Free Republic

The free will God has given to man has led to the inevitable. Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land in the United States thanks to a 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court, making June 26, 2015, a red-letter, landmark day in American history. By Friday's ruling, all states are now required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and all 50 states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in all other states. The 14 states that had not been forced to succumb to "societal progress" must now do so — by law. Is anyone surprised? You shouldn't be....

Citing unnamed "federal law enforcement officials," The New York Times reports that the Justice Department probably will file federal hate crime charges against Dylann Roof in connection with last week's massacre at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Since Roof already faces nine murder charges in state court, where he will be subject to the death penalty if convicted, an additional federal prosecution seems gratuitous. It does not even offer the prospect of a more severe punishment. To the contrary, the maximum penalty Roof would face under federal law is life in prison, while there is a distinct possibility that...

Quite a week for unity in America. First the two parties come together in opposition to the Confederate flag, now the races come together in opposition to constitutionalizing SSM. Maybe this is the key to healing the nation, finding things that everyone dislikes. Like the new “True Detective,” or that hot-dog pizza abortion from Pizza Hut.The opposition is mild, obviously, but it’s there. Interestingly, when you remove the Court from the equation, those numbers tilt the other way. Here’s what happens when you ask people if they support letting gays marry legally:Overall it’s 49/41 in favor, with whites and Latinos...

Unlike Pope Francis, I believe that air-conditioning and the capitalists responsible for the technology are blessings to the world. Perhaps the head of the Catholic Church, who condemned "the increasing use and power of air-conditioning" last week in a market-bashing encyclical, is unaware of the pioneering private company that has donated its time, energy and innovative heating, ventilating and air-conditioning equipment to the Vatican's most famous edifice for more than a decade. That's right. While the pontiff sanctimoniously attacks "those who are obsessed with maximizing profits," Carrier Corporation — a $13 billion for-profit company with 43,000 employees worldwide (now a...

The U.S. Civil War was a war that never should have been fought. Some 620,000 men died because slavery, an inhumane and evil practice, was permitted in many portions of this country. The South gets most of the blame for that, but the north benefited from the regime as well, even though it didn’t directly practice enslavement at the time of the war. I used to think the war was a bit more complicated than I do now, having had my mind changed thanks to some relatively recent guided readings of President Abraham Lincoln. But long story short, the...

Exhibit A: Ted Cruz’s campaign has been promoting a big rally in Des Moines, Iowa this Saturday under the optimistic, if somewhat vague, tagline, “Believe Again.” more...

Horne v. Department of Agriculture.decision is a big win for those of us who try to make a living in Ag Any net proceeds the raisin growers receive from the sale of the reserve raisins goes to the amount of compensation they have received for that taking. It does not mean that the raisins have not been appropriated for government use, nor can the government make raisin growers relinquish their property without just compensation as a condition for selling in interstate commerce. This is a major blow to government's program of trying to boost prices by keeping crops off the...

Non-Muslim students were told to drink their own urine from the toilet by the assistant principal at a Malaysian school.

Freddie Gray died in the custody of Baltimore police in April. Six officers have been charged in the death, which is said to have occurred due to spinal injuries he suffered while being thrown about the back of a police van during a rough ride to the station. But now Baltimore police are playing the victim card. They’ve engaged in a work slowdown that has resulted in a 43% decline in arrests citywide from April to May, and as high as 90% in some neighborhoods, according to Doug Donovan and Colin Campbell of The Baltimore Sun. Some say it’s because...

Liberal butterball Michael Moore couldn’t help but weigh in on the devastating church massacre in Charleston. Sure, other liberals blamed it on white America, but Moore took it a step further.

The boobs are fake, too. I’m talking about Rachel Dolezal, the recently fired Spokane NAACP president who told everybody she was black. As part of the national discussion about presenting ourselves as who we want to be, as opposed to who our DNA says we are, it’s worth noting that she dyes her hair and has had implants. And somehow we’ve got to navigate the social minefield of to what degree the world allows our physical and cultural identity to be of our own determination, and to what degree social norms can fence us in. How much is personal expression...

