Free Republic

The Constitution lives. Even as the news is brutal — it instructs for those willing to pay attention. American journalist James Foley has been beheaded by ISIS. And an American teenager named Michael Brown was shot dead by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer named Darren Wilson. In the case of Michael Brown, Ferguson, Missouri remains in an uproar. The town is awash in protesters, both from Ferguson and outsiders. There has been a steady diet of rioting and looting. The President of the United States is involved. The Attorney General of the United States is involved, going to Ferguson personally...

Conundrum --------------------------------------------------------- Free people are not equal. Equal people are not free. "A gun is like a parachute. If you need one, and don't have one, you'll probably never need one again." The definition of the word "Conundrum" is: something that is puzzling or confusing. Here are six Conundrums of socialism in the United States of America: 1. America is capitalist and greedy - yet half of the population is subsidized. 2. Half of the population is subsidized - yet they think they are victims. 3. They think they are victims - yet their representatives run the government. 4. Their...

In his opinion declaring Virginia's marriage law unconstitutional, Judge Henry Floyd of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit summarized what he perceived to be the basic disagreement between the opponents and proponents of the law. "The opponents and proponents agree that marriage is a fundamental right," the judge wrote. "They strongly disagree, however, regarding whether that right encompasses the right to same-sex marriage. The opponents argue that the fundamental right to marry belongs to the individual, who enjoys the right to marry the person of his or her choice. By contrast, the proponents point out that,...

As a child, Lindsay Leigh Bentley desperately wanted to be a boy. She refused to wear dresses and adored going hunting with her dad. She loved sticks, guns, motorcycles and monsters. She chopped the hair off her Barbies. Her parents had to cut her own hair short because she refused to let them brush it. Her best friends were boys. In childhood pictures, she looks fierce, and tough as nails. These days, her worried parents would probably hustle her off to the nearest gender-identity clinic. But Lindsay grew up in a more backward age, when such things did not exist....

These terms -- duty, ability, and rights -- are often conflated, as a result of French and American influences. In this show, I break down the differences between them, how they relate, and how they should be respected on a practical level, all within the Christian context. LISTEN ON YOUTUBE.(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start with quotes from Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Abraham Lincoln, then transition into the corrupted philosophies found in American and French history. I define the terms, then lay out how they can be applied, especially in the case of anti-Christian persecution in the Middle East. I...

When I'm in a, shall we say, mellow mood with friends, I can occasionally launch into accounts of politics in seventeenth-century England. This usually results in incredulous stares, followed by, "Oh, so sorry. Fascinating story, I'm sure. But it's really just hours past my bedtime." It's a shame anybody should feel that way, though. Because even in the hands of a dreary lecturer and deadly bore (um, not saying I am one), the story of seventeenth-century England is one of riotously awful chaos -- and the birth of modern freedom. Sit down. Have another drink. Let's talk about it.

The uproar on the left over the Hobby Lobby decision has an explanation. That explanation is that we have allowed our understanding of what is meant by rights and liberties to become badly degraded. In fact, to simplify, the common understanding of rights has gotten into a condition of extreme labefactation. So to speak. The left tends to think of political rights in terms of stuff — the right to affordable housing, the right to health care, the right to contraception, and so on. Conservatives tend to think of political rights in terms of non-interference — the right to free...

What Is A Right? A right is the sovereignty to act without the permission of others. For full essay see: http://wp.me/p4sKpK-4

The United Nations has tapped as its next High Commissioner for Human Rights a Jordanian prince who has said that Palestinian suicide bombings are “no less horrific” than Israel’s efforts to prevent civilians from terror attacks. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced over the weekend that he has nominated Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, a member of Jordan’s royal family and its current UN ambassador, as the next high commissioner, a senior official who monitors human rights across the globe. The post has been used in the past as a bully pulpit to target Israel for criticism over its...

by Gina Cassini | TopRight NewsOnce again, the anti-gun fanatics are running loose in our children's schools. And this time they are punishing a kid who did the right thing! As a mom, this one has steam coming out of my ears. First-grader Darin Simak goes to Martin Elementary in New Kensington, PA. On Wednesday he went to school just like any other day but, when he arrived, he realized there was a toy gun in his backpack. What did Darin do? Darin tried to do the right thing by immediately bringing the toy gun to his teacher and explained that “he...

