Free Republic

Mass media perpetuates mass murder, critics claim, first by calling it “shooting” which is a sport, instead of “murder” which is a crime, deceptively framing the problem and displacing the blame. Then media promotes these crimes incessantly, sometimes for weeks, because they’re used to attract “viewers,” a euphemism for money. “If it bleeds it leads,” is the reprehensible unethical mantra and behavior. By providing “the oxygen of publicity,” as Margaret Thatcher called it, media encourages copycats, which the murderers themselves tell us they seek. Doesn’t that imply at least some measure of complicity or guilt? Psychiatrists and law enforcement beg...

Women are less likely to don high heels if they are going on a date with a man they think is ugly, a controversial study has found. Scientists quizzed 292 female university students, who were all straight, about how often they wear stilettos or other types of the shoe. The volunteers were asked if they would wear high heels or a flat sole shoe if they went on a date with two men plucked from Google Images. One of them was considered to be very attractive by a panel of 14 separate women, the other was deemed to be the...

During the Democrat debate Thursday night, Jorge Ramos challenged Joe Biden on his immigration record, particularly his past support for a border wall, and the Obama-Biden administration's record on deportations. "Why should Latinos trust you?" Ramos asked."What Latinos should look at is ... comparing [Trump] to [Obama] is outrageous," Biden said. "Number one, we didn't lock up people up in cages, we didn't separate families... we didn't do all of those things."Umm, Joe... yes, you did. Seven Facts About Obama’s Immigration Record Liberals Refuse to Admit Back in June, Barack Obama’s former ICE chief, Thomas Homan, acknowledged at a conference...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, argued that his support for "democratic socialism" is not the same as the form of socialism that the government has imposed in countries such as Venezuela and Cuba. Sanders made his comments during the presidential debate on Thursday evening. The senator was asked why he hasn't called Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro a dictator and if his socialist policy proposals are different from the socialist policies in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. "Anybody who does what Maduro does is a vicious tyrant. What we need now is international and regional cooperation for free elections...

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was hailed as a new kind of leader when he took power in 2015. At that point, the power of the Conservative Party was at low ebb and Trudeau appeared to be a fresh face that was promising a new kind of politics for Canada.Sound familiar?Alas, it was not to be. Trudeau became embroiled in scandal that resulted in the resignations of two cabinet members.NBCNews: The cause of his diminishing star power stems from one of the biggest scandals in Canadian political history, which arose when Trudeau's former attorney general  said he improperly pressured...

This week, the House passed three anti-drilling bills, H.R. 1146, which repeals a provision of the Republican tax bill that opened the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas development, as well as H.R. 1941 and H.R. 205, which place a permanent moratorium on offshore oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. I believe these measures are a key step toward ending a dangerous practice that threatens our nation’s coastal communities, oceans, national parks, marine life and climate.

On Thursday night the Democrat Party held a presidential primary debate in Houston, Texas. Ten candidates qualified for the debate. The Democrats did all they could to be noticed in the crowded field. Three candidates went that extra mile to get noticed and brought their own booster boxes. Julian Castro, Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar all stood on booster boxes to look tall. The Democrat Party and their socialist policies are all smoke and mirrors.

Beto O'Rourke's best moment on Thursday's Democratic presidential debate -- which also doubled as his best moment in the 2020 campaign to date -- came when ABC's David Muir asked whether he supported a mandatory buyback of assault weapons. "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," O'Rourke said to raucous applause from the crowd in Houston, Texas. "We're not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore." The former Texas congressman defended that stance in an interview on CNN's "New Day" Friday, insisting the issue would not hurt his party. "It's not a...

On the eve of the annual 9/11 observances, America's National Security Advisor John Bolton was either fired (per Trump) or resigned (per Bolton). The dispute is being portrayed as one between a Bush-era neocon and an "America First" Trump. But that is something of an over-simplification. As I wrote upon Bolton's appointment a year and a half ago: Bolton is viewed with suspicion as a 'neocon', which is not a term of much practical use these days. But then so was his predecessor - H R McMaster. So the substitution might be of no more significance than a neocon whom...

Well known liberal celebrity Sean Penn appeared on a post-debate episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Thursday, to lecture Americans on their choice for 2020. The actor condescended, “If people truly want to vote against their own interests, [Trump will] be the president of the United States again.” However, “But if they are paying attention, there are talented people in the group we saw tonight.” Regarding Trump’s leadership, Penn saw it only going in negative directions: “And we've seen the potential of a president, for example the current president, to lead us to El Paso and to lead us to all...

