Free Republic

Everyone from Susan Sarandon to Van Jones is helping draft and push de Blasio’s new “Contract with America,” which will push for paid sick leave and free, universal pre-K.First New York City. Then America. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is heading to Washington, D.C. next week to present a progressive “Contract with America,” a 13-point agenda intended to push the Democratic Party leftward. According to a draft of the document provided to The Daily Beast by someone asked to join the effort, de Blasio will call for a number of measures for which he has already pushed in...

The Pentagon announced Friday morning that the security levels at all US military bases, going from Force Protection Condition (FPCON) “Alpha” to FPCON “Bravo”. That bump is being seen, to some degree, at all military installations in Texas. Fort Hood, the Army’s largest installation in the world, was very direct: “We don’t discuss security procedures, period.” Chris Haug of the base did go on to tell Breitbart Texas “It’s a heightened awareness, but the safety of the families and personnel are the top priority. We take appropriate measures.”

A new blog post written by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) may appear to be an attempt to align with Hillary Clinton, but it takes direct aim at multiple Clinton Foundation donors. Warren’s post, “I agree with Hillary Clinton,” details her concerns with a provision in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement that she says “would let foreign companies challenge American laws outside of American courts.” “The Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provision isn’t a one-time, hypothetical problem—we’ve seen it in past trade agreements,” Warren wrote. Three of the five companies Warren uses as examples of companies that have abused similar...

An interview with Walt Heyer, who lived eight years as a woman following ‘gender reassignment’ surgery before undergoing therapy, turning to Christ and returning to living as a man. Courtesy of Walt Heyer Walt Heyer reverted to his biological male identity after living as a woman following ‘gender reassignment’ surgery. Walt Heyer lived for eight years as a woman named Laura Jensen. Having suffered from gender-identity disorder since he was a child, Heyer was a married, successful businessman when he underwent cosmetic surgery to alter his sex at age 42. However, Heyer said surgery and hormone treatment failed to address...

ACN photo: Sister Suhama “At night we often hear gunfire. But luckily we are quite a bit away from the fighting,” Father Steven says. In fact, the town of Alqosh is only 10 miles away from the front line, where the heavily armed Kurdish Peshmerga forces and ISIS fighters are facing off.When the weather is good, you can see the Christian towns on the Nineveh Plane that are now under ISIS control. “Back there is my village Batnaya,” the Chaldean priest says, pointing in the direction of the once Christian community. “I was the last to leave Batnaya. The jihadists...

“Racist” Cartoon Posted On Company Bathroom Causes Muslim Outrage May 8, 2015 Dom the Conservative Once again, Muslims are outraged by a cartoon, but this time it’s not of the pedophile warlord Muhammad. Forget about children being beheaded, men burnt to death, or women sold into sexual slavery; a place of business has erected a small, makeshift “sign,” and we all know that this is something to be hailed as unacceptable. Although we are relieved that a group of Islamists didn’t arrive with body armor and Quranic justification to blow the place away with AK-47s, we are definitely hearing from...

South Dakotans apparently have good BS detectors. Check out the expressions on their faces.

If the GOP doesn’t put together a sensible immigration policy it will lose the 2016 presidential election. When President Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012, with the former Massachusetts governor attracting only 27% of the Hispanic vote with his self-deportation argument, Republicans across the map decided they must develop an immigration-reform policy with an outreach approach to minority groups. According to the Republican National Committee, the days of harsh language and punitive legislation must end. In its place, the GOP must reconstruct the Ronald Reagan/Jack Kemp “big tent” theory of politics, where there is plenty of room for all groups...

The word "police" hasn't been associated too much lately with benign concepts such as humor. One police force, though, decided to make a small contribution toward lightening citizens' days. The uniformed peacekeepers in Murdoch, Australia, performed a house search in the charmingly named district of Coolbellup. In the course of their search, one cool thing came up. This was a to-do list that, in its blessed simplicity, portrayed a life gone to weed.

Pope Francis with the Harlem Globetrotters at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter's Square, May 6, 2015. Credit: © L'Osservatore Romano. Vatican City, May 7, 2015 / 03:19 pm (CNA).- On Thursday Pope Francis demonstrated his keen interest in uniting sports with faith, telling members of Italy's Lazio club not to let training or competitions trump the spiritual essentials. “Sometimes it happens that a guy or a girl, due to training and competitions, forgets about Mass (and) catechesis...this is not a good sign; it means we have lost the scale of values,” the Pope told members of Italian sports...

