Free Republic

A New York Times opinion column acquaints humanity with the injustice of forbidding the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds -- who, nevertheless, would gain the franchise once a budding movement to that end came to fruition and then would impose the superior wisdom of the young by handing the presidency, so we are entitled to infer, to Sen. Bernie Sanders. The well-ripened alliance between various young folks and snowy-haired Sanders -- a 78-year-old heart attack victim going on age 5, to judge by his simplistic politics -- is hard to sort out. The truth seems to be that old-time political...

A great title can get people to read your book, attend your event or click on your op-ed. I often choose a title before I write a piece to keep me on track when I have too many things to say and too few words in which to say them.“The War for America’s Soul” is the title of a conservative event sponsored by Salem Media, parent company of Townhall, that is touring the country. The title is borrowed from the latest book by Salem syndicated talk show host Sebastian Gorka.Is that title accurate or is it just hyperbole to sell...

What happens when democracy fails to deliver? What happens when people give up on democracy? What happens when a majority or militant minority decide that the constitutional rights of free speech, free elections, peaceful assembly and petition are inadequate and take to the streets to force democracy to submit to their demands? Our world may be about to find out. Chile is the most stable and prosperous country in Latin America. Yet when its capital, Santiago, recently raised subway fares by 5%, thousands poured into the streets. Rioting, looting, arson followed. The Metro system was utterly trashed. Police were assaulted....

The Iranian regime has become more brazen in its foreign policy. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently attacked commercial vessels in the Gulf, and seized others, including a British tanker. It also launched missiles against Saudi oil infrastructure in September. This is in addition to its aggressive policies in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.The regime's recent actions cannot simply be interpreted as a response to rising levels of pressure from the US. Its abuses both at home and abroad have been getting worse for quite some time. And they have done so not because of newfound foreign pressure but because...

Mark Zuckerberg wants you to know that Facebook strives for diversity in its workforce -- and not just on the basis of race or gender. The CEO says he works hard to recruit people who attended a state school, are rooted to their local communities and come from traditional backgrounds. "We certainly do," Zuckerberg said of his 40,000 mostly U.S.-based employees in an interview with the New York Post. "There's a woman who runs our commerce product and is deeply religious," he said. "The person who runs policies of the company is quite a prominent Republican. So we have people...

In my last column, I recommended three firearms every man had to own in order to retain his man card. The theme of the column was threefold – 1) Protecting one’s home, 2) Protecting one’s loved ones while away from home, and 3) Raising children with respect for firearms (and, of course, knowledge of responsible firearm use). Since only three essential firearms were recommended, I was bombarded with emails asking me which should follow. I am certainly glad they asked. And I am happy to provide the next three choices needed to advance those three important interests:The Mossberg 500 .410...

As the 2020 election approaches, the United States is deeply and bitterly polarized, shaken by acts of random and not-so-random violence, with wages still rising too slowly, income inequality continuing to increase and the American dream feeling more and more out of reach for too many people. Despite low unemployment and a frothy stock market, voters feel a deep anxiety about the future and a dark anger at the political system. With just a year to go before Election Day, global alliances are fraying as the U.S. turns inward. The culture wars are raging on campus and off. For only...

There isn’t a dollar in existence that one or more of the Democrats running for president haven’t promised to spend on something. It doesn’t really matter on what, it’s already gone. Of course, your tax money is already spent, as is that of your children and a good chunk of what your grandchildren will earn; that’s what happens when you have a national debt surpassing $22 trillion. So what’s a few tens of trillions more? In the last debate, most of the candidates on the stage came out in favor of a wealth tax, under the banner of the rich...

Air Canada announced last week that it will no longer use the phrase "ladies and gentlemen" on board its flights. The policy is part of a "commitment to respect sexual identity, diversity, and inclusion," the company said in an internal memo. Instead of the gender-specific "ladies and gentlemen" (and "mesdames et messieurs" -- all announcements on Air Canada are in English and French), flight attendants are to address passengers as "everybody" and "tout le monde." LGBTQ groups are delighted. Most other people are not. Needless to say, Air Canada never polled its passengers or its employees. The left believes in...

One of the most baffling reactions among liberals since 2016 was to compare Boris Johnson to Donald Trump. I reside in England, and saw tweet after tweet from the Max Boots and Tom Nichols of the world on why these two, and Brexit and the election of Trump, are exactly the same. The reality, as always, is a lot more complicated. There is of course similarity in both events. Both were a rebel yell against orthodoxy in the respective countries. In the United States, it was by masses of people who oppose the elites’ conventional wisdom, from mass immigration from...

