Free Republic

April 23, 2015: Sen. Tom Cotton speaks on the Senate floor about the Iran nuclear deal

Yesterday’s Senate vote on the confirmation of Loretta Lynch, President Obama’s nominee to succeed Attorney General Eric Holder, was a classic example of why talk among conservatives of forming a third party alternative to the establishment Republican Party will not die. Not only did the usual jelly-backed Senate Republicans vote to confirm Lynch, they were led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose job is, ostensibly, to be the leader of the conservative opposition to Obama and his lawless progressive agenda. In moving the Lynch nomination McConnell broke a pre-election promise that no attorney general nominee would be considered in...

OXNARD, Calif.—A 14-arm, automated harvester recently wheeled through rows of strawberry plants here, illustrating an emerging solution to one of the produce industry’s most pressing problems: a shortfall of farmhands. Harnessing high-powered computing, color sensors and small metal baskets attached to the robotic arms, the machine gently plucked ripe strawberries from below deep-green leaves, while mostly ignoring unripe fruit nearby. Such tasks have long required the trained discernment and backbreaking effort of tens of thousands of relatively low-paid workers. But technological advances are making it possible for robots to handle the job, just as a shrinking supply of available fruit...

I’m starting to pine for the days when the media could come up with really serious stories, like that one about how Mitt Romney supposedly cut a gay kid’s hair in school. The New York Times’ trolling of Ted Cruz is remarkably weak. First, a snide piece on his time debating. This is the sort of thing that some Ivy Leaguers might care about. It relies on quotes from former opponents who disliked Cruz, fails to interview his black debating partner for some reason despite using him in two photos, and suggests that his debating weaknesses include not liking when...

In this election, the mainstream media — always subconsciously eager to remain the palace eunuchs in the Democrats’ Forbidden City — will back Hillary or whomever the Democrats nominate. Should a Republican win the White House, the shrill cries over the miniscule “sequestration” cuts to domestic spending in 2013 will be but a mild preview of what’s to come. The Obama legacy and these challenges are why many Republicans want to nominate an experienced governor to run — preferably one with a revolutionary flair and serious political skill.Jeb Bush announced his exploratory PAC in mid-December, and led most Republican polls...

The German Catholic bishops’ conference has made public a report on a survey of the faithful in preparation for the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops, finding a “gap between the lived reality of families and our communities” and the teachings of the Church. The report complains of an “idealization of marriage and family” in Church teaching, and calls for the approval of new pastoral initiatives to help families that fall short. The bishops “expectations among the faithful are very high” that the Church will approve new policies. And the bishops recall the decision of their own episcopal conference...

An international team of economists, neuroscientists, and statisticians just released their third World Happiness Report, which measures well-being in countries around the world to help guide public policy. Switzerland topped the list of the happiest nations, and all of the top eight countries were in the global north. Switzerland was followed by Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The United States ranked 15th, behind Mexico and Austria. Still, that's a slight improvement from the last report, in which the US ranked 17th. The World Happiness Report isn't without a scientific basis. One of its key findings, based...

Johns Hopkins University has banned Chick-fil-A from its campus saying that the restaurant is a “microaggression” against its students. In an 18-8 vote, the Student Government Association at Johns Hopkins voted not to “support the proposal of a Chick-fil-A, in a current or future sense, particularly on any location that is central to student life.” The anti-Chick-fil-A bill listed seven main reasons why the restaurant should be banned from campus. The first is that “the Student Government Association of Johns Hopkins University aims to provide a safe, supportive environment for all university affiliates now and in the future.” The fourth...

When reports emerged that a dog had allegedly been poisoned at Crufts, David Cameron appeared to be extremely worried that a similar fate might befall the Downing Street cat, Larry. Talking to Heart FM, the Prime Minister promised to ‘double the security around him and make sure he’s ok’. But this morning Larry looked far from ‘ok’ when police sniffer dog Bailey turned up on his doorstep. Perhaps the PM has more important things to think about – or perhaps police security is what Cameron had in mind to waylay any attempts on his cat’s life. But needless to say,...

It happens every Monday morning in offices around the country. I'll call it the weekend recap (or the "Anything that you did I'm sure my kid did it better" debrief) and when a few youth sports dads get together the "I'll one-up-ya" can escalate faster than a Witch Creek Canyon wildfire. If you aren't familiar with one of these conversations, consider yourself blessed. But, if you haven't been so fortunate, I must take you to the dark side. It's a magical mystery tour like no other.

