Free Republic

Sum up our failed Middle East policy in a nine-letter word starting with an S. Stability. Stability is the heart and soul of nation-building. It’s the burden that responsible governments bear for the more irresponsible parts of the world. First you send experts to figure out what is destabilizing some hellhole whose prime exports are malaria, overpriced tourist knickknacks and beheadings. You teach the locals about democracy, tolerance and storing severed heads in Tupperware containers. Then if that doesn’t work, you send in the military advisers to teach the local warlords-in-waiting how to better fight the local guerrillas and how...

I have been a fan of jazz for thirty years. I am aware of the work of McCoy Tyner, the great jazz pianist. I am also a political geek. I collect the buttons. I have a Gus Hall/Jarvis Tyner button. Communist Party of the USA for president/vice president. Until fifteen minutes ago (thanks to Wikipedia), I never knew that the were brothers. Nothing earth-shattering, but, it made me say WTF. Sorry for the vanity, but sometimes life throws you unexpected Easter eggs.

"Our media culture often mocks and demeans people of faith,” whose “values of love, charity and faith built this nation.” Republican candidate Donald Trump pledged at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., to repeal the Johnson Amendment. “We’re gonna get rid of it,” Trump said. “I figure it’s the only way I’ll get into heaven,” he quipped. The Johnson Amendment is a circa 1954 amendment to the U.S. tax code that blocked tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Evangelicals and other people of faith object to the law because it prevents churches—along with other tax-exempt institutions—from political...

How is your "principled" behavior supporting limited government, lower taxes, American exceptionalism, sanctity of life, peace through strength, or belief in the individual? “2016 Is the Flight 93 election: Charge the cockpit or you die. You may die anyway. You—or the leader of your party—may make it into the cockpit and not know how to fly or land the plane. There are no guarantees except one: If you don’t try, death is certain, to compound the metaphor: A Hillary Clinton Presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto., with Trump, at least you can spin the cylinder and take your chances.”...

A Texas mattress company that was condemned for airing a commercial promoting its “Twin Tower Sale” will be “closed indefinitely,” its owner said Friday. Miracle Mattress promised to “be silent” through Sunday’s 9/11 anniversary and reiterated its apology to people offended by its commercial that featured a pair of employees toppling two towers of mattresses, according to a statement issued by the company’s owner, Mike Bonanno. “We take full responsibility for our actions and sincerely regret the hurt and pain caused by this disrespectful advertising campaign,” Bonanno said. The 20-second commercial shows three employees enthusiastically offering any size mattress for...

Aging infrastructure could render the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) increasingly ineffective, according to a new report from the Department of Energy. The U.S. has stored roughly 700 million barrels of crude oil in salt caverns in Texas and Louisiana for decades. The SPR was established in the aftermath of the Arab oil embargo in 1973, which painfully revealed U.S. oil dependence as high prices drove up inflation, created fuel shortages and lines at gas stations, and rocked the American economy. The SPR was setup to stash 90 days’ worth of supply into storage for safekeeping, meant to be used...

I don't know much about these guys, their staff or their particular brand of politics. But I sense some sort of group-think mindset that comes off like they're some kind of political cult. Am I over-reacting? I was being critical of some of the neverTrump entries. I thought it was pretty mild. Apparently someone else did not. No explanation was offered.

Let’s assume that Trump is as crooked as Hillary. With the press and the government and all the 3 letter agencies hating him like they do he won’t be able to get away with .000001% of the stuff that the Billaries get away with. That alone makes him a million times more desirable guarding the national assets and the American people.

If the government prevented people from shopping outside of their own town or state, they would be outraged and recognize it as limiting their freedom. If Michigan businesses were prevented from buying or selling their products to people from other states, most people would understand that to be economically destructive. Yet when it comes to the issue of foreign trade a lot of people from both sides of the political spectrum are opposed to allowing a similar free flow of products and services between countries. That’s why the two main presidential candidates are able to run their campaigns with antitrade...

