Free Republic

Last year, George Will – the Washington Post’s conservative intellectual in residence – reviewed Alvin S. Felzenberg’s book, “A Man and His Presidents: The Political Odyssey of William F. Buckley Jr.” The piece lauded both the book and the historical figure it covered. Will said that Buckley, “infus[ed] conservatism with brio, bringing elegance in advocacy and altering the nation’s trajectory while having a grand time.” He contrasted Buckley against modern conservatism, which he found to be “soiled by scowling primitives whose irritable gestures lack mental ingredients.” A basket of deplorables, in other words. Will concluded that conservatism should make its...

Donald Trump has gotten the rawest deal in the past 50 years. This observation comes from over 50 years of listening and observing, in an out of government. A quick trip through time should make that point—and others. Since 1968, I’ve worked for every president—that’s eight— except Obama & Trump. Alas, my labors—at least initially—were at such low levels, there were none lower. After service as an Army intelligence linguist and analyst in support of LBJ’s questionable geopolitical instincts, I worked as an investigator for the US Civil Service Commission, now OPM, the government’s central personnel agency. Working the...

The refugee and immigrant problem in Europe continues to worsen. Europeans opened their borders during the last few years to radical Islamists and others fleeing oppressive or impoverished conditions in Syria and other parts of the Middle East and North Africa. But instead of encouraging the new immigrants to assimilate, many of the European governments are bending over backwards to help them not assimilate. This is a losing proposition, since many of the refugees subscribe to radical Islam. It is incompatible with Western culture. Europeans are afraid to venture into certain areas, known as “no-go zones,” where the violent young men walk the...

It is becoming increasingly difficult to raise boys in a feminist world. The mixed messages they are being flooded with in media, pop culture, and the education system is creating a nation of men who have no idea how to treat women—and a nation of women who have no idea how they should be treated. I recently read a quote by Elizabeth Acevedo, from her poem Spear, where she addresses the “rape culture” from a mother’s perspective. She writes, “I can’t trust this world to teach their sons how to treat my daughter. So I will raise her to be...

It is sadly common for conservative presidents and political leaders to be portrayed in a less-than-flattering light in the left-leaning textbooks used in public school and college classrooms, but a new volume on American history gives a new spin on the term “rush to judgment.” Less than a year-and-a-half after taking office as America’s sitting president, Donald Trump is already being maligned in the pages of an upcoming high school history text which insinuates that he and his supporters are driven by racism and that he is mentally unfit to serve as our Commander-in-Chief. Textbooks rarely receive a high profile...

“There’s a little bit of a revolution going on in California.” – President TrumpA nation survives, commerce thrives, and crime and corruption take a dive because of the rule of law. In California, we are witnessing a change from death to life, in which moribund citizens, outraged by the callous arrogance of Sacramento politicians, have signaled their frustration. Cities and counties are refusing to comply with a state law that is in brazen violation of the United States Constitution and federal immigration laws. These citizens are vocal, not violent protesters. They are flooding city council meetings and the chambers of...

In a piece for The Federalist entitled, “It’s Time For The United States To Divorce Before Things Get Dangerous,” writer and former Marine corp combat veteran Jesse Kelly ruffled more than a few feathers with his contention that the time for the United States as a united nation may be nearing an inevitable end. Comparing the Left and Right in America to “the couple screaming at each other all night, every night as the kids hide in their room,” Kelly cites a congenial divorce as the best option for a country that’s “hopelessly divided” on seemingly every important issue. He even tweeted...

... The mounting price tag of extreme weather events and the prospect of greater destruction to come have brought into focus a question that has been lurking at the edges of climate change conversations: Who should pay the costs of the death and destruction caused by human-driven global warming? The debate over climate accountability is not new. The Bali Action Plan established the idea - at least in theory - that the rich countries that have built their wealth by burning fossil fuels should help the poorer nations that are suffering disproportionate harms from a distorted atmosphere. "Climate change reparations"...

Dear leaders, You failed us. It's your responsibility to protect the youth. But when faced with the choice of fossil fuel money for your campaigns, or the wellbeing of your children, you pick fossil fuels. Today is Earth Day. Please save your phony Earth Day tweets and Facebook posts, I don't want to see them. Put those in a bag along with your toothless "thoughts and prayers" tweets for hurricane victims and dump them in the ocean just like you permit corporations to dump their waste. Because my generation is so done with your talk. I'm a 16-year-old sophomore in...

Please ignore the advertising slogan “What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.” It’s not true. Las Vegas is the crossroads of America. What happens here is a sure sign of what's happening everywhere. So, I’ve uncovered the biggest liberal scam in America, going on right here in Las Vegas.It revolves around my home community in the suburbs of Las Vegas. I live in exclusive Anthem Country Club. There are about 1500 beautiful homes behind the gates of Anthem. These homes are together worth around $1 billion dollars, behind the gates of just one country club, in just one...

