Free Republic

My father has been a pilot for all of my life of 50 years. He seems to latch on to ideas such as the flat earth theory that betrays everything that he was trained in aerial course plotting. True north? Magnetic North? Distant mountains rising from the horizon during the flight etc. He finally believes that the international space station exists after I insisted that he join me on a clear night to watch it go over. He seems to be obsessed with the notion that doom and destruction are always nearing. He's been like chicken little about gun control...

I am writing this partially because I really want to know where the Freeper community stands on a whole on the issue of government workers and partially because of my disgust for certain members of the Freeper community. There is a member on a another post who I won't mention (but who I'm sure will make his/her presence known here) who thinks that just because I work for the federal government that I should be forced from my job and unto the streets begging for money. This person apparently has a very low opinion of anyone who works for the...

We, the undersigned, will never vote for Donald Trump. We stand united to defend basic, common decency and Constitutional principles. And we will do our part to deny Donald Trump the Republican nomination and ensure that he never becomes Commander-in-Chief. Never means never. 36,829 people have signed their name to this pledge. We need to stand together and send a clear message that we reject Trump. Add your name now.

I would like to know if any FReepers can provide links to the following videoclips: 1) Very old Larry King TV Show interview in which the very young Donald Trump starts off by insulting Larry King about his bad breath; 2) The speech (?) in which Trump reportedly made an insinuation that Ben Carson is a child molester; 3) The part of the South Carolina TV debate in which Trump somehow blamed George W. Bush for 9-11; 4) The statement (speech/interview/Twitter post?) blaming Cruz for Obamacare by endorsing John Roberts candidacy on the SCOTUS. Some or maybe even all of...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told CNN’s Anderson Cooper he likes the mandate established by President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act that everyone must have insurance or pay a fine. Cooper asked Trump during a town hall forum on Thursday night “If Obamacare is repealed and there’s no mandate for everybody to have insurance, what’s to — why would [an] insurance company … insure somebody who has a pre-existing condition?” Completing this poll entitles you to Daily Caller news updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use....

Recently, Tom Scholl, who identified himself as a pastor of churches in Ohio and New York, as well as holding positions in several ecumenical organizations, wrote a 3-part article for my local newspaper, The Macon Telegraph, entitled -What the Koran says about Christianity.- I thought it would be an interesting series to read, but I was greatly disappointed and not a little irked. It could have been an apologia about the goodness of Islam, using selective passages from The Koran and being charitable to some elements of Christianity. But his apologia went further than the usual arguments and Koranic exhortations...

When you were a rowdy teen, your parents were the Establishment. Now that you're a parent, what are you? The anti-establishment, cool parent? Not likely. Rather, you're a grownup who tries to keep the peace in your discordant household; who tries to negotiate among self-interested, imperfect family members who have competing goods and goals; and who tries to instill a long-range vision for the future in your desire-ridden family who wants instant self-gratification. Welcome to the Establishment. You're a bona fide member now. Here's a defense of the amorphous, notional Establishment, as I see it, if it even exists in...

The review reflects mounting concerns in Washington over Moscow’s determination to exploit European disunity in order to undermine Nato, block US missile defence programmes and revoke the punitive economic sanctions regime imposed after the annexation of Crimea. The US move came as senior British government officials told The Telegraph of growing fears that “a new cold war” was now unfolding in Europe, with Russian meddling taking on a breadth, range and depth far greater than previously thought. “It really is a new Cold War out there,” the source said, “Right across the EU we are seeing alarming evidence of Russian...

The United States comes up constantly when you talk to Russians about their country's place in the world. But the conversations tend to go a lot differently than many Americans might expect. In the US, the common view is that Russians feel aggrieved by the loss of the Soviet Union and all the respect that came with being a global superpower. Russia's acts of aggression in Europe, in this telling, are all about challenging the American-led order as a way to prove Russia's might and importance. This aggression is wildly popular among Russians, many Americans believe, because it makes them...

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia's defence ministry on Saturday accused the United States of turning a blind eye to the trafficking of oil into Turkey from Syrian areas under Islamic State control, after Washington called the amounts involved insignificant. "When US officials say they don't see how the terrorists' oil is smuggled to Turkey... it smells badly of a desire to cover up these acts," the ministry said on its Facebook page. "The declarations of the Pentagon and the State Department seem like a theatre of the absurd," the statement added, suggesting that Washington "watch the videos taken by its (own)...

