Free Republic

History shows totalitarian regimes fall when brave people rise up. As the future of Hong Kong, time is on the side of Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam.Three prominent leaders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement were sentenced to prison this week for leading a protest last year. Joshua Wong received 13 and a half months; Agnes Chow, 10 months; and Ivan Lam, seven months. Wong has already been in prison a few times as the result of his activism.They are young. Lam is 26. Wong is 24. Chow turned 24 this past Dec. 3, the day after she received...

HONG KONG—For months now, I’ve been told that Hong Kong’s protests would end soon. They’ll end when school starts, I heard during the summer. School did start, but the protests wore on, only now I saw high-school students in crisp school uniforms joining the protesters’ ranks. Next, the mask ban of early October was supposed to slow protesters down, but the very first day after that ban, I watched streams of protesters in masks and helmets make their way to their usual haunts on Hong Kong Island. The government shut down many of the subway lines that day, a practice...

With certain exceptions, people who pay no taxes, and people who receive cash or equivalents from the government, should not be allowed to vote Most people recognize the expression “skin in the game” and accept that it means those persons who have something of value at risk have purchased a specific privilege or right deemed worthy of the gamble. Those without “skin in the game”, non-players in effect, are not entitled to the same privilege or right. If you have ever played poker with your buddies you know you are not entitled to be dealt a hand and perhaps rake...

The Democratic National Convention has descended in to chaos today both inside and outside the Time Warner arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.Following the debacle earlier today of the ramming through over the loud objections of delegates of pro-God, pro-Israel language to the platform, fire marshalls have locked down the arena leaving a reported thousands of credentialed delegates and reporters stranded outside.Reporters on Twitter are sending out on scene reports and photographs with commentary such as "mayhem", "fail" and "farce"."Democratic convention descending into farce. After "booing God" debacle, delegates, and media locked out of the convention by fire marshals" , Nico...

Lieutenant-Colonel Guille described life on the island as idyllic, adding: “It’s a very quiet and peaceful place, we are a self-sufficient, close-knit little community and we just like to get on with life away from the public eye.” He said he believed that the island’s original settlers in the 16th century would be “quite pleased” with the changes. All of Sark’s original 40 colonising families were able to vote in the island’s elections. Lieutenant-Colonel Guille added: “That was an extremely democratic thing to do and very democratic for that age.” A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: “We can...