Free Republic

Air Force officials are considering bringing back warrant officers and may start creating a training program this year, reversing a decision from 65 years ago when the service ended that grade, according to a planning document obtained by Military.com. The three-page planning order says that "great power competition" -- Defense Department lingo for escalating defense spending and resources against adversaries such as China -- is underscoring the need to resurrect warrant officers, the corps of highly technical service members who are above the enlisted ranks but below the commissioned officer ranks.

The Panama Canal, one of the major shipping routes through which 40 percent of container goods sold in America travels, currently has a 21-day wait time for ships attempting to make the passage. And the situation will only get worse before it gets better. The number of vessels waiting to sneak between North and South America currently stands at 154. The traffic jam is thanks to a severe drought that has afflicted the area since this Spring. About $270 billion in cargo travels through the canal every year... snip Not only are reservations for making it through the canal cut...

From the Book: "The Democrats are fundamentally transforming our nation by using a plan that is so clever that the conservatives do not recognize their compliance with the poisonous design. Their tactic is brilliant. They have us arguing over the political left and right, conservative versus liberal, tolerance, intolerance, rights, race, civil rights or privileges, benefits and fairness while they engage in a continual drone that we are a democracy instead of a republic. The bickering has directed our attention to party politics instead of working from our constitutional foundation, which is allowing our government’s decay into fascism, communism, or...

Such People Actually ExistI don’t have a bucket list. Unlike other, perhaps more normal people, I don’t long to see Paris, the Pyramids, or the Great Wall of China before I die. The way it works for me is that if I’ve seen it in a movie, I know I’ll be disappointed by the reality. That’s because in real life, the scene won’t be improved by a musical background provided by George Gershwin or Elmer Bernstein, and I won’t be strolling hand in hand with Audrey Hepburn or dancing with Ginger Rogers or even strolling and dancing with my late...

It is hard to write an obit for a good friend of many years. Burt Prelutsky, a conservative columnist nested in the Hollywood area, first caught my eye by reading his materials in the old Federalist Digest. He combined intelligence, wit, conservatism and scalding characterizations of our republic's enemies in his columns. A lot of people in the Arts business didn't like him, but Burt knew who the real conservatives were. Sadly, on the 17th of this month, I received a text from a relative that Burt had died that morning. He had a sudden drop in blood pressure, so...

In a meeting with my doctor on Friday she told me that I had severe bone loss in my left arm because of a problem with my parathyroid. She recommended surgery on my parathyroid, telling me that it was a step by step process. I must give her an answer soon. Does anybody have any experience in this issue? Any advice to tender? Thanks for your help. Freepers are the greatest!

I am interested in buying a .22 pistol for carry and target shooting. I have been looking at the Beretta M9 22, but recently was impressed with a Taurus model. Any recommendations? Any ones to stay away from?

Something happened recently that I believe may help some people. I have had many of these ocular migraines over the last two years. I kept a diary on their occurrences on my iPhone, because I wanted to have a trend line. Suddenly they stopped. Not one in the last eight months. The scare of actual migraine headaches (curse them!) has gone to near zero. I looked back at my medical records to see what happened. Please pass this information along to any person with this problem. The only thing that changed: I had a bad tooth extracted. It was on...

If your approach to parenting in our post-sexual revolution hellscape isn’t what Antoine Dodson famously called for, you need to wake up, because they raping everybody out here. A clip of a “Blue’s Clues” song celebrating Masturbation and Genital Amputation Month went viral over the weekend heading into June. “Blue’s Clues” also released an episode in May celebrating LGBT identification. “Blue’s Clues” is a long-running preschool TV show that has played on Nickelodeon Jr. since 1996. “Blue’s Clues became the highest-rated show for preschoolers on American commercial television and was critical to Nickelodeon’s growth,” Wikipedia says. The lyrics of its...

After my recent move to Arizona I am amazed at the night time sky. I am now looking for a decent telescope to study the Messier objects, planets and such. It appears that there are some great buys below $2,000 in the Schmidt Cassegrain field, even some Macs. Does anybody have any information they can give on this? I had an old 8" Newtonian, which was a royal pain to take anywhere.

