Free Republic

....Obama announced the administration’s move to normalize relations with the communist government of Cuba — the most dramatic shift in U.S. policy toward the island nation in more than 50 years.... Fox News Latino reached out to music power couple Gloria and Emilio Estefan, both Cuban-born and outspoken critics of the regime, but their publicist said the couple had no comment. They were on the set of “Glee” when news broke.

GENTLE GIANT WHO LOVES CHILDREN

Unhealthy eating habits could become an issue of national security. The Department of Defense says that obesity is affecting the number of Americans eligible to serve in the military. Jessica Kartalija reports now there’s a push for kids to eat healthier. Recruiting for our military is facing a growing challenge. “I am very concerned about the reduced number of men and women who can meet all of the qualifications required to serve in our armed forces,” said retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Steven Tomaszeski. Now, retired admirals from Maryland are releasing a report, citing obesity as the number one reason...

Memo to all of you “Republican War on Women” talkers: Take a hike.Two races of particular interest yesterday speak to an issue which goes far beyond the borders of their respective districts. One was a House race which I’ve written about here before. In New York’s north country, Elise Stefanik has won her battle against millionaire filmmaker Aaron Woolf and is now the youngest woman ever elected to the United States Congress. Republican Elise Stefanik has become the youngest woman elected to Congress in history, winning her race against Aaron Woolf in New York’s 21st open district 56-32, ABC...

In the recent months, I have been engaged in political debates with liberals mostly under the age of 40 (I am over the age of 40). These debates have taken place in person, via email and political discussion blogs. In each occurrence, I was contacted or confronted by the individuals who wanted to engage in discussions with me. I was personally contacted and invited to participate in discussions on a blog that repost some of my articles. However, after each round of discussions, I am saddened with the realization that our great country is in deep trouble if today’s young...

It is possible to count on two hands the number of politically active celebrities who demonstrate thoughtfulness and substance in their activism. The rest, a great horde of marginally famous mediocrities, can be counted on to reduce politics to the parochial frivolities that capture only their relatively constrained imaginations. The youth voter advocacy group Rock the Vote can be counted on every two years to put the trivial concerns of those celebrities on parade. Rock the VoteÂ’s latest effort to patronize young voters was released this week in the form of a music video featuring luminaries ranging from Whoopi...

Pope Francis prays with journalists on the papal flight en route to South Korea, August 14, 2014. Credit: Alan Holdren/CNA. Daejeon, South Korea, Aug 15, 2014 / 04:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Addressing the division between North and South Korea, Pope Francis emphasized that the two are “one family,” calling for prayers of re-unification while stressing repentance and forgiveness. “There is only one Korea, but this family is divided,” the Pope said to a large gathering of young people from across the continent. His off-the-cuff comments came during an Aug. 15 gathering with youth of Asia at Solmoe Shrine, birthplace of...

There was a time not so long ago when the young seemed destined to be liberal forever. Americans in their teens and 20s were to the left of their elders on social issues. They worried more about poverty. They voted strongly Democratic.In retrospect, we refer to this period as the 1960s, and it didn’t last long, let alone forever. Less than a generation after young people were marching for civil rights and against the Vietnam War, they voted overwhelmingly for Ronald Reagan.Today, of course, the young are liberal again, and it seems as if they will be forever. They favor...

The number one issue that people have with 3D printers today, is the speed at which they print at. People now-a-days want things quickly, at the touch of a button. Over the years, many of our everyday jobs, chores, and desires have reached a point of almost becoming instant. For example, when you want to print a document from your computer or tablet, its done in approximately 5-10 seconds. When you want to bring up a website on your smartphone, itÂ’s up in a matter of 1-2 seconds. Just about every aspect of our lives, when compared to that of...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) A victim of the knockout game decided that he would not let the teenage attackers get away with the violent assault, chased them down, and managed to bring them to justice. In a related report by The Inquisitr, the idea behind the knockout game is that a group or an individual targets the first person they see and attempts to knock the unsuspecting person unconscious with just one punch. Media reports have focused on “black mobs” going after Jews when targeting people. There is also a book that documents the trend toward violence called White Girl Bleed a Lot:...

