Free Republic

San Francisco, a city described in song for its natural beauty, is descending into an abyss of homelessness, the use of sidewalks as toilets and a place you might not want to visit, much less live. The latest, but surely not the last demonstration of insanity, is San Francisco's Board of Supervisors' adoption of new "person first" language guidelines meant to "change the public's perception of criminals." The words "convicted felon," "offender," "convict," "addict" and "juvenile delinquent" are now out. These individuals will henceforth be referred to as a "justice-involved person." Someone previously called a "criminal" will now be referred...

China’s efforts to lure its scientists back from overseas institutions have been paying off militarily, with more than a little help from the United States. Military projects they have been involved in include China’s development of hypersonic weapons capable of penetrating missile-defence systems and the design of new submarines able to patrol quietly along the US west coast, researchers familiar with the programmes told the South China Morning Post. For more than a decade, China has been ramping up efforts to lure back talented scientists working at laboratories in the US linked to America’s nuclear weapons programme and other military...

ALL of the stories on Breitbart this morning are stripped of their comments. Is Breitbart following the trend of other sites and eliminating comments? Then it would be a boring site indeed.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, has rocketed from conservative backbencher to a leading Minnesota critic of U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, his former colleague in the Legislature. TEXT SIZE 178 EMAIL PRINT MORE State Rep. Steve Drazkowski tells a story about getting soaked in a rainstorm on his way to a TV studio in Minneapolis for an appearance on Fox News. People don’t use umbrellas where he comes from in rural Minnesota, he says. In Drazkowski’s telling, he’s just a guy from the sticks, raised on a farm. “If we did well,” he said, “we got supper.” But the end of his...

SHANGHAI — More than a decade ago, Chinese physicist Pan Jian-Wei returned home from Europe to help oversee research into some of the most important technology of the 21st century. At a conference in Shanghai this summer, Pan and his team offered a rare peek at the work he described as a “revolution.” They spoke of the hacking-resistant communications networks they are building across China, the sensors they are designing to see through smog and around corners, and the prototype computers that may someday smash the computational power of any existing machine. All the gear is based on quantum technology...

A recent thread on bedbugs abruptly disappeared because it wasn't news. Still, the care and feeding of tenants is a topic of some interest, and at least one person in that thread complained about tenants who muck up your property with bedbug infestations and then demand that you fix the problem at your expense.I've had to deal with this problem myself, and it might be worth sharing the results of my extensive research into ways to avoid the costly expedient of either whole-residence heat treatment or sulfuryl fluoride fumigation. This is only a list of a few products that appear...

Who knew that a star of the show GLOW on Netflix was a constitutional scholar? She's not, and yet, actress Alison Brie declared with certainty on the stage of the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards Monday night that what America is doing to immigrants is “unconstitutional and frankly disgusting." As Brie and singer French Montana presented the award for Best Latin Video, they conflated legal and illegal immigrants. While French Montoya wants to be the "voice" of immigrants, as one himself, and said, "we are the people that make this country," he didn’t mention he legally immigrated. Brie chimed in,...

Hillary Clinton, the Ma Barker of American politics, is still out hustling, still staying one step ahead of the law as she tries to weasel her way into the presidential sweepstakes. She says she isn’t running in 2020, but, as we know too well, truth is a fungible commodity to a Clinton. The signs don’t look good. She just announced a fundraiser for the DNC at her Washington D.C. mansion with tickets as high as $50,000 (scraps for the homeless in the dumpster out back). A couple of weekends ago she was at de Rothschild’s estate on Martha’s Vineyard --...

Full Title: JIHADI KARMA ISIS fighter killed by drone bomb he was operating after it ran low on battery and flew back AN ISIS terrorist blew himself up when the drone bomb he was operating ran low on battery — and flew back. The idiotic killer was targeting allied forces after the Battle for Mosul in northern Iraq. He had customised his weapon to carry plastic explosive and planned to detonate it by troops based in the city. But his plan backfired because he had forgotten to sufficiently charge the device. Civilian drones — as weaponised by ISIS — automatically...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Millard Fillmore. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Millard Fillmore was President of the United States during the time the Constitution was being tested on many fronts, prior to the Civil War period. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the...

