Free Republic

PERHAPS it's an offshoot of social media culture, but too many people seem to think decibel level and extremism substitute for facts and logic. We recently criticized some vaccine opponents who attacked a state senator by comparing him to Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot and Kim Jong Un. Such tactics are disturbing enough when made anonymously and at a distance. It's far worse when an elected official embraces the same ploy in public. During a recent committee debate on legislation to provide education savings accounts to low-income children, Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee, declared it the “Dr. Josef...

New York (CNN)A former reporter who was fired for fabricating sources was arrested Friday and accused of making some of the bomb threats against Jewish institutions that have so rattled Jews recently.... ...Juan Thompson, 31, was charged with one count of cyber-stalking for making at least eight threats as part of an attempt to intimidate a particular person after their romantic relationship ended, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleges Thompson had emailed and phoned in threats to the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish institutions. Some of those threats mentioned a...

It was an altogether fitting, albeit pathetic, picture. Shortly before Donald Trump delivered the greatest speech of his life, a speech some pundits called historic in its own right, Rosie O'Donnell “addressed a rain-soaked crowd outside the White House . . . during the ‘Resistance Address,’ an event countering President Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress later that evening. She criticized Trump on his foreign policy, stance towards race, and women's rights, while urging the 100 or so gathered to resist Trump (and the weather) through the night” (my emphasis).And so, as Trump spoke to tens of...

Sometimes a speech is just a speech. And sometimes it heralds the prospect of a great national revival. Donald Trump gave the best speech of his short political life last night, and it had nothing to do with grand oratory. He was thoroughly presidential, speaking plainly and yet masterfully in projecting an optimistic vision of the America he aims to build. It is a vision so optimistic and encompassing that even steaming Democrats had to join boisterous Republicans in the applause at times. Anything you could possibly want, he served it up in a feast of ideas and promises. Trump...

The invite list by Democrat members of Congress reads like yet another staged protest like so many in recent years that resulted in costly mayhem and damage. This time, though, it won’t be a protest on city streets, but rather within the halls of Congress itself as President Donald Trump takes center stage to lay out his year one agenda for the nation to the legislators responsible for turning that agenda into law. Both Democrats and the Establishment Media see it as yet another opportunity to try and challenge and embarrass the president. The anti-president mood will be unprecedented. Remarkable...

Mary Carson picks up her leopard-print tote bag and tugs on her leopard-print scarf. “I’m just going to do a little bit of business,” the 77-year-old says as she walks into Neiman Marcus at the Tysons Galleria in Northern Virginia and asks for the manager. He appears in a pinstripe suit and shakes her hand. “I’m very disappointed in what’s happened with the Trump line,” she tells him. “I hate to do this — I’m not a real activist — but I learned a long, long time ago that you cannot mix business and politics.” The manager listens patiently. Carson,...

RUSH: Well, now, I’ve had some people email me about it — and, I mean, it never occurred to me. (interruption) You think I should? (interruption) Well, okay. Maybe. I’ll think about it. … I have some people emailing me since last night that I ought to play parts of my CPAC speech from back in 2009 when Obama took office. It never even occurred to me. That’s eight years ago. Anyway, greetings. It’s great to have you with us, folks. It’s Open Line Friday. Rush Limbaugh here, ready and revved up to go. I’m eager to speak with you...

he current controversy over the immigration policies of President Donald Trump prompted me to engage in some rather deep thinking and introspection vis-à-vis the issue of immigration. In context, of course, this means illegal immigration and border control and the effects thereof in recent decades, which obviously played a significant part in Mr. Trump’s election. When I was a young man, I actually thought I might be something of a racist, and quite honestly, I didn’t have a problem with that. Leaving aside certain popular fallacious definitions of racism (such as the notion that nonwhites can’t effectively be racists since...

Universities are the cradle of free speech, where ideologies and ideas clash, where academics and activists can agree, disagree, or be disagreeable. This is particularly true in the United States, where the First Amendment zealously guards against government surveillance and intrusion into free speech. Yet at hundreds of campuses across the country, administrators encourage students to report one another, or their professors, for speech protected by the First Amendment, or even mere political disagreements. The so-called "Bias Response Teams" reviewing these (often anonymous) reports typically include police officers, student conduct administrators and public relations staff who scrutinize the speech of...

When Trump won the last election by running circles around the media-political complex, fifty million liberals went stark raving mad, and they haven't come down yet. You always pay a price for living in a world of lies. ​Germany's ​Angela Merkel, a bona fide leftocrat, tells us that Muslim hate propaganda and violence have nothing to do with Islam. Apparently she hasn't read the Qur'an lately, or she believes that the Crusades (which ended in the 12th century) show how violent Christianity really is. But being stuck in ​self-delusion won't solve the threat of jihad, and Mutti Merkel is now...

