Free Republic

Cannabis users soon may be a majority among young adults in the District of Columbia and several pot-friendly states, a trend that points to a potential future of destigmatized marijuana across much of the nation. More than two-fifths of young men and women nationwide now use cannabis at least on occasion, according to federal data, a quotient that has risen steadily in a decade of relentless legalization. Much of the trend is driven by young women, who have all but closed a decades-long gender gap in marijuana use.

New book confirms Matt Drudge is gay The powerful owner (assuming he didn't quietly sell his site) of the Drudge Report has been assumed to be gay for some time, but a new book appears to confirm it. Many attribute President Trump’s primary success over a talented field of challengers to the Drudge Report. Matt Drudge hopped on the Trump Train early and was unrelenting in his attacks on Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and anyone who could have threatened Donald Trump’s ascension to the GOP nomination for president. Then, he turned his tens of millions of monthly visitors against Hillary...

Did everyone notice the deluge of #woke Super Bowl ads? I mean well over half this time blurted out their communist social justice bullcrap time after time. I was hitting the damn mute button more often than not. And to think in years past Super Bowl ads were something to look forward to!

“A few years ago, it was rare to see a young person enter Caron with marijuana-induced psychosis,” said Garbely. “Now we see it on a regular basis. Older teens and young adults — approximately ages 18 to 26 — are the most impacted. We see a significant misperception about the safety and efficacy of marijuana among our teen and young-adult patient population.”

Britons who supported Brexit in last year's referendum on European Union (EU) membership "voted against modern Britain," Hillary Clinton said in an interview published Sunday. The former U.S. secretary of state told The Sunday Times: "They voted against modern Britain and the EU, believing that somehow this would be good for their small village. It made no sense… The same thing played out in my race, but I didn't think we were so vulnerable. But it turned out we were wrong — in part because the Russians played a much bigger role." American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian President...

Miley, I’m writing this letter to you on the slight chance you’ll read it. If you don’t, many others will, and some of them will begin to pray for you daily. Some of your followers might also read it, and perhaps something in this letter will speak to them.But I write to you for one reason only: I care about your soul. Despite your riches and your fame, your life is a shell of what God intends it to be.Please forgive me, though, if I’m not super familiar with your work. My daughters are in their late 30’s, so I...

Sometimes the rigors of daily life just get too overwhelming, causing me to turn to other less stressful items of interest. So I am now reading, “Benjamin Franklin -- An American Life,” by famed biographer, Walter Isaacson. It is already an amazing story about an amazing man, and I am not half way through its 586 pages --- small type, no pictures! Benjamin Franklin: author, inventor, scientist, politician, raconteur. But he considered himself, first and foremost, to be a printer. And would generally sign his name, “Benjamin Franklin, printer.” For in that Colonial period, a printer was a person of...

It is tempting to dismiss the latest anti-choice salvo from Ohio lawmakers, which would criminalize abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome, as a blatantly unconstitutional ploy that would never be enforced. That would be a mistake. The bill stands a disturbingly good chance of approval this fall by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature A similar bill passed in North Dakota in 2013 bans abortions on the grounds of fetal genetic anomalies, including Down syndrome. The law has not yet been enforced — under existing Supreme Court precedent it is hard to see how it could be — but...

The Sins That Come From Being a Busybody – A Meditation on a Teaching of St. Gregory By: Msgr. Charles PopeFaults in others I can see, but praise the Lord there’re none in me!The term “busybody” usually refers to one who is intent on the matters of others but looks little to his own issues. Busybodies also tend to focus especially on the faults, foibles, and troubles of other folks. Seldom are they chattering away about good news related to other people; more often it is the scurrilous and scandalous that occupy their minds.Merriam-Webster online defines a busybody as  “a person who...

