Free Republic

Why was Argentina once wealthy? What caused Argentina’s economic decline? Is Javier Milei fixing things? Summarise the video This video explores the "Argentine Paradox"—how a nation that was one of the wealthiest in the world at the turn of the 20th century transformed into a cautionary tale of economic decline, hyperinflation, and political instability. Key Highlights: The Golden Age (1880–1914): Driven by massive exports of beef and grain to Britain, alongside heavy foreign investment and European immigration, Argentina boasted the world's highest GDP per capita by 1895 (0:41, 3:02). Structural Fragility: The economy remained overly dependent on agricultural commodities and...

5 September 2026 Saturday of week 22 in Ordinary Time St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish - Timbao, Biñan City, Laguna, Philippines Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First reading1 Corinthians 4:6-15What do you have that was not given to you?Take Apollos and myself as an example and remember the maxim: ‘Keep to what is written.’ It is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if...

Migrants in the North African Spanish enclave of Ceuta were captured on video hitting a young dolphin and possibly killing it while celebrating. Video circulating online shows a group of men and boys triumphantly lifting what appeared to be a baby bottlenose dolphin calf above their heads as onlookers gleefully cheered. The dolphin swam too close to shore when a group of men allegedly pulled it from El Trampolin beach. The celebration appeared to enrage local residents, who tried to stop the group's actions during a confrontation. One of the men reportedly struck the dolphin with a stick, mortally wounding...

Thirty years ago last month, Congress replaced the open-ended Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlement, the largest state-run, federally funded cash welfare program, with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant. This imposed stricter fiscal discipline on states running TANF, but Congress failed to extend similar restraints to other programs. Consequently, many states circumvented TANF’s budget constraints by shifting spending and enrollment to other, still open-ended entitlements. Following the 1996 welfare reforms, states moved some recipients off TANF and onto the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Today, state legislators are shifting costs onto federal taxpayers by...

At first glance, Magdeburg may seem an unlikely stage for a political upheaval of international significance. But this weekend, the city of only about 244,000 people will be at the center of an election that could leave a far-right party in control of a German state for the first time since World War II. Magdeburg is the capital of the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt — where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is hoping to rise to power in Sunday's state election. Supporters and opponents of right-wing populist movements across Europe and beyond are watching closely to see if...

Federal authorities apprehended several illegal aliens amid an investigation into alleged fraudulent use of stolen identities and Social Security numbers in Tennessee. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provided Border Hawk with photographs and details on the suspects, who were arrested on Aug. 4. All three individuals are Guatemalan nationals who were already under final orders of removal from the U.S. Magdalena Gomez-Garcia is accused of stealing the identity of a New York resident and using it to work for a local employer in Tennessee. The victim realized the wages were being attributed to her Social Security number, forcing her to...

The desperate attempts by Democratic leaders to win back the traditionally loyal Hispanic vote lost in the 2024 election have encountered a serious obstacle from within the party: the overwhelming rise of socialism. The fact is that Latino voters have shown the greatest resistance for years to this political ideology, which many have experienced firsthand or through their elders before arriving in the U.S. For example, according to a report by The Hill, a Democratic strategist from The Sunshine State said that "socialism is a nonstarter in places like Florida, where there are big swaths of Hispanic voters."

I just asked copilot (AI) " just the stats. what percent of conservative women are on mental health medications vs liberal women?" It's for ages 18 to 29. Apparently, that's the only age group a formal released study has been done for. I then asked about men. I always knew liberal women were crazy, but it's kind of shocking seeing it in numbers. Liberal men: 33.6% diagnosed with a mental‑health condition Conservative men: 16.3% diagnosed with a mental‑health condition

Till depth do us part! An extremely gutsy bride had a truly “wet wedding” — wading down the aisle of an utterly inundated church before tying the knot in the Philippines on Tuesday. Newlyweds Gilbert Chico and Liean Liza Chico got hitched at St. John the Baptist in Hagonoy, Bulacan, despite heavy rainfall that completely saturated the province this week, causing waist-high water to swamp the sanctuary, according to Viral Press. “We had been looking forward to this day for so long, and we did not want the rain and flooding to stop us from getting married,” said the lovebirds....

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv, the Kremlin said Saturday, as U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow to try to revive a stalled push to end Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days, starting at midnight today," presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russia's Tass news agency. He said the decision was tied to preparations for Witkoff and Kushner's planned visit to the Ukrainian capital, which Kyiv has said will take place on Sunday. Peskov also confirmed that Kushner...

