Free Republic

The transgender movement claims that its members identify in some intangible way as being members of a different sex and that ‘feeling’ should override mere biology and science. But as is usually the case with the Left, the goalposts don’t stay there, they move dramatically. Attempts by Republicans and liberals to restrict the use of destructive forms of “gender-affirming care” from puberty blockers to radical surgery on minors have been met with hysteria and threats by everyone from Biden on down. 16-year-olds and then 12-year-olds, and then 8-year-olds, we are told, can meaningfully change gender and consent to drastic surgical...

President Obama's re-election team has already been lauded for its mastery of data and organziation, but a feature in today's The New York Times looks at another secret, and more subtle, weapon: Behavioral science. Reporter Benedict Carey talks to some of the members of the campaign's "COBS" team, an informal group of unpaid advisors who shared their knowledge on the latest academic research and theories on how to influence the public's knowledge behavior. Publicly, the group—which it gave itself the name of "consortium of behavioral scientists"—where just friendly volunteers offering advice. None of the social scientists and psychologists who took...

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not...

In an article in the Wall Street Journal, on October 5, 2001, Francis Fukuyama declared that his "end of history" thesis remains valid twelve years after he first presented it shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Fukuyama’s core argument was that after the defeat of Communism and National Socialism, no serious ideological competitor to Western-style liberal democracy was likely to emerge in the future. Thus, in terms of political philosophy, liberal democracy is the end of the evolutionary process. To be sure, there will be wars and terrorism, but no alternative ideology with a universal appeal...

DNC coordinated with activists to 'infiltrate' talk radio The Democratic party developed an elaborate, multi-year operation in the 1990s that deployed thousands of activists to covertly mold public opinion using talk radio, according to documents from the Clinton Presidential Library. The Democratic National Committee (DNC), with the blessing of the Clinton White House, launched the Talk Radio Initiative (TRI) ahead of the 1996 campaign. The program trained thousands of operatives to call in to radio shows, conduct surveillance of their contents, and secretly disseminate Democratic talking points while posing as ordinary listeners. "Volunteers must be able to keep the project...

New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet spoke candidly last weekend about how the media "did not quite understand the Trump phenomenon" during the 2016 election. In an interview conducted by the International News Media Association, Baquet was asked about a letter to readers that he and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. wrote days after the historic election of Donald Trump. "After such an erratic and unpredictable election there are inevitable questions: Did Donald Trump’s sheer unconventionality lead us and other news outlets to underestimate his support among American voters? What forces and strains in America drove this divisive election and...

Hip college students and grown folks alike are scratching their clover-laden heads wondering who got the idea to walk around with Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Secret Garden sprouting from their tresses. “I think this comes more from Western culture,” one student told the Times. “It’s fun, but I guess it’s also about protecting the environment, to show that you care about nature,” a peddler of the green headgear offered (which is interesting considering the country is one of the biggest polluters of out planet). But probably the best explanation came from a 24-year-old medical student, who best sums up how the...

George W. Bush-era energy policy wonks are finding a new home with Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor can count on support from a who’s who of former Bush officials willing to raise money, brainstorm policy ideas and generally help spread the word among the ranks of like-minded GOP energy experts. Already on board the Romney train are Jim Connaughton, who ran Bush’s White House Council on Environmental Quality for all eight years; former Assistant Energy Secretary Andy Karsner; former EPA air chief Jeff Holmstead; and former EPA congressional affairs liaison Edward Krenik. The former Bush officials all told POLITICO...

Why We Buy Into the Herd, Even When It's Not Good for Us By Michael S. Rosenwald Sunday, July 20, 2008; F01 After IndyMac Bancorp failed, customers waited in line for hours to collect their money. The police had to be called in to quell the mob. The scenes brought to mind dire moments from the Great Depression. This time, with satellite TV trucks parked outside the bank's branches, the world watched last week as our financial system took another body blow. On the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Web site, IndyMac customers were told: "If the balance in your account...

I herd it's really good and im a huge Bruce Willis fan.

Saddam thanks his supporters Pro-Saddam supporters came out in force recently marching in denunciation of America and “Coalition of the Willing.” Observers of protest viewed a sea of anti-American signs and heard chants spoken against President Bush with insinuations that he not Saddam is the true Hitler. In fervent herd mentality, his supporters swarmed cities through out the world in praise of keeping Saddam right where he is. With the completion of the rallies, it must have been sweet music to their ears as they heard Saddam speak in praise of them, his “comrades in arms.” And to Hollywood, they...