Most children expect to get candy when they go trick-or-treating. But, if they stop by one Fargo, North Dakota woman's house, they might get an unexpected "fat letter." A station manager told valleynewslive.com in Fargo that a woman identified as Cheryl called into the Y-94 morning program saying that she wanted to make a stand against obesity during Halloween. Her idea? Give children who had extra pounds on them a letter instead of a sweet treat. "You (sic) child is, in my opinion, moderately obese and should not be consuming sugar treats to the extent of some children this Halloween...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. senators and health officials are taking on a baseball tradition older than the World Series itself: chewing tobacco on the diamond. With the Series set to begin Wednesday between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers, the senators, along with health officials from the teams' cities, want the players union to agree to a ban on chewing tobacco at games and on camera. They made the pleas in separate letters, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

COPLEY, Ohio — A gunman who killed seven people during a weekend rampage in his Ohio neighborhood cornered one of his victims, his girlfriend's 11-year-old nephew, in the basement of a house, ordered out the family sheltering the boy and then shot him, police said Monday. Michael Hance's cold-blooded killing of such a young victim after stalking seven other people on a tidy suburban Akron street named Goodenough Avenue was, neighbors said, the culmination of a dispute over a home that once belonged to his girlfriend's parents.

First Lady Michelle Obama has called on Congress to create a $400 million-a-year program to encourage the establishment of supermarkets in places she calls “food deserts.” The situation in these “food deserts,” as Mrs. Obama describes it, is quite dire indeed. American children are growing fat because their parents cannot get to a supermarket—to buy fruits and vegetables—without undergoing the hardship of boarding a bus or riding a taxi. As a consequence, food-desert-dwelling children are forced to eat fast food and junk procured at chain restaurants and convenience stores. In a March 10 speech, the first lady painted a sad...

When Obama's grandmother died the press never inquired about his attendance at the funeral or a later memorial service. But I dug and found some pieces that said he would not attend the funeral, but would attend a memorial service in December. I've not seen any mention of an Obama visit to Hawaii in December. So, did/will he attend the funeral or memorial service? If not, why not? This is the woman that raised him for God's sake!

I learned a new word today - Quiverfull. According to a blog entry on Sodahead.com (doesn't sound very impressive but hey, let's take our new words where we can get them), "Quiverfull...is a growing movement of Protestants" who believe that "since children are blessings from God, we should receive as many as God will give." Therefore, no birth control. The Duggar family is about to have their 18th child, and they are a quiverfull family. The best line from the Sodahead post is, "I'm not sure how to tell the difference between a husband who wants sex and God saying...

Brenda Smith and her husband became curious last winter about the workers who showed up in their neighborhood around Old Providence Road in Virginia Beach. Without any notice to her, the largely Hispanic crew began digging trenches in her front yard and shoving orange tubing into the ground. She tried to ask them questions, but they didn't speak English. Concerned about the growing number of illegal immigrants in Virginia, Smith decided to find out whether the men in her yard were here legally. She learned they were part of a $23 billion Verizon fiber-optic project intended to bring state-of-the-art television...

Bay State dogs may soon end up on a shorter leash if state and local legislators get their way. From lap dogs to pit bulls, none of the state’s pooches will escape the latest round of canine crackdowns. “You can’t allow people to be afraid all the time,” said Avril T. Elkort, vice chairwoman of the Canton Board of Selectmen, where a new ordinance limits residents to one pit bull per household. “It was a public safety issue.” Canton animal control officer Ellen Barnett objected to the new regulation. “The problem I had with it is that it was too...

"Kiss me", "Touch me", "Feel me", "Rape me" – the invitations flashed across the photo of a scantily clad young woman on one of the most popular teen Web hangouts in the world – MySpace.com. Techno-hussies and innocent children just enjoying the latest method to socialize with their friends are falling victim because they are sharing very personal, often provocative and trashy information on MySpace.com, which is quickly becoming a sexual predator's playground. So rampant are the reports and allegations linking sex-crimes and even murder to activity on MySpace that producers at "America's Most Wanted" are looking into the...

Re-focus Halloween! If your school insists on having some kind of Halloween celebration, recommend that they steer away from the ghoulish and occult and, instead, focus on the event as a fall festival. ... "When you turn evil into a game, it trivializes it and numbs children to its darkness." (excerpt from email) GREAT RESOURCE SITE for Teachers, Parents & Students.

Lately there seems to be some slippage of what has been for years the common style for replying to posts. In the interest of FR Stylebook maintenance, here is what has been proper style on replying to comments in a thread. The common form for replies is as follows: 1. Quote the person you are replying to with italics (if you are replying to someone specifically and what they said). 2. Seperate with a paragraph mark. 3. Show your reply in regular text Example:Even after five years (or so) of reading FR, I still find myself amazed at the quality...