Free Republic

It was a mere two months ago that Israeli cyber-security researchers hacked into a device that plugs into the diagnostic port of a car and determined they could remotely control the vehicle from anywhere in the world. At the time, the simulated attack seemed like the automotive version of a canary in a coal mine. If researchers could breach this one device, perhaps other aftermarket products that plug into diagnostic ports were also vulnerable? In short order, another cyber-security firm now reports finding serious flaws in a device used by more than 2 million motorists. Researchers at Florida-based Digital Bond...

The full weight of the failed Enlightenment experiment over-taxes the load bearing pillars that prop up a decaying Western Civilization, pillars that are buckling under the sheer weight of moral corruption on full display in modern society. The ethical structures of the West are in desperate need of repair. This new age is best characterized by the Weird Sisters crowing pronouncement “Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air.” The inversion of values has been a massive moral de-construction project that has taken the time honored vertical hierarchy of virtues and vices and turned...

How far left was I? So far left my beloved uncle was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party in a Communist country. When I returned to his Slovak village to buy him a mass card, the priest refused to sell me one. So far left that a self-identified terrorist proposed marriage to me. So far left I was a two-time Peace Corps volunteer and I have a degree from UC Berkeley. So far left that my Teamster mother used to tell anyone who would listen that she voted for Gus Hall, Communist Party chairman, for president. I wore a...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent and self-described socialist from Vermont, inadvertently reminded America “progressive” is just another word for “socialist” ... In his column, titled “Fight for Our Progressive Vision,” Sanders called for universal health care, increased government redistribution of wealth, limits on political speech, additional government action against “climate change,” $1 trillion in new infrastructure spending and .... Meanwhile, in Sanders’s home state of Vermont, Democrat Gov. Peter Shumlin announced last month he was abandoning single-payer socialized medicine program Green Mountain Care because it was too expensive. While Sanders is widely seen as a standard-bearer for progressive thought, it’s...

Not so much respect that the state should recognize their commitment as a legal marriage, he stresses, but respect nonetheless. “We live in a democracy, and regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “I hope that we can show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue – including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.”… Gay rights leaders said...

American leftism has gotten an awful lot of mileage by monopolizing the moral high ground. It is the sole force in American that favors the poor. The sole enemy of racism. The sole comforter of rape victims. The sole protector of defenseless Muslims. The sole guardian of the environment, and so on ad nauseum.It all falls apart eventually--with friends like the left, nobody needs enemies. But often overlooked is that fact that it’s bogus from the start. Any prolonged glance at the left reveals it to be an ideology of power, its major tool violence, its goal revenge.Leftism has always...

We here at CHQ have observed an interesting phenomenon about former Florida Governor Jeb Bush – hardly a week passed after he met with Senator John McCain to discuss how to obtain the Republican presidential nomination without being a conservative until testimonials started flowing about how conservative Jeb is. Of course these testimonials are mostly coming from Democrats and the establishment media, but they are slowly, but inexorably filling the top pages of Google, so that soon they will become the conventional wisdom. Typical of this remaking of Jeb Bush were the comments former Democratic Florida State Senator Dan Gelber...

So, like, I’m a friendly person, wouldn’t hurt a fly, but when this jerk neighbor of mine said that global warming was a liberal fantasy I tried to reason with him. I told him the Arctic ice was melting, the polar bears were dying and the sea was rising but he kept spouting out stuff about records and trends and totally irrelevant things like water vapor, sunspots and volcanos. I’m well educated and I read the news. I never heard of any of the stuff he was throwing out. What B.S. How can you argue with a fool like that....

The liberal advocacy group Progress Michigan boasts on its website that it doesn’t take corporate money: “No corporate money. Just uncompromised progressive politics for Michigan.” Yet the non-profit group – which criticized Gov. Rick Snyder for so-called “dark money” contributions and has been an continuous critic of charter schools – itself collected $67,000 from the National Education Association teachers union in 2014. The NEA has an intense interest in charter schools because very few of them are unionized, and their growing popularity in states like Michigan threatens to erode the union's funds. When a Michigan parent chooses to send her...

