Free Republic

I'm shocked that so many Americans are ignorantly willing to empower this federal government to create a master key to our smartphones. The majority of Americans in a Pew Research poll said they agree with the government that Apple should unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorist-shooter (Syed Rizwan Farook). My theory on this is that most people have no idea what the actual question is or what is involved in unlocking this phone. The Pew question is "Should Apple unlock the terrorist's iPhone?" Here's what the question should be: "Do you think Apple should be forced to create...

Billionaire and Democrat Party sugar daddy George Soros published an op-ed in The Guardian urging Americans to resist the rhetoric of Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz. That is why, as 2016 gets underway, we must reaffirm our commitment to the principles of open society and resist the siren song of the likes of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, however hard that may be. Soros writes from a place of concern for the "open society," which is, coincidentally, the name of a network of foundations he funds with the goal of a society where "rights are respected, government is accountable,...

During this Christmas season, with Christians and innocents under attack around the world, far too many believers are far too silent. There is an oft repeated saying, "Pray as if everything depends upon God. Act as if everything depends on you." God uses believers to work His will. In the long view, Christians trust God's grace for eternal salvation. At peace with that blessed assurance, there's no question that Christ calls His followers to fervent prayer. In response to calls for prayer following the Paris terrorist attacks, one progressive secular humanist called such an anemic response "spiritual masturbation" to a...

There is a major difference between a spree murder and jihad. Especially when Muslims commit it at a Christmas party. Lumping spree murder and jihad together is a journalistic mistake, misleads the public, and assaults our precious Bill of Rights. The gun issues involved are different. The religious murders (not "terrorism") committed in San Bernardino and all over America at this point are all part of the global jihad being waged by Muslims against us. Not all Muslims, just Muslims waging jihad. Plus their vocal and silent supporters. Calling these independently staged military attacks "terrorism," even though they are terrible...

In the days since the deadly attacks in Paris, one thing has been made clear: the political and cultural left in America desire the average American to live with maximum vulnerability towards future terror attacks. They seem oblivious to the natural outcomes of such desires. But they insist that no solution to terrorism or potential terrorism take on an ounce of common sense. No matter the suggestion, they scoff, condescend and even threaten those who would take even basic precaution—in order to save American bloodshed. How else do you explain their opposition to the following suggestions? Arming lawful and law-abiding...

In wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attack and similar shooting tragedies, the insurmountable calls for gun control in the U.S. are astounding but not surprising. Those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it, especially if gun control policies seen in the 20th century are overlooked.The elites in media and government have made the full elimination of firearms from society their cause celebre with euphemisms like "gun control" and "gun safety." Following the San Bernardino attack, President Obama called for immediate executive action to expand background checks on gun sales. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch soon echoed...

There's been a lot of discussion over the FBI's deployment of divers at Seccombe Lake, which is located in a park near the Inland Regional Center, where Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik shot and killed 14 people. In a news conference held around 3 p.m. PST, David Bowdich, Assistant Director of the FBI's Los Angeles office, said that they were following up on a lead that indicated the two shooters came into the area. He also added that he is not discussing what the dive team is looking for at present, though he reiterated his promise that this investigation will be a...

n a recent Facebook discussion following the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, a friend whom I respect greatly posed a challenge to those of us defending Second Amendment rights. "You always say what isn't the answer," he complained, "but you never say what the answer is." It was refreshing to have a legitimate debate that didn't descend into name-calling and hyperbolic accusations. But implicit in my friend's observation is a question: do those of us who object to the infringement of our rights have a prior obligation to offer a better solution than that which is being proposed? I...

Another terrorist attack, another refusal by President Obama to tell the truth. Instead of admitting that Islamic terrorists had staged another murderous assault on innocent people, he turned the victims into a political prop. Instead of explaining how he intended to stop terrorists from killing Americans, he launched another campaign to stop Americans from owning guns. As Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr., pointed out, America's best defense against violence is law-abiding folks arming themselves. The tragedy of San Bernardino did not happen because good people owned guns. Yet the effect of gun control is to ensure that only bad...

Calm down and think, America. While everyone's undies are in a bunch over Donald Trump's proposal for a Muslim immigration moratorium, it is undeniable in a time of "heightened alert" -- when violent jihadists have no problem targeting their enemies here and around the world -- that national security profiling is imperative to our survival. Yes, that means taking politically incorrect criteria such as ethnicity, nationality and religion into account when battling radical Islamist throat-slitters, suicide bombers and hijackers who incinerate children on airplanes traveling to Disneyland, plant bombs in their shoes, underwear, soda bottles and belts, and shoot up...

I am so sick of these progressive Democrats waiting to pounce on death and exploit it to their advantage. It takes a special kind of person to do it, to see something awful unfolding on television and think, "How can I use this to my advantage?" That's the modern American left, and it has to be destroyed. While the San Bernardino terrorists were still at large, all three Democrats running for president took the opportunity to call for gun control. That's the sort of sociopathic disconnect from human decency we expect from serial killers, not someone who seeks to become...

You know what's ticking me off this morning? It's three particular things: 1). The fact that fourteen innocent people were slaughtered at a Christmas party last week in San Bernardino by a Muslim terrorist and his satanic ISIS bride. 2). Obama and "The Media", including some FOX News hosts, tripped over themselves trying to keep from calling this obvious act of terror, an obvious act of terror spawned by the Kings of Killing Unsuspecting Innocent People Around The World. I'm talkin' about BHO's favorite religion the very ones he fawns over the most namely, Islam. Did you see the Islamapologist-In-Chief...

Shortly after news broke of a shooting in San Bernardino (which we now know was a terrorist attack), Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit were abuzz that the events of December 2, 2015 were the "355th mass shooting" of 2015. Obviously, this was a concerning statistic--if it were actually true.It turns out it wasn't, and even figures on the left agree. There's been nowhere near 355 mass shootings in 2015, and according to Mother Jones editor Mark Folman, there have been exactly four. At Mother Jones, where I work as an editor, we have compiled an in-depth, open-source database covering more than...

One of those killed in the December 2 Inland Regional Center shooting has been named as Nicholas Thalasinos. He was a native of New Jersey and had moved to southern California for be with his wife, Jennifer Thalasinos. The two perpetrators in the crime, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, were killed by police in the hours after the shooting. Here's what you need to know: 1. The Day Before He Died, He Received a Threat Telling Him That He Would Die & Never See Israel Nicholas Thalasinos pictured with his wife Jennifer. (Facebook) ABC News reports that he was long-term...

First, it is difficult to do funny political writing while watching cable news' coverage of the horror in San Bernardino last night. I have no insights about the shooting. I can draw no cosmic conclusions. I can offer no solutions. I'm just tired of this happening, whether it's stabbings in Israel, a massacre in Paris, or shooters mowing down innocent people at a county building in California. But, if we can't get into the minds of the crazy people who did the shooting, we can look at the way it was covered last night. Watching the three press conferences held...