Free Republic

The jihadist murderers are dead, after killing five more Parisians, but many Westerners, long drugged by bad ideas and received wisdom, continue to sleepwalk through the war against jihadism. This means that after all the brave words and feel-good marches, little significant action will be taken to prevent such atrocities from happening again. In the absence of clear thinking and recognition of fact, responses to this latest example of Muslim violence reflect ideological fever dreams. “Nothing to do with the Muslim religion,” as French president François Holland said of the attacks, is a perennial favorite. Such apologists invoke shopworn Marxist...

Improving fuel efficiency, even by one percent, on the world's most popular plane makes a huge difference. After achieving success with the first 737 winglet, the team was challenged with finding ways to make the 737 MAX even more efficient. Boeing video at the source

Groucho Marx once said that Abscess make the heart grow fonder, but now it means that I will be losing a troubled molar and am looking at getting an implant to replace the tooth. Have any of you had an implant? Do you have any Stories or Advice to pass on to your fellow freepers?

Car Washes AB 1387 increases the bond requirement for car wash establishments from $15,000 to $150,000, with a specific exemption for employers with a collective bargaining agreement in place that provides for wages, hours of work, working conditions and "an expeditious process to resolve disputes concerning nonpayment of wages."

Presidential ethics are now situational. Obama is calling for a shield law to protect reporters from the sort of harassment that his attorney general, Eric Holder, and the FBI practiced against Fox News and the Associated Press. Through such rhetoric, he remains a staunch champion of the First Amendment — even though he now has the ability to peek into the private phone records of millions of Americans. The president is outraged that the IRS went after those deemed politically suspicious. So he sacked the acting head of the IRS, Steven Miller, who was scheduled to step down soon anyway....

I have been holding off writing anything about the horrific events at the Boston Marathon until the suspect or suspects had been arrested, because until then I couldn’t see any point in discussing it. Then it occurred to me that what I was overlooking was the way that every other media outlet has covered the story. That first night, even Fox devoted every single second to repeating the few facts anyone knew and showing the same ten seconds of video. I’m not suggesting that the catastrophe could or should have been ignored. But without knowing who set off the bombs,...

On Thursday Night Bill Whittle will be addressing our tea party group about the national debt. We have been inviting students from the nearby high schools to attend this event. Prior to Mr. Whittle's speech, we will be giving a 15 minute speech on George Washington's Farewell Address. The event will be held at 7 pm at Rush Park in Rossmoor, just a few blocks north of the 405/605 interchange. This is open to the public. Please turn out to show your support of a group that is focused on educating the public about our Constitutional heritage. See the...

Recently, Thomas Sowell wrote an excellent piece dealing with term limits. The point he made is that if the idea behind limits was to rid us of those people who spend their entire lives doing little more than voting, we’ve gone about it in a really stupid way. For one thing, as we’ve seen here in California, it merely means that once one of these palookas has termed out in, say, the state assembly, he merely runs for the state senate or for governor or lieutenant governor or attorney general. In short, he moves on, he doesn’t move out. Another...

A security director for the National Basketball Association said in a lawsuit Monday that Geno Auriemma, the coach of the United States Olympic women’s basketball team, followed, grabbed and tried to forcibly kiss her at a hotel during a basketball tournament in Russia in 2009.

Two suitcases crammed with counterfeit $100 bills were seized in Kuala Lumpur this week from two Iranian traders who flew in to the Malaysian capital on direct flights from Tehran. One contained 153,000 forged dollars and the second 203,000. The traders claimed they were issued the bills by tellers at the Iranian central bank CBI to finance their business transactions and had no notion they had not been dealt genuine greenbacks.

Supposition And Irresponsibility Well have you heard the latest about what actually happened in the Superdome and Convention Center during Hurricane Katrina? We were told that there were gang rapes, murders and mayhem on a grand scale and that the basement of the Superdome was stacked with dead bodies. As it turns out none of these stories were true. Eight people died, mostly from natural causes and suicide and an official in New Orleans stated that the murder rate during Katrina was about the same as during normal times. We sat at home imagining the horrible things happening in the...

This is not a debate about unions or rights; it’s a fight about the legal use of the word “marriage.” If the gays had wanted equal rights and equal benefits, they would have pushed for legislation on these matters. But they had a judicial short-circuit invade the normal legislative processes of the U.S., which brought the fight to the highest levels of government. When one considers the tactics of the liberals, we may easily predict their future actions. Once same-sex marriages are recognized by the states, doesn’t it stand to reason that the cadre of liberal lawyers will start filing...

A conservative commentator holds Churchill accountable for his ridiculous comments and doesn't let up. This interview was good to listen to in that Churchill defines what is wrong in our educational system.

Just the Jokes, OK? Johnny: "Sis - Boom - Bah ED: "Sim - boom - bah Johnny: What sound does an exploding sheep make?

Southern California was pounded by yet another storm Sunday and early Monday that left roadways flooded, motorists stranded due to snow, homes without power and many wondering when it will all end. In the Tejon Pass on Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles, more than 2 feet of snow closed the state's major north-south highway for most of Monday, stranding thousands of unprepared motorists. Since July 1, Long Beach has received nearly 11 inches of rain, well above the 4-inch average for this time of year. Annual rainfall in the city, measured between July 1 and June 30, is 14...

From an earlier posting: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1310914/posts Photo family's amazing survival From correspondents in Stockholm January 2, 2005 A SERIES of heart-rending photos showing a mother dashing into the tsunami off Thailand in a desperate bid to save her family were cabled out around the world this week. But the family's fate remained unknown until today, when the Swedish mum came forward to say they had all survived. "I was yelling at them to run, but they couldn't hear me," 37-year-old Karin Svaerd told the daily Expressen, describing her desperation as her three sons, brother and brother-in-law snorkelled in the water last...

"Yesterday I broadcast from the Manchester Theater at the University of San Diego. In the course of the program, I received this e-mail: "Hugh, because it is the Marine Corps birthday today, and because I heard that you are broadcasting live from USD, I wanted to let you know that USD lost one of its alumni on April 8th of this year, in Fallujah. His name was 1st Lt. Joshua Palmer. It would be great if you could somehow remind the students that they've lost one of their own over there, especially today, and especially before veterans day. Josh loved...

A couple of jolts here on the LA County/Orange Co line.

I thought this photo was most appropriate, given the election results.

Liberals love to call me a neo-con; they love names. Recently I've taken to calling the liberals "neo-coms" in honor of their supporting pro-communist droid John Kerry. They haven't liked it one bit. Mr. Kerry has shown he cares for the communist style of government more than the republican form of government, which is guaranteed to the States by our Constitution (Under Article IV, Section 4). He sided with the communists during the Vietnam war, hurting more US soldiers than the enemy's. He advocates more communist style programs than programs of personal responsibility. Most of all, it's really making my...