Free Republic

But Sunday, as he promoted his book on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Flake took his assault on Trumpism back years further — all the way to the pre-dawn of Trump’s political rise, to “when the birtherism thing was going on,” as Flake put it to host Chuck Todd. “Some people did stand up, but not enough,” the senator said. “That was particularly ugly.” “Did you do enough?” Todd asked. Flake smiled. “On that, I think I did.” Flake was a congressman in 2011, when Trump flirted with a presidential run against President Barack Obama. The current president did so “spouting...

‘The Circle’: Tom Hanks Takes a Swing at Liberal Groupthink at Apple and Google Tom Hanks produced the movie The Circle that takes a look at the liberal groupthink of a large Silicon Valley technology company. In any major liberal organization, such as at Apple or Google, the liberal ideology becomes groupthink: Think like they do or be banished. The movie, The Circle, portrays Emma Watson as a new employee who is indoctrinated into the groupthink of a large fictitious company called The Circle. The company has similar appearances as a cross between Apple and Google. Tom Hanks plays the...

I missed this when it was announced roughly two weeks ago but it’s worth pointing out even now. Two activists confessed to multiple acts of sabotage against the Dakota Access Pipeline using cutting torches and other tools. The two women, who are part of an Iowa’s Catholic Worker social justice movement, made the announcement before a small group of journalists and then started prying letters off a sign for the Iowa Utilities Board, which got them arrested. From the Des Moines Register:

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) -- It's official: Tebowmania is a hit for the St. Lucie Mets, and for the Florida State League. Bolstered significantly by Tim Tebow's presence on the roster, the Class A Mets affiliate in the FSL has already set a single-season home attendance record with about a month left to play. The team record was toppled on Friday night, when 3,399 fans pushed the attendance for the season to 108,057. Over the Mets' first 29 seasons, the record attendance mark was 105,379. St. Lucie is seeing nearly a 50 percent jump in average attendance per game...

Beefore coaxing veteran quarterback Jay Cutler out of retirement this weekend, the Miami Dolphins reportedly considered a number of other options after starter Ryan Tannehill re-injured his left knee during practice last week. One of those options was Tim Tebow, according to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. It actually kind of makes sense. Cutler is seen as a natural choice for Miami coach Adam Gase, who was Cutler’s offensive coordinator in Chicago during the 2015 season. That ended up being one of Cutler’s best statistical years — he threw for 3,659 yards while completing 64.4% of his passes with...

Most Americans are at least somewhat aware of what is happening at American (and European) universities with regard to conservative speakers. Universities disinvite conservative speakers, never invite them or allow the violent (or threatened violent) prevention of them. No non-left-wing idea should be permitted on campus. But we may have hit a new low. Let me explain. For years, I have been conducting symphony orchestras in Southern California. I have conducted the Brentwood-Westwood, Glendale and West Los Angeles Symphony Orchestras, the Pasadena Lyric Opera and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. I have studied classical music since high...

The micro-brains are created by genetically altering skin cells, which causes them to revert to stem cells that are capable of becoming any type of cell. They are then triggered into growing into neurons. The structures currently only grow to around 2mm (0.08 inches), but they could help scientists to see how dementia takes hold of brain cells and spreads. The work may eventually allow the team to grow replacement brain parts for transplanting into Alzheimer's patients. Speaking to The Telegraph, Professor Edik Rafalov of the university said: 'This is kind of science fiction. 'We're trying to help neurons to...

LifeSite News reports that The Pontifical Academy of Science (PAS) has announced yet another population control conference. You can read the article here. The bottom line is that the invited speakers at this conference include various climate alarmists who zealously preach the pretext of man-made climate change to justify their agenda of population control (including birth control and abortion) which must be carried out by global governance in order to save the planet. One of the speakers at the coming conference even said “sometimes politicians have to take citizens to task “with coercion” to overcome their own resistance to change.”...

"We have a majority in the House and Senate and it feels like nothing's getting done," 32-year-old James Hulsey said just before Ryan recently toured his workplace. Sensing the angst, Ryan has been much more visible in his southeast Wisconsin district as Republicans failed to deliver on their yearslong promise to scrap the health care law and new polling numbers show the speaker is less popular among Republicans in Wisconsin than President Donald Trump. Trump won Wisconsin by less than a percentage point, but he carried Ryan's district by 10 points. In the remaining months of the year, Ryan and...

[]Full tite: FBI: 'Improvised explosive device' caused blast at Bloomington Islamic center **SNIP** A blast caused by what the FBI called “an improvised explosive device” rocked a Bloomington Islamic center before dawn Saturday...The blast was reported at 5:05 a.m.Even before the FBI update, congregants said the blast appeared to be a hate crime. Mohamed Omar, the center’s executive director, who was in the building when the explosion erupted...The building was once the site of Northgate Elementary School and Concordia High School. It also served as a worship space for Maranatha Community Church. The Dar Al Farooq Center bought it in...

