Free Republic

The government should intervene to boost the sexual attractiveness of transgender people because they are sexually rejected by roughly 97 percent of heterosexuals, and by most gays and lesbians, according to a survey by pro-transgender advocates.

A Texas man is the first person to be charged under a federal ban on bump stocks, devices that allow a semi-automatic firearm to fire rapidly like a machine gun, the Justice Department said Thursday. Ajay Dhingra, 43, of Houston, came on the radar of the U.S. Secret Service in August after he sent an email to the George W. Bush Foundation asking the former president to "send one of your boys to come and murder me," according to court records. Prosecutors allege that Dhingra had previously been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility and was prohibited from owning firearms....

A fugitive Chinese billionaire who has previously met with U.S. President Donald Trump's former senior counselor Steve Bannon said internal weakness in the Chinese Communist Party raises concerns about its long-term stability. Guo Wengui, who lives in New York and has pledged to expose political corruption in China, said he has privately met with Chinese Communist Party officials who voice doubts about the future, Taiwan's Liberty Times reported Monday. Guo, who made his fortune in Chinese real estate before fleeing the country, said one "senior member" is skeptical the annual Beidaihe summit will take place next year, citing political upheaval...

The level of government interference and taxpayer exposure in the housing market has always been a huge problem. Higher education and mortgages have been key weapons of social engineering. The creation of massive amounts of debt and the entanglement of the government and taxpayers in mortgages was a major cause of the last economic meltdown. The solution here is at best incomplete, but it's a reasonable next step. Especially when dealing with 2020 Democrats who would love nothing more than to create another trillion dollar catastrophe by bribing their voters like crazy. The Trump administration on Thursday released its first...

ThinkProgress, the influential news site that rose to prominence in the shadow of the Bush administration and helped define progressivism during the Obama years, is shutting down. The outlet, which served as an editorially independent project of the Democratic Party think tank Center for American Progress, will stop current operations on Friday

A vegan woman has filed a lawsuit against her neighbors, complaining about the smell of meat and fish coming from the barbecues wafting into her yard. Australia’s 9 News reports Cilla Carden took her case to the Supreme Court of Western Australia, citing her neighbors’ barbecuing, smoking and children playing basketball among other complaints. Carden is accusing her neighbors of doing it all on purpose. “It’s deliberate,” she said. “All I can smell is fish. I can’t enjoy my backyard.” Carden’s complaint was tossed out of court earlier this year and she filed an appeal.

Two months on since they met in the Gold Cup final, the U.S. men's national team (USMNT) and Mexico revive their rivalry on Friday night. Jonathan dos Santos scored the only goal of the game as El Tri regained the trophy on U.S. soil. The two teams haven't played since and will in all likelihood look vastly different on Friday, with USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter and his counterpart Gerardo Martino set to refresh their rosters.

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show has become a required stopping point for 2020 Democrats. Making it clear that he has no interest in bipartisan jokes, Colbert is basically stumping for all the contenders. On Thursday’s show, the host tried to pretend that Mayor Pete Buttigieg isn’t extremely liberal. Talking to the man who has hard-left views on guns, abortion, wants to pack the Supreme Court and eliminate the electoral college, Colbert seized on Buttigieg’s use of the term "ideological centrism." The comedian pretended, “So, when you say ideological centrism... are you saying that to make sure you don't get pigeonholed into...

....going on the road to 100 cities with his pledge to “save the climate” is not explained. Maybe Fox has some mysterious way of traveling to 100 cities that does not involve air travel and burning of large quantities of fossil fuels. Or maybe Fox doesn’t really believe in climate change and is using fear to push his anti-American, anti-business and anti-modernity agenda. Or maybe like so many Hollywood elites Josh Fox believes that climate change restrictions are for the little people. He is important and has important work to do. Others need to ditch their cars or not fly...

Surviving crew were driven back by the fire off the coast of Southern CaliforniaThey are said to have told investigators in 'very lengthy, detailed, comprehensive interviews' the harrowing story of the moments after the fire erupted MondayJumping from the ship's bridge to its main deck, they tried to get into the galleyWith the galley's doors on fire, they tried to get through windows but could not'At that point, due to heat, flames and smoke, the crew had to jump', officials sayTwo retrieved a skiff to see if they could rescue any survivors. None were foundThe only crew member to...

