Free Republic

As a declared presidential candidate, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) should generate even bigger headlines when he addresses black audiences, as he has at Howard University and other venues. When he was executive of mainly Democratic Milwaukee County, Governor Scott Walker (R., Wis.) appealed to black voters; his reelection majorities consistently increased. These and other Republicans should ask black Americans for their votes from now through November 2016. They should do so by challenging blacks to ask themselves an honest question: “What, exactly, have you gained by handing Obama 95 percent of your votes in 2008 and 93 percent in...

(CNSNews.com) – Seventy percent of American males between the ages of 20 and 34 are not married, and many live in a state of “perpetual adolescence” with ominous consequences for the nation’s future, says Janice Shaw Crouse, author of “Marriage Matters.” “Far too many young men have failed to make a normal progression into adult roles of responsibility and self-sufficiency, roles generally associated with marriage and fatherhood,” Crouse, the former executive director of the Beverly LaHaye Institute, wrote in a recent Washington Times oped. The high percentage of bachelors means bleak prospects for millions of young women who dream about...

s Islam, to surpass Christianity by 2070, will be only major religion to increase faster than world’s population  By Julio Severo There will be more Muslims than Christians in the world in less than eighty years, according to a Pew Research Center’s report. The report said that while Christians will increase to 2.92 billion adherents by 2050, Muslims will reach 2.76 billion, making those religions about 30 percent of the world population. Muslims will outnumber Jews in the U.S. by 2050. Yet, the report said that by the end of this century, Islam will be the dominant religion in...

As one who loves America -- not only because I am American, but even more so because I know (not believe, know) that the American experiment in forming a decent society has been the most successful in history -- I write the following words in sadness: With few exceptions, every aspect of American life is in decline. "Decay" is the word. The Decline of the Family: Nearly half (48 percent) of American children are born to a mother who is not married. Forty-three percent of American children live without a father in the home. About 50 percent of Americans over...

Oregon holds on to its title as “Top Moving Destination” and continues to pull away from the pack, while the Northeast loses residents for the third consecutive year. Those are the key findings from United Van Lines’ 38th Annual National Movers Study, which tracks customers’ migration patterns state-to-state during the course of the past year. The study found that Oregon is the top moving destination of 2014, with 66 percent of moves to and from the state being inbound — that’s a nearly 5 percent increase of inbound moves compared to 2013. Arriving at No. 2 on the list was...

In the seventh year of Barack Obama's administration, the economy is still getting failing grades that have been the hallmark of his trouble-filled presidency. While he continues to go about the country telling voters that his policies are working, this week's dreary economic data tell a far different story. The bleak headlines in the nation's major newspapers tell the story in its bluntest terms. "Stocks fall on disappointing economic data," said USA Today. "U.S. stocks fall on weak economic data," blares The Wall Street Journal, with this subhead: "Private payrolls rise less than expected in March, adding to concerns about...

Islam to overtake Christianity by 2050.

Catholic universities in America have lost sight of their institutional identities. Only direct intervention from the Vatican can reverse their decline.Catholic universities in America are typically regarded as offering a well-rounded education combined with one of the premier intellectual forces of the West: the Catholic Church, and its vast well of knowledge in almost every discipline. Unlike state-sponsored institutions, which can offer a quality education, Catholic universities have the advantage of a grounded and time-tested moral foundation. This foundation, and the discoveries, advances, and progress it has produced, is unrivaled in any other Western tradition. Secular universities, good though they...

McDonald's MCD +0.6% worldwide sales fell a more than expected 1.7% in February, marking nine consecutive months of declines. This comes a week after new CEO Steve Easterbrook assumed the top job. Easterbrook, who has said he considers himself an ‘internal activist,’ is faced with reviving the lagging sales that cost previous CEO Don Thompson his job. U.S. sales fell 4%, as the fast food giant continues to face heavy competition from fast casual chains like Chipotle and Panera. “Consumer needs and preferences have changed,” said the company in a statement. “McDonald’s current performance reflects the urgent need to evolve...

