Free Republic

Famous "Night-Stick in Cumerbund Shot" Mr. Rizzo was one of those seemingly larger-than-life figures, destined to be hero to some and villain to others. One view was that the former Police Commissioner and two-term Mayor was the last bastion against threats to middle-class residents of the city's row-house neighborhoods. The other view was that Mr. Rizzo was a barely educated former police officer who used a hard line on crime and tactics bordering on the dictatorial to suppress opposition and keep blacks out of middle-class neighborhoods. 'Tough Cop' Image That he was a "tough cop" -- an appellation that particularly...

The eminent Nation announces with relish "the organization of a national committee of 100 to induce Congress to prohibit the inter-State traffic in revolvers," and offers the pious judgment that it is "a step forward." "Crime statistics," it appears, "show that 90% of the murders that take place are committed by the use of the pistol, and every year there are hundreds of cases of accidental homicide because somebody did not know that his revolver was loaded." The new law — or is it to be a constitutional amendment? — will do away with all that. "It will not be...

MEMORANDUM TO: Alabama Probate Judges FROM: Chief Justice Roy S. Moore RE: Sanctity of Marriage ruling Date: February 3, 2015 The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance to the probate judges of Alabama as to their duties under Alabama's Sanctity of Marriage Amendment ("the Amendment"), Art. I, § 36.03, Ala. Const. 1901, and the Alabama Marriage Protection Act ("the Act"), § 30-1-19, Ala. Code 1975, in light of the recent orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. A news story has quoted the Honorable Greg Norris, President of the Alabama Probate Judges...

New study says UK Muslim population increases sharplyLONDON - (AP) -- A new study says the Muslim population of England and Wales almost doubled over a 10-year period. The analysis of 2011 census data indicates the number of people identifying themselves as Muslim grew from 1.5 million in 2001 to 2.7 million by 2011. The study based on official data was prepared for the Muslim Council of Britain by a team led by Sundas Ali of the University of Oxford. The "British Muslims in Numbers" report indicates that more than half were born outside Britain but 73 percent regard...

Does a book that shows kids how to make homemade guns belong in a science museum gift shop? One gun control advocate says such a book has no place at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, where Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction 2: Build a Secret Agent Arsenal is currently available for purchase

“Religion is not the cause of all wars and violence. Evil is.” Before you wade into the media’s non-stop conjecture, watch this video.

Liberals have claimed for years that the 2nd amendment was invented in the times of mere muskets, that it doesn’t apply to today’s weapons! The only problem with that, is that weaponry was far more advanced than leftists realize, and the founding fathers addressed this a LOOOONG time ago. Watch the only rebuttal to this argument that you’ll ever need to see! ;)

During a British concert last fall, Dizzy Gillespie dedicated a number to "Mother Africa". Looking at the audience with a characteristically mocking smile, he added, "We're going to take over the world, so you had better get used to it." The listeners chuckled, secure in their own freedom from predjudice and convinced that Dizzy was just clowning again. A few nights later, a group of British jazzmen held a private party in honor of Gillespie. Toward dawn, Dizzy burst into an impromptu lecture: "You people had better just lie down and die. You've lost Africa and Asia, and now they...

Acclaimed British Novelist Howard Jacobson opened his speech at the B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem last October with piercing sarcasm: “The question is rhetorical. When will Jews be forgiven the Holocaust? Never.” However, there has been a shift in the underpinnings of anti-Semitism. Israel has become the collective Jew among the nations, as the late French historian Léon Poliakov said about the new metamorphosis of Jew-hatred. Jacobson was piggy-backing on the eye-popping insight of the Israel psychoanalyst Zvi Rex, who reportedly said: “The Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz.”...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zopa0vJv76I&lc=z133t1h4tyzixnrm122kz1khozqcyttjz04 How do I hyperlink that up there? I'm still learning. Not only did Brian Williams lie about being shot down in Iraq, not only did he lie when he claimed to have “misremembered” the events… but he even lied about his LIES when he apologized. We talked about it on-air today. Thanks again, FR!!

Did You Hear About The Time Ben Franklin Wrote a Column For The National Gazette, Quoting From the Koran, and Calling For The Enslavement of Christians? I bet you think I'm kidding. I'm not. The first thing we need to understand is Ben Franklin was petitioning Congress for the abolition of slavery in the USA: Author, "Theodore Parker" wrote “Historic Americans” in which he describes founding father, Benjamin Franklin, abolitionist extraordinaire, quoting the koran in defending his abolition petition to Congress You see the young nation in its infancy. “Hercules in his cradle, “ said Franklin; but with a...

