Free Republic

My brother Kirk Randolph Elder died suddenly and unexpectedly 16 days before his 70th birthday. He and Tresta, his wife of 41 years, had planned a trip to Hawaii, where they were going to celebrate Kirk’s birthday. Kirk was a retired supervisor at an oil refinery, and we were extremely close. He started coming on my radio show about four years ago, reluctantly at first. We’d discuss politics, culture and sports. A registered Democrat, he and I often disagreed. Yet, week after week, I received letters from listeners who called him their “favorite Democrat.” Kirk always showed respect for Republicans...

Elizabeth Warren promises that if elected, the first thing she will do as president is push through a “sweeping” anti-corruption plan that will “take power away from the wealthy and the well-connected in Washington and put it back where it belongs — in the hands of the people.” Where have we heard such promises before? Oh, right, from pretty much every candidate running for president. Barack Obama said in 2008 that if he were elected, he would “launch the most sweeping ethics reform in U.S. history. We will make government more open, more accountable and more responsive to the...

President Donald Trump on Thursday sued Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who subpoenaed eight years of Trump's personal and corporate tax returns earlier this month. The subpoena stems from Vance's criminal investigation into the Trump Organization about payments made to two women who have alleged affairs with the president. The president has strongly denied the affairs. NBC News

On Stephen Colbert's CBS late night show, the host challenged Elizabeth Warren on the issue of single-payer healthcare, which she unequivocally supports. He attempted to nail the leftist Senator down on the question of whether or not middle class Americans' taxes would have to go up (they would, a lot) in order to fund the program she and Bernie Sanders have proposed. She ducked, he drilled down further, then she ducked again -- prompting the comedian to call her out on it, seemingly to her surprise: “You keep being asked in the debates, how are you going to pay...

Four student evangelists from Wheaton College in Illinois are suing the Chicago city government over a set of rules that they say are restricting their freedom of speech and religion at a popular park. The students are members of the Chicago Evangelism Team sponsored by the Office of Christian Outreach at Wheaton College, an evangelical institution based in the Chicago suburbs. The students contend they have faced opposition and at times have been prohibited by security from evangelizing at Millennium Park, a 24-acre downtown venue that hosts a range of activities including concerts, theatre, dance performances, art shows, and nature...

Fox News dominated in the ratings on Monday night, winning every time slot from 6 a.m. to midnight in both total viewers and the advertiser coveted 25-54 demographic.

Hillsdale College, a premier conservative Christian college in southern Michigan, has launched a graduate school of government in Washington, D.C. The college announced the new school on Constitution Day. "Today, the connection between liberty and learning is widely forgotten, and their mutual support has grown tenuous," Larry P. Arnn, president of Hillsdale, said in a statement. "Repairing the breach is a task both urgent and noble." The Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government offers a Master of Arts in Government, combining the study of political thought, American founding principles, and statesmanship, the college explained. "Our students will...

https://www.dailywire.com/news/51960/watch-buttigieg-doesnt-want-his-ties-horrifying-ryan-saavedra?amp Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg finally responded on Wednesday to the horrifying revelation that an abortion doctor who was affiliated to an abortion clinic that Buttigieg repeatedly supported had kept the remains of more than 2,000 unborn babies at his home, saying that he hopes the story does not become too political. Buttigieg "spoke to reporters about the 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains family members found on former Dr. Ulrich Klopfer's property in Illinois after he died on Sept. 3," The Daily Caller reported. "I find that news out of Illinois extremely disturbing and I think it's important that...

One British bookmaker has more wagers on one candidate to win the Democratic presidential nomination — and the person isn’t even officially running. U.K. bookmaker Ladbrokes takes betters wager on the race, and according to Matthew Shaddick, head of their political betting division, Hillary Clinton is atop the pack, Newsweek reports. “The site currently has Clinton’s betting odds at 20 to 1, placing her alone in seventh place as far as best odds. That is ahead of most of the people actually running, including Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and former Texas Rep....

