Free Republic

They were so young, the folks who invented America. James Madison, on July 4, 1776, was 25. James Monroe was 18, Alexander Hamilton, 21, Marquis de Lafayette, 18, Aaron Burr, 20, Betsy Ross, 24, Gilbert Stuart, 20. Ben Franklin, of course, was much older, grander and world famous. But he was the only one. Europeans, peering across the ocean at this new place — this America — wondered why, after 200 years, the American colonies (and now the new American nation) had produced no other men of Franklin's stature, no world class intellectuals, no military geniuses, no great poets or...

The orchestrated attack on Diana West’s important book, American Betrayal, has been brutal and unseemly, but in one respect at least it has served a useful purpose. This lone positive angle--counter-intuitive at first glance--is that her iconoclastic Cold War history has sparked a barrage of charges about “McCarthyism” and the senator from Wisconsin who gave his name to a decisive epoch in America’s long death struggle with the Kremlin. As is well-known, “McCarthyism” was an alleged focus of political evil in the 1950s: accusations of Communist taint, without any factual basis; bogus “lists” of supposed Communists who never existed; failure...

Berlin wants a deal with the US that prohibits trans-Atlantic spying, but Washington seems uninterested. Last summer, German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised her citizens a pact which would prohibit US spying on German citizens. But since then, Washington has shown little interest in pursuing such a treaty. Now, officials in Germany fear the deal is dead... But the statements coming out of Berlin and Pullach, where the BND is headquartered, reek of forced optimism. Nobody wants it to look as though efforts have been abandoned toward a deal which would see the US agree to swear off spying operations in...

WASHINGTON - Confirming the suspicions of many, the United States has been secretly run by a shadow government of German Nazi space aliens since 1945, Fars News Agency, Iran's semi-official news agency, reported on Sunday. In a dramatic scoop, Fars— in all seriousness— reported that revelations of mass NSA surveillance made public by Edward Snowden were actually an effort by the American-Nazi extraterrestrials to hide their nature to a human world they hoped to dominate. The Iranian outlet suggests Snowden offered Russian intelligence officials "incontrovertible proof" to support the claims— and that Russia considers the report to be "accurate." Aliens...

As Russia prepares to strut its stuff before the world at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the economic foundation of Russian power and prosperity is crumbling, thanks to a strategic weapon developed by the United States. That weapon is fracking, and it is paying havoc with Russia's ability to exercise power on the world stage. Three articles lay out the devastating consequences of this technological revolution developed mostly not by a national laboratory, huge government initiative, or top scientists, but by guys out in the Texas and Oklahoma oil patches. The American Interest sums it up most pithily: North America's shale...

USA's women's 2014 Olympic team members Erika Brown, Debbie McCormick, Jessica Schultz, Ann Swisshelm, & Allison Pottinger made a spoof video of the YouTube viral hit, "What does the fox say" by changing it to "What the skip say." The skip in curling is the captain and often is known for intense yelling to his/her sweepers. Words most often used include hurry, hard, whoa, right off, yes, yep. The video was shot in Scotland and created by Matt Gamboa for USA Curling.

India's tough measures against United States diplomats following the arrest of a senior Indian diplomat in New York has impacted US Ambassador Nancy Powell who called off her travel to Nepal after her special privileges were withdrawn. Powell, who had informed the government here about her travel plans to Nepal, cancelled her visit after airport pass which gave her special access to various procedural checks at the airport stood withdrawn as India downgraded privileges and benefits to US diplomats in sharp retaliation to the arrest of its Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade. Only the ambassador's airport pass came with a...

Reflecting on this evening of the great feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, I am mindful of the first reading we had today from the book of Revelation the 12th chapter. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth. Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems....