“The Republican Party as we know it cannot survive,” according to Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz. Note the caveat: “as we know it.” The Republican Party we know today can barely get 20 percent of the non-white vote in presidential elections. That kind of political party can’t survive precisely because it is the non-white population that is growing, much faster than the white population. By 2044, the United States will be a majority-minority country; there will be more non-whites than whites. The word “minority” will probably be mothballed by then. Unless the GOP can figure out how to stop...

The America that I love has been changing, but it wasn’t until Feb. 26 that I was struck with the realization that I don’t recognize my country anymore. That was the day three FCC commissioners, without revealing the regulations or taking public comment, decided to take regulatory control of the internet.

As pro-life supporters from around the nation gather in Washington, D.C. today to mark the 42nd memorial of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion in the U.S., Operation Rescue announces that two more abortion facilities have permanently closed. “Today, as pro-lifers, we should be encouraged that our efforts have not been in vain. Abortion clinics are closing in record numbers due to their tireless work of men, women, and young people all across this nation,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “America is beginning to reject abortion, and that is evidenced in closed clinics and...

The U.S. birth rate remained at an all-time low in 2013, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

See list. Sooooo true!

There’s a widening gap between the baby-having of married women, who tend to be more educated and more affluent, and their less-educated, less-financially-secure, unmarried peers. A growing body of research, including work by Johns Hopkins University sociologist Andrew Cherlin, raises the possibility that because people like to feel financially secure before taking the marriage plunge, the rise of income inequality has divided Americans into those who marry and those who don’t. Now this could be playing out with childbearing, too. America’s recessionary “baby bust” has clearly leveled off now, but we’ve yet to see the birth recovery one would expect...

The exodus of Jewish Americans from the Democratic Party continued in 2014, with only 61 percent of Jews identifying with the party last year, according to a new poll released Tuesday by Gallup. Sixty-one percent may seem high, compared to 31 percent of the general public who identify as Democrats, but that’s a 3 percent dip from 2013, and a huge drop from 2008, when 71 percent of Jews said they were Democrats. The Democrats’ loss is the GOP’s gain. In 2014, 29 percent of Jews said they were Republicans, up 1 percent from 2013 and a 7 percent rise...

Starting in the mid-1990s, "the mall genie was out of the bottle," says one mall analyst, "and it was never going to come back." While about 80% of the country’s 1,200 malls are considered healthy (vacancy rates of 10% or less), that compares with 94% in 2006; and more than 30 million square feet of malls are more than 40% empty, a threshold that signals the beginning of what one one analyst called "the death spiral." As The NY Times reports, like beached whales, dead malls draw fascination as well as dismay, "nobody ever thinks a mall is going to...

Without Iron Man, Batman or James Bond to bolster ticket sales, the overall box office plunged 5.2% in 2014, topping out at $10.3 billion domestically. Audiences cooled to Hollywood offerings, voting with their feet as attendance dropped by an estimated 6% to 1.26 billion, the lowest figure in nearly two decades. “This was the most flabbergasting year ever,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Rentrak. “The good news is that the movie business had a great year in 2013. A record breaker. The bad news was that in 2014, it was measured against that success.” Although there were some...

Apparently smear ads during campaigns can sometimes tell the truth. Compare Republican Joe Lhota’s ad from the 2013 New York City mayoral campaign to the big, fat Drudge header captured below. The article linked reads in part: New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton said Monday that tensions in the city are echoing those in the 1970s — a fear he expressed only days prior to the ambush killings of two police officers.“Who would’ve ever thought déjà vu all over again, that we would be back where we were 40-some-odd years ago,” Bratton said in an interview on NBC’s “Today.”...

For the last nine years, the Military Times newspaper has surveyed an average of 2,300 active-duty service members. Their latest poll has just been released and concludes that “Obama’s popularity — never high to begin with — has crumbled, falling from 35 percent in 2009 to just 15 percent this year, while his disapproval ratings have increased to 55 percent from 40 percent over that time.” Much of the opposition to Obama has come from military members who believe he has been an inconsistent and flawed leader in foreign policy — for example, his 2011 removal of all troops in...