Despite the fact that natural gas is the cleanest of the fossil fuels hands down (and now the cheapest), liberals continue to oppose it. The “keep it in the ground” folks scored another victory this week when the city of San Jose California voted to ban natural gas lines and appliances in all new construction projects going forward. This is allegedly part of the state-mandated goal of going 100% “carbon-free” by 2045. Of course, as with all things, the devil is in the details. (CBS San Francisco) San Jose became the biggest U.S. city to ban natural gas in...

I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. Wait… you still need a hint? It rhymes with “rump.” Yes, Virginia Senator (and failed Vice Presidential candidate) Tim Kaine sat down yesterday with CNN’s John Berman to talk about the recent attack on a major Saudi Arabian oil refinery. Given all of the finger-pointing that’s been going on, surely he would be able to shed some light on things and offer a bit of clarity, right? Of course. And he quickly did, pinning the blame on Donald Trump for creating an atmosphere of war by continually “provoking” Iran...

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is ready to massively boost its coal-powered energy supply with the total of future projects now standing at 226.2 gigawatts (GW). That is more than twice the amount of fresh capacity planned for India, according to data published Thursday by environmental groups.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia is poised to pass a new penal code that criminalizes consensual sex outside marriage and introduces stiff penalties for insulting the president’s dignity - a move rights groups criticized as an intrusive assault on basic freedoms. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim majority country and has substantial Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities, but has seen a recent trend towards deeper religious piety and conservative Islamic activism. The new criminal code is due to be adopted in the next week after parliament and the government agreed a final draft on Wednesday, four parliamentarians told Reuters. Lawmakers...

This is a dangerous time for comedians who make inappropriate remarks, putting Stephen Colbert in an especially precarious position. On Tuesday Mr. Colbert welcomed presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass) to his “Late Night” television program on CBS. Mr. Colbert then engaged in a conversation which many journalists find deeply offensive when he pressed their favorite “ideas candidate” to explain how taxpayers will bear the cost of her ideas. After a pleasant several minutes of discussion Mr. Colbert told the senator that the “most radical thing that you’re proposing is Medicare for All.” The comedian then continued where friendly...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Devin Nunes. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Devin Nunes is a Republican member of Congress and ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. 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 white squares on the bottom half...

OK, the wife and I are planning a week long vacation in early October. We're flying into Orlando, spending a few days there and then heading eastward and then north along the Atlantic Coast. I don't think we'll go much further than Saint Augustine. Yeah, there's the obvious places to go - like Kennedy Space Center. Saint Augustine looks very interesting too. There's a few national parks I wanna check out along the way too. I'd even settle more good recommendations that are even a bit inland from the coast. I'm up for anything in the way of recommendations -...

As Democrats continue to call on President Trump to put forward sweeping gun control legislation, the commander in chief said his administration will do nothing to hurt the Second Amendment, during an exclusive interview Thursday with Fox News' Ed Henry at the southern border. Henry asked Trump if he would "stand up" to the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the president said he would, so long as constitutional gun rights are not infringed upon. "I am [going to stand up to the NRA] if it's not going to hurt a good, solid great American citizen from keeping his weapon because...

Does the Religious Left Know What Lenin Said About Christians and Socialism? There's no escaping it: Socialism is anti-Christian. “If someone calls it socialism,” said Rev. William Barber at the August meeting of the Democratic National Committee, “then we must compel them to acknowledge that the Bible must then promote socialism, because Jesus offered free health care to everyone, and he never charged a leper a co-pay.”Barber’s statement brought secular progressives to their feet in thunderous applause. That included DNC chair Tom Perez, who says that democratic socialists like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez represent “the future of our party.” That’s a...

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved the attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure, a U.S. government official told CBS, adding that the approval had been granted on the condition that Iran’s involvement could be denied.

... The 1970 Clean Air Act prohibits states from regulating tailpipe emissions, but it allows California to request a waiver to “meet compelling and extraordinary conditions.” This waiver authority was intended to help California reduce tailpipe pollutants such as NOx and sulphur that contribute to smog. The LA haze in those days could be as thick as San Francisco’s fog. Yet the Obama Administration in 2009 issued California a waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions despite the lack of legal or environmental justification. The Energy Policy and Conservation Act pre-empts state regulations of fuel economy, and CO2 emissions don’t cause...