Today, our president made a comparison between Christians and ISIS that is so unbelievably absurd, so mind-numbingly stupid, that it could only be addressed in a video rebuttal. Please watch, enjoy and share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwwF0_KmBAY

For the moment, it sure looks like it. Scott Walker has emerged as the undisputed front runner. But we can still expect a "Cruz/Walker Epic Battle" till one gets the nomination. Even a Cruz/Clinton debate will seem more like a "Reagan VS Bigbird" annihilation. Can you imagine if one of the moderators ask both Walker and Clinton to state their accomplishments over the last 6 to 8 years in their current/past positions of power? How would you describe either one of these debates? For whomever gets to take on Hillary in 2016, the debate will look more like a Mike...

Public opinion sets bounds to every government, and is the real sovereign in every free one. As there are cases where the public opinion must be obeyed by the government; so there are cases, where not being fixed, it may be influenced by the government. This distinction, if kept in view, would prevent or decide many debates on the respect due from the government to the sentiments of the people. In proportion as government is influenced by opinion, it must be so, by whatever influences opinion. This decides the question concerning a Constitutional Declaration of Rights, which requires an influence...

Dear FReepers: I’m writing a short work which contains a tangential reference to a character in “Stripes” (1981), Morgan, the Army recruiter who interviews John (Bill Murray) and Russell (Harold Ramis). Can you kindly help me identify the recruiter’s rank, etc., from this screen shot? (See comment #1 for a link to the the full scene.) (BTW, this information is not in IMDb’s Trivia and Goofs pages — I checked.) Also, as a side question for you real military experts (not essential to the piece), can you tell me whether the rank that our FReepers identify from Morgan's movie uniform...

Being Mitt is out of the picture, and we can make a pretty good presumption of a final 10 or so candidates, let's see if we can narrow it down to four potential candidates and come up with a "Final Four Any Combination Ticket". Is it safe to put Scott Walker in the mix? How about Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz? Will the "Veep" be a Senator/Congress Member/Governor not in the race? Lets hear some of your predictions. You can even choose your top two choices and their likely VP picks. Odds are most of us will put either Walker...

Prominent Atheist Professor says Intelligent Design is Plausible By Donald Sensing Prominent Atheist Professor of Law and Philosophy Thomas Nagel Calls Intelligent Design Scientific and Constitutional to "Mention" in Science Classes Prof. Thomas Nagel has published an important essay entitled, "Public Education and Intelligent Design", in the Wiley InterScience Journal Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 36, issue 2, on-line at < http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118493933/home>  His paper is a significant because it encourages all intelligent, educated, informed individuals to consider that intelligent design may be a valid scientific approach to understanding how DNA and the complex chemical systems of life came to attain...

Two bills filed in the Mississippi House and Senate would make it an express duty of the state government to protect the gun rights of Mississippians against federal gun control measures. House Bill 1297 (HB1297) was filed by Rep. Staples last week. It declares “All federal acts, laws, orders, rules or regulations regarding firearms are a violation of the Second Amendment.” In other words, as the Founders understood, the federal government has no authority over firearms, period. The bill goes on to declare that all such federal acts are “invalid in this state, shall not be recognized by this state,...

WUWT reader Warren Smith writes in with this quiz: TEST YOURSELF: What is your knowledge of how fast the polar ice caps are melting? 1) According to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, as of the end of December 2014, the extent of Arctic sea ice coverage, when compared to the year-end averages from 1981 through 2010, was: A) About 90% below normal B) About 75% below normal C) About 50% below normal D) About 25% below normal E) Less than 5% below normal F) About 33% above normal 2) According to data from the National Snow...

Biologic Institute's Groundbreaking Peer-Reviewed Science Has Now Demonstrated the Implausibility of Evolving New Proteins Casey Luskin January 22, 2015 10:51 AM | Permalink Ann Gauger already provided an excellent series of articles discussing her recent paper co-authored in BIO-Complexity. She explains why it is important for demonstrating intelligent design (see here, here, here, here, and here). However, I wanted to give a slightly different framing of the new data. My purpose here and in a follow-up post will be to explain how this latest ID research (as well as prior work in the field) addresses fundamental questions in the debate...