Free Republic

California lawmakers are targeting the expected windfall that companies in the state would see under the federal tax overhaul with a bill that would require businesses to turn over half to the state. A proposed Assembly Constitutional Amendment by Assemblymen Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, would create a tax surcharge on California companies making more than $1 million so that half of their federal tax cut would instead go to programs that benefit low-income and middle-class families. “Trump’s tax reform plan was nothing more than a middle-class tax increase,” Ting said in a statement. “It is unconscionable...

Pope Francis admitted on Monday he was frightened by the prospect of an accidental nuclear apocalypse, as he began a weeklong visit to Chile and Peru to bolster a local Catholic Church riven by sex abuse scandals. “I think we are at the very edge,” the pope told reporters aboard his plane when asked about the threat of a nuclear war in the wake of a recent string of tests by North Korea and a false missile alert last week that sparked panic in the US state of Hawaii. “I am really afraid of this. One accident is enough to...

Now, let us begin by answering the question which our sermon topic raises: Can a Christian be a communist? I answer that question with an emphatic “no.” These two philosophies are diametrically opposed. The basic philosophy of Christianity is unalterably opposed to the basic philosophy of communism, and all of the dialectics of the logician cannot make them lie down together. They are contrary philosophies. Now, there are at least three reasons why I feel obligated as a Christian minister to talk to you about communism. The first reason grows out of the fact that communism is having widespread influence...

The Russian revolution was the most utopian left-wing project in history, and it was a cataclysmic disaster. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many Western observers concluded that the old Marxist dream was dead forever. But they spoke too soon. History is not over, and with the absence of any Soviet competition, Western capitalist countries — and especially the United States — have become hideously unequal, misery-ridden, and economically stagnant. In many ways, socialists in the early 21st century stand just about where they were in the early 20th century: politically marginalized, but leveling an economic critique that becomes...

Native American tribes, islanders and communities of color led the toughest environmental fights of 2017. Thenjiwe McHarris of the Movement for Black Lives leaned into the microphone and, with a finger pointed firmly at her audience, delivered a powerful message to the 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C., for the People's Climate March. "There is no climate justice without racial justice," McHarris boomed as the temperature reached 91 degrees, tying a record for late April. "There is no climate justice without gender justice. There is no climate justice without queer justice." For a movement historically led by white males who...

Many millennials embrace Marxism. So do their parents and grandparents. From the millennials’ abilities will supposedly flow the wherewithal to fund “needs”: their elders‘ entitlements, debt, and ever-expanding blob of a government. Horror of horrors, polls and studies indicate that many millennials are embracing Marxism: they want somebody to fund their “needs”! Where did they learn this nonsense? It must be those left-wing, snowflake sanctuary, social justice warrior haven, gender-bending colleges and their washed up Marxist professors. This is America, where everyone stands on their own two feet. That’s not how they were reared! Except it is how they were...

Europe is underestimating the primary cause of migration from sub-saharan Africa: climate change. Environmental changes have a particularly pronounced impact on migration from Africa for at least four reasons: the continent is highly dependent on natural resources and agriculture, which are the first assets to be undermined by climate change; it has poor infrastructure, such as flood defences; its states are often characterized by weak institutions, which are less able to adapt to climate change; and its high poverty rate undermines the resilience of local populations to climate shocks. Climate change is affecting stability and security, too. There are plenty...

As a coalition of community organizations working in low-income communities of color most impacted by pollution, we have been proud to support California’s ambitious goals on climate change. But the state’s leadership depends on demonstrating in words and actions that our climate policies protect and benefit our most vulnerable communities. This is a moral imperative, a legal mandate and a political necessity. Last week, the California Air Resources Board approved a roadmap to achieving the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets, but unfortunately it does not say how it will avoid disproportionate impacts in low-income and minority communities. The air resources...

“You’ve seen those TV public-service ads many times. If — heaven forbid — a fire strikes your home or apartment building in the middle of the night, make sure that you have a plan for getting yourself and your family out safely. That means not just mapping the escape routes but conducting the occasional drill to make sure everyone is on the same page. Sure, it’s a drag to hit the front pavement in your bathrobe on a chilly night for a false alarm, but the alternatives to good preparedness are unthinkable.” So what if it’s not your house but...

Nonetheless, the SJW believes the perfection can happen, or at least a constant state of “Progress” can be sustained, like a limit approaching perfection. Mankind, you see, can be set on an upward trajectory of “Progress” constantly nearer to a state of perfection, constantly improving. It’s a core tenet, though often an unspoken one, of Progressivism. This is why, when a Progressive violates the narrative, his apology often contains the words I will try to do better. He fell off the trajectory toward human perfection – whatever that might be – and must get back on. He must catch up....

