Free Republic

By global standards, the poor of the U.S. are fantastically rich, yet they die sooner than the poor of other lands. Again, look at the poorest part of Baltimore. In 2010 the median household income here was $17,000, whereas the median in India was $5,150 after adjusting for purchasing power. Yet men in this part of Baltimore have a shorter life expectancy--63 years--than the Indian average of just more than 65 years. These Americans have more than triple the median purchasing power of Indians and yet have nearly two years less to live. The U.S. problem is not limited to...

If you've never come close to murdering members of your own family over a friendly game of Monopoly, you're probably doing it wrong. We don't think we've ever played a game where someone didn't have a hidden stash of cash, tried to swipe a C-Note while no-one is looking or bargained for their lives, prolonging the agony for way longer than necessary. Now a new version of the game is seeking to settle those dangerously vociferous arguments once and for all by doing away with paper money altogether and bringing the game into a digital age. The Monopoly Ultimate Banking...

I was listening to Mark Levin’s radio show last night during which he expressed his frustration with how the GOP has allowed itself to be mired in meaningless “scandals” at the expense of making a clear case for conservatism and addressing policy. I agree with him. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that despite having a very strong lineup of candidates, on tp of 8 years of disastrous progressive liberalism, we could be in danger of losing this nation to a SOCIALIST? While the media (even on our side) obsesses over tweets, there are critical issues we should be discussing....

Donald Trump announced Friday he raised $6 million for veterans at his fundraiser in Iowa the night before. Iowa was amazing last night. The event could not have worked out better. We raised $6,000,000 for our great vets. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > But this would appear a significant increase from what he's given to the cause before, according to some reports which questioned whether the billionaire businessman has been a consistent donor to vet groups. Showbiz 411 reports that the Donald J. Trump Foundation gave a total of $2.6 million in charitable donations in the last three years,...

'Unless I win, I would consider this a big, fat, beautiful--and, by the way, a very expensive--waste of time' Heading into the final days before Iowa's caucuses, Republican front-runner Donald Trump warned supporters that his months of headline-grabbing antics could be for naught if they do not show up Monday night. "You have to get out there and caucus, or we've all wasted our time," Trump said on a tarmac, speaking to supporters who stood in a cold airplane hangar for hours to see the former Apprentice star. It was a rare suggestion from the billionaire that he might not...

The left loves to use false comparisons of unrelated numbers to make bad arguments.  In a recent article about the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT)  Show in the Guardian, a far-left British newspaper, the reporters start with an off the cuff remark from an economics professor.  From the guardian.com: “People are buying guns as part of the American dream of freedom and liberty,” said Brauer, who is based at the Hull College of Business at Augusta University. “And also, the hope and the dream of being able to use guns in self-defence.” The Guardian then adds this: People...

As the Obamas begin their final year in the White House, a new movie debuting at the Sundance Film Festival aims to tell the First Family’s origin story, with a focus on their first date on the south side of Chicago. Richard Tanne, an actor and first-time feature director, conceived of the idea for Southside With You back during Barack Obama’s first campaign for president, when the then-senator from Illinois didn’t look much older than the 25-year-old who convinced Michelle Robinson to join him for a long afternoon in the summer of 1989 (watch an exclusive clip above). The years...

China's home prices continued to rise in December 2015, adding to signs of improving in the housing market, although the recovery remains uneven across the country. Average new home prices in 70 major cities rose 7.7 percent in December from a year earlier, quickening from November's 6.5 percent rise, the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) said on Monday. Even a mild recovery in the housing market would ease concerns of an acute slowdown in China's economy, which is expected to show its weakest growth in 25 years in 2015. The NBS data showed on-month price rises were seen in 39 of...

Ed Schultz, the progressive talk radio host and former MSNBC personality, has landed at RT America -- the Kremlin-backed cable news channel that has been criticized for advocating a pro-Russian agenda.

Dramatic video shows ten American sailors on their knees as they surrendered to Iranian troops in the Persian Gulf while a U.S. 'commander' is filmed apologizing to the revolutionary guard Footage of sailors on the floor, with hands behind their heads surrounded by Iranian guards has been released It was aired on the Islamic republic's state television after the Navy personnel were freed following a standoff When the sailors were taken off of the boats in the Persian Gulf, they were questioned by the IRGC Later the captives were pictured looking relaxed while sitting on a big carpet sharing plates...

