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"The Last Valley" stars Michael Caine and Omar Sharif, it's set in Germany in the 1640s during the Thirty Years War.I stumbled upon this forgotten masterpiece from 1971 a few days ago when I obtained some old VHS tapes from a friend. Just update the story line 400 years, change it to Christians vs Muslims, give everybody an AK-47, and this may be what the future is going to bring. The movie flopped at the box office for a number of reasons unrelated to its quality. The John Barry soundtrack alone is stunning. "The Last Valley" is now on Youtube...

This question has been bubbling and I don't know enough to resolve it myself. Asking you Smart People to help me flesh this out- or decide if it's a worthless navel gazing exercise. Realizing I'm setting myself for ridicule... here goes.... Re: The quran calling Christians and Jews "People of The Book": The quran was put together before 700 BC. The first Bible was printed in 1450, the Torah 1482. Before that there were papyrus, scrolls, writings - but no "Book". Is the quran actually referring to the "book of life" from both the old and new testament? ..... is...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Family Christian Stores, the nation's largest Christian bookstore and gift chain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in hopes of restructuring its debt in the face of declining sales. The Grand Rapids-based chain said it does not expect to close any of its 266 stores in 36 states or layoff any of its 3,100 full-time and part-time employees. "We strive to serve God in all that we do and trust his guidance in all our decisions, especially this very important one," said President and CEO Chuck Bengochea in a news release. "We have carefully and prayerfully...

This is the movie that has exploding heads -- one very prominent who's name you don't use on the same page with 'exploding'. Oh, and a lot of blood and gore. But ... The Kingsman is really well done. Highly recommended for Freepers. I will warn you though, there is one brief comment and one very brief flash of the female backside that marred an otherwise perfect gem of a movie. Those 3 seconds erased the panache that was built up for the first 4/5ths of the movie.

".......For decades now, America's higher education system has poorly served Americans.If you can weld,you can land a job making six-figures tomorrow.If you recently acquired a B.A. in sociology,well, can you tell me how you do that thing where you make the foam on top a latte look like a heart?There's a reason why the lack of a college degree is practically celebrated in Silicon Valley. Mark Zuckerberg,Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are all college dropouts. Peter Thiel says a college "diploma is a dunce hat in disguise" and wants to blow the higher-ed system up entirely. Sixty-three of the people...

"Let me start with the Civil War — I mean this is a president who — we can excuse him for his ignorance of Islamic theology and Islamic history, you know despite his nominal background in Islam as a child. But excuse me, but the abolitionists were Christians, and the United States literally went to war with itself, unlike any other society before, to extirpate the longstanding, thousand year longstanding evil of slavery in virtually every human civilization. It’s just appalling that he doesn’t even grasp that fundamental decency about this country..."

Bill Browder rose from rebellious grandson of the former head of the Communist Party USA, Earl Browder, to the leading foreign capitalist in Russia, as the founder and CEO of the high-flying hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management. But his rise was matched by a brutal and deadly fall, in which the Russian government would steal and destroy Browder’s company, and physically threaten its employees, culminating in the imprisonment, torture and death of Browder’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky — the man for whom on account of Browder’s lobbying, the Magnitsky Act was named. Browder and a deceased Magnitsky would both be convicted...

Arthur Koestler (1905-1983)The following excerpt from American Betrayal appears today in slightly edited form at Breitbart News:In his contribution to the famous 1949 collection of essays by ex-Communists titled The God That Failed, Arthur Koestler carefully illustrates how set language binds thought to ideology at the expense of evidence. Koestler, author of the unparalleled novel of Stalin's show trials, Darkness at Noon, describes a conversation he had early in his Communist career with "Edgar," his Party contact, in which they discuss the front page of a Communist newspaper."But every word on the front page is contradicted by the facts," I...

King Minus ruled a prosperous and powerful nation, its economy was the envy of the world. Minus was proud of this, and he was proud to be the leader of such a fine kingdom. Then one night a red lizard appeared to him in a dream and it talked to him. “Oh sure, the kingdom is strong and rich. That is a fine thing indeed, but there are still a lot of poor people and can't you do something for them?” The king responded that red lizards appearing in dreams seemed a bit demonic and why should he listen to...

