Free Republic

Apologies for vanity beforehand - yes I pinged HG for the expected flagellation. Now, as for the main question: Which of these fundamental tenets of progressive socialism is an accepted position on FR? That is, which one of the following 7 bullet points is unlike the others? “Poverty blocks parents performing their duties with full attention. Economic deprivation leads to depression, stress and family dysfunction which directly affects children. Universal basic (guaranteed) income will abolish poverty.” “Gun violence is a human rights issue. Gun violence disproportionately impacts communities of color, women and other marginalized groups in society. Gun control protects...

Europe could be close to herd immunity from coronavirus ALREADY with 15% of people carrying antibodies say researchers studying city dubbed 'German Wuhan' Up to 15 per cent of people in hard-hit German town may already have immunity Researchers discovered that Gangelt could be closer to immunity than thought This means Europe as a whole could be closer to herd immunity than expected Europe could be close to herd immunity from coronavirus already, with far more people infected than previously thought, according to a study in Germany. Scientists studying Gangelt, the town at the centre of Germany's first big outbreak...

Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe reported Sunday night that the White House is considering random sampling of the general U.S. population to monitor the spread of the virus while gathering more data around overall mortality rates. "I reached out to the White House about it and they said it is something they were going to look to do in the next 15 days," Boothe said on "The Next Revolution" on Sunday night. "I talked to Dr. John Ioannidis of Stanford. He is an epidemiology professor there," she continued. "He said this something that really needs to get done as soon...

Republican California congressional candidate Eric Early thanked opponent Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff on Monday for helping reelect President Donald Trump and destroying former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

The attorneys general of 21 states have come forward with a blistering rebuke of the impeachment of President Trump, asserting that it "establishes a dangerous historical precedent." The Republican attorneys general, in a letter submitted to the Senate Wednesday morning and obtained by Fox News, urged the chamber conducting Trump's trial to "reject" the impeachment articles. CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS ADMONISHES BOTH SIDES AT SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, AFTER MARATHON SESSION ERUPTS INTO SHOUTING MATCH "If not expressly repudiated by the Senate, the theories animating both Articles will set a precedent that is entirely contrary to the Framers' design and ruinous to...

With title-game ticket prices plummeting more than 90 percent, should college football be worried? Ticket prices on the secondary market for Monday’s college football national title game are cratering – get-in prices hit $150 Tuesday on StubHub and experts say it should continue to drop. By comparison, last year’s get-in price peaked at about $1,700. “Prices are trending lower than we have ever seen before,” SeatGeek.com’s Chris Leyden told Yahoo Sports. “Demand is down.”

EXCLUSIVE: Attorney General Jeff Sessions is launching a review of a law enforcement initiative called Project Cassandra after an investigative report was published this week claiming the Obama administration gave a free pass to Hezbollah’s drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations to help ensure the Iran nuclear deal would stay on track. The Justice Department said in a statement to Fox News that Sessions on Friday directed a review of prior Drug Enforcement Administration investigations “to evaluate allegations that certain matters were not properly prosecuted and to ensure all matters are appropriately handled.”

Blue Angels and Snowbirds, hoverboards and vintage aircraft, and even the Air Force fifth-generation F-35A fighter plane will be in the skies this weekend for the second Breitling Huntington Beach Airshow. Headlining the action is the legendary Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration team, succeeding last year’s headliner the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds. Also performing this year are the Canadian Forces Snowbirds. “Rarely do these teams appear together in the same show,” said Mike McCabe, director of airshows for Air Support, the show’s presenter.

We attempted to cut through all of the Western and Russian media propaganda on the way to describing what Moscow’s involvement in Syria actually portends for the global balance of power. Here are a few excerpts that summarize what’s taking shape in the Middle East: Putin looks to have viewed this as the ultimate geopolitical win-win. That is, Russia gets to i) expand its influence in the Middle East in defiance of Washington and its allies, a move that also helps to protect Russian energy interests and preserves the Mediterranean port at Tartus, and ii) support its allies in Tehran...

Yes, there is such a thing as “the public,” a term that derives from the ancient Latin, populous (the people), via publicus (of the people), via old French, public — pertaining generally to the mass of adults dwelling in a polity, a society under (political) governance. In the USA, government is vested as a republic, also from the Latin, res publica, meaning the public thing, the vessel that contains the public. I present these terms to clarify how our society is cracking up. The American public, we the people, lately swoon into a morass of multi-dimensional failure: failure to control...

