Free Republic

On Monday, Vladimir Putin participated in the plenary session of the 4th annual forum dubbed "Strong Ideas for a New Time," supported by the autonomous non-profit organization, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects (ASI). President Putin lauded the concept of the authorities streamlining the process for individuals relocating to Russia who embrace the country's cultural values. However, he emphasized that this should be done on a case-by-case basis, recognizing that there is room for improvement in this area. “It is a good idea to focus on traditional moral values when welcoming people who want to live here...

The Russian military has begun using Moscow’s vast video surveillance system to find conscripts who evade compulsory service, Moscow’s chief draft officer Maxim Loktev told state-run news agency TASS on Tuesday. Russia Says Surveillance System Helping to Find Draft Dodgers “Moscow’s video surveillance systems are being used to determine a conscript’s residence,” said Loktev. He added that workplaces and educational establishments will also provide information on those required to perform military service. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week signed a controversial law that seeks to tighten Russia’s military call-up system, replacing paper summons with electronic summons, creating a new digital...

The maximum penalty for criticizing the military forces has also been increased from five years to seven years...Public dissemination of ‘deliberately false information’ can result in prison sentencing of up to 15 years. Additionally, the law issues criminal liability for illegally entering a state facility...The current draft age is from 18-27 years old and will likely be changed to 21-30 years old,...

There is bad news to share for Memphis Grizzlies fans. If you plan on attending an NBA game you will have to provide vaccination papers and wear a face mask. The Grizzlies are owned by people who seem to have an affinity for fascism, which should not be surprising for a professional sports organization that dribbles with the Communist Chinese. The unvaccinated must get a test within 72 hours of a game and must provide official government documents verifying the test results. "FedExForum will require everyone – regardless of vaccination status – to wear a face mask inside FedExForum until...

....From my experience whenever great promises are in the air together with strong polarization among people that usually means common folks (like you and me) will lose a lot and will be left to ask themselves later, “What was all this about?” Because there is history and there is what actually happened. In other ways, these times are different, so new factors are involved. Blacklists What you call “canceling” is similar to something that has happened before. “Blacklists” or “blacklisting” is a phenomenon that is not new, not at all, but what is different now is fact that we live...

In its final days, the Trump administration is seeking to disrupt the way progressive activists increasingly impose their will on big business: through banks controlling the loan lifelines to the economy. A regulation just finalized (update) aims to prevent lenders from blackballing businesses in industries opposed by the left by requiring banks to demonstrate that their loan decisions are “based on quantitative, impartial risk-based standards,” rather than political or reputational concerns. The proposed Fair Access to Financial Services Rule (FAFSR) is a response to successful pressure campaigns waged by environmental groups and congressional Democrats, which culminated in every major American...

Some of you need to cease the denial and accept the harsh reality that the left hates you. It’s a fact, as much as the liberal gaslight gang and the conserva-sissy weakhearts deny it. You can tell that leftists hate you by the way that leftists tell you that they hate you.Take Sarah Jeong, please – hey, the New York Times was happy to get this bitter creep onboard because of her history of virulent racism. The Times saw her hate as a plus, not a negative, an asset, not a liability. You can’t draw any other conclusion – if you...

The Socialist Utopia has come to Venezuela and so has triple-digit inflation. Inflation is soaring at about 65%, murder rates are the second highest in the world, they don’t have food, chocolate,cooking oil, sugar, beer, shampoo, chicken, beef or even toilet paper. Businesses put the blame on the socialist government’s economic policies and the government blames it on everyone else. A number of U.S. movie stars have gone to Venezuela many times to applaud their regime and compare their economy to ours. Sean Penn was one. ... American leftists cheered the Socialist government and the social justice he forced on...

'An ex-Scotland Yard detective has made the extraordinary claim that police covered up a serial killer who stalked and murdered 18 people on the London Underground. He apparently killed his victims in the 1970s by pushing them onto the tracks and former policeman Geoff Platt has alleged that police deliberately kept the case from the public so as not to cause widespread panic. Mr Platt said that he listened to Kiernan Kelly confess his crimes to police first hand after he was picked up in 1984 for being drunk and disorderly. Having brutally murdered his cellmate, William Boyd, Kelly allegedly...

It’s a curious time for people who believe in transparency and openness in government. They say they are for transparency. In 2013, President Obama boasted, “This is the most transparent administration in history.” But watch what his administration does. Today, it will issue new rules exempting a key administrative office that handles issues such as request for access to government email records from the Freedom of Information Act. That law is specifically designed to allow private parties to look at government documents that aren't privileged or involve national security. Ironically, the nation celebrated FOIA just yesterday with National Freedom of...