Pro-choice Pastor Roger Paynter, in a sermon to his congregation: “… Abortion is not the automatic breaking of God’s will… In general, we should say that God is against the ending of all life, but that in some tragic circumstances, he understands – even allows – and certainly forgives the choices we have to make.” Robert M Baird and Stuart E Rosenbaum, editors The Ethics of Abortion, 3rd edition (Amherst, New York: Prometheus books, 2001) 236

1) When the executive branch has effectively become the legislative branch 2) When the notions of secure borders and national sovereignty are considered thinly-veiled euphemisms for racial hatred 3) When justice means determining a person is guilty before seeing any evidence, then rioting, looting and destroying property when said person does not even make it to trial 4) When those who riot, loot and destroy property are considered freedom-fighters, and those who peacefully assemble are considered radical extremists ... 10) When countries like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, but yours does...

Elizabeth Lauten did something dopey. Say again, dopey. Criticizing President Obama’s children — daughters sixteen and thirteen — was dopey. Presidential children, particularly minor children, are generally considered to be off limits. Ms. Lauten, the communications director for Tennessee Congressman Stephen Lee Fincher, took a social media poke at the two and is today jobless as a result. There is a lesson in this for young conservatives. This is how the Left operates. What Lauten did, as mentioned, was dopey. Silly. But a front-page piece in the Washington Post? Breathless firestorm coverage from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, USA Today, Politico,...

The National Enquirer, still basking in the glow of its takedown of philandering John Edwards, a story well known to many in the media but ignored because the man was, after all, the Democrats’ pick for veep and a darling of the left, is reporting that Hillary Clinton may be heading to rehab for a drinking problem. A “boozed-up” Hillary Clinton suffered a secret collapse during a recent vacation – and now worried advisers want her to do a secret stint in rehab before her White House run! Sources close to the former FirstLady and ex-Secretary of State revealed the...

As we discard our freedom for the shabby paternalistic embrace of a fuzzy warm Progressive dystopia our newly legalized guests will feel right at home. Now that BHO has decreed that deportations will cease and work permits and other privileges of legal immigration will be granted to those who chose to enter our country illegally, what’s next? In less time than it takes to say “Fundamentally transform America” the chorus of usual suspects, Charles Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and their fellow travelers will start saying “It isn’t fair for all these people to pay taxes and not receive the...

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In the same spirit of love for America that compelled Rush Limbaugh to famously state, “I hope he fails!“, my plea today is, “I hope he stays!” Driven by a love for America, I pray our blessed nation quickly regains it strength. So, I hope Obama remains in Washington, DC, for many years after his term officially ends in 2016. Why? Because Obama will NEVER accept or admit he is wrong. His extreme narcissism will drive him to stay in the public spotlight, just as a moth is uncontrollably attracted to a light bulb. As a result, he will unwittingly...

In the first of this two-part series, we examined how Progressives have skillfully utilized Lust, Greed and Gluttony to capture control of the Democratic Party and weaken the moral fiber of the American people. As we continue to examine the warnings of Dante as outlined in his work, Inferno, we look at the remaining "seven deadly sins" and how the Great Deceiver's earthly forces work to erode the spirit of our republic and fundamentally transform our society into one of their liking. You may view the first part, in which we discuss Lust, Gluttony and Greed by accessing the following...

Actress Marcia Strassman has died at the age of 66 after a long battle with breast cancer, according to online posts by two long-time friends, singer/actress Cher and director Bob Weide. Though she acted in a wide range of TV shows and feature films, she was best known for her roles in the TV show Welcome Back Kotter and the comedy feature Honey I Shrunk the Kids and its sequel, Honey I Blew Up the Kids. 

Some of the opinions I’ve heard recently have made me realize that I disagree with progressives – not just ideologically but for mental health reasons. One of the main strands of progressive insanity is, of course, the idea that all cultures are equal: even gay-hating, women-hating, Jew-hating ones, apparently. Yes, I’ve looked into it and there doesn’t appear to be any sort of qualificational threshold on this. We have to treat all cultures with equal respect . . . except, of course, for western culture, which is racist and imperialist and should be trumped whenever possible. It’s what we call...

Hi everybody. I’m Bill Whittle and this is the Firewall. Ah, Progressives! You really have to – well, not admire them exactly – but if not admire them then at least grant them a grudging respect for the tenacity of their beliefs. Unfortunately for them, the Socialist utopia is a Cryptid, which, according to Wikipedia’s serviceable definition, is “a creature whose existence has been suggested but has not been discovered or documented by the scientific community.” Here’s another example of a cryptid: it’s called the Loch Ness Monster. Like the socialist utopia, the Loch Ness Monster requires a lot of...