Free Republic

If a priest is accused of inappropriately touching a minor, it makes the news. When other segments of society—teachers, Hollywood studio executives, therapists—are accused, the media show much less interest, and sometimes practically none at all. The latter is now evident in the way most media outlets treated the story about USA Gymnastics that broke last week. Over the years, IndyStar, the home page of the Indianapolis Star, has done fine work covering the sexual abuse of gymnasts, but nothing can compare with the report it released on December 15. It is the most comprehensive examination of USA Gymnastics ever...

I hope Trump’s MSNBC interview doesn’t surprise too many people: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took a softer stance [on] immigration during a television interview Friday, saying he believes in a “merit system” for undocumented immigrants already living in the U.S. … During Friday’s interview, Trump said the U.S. should take a two-step approach to the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the country. Wouldn’t it be nice if there really were only 11 million? The actual number is probably at least three times that high and rocketing upward every moment. Meanwhile, we can’t find even a loose cannon,...

The first, on May 21, headed "Climate change threat to Alpine ski resorts" , reported that the entire Alpine "winter sports industry" could soon "grind to a halt for lack of snow". The second, on December 19, headed "The Alps have best snow conditions in a generation" , reported that this winter's Alpine snowfalls "look set to beat all records by New Year's Day". Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic...

I hope the delay in approving the power plants Sunflower Electric has proposed isn't because the Kansas Department of Health and Environment believes the lie that carbon dioxide has some magical power to control atmospheric temperatures. How can anyone believe that CO2, which is only 0.04 percent of the atmosphere, can have any impact on air temperatures? I have yet to see any scientific evidence to support the claims about the magical ability of CO2 claimed by greenhouse gas believers. If these believers had any real scientific evidence they wouldn't be claiming that their estimates of past temperatures provide evidence....