I interviewed Andrew McCarthy about his new book, "Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency," because it is a critically important read for thoughtful people. "This is a story about hubris," is how it begins. Thoughtful people know that for all our grand monuments carved of granite and marble, a republic is an extremely fragile thing. Especially now, as a cynical establishment seeks restoration, as establishment Kemalist bureaucrats run for cover, and as the divisions in our nation widen and public discourse sounds like rival packs of angry barking dogs. And in a few...

Convicted child sex offender George Nader visited the White House at least 13 times to meet with President Trump’s then-chief strategist Steve Bannon, records indicate, raising questions about possible gaps in security and judgment. Nader first visited Bannon in the White House in February 2017. His dozen subsequent visits stretched through August, when Bannon was fired after seven months on the job. It's unclear if Nader visited the White House after Bannon left. The Lebanese American businessman, a past consultant for military contractor Blackwater, was known for his links to Saudi and Emirati leaders and secured a $100,000 speaking fee...

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=W_t4if3ubcc Syrian-American human rights activist Ammar Abdulhamid and Egyptian-American researcher Samuel Tadros discussed Zionism and Israel last week on Al-Hurra TV (United States), reports the Middle Ease Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Ammar Abdulhamid said that there is a colonialist-imperialist streak in all civilizations and this means that the colonialist aspects of Zionism are not unique. He argued that the Arabs have become nihilistic with regard to Israel because they focused on annihilating Israel instead of building a Palestinian state right from the start. He also said that one cannot ignore the role that Arab Jews played in Israel's establishment...

More than two-thirds of Republican-leaning adults say in a new poll that they support so-called red flag laws that allow family members to petition a court for temporary restrictions on a person's right to own a firearm. A poll released Tuesday found that 70 percent of Republicans surveyed support such legislation, as do 67 percent of gun owners. Support for such legislation drops, however, when it is expanded to allow members of law enforcement to petition a court without a family member filing a claim. In that case, 66 percent of Republicans support allowing police officers to petition a court...

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 IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly...

One day later, China is still insisting no phone calls took place over the weekend that President Donald Trump claimed showed its willingness to talk again. “I have not heard of this situation regarding the two calls that the U.S. mentioned in the weekend,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at press conference on Tuesday. He had denied on Monday that the calls had taken place. “Regretfully, the U.S. has further increased the tax rate on China’s exports to the U.S. This extreme pressure is purely harmful to both sides and not constructive at all,” Geng said, according to...

Today’s Cryptogram QJWQTJ IWBTL GJ MBOQOYMJL NW REWI DWI ZBKD Y TJCOEJL CGWBN QOCPJO SOWZ QTCPYEA QWRJO. –ZCOP CBMNYE You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general comments, but DO post your time and any tips you might give the group...

New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand is willing to lose tens of thousands of dollars on a fundraising gimmick in an attempt to make the September debate stage. Gillibrand launched a t-shirt giveaway at a time when she needs approximately 15,000 additional unique donors to qualify for the third round of Democratic primary debates. She began offering first-time donors a campaign t-shirt retailing at $30 in exchange for a $1 contribution in August. If the giveaway proves successful, Gillibrand could lose nearly $130,000 on the cost of shirts alone, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

The pathway to opioid abuse for women often starts with a prescription from the doctor's office. One reason is that women are more likely than men to seek help for pain. Pain researchers say that not only do women suffer more painful conditions, they actually perceive pain more intensely than men do. "The burden of pain is substantially greater for women than men," says researcher and psychologist Roger Fillingim, "and that led pain researchers like myself to wonder if the pain perception system is different in women than in men." For more than two decades, Fillingim has been studying gender...

Joe Biden's brother is being sued by medical execs over a scheme in which he 'promised to get the 2020 front-runner's help to land the firms lucrative contracts' Over the past few years, several accusations of Joe Biden's relatives attempting to profit from his public standing have arisen But a new court filing in has provided the first explicit claims that James Biden offered up his brother's influence to benefit his own private business pursuits James Biden allegedly promised prospective business partners the former Vice President would implement their health care models into his 2020 campaign None of the allegations...