Free Republic

“Fire, Distress, and Division: This Is the Gospel of the Lord?” (Luke 12:49-53) “‘I came to cast fire on the earth. How great is my distress! I have come to bring division on earth. From now on households will be divided.’ This is the Gospel of the Lord.” Huh? Am I missing something here? “Fire, Distress, and Division: This Is the Gospel of the Lord?” How is this “gospel”? How is this good news? Yeah, this is one of those Gospel readings that make you shake your head and wonder what’s going on. The Jesus we meet here is not...

image from dailybruin.org On August 8th a hearing is scheduled for the case of  Ulissies Garcia et al v Kamala D. Harris( Case 2:16-cv-02572-BRO-AFM ) . The case concerns bill SB 707, which bans people with concealed carry permits from carrying on school grounds, but allows certain retired government employees to do so.  The suit claims that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Here is the argument from The Firearm Policy Center in California: FPF filed suit challenging SB 707, which divides law-abiding gun owners into two classes – and an upcoming hearing could...

The mayor of Lille, in northeast France, has just announced the cancellation of La Braderie, the largest flea market in Europe, with 10,000 exhibitors and, last year, 2.5 million visitors. Martine Aubry, the mayor, and a Socialist stalwart, said that the safety of visitors could not be assured – “there are risks we cannot reduce.” By this she meant, of course, risks of an attack by Muslim terrorists. Only once before, during the goose-stepping German occupation, has La Braderie ever been called off. The cancellation of this gigantic event is a severe economic blow to those exhibitors from all over...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvLrss1H4G8

I'm here. About #25 in line. Only about 40 people in line so far. Lots of college kids and married couples. No protesters yet. And we have shade.

I don't know nearly enough about the legal system, but wouldn't it be possible to form some kind of class action lawsuit against the Associated Press, maybe even the never-Trump movement, those who violated their oath to support the nominee, and a few others I would really like to lump in there, for their near-RICO efforts to thwart the will of the legitimate voters of the Republican Party??? They're way more than the proverbial "ham sandwich" . . .

The GOP elite are desperate to maintain power and they’ll gladly destroy the party, if not the country, before they allow Donald Trump to be elected President of the United States In November, Americans will elect either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton as President. All minor party candidates as well as an upstart “conservative” alternative to Donald Trump have no prayer of victory. Any Republican or conservative who does not support the GOP nominee might as well join former liberal Connecticut Republican Congressman Chris Shays and formally endorse Hillary Clinton. There are many groups of Republicans who are aiding and...

Why then have many of our Republican luminaries and their masters begun to undermine the Trump campaign? “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”—ancient Sanskrit proverb, 450 BC. Republicans believe they face an unprecedented choice: To Trump or not To Trump. This is ludicrous. There is no choice. Did Roosevelt have a choice about whether to ally with Stalin in WWII? “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” sums up about all there is to know about “a choice.” Conservatives do not face a choice in this election. They are not permitted a choice. The idea of a...

A House joint task force (JTF) investigating the manipulation of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) intelligence reports released its preliminary findings this week. Their report detailed persistent problems in 2014 to 2015 intelligence information being doctored to paint a rosier picture both of the White House’s war against the Islamic State and the analysis of U.S. efforts to train forces to combat the terrorist organization. More than 50 intelligence analysts at CENTCOM are concerned that important elements of their reports had been manipulated by higher-ranking officials to fool the American public with claims that the Obama Administration had contained and was...

Emerging evidence that the State Department under Hillary Clinton sold favors in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation has raised serious ethics issues regarding her oversight of the agency. Department Spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau acknowledged that the transactions appear to have violated a pledge signed by Clinton when she assumed the Secretary position in 2009. "The problem is that the only evidence of inappropriate interactions we have implicates her subordinates who did not sign any pledges," Trudeau said. "Secretary Clinton's pledge was to not be personally involved in dealings between the Clinton Foundation and clients of the State Department. Technically,...

