Free Republic

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously proclaimed the “end of history”, seeing the triumph of the United States as the only remaining superpower and the leader of Western democracies. “The end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy (is) the final form of human government,” he wrote in his best-selling 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man.Twenty-five years later, Fukuyama’s certainties have all but vanished. Liberal democracy in Europe and the United States is in crisis, while China and Russia demonstrate that authoritarian regimes are...

The John Locke Foundation just published its First In Freedom Index, a report that compares and ranks the relative freedom of all fifty states.

Thirty years ago, Gurgaon barely existed. There were no high-rises. No kitschy shopping malls. No 27-hole Jack Nicklaus signature golf courses. Until six years ago, the metropolis of two million people didn't even have a municipal government. So how did Gurgaon become one of the world's fastest growing cities – India's third wealthiest – in three decades?

The presidential election was so close that many factors were “but-for” causes of Donald Trump’s victory. One that’s been mostly overlooked is Trump’s surprising success with religious voters. According to exit polls, Trump received 81 percent of the white evangelical Christian vote, and Hillary Clinton only 16 percent. Trump did significantly better than the overtly religious Mitt Romney and the overtly evangelical George W. Bush. He likely over-performed among other theologically conservative voters, such as traditionalist Catholics, as well. Not bad for a thrice-married adulterer of no discernible faith.

Throughout thousands of years of history, governments have never changed. Whether ancient Egypt, European Union, or the Obama presidency, those in power want more. For over 100 years, our government has sought to trivialize God’s role When our Founders wrote the Declaration of Independence, they knew that property rights were essential to freedom and prosperity. Under the feudal system, Kings granted property to workers in turn for outstanding service. But the crown never completely surrendered its ownership

Freedom Without the Truth Leads to Chaos and Slavery Msgr. Charles Pope • December 6, 2016 • To most modern minds, freedom is a very detached concept; it is an abstraction of sorts, a free-floating power unmoored from any limits or defining standards. Freedom today is often viewed as personal and self-referential, with little consideration as to how one’s “freedom” might affect that of someone else. A healthy sense of the common good suffers mightily in a world of deeply conflicting personal freedoms.I have written before on the paradoxes of freedom and will not repeat all of that here,...

The left allows itself any number of rhetorical excesses about Donald Trump. He is a “fascist,” a dangerous “strongman,” a “tyrant” in waiting, and so forth. But when an actual tyrant dies such as Fidel Castro the left quickly adopts more measured rhetoric. Its hysterical editorialists suddenly turn sedate. They urge people to see a reviled figure in perspective. Castro’s legacy is “divisive,” as the New Yorker hesitantly put it. “Cuba today is a dilapidated country, but its social and economic indicators are the envy of many of its neighbors.” Casting about for a circumspect word to describe a mass...

Liberal elites are paying the price for sidelining religious liberty. But Catholics must not leave the fightback to maverick populistsOne reason Donald Trump was able to put together a coalition big enough to get him elected as president was that there were so many single issues about which different groups of people were exercised. They cared much more deeply about that one issue than a whole range of other issues, on which they may have disagreed with the Republican nominee. This is one explanation for Trump’s lead among Catholics. Particular concerns among Catholics included life issues, of course. Many people...

A sweeping free speech resolution has been rejected by Tufts University’s student government, whose members called the effort to broaden and clarify students’ First Amendment rights “unsafe.” Tufts has a “red light” speech-code rating from FIRE, which means it maintains at least one policy that both clearly and substantially restricts freedom of speech.

“The dictator of Cuba has died!!!!!FINALY!!!!” So starts the trumpeter Arturo Sandoval’s much-shared Facebook post, written in the early morning hours after Fidel Castro’s death was announced. “I'm happy that they'll cremate him, at least his bones will not contaminate the ground,” punctuated Sandoval, summing what thousands of Cuban exiles felt. Sandoval never minced words when he spoke about Castro and his dictatorship. His struggles as a musician and a husband where chronicled in the made-for-TV movie For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (with Andy Garcia playing the role of the trumpet virtuoso), including Dizzy Gillespie’s “discovery” of...

On this Thanksgiving Day, we can all be thankful to God for lifting up President (elect) Trump! The bickering and griping from the purists and professional conservative class who are out to prove that Trump is not a "true conservative" will go on forever, but they quickly forget that he has already saved (conserved) our nation from a one-way trip to a third-world Marxist/fascist cesspit under the rule of the godless Hillary Clinton. Let us not forget that Trump single-handedly (well, with a little help from legions of irredeemable, deplorable bigots, racists and assorted ne'er-do-wells) defeated the GOPe, the Bush...

The debate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science Forum examining Bill C-16 and the Ontario Human Rights Code held on Sat Nov 19th 2016 between Prof Jordan B. Peterson on one side and Dr. Brenda Cossman/Dr. Mary K Bryson on the other. Debate moderated by Prof. Mayo Moran & foreword by David Cameron Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. Please take a look at and subscribe to Prof Peterson's YouTube channel if you have not already done so. Jordan Peterson

I have been watching OANN as a cord cutter for three weeks and its positive attitude and its willingness to air news even Fox won't air has convinced me that cord cutters need help (I know I do) locating quality, non-cable sources of programming. I plan on a separate vanity about One America News Network, but I think cord cutting is a concept that needs to reach a tipping point. Thoughts?

http://www.whec.com/news/university-rochester-program-director-steps-down-following-controversial-facebook-post/4317259/?cat=565 A University of Rochester professor stepped down from his director position after posting a controversial statement on Facebook regarding the Presidential election. Ted Pawlicki resigned as the undergraduate Program Director for the Department of Computer Science on Friday. The story was first reported by student paper the Campus Times.

NEW YORK (AP) -- For the combatants in America's long-running culture wars, the triumph of Donald Trump and congressional Republicans was stunning - sparking elation on one side, deep dismay on the other. Advocates of LGBT rights and abortion rights now fear setbacks instead of further gains. But the outcome emboldened the anti-abortion movement and breathed new life into the religious right's campaign for broad exemptions from same-sex marriage and other laws. Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a legal group that specializes in religious freedom cases, said that, for his cause, the environment will transform from "brutal" under...

Blue-sters: Welcome to living in a world of isolation CHICAGO - It's evidently scary and somewhat traumatizing for Liberals to realize that there's half a population in America that sees things totally different from them. And there's a sizable number in the only blue Midwestern state of Illinois, too. What Liberals don't understand is that those that see the world from a traditional conservative perspective have been fully aware of the Leftist view imposed upon them and have psychologically learned to deal with it. It has made conservatives stronger and more committed to liberty than ever as they've watched the...

A brilliant (and funny) animated short about liberty in America and the dangers of socialism. Click here to watch.

Looks like a great inspirational, patriotic movie calling America to wake up and get ready. Appears to be narrated by Charlie Daniels. Also includes Jerry Boykin & Alex Jones. (Yeah, I know Alex Jones.) Revelation, the movie It's a 1 minute 49 second clip. What do you think?

Many thanks for bringing me to Stockholm and for conferring upon me the European Freedom Award. I am really honoured, because the growing loss of freedom is my main concern. Let me express my gratitude to the Institute for Direct Democracy in Europe, to its General Manager Laure Ferrari, to its Vice-President Peter Lundgren and to all of you for choosing me to be the very first laureate of this award. I have never got an award from a Brussels-based institution. It is a special feeling. It proves that there are also some freedom-friendly institutions in Brussels. Your decision, nevertheless,...

https://youtu.be/kwJZukmWpM0