Face it: Hillary Clinton will never be Playmate of the Year. We know this because apparently only a former Playmate of the Year can finally be the one to take down Donald Trump and The Smartest Woman Ever™ was demonstrably unable to make that happen. This latest deus ex mockable solution to the problem of America electing a guy the elite disapproves of, convincing America to somehow turn on its President because a decade ago he engaged in in real life what hordes of creepy shut-ins engaged in in their own minds, is simply hilarious.Trump hooked up with a Playboy Playmate!...

The former Starbucks manager who called the police on two non-paying black customers earlier this month may have a good case for bringing a defamation suit against the coffee company. In numerous public statements, Starbucks and its CEO Kevin Johnson have gone out of their way to imply that the the female manager, identified in media reports as Holly Hylton, was acting on subconscious racial motivations when she told the loitering customers to either buy a beverage or get out of her store. Crucially, Starbucks has also strongly implied that, as a factual matter, the manager violated company policy.

Editor's note: This column was authored by Jake Grant. We can all remember that dreaded moment in school––you just finished a test and just knew you didn’t do well. The teacher tells you that they’ll be passing back the test, and you dread that moment all day. Congress likely had that feeling leading up to the CBO’s semi-annual report, “An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook.” The update includes two important factors, which likely give members that sinking feeling of failing a test: the tax cut passed in December and the massive spending deal approved in February. The outlook was...

All the "smart people" told us it wouldn’t. They are expecting something else. Something big. Something about a big blue wave.Yet 2018 cannot be measured between the parties of Democrat vs Republican, Conservative vs. Liberal, or any other traditional political construct of left vs right.Never-Trump right of center pundits and lobbyists have aligned themselves with Trump-hating leftists. Traditionally moderate blue-collar Democrats find themselves benefitting from the policies—and even tariffs—from a Republican White House. The economic boom has been unleashed, our enemies have sudden new-found respect for our word, and we may have a President who might actually qualify for...

Call it the “feel good” political drama of the Spring. Just when you thought the rule of law was sliding down the slippery slope of governmental expediency into the abyss of modish public apathy, there comes a man to save the day . . . armed with nothing but backbone. Oh, and a well-worn copy of the Constitution of the State of Washington. Tim Eyman is the Evergreen State’s best-known ballot initiative practitioner. On Friday, he won an important court case — even though it wrecked an impressive compromise between state legislators, police, and proponents of Initiative 940, a ballot...

My Facebook friend Lynn Chu, commenting on the remaindering of iconographies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as well as the nonstop and self-defeating promotion of James Comey's book: It's ironic that the more Comey talks the more everyone realizes what a political sleazeball animal he was and how much he tipped the scales whenever he felt his own personal self-interest rising. The Discreet Charm of the First Amendment. Smarmy unwarranted book deals with zero writerly integrity can backfire, you know. Let's just hope the publisher doesn't take a bath that will then have to be taken out of all...

The giggles from the press gaggle were audible the other day when one reporter apologetically asked Jim Comey for his reaction to the criminal referral drafted by eleven House Republicans. Of course there were no serious follow-up questions. None needed. The DC press corps considers this a joke. They know who the good guys are. Jim Comey was one of them. They know that the noise by this handful of right-wing troublemakers would quickly fade away. It will be swallowed and quickly digested by the DC swamp. End of story. So they could pivot and return their focus to the...

When the news broke on Tuesday night that CIA Director Mike Pompeo had met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, I was not surprised. Pompeo had long ago established his importance to this administration and his understanding of geopolitics. Pompeo’s skills are precisely why the president nominated him to be the next Secretary of State—and why it’s so absurd that Democrats are reluctant to confirm him.Considering the increasing gridlock in the Senate over President Donald Trump’s nominees, this is a good time to remind our Democratic friends of Pompeo’s many qualifications—qualifications that have only increased since he earned Democratic support to become CIA...

Bernie Madoff became an infamous individual a decade ago for running what appears to be the largest Ponzi scheme in United States (and possibly world) history. At some point his investment program stopped operating as a normal investment vehicle and just took the funds from new investors and paid returns to the old investors. It all ended when the market crashed in 2008 and no new suckers were drawn into his web of deceit. California (and most likely your home state) is running its own Ponzi scheme with their Unclaimed Property program. The question is when will their merry-go-round stop...

Perhaps the most puzzling thing about autism and ADD is that more than a decade into this public health crisis, our best, smartest government scientists and public health officials still say they have no idea what's causing it. Scary stuff, when parents having a child today realize there's at least an estimated 1 in 150 chance their child will have an autism disorder (1 in 90 if it's a boy). While the government has been utterly unable to stop it, or even tell us what is causing it, they say they do know one thing: it's not vaccines. But today,...