The U.S. Justice Department asked the Ferguson, Missouri, Police Department on Friday to order its officers not to wear bracelets in support of the white policeman who shot to death an unarmed black teenager last month, sparking protests. Ferguson unrest persists despite chief's gesture Associated Press Justice Department investigates Ferguson police In a letter to Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, the Justice Department said residents had told its investigators that officers policing protest sites on Tuesday in Ferguson were seen wearing "I am Darren Wilson" bracelets.

On February 22nd, former world chess champion and political activist Garry Kasparov intimated that if Barack Obama had been president instead of Ronald Reagan, the Soviet Union would still exist. Kasparov was born in the Soviet Union in 1963. He is a renowned chess player, a human rights defender, and an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Lenin. On February 22nd he tweeted: "I've said it before, but if Barack Obama had been president instead of Ronald Reagan, I'd still be a Soviet Citizen."

New York and California have for generations of Americans been considered destination spots to express personal freedoms (snip) The “Freedom in the 50 States” study published last week by the libertarian-leaning Mercatus Center ranks New York last and California second to last. (snip) The result is New Yorkers are voting with their feet, with roughly 1.7 million leaving between 2000 and 2010 (snip) “The Golden State, with hundreds of miles of picturesque Pacific coastline, nonetheless managed to drive off a net of 1.5 million residents between 2000 and 2010 -- over 4 percent of its 2000 population,” the authors wrote.

A woman from Tulsa, Oklahoma is suing the city’s code enforcement teams after they illegally cut down her entire survival garden. Denise Morrison, who started the garden after becoming unemployed, had over 100 medicinal and edible plants in her front and back yard. She told local Tulsa reporters that she started her garden, after becoming unemployed, as a way to feed herself and treat a variety of medical issues. Instead of relying on government handouts, this woman took matters into her own hands and decided to become self sufficient. She filled her yard with things like, fruit trees, berries, nut...

On April 30th of 2008, the United States Senate proclaimed John McCain eligible to become the President of the United States, passing by unanimous consent Senate Resolution 511 which stated that his birth in the Panama Canal Zone did not violate the “natural born citizen” clause of the Constitution. One of the co-sponsors of this non-binding resolution was Barack Hussein Obama. Though the Constitution does not define “natural born”, it is clear that the meaning had been based upon principles included in a work quite popular with many of the Founders, the 1758 “Law of Nations” by Frenchman Emerich de...

In a case that could have a major impact on water use in Massachusetts, the attorney general’s office argued before the state’s highest court yesterday that the Department of Environmental Protection can impose limits on the amount of water municipalities draw from aquifers, rivers, and lakes.... The case, which the Supreme Judicial Court did not immediately rule on, stems from a state policy adopted in 2007 that allows the department to limit residential water use to 65 gallons a day per person for basins at risk of drought and 80 gallons a day per person for those with less risk....

Christian and other religious groups opposed to abortion were allowed to advertise on Google for the first time from today, after the search engine capitulated in the face of a legal challenge. Google had banned pro-life religious groups from buying adverts against search terms such as “abortion” and “abortion help” but was forced to abandon its policy after it was accused of breaching equalities legislation. The challenge was brought by the Christian Institute, a cross-denominational pressure group, who said that Google’s change of heart was an acknowledgement of the rights of everybody to hold an opinion on the subject. Mike...

It seems too lunatic to be true. But here a hair salon boss reveals how she was driven to the brink of ruin - and forced to pay £4,000 for 'hurt feelings' - after refusing to hire a Muslim stylist who wouldn't show her hair at work For Sarah Desrosiers, meeting Bushra Noah was not a moment in her life that she would describe as especially memorable. Not only was it brief - lasting little more than ten minutes - but it was rapidly obvious to Sarah that Bushra was not the person for the junior stylist position she was...

Istanbul, 11 Oct. (AKI) - Turkish newspaper editor Arat Dink and newspaper owner Serkis Seropyan have been found guilty of "insulting Turkishness" under the country's controversial penal code. Dink, the son of the murdered journalist Hrant Dink, is executive editor of the Armenian weekly, Agos, in Istanbul. His father, Hrant Dink, former editor in chief of the same newspaper was murdered, allegedly by ultranationalist Ogun Samst in January this year. The murder trial is continuing. Dink and Seropyan were charged for republishing an interview Hrant Dink gave to British press agency Reuters in July 2006. In the interview Dink referred...

The biggest fiction behind James Bond is that the fantasy master spy and world-class heartbreaker lived past 40-something. It’s not just the death traps and vodka martinis, or even the three packs of cigarettes a day, that would have shortened his life. His naked ring finger would have too. Because real men need wives. Consider the data: Married men—regardless of age, sex, race, income or education—consistently have been found to be healthier than men who are single, divorced or widowed. This so-called “marriage benefit” begins to kick in right after the wedding, then builds. Husbands ages 18 to 44 are...