Free Republic

We Americans are currently in a civilizational state historians William Strauss and Neil Howe would call the "Third Turning": an unraveling. The so-called Left is making it happen, too, with conservatives enabling it by conserving yesterday's liberalism and being those nice guys who finish last. In Marxist circles, this stage would be called "destabilization" — the second of a four-part process to subvert a society and seize control. The first, third, and fourth stages are, respectively, "demoralization," "crisis," and "normalization." The demoralization stage, which essentially is the undermining of a target nation's morality (the process of radically changing the population's...

In a recent column of mine, I commented, "Joe McCarthy wasn't wrong, just early." I was being flippant. I was trying to make light of the Democratic Party's turn toward radical, extreme, Marxist, anti-American rhetoric. I had no idea how right I really was. I'm not being flippant anymore. Joe McCarthy would've had a field day with today's Democratic politicians. He'd be a hero for defending America from evil, radical Marxist politicians posing as "Democrats." We'd be giving him ticker-tape parades. The House Un-American Activities Committee served as a model for McCarthy in the Senate. Let me ask you bluntly:...

The conversation has become predictable. A friendly acquaintance — a neighbor, a fellow parent, our real estate agent — asks about my work. I say I’ve been writing a book about the pope, and the acquaintance smiles and nods and says “Isn’t he so wonderful?” or, “That must be an inspiring thing,” or, “I have a friend who would love to read it.” And then eventually I find myself saying, uncomfortably, “Well, they should know that it’s not entirely favorable.”

...While French law does not include a fixed age of consent, it does recognize sexual minors. A sexual minor can still legally be considered able to give their consent—in this case, their perpetrator would be charged with sexual infraction, not rape. In the 19th century, the age at which children were considered sexual minors was 11; later, it was raised to 13, and since 1945, it has been 15. Meanwhile, the issue of consent—or the failure to establish a clear age of consent—festered. In 2005, spurred on by a case involving the sexual abuse of three children under the age...

LONDON — Britain is no longer a Christian country and should stop acting as if it is, a top-level inquiry into the place of religion in society has concluded, provoking a backlash from politicians and the Church of England. A two-year commission, chaired by the former senior judge Baroness Butler-Sloss and involving leading religious leaders of all faiths, calls for public life to be systematically de-Christianized. It says the decline of church-going and the rise of Islam and other beliefs mean a “new settlement” is needed for religion in the U.K., giving more official influence to non-religious voices and those...

Less than half (46%) of U.S. kids younger than 18 years of age are living in a home with two married heterosexual parents in their first marriage. This is a marked change from 1960, when 73% of children fit this description, and 1980, when 61% did, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of recently-released American Community Survey (ACS) and Decennial Census data. Rapid changes in American family structure have altered the image of who’s gathering for the holidays. While the old “ideal” involved couples marrying young, then starting a family, and staying married till “death do they part”, the...

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, there has been much debate among economists and policy makers on how best to prevent systemic collapses. Yet there is little data to go on: these are unprecedented times of sustained unemployment, fiscal stimulus, and price-earnings ratios. Perhaps, as Alan Greenspan recently suggested, we need to look to anthropology to see the really long-term trends. With this in mind, I interviewed one of the world’s leading archaeologists, Arthur Demarest, who studies the collapse of ancient civilizations, from Greece and Rome to the Maya and Aztecs. Demarest, the Ingram Professor of Anthropology at...

There could be an unlikely contributor to the decline of marriage in this country. And it's free pornography on the Internet. A team of researchers, who published their findings in The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany, determined that the rise of free Internet pornography is not only correlated with a pronounced decline in percentage of young adult males who are married, but might actually be contributing to the trend. "The results in this paper suggest that such an association exists, and that it is potentially quite large," the study notes. The researchers used data from the...

The Obama administration is now trying to outlaw single-sex classrooms, a practice that has been growing as parents and teachers see its good results. The Obama administration is discouraging that option in conformity with demands by the feminists who believe in the interchangeability of the genders and insist that schools forbid any deviation from their peculiar belief that there is no difference between male and female. The Minnesota State High School League, which controls policy for all extracurricular activities in all schools, public and private, voted 18 to 1 to outlaw recognition of all sex differences in high-school sports. The...

