Free Republic

Every San Franciscan -- and every friend of freedom -- should learn about Eugene Fahy, a native of Northern California who took a stand against tyrants and never backed down. Born in San Mateo in 1911 and educated at Saint Ignatius and the University of San Francisco, Fahy was a brilliant man who left behind indisputable proof of his eloquence and courage. He could have been a prince of the city, one of San Francisco's most prominent and prosperous men. Instead he took a vow of poverty and devoted his life to God. He joined the Jesuits, went to China,...

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Hillary Clinton, without a hint of irony, has reportedly called for “toppling” the 1 percent. So the putative favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination intends to target those who — like herself, her husband and the benefactors of her family foundation – are the wealthiest of the wealthy. If Mrs. Clinton is seeking to upend a system that pays off a select group of elite insiders who profit by undertaking cronyistic, anti-free market acts, I applaud her. But if Mrs. Clinton is rather seeking to punish the few who have amassed great wealth by producing goods and services for their...

For the past couple of years, a young woman known only as “Bionerd23” has been making strange, dangerous videos in and around one of the most infamous nuclear zones on Earth—the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Nothing is too radioactive or risky for her. She has shown herself getting injected with the radionuclide technetium, eating radioactive apples from a tree in Chernobyl, being chased by a possibly rabid fox, and picking up fragments of the nuclear plant’s reactor fuel with her bare hands. When a freakishly large catfish appears on camera, she calmly explains that it’s probably not a mutant—“They are just...

A small clique of left-wing publishers, editors, writers, and fans have controlled the Hugo for years, and they are threatening to make sure the winner of this year’s Hugos are all “No Award.” Yes, “No Award” is a valid vote; it’s a shame that’s not an option in political elections. Larry Correia, Brad Torgerson, Vox Day, and all of the other “Puppies” supporters set out to demonstrate that the Hugo process was politicized and broken. They said that if authors were nominated who didn’t “fit the mold,” who weren’t approved by the ruling faction, they would be blacklisted, ostracized, insulted,...

Left-wingers and progressives in America are becoming insufferable, are they not? It's quite apparent that they have no desire to "live and let live," but want to force their delusions off onto everyone else. You will live, think, and do as the Left tells you, whether you like it or not. Even in the pettiest of way, they can't help themselves. Take, for example, this story coming out of the University of Oregon. To summarize for the reader, a student named Elle Mallon, who was running for office in student government filed a number of grievances against a rival student...

Legislative committee hearings aren’t known for their heart-pounding excitement. But, you might hear a round of cheers to excite the crowds at this week’s Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism & Internet Media Committee. On Tuesday, the committee is scheduled to consider a proposal by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, that would provide greater labor protections for professional cheerleaders. Assembly Bill 202, which scored a 5-2 win in the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment earlier this month, would protect cheerleaders of professional sports teams from workplace abuses by classifying them as employees, not independent contractors.

CBS News is in the tank for Barack Obama. Of course, and less you’ve been living in a cave, you already knew that. But last night’s episode of the CBS fictional series “60 Minutes” provided new evidence of their love affair with our second black president. They broke out there Monica Lewinsky branded kneepads for an episode focusing on Syria. You’ll recall that Pres. Obama made a number of statements regarding Syrian dictator Assad with reference to chemical weapon use. He noted that if chemical weapons were used in Syria, Assad would have crossed a “Red Line.” No sooner were...

Turkey's push to carve out an independent foreign policy and purchase arms from countries outside of NATO is raising concerns among members of the defensive military alliance, Emre Peker reports for the Wall Street Journal. "Turkey is recasting itself as a nonaligned country in its rhetoric, which is making NATO very uncomfortable," a Western official in Brussels told the WSJ. Ankara's decision to purchase missile-defense technology from China, as opposed to from NATO member states, is the most visible break between Turkey and the rest of the NATO bloc. Turkey chose to purchase from Beijing due to a matter of...

In New Orleans, midnight sounded on last call – for smoking. A new law just took effect banning cigarettes, cigars and other forms of tobacco smoking from all bars. And some local residents are relieved. “This is one of the smokiest bars in town,” said Steve Zweibaum, speaking to the New York Times from one local bar. “I know a bunch of people who don’t come in here because of the smoke. Maybe they’ll come back.”

If you tried to contact the IRS with a question about your taxes this year, chances are you didn't get a response. The IRS estimated that it would only answer 17 million of the 49 million calls received this filing season. Taxpayers lucky enough to have the IRS answer their calls waited an average of 34.4 minutes for assistance--nearly double the wait time last year (18.7 minutes). IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has blamed the IRS's "abysmal" customer service on congressional budget cuts--funding is down $1.2 billion from its 2010 peak--but a new congressional report points the finger back at the...