It wouldn’t be the first time he’d — allegedly — joined with the conservatives in a case boiling with political repercussions only to think better of it and swing around to the liberal position. Everyone’s heard the stories by now about Roberts supposedly wimping out in the ObamaCare ruling seven years ago, initially agreeing with Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito that the individual mandate was unconstitutional and then getting cold feet. Result: A tortured and dubious majority opinion upholding the constitutionality of the mandate as a tax. Rumors swirled within days of the decision that Roberts had switched his...

VIDEO One of the most irritating speech patterns, in addition to sounding like every sentence is a question, is constantly beginning beginning sentences with the word "So." It makes the speaker sound less than confident. Such was the case with Elizabeth Warren who has a history of "So" abuse which was continued at the Democrat debate in Houston. I notice that she especially begins her sentences with "So" when she is attempting to answer a question that she is not comfortable with. Here is a compilation of Elizabeth Warren's "So" overuse at the beginning of sentences during the debate.

Joe Biden once again took the germ of a good idea — and botched it by reductioing his own absurdum. ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis challenged Biden on his criminal justice reform plans to release inmates convicted of drug use, referring to criticisms from Cory Booker that Biden’s plan won’t go far enough. Oh yeah, Biden seemed to say? He began expanding his vision of reform until it reached the stage where “nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime.”

Newly unearthed data from four decades ago contradicted gospel that animal fats are worse than vegetable fats — and was ignored.  All those climate alarmists who proclaim that they "believe in science" fail to understand that science is created by flawed human beings who are susceptible to ignoring findings that don't confirm their hypotheses.  Or generate future grants for more research in the field.Today, the "settled science" of nutrition as it stood decades ago is being questioned, in part because Americans have become obese after decades of following federal guidelines that turn out to be poppycock. In The Scientific American, which is all...

And the winner is … Donald Trump. The Democrats’ third presidential debate was a long-winded, platitude-filled disaster where no single candidate could claim a clear victory. Instead, the seven men and three women took turns displaying why they are all probably unelectable. Start with Joe Biden’s incoherence. The nominal front-runner, the former vice president had a 40-year reputation for never shutting up. Now he can’t manage to finish a sentence without interrupting himself. Nearly all his efforts to make a point were swamped by a sudden change of direction mid-sentence, and then another change a few words later as a...

Carl Icahn, the legendary investor, has told employees that he is moving his company from New York to Miami and a report said his decision to move is based on the Big Apple’s higher taxes. Icahn, 83, whose net worth is about $20.4 billion, is set to move his home and business from the city due to the taxes, sources told Bloomberg. The report said that it is not uncommon for billionaires to settle in the state which is one of seven without a personal income tax. The report pointed to New York’s 8.82 percent rate. …

Ilhan Omar Calls Muhammad Evil, Vile, and Abhorrent! Published on Sep 13, 2019 Acts17Apologetics 382K subscribers Congresswoman Ilhan Omar considers herself both a Muslim and a leftist politician, and she sees no contradiction between the two ideologies. Not surprisingly, Rep. Omar ends up condemning Muhammad when she condemns female genital mutilation (FGM). David Wood discusses the issue.

I was talking to an acquaintance yesterday who is a lifelong Democrat. He’s having real problems with the Democratic Party. It sounds more and more foreign to the party he’s always been a part of. I told him there is an alternative party and smiled. He actually was open to the idea when he never, ever thought he would be. I was truly surprised. He’s clearly not a Trump fan, but the Democrats are not sounding like his party anymore and he thinks the Trump hysteria is overblown. I don’t know how widespread this is, but looking at the debate...

Chinese consumers are not happy about higher prices and decreased supplies of food.  Yesterday, Chinese buyers snapped up "at least 10 boatloads of soybeans," according to Reuters, as the U.S.-China trade war showed signs of compromise.  The South China Morning Post reports: Beijing will allow Chinese businesses to purchase a "certain amount of farm products such as soybeans and pork" from the United States, according to the Xinhua report. "China's market is big enough and there's great potential to import high-quality US farm products." The official Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday that China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce made...

Briscoe Cain, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, had posted a Twitter message during Thursday’s Democratic debate in Houston, after O’Rourke said he planned to take away high-powered weapons from civilians if elected president. “Hell yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15,” O’Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, Texas, said during the debate. “My AR is ready for you Robert Francis,” Cain responded, using O’Rourke’s birth name. O’Rourke made it clear he didn’t interpret Cain’s tweet to be a joke. “This is a death threat, Representative,” O’Rourke wrote. “Clearly, you shouldn’t own an AR-15—and neither should anyone else.”...