Free Republic

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll released on Wednesday reveals something that an exasperated portion of the country likely feels is overdue: The majority of Americans -- 54 percent -- wish that Sarah Palin would step back into the shadows of public discourse. As we noted, that includes over 60 percent of Democrats and almost 40 percent of Republicans. Meaning that Sarah Palin must constrain her possible media audience to only 46 percent of the population of the United States, and a little over half of her party. Somehow, we doubt she'll starve. Palin has been remarkably adept at parlaying...

...The nation’s intellectual elites made a big vanity purchase in 2008 and the damage from that purchase cannot wholly be undone. Peggy Noonan herself endorsed Barack Obama in 2008. She then wrote glowingly of him: "He climbed steep stairs, born off the continent with no father to guide, a dreamy, abandoning mother, mixed race, no connections. He rose with guts and gifts. He is steady, calm...." That collective purchase is going to leave a mark....History is funny in that way. It doesn’t let one off the hook. Kids a hundred years hence are going to learn that this generation screwed...

On this episode of The Conservative Beacon Podcast, Josh Price is joined by Robert J. Norrell, author of Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington, to discuss the inspiring life story of Booker T. Washington and its lessons for pursuing the American Dream. Head over to TheConservativeBeacon.com to listen.

Veteran journalist and author, James Howard Kunstler, is worried about the violence heating up in the Middle East–especially Saudi Arabia. Kunstler says, “Saudi Arabia is between a rock and a hard place, or should I say Iraq and a hard place. Both sides that are now contending in Iraq, the Shiite and the Islamic State or caliphate, are both not friendly with Saudi Arabia. When we talk about Saudi Arabia, we have to make a distinction. We are really talking about the Saud Family and their Kingdom and their gripe on the Kingdom. . . . Now, they are stuck...

Prologue: Biography Plutarch, (born c. 46 ad, Boeotia [Greece]—died c. 120), biographer, historian, essayist and moralist whose works strongly influenced the development of the essay, the biography, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century. Plutarch has been called as one of the most important writers who ever lived. Among his roughly 227 works, the most significant are the Parallel Lives (Bioi parall?loi), in which he chronicles the noble acts and characters of Greek and Roman soldiers, legislators, orators, and statesmen, and the Moralia, or Ethica, a sequence of over 60 essays on ethical, religious, physical,...

Original Title:New Book: Oprah Calls Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett “Tiresome”, Says They Are “Walking Agendas” Who Always Want Something Ed Klein’s new book is giving Americans lots of juicy information about what life with the Royal Family — excuse me, First Family — is like. One of the juicy tidbits is that Oprah, the person that leaves Democrats clamoring for her backing, can’t stand Michelle Obama. ADVERTISEMENT Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World - Cocktails and Dinner The lovey-dovey public relationship between Oprah Winfrey and the President and Michelle Obama is a mirage, according to a new...

Adventures with Inspector Lestrade:: By: Larry Walker II ::US officials announced Tuesday that a joint Special Forces and FBI operation successfully nabbed Libyan national Ahmed Abu Khattala, the man suspected as the ringleader for the 2012 attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.” The piece I read was titled, “9/11 Benghazi Attack 'Mastermind' Who Hid in Plain Sight for Years Captured By US Forces.” That's all well and good, however, I believe a conviction in this case is about as likely as one against John McFarlane in the case of the Norwood Builder.Back on October 18, 2012, a month...

As she exited her Hard Choices book event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was approached by conservative activist Jason Mattera, who asked her to sign a copy of the book out to one of the four Americans who perished in the 2012 Benghazi attack. “If you could make it out to Christopher Stevens,” Mattera asked, referring to the U.S. Ambassador to Libya who was a victim of the terrorist siege. “I think you knew him.” After a brief pause, Clinton responded, “Yeah, I’m not going to make it out to Chris Stevens.” “What difference does...

I. INTRODUCTIONGod forgive me, but I used to be so anti-gun that I donated to The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence. I know. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Since that time, IÂ’ve done a complete 180 and become a fervent gun supporter and a proud member of the NRA.This change did not come about because I suddenly became a psychopathic killer, with guns as my weapon of choice. I do kill (spiders, fleas, and ticks) and I do eat dead bodies (cows, pigs, chicken, and fish), but IÂ’m scarcely Hannibal Lecter.Instead, my reversal on guns came about...

s it possible to really win the war on terror? Are there really reasons for Jihad that can be understood and countered by the West? Is military or martial action the last-best chance for ending the threat posed by Islam? In his new and controversial book, Babylon’s Covert War, author J H White answers these and other complex questions related to the global fight against radical Jihad. Islam has a strategy that was incorporated by Muhammad in the 7th Century that has continued in various forms over a multitude of battlefields be they military, social, or political. During the emergence...