A friend sends along an email attachment—a handwritten letter by his 8-year-old son, Peter. It’s addressed to First Lady Michelle Obama. “It all started because he saw something about school lunches [and] how ketchup is bad for you, and that Michelle Obama wants to limit the amount of ketchup” in schools, my friend explained. When the boy’s mother reminded him he attends a private school, making the ketchup rationing a nonissue, “He said something about wanting to ‘give a voice to the voiceless.’” But ketchup is actually the least of the boy’s concerns, as he then continues onto foreign policy,...

The Defense Department released a map last week showing territory where it is has pushed ISIS back, claiming that the terrorist group is “no longer able to operate freely in roughly 25 to 30 percent of populated areas of Iraqi territory where it once could.” This was touted as evidence of success by numerous news outlets. Pushing ISIS back is clearly a good step. But the information from the Pentagon is, at best, misleading and incomplete, experts in the region and people on the ground tell The Daily Beast. They said the map misinforms the public about how effective the...

A Roman Catholic priest in Scotland who alleged there was a culture of sexual bullying in seminaries stretching back decades has been found guilty by a Church tribunal of injuring the reputation of the Church and its clergy. Father Matthew Despard, who was suspended from his parish at St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, made the claims in a self-published book entitled 'Priesthood in Crisis'.The e-book has been removed from sale on Amazon's Kindle service following legal threats by priests who said they had been defamed, but its description says that it is "a story of one priest's experience...

Headless bodies lie in the sand. Above those corpses stand the black-clad minions of ISIS, outlined against the coastline of Libya. This is the second video in three months depicting Islamic terrorists cutting the heads off of Christian captives. Bodies float in the Mediterranean Sea, face down. Twelve Christian bodies, thrown from a rubber boat by 15 Muslims. Their launch point: Libya. Approximately 700 more bodies float face down in the Mediterranean, victims of a smuggling operation gone wrong when their rickety craft sunk as it made its way to Italy. Its source location: Libya. Four American bodies in Benghazi,...

Moscow, April 22, Interfax - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he sees the Islamic State terror group (ISIS) as the main enemy of Russia now. "I believe that ISIS is our main enemy now," he said in an interview with three radio stations on Wednesday, commenting on the fact that "hundreds of Russian citizens, hundreds of Europeans and hundreds of Americans are fighting on the side of the ISIS."

Yemen remains unstable and much more work needs to be done in the region, despite a declared halt to the Saudi-led bombing campaign in the country, the White House said on Wednesday. "Obviously, the job is not done," Jen Psaki, White House communications director, said on CNN. Tuesday's announcement by Saudi Arabia that it would end its campaign of air strikes against the Iranian-allied Houthis drew positive responses from the White House and Tehran, as well as fresh calls for peace talks and for humanitarian aid. Saudi Arabia said its month-old campaign against the Houthis, who had seized large areas...

An alleged Islamic extremist planned to attack two churches, according to reportsFrench police have arrested a man allegedly planning to launch an armed attack on two churches in Paris, the country’s top security official has announced. A number of news agencies have described the man as an Islamic extremist. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the man, a 24-year-old Algerian computer science student, was arrested on Sunday in Paris. He is said to have lived in France for a number of years. The man, who had been flagged by security officials last year, was arrested after he apparently accidentally shot himself...

San Francisco is unreasonably monopolizing spectacular Hetch Hetchy Valley by using it as a 117-billion-gallon reservoir, says a new lawsuit in a decades-old fight to restore the Yosemite National Park landmark. The lawsuit asks a court to require a plan for improving the city’s water system so no water is lost in restoring the valley. It also asks for modification or removal of O’Shaughnessy Dam in Yosemite to let the Tuolumne River flow again. The complaint was filed Tuesday in Tuolumne County Superior Court on the 177th birthday of conservationist John Muir, who lost the bitter fight a century ago...

A legion of foreign fighters who bravely joined the Kurdish forces battling militants loyal to the Islamic State have posed for photographs in Syria. Showing off their tattoos, play fighting with one another and relaxing in a camp, the international fighting force appear incredibly relaxed - despite fighting on the frontline against the terror group. Dozens of fighters - many of them ex-soldiers in the British and America armies - have volunteered to join Kurdish troops battling ISIS in Iraq and Syria in recent months. As many of the Kurdish fighters do not speak English, the foreign soldiers usually form...