Free Republic

... In so many ways, to read Jim Berry was to meet Jim Berry. "Berry's World," the syndicated single-panel feature that he drew for 40 years, beginning in 1963, was a remarkably steady stream of thoughtful observational humor that — like the unfussy art itself — rarely seemed to strain for the laugh. Each gag, as steady as a top golfer's approach shots, just "landed." Precision meets concision ... Mr. Berry died last Friday in Boynton Beach, Fla., at age 83 ...

...Although bread is one of the easiest, most reliable items for which to dumpster dive — it’s thrown away all the time, it’s dry, non-perishable, and relatively non-pathogenic — I also scavenge produce, chocolate, and flowers from the garbage. Sometimes it can be pretty icky; various slimes attend the decay of vegetables and fruit, and dumpsters are occasionally coated in unidentifiable goo.... Although I’m not by any means rich (after earning an expensive college degree, I am, like many of my generation, right back to where I started: in the service industry... But, you might protest, (as have many of...

Pope Francis toured through Naples on Sunday in his Popemobile and got quite a surprise from one man in the crowd. Local pizzaria owner Enzo Cacialli jumped over the barricade to hand the Pope a personalized pizza which he then accepted! Employees at Don Ernesto in Naples, Italy had heard that the Pope enjoys pizza, and misses having it served. So they prepared a special pie; a white and yellow pizza featuring yellow cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. In the YouTube video, owner, Cacialli can be seen climbing over a barrier, standing next to the Popemobile, and handing the Pope...

Watched the movie over the weekend and it is a very GOOD example of what libs think the world would be if they could have it their way.

I'm hoping to tap into the creative, talented and passionate people here at FreeRepublic. Please submit your ideas for campaign slogans, Bumper Stickers, Yard signs, T-shirts etc Slogans that you, me or others including the "Cruz for President" campaign may actually use.

Americans prefer the fictional commanders-in-chief found on television — even the corrupt or conniving ones such as “House of Cards’” Frank Underwood and “Scandal’s” Fitzgerald Grant — to President Obama, according to a new poll. A Reuters-Ipsos survey conducted this month finds while only 46 percent of those polled around the country have a favorable opinion of President Obama, a whopping 82 percent gave a positive rating to “The West Wing’s” President Josiah Barlet, played on the NBC show by Martin Sheen, and 89 percent approved of the job President David Palmer, played by Dennis Haysbert, did on Fox’s “24.”

<p>Bored after 18 years with her husband, Robin Rinaldi placed an ad seeking casual encounters with new men and women. She tells what happened on her yearlong sex odyssey in her memoir "The Wild Oats Project."</p> <p>I broke the news to Scott that I wanted an open marriage in early 2008, a few months after his vasectomy. “I won’t go to my grave with no children and four lovers,” I told him repeatedly. “I refuse.”</p>

A Bloomsburg (Pa.) University baseball player was dismissed from the team on Saturday after posting an offensive tweet about Little League World Series star Mo'ne Davis. The tweet was authored by Joey Casselberry, a junior first baseman who was the team's second-leading hitter at the time of his dismissal. It was in reference to Disney Channel's recent announcement of a movie based on Mo'ne Davis' remarkable story. And it was unquestionably offensive, to the point where Bloomsburg's athletic department had no choice but to act as it did.

DES MOINES — Authorities made a second arrest in the Hot Lotto ticket investigation Thursday night. The Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation and the Iowa Attorney General’s Office have charged Robert Clark Rhodes II, 46, of Sugarland, Texas, with two counts of fraud, according to a release from DPS. Both counts of fraud are Class D felonies. Iowa authorities arrested Rhodes in Texas March 20 with the help of Texas Lottery Enforcement officials, according to the release. He is being held on a $500,000 cash-only bond in the Fort Bend County Jail where he will await...

How the Medieval Ages paved the way for modern scienceScientific Development in the Medieval AgesNow we get into the medieval foundation of modern scientific thought. Contrary to common opinion, science was not “suppressed” as is the common understanding of this time period. Modern scholarship has brought about the reality that contrary to the common opinion, the Middle Ages actually is actually the root of modern scientific thought.Some of the most compelling arguments came from the medieval times. For example prior to the start of Christianity, and definitely from the time of the Middle Ages, there was a popular scientific consensus...