The New York Times’ multi-part series profiling President Barack Obama’s legacy on global warming reveals the president is a fan of a book on how “climate change and overpopulation” could cause modern civilization to collapse. Obama was apparently a fan of Jared Diamond’s 2005 book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” which “explored the environmental changes that wiped out ancient societies like Easter Island and discussed how modern equivalents like climate change and overpopulation could yield the same destruction,” according to NYT. An Obama aide told NYT he “recalled” the president mentioning Diamond’s book. Diamond is also the...

What would you envision to be in Hillary's museum? youtube.com/watch?v=lhjANIyY0Sw

Watch it, and decide for yourself. https://youtu.be/y19xGhSFp1U

What happened to bring us where we are today – on the brink of social, moral, and financial collapse? We forgot the Principle set forth in our Declaration that the sole purpose of civil government is to secure our Natural God-given rights by protecting us from those who seek to take these rights away from us. We were seduced and deceived into believing that civil government should 1) Provide for our needs; and 2) Protect us from the risks and uncertainties of Life. The belief that government is responsible for all our needs is self-destructive. Historically, when this ideology has...

A just released Franklin Pierce College (FPC) national poll shows Hilary Clinton with a 43.7 /41.4 lead over Donald Trump. That is the end of the good news in this poll for Clinton. The rest runs from good to very good for Trump. Those who cling to the notion that since the polls were right in 2012 when they predicted Mitt Romney’s defeat, they MUST be right today whether we want to believe them or not. The differences in this country; in the candidates and the poll mythologies from four years ago are enormous. Trump is not a pansy afraid...

Eric, from Moss Pawn & Gun, attempts to burn out an AR-15 upper on an M16 lower. There are several specific products being used including: SRC Relia-Bolt BCG, Geissele Super Gas Block and an AR barrel from Faxon Firearms. Eric also uses steel-based ammunition because it's pretty rough on the bolts. There are so many things that can go wrong. Gas tubes are designed to fail before the firearm will be destroyed. Watch the video to find out what happens, you won’t be disappointed!

But why would you? If there’s one truism about college students, it’s that they’re awash in near-endless piles of cash. Oh wait. Hang on. That’s not it. It’s that they’re perpetually broke, eating fifty-cent Ramen Noodles in their dorm rooms or scraping by in ramshackle shared housing just south of fraternity row. Once you factor in books, beer, gas and tuition it’s hardly surprising that they don’t normally have any expendable funds. Clintons don’t care about any of that. If the Clinton Foundation pay-for-play scandal teaches us anything, it’s that your worth lies in your ability to give her the...

Shrill The operation always works the same way. Here you’re just getting an unusual look at Step 2. But there are three steps: Donald Trump says something. The Hillary campaign, if not Hillary herself as in this case, comes out with an absurd and completely fictional characterization of what Trump said. The media run with Hillary’s narrative. Wednesday was very bad for Hillary because Trump outshone her pretty seriously at NBC’s so-called commander in chief forum. She got faced by a veteran on her illegal mishandling of classified information, while Trump handled the questions so well Hillary’s supporters were upset...

It is convenient for Barack Obama to continue running the show with a fragile Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office The 71% of 250 physicians responding to an informal internet survey by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) saying Hillary Clinton’s health challenges are “serious” enough to disqualify her for the position of President of the U.S., are in the same category as all those still holding out hope that she will be indicted for her email scandal. As the savvy would know, you can be anything you want on the Internet. Could the good doctors polled be...

Now he’s flipped, saying he’ll vote for Trump. This is not some sort of revelation he’s had, folks. This is part of a plan. He KNOWS, like I’ve been saying for months, that if Hillary is elected there will BE NO 2020 for Ted Cruz, because Hillary and the Democrats (AND the GOPe) will install between 30 and 50 million new Democrat voters into this country via the southern border. He KNOWS that Hillary will install AT LEAST three Supreme Court Justices, ensuring the final left wing nail into the coffin of what was once a free and prosperous United...

If you're into rappeling or knot tying for fun or practical survival, have a look at this Bachmann knot. You're going to need it if you're going to encounter climbing up a wet rope. For those not familiar with it, the Bachmann knot is a uni-directional, meaning it can only be loaded from one direction and that's down. Again, its something that most survivalist should know, but how many have actually practice climbing with it? See the video here.