President Trump is on vacation, but that hasn’t stopped him from watching early morning cable TV and tweeting angrily in response. On Monday, President Trump went after Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who was on CNN earlier in the morning to discuss the ongoing investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. Blumenthal also expressed concern that the Trump administration has “weaponized” investigations into leaks of classified information. On Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the agency will be aggressively investigating leaks to the media. Blumenthal’s remarks touched off a trio of tweets from Trump, who began...

Project Description Since 2012, we have been investigating the use of algorithms, automation and computational propaganda in public life. Political bots are manipulating public opinion over major social networking applications. This project enables a new team of social and information scientists to investigate the impact of automated scripts, commonly called bots, on social media. We study both the bot scripts and the people making such bots, and then work with computer scientists to improve the way we catch and stop such bots. Experience suggests that political bots are most likely to appear during an international crisis, and are usually designed...

U.S. Army weapon officials just opened a competition for a new 7.62mm Interim Service Combat Rifle to arm infantry units with a weapon potent enough to penetrate enemy body armor. "The Army has identified a potential gap in the capability of ground forces and infantry to penetrate body armor using existing ammunition. To address this operational need, the Army is looking for an Interim Combat Service Rifle (ICSR) that is capable of defeating emerging threats," according to an Aug. 4 solicitation posted on FedBizOpps.gov. The service plans to initially award up to eight contracts, procuring seven types of weapons from...

Hundreds of articles and blog posts since the COS movement emerged a few years ago deal with the impossibility of reform emerging from those who profit so well from DC corruption. Other posts, like those scattered about this ArticleVBlog, examined the historic foundations of free government from the 17th century English philosophers down to our Revolution and Constitution. When taken together, all the events and ideas which shaped the American psyche since publication of the King James Bible in 1611 may be grouped together by the term, ‘Tradition’. Today, I appeal to that which gets so little attention, but is...

Monday marks Melania Trump’s first 200 days as first lady, and in that time she’s been redefining fashion while in office. Trump has become a shining example of the greatness of the United States of America at home and around the world, stunning everywhere she goes with her elegant and classic style. The first lady has also brought name recognition to those designers who didn’t let Trump’s political views stop them from the honor of dressing her. French Designer Hervé Pierre has been responsible for numerous looks including the gorgeous red, white and blue dress she wore during her trip...

He rounded up some of the toughest and wildest longhorns in all of Texas. That's how he described them. Others say the cattle were a docile bunch. And there are those who wonder whether this particular story is true at all. But never mind. John Warne Gates - who would become known as "Bet A Million Gates" - took bets from onlookers as to whether the powerful beasts could break through the fragile-seeming wire. --snip-- The advertisements of the time touted it as "The Greatest Discovery Of The Age", patented by Joseph Glidden, of De Kalb Illinois. Gates described it...

4,200 yo bird found 'perfectly preserved' in ice (PHOTO) Published time: 5 Aug, 2017 22:56 Edited time: 6 Aug, 2017 16:12 A frozen 4,200-year-old redwing thrush has been found perfectly preserved in Norway. The bird, whose age was determined through carbon tests, was dissected to determine if the bird’s organs have also survived the test of time. The thrush was discovered by a warden with the Norwegian Nature Supervisor Agency on the edge of a snow bank in the Oppdal mountains, according to Jorgen Rosvold, a researcher with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who spoke to NRK. “That...

Baseball great Don Baylor, the 1979 American League Most Valuable Player, who played for six teams and later managed two, died Monday morning after a long battle with multiple myeloma, The Austin-American Statesman reported. He was 68. Baylor, a Texas native, died at 4:25 a.m. at St. David’s South Hospital in Austin, his son told the Statesman. Baylor hit .260 with a .342 on-base percentage and 338 home runs during a 19-year career with the Orioles, Athletics, Angels, Yankees, Red Sox and Twins. He finished with 2,135 hits and 118 OPS+.

The first piece of advice he got was “Don’t take off your shoes.” The second, “Don’t go to the bathroom after dark.” Though Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams heeded both, it didn’t make him feel any less vulnerable. There was little that could as he settled in for a night at the downtown Road Home homeless shelter. When he climbed into bed — the top of a three-person bunk— with his sneakers still tightly laced to fend off would-be thieves, arguments echoed off the walls. One man had passed out on another’s cot, and McAdams heard the thud of...

In 1995, an intriguing documentary was broadcast on TV stations across the United States. It was titled Alien Encounters from New Tomorrowland and supposedly was produced with the sole purpose of promoting Disneyworld’s then-new “ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter” attraction in Orlando, Florida. ... The majority of the documentary is focused on UFOs and extraterrestrials as a factual reality. The ‘ExtraTERRORestrial’ ride itself receives very little screen-time, and seems like an afterthought. The documentary was aired in only a handful of US cities at seemingly random times on selected dates in February and March 1995 with no notice... ... become engrained into...