Free Republic

It was reported Monday that Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder and incredibly wealthy guy, and with his wife, Melinda, have given $1 million to Initiative 594 in Washington state. The ballot initiative, if passed by voters on November 4 (and it currently enjoys overwhelming support), will require universal background checks for all firearm purchases in the state.

Anheuser-Busch, one of the NFL’s biggest sponsors, says it isn’t happy with the recent controversy that has engulfed the league. […] The league has come under fire for its handling of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice’s assault of his then-fiancée. The Minnesota Vikings have also been criticized for allowing Adrian Peterson to play while he faces a charge of abuse for spanking his 4-year-old son with a wooden switch. …

sociologists are worried that a lack of black officers leading its combat troops will have detrimental effect on minorities and lead to fewer black officers in top leadership posts. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/11/army-concerned-with-number-of-white-men-leading-co/#ixzz3DV4KWZEr Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

The Rabbinical Council of America released this resolution two months ago: In response to the terrible proliferation of fatal shootings in the United States that result in part from Americans’ easy access to lethal weapons, a brief yet comprehensive 2014 resolution of the 1000+ members of Rabbinical Council of America addresses gun usage and ownership in the United States from personal, legal, cultural, and religious perspectives. Asserting the Torah’s perspective that war, weaponry, and violence are “necessary evils in our unredeemed world” as well as the Torah’s view that, contrary to some strains of American culture, such matters must be...

Shares of rare earth mining company Molycorp are down more than 70% in 2014. But the decline of Molycorp began quickly and brutally in 2011. Molycorp went public in July 2010 at $14 per share, right as the price of rare earth minerals started to take off. The price of Molycorp shares quintupled within a year, and peaked at $74 in 2011. But over the last three years, the stock has been on a steady march towards $0. The 2010 surge in rare earth prices prompted ZeroHedge to write: "Ever heard of the oxides of Lanthanum, Cerium, Neodymium, Praseodymium and/or...

“RGIII was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘Know Jesus, Know Peace.’ NFL Uniform Inspector Tony McGee (former Skins DE) approached Griffin,” Phillips tweeted. “McGee told Griffin he couldn’t wear the shirt because it wasn’t a Nike product. Made him turn it inside out for the press conference.”

Today's genre books are full of future dystopias, which only have one weakness: teenagers. And everybody knows that most dystopias are kind of contrived. But here are 10 lessons from real-life rebellions against repressive regimes, that we wish the creators of fictional dystopias would pay attention to. 10. The Enemy of Your Enemy Is Not Your Friend [snip] 9. The Top Guy Isn't Always the Problem [snip] 8. Sometimes Making Concessions Leads To Rebellion [snip] 7. Two Downtrodden Groups Will Usually Be Fighting Each Other [snip] 6. Never Neglect the Practicalities [snip] 5. New Regimes Come With Crazy Ideology [snip]...

The "New Atheism" Has a Problem with Women David Klinghoffer September 16, 2014 4:37 AM | Permalink A long and fascinating article at Buzzfeed ("Will Misogyny Bring Down The Atheist Movement?") is worth reading if you don't mind a lot of crude language. Reporter Mark Oppenheimer describes the misogynist culture of the atheist-"skeptic"-materialist demimonde, and it's an eye-opener. I will not quote from it because the most fascinating passages would exceed the limits of tolerance for graphic talk by ENV's family-friendly audience. Suffice to say that, whether the rampant accusations of sexual harassment are all true, mostly true, or even...

"Django Unchained" actress Daniele Watts cried out as a victim of racism this week after she was caught having sex in public. The usual Liberal media bought her story attacking the police as racists. Daniele Watts claimed she had been profiled (by police) for "kissing" her white boyfriend.THERE'S ONLY ONE PROBLEM... The facts of Daniele Watts' story don't add up.The police didn't approach Daniele because she was "kissing" her boyfriend. The police were responding to multiple complaints from locals that Daniele was having lewd sex in broad daylight for everyone to see in a car — with the car door...

A high school student from India has invented a device that can convert a person’s breath into speech, to give millions of people around the world suffering from speech impediment a 'voice' for the first time.