3-D printing, or additive manufacturing, is likely to revolutionize business in the next several years. Often dismissed in the popular mindset as a tool for home-based “makers” of toys and trinkets, the technology is gaining momentum in large-scale industry. Already it has moved well beyond prototyping and, as I explain in a new HBR article, it will increasingly be used to produce high-volume parts and products in several industries. Since I prepared that article, new developments have only strengthened the case for a 3-D future – and heightened the urgency for management teams to adjust their strategies. Impressive next-generation technologies...

Pope Francis is presented an image of the Divine Mercy by members of the John Paul II Foundation, April 25, 2015. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano. Vatican City, May 8, 2015 / 06:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In tune with his knack for making history, Pope Francis' Year for Mercy will include things no other jubilee has: worldwide “missionaries of mercy,” and “holy doors” in every diocese for pilgrims to walk through.      “For the first time in the history of the Jubilee tradition, there will be an opportunity for individual dioceses to open a Holy Door – the Door of Mercy,”...

Prince released his much-anticipated protest song about “Baltimore” on Saturday — one day before his scheduled “Rally 4 Peace” concert in the troubled city.

The defense of free expression should become stronger in the face of violent threats, not weaker. Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, is a nasty-hearted Islamophobe. But should she be blamed for the recent armed attack on her cartoon exhibit in Garland, Texas, in which two gunmen were killed and a police officer was wounded? Writing for Bloomberg View, Harvard law professor Noah Feldman opined that she may be “morally culpable,” on the theory that she probably hoped to “provoke violence.” Feldman has erred badly here. Although Feldman begins by condemning the terrorists, he quickly cautions his...

Greenville, S.C. — Governor Scott Walker’s appearance at the South Carolina Freedom Summit wasn’t quite a series of standing ovations interrupted by his speech, but it was close. “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!” an an attendee shouted over the applause as the Wisconsin governor walked on stage. Walker pointed at the man and repeated the word as he began his speech in praise of the military. It was a fitting opening for Walker, who rooted his policy statements in his middle-class background and alluded to his family throughout the speech — as if he planned to convince votes that he is the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: So I was perusing the Drudge Report last night and I came across a fascinating link on the Drudge Report from TheHill.com. "Is Matt Drudge the Second Most Influential Man in America?" Obviously the president is implied as the most influential man. It is by Brent Budowsky, who is a columnist at The Hill, TheHill.com. He concludes that Drudge is the second most influential man in America and is unhappy about it. He doesn't like it, doesn't like the influence that Drudge has on shaping the news.

It's house-cleaning time for the major networks as the cancellation ax falls in order to make for new additions in the fall. Some shows, such as NBC's "State of Affairs" and "Constantine," have been off the air so long that it feels they'd already been cancelled. But the formal notice falls just as hard even when if it is long expected.

As a result of the loss of the unmanned Progress 59 spacecraft, which was bound for the International Space Station on a routine resupply mission, the timelines of upcoming crew rotations and new launches are “under evaluation” according to Russian and American space sources. ... The vessel, also known as Progress M-27M, burned up minutes later and any surviving pieces fell over the Pacific Ocean. “Debris fell about 900 kilometers west of the Marquesas Islands in the central Pacific Ocean,” a space industry source told the Russian news agency TASS. ... Roscosmos quickly established an investigation board to determine the...

Oklahoma has been hit by a series of tornadoes, causing widespread damage and allowing a number of exotic animals to escape. Tigers, bears and other animals were able to make a brief escape from the Tiger Safari Park after a tornado hit the city of Tuttle, near Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Police warned residents to stay indoors and call 911 if they saw the animals...

Prince Harry ended his month long embed with the Australian military by stalking buildings with an assault rifle, abseiling from helicopters and raiding ships with a team of navy divers. The Captain Wales performed a series of counter-terrorism exercises as a part of his commitments with the military. Harry also trained in the country's arid north in bush survival skills, including how to source food and water. The 30-year-old also spent time flying helicopters, training with SAS commandos and taking part in drills with Royal Australian Navy Clearance Divers. Harry, who is due to quit the British Army in June,...