Free Republic

She sat across from me, tears streaming down her face. The subject of abortion came up and this woman struggled to discuss it. ‘Emotionally damaging’ was the phrase she used to describe the procedure. She thought about her child. She wondered how old he or she may be. As she reflected on her past she wrestled with feelings of regret. She admitted to choosing abortion without knowing all of the facts. She felt rushed into the decision, wishing now that she would have gathered more information before she decided. This woman’s story is all too common. In the decade I’ve...

Three events occurred in the tight confines of Capitol Hill last week that underscore the Republican Party’s extraordinary institutional decline and its responsibility for the Congress’ fully deserving its “do-nothing” label. First, early in the week, all but seven Republicans in the GOP – controlled House of Representatives voted to give Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio the go-ahead to sue President Obama because they claim his executive orders are in violation of the constitution. The purpose of that “political stunt” – the president’s words for the lawsuit, which he and the Democrats have come to relish for...

Thrash metal band Megadeth and hip hop star CeeLo Green joined a growing list of entertainers on Tuesday whose scheduled concerts in Israel have been cancelled amid the Gaza crisis. Los Angeles-based Megadeth was due to play in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, but on its website the group said it wasn’t able to secure a guarantee that it could make it. “The band was looking forward to this concert and is disappointed they will not be able to put on the show for their fans, but expects to return to Tel Aviv on their next international tour,” it said.

President Obama’s much-rumored executive order granting legal status to potentially millions of illegal immigrants will be “disastrous” to African-American job seekers and a slap in the face to others proceeding through the tedious legal immigration process, charges a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Peter Kirsanow, a black commissioner on the eight-member panel, warned in a letter (below) to Obama this week that giving legal status to undocumented workers will pave the way for them to take the few jobs that blacks, especially African-American men, need. “I write to remind you of the disastrous effect of illegal immigration...

ver the last four years, I have lived with the constant threat from a stalker – a stalker who is now in jail for the third time for violating a restraining order. Every day I live with these questions: What if today is the day that my stalker posts bail? What if today is the day that he discovers my parents’ new address? What if I go to a lecture on campus and he shows up there? I feel that I have no control over my life. My family was forced to move. I have had stay indoors, keep drapes...

The photo of Obama on Drudge right now, with his glass raised in a toast, could easily be featured in some kind of monster movie. His eyes are dead and angry. I recall seeing stacks of Obama memorabilia on sale at Walmart just after his second election - not one photo of him had him looking straight into the camera. There were profiles of him with his head turned excessively either to the left or right. Tonight, looking at this straight ahead photo of him I believe that when possible, press photos try to avoid his "1000 yard stare" because...

George Lucas, the man behind the mega-successful interplanetary saga Star Wars, may well have retired, but his spirit looms large at the famous Skywalker Ranch. The creator of Luke, Leia, Indiana Jones and Darth Vader bought the property in 1978 with proceeds from his first blockbuster hit, Star Wars to realise his dream of creating a haven for filmmaking outside Hollywood, at a cost of around $100 million (Dh367 million), according to the Wall Street Journal. Rare visitors allowed into the huge complex — 1,900 hectares near San Francisco — must first weave around hills, orchards, and pastures occupied by...

President Barack Obama says he's reviewing all options to stop American companies from reincorporating overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Obama says the practice is unfair and not right. He says the tax income that's lost as a result must be made up somewhere and that it's usually through higher taxes or reduced government services. Obama says he would prefer that Congress act to close the loophole, but that he's considering acting on his own to end the practice.

Man, allegedly French, filmed kicking squirrel off edge of the Grand Canyon Topless man lured the squirrel to the edge using trail of breadcrumbs Animal rights charity PETA has now posted a £10,000 for his arrest The heartless thug who kicked a squirrel into the Grand Canyon in a Youtube clip has a £10,000 bounty on his head thanks to furious animal activists. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), famous for its shock tactics and ads containing scantily clad women, are on the hunt for the man shown in the video.