“So, your kids must love the iPad?” I asked Mr. Jobs, trying to change the subject. The company’s first tablet was just hitting the shelves. “They haven’t used it,” he told me. “We limit how much technology our kids use at home.” I’m sure I responded with a gasp and dumbfounded silence. I had imagined the Jobs’s household was like a nerd’s paradise: that the walls were giant touch screens, the dining table was made from tiles of iPads and that iPods were handed out to guests like chocolates on a pillow. Nope, Mr. Jobs told me, not even close....

A 9 year boy who found his mom high on heroine on the street, slapped the heck out of her in a shocking video that was posted on instagram. The distraught little boy can be heard screaming "Mommy, wake up. Can you talk to me? Wake up" while the woman stares blankly at him, making him slap her again and again.

Is Tinder not selective enough for you? Is OkCupid turning up dates that don't meet your standards? If so, you might want to look into The League, a new dating app recently released by a Stanford business school graduate. "You're smart, good-looking & successful. You don't need a dating app to get a date - you're too popular as it is. But you should join The League," reads the app's website. The site invites users to download the app and join the waiting list for its "private alpha." Once live, it promises to exclude all of the chaff you'd find...

Food shelves can be a life line for people dealing with poverty and hunger. But many in the Somali-American community say finding a food shelf that caters to their religious dietary restrictions is almost impossible. “Some food shelves are trying to meet the need, but some of them already got canned beans that have already been mixed with pork — and there is a literacy issue here,” said community activist Fartun Weli. A group of first-generation Somali Americans says they need help in developing a food shelf that specializes in healthy foods that do not contain pork or pork byproducts....

Aftab Malik spent a month in Lakemba, “Australia’s unofficial Muslim capital.” He came away warning that the atmosphere in Lakemba “reminded him of London prior to the 7/7 terror bombings of 2005.” He says that the tensions have been “fuelled by the photos and videos of thousands of gruesome deaths in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria and Iraq They are apparently further “radicalized” by “the Islamophobes and their vitriolic diatribes against Islam and Muslims,” as well as by “legislation that, at worst, singles them out as potential terrorists... In other words, they’re also being “radicalized” by writers who note how...

Psychologists have shown humans are poor judges of their own abilities, from sense of humour to grammar. Those worst at it are the worst judges of all. You're pretty smart right? Clever, and funny too. Of course you are, just like me. But wouldn't it be terrible if we were mistaken? Psychologists have shown that we are more likely to be blind to our own failings than perhaps we realise. This could explain why some incompetent people are so annoying, and also inject a healthy dose of humility into our own sense of self-regard.

One thing that is really cool about Europe and has been ruined in the US, is the ability to buy food from the common people on the street. Many are the actual farmers them selves. And we have many wonderful conversations with these remarkable people. I remember going out to Southern California as a pre-teen and experiencing all the different little grocery stands that were there in the late 60's. When I returned there in 2010, there where NO independent produce/fruit stands. It took me a while to figure out why this happened, I was stumped for a long time....

Someone is going to get “unfriended” on Facebook real soon. From WKMG-TV in Orlando, Fla.: According to police, Patricia Denault poured herself a shot of Fireball cinnamon whiskey and took a picture of her son taking a sip. She posted that picture on Facebook, but someone saw that picture and called the police. "Me taking a picture and putting it on Facebook, I thought it was funny," Denault said. Denault was arrested on Wednesday, charged with child neglect after she said three uniformed officers and Child Protective Services came to her house and interviewed her kids. (snip)

Israel is a vibrant democracy with full rights for women and gays, a free press and independent judiciary. You would think that the United Nations would celebrate such a country. Instead, the UN condemns Israel at every turn to the point of obsession. How did this happen? Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights, explains in five eye-opening minutes.

On September 10, only hours before the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, President Obama summoned the nation to a renewed campaign against Islamic terrorists in the Middle East. Using one of several names for the fanatics who have seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq, the president said, “This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL, wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.” As the president’s words indicate, precise application of air power is crucial to this plan. The U.S. has already bombed over...