Free Republic

The Dec. 6 Forum editorial, “U.S. gun violence is a plague,” relies on a premise that is fundamentally false. The editorial make multiple claims that are contrary to FBI crime data. These are not differences of opinion, or complicated issues where reasonable people can have a respectful disagreement. No, the editorial makes claims of a statistical nature that are simply not supported by evidence. (Notably, the editorial offers no citations for any of its claims.) To wit, the editorial claims the following: “That gun violence is escalating.” “The record shows that current laws and attitudes about gun ownership have not...

If you don’t believe in climate change, you’re less likely to feel that the weather is getting warmer—and vice versa. That’s according to a study that analyzed how people remembered a particularly warm winter in the US in 2012. And they found those who believed in climate change remembered it being warmer, while those who didn’t thought it was colder. The research, published in Nature Climate Change, was carried out by three US sociologists—Dr. Aaron McCright of Michigan State University, Dr. Riley Dunlap of Oklahoma State, and Dr. Chenyang Xiao of American University. …

The idea of wealth redistribution is often described as 'taxing the rich to give to the poor'. This act of theft almost seems noble when described in such nostalgic terms. However, anyone who has argued against the untouchable liberal tenet of wealth redistribution has undeniably drawn the wrath of the self-described, 'tolerant' left. If a dissenter dares to describe the practice as 'robbing the laborers to give to the loafers', or 'stealing from the successful to give to the irresponsible', that person has opened his/herself up to personal attacks of greed and insensitivity. To question wealth redistribution is to question...

After the three-week military campaign that dispatched the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration may be tempted to unleash American forces against the next fire-snorting dragon down the line, whether in Syria, Iran or North Korea. While President Bush has every right to be pleased by the victory in Iraq, he should not confuse the military achievement for a validation of his doctrine of pre-emptive strikes. We did not like the combative doctrine when it was formally unveiled last September because it seemed to walk away from America's historical inclination to work with other nations to preserve the peace...

I am having a discussion with a liberal fellow on another site and challenged him to name 10 clearly distinct differences between the message of the current democratic party and the early days of such historical figures as Stalin, Lenin, Hitler and Mao.