Free Republic

America’s founding document tells us that our rights are endowed to us from the Creator. If we believe these words, then we must conclude that the Emancipation Proclamation gifted freedom to no one. Furthermore, our freedom of speech was not granted by the First Amendment and no law grants us the right to not be murdered. Our existing liberties may have been captured in the Bill of Rights. But they existed before the North American Continent was ever visited by modern humans. And if any of the first four constitutional amendments were to be repealed by majority vote, the...

A Saudi sheikh has issued a fatwa against anyone wanting to travel to Mars. The Mars One Foundation, a private, nonprofit organisation seeking to establish a permanent, occupied settlement on Mars by 2023 has apparently not found favor with higher ups in the Religion of Peace. In fact Sheikh Ali al Hemki has issued a fatwa against the organization and its plan, claiming the proposed mission “does not conform to ‘responsible Muslim’ practices.” (1) With the exception of beheading infidels, abusing females and killing anyone who disagrees with them, does ANYTHING conform to “responsible Muslim practices?” More importantly, ARE there...

If you were offended by the two Florida men who celebrated Halloween by dressing up as George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin, complete with blackface and blood-stained hoodie, you haven't met Alicia Ann Lynch. The 22-year-old Michigan native thought it would be a good idea to "go" as a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing so she tweeted and Instagrammed a photograph of herself dressed as runner sporting fake scars and blood. And a big smile. If one could hear the rage that Lynch's actions generated from the online world, it would best be described as deafening. Lynch, who has since...

A treasure trove of artworks worth almost £1billion seized by the Nazis and reportedly destroyed in RAF bombing raids during WW2 has been found behind rotting food in shabby apartment in Munich. Experts have hailed the discovery of the 1,500 pictures, thought to have been lost or bombed, as a sensational find. The story of the lost masterpieces of such painters as Pablo Picasso, Renoir, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall is revealed in this week's edition of Germany's Focus magazine which broke the story of the incredible find by customs officials. Art historians examining the collection claim up to 300...

There is widespread fury at the lies which were used to sell ObamaCare, a more than 2,000-page piece of legislation no one read before it was passed, a law opposed by the majority of voters which was crammed down our throats without a single Republican vote. The law essentially was a mishmash blank slate which left it to the administration's HHS head, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to write as she pleased and the president to -- by Executive order -- pay off with exemptions and special treatment those cronies and rent seekers not already paid off in the legislative and regulatory...

Traces of the Hurrian civilization discovered in excavations in the ancient city of Bathonea in Istanbul's Küçükçekmece river basin are being hailed as the year's most important discovery as they provide the first ever proof that the Hittites came to Europe and civilisations' long history... The traces from the Hurrian civilization -- the early Hittite era -- were found in the Küçükçekmece river basin in the western parts of the city. The discoveries -- iron god and goddess statues that were found in two different places -- have created great excitement among researchers... Two Hurrian statues, bitumen, tin and...

Last week, I discussed the importance of generating additional legal challenges to the IRS’s attempt to tax, borrow, and spend $700 billion, under the rubric of ObamaCare, yet contrary to the clear language of the statute and Congress’ intent. Four lawsuits have already been filed to challenge those illegal taxes and spending. The plaintiffs include two attorneys general, more than a dozen school districts, three private employers and eight individual taxpayers. A ruling for any of these plaintiffs would make the problems with ObamaCare’s decrepit HealthCare.gov web site look like a hiccup. Last week, there was activity in one of...

A section of the white population in South Africa is preparing for the worst scenario in case aging former South African President Nelson Mandela passes away. The national evacuation plan over possible genocide was drafted almost a decade ago. Since Mandela’s was elected South Africa’s first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for actively opposing the segregationist policies of apartheid in the country, Afrikaners say over 3,000 white farmers have been murdered in revenge for the suppression enforced by its own National Party. Afrikaners say the government has never shown much desire to investigate the deaths....

Islamic students were chained to the wall and beaten at the Masjad As-Salaamah Mosque in Ohio. The mosque’s name translates to “Mosque of Peace.” Via IM41:

The mummified body of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun burst into flames inside his sarcophagus after a botched attempt to embalm him, according to scientists in a new documentary. After his death in 1323 BC, Tutankhamun was rapidly embalmed and buried, but fire investigators believe a chemical reaction caused by embalming oils used on his mummy sparked the blaze. A fragment of flesh from the boy pharaoh, whose tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter and the Earl of Carnarvon, was tested by researchers who confirmed his body was burnt while sealed in his coffin. Tut has long fired the public imagination....