The Apollo astronauts used several types of cameras during their missions. Most of the classic images published in magazines of the day were taken by 70 mm Hasselblad cameras, but astronauts also used 35 mm Nikon cameras, a multispectral camera, a stereoscopic camera, and a Hycon Lunar Topographic camera. Both black and white and color film were used; however since that time, some color film has had to be digitally restored to correct for fading and other effects of agingUntil now, these film products have resided in cold storage or have been shelved and archived at NASA data repositories. Access...

Just saw a report on the news about China going to the moon....and it came to mind.... The Chinese economy is expanding, they're sending rockets to the moon (albeit unmanned), and China is flexing military muscle. China recently hosted an economic conference with a number of nations. Not there? The occupant of the Oval Office. Sounds like the USA 40 years ago or so...

Peshawar, The lawyer of the Dr Shakeel Afridi escaped from the Pakistan and run in Dubai on Wednesday. Unknown people threaten him because of the counseling of Dr Shakeel Afridi. Who’s behind the prison in the linked with Lashker Islam (Banned organization) in Khyber agency (tribal area of Pakistan). The lawyer for a Pakistani doctor – Shekel Afridi – who helped the US to track down Osama bin Laden has fled the country after receiving threats from militants, relatives said. Lawyer Sami Ullah Afridi went abroad after militants threatened to blow up his car and kill his family, a relative...

Exclusive: Greg Laurie sees U.S. going way of Israel, punished by God with takeover. I think that our culture in the United States seems to be turned upside down. It seems that, in the perception of many, what was once considered good is now perceived as bad. What was once perceived as bad is now thought of as good. We even see this reflected in our use of words. A long time ago, people used expressions like “holy smoke” or “hunky dory.” My generation said things like “Far out, man!” and “Whoa, that is really heavy!” And one word that...

Going into the shopping season, any ideas for Christmas gifts that inspire patriotism -- for kids 6-12 years?

An Iran secure in relations with US could have a positive impact on a number of regional issues, but the Sunni world could fall out of Washington's orbit. Washington feels triumphant but has a superpower ever struck a deal like this, in defiance of its most closely affected allies? The United States is still, despite recent debacles, the global hegemon. Ignoring the pleas of allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia is just one of those things a superpower can do if a president wants to put a diplomatic achievement in the White House column marked "legacy". But for Sunni Arab...

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Today, the United States -- together with our close allies and partners -- took an important first step toward a comprehensive solution that addresses our concerns with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program.

Even as the first Indian spacecraft to Mars hovers around Earth to zip off into space this month-end, scientists are agog about the latest Mars-bound visitor; an object that could be our orbiter’s companion of sorts there next year. NASA on Monday shot off MAVEN, its 21st Mars venture, directly towards the planet from Florida. Assuming that controllers at ISRO put their Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) also on that track by December 1, MOM is due to arrive around Mars on September 24, 2014, two days after MAVEN would have. It could arguably be a rare tango of two separate,...

And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?(Daniel 4:34-35)I believe that the God of...

An internet security specialist says that Stuxnet, the computer malware that targeted Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010 and widely attributed to Israel and the US, has spiraled out of control and attacked a Russian nuclear plant and the International Space Station.

IRGC and the spiritual vacuum of Latin American leftists The following is a glimpse of the kind of thing I often see while researching the activities of the IRGC (writ large) in Latin America. Communism fails to provide for the spiritual needs of leftwing political activists, and the Islamic Republic of Iran seems to have done a pretty good job of inserting themselves and the Khomeinist version of Shiism into that void. (Either that or the IRI is throwing lots of money around and the leftists are whores, which is certainly possible, but for the moment I'll take the more...

The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season is an ongoing annual cycle in tropical cyclogenesis. It is the first Atlantic hurricane season since 2002 to feature no hurricanes through the month of August. The season officially began on June 1 and will end on November 30. The first tropical cyclone of the year, Andrea, developed on June 7 in the Gulf of Mexico. This season continued a pattern of unusually early starting hurricane seasons – the first named storm of a season typically forms around July 9. Below average activity continued afterwards into October. The strongest tropical cyclone of the season thus...