Bill Watterson is the Bigfoot of cartooning. He is legendary. He is reclusive. And like Bigfoot, there is really only one photo of him in existence. Few in the cartooning world have ever spoken to him. Even fewer have ever met him. In fact, legend has it that when Steven Spielberg called to see if he wanted to make a movie, Bill wouldn’t even take the call. So it was with little hope of success that I set out to try and meet him last April. I was traveling through Cleveland on a book tour, and I knew that he...

With her memoir, Hard Choices set to be released in the coming weeks, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her publishing company have provided an excerpt in which she claims President Obama’s actions during the Bin Laden raid were “as crisp and courageous a display of leadership” that she had ever seen. Here are 7 reasons that Obama’s leadership during the raid was neither crisp or courageous. 1) Obama Canceled the Mission to Kill Bin Laden Three Times Clinton writes about one of the strongest examples of decision-making under pressure: “Perhaps the most famous example from my four years...

The critic of his time must accept the risk of being accused of negativism, but he can console himself with the knowledge that serious criticism has its source in a definite position with its own standards, values and objectives. By the 1950′s, with the work of such men as Albert J. Nock, T. S. Eliot, Richard Weaver and Eliseo Vivas, among many others, the criticism of liberalism had grown into a substantial literature; what was lacking was a point of view, or attitude, movement together and give it coherence and identity. It was the great achievement, one can say historic...

Man Behind Guns & Ammo Mag, Sportsman Channel is Democrat Fundraiser Published on Tuesday, May 20, 2014 Tags:AWR Hawkins|Guns & Ammo Magazine|Hypocrites|Sportsman Channel By AWR Hawkins Leo Hindery Jr: the Man Behind Guns & Ammo Mag, Sportsman Channel is Democrat Fundraiser AmmoLand Gun News Washington DC - -(Ammoland.com)- Leo Hindery Jr. is a Democrat-fundraiser and donor whose private equity firm owns InterMedia Outdoors, which publishes Guns & Ammo magazine and the Sportsman Channel. His equity firm also publishes Rifle Shooter, Shooting Times, and Handguns. According to Politico, Hindery “personally contributed more than $1 million to the Democratic National Committee Campaign...

Before I started reading Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It, I wasn't sure what to expect. I am a regular reader of Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog, Conversion Diary, so I knew the author was an excellent writer with six children and an intense fear of scorpions. I also knew she had made the journey from atheism to Catholicism. As Jennifer raised questions about Christianity and then Catholicism, sometimes I found myself arguing with her. Other times I realized she was asking a question I couldn’t easily answer myself. Why does God answer some people’s...

GENDER: Masculine USAGE: English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Biblical From the Latin Iacobus. In the Old Testament, Jacob (later called Israel) is the son of Isaac and Rebecca and the father of the twelve founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. He was born holding his twin brother Esau's heel, and his name is explained as meaning "holder of the heel" or "supplanter". Other theories claim it means "may God protect". [Paraphrased] ... Snip ...

I was so naive when I went to Cal. I didn’t realize that, in my history and English classes, the material we read was either created in the first instance by Marxists or, if it predated Marxists, was first run through a Marxist analytical filter either before or immediately after we read it. All I knew was that I thought the material was nonsensical and, because of their adulatory prosing about it, that my professors were idiots. It says a lot about the quality of education at Cal that, simply by parroting the teachers’ stupidity back to them, I managed...

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new novel Nation Of One. Some here at FR have already read a draft version and I received some very good comments. This fictional story is one of a great discovery and great responsibility, of science and insanity. There are no aliens, weird weapons, or paranormal activities. This a great escapist, lazy day at the beach kind of novel that I know you'll enjoy. So if you have a mind to help my efforts, click on the link above and help spread the word! Thank you very much and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism...

Mike McDaniel is one of the best and most knowledgeable thinkers and writers when it comes to guns and the Second Amendment. That's why it's worth sitting up and taking notice when he revisits one of his own posts to discuss reader objections. I'll run you through what Mike has to say and then tell you why I agree with him. This is a long post, but I hope it's engaging enough to sustain your interest all the way through, so that you'll take the time to weigh in with your own opinions.It all started with a post entitled "Why...

"Heaven is for Real" Review A couple of years ago some people in the church in which I served at the time began asking me one by one about a book they had read. While they had really liked the book, they had some questions about it and some things just didn't seem right to them. So I concluded that it was my duty at that point to read...you guessed it...The Shack. I read the book and posted a strongly critical review online as a way to help people see the danger in that novel.