The Constitution’s multiple references to “state legislatures” raise difficult and significant issues. The main question is whether we can give a consistent answer to the meaning of this term across a large number of different constitutional clauses that both fits the constitutional text and gives a plausible answer. This is important for several reasons. First, it provides an originalist answer to a difficult interpretive question—something important in its own right that also demonstrates the power of originalism as an interpretive method. But it is also important because it addresses two of the most significant questions involving elections in recent years—questions...

September 17th is CONSTITUTION DAY! It celebrates the finish of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. On that day, the elder statesman of the Convention, Benjamin Franklin, weakly handed a speech to Delegate James Wilson to be read to the members assembled. Here is part of that speech: “In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is...

To The Editor: Years ago while the Republicans slept, the Democrats replanted our Constitution on the “right wing” of political measurements. It was the greatest political move in our nation’s history, for suddenly, the Constitution was an off-center philosophy, while radical, anti-constitutional politics became the middle ground, the mainstream. Our politics have followed that map, and the respect for our Constitution has nosedived. This incredible change resulted from simply moving the point of reference, the initial point. To illustrate the power of such a simple move, try it in your accounting. If you moved the decimal point in our dollars...

NEWINGTON, N.H., (January 15, 2020) – SIG SAUER, Inc. is pleased to announce the United States Special Operation Command (USSOCOM), working closely with SIG SAUER, has completed a safety certification of the new SIG SAUER MG 338 Machine Gun, SIG SAUER 338 Norma Mag Ammunition, and Next Generation Suppressors. Following this historic official safety certification, SIG SAUER has completed deliveries of multiple systems, comprised of the MG 338 Machine Guns, 338 Norma Mag Ammunition, and Next Generation Suppressors – all researched, designed, engineered, and manufactured by SIG SAUER in the U.S.A. “The safety certification of the complete SIG SAUER MG...

Pro Football Hall of Famers Terrell Davis, Darrell Green and Bruce Smith, and NFL Legend Michael Vick, will serve as 2020 Pro Bowl Legends Captains. The Pro Bowl will feature a match-up between the AFC and NFC, with each conference led by two Legends Captains -- one offensive and one defensive. Davis (offense) and Smith (defense) will lead the AFC, while Vick (offense) and Green (defense) will lead the NFC. The four Legends Captains, who were collectively selected to 25 Pro Bowls, will serve as mentors for the Pro Bowl players and be present on the sidelines on gameday. The...

CNN was at the receiving end of another towel slapping by the Trump White House. Host Wolf Blitzer was chewed out on-air for asking senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway about remarks made by her husband, George, a noted opponent of this administration. George was on MSNBC last night lambasting President Trump and the Republican Party

It is with much sadness that I report the passing of Michael Uhlmann, a longtime member of our Division of Politics & Economics and a significant scholar of American government. For many on our campus, Professor Uhlmann was not only an insightful critic and commentator but also a colleague and dear friend—a mentor to generations of students wanting to learn how government works (or, he might have said, how it doesn’t) from someone whose experience extended to a distinguished career in public service. A year ago, a tribute in The American Mind hailed Uhlmann as “that rarest of specimens”—a scholar...

If you've been a fan of the Mac during the past decade, you've probably felt like a kid who had been an only child until their parents surprised everyone by having a baby late in life. But, this wasn't just any new baby. The little wunderkind went on to become a straight-A student, a sports star and a decent human being loved by everyone in the community. Every once in a while, people remember that the kid has an older sibling -- who they admit is pretty cool, too. That's the Mac. But, after more than a decade of living...

Workers were working on repairs on a runway at Asuncion silvio pettirossi international airport. 'Too close for me. Video at the link.

Of the 1,217 bills that reached California Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk in 2018, he signed 1,016 new laws and vetoed 201 – a record-high for Brown’s last two terms in office. Of the new laws going into effect in California in 2019, some are important and some are oddities: A plastic straw ban, making surfing the official California sport, banning the use of refrigeration chemicals, additional gun control requirements, requiring women on Boards of Directors of publicly traded companies… and 1,011 more. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly: Vegan Meals for Prison Inmates California is the first state...