On Praying for a Deep Hatred and Fear of Sin and Its Darkness By: Msgr. Charles PopeWe ought to ask the Lord to inspire us with a holy hatred of sin. There is a kind of inverse relationship that we ought to seek: if we love the truth staunchly we will detest sin and lies more fully. It is impossible to love the truth vigorously without also detesting error. Similarly, as we grow in the love of God, we grow in the love of holiness, for God is holy.As our love for Him deepens, we become increasingly averse to all that...

As Yerevan and Armenians across the world gather to remember the 1.5 million killed during the massacres, Richard Spencer explains what happened On Friday, Yerevan and the Armenian disapora together with world leaders in the Armenian capital will commemorate the 1.5 million victims of the Armenian genocide . It is the 100th anniversary of the date on which the Ottoman Empire began its attack on Armenians when intellectuals and political leaders were rounded up in Istanbul on April 24, 1915. What was the Armenian genocide? As the Ottoman Empire suffered its first losses in the First World War, the “Young...

In a year and a half, Americans will elect a new president. What issues will be foremost in their minds? Allow me to set the table for you: The U.S. economic recovery is anemic at best, with long-term joblessness still a major problem confronting millions of Americans. Income inequality has widened, and poverty has increased. In the past six years, scandal has shaken the VA, the IRS, ATF, the Justice Department and most recently the DEA, which is why it's not surprising that Americans name "government" the most important problem facing the country today, according to Gallup. Overseas, the Islamic...

The United States Supreme Court may soon liberate the biblically conservative church from old "prejudices" that should have long ago been "jettisoned," forcing it into "rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity," in the words of a recent writer in The New York Times. Homosexuality must be removed from the "sin list" and, according to an MSNBC commentator, traditional marriage proponents must be forced "to do things they don't want to do." Sadly, this crusade will be like the Marxist "liberation" movements that promised to "free" people, but really were about control and suppression. The culmination may come as the...

Many historians call the Armenian Holocaust the first holocaust of the 20th Century, a dress rehearsal for the Nazi nightmare that followed. This April 24 marks the 100th anniversary of the death of roughly 1.5 million Armenian Christians at the hands of Turkish Muslims. That mass slaughter has gone virtually unreported by the broadcast networks. It was a genocide so awful that candidate Barack Obama promised in 2008 he would acknowledge it as such. “As president, I will recognize the Armenian genocide,” he vowed. Obama has violated that promise every year since. This will be the seventh anniversary that Obama...

Reports are circulating that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi might've been seriously injured during an airstrike operation, leading the terror group to choose a former Iraqi physics teacher as his replacement. Hisham al Hashimi, an Iraqi government adviser, told Newsweek earlier this week that al-Baghdadi was wounded back in March, and is unable to carry out his day-to-day duties. He said that Abu Alaa Afri has been selected to stand in as his replacement, and could take over permanently if al-Baghdadi dies. "After Baghdadi's wounding, he [Afri] has begun to head up Daesh [arabic term for ISIS] with the help...

Let’s begin by acknowledging that the science of global warming is beyond the vast majority of us. Nonetheless, this does not mean we turn off our brains and simply accept the pronouncements of those sounding the alarm and offering their remedies. I am a global warming skeptic (to say the least) specifically because I have thought through the issue and the claims of the alarmists just don’t add up. What follows is my thinking and what it is that has led me to conclude that global-warming is a leftist farce which is being perpetuated for both financial and political reasons.

Investigations have been launched at two universities over accusations that fraternity members taunted wounded war heroes, urinated on an American flag, and spit on a wounded veteran and his service dog in Panama City Beach, Florida. The April 17 incident, involving Zeta Beta Tau fraternity members from the University of Florida and Emory University, has infuriated residents of Panama City. [Snip] ... the fraternity members were staying in the same resort [as 100 combat-wounded warriors and their spouses]– and caused a night of mayhem. The college kids made derogatory comments about the warriors’ wives, threw items off balconies and desecrated...

Students at Johns Hopkins University voted this week to ask the school’s administrators to prevent Chick-fil-A from opening a store on campus. Citing Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy’s opposition to gay marriage, students said the presence of the chain on campus would be a microaggression against LGBT members of the community, Eater reports. Though the Student Government Association approved the resolution, the move is purely hypothetical: there’s no indication that the Johns Hopkins administration was in negotiations with Chick-fil-A, though some students had wondered whether the chain might open a location in a new building under construction on campus.