"Shameful!!!!" Four exclamation points punctuated a recent Facebook post, in which a user expressed outrage over an incident in the eastern German town of Lostau. Locals had accused refugees of plundering a petting zoo, slaughtering some goats and eating them around a campfire.....

<p>President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are making a new push in southern Syria with the help of Russian air cover in a move that could not only weaken one of the country’s remaining rebel strongholds, but also threaten the balance of power on a combustible border with Israel.</p>

When my wife was a student at Hillsdale College __ years ago (Nope! Not telling!), some student friends worked in a sausage factory nearby. They literally waded in hip boots in vast vats of various parts of cattle and pig carcasses headed for massive grinders. "I'll never eat sausage again!" was their common reaction. That's not to say (properly cooked) sausage isn't really safe, but it gives some idea how the saying arose that you never want to watch legislation being crafted because it's a lot like watching sausage being made. Well, it's increasingly clear that you don't want to...

Following his executive actions this week, President Obama will participate in what CNN is calling a "town hall" style discussion about gun control at George Mason University tomorrow night. The one hour show will be hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and airs live at 8 p.m eastern. But according to a memo sent to faculty and students by GMU Communications and Marketing Vice President Renell Wynn earlier this week, participation in the town hall is by invite only. There are no tickets available to people who are not specifically invited to the event. "This is an invitation-only event. No...

Iowa isn't the only state where Ted Cruz has managed to surpass Donald Trump in state-level polls of Republican voters. The Texas senator is edging Trump in California, too, according to a new poll.Cruz leads the outspoken billionaire 25 percent to 23 percent in the latest NBC Bay Area Field Poll of GOP voters in the Golden State. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is third with 13 percent support, while retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson rounds out the top four at 9 percent.According to the poll, Cruz has risen 19 percentage points since October 2015, when he stood at 6 percent support...

Sham parents and bogus homes - film exposes Kim Jong Un's fakery Tom Parfitt The Times December 30, 2015 10:19AM Scene from Under the Sun A documentary film has exposed the artifice and absurdity of life in North Korea, despite attempts by officials there and in Russia to suppress it. Under the Sun, made by the Russian director Vitaly Mansky, is to be released in cinemas in the United States and Germany next year. The film tells the story of an eight-year-old girl joining North Korea's Children's Union, a state-organised youth group, but includes footage showing that party handlers created...

Editor's note: This column was co-authored by Tim Graham. As night fell on Christmas Eve, National Public Radio was in its usual holy-day mode, using your tax dollars to mock the traditional Christian creed. This time they promoted an activist movie called "The Danish Girl," yet another alleged "true story" about artist Einar Wegener, a married man who wanted to be a woman named Lili. An earlier NPR commercial -- sorry, "underwriting announcement" -- said he was the first recipient of "gender confirmation surgery." Paging Mr. Orwell -- it's NPR on line 1. Focus Features -- part of the Comcast...

Some have called Cass Sunstein "America's Goebbels" since he sugggested that the government "formally hire credible private parties to engage in counterspeech," and was engaged by President Obama as "Information Tzar". So today's op-ed from the government's propagandist-in-chief, condemning those who choose to push back against political correctness, should be read with a Bernaysian perspective as Sunstein attempts to delegitimize any and every effort to argue against the government's view of the world.

The cause of such virulent reactions is likely the decades of propaganda indoctrination in schools masquerading as history Propaganda indoctrination springing from totalitarian regimes can have two human reactions: apathy and indifference to everything happening around you, admitting to yourself that there is nothing you can do about it, or the intense desire to study and understand it as if that process alone begins to redress what is wrong with such a system. Take for example, the much maligned and hated Christopher Columbus. It is not possible that one single human being had caused all the havoc the leftist academia...

American lawmakers push bill to counter Putin message Russia has reorganized and intensified its international propaganda machine so effectively over the past decade that some Western lawmakers and diplomats say Washington now is badly losing a global messaging war to the increasingly modernized blitz of anti-U.S. content from Moscow-backed news operations. Leaders in the House and Senate have not put their full weight behind the Royce-Engel legislation, although it moved swiftly through the committee in May.