Free Republic

President Eisenhower, in his final address to the nation, uttered words that will remain relevant for ages. The following is a key excerpt from that speech: In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. VIDEO The military-industrial complex that Eisenhower was referring to is the nefarious alliance among governments, arms manufacturers, arms dealers, and mercenaries. This is a coalition that profiteers from wars and hence uses its powers to compel governments to enter...

LONDON (AP) – Britain´s governing Conservatives suffered local election losses in their few London strongholds, according to results announced Friday that will pile more pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid ethics scandals and a worsening economic picture. Voting held Thursday for thousands of seats on more than 200 local councils decided who will oversee garbage collection and the filling of potholes, but were also an important barometer of public opinion ahead of the next national election, which must be held by 2024.

In a statement late Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said "the Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case." "We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva," Kirby added, "We were not involved in the Ukrainians' decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out." A U.S. senior defense official also said "we do provide a range of intelligence to help the Ukrainians understand the threat posed by Russian ships in the Black Sea and to help them prepare to defend...

For decades, scholars on both sides of the issue have said Roe v Wade was wrongly decided by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is supposed to determine if laws are constitutional, and Roe v. Wade created law instead of interpreting law. Now that it looks as if the Supreme Court may correct the wrong, and send the issue back to the states or Congress, the media and other Democrats are having a collective cow and colluding to just make things up to scare the public. In other words, they are intentionally spreading misinformation to influence and interfere in the...

Buckle up. America is in for a rough ride if the leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court regarding abortion turns out to be reflective of the final copy. In the long run, this opinion may end up healing the country, at least to some extent. A morally charged and complicated issue like abortion is best decided in the political arena. Allowing the voters of each state to decide the rules for themselves will not satisfy everyone. It may satisfy almost no one since there will be outlier states on both sides that will impose rules unpopular with the other....

Bravo to Justice Samuel Alito for drafting an opinion anyone can understand and that a majority will agree with. Alito confines himself to short words and simple sentences while conveying profound arguments. Perhaps the most profound statement he makes involves his acknowledgement that abortion law should be made at the state level.It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. “The permissibility of abortion, and limitations, upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting. Cashed, 505...

President Joe Biden reportedly has avoided delivering speeches in the Oval Office because it is difficult to keep a teleprompter there. “The White House has largely abandoned using the Oval Office for press events in part because it can’t be permanently equipped with a teleprompter,” a Thursday Politico article admitted.

Each time there has been either an imposition or a renewal of COVID-19 mitigation measures, we are offered the same reflexive justification for these decisions. We are told we must "follow the science." This ubiquitous refrain has become the latest iteration of that most convenient of debate surrogates: the unassailable maxim. Merely invoking it places one firmly on the side of all sensible people and against the "anti-science" hordes. At least, that's what we tell ourselves. The truth is, science is a counselor, not a leader. Science is simply information. One cannot "follow the science" any more than one can...

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse must think the American people have amnesia. At least that’s the impression I got while watching his Senate hearing on Wednesday, where he made the outrageous claim that the IRS never harassed or delayed the tax-exempt status of conservative groups back in 2013. Of course, that’s not true. The U.S. Treasury Inspector General report found that “the IRS used inappropriate criteria to select tax-exempt applications for further review,” and the IRS admitted that approximately 75 percent of the nonprofits flagged were conservative-leaning. Whitehouse’s blatant denial of this fact belies his distorted view that requiring nonprofits to disclose...

The Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen said on Friday it started transporting released prisoners to Yemen in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) under a humanitarian initiative to support a U.N.-brokered truce. The coalition said last month it would release 163 prisoners from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group who fought against Saudi Arabia, but a Houthi official later said the list included individuals who did not belong to the movement. The coalition and ICRC spokesperson in Yemen, Bashir Omar, said 108 freed detainees were being flown from Saudi Arabia to the southern port city of Aden, where...

First lady Jill Biden arrived in Romania on Friday to start her four-day trip across Eastern Europe, which will include a visit with Ukrainian refugees amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. The first lady’s plane touched down at Mihail Kogalniceanu International Airport in southeastern Romania around 5:02 p.m. local time. She was greeted by military officials before going to Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, where she served food to U.S. troops, according to reporters traveling with the first lady.

Cancel culture has now reached President Abraham Lincoln, the man who wrote the Emancipation Proclamation declaring enslaved people “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Democrat Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn (DFL-Roseville) complained about Lincoln’s presence on the House floor this week during a debate on an education bill. “We are asked to serve, we serve in this body, we have to look at President Lincoln every day we are in this space.”

The only question for Roe v. Wade was when it would be overturned, not if.Whatever your position on abortion is, Roe v. Wade is objectively bad law built upon fetid ground. With the shameful release of an early draft of an upcoming Supreme Court decision with Dobbs v. Jackson, we now know Roe will be overturned. Many on the left are freaking out over this decision, with much fearmongering coming from the media. However, the journalistic and political class is not telling people, as understood by liberal jurists like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that Roe was always weak law destined for...

The Napa Valley Unified School District school board approved the $38,490 contract at an April 21, 2022 meeting. The contract will cover summer sessions over 2022 and 2023. The training sessions include one module that aims to “address how white teachers can engage in ethnic studies work” and teach “through an understanding and reflection of their privilege, power, and positionality.”

She’s onto us. [Caution: some profanity] IS this what our future generation is? If so we are sooooo screwed...................................

AP news states flatly that: Mail-in voting isn’t allowed in France. What's the usual reason invoked by French politicians in making this prohibition? Note that the French voting system has many detailed rules to make it especially transparent to all voters: (literally) transparent ballot box, ballots are counted on the spot (never leaving the room and the sight of everybody who cares to be there), several people are involved in every operation, the tally for a given polling place is posted on the door and/or on the door of the town hall and can be found in the local newspaper...

At first glance, Russia may seem to be adapting to the tough new sanctions imposed by Western countries over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The ruble, which tumbled in the first days of the war to a record low, rebounded to its highest level since early 2020 this week. Grocery stores in Moscow are still filled with food, albeit at much higher prices, and revenue from the sale of oil and gas continues to flow into the budget. But Russia's economy is anything but out of the woods, Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Washington-based Institute of International...

The research involved imaging the brains of 15 astronauts before and after extended tours of duty on the International Space Station. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure perivascular space — or the space around blood vessels — in the brains of astronauts prior to their launch and again immediately after their return. They also took MRI measurements again at one, three, and six months after they had returned. Astronauts’ images were compared with those taken of the same perivascular space in the brains of 16 Earth-bound control subjects. In all cases, scientists found no problems with balance or visual...

Moms, what’s the best Mother’s Day gift your kids could give you? Dad’s, what would be yours on Father’s Day or any day of the year? How about if your kids actually listened and obeyed? Unfortunately, when you bring up important topics such as God or virtue, kids are often thinking, “Uh oh, here comes another lecture—I’m not listening!” But imagine if there were a fun way to raise your kid’s interest in God while imparting some of the most important virtues every parent wants their children to learn. There is. Through movies. What kid doesn’t like movies? Pollster George...

Friday, May 6 is National Beverage Day. The day was borne in the early 20th century and even though a day of celebrating beverages may seem obscure, consumers must beware that New York City billionaire Michael Bloomberg has made it a mission to deter adults from the consumption of certain beverages – including sodas and carbonated drinks. So, celebrate as you can, as a soda tax may be coming to your state or city. Some of the earliest mentions of the national day date back to 1924 when aMarch articleinThe Timesof Montgomery, Alabama noted that on the “first Wednesday of...