Free Republic

All too often, instead of being the keepers of the law, state bar associations flagrantly violate the law instead. They get away with this because they are controlled by powerful judges and affluent left-wing attorneys. Most often, people are too terrified to take on the rich and well connected, fearing they could be easily decimated by (ab)using the legal system. The debate about Measure 6, on the ballot this fall in North Dakota, is a recent example. Measure 6 would establish approximately 50/50 shared parenting as the default when parents with children split up, unless a court finds that one...

Hey all, September's been a difficult month. I lost my Gus on the 6th, almost 14. Had been nursing him through since December, last few months were pretty busy taking care of him. Anyway, his roomie Dex had been of food/water and I took him in and he's anemic. They sent the blood away to determine if the anemia is due to something acute, like internal bleed/ulcer , or more chronic anemia, like kidney/liver/bone marrow kind of issue. He's also a "senior" animal so all i really ask is that we can find out what the cause is so we...

The families of two journalists beheaded by Islamic State jihadists were both warned by US government officials they could face prosecution if they raised a ransom for their release. The recent executions of James Foley and Steven Sotloff by Islamic State (IS) extremists triggered worldwide revulsion and Washington has since declared it is at war with the radicals. The United States has a policy of never paying ransoms, contending that doing so would endanger Americans all over the world. Late Friday, a spokesman for Sotloff's family said the murdered journalist's parents were told by a White House counterterrorism official last...

The parents of murdered journalist Steven Sotloff were told by a White House counterterrorism official at a meeting last May that they could face criminal prosecution if they paid ransom to try to free their son, a spokesman for the family told Yahoo News Friday night. "The family felt completely and utterly helpless when they heard this," said Barak Barfi, a friend of Sotloff who is serving as a spokesman for his family. "The Sotloffs felt there was nothing they could do to get Steve out."

An overwhelming majority of parents — including most Republicans — back federal school nutrition standards, a new poll found. The findings released Monday by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association stand in stark contrast to a partisan spat in Congress over the Agriculture Department’s regulations. More than seven in ten parents back national standards for both snacks and meals in schools. The poll found that 75 percent of parents believe salt should be limited in meals and 91 percent support requirements that schools include a serving of fruits. When broken down along...

Students can wave goodbye to being driven to university by embarrassing parents in an overloaded car – and pay to arrive in style instead. Launching on Monday, The Very Important Fresher package offers those with the budget the option to travel to campus by helicopter, private jet, Ferrari or Aston Martin. Other luxury options include a Rolls Royce Phantom, Mclaren P1 – and even a horse and carriage - which will set buyers back up to £25,000.

Back in March, I wrote a piece for CatholicVote about FDA evaluation of a process that would create multi-parent embryos: Things like this always begin for such seemingly noble scientific reasons, don’t they? But they rarely stop there. And of course in addition to creating tri-parent offspring, which creates ethical and genealogical nightmares in its own right, virtually every instance of embryonic modification involves a slew of violations of the moral law, from in-vitro fertilization to the destruction of fertilized human embryos — human life — deemed imperfect or unnecessary to achieve the desired outcome. This morning, I read...

Hundreds of adoptive parents in New York City who've sent their children to live elsewhere continue to get monthly government subsidies of up to $1,700 per child. They can continue receiving the checks until the child turns 21 years old.They gave up on their “hard-to-place" adopted kids — but not on the government check intended for the discarded kids’ care. Hundreds of adoptive parents across the five boroughs who've sent their children to live elsewhere are continuing to pull in monthly checks of up to $1,700 per child while the city, state and feds look the other way, the Daily...

Every culture has kids. Some just raise them better than others. If there's one thing Tiger Moms have in common with those bringing up Bébé, it's that they both show us just how varied parenting styles can be.Argentinian parents let their kids stay up until all hours, Japanese parents let 7-year-olds ride the subway by themselves and Danish parents leave their kids sleeping in a stroller on the curb while they go inside to shop or eat.Some global parenting styles might make American parents cringe, but others sure could use a close study. Vietnamese mothers, for instance, get their kids out...

NBC News reports that on Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden not only used language that adopted all the illegal immigrant children coming across the southern border, he also made all Americans adoptive parents together with him.