SNIP It is staggering to consider that, within a brisk walk of each other, so much money, power and influence is amassed — and even more staggering to consider the impact these have on our lives. Those lives are not anecdotes but knee-weakening realities, as in the case of Genevieve Ward of Belle Vernon. Her insurance company informed her last week that ObamaCare would force her out of her existing plan, leaving a sad choice: reduced benefits or increased costs. The 84-year-old widow, whose husband worked at now-defunct Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, saw her payment for out-of-pocket expenses go from $3,400 to...

Obamacare architect Ezekiel Emanuel, a former adviser to the Obama White House, admitted today that, if Democrats have their way, the individual insurance market is going away. “Insurance companies don’t want, insurance companies don’t want the individual market as it’s constructed. They see the future. That individual market is going away. They don’t want to invest in it.” That was their plan all along. Via FOX News Sunday:

In October 2013, American Principles in Action (APIA) released an analysis of the 2012 election titled, “Building a Winning GOP Coalition: The Lessons of 2012″. This analysis stands in sharp contrast to the Republican National Committee’s report, “Growth and Opportunity Project”, popularly known as the “autopsy.” “Building a Winning GOP Coalition: The Lessons of 2012″, takes a hard-headed, skeptical, and primarily political look at the lessons Republicans must learn from 2012 in order to build a winning national GOP coalition. It challenges the conventional wisdom that the national GOP’s loss in 2012 was a result of a focus on...

We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.—Russian President Vladimir Putin, open letter to the American people, September 11 In the countries of the former Soviet Union, in particular in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and Moldavia, an unprecedented religious revival is underway. In the Russian Orthodox Church over the past 25 years there have been built or restored from ruins more than 25,000 churches. This means that a thousand churches a year have been opened, i.e., three churches a day.—Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, October 30 Pope Francis has said...

Former Mayor Ray Nagin's federal trial on 21 public corruption charges was postponed again last week — for the third time. The former mayor is now set to stand trial on Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. If and when Nagin does go to trial — or if he pleads to a reduced charge — it will be the final chapter of Hurricane Katrina's political arc. Guilty or innocent, Nagin's fate will bring closure to a city that arguably suffered as much after the storm as during it, thanks in large measure to the former mayor's failure to implement a recovery program...

A conservative, nonprofit group based in America's capital is suggesting a new election game plan that challenges Republicans who don't want to talk about issues like abortion and homosexual "marriage."The group American Principles in Action (APIA) believes three social institutions must be protected to ensure a thriving society: religious liberty, the integrity of marriage and the family, and the sanctity of human life. Toward that end, APIA suggests Republican candidates must not call a "truce" on social issues, but should consider them an asset for the party. That strategy is part of an analysis entitled "Six Steps to Success for...

Last night into this morning, the HealthCare.gov marketplace was shut down for extended maintenance to fix the tremendous amount of problems the site has. Apparently, twelve hours and false assurances were not enough to miraculously cure the bedeviled site. The site has announced that every night they will shut down the “Health Insurance Marketplace online application” to “make improvements.” The announcement was slapped across the top of the site this morning:

Featured Term (selected at random): CHRISTIAN CALENDARA proposed system of regulating the sequence of the year in closer consistency with Christian feasts and seasons. The Second Vatican Council declared itself not opposed to assigning Easter to a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar, the one now popularly used in the Western world. Presently, Easter falls on the Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox, and it varies in date. As a result the period of Lent, together with the feasts of Pentecost, Ascension, and many others, also vary each year. this stabilization, however, is to depend on acceptance...

The person inside the suit does not need to be male, but a controversy is brewing on campus as to whether the Bear should exhibit “male heterosexual” behavior:

I just happened to wander over to Politico this morning...which I rarely do...and stumbled across this amazing story (Link below) about the successful changes that conservatives are making in a local school district in the Colorado suburbs. For Politico..it's a reasonably fair story ( ignore the headline ) and well worth reading. But I'm wondering why we haven't heard much more about it?