Hallmark's Chairman Donald Hall, Jr.'s response to a letter from victims of gun violence and clergy asking that Hallmark publicly support Universal Background Checks (a background check for every gun sale) was, “We do not get involved in divisive issues.” Hallmark has ruffled the feathers of anti-gun extremists like the National Gun Victims Action Council (NGVAC). NGVAC has asked it's followers to boycott Hallmark and to call on sponsors to stop sponsoring the Hallmark Channel because of it. So, this Father's Day, if you don't believe MORE background checks will prevent criminals from getting guns, buy a Hallmark card.

Dr. Ben Carson, potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, has been enjoying near "rock star" status in ostensibly conservative circles. If that continues, "conservatives" had might as well give up trying to cast themselves as representing the "pro-gun" position, because Carson's stance on guns is one that would probably not displease the Brady Campaign. Carson first raised gun owners' hackles in March, 2013, when he blithely told Glenn Beck that the right to own semi-automatic firearms is contingent on where one lives. From Mediate: But when asked whether people should be allowed to own “semi-automatic weapons,” the...

A 14-year battle over the care of Feld Entertainment's circus elephants ended Thursday with the Humane Society of the United States and others paying a $15.75 million settlement.The lawsuit was filed by a company the Humane Society acquired, along with other animal rights groups, against Feld, parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, over the care of its 43 Asian elephants.The settlement follows $9.3 million that the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals paid in 2012 for its connection to false claims against Feld in U.S. District Court in Washington."We hope this settlement payment,...

Whichever way the United States Supreme Court rules on Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, one fact has become abundantly clear. We are belatedly realizing that different forms of freedom are more dependent on each other than many have hitherto supposed. Who would have thought that the welfare state’s expansion in the guise of Obamacare—which, by definition, significantly reduces economic freedom—would directly impact the ability of individuals and groups to conduct their affairs in accordance with their deeply held religious beliefs? This, however, is precisely the reality confronting us. Most people are used to thinking of religious liberty as a prerequisite...

The Race Card... don't leave home without it.

It is actually illegal for two or more people to get together to do what they did to Brendan Eich. Title 18, Section 241 of the United States Code states as follows: If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on...

In what critics are describing as a government land grab, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a change Tuesday to the Clean Water Act that would give it regulatory authority over temporary wetlands and waterways. The proposal immediately sparked concerns that the regulatory power could extend into seasonal ponds, streams and ditches, including those on private property. "The ... rule may be one of the most significant private property grabs in U.S. history," said Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The EPA proposal would apply pollution regulations to the country's so-called "intermittent...

A report released Tuesday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asserted that ex-IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights. Lerner continues to stonewall California Rep. Darrell Issa’s committee, pleading the Fifth again in a divisive Oversight hearing last Wednesday convened to get to the bottom of the IRS’ improper targeting of conservative groups between 2010 and 2012. Oversight member Rep. Jim Jordan told The Daily Caller that the committee is “moving” toward holding Lerner in contempt of Congress to compel her to testify. “I think that’s where we’re moving,” Jordan said. “I think that’s where...

Today the conservative talkers are jawing about the supposed "balance" between a person's right not to be discriminated against, and a business owner's rights of conscience. But the problem, you see, is that the first thing is not a right. I don't have a right to force people to like me. Or to hire me. Or to sell something to me. Someone will say that I do indeed have those rights, as created by the Courts or the Congress or Eric Holder (Fleas Be Upon Him). But the government cannot create rights. Only God can grant rights. And a government...

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton said Sunday that the gay-rights cause made "incredible progress" on political and legal fronts in 2013, but progress should not be mistaken for success. Clinton called lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues "the unfinished business of the 21st century" in an address at a national conference in Las Vegas where actress Ellen Page came out as gay days earlier in an emotional speech that's stirred a social media outpouring. Clinton urged a crowd of 600 professionals who work with children to become more sensitive to the needs of LGBT youth, saying the deck is stacked...