Free Republic

Is it possible to be around narcissistic people and not lose your power? Especially when it's your mom, dad, ex, or boss who’s acting toxic? Today, Mel is joined by Rebecca Zung, an expert on narcissism and a globally recognized high-conflict negotiator. Rebecca is also a top-ranked trial lawyer who has studied narcissism so that she could win against them in the courtroom. She’s written the playbook, SLAY the Bully: How to Negotiate with A Narcissist and Win. She is here to make the case that you CAN stay in power no matter how toxic the people are around you....

October 7 was so horrific it threatened to ambush the Palestinian cause. So they did what people have done for centuries: They changed the subject and blamed the Jews. That always works. What do you do when a cause you deeply cherish betrays you? What do you do when you spend a lifetime fighting for the Palestinian cause, and then, overnight, it becomes associated with the butchering, beheading, raping and mutilating of 1400 people, including infants, babies, women, rave dancers, families and the elderly? How do you spin that? You might try to deny and downplay, but with all the...

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and multiple other Democratic legislators are urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to establish a special envoy to combat Islamophobia. “As part of our commitment to international religious freedom and human rights, we must recognize Islamophobia as a pattern that is repeating in nearly every corner of the globe,” the lawmakers state in a letter to Blinken, according to CNN. “It is past time for the United States to stand firmly in favor of religious freedom for all, and to give the global problem of Islamophobia the attention and prioritization it deserves.” Omar is co-leading...

-- abstract -- We investigate the consequences and predictors of emitting signals of victimhood and virtue. In our first three studies, we show that the virtuous victim signal can facilitate nonreciprocal resource transfer from others to the signaler. Next, we develop and validate a victim signaling scale that we combine with an established measure of virtue signaling to operationalize the virtuous victim construct. We show that individuals with Dark Triad traits—Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy—more frequently signal virtuous victimhood, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic variables that are commonly associated with victimization in Western societies. In Study 5, we show that a...

John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager, complained that he was the “victim” of a smear campaign conducted by President Donald Trump. “Not bad enough that I was the victim of a massive cyber crime directed by the Russian President … now I’m the victim of a big lie campaign by the American President,” Podesta stated on Twitter. Podesta’s remarks came after Trump raised questions on Twitter about the lobbying firm that Podesta co-founded with brother Tony and its lobbying ties to Russia. (snip) Trump criticized the news media for largely ignoring the Podesta brothers’ ties to the larger Russia investigation. “He and his brother could Drain...

Never allow others to burden you with unwarranted guilt and shame. You will find your load heavy enough without adding spurious claims of ignominy and sordidness to it. I first became familiar with the term “toxic masculinity” a couple of years ago, and thought to myself “Oh great, some more post-feminist misandrist bulls—t. Misandry is “the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against men or boys.” But I recently read an article by Maureen Ryan that pulled me up short and allowed me to see the light, so to speak. When Ms. Ryan speaks of “toxic masculinity” she is not...

Lena Dunham has blasted a right-wing website’s “upsetting and disgusting” claims that she molested her little sister when they were kids. Truth Revolt’s article, “Lena Dunham Describes Sexually Abusing Her Little Sister,” points to a section of the “Girls” creator and star’s new book of essays, “Not That Kind Of Girl,” in which she describes examining her then-one-year-old sister Grace’s vagina when she was 7 to see if it looked the same as her own. The piece also mentions a National Review article that calls the essay “especially suspicious” and says “there is no non-horrific interpretation of this episode.” Dunham...

One conservative attorney says he has no sympathy for the atheists who have launched a holiday advertising campaign to promote their stance and attack Christians. The billboard and newspaper ads that read "Bias Against Atheists is Naughty, Not Nice" are being placed in towns where atheists have made an effort to push religion out of the public arena. "I have very little sympathy for atheists, the ones who are perpetrating anti-Christian bias," admits Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action. "And when they receive a little push-back and people point out the reality that we are a Christian nation, they get...

The young man in the video pulls in close to his computer camera with the trappings of a typical college dorm room—a loft bed and the clutter of cast-off clothes—piled behind him. Alex Fiorentini isn’t talking about girls, beer or football. Instead, it’s a coming-out moment of sorts. “Is it acceptable to the majority of the population to be an atheist?” he asks the camera. “Nope. Are all of your friends going to accept you as an atheist? Probably not all of them. And yeah, those things are gonna suck. But the real question is, ‘Is it OK to be...

A Muslim community leader who claimed he had been kidnapped at knifepoint after a BNP hate campaign has been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Noor Ramjanally, 36, of Valley Hill, alleged in August that he was abducted by two men, bundled into a car boot, driven to Epping Forest in Essex and told to stop his religious work. The BNP had been accused of whipping up racial tensions in the area after it issued an inflammatory leaflet about Mr Ramjanally's Islamic community group, the first in Loughton. His alleged ordeal became a cause célèbre among the...

When Bias Bites How Long Can a Dissident Survive Inside a Partisan News Station? By Brian Maloney e-mail Brian Maloney at RadioEqualizer@aol.com It's hard to imagine a career that can throw you for a curve more often than one in radio broadcasting. The highs can take you into the stratosphere and the lows into an abyss. It comes with sticking your neck out in public. Sometimes you get rewarded and then, suddenly, you get whacked, mob-style. The last week, for me, has been a blend of the two extremes. A strange existence in another place, where events that by themselves...

On behalf of the Stonewall Democratic Federation, the national organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Democrats, I want to apologize to some people whose peace of mind we seem to be disturbing. I want to apologize to the various self-proclaimed divine messengers who appear deeply troubled by a dark plot they label the "gay agenda."