Free Republic

In the early 19th century, Jean-François Champollion used the Rosetta Stone to begin the process of deciphering the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt. We already knew Egypt through the Bible and the histories of the Greeks, but even Herodotus wrote 2,000 years after the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the translation of hieroglyphics, the legend of Egypt came to life. What had been cloudy became clear. In Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, David Reich, a geneticist at Harvard’s Medical School and the Broad Institute, introduces us to...

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told CNN's Michael Smerconish that he believes Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich could be "a great alternative" to President Donald Trump if the President fails to deliver on his promises. "People are going to judge the President before they go to the polls by his performance," Schwarzenegger, who is a Republican, said in an interview. "If Trump does a great job, then there's no reason to replace him. But what I'm saying is that John Kasich is a great alternative should he (Trump) not perform, because we don't know yet. We are only one year...

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn tells Breitbart News he thinks Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s “unbelievable victory” in the final presidential debate against his Democratic opponent was “exactly what we needed.” “I think this was an unbelievable victory for Trump,” Flynn, a top Trump surrogate, said in an exclusive interview. I think this was amazing. He was so on point, so on message. He gave very precise answers. You listen, for those that watched it tonight, you saw a robot-like script coming out of Hillary Clinton with no new ideas. No new ideas at all....

Shortened title. Full title: ACLU chapter and liberal foundation urge cops not to arrest illegals for crimes they commit to shield them from deportation Remember when liberals claimed they believed in equal protection under the laws? The fanatical hatred for Donald Trump and fanatical desire to replace the population of the United States with third-world people who will vote for Democrats have led the Massachusetts chapter of the ACLU and the progressive Century Foundation to urge police to create a special class of people – violators of immigration laws – protected from arrest for crimes that the rest of us...

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake is retiring at the end of his term but he may not be giving up on politics altogether. The staunch critic of President Trump said Thursday during a speech at the National Press Club that he may take on the commander in chief in 2020. "It's not in my plan to run for president, but I am not ruling it out. Somebody needs to stand up for traditional Republicanism," Flake said. "Somebody needs to raise that, for nothing else than to give people hope that that decent party will be back. We'll get through this." He...

After the victory of Donald Trump in 2016, the GOP held the Senate and House, two-thirds of the governorships, and 1,000 more state legislators than they had on the day Barack Obama took office. "The Republican Party has not been this dominant in 90 years," went the exultant claim. A year later, Republicans lost the governorship of Virginia and almost lost the legislature. Came then the loss of a U.S. Senate seat in ruby-red Alabama. Tuesday, Democrats captured a House seat in a Pennsylvania district Trump carried by 20 points, and where Democrats had not even fielded a candidate in...

The DACA problem Much hay has been made over DACA by the Democrats: how Trump is heartless; how Congress absolutely positively must pass legislation extending DACA; not to mention how Congress must reform immigration generally. If someone doesn't reinstate DACA, so say the activists, all those children could be deported, in time. Their DREAM of becoming naturalized citizens will die. Immigration reform, the whole package, is stalled in gridlock, so the clock is against them. (Even as the Federal Courts have temporarily put up a blockade against completely terminating the DACA program I see another answer, one that doesn't open...

I try to like people, but John Kasich represents a real challenge. The guy really rubs me the wrong way. Somehow, in the midst of all the Tillerson-Pompeo talk, Kasich turned up on MSNBC this morning. Speaking of the special election in Pennsylvania today, Kasich bragged about having been elected to Congress at age 30. That, according to Kasich, makes 33-year old Dem candidate Conor Lamb “a little old.” Kasich made his 2020 strategy pretty clear, saying that the emergence of third parties “is more realistic than it’s ever been.” When host Stephanie Ruhle asked him flat out if he...

The European Union on Wednesday released its target list of retaliatory tariffs on American exports worth $3.5 billion if President Trump pushes ahead with his steel and aluminum tariffs. This is how Mr. Trump’s trade irruptions could imperil American exporters and become a destructive spiral. The EU is acting with some restraint—for now—in crafting a narrow list of items on which to impose tariffs, including bourbon, orange juice, corn, ladders and motor boats. None are vital to European industry, but they are politically shrewd in targeting exports from states represented by Republicans on Capitol Hill. The point is to punish...