African Migrants Clashed Again with Federales at Migration Center in #Tapachula Migrants still not happy at not being allowed to go north to the U.S. border. They refuse residency/work permits that would give them legal status in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/VMCJGkr5E5 — TrumpSoldier (@DaveNYviii) September 5, 2019 African migrants in Tapachula currently have legal protection from deportation, however that protection expires in a few weeks. Hence their desperation.

A blog entry intended for the Russian readers by a Russian mum who moved to the USA's Harvard from Russia with her husband and two children. The people who're interested in cultural differences might like this text. Translated from Russian. *** When we came to the USA I immediately took notice that the US children were very different from ours and that wasn’t just about that there were some black children. It was about their behavior, speaking and almost everything. My children, in turn, became objects of curiosity for my new American female friends and the school teachers. They took...

Own a rifle? Got a scope to go with it? The government might soon know who you are, where you live and how to reach you. That’s because Apple and Google have been ordered by the U.S. government to hand over names, phone numbers and other identifying data of at least 10,000 users of a single gun scope app, Forbes has discovered. It’s an unprecedented move: Never before has a case been disclosed in which American investigators demanded personal data of users of a single app from Apple and Google. And never has an order been made public where the...

Almost three years after a fire ripped through an Oakland warehouse and killed 36 people, jurors in the Ghost Ship criminal trial acquitted one defendant of involuntary manslaughter Thursday and hung on the guilt of the warehouse’s master tenant. Max Harris, 29, walked out of jail in Dublin on Thursday night and Derick Almena, 49, spent another night in his jail cell, as prosecutors decide whether to retry him on the 36 charges of involuntary manslaughter. Each faced up to 39 years in prison if convicted on all charges stemming from the deadly Dec. 2, 2016, inferno at an electronic...

A landing attempt for the first time on Moon's south pole. Previous landings (US, Russia, China) have all been near the equator. Live streaming will start 2:40 pm EST (1:10 AM India time)

....In a criminal complaint affidavit filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office obtained by The Miami Herald, Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani was reportedly unhappy because of stalled union negotiations between the mechanics union and the airline. Alani was arrested Thursday and accused of disabling a component of the navigation system known as an air data module. Pilots noticed the issue July 17 when they got an error message during takeoff. They aborted the flight, with 150 on board. An inspection....

Twitter has taken a side in favor of the killing of the unborn. David Daleiden, the undercover journalist for the Center for Medical Progress, reported that the organization had 19 tweets blocked on Twitter, at the advice of Planned Parenthood. Daleiden and Sandra Merritt face 15 felony charges for an invasion of privacy after releasing 14 videos showing the sale of aborted baby parts within Planned Parenthood in 2015. The tweets that were blocked reported on the public testimony of Planned Parenthood in the court proceedings. Planned Parenthood’s attorneys told Twitter that the Center was live-streaming the hearing. Twitter reinstated...

FULL TITLE: Woman Transported by Ambulance from Abortion Biz Staffed by an Abortionist Involved in a Patient Death Chicago, IL – An ambulance responded to a medical emergency at American Women’s Center, a Chicago, Illinois, abortion facility, involving a 28-year old woman who had just completed a surgical abortion and suffered from low blood pressure. An emergency 911 recording provided to Operation Rescue by the Pro-Life Action League revealed a few more details. “Hi this is [redacted] from American Woman’s. I need ambulance to transfer the patient,” the caller said with a thick foreign accent. “The patient had a surgery...

[Catholic Caucus] German bishops to green light binding ‘Synodal Assembly’ Berlin, Germany, Sep 5, 2019 / 12:02 pm (CNA).- The German bishops are pressing forward with a controversial synodal program, creating a new Synodal Assembly in partnership with an influential German lay group. The decision to proceed comes despite a warning from Pope Francis to the German bishops that they must remain in step with the whole Church.In March of this year, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising and head of the German bishops’ conference, announced that the Church in Germany would embark on a “binding synodal process”...

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is launching a new ad as part of an effort to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to take up gun reform legislation. The progressive outside group will go up with the ad in Kentucky this weekend, where it will appear on Fox, MSNBC and CNN. "Our ad makes clear Mitch McConnell is out of step with Kentucky voters, even gun owners. He's corrupt and in the pocket of gun manufacturers who have spend hundreds of thousands to elect McConnell," Adam Green, the co-founder of PCCC, said in a statement. In addition to running...