America seems to be in big trouble. Not only are there demonstrations that at times turn violent and destructive, differences are impacting families and friendships that previously have weathered many divisive elections. It may not yet be a red vs blue civil war, but anger is real. Disagreement has given way to distance and heated dissension. Daniel J. Boorstin, the University of Chicago American historian, wrote: “Disagreement produces debate but dissent produces dissension. Dissent (which come from the Latin, ‘dis’ and ‘sentire’) means originally to ‘feel apart from others.’ People who disagree have an argument, but people who dissent have...

Psychological decompensation refers to the loss of mental stability and self-control due to the failure of overtaxed coping mechanisms to handle stress. The term decompensation is typically applied to breakdowns in individuals who are psychologically fragile in the first place. For minds burdened with a fallacious self-image, unrealistic life expectations, or a distorted view of reality, heightened stress overwhelms the already brittle ego defenses, and raw psychic pain and rage flows unrestrained. The election of President Trump has triggered a rage decompensation across the left wing, causing disgusting, dehumanizing, and violent expression to break out. The categories of left-wing caterwauling...

If you happen to be in Washington DC, New York City or a few other major metropolitan areas today you may find some of your favorite restaurants and watering holes closed. No, it’s not a national holiday that you forgot about which is causing either the doors to be closed or the facilities to be on reduced service schedules. Activists who oppose the president have started yet another online “movement” in an attempt to disrupt normal services. In a highly dishonest and misleading campaign, they have declared today to be “a day without immigrants.” (New York Times) In a...

Leftist “feminists” have a bad identity problem. They don’t care about the women who are most oppressed, abused and subjugated by men under the strictures of Sharia, or about those Western women who have been abused by Muslim migrant men because they were uncovered infidels. But now a big question arises: how is it that the “first feminist government” of Sweden didn’t mind relinquishing their right to simply choose how to dress when they visited Iran? They  capitulated to Sharia, knowing full well that they had no choice but to surrender in Iran or else face whatever consequences may have...

Whatever or whoever prompted Trump to authorize jettisoning Flynn was a HUGE mistake...now the leftists will use this situation to prove how Trump is not fit to be President. The decision was foolishly meant to curb criticism, but unfortunately the decision only gave the left more ammunition to prove that Trump is not a good leader, either he makes bad choices in hiring or weak in that he listened to bad advice. Either way, he has opened the floodgates of wrath. Bad advice to oust Flynn...he should have given all his critics the middle finger and told the press that...

Today, February 14, is Valentine’s Day, the sacred day that intimate companions mark to celebrate their love and affection for one another. If you’re thinking about making a study of how couples celebrate this day, the Muslim world and the milieus of the radical Left are not the places you should be spending your time. Indeed, it’s pretty hard to outdo Islamists and “progressives” when it comes to the hatred of Valentine’s Day. And this hatred is precisely the territory on which the contemporary romance between the Left and Islamic Supremacism is formed. The train is never late: every year...

Meetup is committed to bringing members together to form community and take action. Since the recent United States election, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in Meetup members pursuing and creating opportunities for civic engagement on our platform. We decided that we wanted to do more to support these efforts so we created a network of 1,000 #Resist Meetup groups with a few special characteristics. #Resist is a free extension of the Meetup platform that allows members to get involved in local civic action. Every member of a #Resist Meetup group can schedule and host Meetup events and has access to...

The Left is getting massively out-Alinskyed, and the hilarious thing is that this band of withered hippies, unemployable millennial safe-space cases, and unlovable + unshaven libfeminists don’t even know it. Oh, their masters sure know it. Soros is bitterly having to ramp up his infusions of blood money to keep his community-organized “grassroots” movements afloat. The less dumb ones among the lying dinosaur media are panicking as their influence fades, and Chuck Schumer is enduring such a non-stop parade of serial humiliations that if the Senate were a penitentiary, he’d be McConnell’s prison Mitch. The Leftist mafia godmaleidentifyingparents pulling...

Something new is happening before our eyes. Radicals are completing a takeover of the Democratic Party. Sure, there’s been a lot of mockery among conservatives about hyperventilating Democrats. Pundits point out the obvious: that Democrats screaming that Trump is illegitimate deliver no positive message for working class voters who want jobs and that mobs in black masks are not appealing. Such analyses fall short. After 8 years of exploiting and enflaming the grievances of identity politics, the Democratic Party is being eaten by the monster they rode to power. Radicals don’t need to be a majority – they never are....

I just got a funny email about the difference between Republicans and Democrats, purportedly by Jeff Foxworthy.  It's been around for a while and isn't likely Foxworthy's doing, but it's really quite cute, as it captures the essence that distinguishes the two. Here's a sample: If a Republican doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.If a Democrat doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.If a Republican is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.If a Democrat is homosexual,...