Former National Football League quarterback Fran Tarkenton says the prevalence of performance enhancing drugs likely played a role in the decision by San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland to quit football after playing professionally for just one year. "What this guy's really saying at 24, retiring after one year . . . and walking away because if he knows if he's going to continue for another 10 years, he's got to shoot himself up with PEDs that's going to do all kinds of bad things to him," Tarkenton told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV on Friday.

Author and scholar Reza Aslan, who just signed on to host a new series for CNN, says that average Iranians see the prospect of an agreement between the U.S. and Iran over that country’s nuclear program as an important step toward lifting sanctions and opening up their society.

What distinguishes him is his openly stated belief that blacks in America have been sold out by the very liberals who ardently claim to wish them most good. He regrets that affirmative action, multiculturalism and most welfare programs purportedly put in place to show racial preference, far from liberating black Americans, have failed to advance their fortunes... “Liberalism in the twenty-first century,” Mr. Steele writes, “is, for the most part, a moral manipulation that exaggerates inequity and unfairness in American life in order to justify overreaching public policies and programs.”... Speaking out about the false bargain that blacks have made...

IOTO, Japan — Dozens of aging U.S. veterans, many in their early 90s and some in wheelchairs, gathered on the tiny, barren island of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most iconic battles of World War II. More than 30 veterans flown in from the U.S. island territory of Guam toured the black sand beaches where they invaded the deeply dug-in forces of the island’s Japanese defenders in early 1945. They were bused to the top of Mount Suribachi, an active volcano, where an Associated Press photo of the raising of...

The headline on this op-ed piece in the Washington Post says it all: College applicant: I got in! But I can’t afford it. Was all my hard work for nothing? The author of the piece is a high-school senior in Lousiana who just got admitted to Tulane, so let’s cut her some slack here. But what does it say about the success of President Obama’s constant yammering about how college should be “free” (incrementally, of course, beginning with community college, but we’ve all seen this leftist movie before and know where it’s going)? A lot, is what: I am...

A Reassessment of the Medieval TimesThe Medieval era is perhaps one, if not the most misunderstood times in history. Ask people what they know of the medieval times, and most will tell you that they were a time of mere superstition, rampant barbarism and wars, oppression of women and minorities, scientific ignorance, totalitarianism, and a host of many other things.Nothing could be further from the truth, not in an era were reasonable thinking with scholasticism and Thomism were present, or the development of education, including that of the university system. An era were scientific development was starting out, and were...

The foundation of Education and the University during the Middle AgesAnti Catholic HistoryIt is the main point of this section to point out some of the contributions which the Catholic Church made specifically in regards to education and the University in the Middle Ages. Before I start this section I think it would be good to point out two simple facts regarding this time period. The first one is simply the fact that much of the history regarding this time period (at least until recent scholarship) was vehemently anti-Catholic which Hilaire Belloc points out in his book Europe and the...

Apple zealots are one thing, but Apple doomsayers might be worse. This week, on The Network: John Moltz wonders why we ever mixed church and tech. Stop me if you've heard this one: Apple is just like a relig— STOP. Yeah, you've heard it. Apple is just like a religion. And its customers are acolytes, steeped in the heady lore of the Church of Jobs blah blah blah. For certain pundits and commentators, this explains away everything they don't understand about Apple. Why it does so fabulously well, why its customers are so loyal, why the company is able to...

Americans want lower taxes and more government spending both at once, although their support for spending more tax dollars on health care has dropped dramatically. They’re likelier than ever to not feel connected to any particular religion, but no less likely to believe in God. And for the first time, most want to legalize marijuana. Those are among findings from the 2014 General Social Survey, which has been measuring trends in American opinion and behavior since 1972. …

Peter, an FBI agent stationed in Jerusalem who, while investigating a murder of a young female archaeologist, uncovers a conspiracy 2000 years in the making.