Free Republic

It’s been a half-century since airlines started hiring women and people of color to fly passenger planes, allowing a handful of pioneering pilots into the flight deck. In the decades since, commercial aviation has grown exponentially, democratizing travel and rewiring how Americans live, work and play. But one part of the industry has remained mostly the same. Piloting is stubbornly monolithic: About 95 percent of airline pilots in the U.S. today are male. Nearly as many are white. Zakiya Percy is one of a small and growing number of people trying to change that. Ms. Percy, 29, used to dream...

Britain's Prince Charles has blamed climate change in part for the Syrian war and warned that global warming could exacerbate similar conflicts worldwide. Charles's comments — in an interview broadcast Monday — came exactly one week before the start of a United Nations climate change conference in Paris, where he plans to deliver a keynote address. Unless world leaders take action to slow the impact of climate change, "it’s going to get so much worse," Charles warned in the interview with Sky News, which was recorded before the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. "Some of us were saying 20...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Video: Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has concluded that the state's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional and he will no longer defend it in federal lawsuits.Public opinion on same-sex marriage has shifted so dramatically in recent years that Democratic groups now see the issue as a critical way to mobilize voters in a slew of races up and down the ballot. Just a decade ago, widespread opposition to gay marriage did just the opposite, allowing Karl Rove to mobilize conservatives in 13 states and help reelect George W. Bush as president. The changing political dynamics were on full display...

The Washington Post has produced six massively detailed maps showing the religious make-up of America. The main map is above – if you want to enlarge it you'll have to click through to the Post's report here. The author/analyst, Niraj Chokshi, has uncovered some fascinating material – most of it lurking in the 2010 US Religion Census (data submitted by congregations, not the official US Census) but so much more surprising set out in map form. And here's an example. Did you know there are – possibly – now more religious Muslims than religious Jews in Florida? I know, it...