Free Republic

Orators of the Democrat Party – from the distant past: "One man with courage makes a majority." ~Andrew Jackson "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." ~Franklin D. Roosevelt "The buck stops here." ~Harry S. Truman "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." ~John F. Kennedy --- But wait ....There are more Great orators of the Democrat Party – MORE RECENT GEMS of wisdom: "It depends what your definition of 'is' is?'' ~William Jefferson Clinton "Those rumors are false. I believe in the sanctity of marriage" John...

A term coined in 1985 by an unnamed staffer of the Reagan administration was “Starve the Beast”. This referred to a fiscally conservative political strategy to cut government spending by paying less in taxes. So, in the original sense, “the Beast” was the government, and people were to starve said beast by spending less and using loopholes to pay less in taxes. Now the Beast is a whole lot bigger. These days the Beast has a lot more tentacles than just the government. The system now consists of the government and all aspects of corporatism. Big Agri, Big Pharma, Big...

Congressional Democrats will file a legal brief in federal court on Tuesday asserting that President Trump’s promotion of his Doral resort for the G-7 summit was further evidence he has violated the Emoluments Clause, despite his decision to reverse course. The initial announcement last week — from Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, as he stood behind the official White House podium — provided the president’s personal property with “invaluable publicity” that in and of itself may amount to an emolument, a House Democratic source said. Democratic lawmakers and their aides debated how to proceed over the weekend, after...

Confirmation bias. The Oxford Dictionary of Psychology defines it as “the tendency to test one’s beliefs or conjectures by seeking evidence that might confirm or verify them and to ignore evidence that might disconfirm or refute them.”[1] It manifests itself in all fields of human knowledge, from scientific experimentation to criminal investigation to medical diagnosis. It is that internal “yes man” that stands ready to manipulate information to make it confirm what one already assumes is true. It is that subjective “lens” which is donned to interpret the facts. At its root, confirmation bias is the consequence of the Fall....

A pair of mathematicians from Australia and France have devised an alternative way to multiply numbers together, while solving an algorithmic puzzle that has perplexed some of the greatest math minds for almost half a century. For most of us, the way we multiply relatively small numbers is by remembering our times tables – an incredibly handy aid first pioneered by the Babylonians some 4,000 years ago. But what if the numbers get bigger? Well, if the figures get unwieldy – and assuming we don't have a calculator or computer, of course – most of us would then turn to...

Appearing as guests on Thursday's CNN Tonight, former CBS anchor Dan Rather and former ABC anchor Sam Donaldson declared that President Donald Trump is "out-Nixoning Nixon" on the Ukraine issue, with Donaldson claiming that there is a "smoking transcript" and Rather suggesting that it is already time to "roll the credits on a mob movie" based on President Trump and Rudy Giuliani's activities. At 10:46 p.m. Eastern, host Don Lemon introduced the segment: "The coverup, the tapes, and a President under a cloud of impeachment. Is President Trump out-Nixoning Nixon? Who better to ask than two legends?" (VIDEO-AT-LINK)As Rather began...

The warmongers are pulling out all the stops opposing Trump's attempts to fulfill his promise to bring the troops home and end the endless wars. They are making noises about supporting the Demoncrats' impeachment sham to pressure him to fold or compromise with them to keep their support. Other than opposing impeachment the best way we can support Trump and strengthen his hand is to make "Bring Them Home" the focus of 2020, we need to "pressure" Trump to keep that promise and really pressure the Republicans (particularly in the Senate) and not let up until significant withdrawals have been...

A jury in Texas returned a verdict on Monday that will prevent a Texas dad from intervening in the gender transition of his 7-year-old son. Jeffrey Younger had petitioned a court in Texas to grant him sole custody of his twin sons, James and Jude, in part to avoid a plan to infuse James with female hormones. James, who would like to be called Luna, has been the center of controversy in the heated debate among his parents and others. Anne Georgulas, the mother of the two boys, has advocated for James to transition into Luna and has strongly backed...

Abortion and same-sex marriage are now legal in Northern Ireland after legislation passed by Westminster MPs has come into effect.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a challenge to Republican-drawn electoral districts in Michigan that Democrats said were illegally configured to dilute their voting power, an action taken in the aftermath of major rulings by the justices in June prohibiting federal courts from hearing such claims. The Supreme Court’s action voided an order in April by a three-judge panel to rework 34 districts in the state legislature and U.S. House of Representatives whose boundaries were crafted purely to advantage Republicans, a practice known as partisan gerrymandering. The justices had put the panel’s decision on hold...