The “immigrant” theme dominated the acceptance speech, and not for the first time Sunday, in one of the major Oscar categories — the best director award. Fantasy director Guillermo Del Toro won the Oscar for his film “The Shape of Water” and leaped right into the matter and said movies should lead to one world and erase national sovereignty.

Not only are there vast organizations dedicated to the idea of open border immigration, there are grassroots movements, individual campaigners, and also elements within governments that want this deeply flawed “plan” to become the new Global Vision. But they are all missing some very important points that seem not to be challenged by opponents. The fact is that the idea of a world where we can live where we want, travel freely, and escape poverty is very attractive. It even seems the moral choice in many ways…But there are dangers and issues that do not get pointed out. Those who...

Top globalists, communists, and Islamists from around the globe gathered this month on the Arabian Peninsula for the World Government Summit — yes, that is the confab’s real name — to push for what they called a “new world order.” More than a few speakers made clear that liberty, self-government, and the “America First” agenda were in the crosshairs. On the other hand, Big Government, trans-humanism, and globalism were presented as the solution to basically everything, from alleged man-made “global warming” and health problems to unemployment and even hate. Aside from global governance and statism, one of the key themes...

"What's a good amount of bail money to bring to a CNN Town Hall where Marco Rubio will be speaking? Asking for a friend."

I haven't heard nor can I find any information as to when the Mark Levin show on Fox News is scheduled to begin. All I've seen is in February.

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia on Thursday said an increasing number of Venezuelans were taking part in attacks by Marxist ELN rebels and in criminal activity, as hundreds of thousands of migrants flee over the border to escape a humanitarian crisis at home. {snip}Villegas said Venezuelans had collaborated with the National Liberation Army (ELN) in attacks in Colombia and been involved in killings and robberies. {snip}Villegas said intelligence agents in Colombia had found that an attack by the ELN in late January, which killed six police officers and injured 40, was planned in Venezuela. He also said that two Venezuelan members...

en. Marco Rubio (R-FL) dismissed a Fox News report that Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) tried to contact Christopher Steele, the author of the controversial Russian dossier. The Florida senator said Warner had already “fully disclosed” his contacts and that they had “zero impact” on the Intelligence Committee’s work. “Sen.Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.Has had zero impact on our work,” he wrote, tweeting out a link to the story. Marco Rubio✔ @marcorubio Sen.Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.Has had zero impact on our work. http://fxn.ws/2nXIdM6 #FoxNews The report noted that Warner had...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the Republican-led Congress should offer a path to citizenship for DREAMers now and pass a bill that deals with border security and “chain migration later” in exchange for granting “amnesty” to all undocumented immigrants. Rather than waiting until Congress can agree on some sort of comprehensive immigration package, conservatives in Congress have argued that any deal granting legal status to “Dreamers,” called so in reference to the DREAM Act, should be tied to additional border security measures, such as funding for the border wall and legislative language that prevents “chain migration,” or family reunification, in...

The Soviet armies advancing into East Prussia in January 1945, in huge, long columns, were an extraordinary mixture of modern and medieval: tank troops in padded black helmets, Cossack cavalrymen on shaggy mounts with loot strapped to the saddle, lend-lease Studebakers and Dodges towing light field guns, and then a second echelon in horse-drawn carts. The variety of character among the soldiers was almost as great as that of their military equipment. There were freebooters who drank and raped quite shamelessly, and there were idealistic, austere communists and members of the intelligentsia appalled by such behaviour. Beria and Stalin, back...

For over 30 years, I've been reading and re-reading Ayn Rand's books, both fiction and non-fiction, and I don't recall anything that suggests she was in favor of open borders. Furthermore, Ayn Rand died in 1982 – she never witnessed the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11, the steady stream of terrorist massacres throughout the great, historical cities of Europe and on American soil, or the large-scale invasion of so-called "refugees" into Europe. Islam and immigration were not cultural or political issues during her lifetime. So why am I even asking if Ayn Rand would have been for open...

When it comes to House seats, no state is more consistently Democratic than Massachusetts. The last time that state elected a Republican to the House in either a general or special election was 1994, when Republicans captured 2 of its 10 seats. Over the intervening decades, it hasn’t happened. But when one is identifying the most Democratic state in the country, Massachusetts usually isn’t the first state that comes to mind. Instead, that honor belongs to California, the nation’s largest state and the one that immediately conjures images of Hollywood liberals and Humboldt hippies. Yet that picture of California is...