Free Republic

It is high time we recover the true value of limited government and stand against the vigilantes who behave as though their superior virtue entitles them to wield the state as a weapon of group revenge. SNIP This earlier Enlightenment fostered a secular political culture that disavowed the enforcement of religious uniformity as an object of political endeavor. Under the guidance of the Enlighteners the fanatics were disempowered and the West abandoned theocracy as a governing ideal. Western societies grew to accommodate religious variety without sacrificing social harmony. We are heirs to this tradition, and we would do well to...

Unlike many Congressional hearings, the Senate and House Armed Services committee sessions on Afghanistan this week actually produced two important pieces of news, both of which were devastating for President Biden and his senior team.The revelations on Capitol Hill by Secretary Lloyd Austin and Generals Mark Milley and Kenneth McKenzie only added to the intense scrutiny and bipartisan calls for accountability over Biden’s chaotic and poorly planned exit from that country recently. First, both generals acknowledged that they recommended to Biden that we keep at least 2,500 troops in Afghanistan to ensure an orderly exit of American citizens and Afghan...

SEATTLE - King County Elections certified the recall petition against Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant Thursday, but it will not make the ballot in time for the November general election. Instead, the nearly 75,000 voters registered in Seattle's third council district will receive separate ballots more than two weeks later, which will be due back by Dec. 7. According to elections officials, the campaign to recall Sawant submitted more than 16,000 signatures for verification in early September of the 10,687 needed to place the petition on the ballot. **SNIP** State law requires recall elections take place within 45 to 90...

Editor's noteThis column was co-authored by Alexis Baden-Mayer.Dangerous gain-of-function experiments that supercharge viruses to make them deadlier and more contagious to humans are at the center of investigations into the COVID’s origins. Many experts in the scientific and intelligence communities—and a majority of Americans—believe that U.S. taxpayer-funded gain-of-function experimentscaused the pandemic through an accidental lab leak. Fortunately, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are uniting to crack down on this risky research. Congressmen Buddy Carter (R-GA), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) have just introduced the Pausing Enhanced Pandemic Pathogen Research Act to halt taxpayer funding for gain-of-function...

Yellen has warned of dire financial consequences if the debt limit is not increased and the country cannot repay its debts. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday she would like to see Congress’ power over debt limits taken away from the legislative body, as the federal government's borrowing power is set to expire Oct. 18. Yellen, who has warned of dire financial consequences if the United States' debt limit is not increased, and the country cannot repay its debts, also said, "yes I would" when asked by Congress whether she supports a recently proposed House bill to repeal the national...

Liberal ignorance of flyover country was on full display on CNN this morning. On New Day, CNN contributor Dr. Abdul El-Sayed—a Bernie Sanders ally—suggested that West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin should support the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill because it includes funds to address climate change. El-Sayed claimed that "climate change is ravaging coastal states like his." As NewsBusters tweeted, "Someone get the Dr. a map." West Virginia is—of course—a landlocked state. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Book reviews usually tell people, buy this new hardback. This article advises, don’t bother reading "Silent Earth," much less purchasing a copy; it’s mostly a junk-science, anti-technology screed. Dave Goulson’s book expands on "Silent Spring," Rachel Carson’s polemic against pesticides that helped rid Europe and the USA of deadly malaria, and now protect crops that require so much land, water, work, fertilizer and energy to grow and harvest that we dare not sacrifice them to hordes of hungry insects. Carson falsely blamed DDT for her cancer – and launched the practice of using conjecture, poetic prose, hyperbole and even fraud,...

‘Not normal’: Staffers refused to let President Biden take questions FROM DEMOCRATS following today’s trip to the Hill Posted at 5:46 pm on October 1, 2021 by Greg P. Politico’s Sarah Ferris reports that President Joe Biden was blocked by his handlers from taking questions “INSIDE the caucus” room following today’s meeting with Dems on Capitol Hill to negotiate infrastructure spending as well as his Build Back Better agenda: INSIDE the caucus: At the end of his remarks, BIDEN offered to take questions from members but his staff jumped in. He didn't take any questions. 2:58 PM · Oct 1,...

Vice President Kamala Harris flew to Southern California on Friday for a quick trip but the White House was mum about the reason behind it, according to a report. Harris departed Friday afternoon from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and flew to Palm Springs, a resort town about 107 miles east of Los Angeles, The Washington Times reported. The vice president was scheduled to return to Washington on Saturday, the White House said in a statement, according to the newspaper.

New Orleans -- Carson Coyle runs around like any healthy young boy. Coyle suffered brain damage at his birth two years ago, with hospital staff at one point predicting that he had just hours to live. But then a judge prayed over Carson's cradle with a cross from the Francis Xavier Seelos shrine in New Orleans, and a miracle is believed to have happened -- Coyle healed essentially overnight and is thriving today. Coyle's recovery might just be the miracle that Seelos -- who died in 1867, ministering to New Orleans residents during a yellow fever pandemic -- needs to...

