Free Republic

“Animal rights come before religion” Editor’s note: This story was published in error; it incorrectly suggested that Denmark’s ban is new. See correction appended Denmark enacted a sweeping ban on the religious slaughter of animals in 2014, prompting a furious backlash from Jewish and Muslim community representatives.

For years, the cities have been robbing the suburbs but they now have a scheme that will quickly end in a takeover of the suburbs by a leftist federal government. HUD announced enforcement of its new 377-page rule called the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule which will allow them to move people from poor crime-ridden areas into “wealthy” suburbs. It was announced by leftist Julian Castro Monday. The rule has force behind it. Federal monies will be withheld and lawsuits accusing residents of racism will be filed. Any town that takes federal funds will be transformed. It is not only...

There’s a basic difference in the traditions of political science between “authoritarians” and “totalitaritarians.” People throw both of these words around, but as is so often the case, they’re using words they may not always understand. They have real meaning, however, and the difference between them is important.Simply put, authoritarians merely want obedience, while totalitarians, whose rule is rooted in an ideology, want obedience and conversion. Authoritarians are a dime a dozen; totalitarians are rare. The authoritarians are the guys in charge who want to stay in charge, and don’t much care about you, or what you’re doing, so long...

California regulators on Monday proposed a first-of-its-kind, $1.5 million fine for a group of Central Valley farmers accused of illegally taking water during the drought. It would be the first such fine against an individual or district with claims to water that are more than a century-old, known as senior water rights holders. The action reflects the rising severity of California’s four-year drought that has prompted the state to demand cutbacks from those historically sheltered from mandatory conservation. …

Writing at the website of Time magazine, New York Times columnist Mark Oppenheimer called for abolishing the tax exemptions for nonprofits and instead turning over those funds to government to spend in the interests of the community. “We’d have fewer church soup kitchens — but countries that truly care about poverty don’t rely on churches to run soup kitchens”, he rationalizes. Take that, Salvation Army. Oppenheimer’s view takes the idea of “government as simply a word for the things we decide to do together” to an unsustainable extreme – suggesting that if we do not do things via government, they...

President Obama will announce Wednesday that the U.S. and Cuba have reached an agreement to open embassies in Havana and Washington, an administration official confirmed to Fox News. The announcement marks a major step in ending hostilities between the longtime foes and an opportunity to re-establish formal diplomatic relations. The U.S. and Cuba have been negotiating the reestablishment of embassies in each other’s capitals following the Dec. 17 announcement that they would move to restore ties. …

It is not too many centurions, particularly 100-year-old-plus writers, whose vision of the world is as relevant today as it was when first shared with the public over half a century ago. It is this vision of Orwell, the X-ray view through the cant, platitudes and lies to that ugliest of human drives, the lust for powers absolute, that still distinguishes the British writer, born 112 years ago this week on June 25, 1903. He was only 46 when he died on January 21, 1950. It is his frightening acuity that keeps him not only in the pantheon but even...

Here is a list of great quotes left by Anonymous on a major forum. Use them to start discussions at school and elsewhere. Some of these quotes are scarily appropriate to our present situation in Obama's America. Others show how our founding fathers were thinking 200 years ago. What our public schools now call Critical Thinking is usually neither critical nor thinking. It's blind acceptance of politically correct opinions. Debate. Argue. Discuss. Finally, figure out answers for yourself. --- "That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that...

More and more, I see that this is the essential question. There are definitely people at the top of this society working together so that the average person is kept illiterate and ignorant. Why? Obama talks about students being made career-ready and college-ready. This is laughable. We have millions of students who are being made welfare-ready. The statistics show that half the kids in eighth grade are not reading at a "proficient" level. In other words, they can read a McDonald's menu and that's about it. Ask yourself the obvious question. If the school system were serious about educating children,...

As America enters again into the pretense of political presidential battles, it is important for conservatives to grasp that the real battle is not a particular election or, indeed, any elections, but the war leftism wages on America and its Judeo-Christian values. It is a war with skirmishes and ambushes every day in every aspect of public life. The enemy is not a corps of professional politicians, but rather a cadre of tenured professors, bureaucrats protected from the merit system, executives and managers running communications and entertainment corporations, public school teachers and administrators, professional “advocates” for notionally oppressed groups, lawyers...