Author David Petrusza discusses the pivotal 1924 election for president, won by "Silent Cal Coolidge."

Recently we marked the 50th anniversary of the January 24, 1965 passing of Winston Churchill. Churchill was not only a courageous leader but an eminent historian and lucid writer who left us with volumes of valuable insight and wisdom. We have been flipping through his, “The Gathering Storm,” which recounts among other parts of history the lead up to World War II, when Churchill stood as a lone voice against Nazi Germany — a threat he so clearly saw while the world dithered. Below are 12 passages from Churchill’s Volume I of “The Gathering Storm,” that look awfully eerie in...

Dr. Bryon McClanahan reviews Pryor's work on Lee. He is quite critical and discusses major problems with the book as well as the "trendy" practice by modern historians of "humanizing" (tearing down) American heroes . . .

A national correspondent for “The Atlantic Magazine” who gained attention for an article calling on the United States to study possible reparations for slavery was in Iowa this week to speak at Grinnell College’s Martin Luther King Junior Day events. In an interview with Radio Iowa, Ta-Nehisi Coates says the idea of reparations for slavery is as old as the country itself. “Immediately after the Revolutionary War you had black people who had been enslave by the British making that argument that post-colonial, not really colonial government, reclaimed the property of British slave holders that African Americans who had been...

The January 26th edition of The New Yorker imagines a world where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marches arm in arm with some of the most polarizing news figures from 2014 and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The publication is known for it’s controversial covers, but this one entitled “The Dream of Reconciliation” – shows Dr. King with Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and New York City Police officer Wenjian Liu, who was killed by a gunman in December – peacefully walking with arms linked as an American flag waves in the background. Artist Barry Blitt who drew it says he...

The last several months have seen an outpouring of activism, with slogans coming in waves: “Justice for Mike Brown,” “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” and “I Can’t Breathe.” But the phrase “Black Lives Matter” has emerged to bind each flashpoint into one cause. The 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin and acquittal of George Zimmerman served as the first of these flashpoints, snowballing in August with the murder of Michael Brown. “Ferguson is the birthplace of what’s happening right now. In many ways, Ferguson is like ground zero of these protests,” says DeRay McKesson, who has been protesting and organizing in Ferguson...

How Education Has Empowered Me What is education? There are many who would say that an education is merely an entity that is to be possessed and others who say that it is only a means to move forward in the world, however I believe that education is a key, a key to freedom. Nelson Mandela once said "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world", I truly agree with the wise words of Mr. Mandela and hope that one day I can use my education to do great things. When I was young...

The Black Brunch movement wants us to get uncomfortable with law enforcement violence in communities of color.Weekend brunch is usually the time for Americans to kick back and enjoy a mimosa and a slice of a savory veggie frittata (watch out for those spiking egg prices) with friends or family. But on Sunday, diners in several New York City and Oakland, California, restaurants got a hefty serving of anti–police violence activism alongside their meals. Dozens of participants in the grassroots Black Brunch movement walked into restaurants that tend to serve a predominantly white customer base. The activists weren’t there to...

One of the little-discussed details in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo centers on a book featured on the front cover of its current edition. The book, which has reportedly caused controversy in the days leading up to its publication over perceived "Islamophobia," imagines the future election of a Muslim leader of France, which heralds a broader Islamization of the EU. Its title is "Soumission" or "Submission" in English ("submission" being the literal definition of the Arabic word "Islam"), the newest work of celebrated and controversial French author Michel Houellebecq. "Soumission"...

The letters of Publicola, a fascinating window into the debate that occurred in the early days of the French Revolution, before significant blood had been shed in France, before the French people had beheaded their king and queen, before the Reign of Terror, before Napoleon was a name of any significance, and before all of Europe became engulfed in war, written anonymously by John Quincy Adams.

"Putin is behaving in a very paranoid way. He’s putting a lot of emphasis on increased repression. He’s taking a lot of money out of domestic coffers: health, education, pensions, to support his own inner circle – to keep peace among competing groups. To bail these people out when the social situation in the country is so dire is an act of….it reveals the regime for what it is, and he can only really keep peace by increasing the repression."