Free Republic

Without mind bending drugs, leftist logic is a little unclear. I guess that’s why universities these days dedicate so much course work to it and Hollywood makes so many movies showing us how leftism really is a good thing (achievable with special effects). In realville, where practical application of any thesis is required, there isn’t much apparent logic in leftism at all. Rather, a plethora of conflicting thoughts and feelings trample one another for dominance. The two forces that keep the various leftist special interests from implosion and mutual self destruction are their ignorance of their ignorance and their hatred...

I retired in March, and shortly afterwards, with unfamiliar time on my hands I took a little drive eventually passing through a small town called Royce City and decided to take a look around. Turning off of HWY66, I drove only a few short blocks north before running into a place called City Lake Park, or something like that. There was indeed a little lake there, and also some virgin ground for metal detecting in the park. But while the metal detector was languishing in the garage, the ever handy fishing poles in my truck were ready for use and...

As a stout, constitutionally minded conservative I am, of course, a Cruz supporter. As a person who has worked and saved all my life toward my recent retirement, I am adamantly anti socialist, hence, anti Democrat, anti establishment, and I am ok with Trump. I would prefer that Cruz wins, but if either of the two becomes our next president I will celebrate. The current Trump/Cruz divisions on our side of the political spectrum, and the rancor, is distressing. But perhaps there’s another way to look at things, for beyond the election. Cruz has already demonstrated a bulldog effort to...

So, like, I’m a friendly person, wouldn’t hurt a fly, but when this jerk neighbor of mine said that global warming was a liberal fantasy I tried to reason with him. I told him the Arctic ice was melting, the polar bears were dying and the sea was rising but he kept spouting out stuff about records and trends and totally irrelevant things like water vapor, sunspots and volcanos. I’m well educated and I read the news. I never heard of any of the stuff he was throwing out. What B.S. How can you argue with a fool like that....

Republicans in the House have demonstrated no imagination on a daily basis. And general punditry seems to be lacking also thereof. One pundit I heard yesterday, who I have always rather mistrusted, is a self confessed former liberal who backed McCain in 08 and Romney in 12, in the primaries! He now sides with Boehner, suggesting that we were all fools to oppose the Pelosi proposal co-opted by Boehner and known fondly by him as “Plan B” Rubbish. Our pundit’s woe is that now B.O. will let us go over the fiscal cliff (a bipartisan liberal act of cowardice) and...

In the upcoming presidential election, two issues are more important than any others: repealing Obamacare and halting illegal immigration. If we fail at either one, the country will be changed permanently. Taxes can be raised and lowered. Regulations can be removed (though they rarely are). Attorneys general and Cabinet members can be fired. Laws can be repealed. Even Supreme Court justices eventually die. But capitulate on illegal immigration, and the entire country will have the electorate of California. There will be no turning back. Similarly, if Obamacare isn't repealed in the next few years, it never will be.

Personally and collectively, the Greeks don’t understand and can’t cope with what’s happening now, let alone what will happen next. The welfare state is being swiftly and deliberately dismantled without any time to set up replacements..... ....Having seen off their worthless leaders, Greeks may not know who the enemy is any more.

...I want to believe in alt power, because sun and wind are free -- just as petroleum is free. It's only the extraction and distribution that cost...

Given that the FDA now would demand graphically unpleasant images be plastered all over cigarette packages perhaps a useful trend could emerge. For example, why not superimpose photos of auto accident victims, the more severe the injury the better, on cell phone telephone bills? Condoms passed out to children at their schools could be adorned with close ups of the various and more nasty symptoms of STDs. Abortion clinics could have wall murals of the dismembered fetus. Homosexual marriage licences could be decorated with various photos of AIDS "victims" in the last sickly throes of life. All journalism texts might...

The Met Office's commitment to warmist orthodoxy means it drastically underestimates the chances of a big freeze, says Christopher Booker...... .....At the heart of all this greenie make-believe that has our political class in its thrall has been the hijacking of the Met Office from its proper role. It’s no longer just a national joke: it is turning into a national catastrophe.

