Free Republic

Hollywood once supported America and family values; it’s now antithetical to them. This means that many Americans are rooting for its collapse during a writers’ and actors’ strike over an industry change as significant and destructive as the advent of the car was to carriage makers. I’m a huge fan of pre-1960s movies, and I know a fair amount about the history of Hollywood. In Hollywood’s early years, the executives behind it were almost entirely Jewish immigrants who found a niche in a brand-new industry and filled it. Throughout the 1920s and into the very early 1930s, movie plots got...

There is so much wrong with America’s cities, it’s hard to see why any contributing member of society would live and/or work in one of them. Some of the issues arise from far-Left local governance while others are generated by more widespread Leftist policy. These are coupled with an organic workforce evolution, as the USA transitions from an industry-based to an information-based economy. The result is urban areas caught in a downward spiral — and, as with any sinking vessel, threatening to suck everyone nearby down with them. First, quick refresher on the compounding problems of urban areas. Chief among...

This was quite an eye-opening article here. Germany’s biggest companies are ditching the fatherland. Chemical giant BASF has been a pillar of German business for more than 150 years, underpinning the country’s industrial rise with a steady stream of innovation that helped make “Made in Germany” the envy of the world. But its latest moonshot — a $10 billion investment in a state-of-the-art complex the company claims will be the gold standard for sustainable production — isn’t going up in Germany. Instead, it’s being erected 9,000 kilometers away in China. I’m not sure that I’d be betting the farm on...

No search results. Using statistics from the Department of Labor, The Wall Street Journal reports that real hourly wages during the Biden presidency have declined. When Biden took office in January 2021, the average hourly wage adjusted for inflation was $11.39. Now, 29 months later, it stands at $11.03, a 3.16% decline. Stephen Moore of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity reports that the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that in the month of June, the largest growth in employment in the U.S. economy came from government. Government net increase in employment in June was 60,000...

Patriotism in America continues to hover near record lows, according to Gallup’s most recent survey. While this may not be a five-alarm fire for those of us who truly love this country – after all, roughly two-thirds of Americans responded that they were either “extremely” or “very” proud to be Americans – it is certainly a cause for concern that should be addressed. As we celebrate the birth of this great country, it is worth examining potential reasons pride in America is on the decline and rehashing why America is a nation worth loving in the first place. Only 39%...

One of the obvious lessons from the tide of the war in Ukraine is that globalist economics has defeated globalist interventionism.It is hard to be the arsenal of democracy if you can’t make anything anymore. The war in Ukraine has deranged many people — Michael Rubin, a lunatic and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wants to give Ukraine nukes — but it may also teach us some hard but necessary lessons. For instance, as the tides of war turn against Ukraine, it seems that globalist economics is defeating globalist foreign policy interventionism.Ukraine’s much-hyped summer offensive has been disappointing....

Bud Light's sales have plummeted so much that a glass bottling company was forced to shut down two of its plants and lay off nearly 650 employees. The Ardagh Group, one of the largest glass producers in the world, announced last week it was shuttering its Wilson, North Carolina, and Simsboro, Louisiana, plants on July 17. The Wilson plant employed nearly 400 people, and the Simsboro plant had 245 - all of whom now find themselves without jobs. The company did not cite a reason for the closures in its statement, just saying it was part of a 'multi-year performance...

Not too long ago, San Francisco was still a remarkably beautiful city, although even then it could change on a dime. One could be in the midst of a leisurely stroll down a gorgeous street filled with chic cafes, turn a corner, and find oneself without warning in the middle of a large crowd of menacing homeless drug addicts. Now, after decades of far-Left misrule that has picked up speed in the wake of the COVID hysteria, the city’s dirty, degrading, and dangerous areas are growing rapidly and taking the whole place over, and the city’s remaining sane people are...

A cursory examination of history reveals that the United States is mired in the same process that precipitated the collapse of the great empires of the past. The foibles and failures of human nature and their impact on the rise and fall of empires is amazingly consistent and the end result always inevitable. Can this nation avoid a similar fate? Empires are defined as great military and economic powers encompassing large occupied or controlled land areas. Although they vary greatly, they average around 250 years in duration. The United States will be celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026. In 1976,...

Oligarchical societies are unstable societies, as they arise when powerful elites no longer care about the common good and instead pursue their own self-interest. While oligarchs can manipulate the will of the people for some time, the people historically wise up once the abuses become too much to bear. The revolt of the common people is what oligarchs most fear and they will mobilize all of their political and financial resources to keep it from happening. While this dynamic has been recorded for thousands of years, it is no less relevant to American society today. Modern American oligarchs — who...

