Free Republic

There are two competing theories being debated today about American individuals’ “right” to gun ownership. The original theory is that Americans enjoy a fundamental right to self-defense, in order to preserve one’s person and property against any neighbors or government agents who might act against one’s individual liberty. This is a natural right that predates our government’s formation, and was therefore enshrined in the Constitution by some very forward-thinking liberals of their time. In the words of the Second Amendment: A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and...

It’s going to be a Biden/Kamala ticket. Biden may pick Michele Obama as his running mate as well. If Kamala softens any criticism of Joe, you’ll know they’re already talking. Thoughts?

After the recent high-profile mass shootings, lawmakers are again faced with the questions of how to stop gun violence and if Congress can get through the historic gridlock on gun control. While there is bipartisan agreement that something needs to be done to stop gun violence, the two parties cannot unify on what the specifics are. Democrats want immediate gun control legislation while Republicans are focused more on mental health to root out the epidemic. Hoping to break through the gridlock, Senator Pat Toomey (R-Penn.), and Joe Manchin,(D-W. Va) sponsored a bipartisan bill. Their bill aims to expand background checks...

Scaramucci makes my skin crawl.

1900: After fighting their way 80 miles from the port of Tientsin, an eight-nation relief force (the United States, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, and Italy) arrives at the walls of Peking. A young Marine private named Dan Daly earns his first of two Medals of Honor during the battle by single-handedly holding off hundreds of Chinese soldiers. Meanwhile, U.S. Army Cpl. Calvin P. Titus (depicted above, holding flag) earns the Medal of Honor for volunteering to scale the city wall surrounding Peking. The troops break the siege, effectively bringing an end to the Boxer Rebellion. In our...

Ebola may soon be a "preventable and treatable" disease after a trial of two drugs showed significantly improved survival rates, scientists have said. Four drugs were trialled on patients in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is a major outbreak of the virus. More than 90% of infected people can survive if treated early with the most effective drugs, the research showed. The drugs will now be used to treat all patients with the disease in DR Congo, according to health officials. On Tuesday, two people cured of Ebola using the experimental drugs were released from a treatment centre...

[snip] Willie Geist led off, calling it "unfathomable" that the two guards responsible for Epstein had fallen asleep. Mike Barnicle picked up the thread, saying it was "inexplicable" that the jail warden had removed Epstein's cellmate. That teed up the BBC's Katty Kay to point the conspiracy finger: "It's one thing if people are really tired and they do their job shoddily. Another if it's made at a senior level the decision that you leave this prisoner alone and that the cellmate was moved out, I understand it, just the night before. That’s what’s leading people to think: this is...

A man who lost his wife in the El Paso Walmart shooting rampage is inviting the general public to her funeral — because he doesn’t have any other family in town who can attend. In the wake of the shooting, Basco remembered his late wife as someone who always took care of him. “I’ve been lost. I’m like a puppy run away from its momma,” he said. “But my wife, she’d say get up off your rear end and grow up. Because now I’ve got to take care of the bills, take care of the cat.”

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old playing on the grounds of an Ohio inn made an unusual discovery -- a fossilized tooth from a woolly mammoth or a mastodon. The Inn at Honey Run in Millersburg said Jackson Hepner, 12, a relative of the inn's owner, spotted the object on the ground in a creek tributary. His family worked to identify the object, which they suspected of being a tooth from a woolly mammoth or a mastodon, elephant-like creatures from the Ice Age. The Inn said experts have looked at photos of the tooth and identified it as an upper...

I recently had a lunch meeting with a client of 25 years who is a lifelong member and financial supporter of the Democratic Party. While we managed to avoid politics as best we could, the inevitable subject of Donald Trump and the Democratic presidential field reared its head. Once my friend got past the usual left-wing talking points about Trump, I asked him a simple question. Given the current state of the American Left and their domination of the Democratic Party would the Democrats be able to govern a nation of 330 million people the size of the continent of...

