Free Republic

Could an emerging technology reshape the battle lines in the abortion debate? Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, that fight has been defined by the interlocking, absolute values of choice and life: For some, a woman’s right to choose trumps any claim to a right to life by the fetus; for others, it’s the reverse. But what if we could separate those two — what if a woman’s choice to terminate a pregnancy no longer meant terminating the fetus itself? That is the promise of artificial wombs, a technology that has already shown some success in tests on...

A group of protesters supporting gun control gathered outside the home of Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. where one expressed that someone should "stab the motherf---er in the heart." The protest took place on Sunday night in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. McConnell is currently recovering from a fall he had over the weekend, leaving him with a fractured shoulder. Approximately 25 demonstrators stood on the sidewalk near McConnell's Louisville home, shouting "No Trump, no KKK, no Fascist USA!" while others called him names like "Murder Turtle" and made loud noises by...

Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke told podcast host Jon Favreau that he supports the idea of making gun licensing and mandatory buybacks part of the conversation revolving around the El Paso and Dayton shootings. Favreau commented on gun licensing and mandatory buybacks in Australia and asked if O’Rourke would support them as president? O’Rourke responded, “Yes. And I’m open to them right now as a candidate.”

On July 29, President Trump tweeted: “Just remember, Iranians never won a war, but never lost a negotiation.” In just 12 words, Trump leveled a multi-layered, ahistorical insult against both his predecessor, Barack Obama, and Iran. More importantly, the remarks betray a dangerously ignorant understanding of Iran that could result in another careless Middle East war of choice. The tweet invokes a clichéd, colonial-era stereotype that Iranians, like other Middle Eastern peoples, are wily swindlers—rapacious, greedy bazaar merchants who aim to take advantage of honest and unsuspecting Westerners. Trump is hardly the first American leader to dabble in such denigrating...

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley (D) jabbed President Donald Trump Monday for mistakenly offering condolences to another Ohio city, Toledo, in his planned address on the two mass shootings that unfolded over the weekend. At the end of his 10-minute speech, President Trump, reading from a teleprompter, said, “May God bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo.” The president correctly referred to Dayton during other parts of his scheduled remarks.

The World Resources Institute (WRI), which is supported in part by the U.N., is encouraging humans to give up eating meat. Doing so, they believe, will not only help with food supplies but will also combat climate change. Become a vegetarian or watch the world starve to death and burn is the messaging, I guess. Writing in their report, the WRI project claims: [C]onsumption of animal-based foods to rise 68 percent between 2010 and 2050, with an 88 percent increase in consumption of ruminant meat (meat from cattle, sheep, and goats). These trends are a major driver of the food,...

Senator Kamala Harris was supposed to be the posterwomyn for progressive Democratic presidential primary voters: Intersectional, youngish, San Franciscan, reliably lefty on a whole host of issues, yet with a law-and-order record that might appeal to party moderates. Harris showed some of that prosecutor's flair in the first round of Democratic debates in June, when she went hard after former Veep Joe Biden for his old stance on busing. That attack generated enough positive press to prove Harris truly belonged amongst the frontrunners. Except that since then, there's been a whole lot of not much -- and the progressive left...

Mass murderer Patrick Crusius got lost driving in El Paso and headed to the local Walmart — where he eventually slaughtered 22 people — because he was hungry, the city’s police chief said Monday. Police believe that the killer ate before his onslaught, casing the store while going inside without any of his weapons, according to the top cop and a report.

GARY, Indiana -- If you want to know the true state of a city, drive through all of it, not just the pretty parts where politicians line the streets with bike lanes and lavish developers who have deals to build by stadiums and riverfronts. Here in this Indiana manufacturing town, there are hollowed-out neighborhoods, abandoned homes and boarded-up businesses lining U.S. Route 20 right beside well-kept homes whose owners are trying to restore dignity and stability to their home and community. When President Trump took a swipe at Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland's 7th Congressional District and called the district...

Nate Silver was the first to criticize the New York Times headline yesterday, “Not sure 'TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM’ is how I would have framed the story.”Well of course not, it doesn’t say “Orange Man Bad!”Meanwhile Ohio Rep. Candice Keller took to Facebook to assail the real reasons behind these crimes and was of course instantly assailed for it:Criticism of her comments came fast and furious from every front, including Butler County Republican Party Chairman Todd Hall who said this was a time for prayer and reflection – not accusatory comments like Keller's. Again, of course: accusatory comments regarding...