The revolution is getting a real-estate glow-up! The New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is ditching its dingy Lower East Side headquarters and spending $22,000 a month on two new offices — in Midtown and Bed-Stuy. Co-chair Grace Mausser broke the news to her comrades at a recent meeting, as she presented the chapter’s budget — while also making the case for giving embattled co-chair Gustavo Gordillo and herself $95,000 salaries each. The new Manhattan office is in a 14-story building on West 35th Street in Hudson Yards, complete with a doorman, 24/7 security and furnished...

Tens of thousands of people participated in demonstrations across Spain this week to express solidarity with the North African enclave of Ceuta and to criticize the central government’s management of a large-scale migrant influx that began in late July. The rallies, called by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, took place on Ceuta Day and occurred in the enclave itself as well as in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza, Bilbao and numerous other cities. The protests follow a massive invasion of the enclave in late July. Between July 30 and 31, authorities recorded approximately 72,000 people crossing from Morocco...

ransomnote: The prior posts in the series are here: John “TIG” Tiegen @TigTiegen: 12 DAYS OF BENGHAZI [Introduction and Day 1 of the 12 day series]John “TIG” Tiegen @TigTiegen: 12 DAYS OF BENGHAZI [Day 2 and Day 3 of the 12 day series]John “TIG” Tiegen @TigTiegen: 12 DAYS OF BENGHAZI [Day 4 of the 12 day series] John “TIG” Tiegen @TigTiegen12 DAYS OF BENGHAZI:DAY 5By the summer of 2012, Benghazi was trying to look like a city moving toward democracy.Libya was having its first national election in more than 40 years on July 7, and on paper that looked like...

President Trump called the US-Iran conflict "small potatoes," comparing the six-month long conflict to the Vietnam War. The commander-in-chief pushed back at a reporter who criticized his downplaying of the Iran war, telling her she "wouldn't be standing here very long" because the Islamic Republic would've used a nuclear weapon.

The United Nations General Assembly on Friday endorsed a new world map that represents Africa more accurately in its larger size, a culmination of a recent campaign led by African countries and advocacy groups. Friday’s resolution, which was sponsored by Togo and backed by members of the African Union, was passed with 164 member states voting in favor. Only the US voted against it while six other countries — Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine — abstained. The vote encourages governments and institutions around the world to replace the traditional Mercator map, commonly used since the 16th Century, with...

I don’t know if the United States will survive in a form recognizable to my generation.Age may, and often does, weaken obstinacy, by the revelation, at seventy-odd years, that most human things do not matter. — BolithoIn Nevil Shute’s 1948 novel, No Highway, flights of the transformational Reindeer airliner keep crashing. No one can determine the cause. Then an eccentric boffin, Dr. Scott, suggests a brand-new theory: Metal fatigue at the subatomic level causes the tailplane to separate. Everyone thinks he’s nuts, until his theory is proved and he is exonerated. In ’48, metal fatigue was a novelistic device invented...

A long-forecast civilizational struggle increasingly plays out not in the Middle East but in Western countries themselves. Published in 1996, Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations predicted that, with the end of the Cold War, global conflict would center on the divide between Islamic and Western civilizations. Thirty years later, however, and a quarter-century after 9/11, the principal fault line runs through Islam itself, separating two ideological worlds. Within Western diaspora communities, Islam has become intertwined with Third-Worldism and postcolonial theory, both of which see Western imperialism as the great evil of the modern era. Meantime, much of the Middle East...

Two gay men from Tucson, Arizona, were gunned down outside a gay bar in the city this week. The alleged shooter is a Muslim immigrant from Gambia. The victims, Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara, were reportedly members of Antifa and advocated for open borders.

Saw her perform last night in front of 70 people. Gracious enough to talk to each of us individually beforehand. She's touring and I don't think the word has gotten out, otherwise the place would have been packed. Let's hope she appears at the mid-term convention.

Coincidentally? Prophetically? Providentially? Whatever the right word may be, the headline for NRLC President Carol Tobias column is “Pro-lifers offer an antidote to cultural madness.” This particular instance of cultural madness took place over a week ago, and I’ve just learned of this viral outrage. Calling herself “Moraa,” this attention-starved woman posted an Instagram guaranteed to get clicks. It included typical baby announcement objects, only it was not a celebration of an impending birth but the declaration that she’d had an abortion! (Picture on link) “The unapologetic advisory — made complete with itty-bitty infant shoes, alphabet blocks spelling ‘B-A-B-Y’ and...