US President Donald Trump will celebrate Diwali at the White House on Thursday, three days ahead of the formal celebrations of the festival of lights in India. This would be Trump's third Diwali celebrations at the White House, a tradition that began with his predecessor Barack Obama in 2009. According to the White House, Trump will participate in the Diwali celebrations by lighting a ceremonial 'diya' (lamp) on Thursday. No other details of the celebrations were immediately available. Trump's first Diwali celebrations at the White House was in his Oval Office in 2017 in the presence of a select group...

The New York Times was widely criticized on Monday for what was described as a "puff piece" about Hillary Clinton over her recent attacks on Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and President Trump, suggesting she's a "master troll." In an analysis piece from Times reporter Lisa Lerer, she questioned whether Clinton was "trolling us," listing her "corrupt human tornado" insult towards Trump, her unsubstantiated suggested that the Russians were "grooming" Gabbard, D-Hawaii, as a Russian asset in 2020, and sharing a fake letter mocking Trump's recent, casually worded missive to Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, which neither she nor Lerer credited "Jimmy...

Early this morning, some Catholic men entered St. Maria in Traspontina, near the Vatican, grabbed several of the wooden idols involved in the recent sacrilegious ceremonies and tossed them into the Tiber River.

“Today, more than 150 years after the end of the Civil War, America is again divided, by geography, party, ideology, economics and race.” —From “Is America Heading For Another Civil War?” Austin Sarat on July 30, 2019. The debate over the merits of Donald John Trump’s presidency continue with no sign of closure in sight. The constituency that elected him has remained steadfast in its support, as the marginalized and ethnically diverse who oppose him, stay at odds with his policies and (in their view) offensive rhetoric. Vast segments of the psychiatric community, including the editorial staff of Psychology Today,...

“We’ve never had an impeached president running for a second term. Might Trump step down to avoid putting the country through this ordeal? Knowing what we do about him, there’s no chance of that. The 2020 race will be a fight to the death.”

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson tonight called out Senator Lindsey Graham for not delivering more on what he has stated publicly about looking into the origins of the Russia investigation. He showed a clip of Graham saying months ago, “We’re going to call them all before the committee. Did they try to involve the 25th amendment to take the president down? Did they get a warrant against an American citizen using information that they know was flawed? Did they taint the Clinton email investigation because they are afraid that if they indicted her she would lose the election and they wanted...

You think the campaign trail is tough? Try sparring with a UFC champ!! That's what presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard did in Boston last week -- trading shots with strawweight superstar Weili Zhang ... and TMZ Sports has the video. Remember, Gabbard played a huge role in helping the Chinese superstar get a visa so she could come to the U.S. on a media tour. Gabbard, a U.S. military combat vet and current member of the Army National Guard, is a HUGE fan of MMA and has watched Zhang compete for years. So, when the opportunity came up to spar with...

Tomorrow, Japan's Emperor Naruhito will proclaim his succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in an enthronement ceremony. ... Notably, U.S. transportation secretary Elaine Chao is expected to attend. (Previously Vice President Mike Pence was supposed to travel to Japan for the ceremony, but a change was made somewhat last minute). Prince Charles will also be there, representing the United Kingdom—he previously attended Akihito's enthronement ceremony with Princess Diana—as will other members of royal families throughout the world such as: King Jigme and Queen Jetsun of Bhutan, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, and King Felipe and Queen...

Hunter Biden has agreed to take a paternity test to prove he’s not the father of a baby of an Arkansas woman who’s suing him to prove otherwise, according to court documents. Hunter, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, is working out the “protocol and procedure” for the DNA test and expects to have the results before a December hearing in Arkansas, the court papers say.

Key Points: Expired food is regularly sold to consumers via third-party vendors on Amazon. Amazon's marketplace has grown to millions of sellers, making it hard for the company to adequately police the platform. Many brands have grown so frustrated by the abundance of expired products that they're taking steps to clean up the marketplace themselves. ------------------------------------------------- Amazon's sprawling marketplace, consisting of millions of third-party sellers, has become a go-to site for many grocery shoppers, especially since the company's acquisition of Whole Foods over two years ago. But an increasing number of consumers are finding that, just as the broader Amazon...