeries Should Be Able to Refuse Bible Verses Christian activist Bill Jack was denied service when he went to Azucar Bakery in Denver and asked for two cakes in the shape of open Bibles. He asked for the words, "God hates sin — Psalm 45:7," "Homosexuality is a detestable sin — Leviticus 18:22," "God loves sinners," and "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us — Romans 5:8," on each of the...

Liberals have had high hopes (no pun intended) for Pope Francis ever since his election. His sometimes nuanced messages of compassion for all humans have been regularly covered here by Ed and I have found many of them inspiring, though really not all that different from traditional messages coming from the Vatican. The Pontiff just has a different way of expressing himself than some of his predecessors. But that hasn’t stopped many liberals from believing that a sea change was in the air, particularly when it came to the relationship between the church and gay and lesbian Catholics. But...

"...Mr. Buckley would surely not be surprised at the Rolling Stone episode. He described it effectively a full fifty-five years before the story was published, not to mention long before the central participants targeted in the story were even born. Indeed he predicted this kind of story almost a full decade before Rolling Stone — founded in 1967 — existed. What Buckley knew in 1959 was this: >>> I shall be assuming that in most respects the liberal ideologists are, like Don Quixote, wholly normal, with fully developed powers of thought, that they see things as they are, and live...

Wednesday, April 08, 2015 The Closing of the Liberal Mind Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Suppose that you are a Soviet agent in 1955. Your cover is that of an insurance salesman. Of your two "jobs", the Soviet agent part is more important, but you need to be a good insurance salesman to maintain your cover. Being a good insurance salesman doesn't clash with being a good Communist, because your job selling life insurance allows you to pursue your real job. And you cannot conflate the two jobs. You can't sell insurance to your KGB bosses...

For some secular liberals, the Constitution isn't the only "living, breathing document." The Bible is, too. For evidence, look no further than Frank Bruni's latest New York Times column, which argues that "homosexuality and Christianity don't have to be in conflict in any church anywhere." According to this line of argument, Christians ought to engage in "a conversation about freeing religions and religious people from prejudices that they needn't cling to and can indeed jettison, much as they've jettisoned other aspects of their faith's history, rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity." Now, Bruni's core argument is not without merit....

I was just thinking about the water problems in California. Governor Moonbeam and his fellow travelers opposed a series of water projects in the '70s that would have lessened the severity of the current water shortage in California. Then they invite in a few million illegal aliens. Now he wants to regulate how long people can take showers? They have turned into Soap Nazis.

In a breathtakingly stupid attack on Rand Paul, Planned Parenthood claims that women cannot be black, veterans, nurses, lawyers, or many other professions, races, or political parties. Planned Parenthood sent out a tweet on their official twitter page, claiming that women are not included in any of Rand Paul's "Show Your Support" groups page. Their message reads, "Sen. Rand Paul's "Show Your Support" page doesn't have anything for women. Message received." It then includes a picture of all the groups that, at least in part, support Rand: Among the groups that Planned Parenthood says that women are not a part...

BALTIMORE - Democratic primary voters should find little difference in political ideology between the two candidates running to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski, according to outside analysts. Both U.S. Reps. Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen are ranked “hardcore liberals” by On The Issues, a political website that analyzes policy issues supported by federal, state and local politicians. Both Edwards and Van Hollen are considered reliable Democrats, who vote with their party 100% of the time, according to The Sunlight Foundation, a national, non-partisan organization that focuses on transparency and accountability in government and politics. Rep. Elijah Cummings, 7th, ranking...

While the media was busy selling a false narrative about RFRA in Indiana (specifically that it was targeting the LGBT community while entirely failing to mention anything to do with them) the rest of the Left was paying close attention. Even though the state level representatives elected by the citizens were willing to craft a bill which ensured the right to observe the religious convictions of all the state’s residents – yes, even the Christians – and the governor they elected was willing to sign it, they were quickly sent scurrying for the trenches when some well monied interests...

In a civil, consensual society there exists an unspoken yet very real social contract which serves to make that society possible. No matter what disagreements we may have over politics, religion, or anything else, at the end of the day, we're part of the same society, and we deal with each other in a way that maintains the civility and stability of that society. At least that used to be the case. However, this civil consensus, which has been eroding for at least a decade, has pretty much broken down completely, much of it within the last few weeks. And...

Pic - Mayor Bill de Blasio, at Gracie Mansion with First Lady Chirlane McCray, activist Van Jones, and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, plans to dip his toe into presidential politics with the launch of a push for income inequality to become a central issue of the 2016 national elections. "All of this is focused on the notion that we are not having a discussion on income inequality in this country and we are not having that discussion at our peril." GRACIE MANSION — Mayor Bill de Blasio, who supporters describe as a "national hero" among progressives, has dipped his his...