“Google Snowden moment” Project Veritas has released hundreds of internal Google documents leaked by Vorhies. Among those documents is a file called “news black list site for google now.” The document, according to Vorhies, is a “black list,” which restricts certain websites from appearing on news feeds for an Android Google product. The list includes conservative and progressive websites, such as newsbusters.org and mediamatters.org. The document says that some sites are listed with or because of a “high user block rate.”

Posted on August 13, 2019August 13, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope A Lament on the Shrinking of Summer Not so long ago the middle of August was still a lazy time to enjoy the last few days of summer. It used to be that Labor Day marked the unofficial end of summer—not so much any more in more places for more and more people.The erosion of summer is driven mainly by the start of school. I have watched with sadness as the school year seems to begin earlier and earlier and earlier. In the Washington, D.C. area, parents are...

The #MeToo movement takes on the Deep State over the Epstein scandal, and the shadow government may have finally met its match. The outrage by feminists against Jeffrey Epstein for evading justice while allegedly providing underage girls to powerful men has even the New York Times demanding answers. Epstein was apparently protected by the Deep State for more than a decade, receiving extraordinary favoritism right up until his final moments of life in jail. At first the liberal media reacted to his death by calling anyone who questioned the circumstances a “conspiracy theorist,” but the media has since flipped amid...

Incredible individual performances during a game can come from anyone on the field, be it a defensive powerhouse, a Heisman Trophy candidate or a team's star quarterback. But no matter the player or position, one thing remains the same: the singular effort can be game-changing—and sometimes even history-making. In honor of the 150th anniversary of college football, here are the top 10 greatest individual game performances in the history of the sport.

In March 2019, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found that the Transportation Security Administration was taking far too long to hire its security screeners. On average, TSA takes 252 days to hire screeners, who are frontline employees vital to the agency's mission. In private industry, it usually only takes from a few days to four months to hire a new employee, according to the Workable human resources website. ... Given the role played by its security screeners it's, of course, essential that TSA work toward hiring only the most capable, most qualified candidates. However, by any reasonable standard,...

Hello FReepers. Looking for recommendations on software or web app that transcribes from an audio file (MP3, WAV, etc.) and converts to text. All the ones that I'm finding convert from microphone only. Thanks in advance for your help!

Americans aren’t buying that disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail last weekend. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that only 29% of American Adults believe Epstein actually committed suicide while in jail. Forty-two percent (42%) think Epstein was murdered to prevent him from testifying against powerful people with whom he associated. A sizable 29% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

While America faces some turmoil at home, the nation is still being represented as a symbol of freedom across the globe. Protesters in Hong Kong are singing the U.S. national anthem and flying American flags as they protest oppression under China’s Communist Party. Specifically, protesters are outraged about China’s new extradition laws, which weaken Hong Kong’s sovereignty and gives the communist party more power over the people.

Editor's note: This column was co-written with Charles Vavruska.New York City Council Member Robert Holden (D-Queens) and eight other lawmakers wrote Mayor Bill de Blasio and asked him to replace Education Chancellor Richard Carranza, if he “continues to divide the city.” The June 15 letter stated that Gotham “needs a chancellor who promotes education, not division.” It accused Carranza of “releasing divisive statements directed toward parents and students” and “changing policies based on ethnicity rather than efficacy.” After more than a year of suffering Carranza’s onslaught of racial fetishism, local public-school parents were relieved that the cavalry finally arrived.Carranza stumbled...

Are taxpayers funding academic institutions to indoctrinate our kids? That disturbing and irresistible question plagued me during the long drive home last week from college orientation. I doubt I am alone in this wake-up call. Like many other women, I just sent my youngest child to college. I am so proud of him and his decision to join the Army ROTC and study engineering. He will be attending a revered Virginia institution known for its military Corps of Cadets program. The centerpiece of the campus is the military parade field featuring beautiful pylons bearing the school’s founding principles: words...