Last summer, student activists in Florida known as the Dream Defenders held one of the longest sit-in demonstrations in recent Tallahassee history, as they attempted to get Rick Scott to call for a special session on the controversial Stand Your Ground self-defense law. The sit-in began just days after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Though Scott declined to convene such a session, the group received national attention for their actions, and they vowed that they would be back in 2014 to educate thousands of new voters in advance of the 2014 state elections. That's...

Economists are scratching their heads trying to figure out a puzzle in this recovery: Why are young people not working? People retiring at age 60 or even 55 in a weak economy is easy to understand. But at 25? The percentage of adult Americans who are working or looking for work now stands at 62.8%, a 36-year low and down more than 3 percentage points since late 2007, according to the Labor Department's May employment report. This is fairly well-known. What isn't so well-known is that a major reason for the decline is that fewer and fewer young people are...

The Filastuder One question arises quite often when talking to people who utilize FDM 3D printers on a daily basis. What do you do with your 3D printed scraps and junk? When an object doesnÂ’t print correctly or when an object just simply is not wanted or needed any longer, where do they eventually end up? Most likely they get tossed in a the trashcan, and end up in a landfill for the next 500 years before the earth reclaims them. That filament that you paid $40/roll for becomes wasted money. One 15-year-old boy, named Grayson Galisky, has taken it...

PHILADELPHIA — DINNER with your children in 19th-century America often required some self-control. Berry stains in your daughter’s hair? Good for her. Raccoon bites running up your boy’s arms? Bet he had an interesting day. As this year’s summer vacation begins, many parents contemplate how to rein in their kids. But there was a time when Americans pushed in the opposite direction, preserved in Mark Twain’s cat-swinging scamps. Parents back then encouraged kids to get some wildness out of their system, to express the republic’s revolutionary values. American children of the 19th century had a reputation. Returning British visitors reported...

Behold, yet another data point indicating that Obama’s 2012 re-election coalition is splintering or flat-out apathetic heading into the midterm cycle, via the Washington Post: As this graph illustrates, less than a third of Obama’s 2012 Millennial voters say they’ll “definitely” vote for Democrats this fall. Almost as many have abandoned the party label completely, either by shifting to independent status or by supporting Republicans. When this Democratic pollster tabulates the data, he finds that only half of all the young Obama voters surveyed will definitely, probably, or maybe vote for Democrats in the midterms. The rest plan to...

Surprise, surprise, the labor force participation rate in April for young adults between the ages of 25-29 hit a record low. Liberals continue to tout that young people are doing just fine under the Obama economy, but alas the data shows otherwise. Young people have been the hardest hit by Obama and his leftist policies. Young Americans are the ones expected to pick up the tab for the reckless spending coming from Washington while facing an increasingly tough job market. Each year Young America’s Foundation releases its Youth Misery Index (YMI), which adds together youth unemployment, average graduating student debt,...

Bad news for students who need to borrow federal student loans: your interest rates for the 2014-2015 school year will be higher than they were during the 2013-2014 academic calendar.

Republicans will nominate someone younger than her, and it won't make a difference to young people.Our old colleague Patrick Caldwell has an interesting article up at Mother Jones about the way the Hillary Clinton campaign—or whatever we can call it at this point, since it isn't actually a campaign but it isn't exactly just a bunch of independent people doing their own thing either—is going after college students. I had forgotten how idiotically hostile the Hillary '08 campaign was toward college students in Iowa, but that's just one of innumerable mistakes that one presumes she'll attempt to correct this time...

Building the Machine introduces the public to the Common Core States Standards Initiative (CCSSI) and its effects on our children’s education. The documentary compiles interviews from leading educational experts, including members of the Common Core Validation Committee. Parents, officials, and the American public should be involved in this national decision regardless of their political persuasion. What is the common core? The Common Core is the largest systemic reform of American public education in recent history. What started as a collaboration between the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to reevaluate and nationalize America’s education standards...

Europe’s unemployed youth do not mind a little economic insecurity. What they can’t stand is a chronic atmosphere of political hopelessness. No wonder they are fleeing the continent. Young people appear to be the social group most affected by the lingering economic crisis of the EU. Around a quarter of them is unemployed. As expected, the situation is the most dramatic in the countries on the European periphery: In Spain 57 per cent of the population below 30 is unable to find a job, according to the most recent Eurostat figures. The worrying list also includes Greece with 58 per...