It’s important that you think carefully about the meaning – the true nature — of his ruling on Obama-care. The Left will shout that they won, that Obama-care was upheld and all the rest. Let them. It will be a short-lived celebration. Here’s what really occurred — payback. Yes, payback for Obama’s numerous, ill-advised and childish insults directed toward SCOTUS. Chief Justice Roberts actually ruled the mandate, relative to the commerce clause, was unconstitutional. That’s how the Democrats got Obama-care going in the first place. This is critical. His ruling means Congress can’t compel American citizens to purchase anything. Ever....

There's a good reason why O was opposed to classifying the mandate as a tax. Once it's a tax, it's subject to all sorts of equal protection clauses. IOW, DHS cannot willy-nilly issue waivers for non-compliance to favored political groups, etc. It's not to say that waivers & exceptions cannot be issued. They can, but they must come from specific actions undertaken by Congress. Consider how non-profits are treated under present income tax laws. Their preferred tax treatment is not determined by the executive/IRS, but rather specific laws passed by Congress. How about differences in form/type of income/wages? Are Senators...

You're NOT going to get what you want Harry. You need to read the damned Constitution. ALL REVENUE BILLS MUST ORIGINATE IN THE HOUSE. YOUR chamber has failed to pass a budget for the last two years. YOUR chamber has repeatedly violated the Constitution by refusing to do so. YOUR chamber is a public disgrace and every last one of you should be removed for violating your oaths of office. What the House is going to pass today is a bill that will give you a few more months to come to your senses and accept the math: The budget...

Much speculation lately focuses not so much on what the stock market will do (the answer to that should be self-evident, especially once shorting stocks again becomes a practical reality), but what the impact of recent economic policies will be not just on inflation (regional or global), but also on that most sacrosanct piece of paper, the U.S. dollar. In order to approach this question from a different angle than the conventional theoretical wisdom of Quantitative Easing being the end all be all explanation for the mid- and long-term fate of the U.S. currency, an approach that has much more...

California is imploding faster than expected. Here's what I wrote back in February "No matter what budget passes now, the California legislature will be back at it three or four months down the road unless the sugar daddies in Congress start passing out more candy to the states." I clearly should have said "California will be back at it in less than a month." As noted by the following headline, my February statement above offers tangible evidence that I have been a blazing optimist. To "balance" the $42 billion shortfall, California is already counting on borrowing $5 billion from lottery...

One in 8 US mortgage holders are in trouble, either delinquent or of foreclosure. The U.S. real estate market lost $2.4 trillion in value last year. In one year. Obama is set to spend $75 billion on a plan that is awfully bad from the outset, if only because it ignores the possibility that prices will deteriorate further, which is the same sort of blind-eyed assumption as the administration basing its budget plans on a 3.2% growth rate for the US economy in 2010. US home prices have much further to fall, and GDP will not grow but shrink in...

Treasury prices advanced Monday, pressing down on yields, amid fresh concerns about the state of the nation's financial system as American International Group accepted billions more in government aid. Ten-year note yields (UST10Y) fell for the first time in six trading days, by 8 basis points to 2.95%. Two-year note yields (UST2YR) declined for a third day, by 8 basis points to 0.91%. A basis point is 0.01%. Treasury prices move inversely to their yields. "More and more investors are seeking the safety of U.S. government debt," said Kevin Giddis, managing director of fixed income for Morgan Keegan & Co....

A picture is worth 1,000 words. If you're an investor (or soon-to-be-retiree) with a 401k or IRA, here's what the market thinks about the Obama Administrations' latest missives on banks and how they intend to deal with the banking system mess. The market calls all bluffs. In this case it took less than 24 hours. How many times do we need to see this - Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie, AIG, Lehman and now every publicly-traded bank in America - before the government stops this crap, formulates a plan and comes out with a clear statement on exactly what they...

One in five Los Angeles County residents -- nearly 2.2 million people -- are receiving public assistance payments or benefits, a level county officials say will rise significantly over the coming months as the fallout from the recession continues.

Has Barack Obama’s presidency already failed? In normal times, this would be a ludicrous question. But these are not normal times. They are times of great danger. Today, the new US administration can disown responsibility for its inheritance; tomorrow, it will own it. Today, it can offer solutions; tomorrow it will have become the problem. Today, it is in control of events; tomorrow, events will take control of it. Doing too little is now far riskier than doing too much. If he fails to act decisively, the president risks being overwhelmed, like his predecessor. The costs to the US and...