One of the most astonishing things about the mass flight from blue states is just how blase the ruling leftists are about it. There's no crisis, there's nothing to see here. This, as they seek ever greater heights of national power.The Wall Street Journal's editorial page has an excellent non-subscription piece on just how bad it's gotten:Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker shrugged last year after several high-profile corporations left his state. “Countless companies are choosing Illinois as their home,” Mr. Pritzker said. Then why does a new Internal Revenue Service report show an accelerating taxpayer exodus from Illinois and other high-tax...

It seemed only an anomaly – a dip in college attendance – which was easily attributable, thanks to the pandemic. But what was once a burp has become a trend and a worrying one at that for institutions of higher learning (Well, their cash flow, to be more precise.).The undergraduate college enrollment decline has accelerated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public institutions — especially two-year colleges — experienced the steepest declines.International enrollment and transfer enrollment also saw sharp declines during the pandemic.The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that between fall 2019 and fall 2022:Note Reference[3]• Postsecondary institutions...

Everything ends. A hard truth, because we are a sentimental species. We have pleasant memories of more hopeful times, and we yearn for a return of days that will never repeat. The future that the past promised us was never to be. A rocket powered tomorrow with monorails, a moon Hilton, and push button ease has been denied. The blue haired, “gender” confused, angry world of today was never part of yesterday’s tomorrow…. Had it been, I doubt any of us would have signed on for it. What future have we now? What kind of tomorrow is even possible after...

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), the former White House physician during the Obama and Trump administrations, warned on Saturday that President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline is bringing the United States closer to an “all-out war” with Russia and China. Jackson’s statement comes after Biden has continually grappled with memory failure in recent days, raising concerns that his cognitive decline will draw the U.S. into a war with China and Russia, two powers reportedly united against the United States in a proxy war for control of Ukraine’s eastern border.

Churches are closing at rapid numbers in the US, researchers say, as congregations dwindle across the country and a younger generation of Americans abandon Christianity altogether – even as faith continues to dominate American politics. As the US adjusts to an increasingly non-religious population, thousands of churches are closing each year in the country – a figure that experts believe may have accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation means some hard decisions for pastors, who have to decide when a dwindling congregation is no longer sustainable. But it has also created a boom market for those wanting to buy...

Race to the Bottom describes the process of competitive devaluation, where value is gutted to remain competitive with those who are grabbing market share by stripping out quality, value, durability, transparency, accountability and competence.We see the global Race to the Bottom in everyday products: the quality of goods has plummeted as manufacturers compete to reduce costs to maintain high profit margins by stripping out the quality and durability of components. We see it in shrinkflation, where the cereal box contains less cereal while the price ratchets higher.We see it when cereals that once contained no sugar are now sickly-sweet because...

Its is Douglas MacArthurs 143rd birthday. Was he the 1950's equivalent of Donald Trump? The times when he showed great leadership were many. He modernised Wrest Point, asking when he had recently begun the task post World War One, "Why are we still preparing for the War Of 1812?" He resisted Australians who wanted to betray their own country in WW2 and surrender half the continent to Japan above the Brisbane line because he knew the all conquering Japanese were over extended and could be beaten. He did that aged in his 60s with island hopping strategic brilliance. In his...

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal had a story about a topic I’ve covered before, the hollowing out of American cities as a result of changes brought on by the pandemic. One symptom of those changes is the decline of mass transit in major cities on both coasts.While offices have largely reopened and travel has resumed, many commuters are only coming in a few days a week. That shift has left subways, buses and commuter trains operating at well below capacity—particularly on Mondays and Fridays…The ridership drop also has fueled an increase in transit crime, which in turn has pushed away...

HARRISBURG — The American population might be growing, but Pennsylvania remains a leading state for Americans to flee, rather than stay. The commonwealth is one of 18 states to lose population in 2022, according to new data from the Census Bureau, and one of the worst performers. The data is confirmation of a long-running trend: Pennsylvania has a population problem, and the end isn’t yet in sight. The latest Census data shows the American population grew by 1.26 million (0.4%) since a year ago, with the primary growth being more than 1 million immigrants landing on American soil. Natural change...

Canada has been much on my mind these days, weeks, months, and years, not only because I am a Canadian citizen, but because, like many of my American friends, I am witnessing firsthand the destruction of a country.The current prime minister’s campaign, amounting to a kind of jihad, to destabilize the nation and create the world’s first “post-national state” proceeds on many levels. Among them, as I have previously catalogued, are a burgeoning national debt, a series of repressive bills making their way through parliament (C-4, C-11, C-12 and C-18), a prohibitive and unnecessary carbon tax, the deliberate destruction of...