Fed up with parents' complaints about what schools are teaching their children, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) requested that President Biden add these parents to the terror watch list. In addition to the usual parent complaints about the inferior quality of the education their children are getting are objections to some questionable content in the curiculum—like critical race theory, pornography, sexually explicit role-playing, and book burning. NSBA President Viola Garcia insisted that "parents lack the expertise to decide what lessons their children should be taught. Professional educators need the autonomy to make these decisions for the parents. Parents who...

"'The government I represent respectfully calls on the United States government to lift the blockade against Cuba,' [President Lopez-Obrador] said at an Independence Day event on Thursday attended by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and new United States Ambassador Ken Salazar, among other dignitaries," Mexico News Daily reported. “Because no state has the right to subjugate another people, another country,” Lopez-Obrador added. “[The Cuban regime] having resisted 62 years without subjugation is quite a feat. … For their struggle in defense of the sovereignty of the country, I believe that the Cuban people deserve the prize of dignity…And I think that...

It was a deceptively beautiful September day in the nation's capital. No severe weather was expected, but by that afternoon several inches of rain had fallen in parts of the district. No one was more caught off-guard than Virginia Waller-Torres of Hagerstown, Maryland. She was coming down an exit ramp when she ran headlong into a flash flood. The water hit her car with such force that it tore off her license plate. Her car wouldn't budge in the deep water. "It was scary," she said. "I thought I could die."

Abortion organizations and many in the media recently recognized and even celebrated “International Safe Abortion Day.” But, in doing so, they overlooked the pro-life position: There’s no such thing as a safe abortion. On September 28, abortion groups and media outlets took to social media to remember “International Safe Abortion Day,” from abortion giant Planned Parenthood to Rewire News Group. Together, they demanded “safe” abortions worldwide. Abortion, many of them claimed, was not only a women’s right but also a human right. “Access to safe abortion care is grounded in human rights principles,” the Center for Reproductive Rights tweeted. “Countries...

One of the more surprising elements of this year’s college football season is the prevalence of a certain crowd chant taking place around the country—you know the one. But why is this happening? Three reasons come to mind: First, considering the mess the country has been plunged into in eight short months, it may very well be deserved. Second, football crowds tend to be rather rowdy and one cannot completely discount the possibility of the impact of alcohol. Third and most importantly, though, its popularity is because the rhythmic structure of the chant itself perfectly matches another popular chant from...

The adorable animal, a resident of Monterey Bay Aquarium, was filmed playing a super-fun game we'll call "hide the shrimp." INTRODUCING "THE SHRIMP GAME": How do you describe a hot new game to a friend? Do you start with the rules? The game's aim? How does it feel to play it? The quirks, twists, and surprises you can expect? There's a lot that goes into breaking down the specifics of a fresh challenge, but sometimes you just have to jump in, (webbed) feet first, and move a shrimp around, all to create something cute and fun. Oh, did we say...

The “Back the Blue” slogan has been a regular part of our lexicon for the last few years, in particular as we’ve seen the rise of violent protests from the likes of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, with much of their hate and vitriol being hurled at our men and women in law enforcement. When you add to that the amount of betrayal these same law enforcement officers have endured from their own superior officers and their cities’ leaders, then the idea of decent, patriotic and commonsense people standing up for them is not at all a stretch. Many of...

Problems inherent in OSHA’s forthcoming new mandatory co-vax standards will be legion, and just as devilish as the throng of the same name. How do we know that? The Occupational Safety and Health Act covers most private sector employers and employees and is mirrored in the federal workplace but exempts state and local governmental workers. That’s small potatoes, though, as every state has adopted OSHA standards or has an OSHA-approved state plan. Most every worker in the country is protected from identified unsafe workplace hazards, practices, and conditions. The new mandate will only cover those employers with 100 or more...

Many breathed a sigh of relief when President Biden was elected, not for policy but for a reunification of the country after four years of tumult and fiery division under President Trump. But eight months into the new presidency, America's deep disunity might not be letting up. A new poll has revealed that political divisions run so deep in the US that over half of Trump voters want red states to secede from the union, and 41% of Biden voters want blue states to split off. According to the analysis from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, 52% of...

Democrats in Congress are raging at moderate holdouts in their caucus after President Joe Biden offered to slash more than a trillion dollars from his mammoth spending bill on Friday, in an attempt to save his political agenda from warring factions in his own party. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was again forced to delay a vote on Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which the centrists support, and admitted that 'more time is needed' after the two sides failed to reach a deal on the broader $3.5 trillion spending package. It was the third time the vote was delayed this week,...