Free Republic

Youth activist Greta Thunberg is hopping on a carbon-free racing boat to make the United Nations Climate Summit in New York on September 23. The Swedish founder of Fridays for Future—a now-global effort where youth skip school on Fridays to protest in the name of climate change and their future—figured out how to make it to the United States without destroying the planet. She’s headed to New York, which is cool. But what about other youth activists, especially those in the Global South? Thunberg’s success—while rightly deserved—is also a reminder of how our efforts to stop climate change continue to...

The Washington State Supreme Court has upheld Seattle’s pioneering “democracy vouchers” program, which allows residents to contribute taxpayer money to qualifying political candidates. ... Under the program approved at the ballot in 2015 and first used in 2017, the city raises $3 million annually in property taxes. Each election cycle, voters receive four $25 vouchers that they can sign over to candidates who abide by certain rules.

(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – Today, the Bluegrass Institute called on the Kentucky General Assembly to censure Rep. Kelly Flood, D-Lexington, for disparaging comments she made during Tuesday’s meeting of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, which were directed toward supporters of scholarship tax-credit legislation which would allow poor and learning-disabled youngsters to attend private and parochial schools. “Effectively, you are asking the state to become your next major donor to raise approximately $25 million to reimburse donors who have a crisis of faith in contributing currently for the past 20 years, specifically in this state to private institutions that are funding...

New research shows that garbage piles produced by leaf-cutter ants emit significant amounts of nitrous oxide—a potent greenhouse gas. Chemical reactions within the organic waste piles produced by leaf-cutter ants create copious amounts of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, according to new research published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. These industrious insects aren’t contributing to global warming on the scale of human activities, but their behaviors are fundamentally altering the composition and function of tropical forests—including the way nutrients are transported and recycled.

Bernie put out a statement of suggested methods of funding his single-payer Medicare for All plan. Shockingly, he would make the American people pay for his socialist dream through increased taxes. He suggests repealing healthcare-related tax expenditures, raising high-income tax rates, treating capital gains and dividends as ordinary income, imposing a one-time tax on offshore profits, and imposing a fee on large banks. His release states that "As the wealthiest country in the world, we have a variety of options available to support a Medicare for All single-payer health care system that guarantees high quality, affordable health care as a...

The Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (“GLSO”), attempted to place an order wioth Hands On Originals ("HOO") for t-shirts. The opinion states the shirts "would bear a screen-printed design with the words “Lexington Pride Festival 2012,” the number “5,” and a series of rainbow-colored circles around the “5.” The GLSO intended to sell these t-shirts to promote the 2012 Lexington Pride Festival." HOO refused to provide the services because it violated their Christian views and trheir policy: "Hands On Originals both employs and conducts business with people of all genders, races, religions, sexual preferences, and national origins. However, due to...

This one’s rich. Paul Ryan, architect of the mercifully failed ACHA, had the gall on Sunday to tweet a photo of himself wearing a blue puzzle piece pin on his lapel. It’s a show of solidarity in recognition of World Autism Awareness Day, a subject near and dear to Ryan’s hea—ha ha, just kidding. He truly does not give a shit. It’s easy to put on a pin—an aide probably did it for him! But Paul Ryan doesn’t actually care about autism, or else he wouldn’t have dedicated such a vast amount of effort to trying to repeal the ACA,...

As Hillary Clinton came under increasing scrutiny for her story about facing sniper fire in Bosnia, one question that arose was whether she has engaged in a pattern of lying. The now-retired general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee, who supervised Hillary when she worked on the Watergate investigation, says Hillary’s history of lies and unethical behavior goes back farther – and goes much deeper – than anyone realizes... Zeifman said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of...

A Jewish couple's bid to take a tax deduction they say the Internal Revenue Service reserves only for members of the Church of Scientology is getting a friendly reception from a federal appeals court, increasing the possibility of a ruling that could create a tax break for taxpayers of many religions who pay tuition to religious schools. "The view of the IRS is it can unconstitutionally violate the Constitution by establishing religion, by treating one religion more favorably than other religions in terms of what is allowed as deductions, and there can never be any judicial review of that?" Judge...

A Jewish couple's bid to take a tax deduction they say the Internal Revenue Service reserves only for members of the Church of Scientology is getting a friendly reception from a federal appeals court, increasing the possibility of a ruling that could create a tax break for taxpayers of many religions who pay tuition to religious schools... "The view of the IRS is it can unconstitutionally violate the Constitution by establishing religion, by treating one religion more favorably than other religions in terms of what is allowed as deductions, and there can never be any judicial review of that?" Judge...

I am writing a law school paper n in which I need to create a new law that I think should be passed. I then need to backup the law with public policy as to why it should be passed. I am struggle to come up with a good law that will foster good public policy that has not already been passed in some form or another. The law can be for any governmental body. Does anyone have any great ideas or at least an area I can start looking

Why does Freerepublic not have live bookmarks? They are so nice and convenient. A live bookmark (rss feed) would be perfect for this site. I suggest it be implemented ASAP.

Did you know that there are 1001 and inventions by the Muslims that changed the world? For example: 1) A muslim made the first coffee 2) A muslim invented the first pin-hole camera 3) Chess was invented by a muslim To see the full exhibit websitego to http://www.1001inventions.com/

Song Yoo-geun, 8, wants to build flying cars, defying Newton's law of gravity, and the physics genius which has made him Korea's youngest university student may very well drive him to that dream. Amid scholastic achievements that have confounded experts, the public spotlight is squarely on the child prodigy and his parents, both 46 and both former teachers. What has made Yoo-geun - born late November 1997 and actually just shy of 8 years old - so special? _____________________________ Whoa! Wish I had those kinda brains. Do you think he knows about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc?

This is a great quote from Bob Hope. Enjoy. http://home.insightbb.com/~sasherm13/Greatest_Movie_Line_Ever.wmv

This is a call for help. I am a second year student at Ave Maria School of Law. This year I made law review and need to write a note (paper) on a legal topic. I need something that hasn't been beaten to death, yet is deep enough that I can write 40-60 pages about it. DOes anyone have any ideas? I have a fewof my own, but I feel like they are too limited and I will struggle with them. Thanks for any help.

These are apparently the top ten scientific breakthroughs of 2004. Science magazine's breakthroughs of 2004 * Winner: Water on Mars. Nasa's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity discovered compelling evidence for the prolonged existence of salty, acidic water on the surface of the Red Planet. * Runner up: Indonesian "hobbit". A team of archaeologists made the mind-blowing discovery of a new species of human that stood only one metre tall and lived on the Indonesian island of Flores. * Human cloning. South Korean researchers made headlines across the world after announcing they had cloned human embryos, the first published and "peer...