Yesterday was a very, very good day for Constitutionalism, for a free internet, and a very bad, dark day for communists and progressives everywhere. They're still currently crying into their pillows over the whole matter. Those with dishonesty in their hearts desire to talk about internet service providers, speed throttling, how evil corporations are, and other such absurdities. Net Neutrality has nothing to do with any of that. That's only a sales pitch. You see, the progressives cannot sell to you that they want total control over the internet, so they have to cook up flowery language - the word...

The Trump administration will reverse course from previous Obama administration policy, eliminating climate change from a list of national security threats. The National Security Strategy to be released on Monday will emphasize the importance of balancing energy security with economic development and environmental protection, according to a source who has seen the document and shared excerpts of a late draft. “Climate policies will continue to shape the global energy system,” a draft of the National Security Strategy slated to be released on Monday said. “U.S. leadership is indispensable to countering an anti-growth, energy agenda that is detrimental to U.S. economic...

When Amazon kicked off a bidding war for its second North American headquarters in September, the company laid out a vision of its perfect suitor. The ideal city would have more than a million people, mass transit, an international airport, attractive housing and “stable and business-friendly” regulations. But the retail goliath apparently isn’t worried about how surging seas, extreme weather and deadly heat waves might affect its operations or the 50,000 employees it promises to hire in its new $5 billion “second home.” The company also doesn’t seem overly concerned with how much its ravenous appetite for energy and reliance...

Helicopterism: the idea that someone who actively attempts to install a tyrannical, murderous ideology in your country is due a free, one-way helicopter ride with a destination somewhere over the Pacific. On my honor, sir, I thought commies could fly. It’s certainly more likely than the notion that Socialism could ever work. One of the great tragedies of history, in this columnist’s opinion, is that Marxism was not as thoroughly discredited as Nazism. Both are tyrannical, murderous, genocidal ideologies bent on achieving some imagined form of human perfection.

William Alfred "Bill" Whittle (born April 7, 1959) is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, director, screenwriter, editor, pilot, and author. In this segment, he talks about the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School and how they created a form of neo-marxism.

The NFL and a group of players reached an agreement in principle late Wednesday night to partner on a plan to address social justice issues considered important to African-American communities, ESPN has learned. The unprecedented agreement calls for the league to contribute nearly $100 million over seven years to projects dealing with criminal justice reform, law enforcement/community relations and education. During a conference call Wednesday night, Malcolm Jenkins and Anquan Boldin, who lead roughly 40 players who have negotiated with the league office about demonstrations during the national anthem, guided the group through the highlights of the package, which represents...

Everybody has inappropriate thoughts of some kind or another. The sensible person dismisses them and does not allow them to unduly affect his life. He need not feel guilty about them. He merely needs to not act on them. Do not allow weaponized empathy to hijack your brain and make you feel guilty for bad thoughts (some of which aren’t even bad in any objective sense – they are just un-PC). Do not fall into the trap of bigotry as the Ultimate Sin ™. And certainly there is no need to submit to Progressives so that they may conduct intercession...

Democrat Ben Jealous will pitch his plan for a state-based universal health care program next Wednesday during a Baltimore rally with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has pushed a similar “Medicare for all” plan in Congress. Jealous, the former head of the NAACP who is running for governor, has promised a Maryland plan that would provide health insurance to every state resident. His campaign did not provide details Monday on how the plan would work or how to pay for it. The Jealous campaign said the plan for universal health care will build on Maryland’s all-payer system, which sets universal...

Seattle’s controversial tax on the wealthy failed its first legal test this week after a judge ruled the new ordinance violates state law – but the city isn’t backing down and vows to appeal, setting the stage for a Washington State Supreme Court showdown. King County Superior Court Judge John Ruhl ruled in a Wednesday that Seattle did not have the authority to impose the tax because state law prohibits tax on net income. City Attorney Pete Holmes called the decision “disappointing” but, in a joint statement with Seattle Mayor Tim Burgess, said their goal to eliminate the state’s “over-reliance...

This week marked a century since one of the darkest chapters in human history began, and a truly evil worldview was put into practice. One hundred years ago, Bolshevik revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd, the seat of the Provisional Government of Russia. They also seized post offices, train stations, and telegraphs in the dead of night. When the people of Russia’s capital city awoke, they were in what Rhodes Scholar David Satter described as “a different universe.” That universe was a communist one. Vladimir Lenin’s so-called “October Revolution,” which took place in November on the Gregorian calendar, sought...