Free Republic

Every year, I offer you my predictions for the coming trip around the Sun, and every year, I’m mostly wrong. Oh well. Except for my Kelly Turnbull books, I don’t pretend to be Nostradamus, and in those books, I don’t want to be Nostradamus, but unfortunately, I have been. The same is true of my new novel about a terrorist attack on America! I want to be wrong. In any case, if you predicted I would be selling my books, you got that right. I wish I could say I think 2024 will be great for our country, but I...

Here is my question. Was the North intending to end slavery to make growing cotton in the South untenable for the plantation owners in order to bankrupt them so that the Northern Textile barons could take over the land? I know the South seceded because the North was trying to end slavery, which would have raised the cost of growing cotton because the plantation would now have to pay wages, instead of trading labour for bodily needs. This likely was not an affordable option for the landowners, because the North was not going to pay a penny more for cotton...

Today we celebrate the 13 original states seceding from the Union and forming a confederacy. (Articles of Confederation.)

There is nothing stranger in American history than the up-and-down reputation of Ulysses S. Grant. Grant, who was born April 27, 1822, was the commanding general who ended the Civil War. He managed the great campaigns that captured Vicksburg and Richmond, saved Chattanooga, and compelled the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the main Confederate field army, and did it so well that President Abraham Lincoln apologized for not showing him enough confidence. Grant’s “Personal Memoirs,” published after he died in 1885, are a landmark of 19th-century American prose. Grant may be a greater example even than Lincoln of the...

Pittman replied, "And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort of tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional." Pittman did not respond to request for comment from TIME to clarify his remarks.

A statue of young Abraham Lincoln has been splashed with red paint with the words 'COLONIZER' and 'LAND BACK' written below it in Chicago. The statue, which has stood in the Edgewater neighborhood since it was donated to Senn Park in 1997, also had the words 'Dakota 38' written on it. Dakota 38 refers to Lincoln's ordered execution of 38 Sioux, who were publicly hanged for participating in the Sioux Uprising in the US-Dakota War of 1862 in Minnesota.

Like the disastrous Bernie Madoff debacle where investors lost millions of dollars, Sam Bankman-Fried has apparently cost investors like Steph Curry, Shaq and Tom Brady considerable sums as well. What do Bernie Madoff and Sam Bankman-Fried have in common? Greedy investors who apparently didn’t bother to monitor what was going on. Yes, had they monitored FTX, Bankman-Fried’s company, they would have noticed that FTX held less than $1bn in liquid assets against $9bn in liabilities. Generally, with buyer beware, the onus falls on investors to monitor what is going on. But The Fed’s completely dropped the ball on Bernie Madoff...

The rumors keep flying that Putin has cancer and has a maximum of three years to live. The stories are claiming he is ‘losing his eyesight’ but all of this is unconfirmed coming from reports in recent weeks that have suggested the 69-year-old president’s health has been deteriorating quickly. Much of this propaganda from Ukraine has been talking about a coup and all sorts of stuff. They are desperate to portray Putin will be overthrown as if this will stop the war – no way! Our model does not show that Putin will run again in 2024. That year will...

Germany has reportedly supplied Kiev forces with thousands of anti-tank mines on the hopes of slowing down the advance of the Russian military in Ukraine. In a report released on May 17, Der Spiegel revealed that Germany sent 1,600 DM-12 PARM and 3,000 DM-31 anti-tank mines to Ukraine over the last few weeks. The German-made DM-12 off-route anti-tank mine, which is mounted on a small tripod, fires a fin stabilized rocket with an effective range of 2 to 40 meters and the ability to penetrate 600 millimeters of armour. The mine incorporates an arming delay of five minutes. It can...