Exclusive: Matt Barber warns, 'The courts are tossing around spiritual nitroglycerin' It’s called Pandora’s Box. And the Supreme Court just opened it. Did you actually think the debate over “gay marriage” was about marriage? Have you really come to believe that this cultural kerfuffle has anything to do with “civil rights” or “equality”? Have you bought into the popular premise that this is a legitimate discussion on federalism – that it’s a reasonable disagreement over whether the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause requires that newfangled “gay marriage,” something rooted in same-sex sodomy, a deviant and disease-prone behavior our Constitution’s framers...

For too long we have been lied to about the sexual revolution. But now the mask is coming off, and the younger generations are recognizing that they have been sold a pack of lies. It’s sobering and frustrating to consider that each and every time social conservatives raised the cultural alarm throughout the last five decades, pointing out that each new manifestation of the Sexual Revolution would lead to devastating consequences, they were written off with derisive laughter. They were accused of “provoking a moral panic,” or being “stuck in the past” or “too prudish.” The “slippery-slope” arguments of...

I warmly recommend to the readership a column by Francis Card. George, Archbishop of Chicago. His Eminence knocks this one over the fence.We enter in medias res. You can find the whole thing HERE: [...]In recent years, society has brought social and legislative approval to all types of sexual relationships that used to be considered “sinful.” Since the biblical vision of what it means to be human tells us that not every friendship or love can be expressed in sexual relations, the church’s teaching on these issues is now evidence of intolerance for what the civil law upholds and even...

“When women go wrong men go right after them.” – Mae West “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” Winston Churchill wrote this over a century ago. During my junior year in high school, the nuns asked about our plans for after we graduated. When I said I was going to attend State University, I noticed their disappointment. I asked my favorite nun, “Why?” She answered, “That means you’ll leave four years later a communist and an atheist!” What a giggle we girls...

"'Life' in this 'society' being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of 'society' being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex." - Valerie Solanas.Professor Breanne Fahs is a revolutionary. She teaches Women's and Gender Studies at Arizona State University. Recently, she decided to give extra credit to her female students for "defying social norms" by refusing to shave their armpits. In the name of equality, she also gave her male students an opportunity to earn...

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) -- There are atheists and liberals, some who are both, who believe there is no need for God in order for morality to be maintained in a society. They argue that people can act morally apart from a supreme authority. I agree that people can act morally apart from God's standard. However, the real question is why should they? If there is no supreme authority -- no God -- then why behave morally? If there is no God, there are no objective standards for moral behavior. The logical progression leads to anarchy. Everyone does what is right...

Psychedelic mushrooms can do more than make you see the world in kaleidoscope. Research suggests they may have permanent, positive effects on the human brain. In fact, a mind-altering compound found in some 200 species of mushroom is already being explored as a potential treatment for depression and anxiety. People who consume these mushrooms, after “trips” that can be a bit scary and unpleasant, report feeling more optimistic, less self-centered, and even happier for months after the fact. But why do these trips change the way people see the world? According to a study published today in Human Brain Mapping,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is re-establishing a law enforcement group to fight those it designates as domestic terrorists, with an announcement expected on Tuesday, Department of Justice officials said. Following hate-motivated shootings such as the one at a Jewish Community Center in Kansas City, Missouri in April, federal prosecutors have pressed the need to coordinate intelligence of such criminals on a national level, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The group will coordinate cases that involve Americans who may be spurred to violence for political or prejudicial reasons.

Storme DeLarverie, a lesbian activist who took part in the New York Stonewall riots in 1969 that started the gay rights movement in the United States, has died. She was 93. DeLarverie died Saturday at a Brooklyn nursing home, said Lisa Cannistraci, a longtime friend and one of her legal guardians. …

U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL) misstated basic facts while praising communism in an online video conference this week. Garcia, who represents southernmost Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives, told video conference participants, “We’ve proved that communism works. If you give everybody a good government job, there’s no crime.” Garcia made his comments while discussing immigration, border security agents, and crime rates in El Paso, Texas. “Let me give you an example, the kind of money we’ve poured in,” said Garcia. “So the most dangerous — sorry, the safest city in America is El Paso, Texas. It happens to be...

The spitfire showdown between Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings and House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa last week underscored two prevalent themes woven through U.S. sociological fabric. First, black men and white men remain polarized, perhaps more than ever. Secondly, black men still feel a need to scream to be heard, and not just because the white guy controlling the panel’s microphone silenced his feed. This United States ship lists in troubled waters. Our most recent disengagement reverts to a national election that raised Barack Hussein Obama into the White House in spite of his inability to gain major support from...