In response to this week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, a man named Michael Ian Black, whom I’ve never heard of but who’s apparently an actor and comedian, invited a “conversation” on Twitter that began with the following statement: “Deeper even than the gun problem is this: boys are broken.” This is an absolutely, 100 percent true statement. Unfortunately, Black quickly veered off course. “Men don’t have the language to understand masculinity as anything other than some version of a caveman because no language exists...The language of masculinity is hopelessly entwined with sexuality, and the language of sexuality in hopelessly...

51% of Mass Shooters in 2019 Were Black: Only 29% Were White No, mass shootings are not a “white man’s” problem. August 6, 2019 Daniel Greenfield 21 Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. Around the same time that the media was focused on the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, 60 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend. 24 of those people were shot in four hours. Baltimore reached its 200th murder victim of the year during its “Ceasefire Weekend”....

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) It didn’t work for Kirsten Gillibrand, Irish Bob, and it won’t work for you. – El Paso native Robert Francis O’Rourke has over the last two days put on the most craven, disgusting display of raw political grasping I think I’ve ever seen. Democrats always politicize tragedy – that’s just become a sad given in today’s American society. This has just been a fact of our lives since the Clinton Administration, and it’s what Rahm Emanuel was talking about when he famously declared that Democrats should “never let a good crisis go...

It once was the case that only those foolish enough to take a course in sociology risked being accused of “culture appropriation.” Unfortunately, the concept has leaked out into the larger society to the extent that I now get emails from people seeking advice on how to respond to the accusation. The following is an example of an email I received just a few days ago:Hello Mike: I have a question. I don’t know if this is appropriate to ask, but what is your response to cultural appropriation? I think it is stupid liberal whining, but how do I address...

The Times reveals British-based Al Rayan Bank controlled by Qatar is providing financial services to several British organisations linked to promoting Islamist causes.Al Rayan Bank is providing banking services to 15 controversial Islamic organisations LONDON - British-based Al Rayan Bank controlled by Qatar is providing financial services to several British organisations linked to Islamists, according to The Times few days after New York Times unveiled a report that allegedly implicated Doha last May in a bomb attack in Bosaso whose port is managed by an Emirati company.The Times said that Al Rayan Bank was providing banking services to 15 controversial...

But increasingly, research into the culture and political views of gun owners is painting a very different portrait. Gun owners' politics don't generally fall into lockstep with the NRA ... . One of the most authoritative and interesting surveys of the attitudes of gun owners was conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2017. That survey shows the vast majority of Americans who own guns are not members of the NRA and that most favor some form of gun control. However, most refrain from pushing for greater regulation of guns because they neither trust the government nor believe that it...

More than six months after the $15 minimum wage went into effect in New York City, business leaders and owners say the increased labor costs have forced them to cut staff, eliminate work shifts and raise prices. Thomas Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, said he has seen an uptick in small-business closures during the past six to nine months, and he attributed it to the minimum-wage legislation. “They’re cutting their staff. They’re cutting their hours. They’re shutting down,” he said. “Many people working in the restaurant industry wanted to work overtime hours, but due to the increase,...

Marina’s journey began in her early 20s, she worked “doing a little bit of everything” for an Egyptian couple who owned a coffee shop called Sphinx and other businesses. ”.. She joined the Muslim Student Association at Alverno College, where she was an international business student. There she met Sakina, who taught her the basics of how to pray. “She was really cool, very non-judgmental. I would show up to her apartment and she would teach me different things and answer my questions.” ...One day, a friend called her at work. The friend concluded their conversation with the words,...

“Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man” (Proverbs 6:10-11 KJV).

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul underwent lung surgery in a procedure he says stems from injuries suffered when a neighbor tackled him outside his Kentucky home in 2017. The Republican lawmaker and former presidential candidate tweeted Monday that part of his lung damaged in the assault was removed during the weekend surgery in Tennessee. The senator is continuing his recovery at home, a Paul spokeswoman said. "I will have to limit my August activities," the 56-year-old Paul said in the tweet, adding that he "should" be able to return to the Senate in September. "Sen. Paul will need to recover from...