Of Tea and Party For quite some time now I have been clamoring for a third party which could replace the GOP with real conservative thinking, and conservative policy. I looked at the Libertarians, and the the Constitution party, both of which have their pros and cons, but could not find a good solid replacement along the lines I sought. Meanwhile, the GOP ceded more and more of its moral integrity to the Left, stuffing itself with pork and growing ever more self important, completely forgetting the people it purported to represent. Of late, Republican constituents have even become annoying...

Call it sanctuary on wheels: San Francisco is about to give a big break to people, many of them illegal immigrants, who are caught driving without a license. Beginning Sunday, cops will no longer impound cars the first time drivers are pulled over without a license. The reason: Many such drivers are in the United States illegally - and thus unable to get a license - and the officials pushing the change think that impounding their cars is an unfair hardship.

Cape Town - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is stockpiling arms and ammunition and preparing for war, the Democratic Alliance warned on Thursday.... ..."Mugabe is [also] talking to Venezuela, Cuba and Korea to fund a war-chest in preparation for the referendum and election, following the implementation of the global political agreement (GPA) brokered by former president Thabo Mbeki on behalf of SADC."... ...James said Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party appeared to be "mobilising for war against their own citizens"....

Few economists are willing to venture that the economy has turned a critical corner or even that it has hit bottom, with growth coming soon. However, the proliferation of "green shoots," good economic news amid all the bad, is enough to persuade many economists that the bottom just might be in sight. (Snip)....Right now, many voters are saying, "Spend what it takes to get us out of this horrible recession."

<p>Men having sex with men has remained the disease's leading mode of transmission.</p> <p>Heterosexual sex was the principal mode of transmission for blacks with the disease, 33 percent. Men having sex with men was the chief mode of transmission for white residents, 78 percent; and Latinos, 49 percent. Black women represent more than a quarter of HIV cases in the District, and most, about 58 percent, were infected through heterosexual sex. About a quarter of black women were infected through drug use.</p>

admire President Bush. I think he is a good man and I have said so before. But as Bush leaves office he is looking more and more like a deer in headlights.... ...A sound education, a clear and steady mind, real world experience, a moral compass, the ability to listen to and understand conflicting points of view, superior communication skills, common sense and courage are the tools a statesman needs. With the possible exception of education, none of these skills can be taught. They must be lived, learned, and earned.

Thinking about crime would have improved the GOP's performance this year -- enough, I believe, to have turned defeat into victory. Actually doing something about crime, beyond the hugely burdensome and only marginally effective things Americans are doing already, involves something more. It requires that we shake off several decades' worth of court-sanctioned constraints: all the crime-coddling rulings dreamed up and imposed on us by liberal judicial activists.... ...Call it the Fair Construction Amendment, after a phrase from John Marshall, and fill it with the words in which Marshall, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Washington decried judicial activism. Then enjoy the...

In recent years, the Russian bear has bared his fangs at Ukraine as the grim season commemorating genocide-by-famine 75 years ago. On November 22, the former "Soviet republic" of Ukraine observed the 75th anniversary of the end of the Holodomor, a genocide-by-famine perpetrated by Josef Stalin's Soviet government which left up to ten million Ukrainian men, women, and children dead due to forced starvation. Punishing Enemies of Collectivism.....

Estate agents in the United States hope a new administration in Washington D.C. will kick start talks for a retirement visa, the so-called “silver card” which would allow foreigners to easily retire in the U.S. “I’m encouraged,” said Tony Macaluso, the Florida-based agent championing the visa. The retirement visa is one of those ideas that’s so simple and makes so much sense it’s amazing that it’s never been adopted. While countries like Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico and Belize present a variety of programs to encourage international pensioners to buy homes, the U.S. offers no simple path for a foreign citizen...

PUBLIC radio and television staff went on strike on Tuesday to protest government plans to scrap advertising as part of a broader reform of state broadcasting. Listeners to France Inter radio tuned in to their regular programmes to find it was airing music while shows on France Televisions' five channels were disrupted. Unions representing France Televisions' 11,000 employees called the strike on the day the National Assembly was to begin debate of a bill overhauling public broadcasting.