Free Republic

"Sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence." -- Dictionary.com's definition of common sense. Sometimes what used to be called "common sense" can seem radical in Washington, which is used to practicing senseless policies and funding programs that don't work. Immigration is a perfect example. Everyone says the system is broken. There have been no substantive policy changes since the '60s, but until last week few had put forth a sensible and credible plan for fixing what ails it. Thanks to Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and David Perdue (R-GA), we now have...

A simple Colorado jazz concert reminds us how every element of modern culture is saturated with progressive talking points.

North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded in a confidential assessment.

**snip***full title: BREAKING: Alex Padilla, California’s Secretary of State just got served, over Voter Rolls.Californians voted for Hillary Clinton over President Donald Trump by a whopping 4 million votes.The first step in any legal proceeding is to serve notice of intent to take legal action and give them a chance to fix the problem. That is exactly what Judicial Watch did. On August 4, 2017, Judicial Watch announced it has notified California’s Secretary of State, Alex Padilla of their intent to sue if California doesn’t comply with the National Voter Registration Act.

Anthem just announced it will back out of Nevada's Obamacare exchange for 2018. A major insurance provider just announced it will back out of Nevada's Obamacare exchange for 2018. Anthem said in a statement Monday it was leaving Nevada's exchange because "planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance, including cost sharing reduction subsidies and the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage." The company had previously backed out of 14 rural counties in the Silver...

Intelligence brief: Colorado shale is almost size of Marcellus; Pipeline bill calls for new technologies Jun 14, 2016 Colorado is famous for its high peaks; now it could also be known for its shale Colorado sits on 40 times more natural gas than previously thought, according to an updated estimate by the US Geological Survey.The USGS said the Mancos Shale in the Piceance Basin contains about 66 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable shale natural gas, 74 million barrels of shale oil and 45 million barrels of natural-gas liquids, according to the estimate, the first since 2003.More than 2,000...

The coldest place in the known universe is on Earth! It's quantum computing company D-Wave's HQ, and massive plumbing required to cool the device known as a quantum computer. Linus SHOWS the setup via a YOURUBE.

(Full title) NYT: Sarah Huckabee Sanders ‘privately reads from a book of Christian devotionals’ before each briefing Keep this up, media, and President Trump will get a third term: Michael M. Grynbaum ✔ @grynbaum Before each White House briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders privately reads from a book of Christian devotionals. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/business/now-starring-in-the-west-wing-sarah-huckabee-sanders.html  … 11:01 AM - Aug 8, 2017 Now Starring in the West Wing: Sarah Huckabee Sanders The new White House press secretary is more understated than her predecessor, Sean Spicer, but she still speaks for a president at war with the media. nytimes.com 21 Replies 2 Retweets 4 likes...

Twelve years after finishing Harvard’s graduate theater program, Katierose Donohue still pays almost as much in student loans each month — about $650 — as for her share of the rent in Los Angeles. She recently stopped hosting her monthly sketch comedy show, “Ma’am,” because she didn’t always break even on her $200 budget. She’s now working side jobs as a dog walker and a social media copywriter, after past gigs serving at Starbucks and handing out free cigarettes for Camel. She’s never missed a loan payment, but there’s no end in sight: She borrowed nearly $75,000 to attend the...

To honor cats on the International Cat Day, DW encourages their human companions to protect the planet we all share. From carbon pawprint to waste to wildlife, it is in our hands to take up better practices. Your cat’s sweet purring and loving, contented looks won’t change the fact that it’s guilty for the planet’s suffering — just like we are. A recent study confirms that pets’ meat-based diet has a fatal impact on the climate, due mainly to high carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, our loyal friends are big resource consumers and waste creators. The situation is particularly worrisome...

Johnny Manziel has given some thought to what he will do in his life if he never gets a chance to play professional football again. The former Heisman Trophy winner says he would want to work in sports, likely as a coach at the college level.

An Iranian drone nearly collided with a U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet while the American jet was in a holding pattern, a U.S. defense official told Fox News. The jet was about to land aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which recently arrived in the Persian Gulf. It was the first time an Iranian drone has “interrupted a flight pattern,” the official said.

Woo hoo!! Please keep those donations coming in, folks. Let's keep this FReepathon moving. Drain the swamp and Make America Great Again!! Prayers up for continuing progress and success. FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the...

Philadelphia's tax on sugary drinks has made soda more expensive than beer in the city. The Tax Foundation released a new study on the excise tax last week, finding that the 1.5-cent per ounce tax has fallen short of revenue projections, cost jobs, and has forced some Philadelphians to drive outside the city to buy groceries.

A Kootenai County deputy was attacked by a domestic abuser whom he was attempting to arrest. When things got ugly, the abuser’s victim grabbed the deputy’s baton and helped beat the suspect into custody.

North Korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles, crossing a key threshold on the path to becoming a full-fledged nuclear power, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded in a confidential assessment. The new analysis completed last month by the Defense Intelligence Agency comes on the heels of another intelligence assessment that sharply raises the official estimate for the total number of bombs in the communist country’s atomic arsenal. The U.S. calculated last month that up to 60 nuclear weapons are now controlled by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Some independent experts believe the...

Jeff Sessions has proven to be compromised. Tom Fitton wants Trump to know he will be taken out unless he gets rid of Sessions. I wish I could say that I am surprised, but I am not really. Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch is a man who can be trusted, so we must listen to him. He is asking that this be tweeted to President Trump. He says that the media does not want to know any of this. Sessions is protecting Clinton. Information that Judicial Watch has requested from the Justice Department has been blacked out. The meeting between...

Netflix, which has been signing A-list comedians to its roster, is bringing late-night icon David Letterman back from retirement. The Internet network has picked up a six-episode series starring the former Late Show and Late Night host. Each hourlong episode will feature Letterman conducting a longform conversation with a single guest and in-the-field segments, in which he will explore topics on his own. The yet-untitled series is set to premiere in 2018. “I feel excited and lucky to be working on this project for Netflix,” Letterman said in a statement. “Here’s what I have learned: If you retire to spend...

Donald Trump may have pulled the United States out of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, but if former US vice president Al Gore is to be believed, Americans will fulfill its terms nonetheless. The 69-year-old environmental activist was in Berlin to preview “An Inconvenient Sequel,” a follow-up to his Oscar-winning 2006 film “An Inconvenient Truth” about global warming. Citing the axiom from physics that “for every action there is an equal counter-reaction,” Gore said that Trump’s election had galvanized and energized environmentalists in the US. “The good news is that we are working around [Trump],” Gore said. “The...

Barbara Cook, who captured Broadway with her velvety soprano and led an almost-six-decade Broadway career, died on August 8. She was 89. Born on October 25, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, Cook began singing at an early age, receiving acclaim from audiences at the nearby Elks Club. In 1948, while visiting New York City with her mother, she decided to stay put and seek acting work. Cook was hired by a series of resorts, eventually landing a gig in 1950 at the Blue Angel Club. … A year later, Cook was on Broadway, making her debut in the 1951 musical Flahooley....