Seeing Russia invade Ukraine, historically neutral Finland has undergone a late conversion and decided to join NATO immediately. Why? Because NATO membership means the world's strongest power, the United States, under Article 5 of NATO, would go to war against Russia, should it cross Finland's border. Nervous about Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions, Finland wants America legally and morally bound to fight Russia on its behalf, should Putin invade Finland as he invaded Ukraine. From the Finnish point of view, this is perfectly understandable. But why would the United States consent to go to war with Russia, the largest nuclear...

f you want to know how the war is going in Ukraine, you only needed to take note of one piece of “news” today–Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called his Russian counterpart:US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with his Russian counterpart for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon announced on Friday.The call lasted approximately an hour and was at the request of Austin, who used the first call between the two in 84 days to urge Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to implement an “immediate ceasefire,” according to a brief readout of the call. The...

An American family set off a bomb scare at Israel’s main airport when they showed security inspectors an unexploded shell that they found while visiting the Golan Heights and had packed for their return trip, authorities said.

In February, Lebanese journalist Mohammed Shoaib was arrested on suspicion of collusion with Israel’s Mossad spy agency. The writer who worked for Al-Jaras, confessed that the notorious spy agency secretly paid him to author “dozens” of anti-Hezbollah articles, receiving a paltry $30 to $70 per article. In particular, Shoaib was tasked with writing hit jobs on the “Iranian occupation” of Lebanon, and falsely linking Hezbollah with the August 2020 Beirut port blast, drug trafficking, and murder of political activists. It is also alleged that Mossad specifically requested his work incite hostility towards Palestinian refugees in the country who number almost...

Ulysses S. Grant, original name Hiram Ulysses Grant, (born April 27, 1822, Point Pleasant, Ohio, U.S.—died July 23, 1885, Mount McGregor, New York), U.S. general, commander of the Union armies during the late years (1864–65) of the American Civil War, and 18th president of the United States (1869–77).

@matt_boose Mark Levin going on about how “America First” conservatives who oppose intervention in Ukraine actually “hate America”. Truly awful to see neocon shills try to co-opt the Trump movement.

Ward 8 councilman Trayon White Sr., who is challenging incumbent mayor Muriel Bowser in the Democratic mayoral primary, teamed up with the Coke-bottling company and grocery chain last week to host the cleanup day for Oxon Run, a stream located in White’s ward.White’s fraught relationship with the Jewish community dates back to at least 2018, when he claimed that wealthy Jews used "climate manipulation" to cause bad weather in D.C. and donated $500 in community funds to sponsor a conference by infamous Jew-hater Louis Farrakhan.The event raises questions about why such prominent brands would partner with a political leader who...

The Tennessee GOP removed a Trump-endorsed candidate from the ballot in the state’s 5th District primary on Tuesday, highlighting a rift between the former president and Republican leaders in the state. The party’s State Executive Committee voted to bar Morgan Ortagus, who served as Donald Trump’s spokeswoman in the State Department, and two other people from competing in the primary, ruling that they failed to meet the definition of “bona fide” Republicans under the party’s bylaws

Asked if the U.S. should send troops to fight beside the Ukrainians, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Sunday the time may have come. Russian President Vladimir Putin "will only stop when we stop him," said Coons. "We are in a very dangerous moment where it is important that ... we in Congress and the administration come to a common position about when we are willing to go the next step and to send not just arms but troops to the aid in defense of Ukraine." "If the answer is never, then we are inviting another level of escalation in brutality...

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov spoke by telephone with Hamas Politburo chief Ismail Haniya. According to Haniya Lavrov, he praised Hamas' position "against American hegemony", condemned Israel's use of "excessive [sic] force" against civilians and expressed reservations about the normalization between Arab states and Israel. In the Russian version it did not appear...

All rational Americans agree that we shouldn’t get involved in the Russia-Ukraine War. The neocon warmongers with brain dead Biden as their figurehead want to destroy Russia, and they are willing to risk nuclear war to do it. But this doesn’t negate what I’ve just said. These monsters are anything but rational. But speaking of monsters leads to another question. Everybody knows John Quincy Adams’s line: “America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” Is this the reason we should stay out of the Ukraine war? Is Putin a monster, bringing death and destruction to innocent people, but...