If the prospect of climate change makes you stressed, anxious or depressed, you aren’t alone. With reports of some children becoming terrified by climate change and the protest group Extinction Rebellion holding “grief-tending workshops”, there is an increasing awareness of so-called eco-anxiety. The phenomenon is significant enough that psychotherapists met in London on Saturday to discuss how best to manage the dread and fear people are experiencing over our impact on the planet. “Eco-anxiety is a term that’s used a lot, but it’s misguided if it’s not used in the right way,” said Sarah Niblock of the UK Council for...

RUSH: Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch, with a tweet this morning. Quote: “BIG ARMS SCANDAL: Smoking gun docs uncovered by @JudicialWatch show Obama/Clinton aware arms going to Syria through Benghazi; warned about rise of ISIS, and were supporting terrorists in Syria. Obama/Clinton created Syria mess for @RealDonaldTrump.” This is Tom Fitton Judicial Watch. You remember when the Benghazi thing happened there were immediately questions asked, “What in the world was the ambassador doing there?” Libya had become an absolute hellhole. It was stateless. It was being run by various terrorist camps.The Benghazi attack happens, and one of the explanations we got...

Asia specialist and distinguished columnist David P Goldman is convinced the US and Europe stand a chance against the Red Dragon – but the clock is ticking...

After more than twenty weeks of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, no amount of government suppression seems to be able to send the demonstrators back home. But there was a slight crack in the armor of the city’s leadership this weekend when the powers that be made a very public apology. On Sunday, a water cannon was deployed in front of one of the city’s mosques and it sprayed down worshippers standing on the sidewalk in front of the building. For that, Carrie Lam and the police chief say, they are truly sorry. (Associated Press) Hong Kong officials apologized to...

One of the most important challenges facing lawmakers today at both the state and federal levels is the rising cost of health care. In the great debate over how to reduce costs while increasing access and quality, some politicians seem to believe that more government involvement is the ticket to accomplishing these policy goals.I believe the opposite is true. In several ways, misguided government intervention is actually the cause of many of our problems, and the solution is to restore an arms-length relationship between government and the doctor-patient relationship.In Wisconsin, I’ve been part of a group of legislators who understand...

China’s assertive campaign to police discourse about its policies, even outside of its borders, and the acquiescence of American companies eager to make money in China, pose a dangerous and growing threat to one of this nation’s core values: the freedom of expression. The Communist state is becoming more and more aggressive in pressuring foreign companies to choose between self-censorship and the loss of access to what will soon be the world’s largest market. An old list of taboo topics, sometimes described as the “three Ts” — Tibet, Tiananmen and Taiwan — has been joined by newer subjects that must...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has a habit of bullying others to cover for and fix his policy blunders. In another display of political grace, Mr. Cuomo has ordered the utility National Grid to resume natural-gas hookups that were suspended after his senseless pipeline veto this spring. Mr. Cuomo wants to make New York ground zero in the left’s plan to purge fossil fuels. First he banned shale fracking in southern New York despite its huge potential to boost local economies. Then he blocked a natural-gas pipeline from Pennsylvania that would have reduced energy bills and reliance on heating oil....

“Trump won the election in 2016.” That was Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard last Tuesday, one of the few factual statements in the CNN “debate” that was more of an impeachment inquest and socialist shout-out. The studio audience cheered every leftist platitude and call for impeachment but Gabbard’s statement that Trump won the 2016 election brought only stunned silence. Tulsi Gabbard was saying, in effect, “Hillary Clinton lost the election in 2016,” a clear violation of the Democrat speech code and progressive eschatology. Progressives believe history is on their side, so if the progressive candidate loses it must be due...

President Trump is eager to have Congress ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which modernizes NAFTA. He has been complaining over Twitter about the Democrats neglecting it because they are focused so much on impeachment. Congressional Democrats have issues with it currently and want changes made, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says things are moving along. If they don’t agree to pass it, Trump has threatened to withdraw from NAFTA. But is the new agreement much of an improvement?NAFTA helped the three countries’ economies and made Mexico and Canada the U.S.’s two biggest trade partners. The USMCA would take things a step further....

“Elections do have consequences...”I know that the mouth breathers mixed amongst the White House press corps acted as though acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney committed some set of cardinal sins on Friday. Excuse me if I disagree.It was a stroke of pure genius on the administration’s part. And for the record they would do themselves a huge favor by continuing this practice for the duration of Pelosi’s faux impeachment.Since Pelosi and Schiff aren’t conducting a lawful impeachment nor observing the long held practices of past impeachments, there is absolutely zero rationale in participating in their charade. They want...