As expected, Bill Maher has now weighed in on the non-troversy, that erupted this week when Jerry Seinfeld bemoaned the culture of political correctness on college campuses – and Maher went a step farther. Both Maher and his guest Comedy Central roast master Jeffrey Ross, agreed with Seinfeld, which should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with their work. The big stunner came when Maher acknowledged that liberals have become so infected by political correctness, that they have been rendered all but incapable of finding his brand of humor amusing. As a result, Maher has had to modify the...

Just when we thought the absurdity that marks every single day of Obama's reign could not possibly be surpassed, we learned that 4 hours (3 hours and 47 minutes to be precise) after the US president vowed to sign a new law banning bulk data collection by the NSA (named, for purely grotesque reasons, the "USA Freedom Act"), the Obama administration asked the secret Fisa surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the National Security Agency the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months....

Rioting has been reported at a concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. According to multiple reports, the Hot 97 Summer Jam concert grew rowdy Sunday night, prompting State Police to use tear gas outside the gates, the Asbury Park Press reported. A state police armored vehicle tear gassed the crowd because concert goers, angry the gates were closed, threw bottles, the Asbury Park Press said. State Police officers were wearing riot gear and had their batons out, according to NBC New York. NBC New York reported tasers may have been used.

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that “more than 10,000″ Islamic State fighters and commanders have been killed since the air campaign in Iraq began in August 2014 and subsequently in Syria in September 2014. If true, US intelligence estimates on the strength of the Islamic State are grossly underestimated.

This week’s article for National Catholic Register explores the seismic upheaval that has been the bio tech revolution. We seem blind to the fact that we are living in the midst of the most astounding technological revolution the world has ever seen. Biotechnology is the umbrella term for all the advances we have made in medical know-how, and reproductive technology is the most socially revolutionary subdivision of biotechnology. To put it simply, we no longer approach the transmission of human life as a sacred mystery — but, rather, have reduced it to the status of a baby-making machine that we’ve learned how...

A few weeks ago I had to go back to DC yet again for the Right Online conference and it involved flying in and out of Reagan, as well as Newark. As usual, I stood in the long lines – even with my previous screening check mark on my boarding passes – and went through all the rituals of unloading some of my things and passing through a detector. When I arrived at the hotel I opened my bag to find the usual TSA greeting card indicating that they had searched my checked baggage, no matter how much of...

  Obamacare was sold to America on a set of false premises. The most famous of them?  “no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what." And the fools believed him. And he repeated that promise at least 36 times. https://youtu.be/qpa-5JdCnmoThat promise was worth as much as any Obama assurance- absolutely nothing. Here's another: "If you've...

Coming soon to a Capitol skyline near you: Giant blimps at 10,000 feet? The woman at the helm of the House Administration Committee thinks the Capitol needs eyes in the sky, after authorities failed to detect Florida mailman Douglas Hughes’ April 15 gyrocopter flight. Chairwoman Candice S. Miller, R-Mich., visited U.S. Customs and Border Patrol ground stations along the Southern border in January and was amazed at the clarity of the Tethered Aerostat Radar System, or TARS. She is suggesting the “sophisticated technology” might suit the Capitol. That would mean giant blimps stretching along the Washington, D.C., skyline at...

Per my report published Friday at The Shooter’s Log, actors were used to portray customers in a fake gun shop “public service announcement” produced by States United Against Gun Violence. That information comes from the New York City Mayor's Office of Media in its response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request submitted in March. Additionally, all replica firearms used were evidently “authorized” without official documentation to ensure legality and inventory accountability. Except, per the NYC permit, the "gun buyers" were actors... States United to Prevent Gun Violence-You Tube video screen shot “Actors are interviewed on camera in a...