Long wait times for veterans to get health care can be cleared up in two years, along with investigations of employees accused of falsifying data to hide the problem, Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said Wednesday. Gibson, who toured the Denver VA hospital, said his department has to change its culture to get employees to take responsibility for solving problems. Most VA workers are dedicated and know change is necessary, he said. "I really believe that in as little as two years the conversation can completely change," Gibson said. Asked if that meant both the wait times and the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Wednesday on MSNBC's "Hardball," host Chris Matthews discussing the presidential press conference that had just wrapped up, said he understood President Barack Obama's answer to whether he will grant work permits essentially creating amnesty for up to 5 million illegal immigrants living in the United States was "yes." Matthews said, "His answer to me was yes -- I'm going to issue some kind of system whereby people get relief from deportation or whatever it is. The government of the United States is going to in effect give work permits to people in this country illegally."(continued)

Canada and the European Union have agreed the final text for a free trade agreement that could provide a blueprint for a US-EU trade deal. Tuesday's deal will cut tariffs between Canada and the EU by 98% and could boost trade by 20%, or about $20bn.

Last week, conservative Sen. Ted Cruz endorsed Doug Ducey in ArizonaÂ’s GOP gubernatorial primary: " The crisis at AmericaÂ’s border is a defining issue in the coming election, especially in Arizona. IÂ’m supporting Doug Ducey for Arizona governor because he is the best candidate to help secure the border, protect the people, and enforce the law. He has the most serious and credible plan to address the border crisis." (SNIP) The endorsement was considered a major coup for Ducey, who is distrusted by some Arizona conservatives. (SNIP) In the wake of CruzÂ’s endorsement, tweets posted early last year by DuceyÂ’s...

The Afghan soldier who killed US Major General Harold Greene had spent three years in the army before he squeezed off two to three bursts of gunfire from a first-floor window at a senior military delegation in Kabul, officials said on Wednesday. As details emerged about Tuesday’s attack at a military complex in the Afghan capital, a picture was forming of a rogue Afghan soldier who may have been difficult to spot before he killed Greene and wounded 14 coalition troops. Greene was the most senior US military official killed in action overseas since the war in Vietnam. His father described him to Reuters as...

Many of you across the country will have a chance to vote in GOP primaries this month. If you care about limited government, secure borders, and parental/local empowerment against Fed Ed, here are some of the stellar candidates running at the local, state, and federal levels who deserve your support. (SNIP) Support Joe Carr for Senate. GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander is another Beltway lifer who needs to be sent packing. Carr is an outspoken conservative state legislator with a proven record on fighting amnesty and turning off the entitlement magnets that attract illegal immigrants. (SNIP) ARIZONA I endorsed state school...

A Denver bar has been cited by the state's Division of Civil Rights for discrimination because it refused to let a gay man dressed in drag enter. The bar is the Denver Wrangler, and despite what its name might suggest, it is not some Country Western joint. It is, in fact, a gay bar. So the state has determined that a gay bar has discriminated against a gay person. What happened last summer is that a gay man named Vito Marzano, dressed in drag from a fundraiser elsewhere, wanted to enter the Wrangler. He was denied entry. The bar claims...

Bergdahl, 28, "sent back" after years held by Suni Dominants. Obama agenda of the moment ordered Bergdahl's release from Haqqani in trade for five Taliban, some of the deadliest against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Black Jesus Slink Johnson (center) with, from left, Corey Holcomb, Andrew Bachelor, Kali Hawk and Andra Fuller, Thursdays on Adult Swim. Aaron McGruder moves his satire of contemporary African-American life from comic strips and animation to live actors with “Black Jesus,” his new series for Adult Swim, beginning Thursday night. It’s a looser, baggier, less pointed show than “The Boondocks,” his sometimes-brilliant cartoon that has occasionally popped up on Adult Swim over the last nine years. And it has a comfortable, which is to say familiar, feel, recalling comedies from “Chappelle’s Show” all the way back to “Sanford and Son.”But...

Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol are impressive people. After all, they obeyed God’s call to minister to the “least of these” as missionaries to Liberia. Dr. Brantly grew in stature when, after contracting the deadly Ebola virus, he decided to forfeit an experimental serum so that 60-year-old Writebol could have the first available dose. Then, that night while the second sub-zero serum thawed, Brantly suddenly took a turn for the worse and was quickly administered the initial dose he had originally turned down. This is a man willing to go last and as a result, as promised, ended up...

China will construct a "Chinese Christian theology" suitable for the country, state media reported on Thursday, as both the number of believers and tensions with the authorities are on the rise. China has between 23 million and 40 million Protestants, accounting for 1.7 to 2.9 per cent of the total population, the state-run China Daily said, citing figures given at a seminar in Shanghai. About 500,000 people are baptised as Protestants every year, it added. "Over the past decades, the Protestant churches in China have developed very quickly with the implementation of the country's religious policy," the paper quoted Wang...