May 11, 2015 (BreakPoint.org) -- In the first century, Jesus was asked whether the Jewish people, who were under pagan, Roman occupation, should pay taxes to Caesar. The Lord, of course, said we are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s. But in 21st century America, Caesar is angling for a better deal—and he’s getting it.Our old friend Chuck Colson sounded the alarm several years ago when certain political figures on the Left—including former secretary of state Hillary Clinton—began downsizing the First Amendment’s guarantee of our God-given right to freedom of religion into a more...

To All Innocent Fifth Columnists Ayn Rand - 1941 You who read this represent the greatest danger to America. No matter what the outcome of the war in Europe may be, Totalitarianism has already won a complete victory in many American minds and conquered all of our intellectual life. You have helped it to win. Perhaps it is your right to destroy civilization and bring dictatorship to America, but not unless you understand fully what you are doing. If that is what you want to do, say so openly, at least to your own conscience, and we who believe in...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)supports real marriage. He is opposed by gay rights activists who are more and more showing themselves to be little despots. Cruz spoke at the home of Ian Reisner who is both gay and supports homosexual marriage. The gaystapo has decreed that Mr. Reisner’s businesses must be boycotted. He dared to associate with a conservative. Consequently, Mr. Reisner, to protect his business interests in New York, has been forced to apologize for having an untouchable in his home. The totalitarianism of the gay rights movement is on display more and more. A pizza restauranteur doesn’t want to...

- 12:02 PM Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen said that a future goal of the agency is for taxpayers to have an account at the IRS and for taxpayers “to have a more complete online experience for all their transactions with the IRS.” “The IRS needs to do more and take a different approach and one that doesn’t just rely on resources,” said the commissioner, speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. “We need to be looking forward to a new, improved way of doing business,” he said. “This involves looking into the future in...

I have a dream. I have a dream that I will wake up one day in a country where we don’t have to go to court or pass a law to protect our fundamental natural rights—from the government. I have a dream of a place where elected officials have so much regard for the Constitution that they memorize it like Scripture, in order to not sin against it. I have a dream about a country where it doesn’t matter if you are on the right or the left, because you have so much respect for the freedoms you were given...

Hatred of the Gospel is boiling over into the vilification of Christians. State violence won't be far behind, history teaches. The full force of the federal, state and local governments will soon be turned against defenders of biblical Christianity. Will we resist or collaborate? If you have been following mass media over the past few days, you will have learned from an economist at the U.S. Department of Labor that defenders of religious freedom are “Nazis.” Take a moment to ponder that assertion. Roll it around in your head for a while. You’ll be hearing a lot more fighting words...

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Thursday called on nations around the world to expand human rights, religious tolerance and peaceful dialogue as they struggle to combat a spate of terrorism that has recently struck places as far afield as Australia, Canada and Europe. In an address to world leaders on the final day of his summit on violent extremism, Mr. Obama said that poverty and political grievances fuel alienation that can lead to bursts of killing like those seen in Paris, Copenhagen, Sydney and Ottawa. In addition to building up security forces, he said nations must “put an end to...

Progressives will always claim that no matter how badly their plans go wrong, at least their terrible policies were well-intentioned.The regimes that shot orphans, starved entire cities into submission and committed genocide were “caring” in comparison to the heartless Dickensian capitalists who did nothing for the poor except create cheap products and jobs. They might have killed millions, but their red hearts were in the right place. They didn’t just spend all their time gobbling caviar and diving into swimming pools full of all money like the millionaires of the West. Instead they gave speeches about Marxism-Leninism, killed anyone who...

Humorous short video portrayal of the utopian society of the future. Click link to watch.

"On Wednesday, Obama administration officials confirmed to The Post that Cuba has freed American citizen Alan Gross. Gross, who was detained in December 2009 while working as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, had been accused of espionage and sentenced to 15 years in prison by Cuba. His imprisonment was a major problem in relations between Washington and Havana. Gross was not freed by accident. According to ABC News, his release is the culmination of more than a year of "secret back-channel talks at the highest levels of both governments." And, importantly, his release comes at the...