American society is currently in a dysfunctional state, and like all things dysfunctional, it will implode if not addressed very soon. We live in a world that contains a vast amount of knowledge, but little understanding. The United States has not experienced extreme tyranny, but it is headed in that direction. The shift of authority from private sector to public sector has created a serious imbalance. As a country, there is great arrogance. We take for granted that we will always be the land of the free. Like all civilizations prior, we’re moving from liberty to totalitarianism and it’s...

What would happen if Americans learned that Barack Obama is not just an individual with a history of radical, anti-American associations, but an illegal President and an unindicted felon? http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-establishments-fear-of-the-truth-empowers-obama?f=must_reads

The New Jersey teenager who sued her parents has received a domestic violence restraining order against the boyfriend her mom and dad always hated. Rachel Canning, 18, made headlines last year when she moved out of her family's Lincoln Park home, then demanded her parents pay her child support. The family had been fighting for months over Rachel's wild behavior.... .....

The New Jersey teen who made headlines when she sued her parents for child support after moving out of their home was back in court Wednesday, this time to obtain a temporary restraining order against her boyfriend, The Star-Ledger reported. Rachael Canning, the honor student who sued her parents earlier this year for $650 a week, the remainder of her Catholic school tuition and attorney fees, obtained the order against her beau, Lucas Kitzmiller, 18. He was the teen her parents reportedly asked her to stop seeing at the time of the initial suit. Canning' father said Kitzmiller choked her...

Blogging for the Ruth Institute, Jennifer Johnson recounted her experience of growing up with five parents. The piece responds to claims by Masha Gessen, a prominent LGBT activist who was recently honored by the state department, who has famously celebrated her own unorthodox family as the shape of things to come: I have three kids who have five parents, more or less, and I don’t see why they shouldn’t have five parents legally… I would like to live in a legal system that is capable of reflecting that reality, and I don’t think that’s compatible with the institution of marriage....

The parents who were stranded at sea with their two young daughters and had to be rescued by a U.S. Navy warship say they plan to sue their satellite phone carrier and hope any monetary winnings will allow them to help repay the government's cost of their rescue. “To see people show up to help you like that is pretty amazing,” Eric Kaufman told ABC News, referring to the team from California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing that parachuted out of a plane into the frigid waters off the coast of Mexico to save his family. Kaufman and his...

President Barack Obama does not believe his temporary amnesty program for illegal immigrant children has exacerbated the border crisis even though the number of illegal immigrant kids crossing the border spiked the year after he unilaterally enacted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012. In fact, Obama thinks programs like DACA and a comprehensive amnesty bill are ways to solve the border crisis. Addressing the press Wednesday after meeting with Texas Governor Rick Perry to discuss the border crisis in Dallas, Obama, when asked if programs like DACA have caused or contributed to the crisis,

The orphaned Florida teen whose impassioned plea for a family to 'love him forever' prompted an outpouring of sympathy from around the country has been removed from his foster home following a physical altercation with another child and the father. After 16 years of floundering in foster care, after taking the pulpit at a St. Petersburg church last September asking someone - anyone - to adopt him, after his story was shared around the world and 10,000 people offered to help or take him home, Davion Only moved to Ohio in March to live with the parents who had promised...

"A crowd of 300 angry protestors forced three buses carrying 140 undocumented migrant children and their parents to turn around in Murrieta, California, on Tuesday after they blocked the road. The dramatic confrontation between the flag waving protestors and the Homeland Security buses came one day after Mayor Alan Long urged residents to resist the federal government's plan to transfer the Central American migrants to California to ease overcrowding of facilities along the Texas-Mexico border. Holding up banners that said 'Return to Sender' and suggesting the children should be sent to the White House instead, the irate protestors succeeded when...

(CNN) -- As the controversy surrounding Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl release gains growing attention, Bergdahl's family is now the target of recent threats, according to an FBI spokesman. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl family have received threats following his release after five years in captivity at the hands of the Taliban, an FBI spokesman told CNN on Saturday. "We are working jointly with our state and local partners and taking each threat seriously," FBI Special Agent William Facer said in an e-mail. Facer declined to detail the nature and severity of the threats. Additionally, the military spokesperson for the Bergdahl family...