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." - Obama, July 2, 2008 What objectives? Who set them? This may begin to answer those questions, raise other questions, and perhaps point toward things needing further research. Organization of Islamic Cooperation - Criminalization of "Islamophobia" In 1990 the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) issued their “Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam” (http://www.oic-oci.org/english/article/human.htm). It’s Article 22 states: “Everyone shall...

Here’s an update on Hillary’s health from her new neurosurgeon.  First, the good news - he has nailed the diagnosis and has a cure; the bad news -  it’s Dr. Nick Riviera. And more bad news, it isn’t covered by Obamacare.Posted from: Michelle Obama’s Mirror

“I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged,” Donald Trump told voters in Ohio and Sean Hannity on Fox News. And that hit a nerve. “Dangerous,” “toxic,” came the recoil from the media. Trump is threatening to “delegitimize” the election results of 2016. Well, if that is what Trump is trying to do, he has no small point. For consider what 2016 promised and what it appears about to deliver. This longest of election cycles has rightly been called the Year of the Outsider. It was a year that saw a mighty surge of economic populism and patriotism, a...

More than sixty state legislators representing thirty states recently concluded three years of work on suggested rules for an Article V convention, which can be viewed at the Assembly of State Legislatures (ASL) website. Meeting at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the participating state lawmakers debated, amended and voted to approve a draft that addresses all facets of the rules needed to hold a state-led convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These men and women are to be congratulated for their efforts. If accepted and actually followed by the convention, the rules will provide an orderly process...

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo's social media commentary earned her the wrath of Brazilians before she arrived in Rio. She dug a much deeper hole for herself Friday by insulting the Swedish team that had just bounced the heavily favored Americans from the tournament in a penalty shootout. "I'm very proud of this team. But I also think we played a bunch of cowards. The best team did not win today. I think you saw American heart. You saw us give everything we had today," she told reporters. "Sweden dropped off. They didn't want to open play. They didn't want to...

Like many of us, Ace of Spades is fed up with the #NeverTrumpies and the GOP's basic dishonesty. But first, let's start off with Peggy Noonan at the pay­walled WSJ, who recognizes that the elites are, well, elite: From what I've seen of those in power throughout business and politics now, the people of your country are not your countrymen, they're aliens whose bizarre emotions you must attempt occasionally to anticipate and manage. In Manhattan, my little island off the continent, I see the children of the global business elite marry each other and settle in London or New York...

Every household in a village in India has been fined by the district magistrate for violating a new alcohol ban. All 50 households in Kailashpuri in Bihar state have been ordered to pay 5,000 rupees (£58) as a collective fine following the recovery of liquor bottles in the village. It is believed to be the first case of collective punishment since a strict alcohol prohibition law came into force in the North Indian state in April. In the event that someone dies drinking hooch, the manufacturers, suppliers and sellers can be sentenced to death under the legislation. But the most...

The White House put Congress on notice Friday morning that it will be sending lawmakers a bill to implement President Barack Obama’s landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement — a move intended to infuse new energy into efforts to ratify the flat-lining trade pact. The move establishes a 30-day minimum before the administration can present the legislation, but the White House is unlikely to do so amid the heated rhetoric of a presidential campaign in which both major party nominees have depicted free trade deals as massive job killers. Friday's notification is the clearest signal yet that the White House is serious...

Sebastian County, Arkansas – Greenwood Police K9 Kina has been missing since she was shot in the back of a patrol car on Wednesday. Sebastian County Deputy Bill Cooper was murdered in the same incident. Billy Jones opened fire on officers who were responding to a family disturbance call. Deputy Cooper was murdered when Jones in the shooting. Hackett Police Chief Darrell Spells was also shot, but only received a grazing head wound.

Arizona Senator John McCain (R) took issue with GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's statement that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were co-founders of ISIS. "President Obama may have given the final decision to back these guys based on Secretary Clinton's recommendation, but I was the one on the ground in Syria who met with them before they were big," McCain pointed out. "Were it not for my preliminary work the later steps taken by Obama and Clinton wouldn't have been possible. So, I think it's only fair that I receive some recognition for the historic rise of...