I've always liked Ted Cruz, he is the Republican who I agree with most on the issues.  He's free market, pro-life and for a measured foreign policy (less aggressive than Marco Rubio but more aggressive than Rand Paul).  Most importantly, he would stick to his ideals despite pressure from the establishment.  He may have made some tactical errors because of that but I couldn't help but admire him for his idealism.  He has been the candidate that I would have voted for if I didn't care at all about electability.  Unfortunately, his interview last night with Megyn Kelly unmasked him...

A Dangerous Game is a follow up documentary to 2011’s You’ve Been Trumped directed by Anthony Baxter. Once again, the documentary takes aim at “arrogant, ill-informed billionaires” who want to build golf courses on some of Earth’s most precious locations, no matter the environmental cost. “Whenever you see large scale environmental injury, you’ll also see the subversion of democracy. The two things go hand in hand. They always do.” — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Just when you thought there was no way Donald Trump could look any dumber, A Dangerous Game shows a rich mad man who bullies people to...

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul lashed out at Donald Trump during a campaign event Saturday in South Carolina, arguing conservatives can’t trust the New York businessman because he has “been on both sides of every issue.” “My goodness,” Paul said in Goose Creek to the Berkeley County GOP. “He’s been on both sides of every issue. Where is our sense? Where is our common sense?” Added the Kentucky senator: “This is a guy who has been pro-choice before he was pro-life. This is a guy who was liberal before he was conservative. This is a guy who was a Democrat...

A group of Russian hackers called Cyber Berkut have released a video showing a staged ISIS beheading, hacked from an electronic device from one of the staff of U.S. Senator John McCain. The fake ISIS execution appears to take place inside a film studio and shows a ‘prisoner’ (played by an actor) going through the motions of being ‘executed’ in front of several video cameras. Another actor is dressed as an ISIS executioner who puts a knife to the throat of the prisoner and goes through the motions of cutting him.Recall that since August 2014, the terrorists of the Islamic...

The U.S. is fortunate that Russia is not intent on undermining our interests, which makes it a little odd that so many American hawks insist that this is so and sometimes seem eager to make it so. Consider Syria. Syria hawks see Russian opposition to Western and Arab intervention in the country as proof of Russian antagonism to America, but Russia is at most half-heartedly defending the status quo and continuing its formal policy of objecting to outside interference in other states’ internal affairs. It has committed itself to nothing except occasionally vetoing a resolution at the U.N., and if...

Stockholm (AFP) - Sales by Russian arms manufacturers continue to expand thanks to Moscow's investments despite a downturn in global defence spending, a Stockholm-based think-tank said Monday. "The remarkable increases in Russian companies' arms sales in both 2012 and 2013 are in large part due to uninterrupted investments in military procurement by the Russian government during the 2000s," said Siemon Wezeman, senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Sales by Russian-based arms firms grew by 20 percent in 2013, according to SIPRI. However, figures for the 100 biggest arms-dealing nations excluding China declined for the third year...

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Cyprus' president on Monday sharply rebuked the U.S. ambassador on the Mediterranean island for a tweet he claims linked his visit to Russia to the assassination of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades concluded a four-day visit to Russia on Feb. 28, hours after Nemtsov was killed. U.S. Ambassador John Koenig asked on Twitter: "What do people in #Cyprus think about the week in Russia as seen from here? Anastasiades visit and statements, #Nemtsov assassination?"

Latvia's security is at risk from Russian-funded advocacy groups waging "information war" that suggests the Baltic state is persecuting its Russian minority, its interior minister said in an interview. Latvia and neighboring Estonia and Lithuania, all part of the Soviet Union until 1991, are wary about their newly assertive giant neighbor Russia, which has long complained the rights of ethnic Russians are being undermined in the Baltics

The Vatican Conspiracy now happening shows the true nature of what and how people in this church are treated. A second shroud has been discovered in the Veronica Veil held at St Peters and they are refusing to tell their people and the world.

#KilledByCops is an interactive map that chronicles and visualizes a humanizing, detailed, but far-from-complete perspective on the massive scale of police killings nationwide. And since fewer than 5% of law enforcement agencies in the country currently provide information on police killings, a comprehensive data collection of and a national conversation about police homicides in the United States is desperately needed.