Free Republic

after this, you’ll welcome obstacles “The general principle of antifragility, it is much better to do things you cannot explain than explain things you cannot do.” – Nassim Taleb“Being an entrepreneur is an existential, not just a financial thing.” – Nassim Taleb“They have turned the wolf into a dog and man himself into the man’s best domesticated animal.” – Friedrich Nietzsche  The ideas in this post have been the most transformative in my life over the last couple years. I avoided writing about them because I didn’t feel I could. Finally, I feel that I’ve internalized, tested, and understand them...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the improbable current front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, is lying to the American people when he tell us that “democratic socialism” simply means he wants to give the vast majority of Americans new opportunities to succeed and wants millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes. In fact, my extensive research on comments Sanders has made going back decades shows he has warmly embraced not just socialism but communism, and praised tyrannical dictatorships that have trashed the freedoms Americans enjoy under the Bill of Rights that are part of our Constitution. Sanders is not...

The Talk Shows March 1st, 2020 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Vice President of the United States Mike Pence; Democratic presidential candidates Biden and Pete Buttigieg, dueling NOPEs. Dr. Joseph Fair, new NBC News / Marist polls from North Carolina and Texas. Panel: Robert Gibbs, Eddie Glaude, Jr., Peggy Noonan and Kristen Welker.FACE THE NATION (CBS): THIS WEEK (ABC): Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, geriatric Creepy and Socialist NOPEs*; Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. Panel: Chris Christie, Matthew Dowd, Heidi Heitkamp and Yvette Simpson.STATE...

Tens of thousands of refugees from Syria and other countries were massing on the Turkish borders with Greece and Bulgaria last night, hurling stones at guards and trying to cut through razor wire. An estimated 30,000 migrants gathered at checkpoints after Turkey’s president claimed to have ‘opened the doors’ to allow as many as 4 million asylum seekers to leave the country. Greek police closed border crossings and fired tear gas at large groups of migrants who tried to enter from Turkey yesterday, while pregnant women and children were among those making hazardous crossings by sea. One of the first...

Little Jimmy Dickens does our gospel tune today: They Locked God Outside the Iron Curtain (1952). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

The role slavery and cheap labour played in the foundation and vast wealth of the British Empire has been highlighted by a New York museum. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has redesigned its British galleries to illustrate how cultural traditions that sprang from the empire fitted alongside opulent wealth amassed from slave labour. The renovation cost roughly $22 million and has transformed the museum's exhibits of British decorative arts over a 400-year period. Through nearly 700 works created between 1500 and 1900, the suite of 10 galleries gives 'a fresh perspective' on Britain's entrepreneurial spirit and complex history.

French historians have demanded the return of Napoleon III in the wake of Brexit, whose remains lie in a tomb in Hampshire. The emperor, who was the final monarch to rule France before he died in exile in 1873, was laid to rest in a church in Farnborough. But historians in France are hoping to have his remains repatriated as part of a post-Brexit trade deal.

Conservatives and pro-life Americans regularly challenge many in the media for their biased coverage in favor of abortion. But, as it turns out, a well-known abortion supporter and media-beloved figure – Hillary Clinton – is unhappy with their reporting too.  Glamour magazine staff writer Jenny Singer recently spoke with the former Secretary of State in an interview published on February 19. The piece went largely unnoticed, even though it contained a big name and a controversial issue: Hillary Clinton and abortion. Among other things, Clinton stressed that the press “don’t understand” the importance of “reproductive health.”From the beginning of the...

Anxious shoppers have descended on California supermarkets, stocking up on supplies as Coronavirus panic grips the West Coast. The state has become a Cornoavirus hot spot, with more than half a dozen residents diagnosed with the disease in recent days. Late this week, two Northern California residents were revealed to be confirmed cases despite having no known contact with anyone else who was infected. State officials say they are bracing for similar cases of people contracting the disease from an 'unknown origin' and nervous locals are taking no chances.

She has previously urged female workers to channel their 'inner Wonder Woman' to take on the world – but now Meghan Markle could become the real deal. For the Duchess of Sussex wants to play a superhero in a blockbuster movie – and has told her agents to 'actively search' for a suitable role. Meghan has made no secret of her wish to return to acting as she seeks financial independence and has already reportedly signed a charity voice-over deal with Disney. The studio also owns Marvel and the rights to all its comic-book characters, which could pave the way...

Today’s cute CG is from The Arkansas Gazette. YFD CIT QJQ TRY CFJTD. JY MOC YRR MDY YR GUOV. CR MD COY JT YFD FRICD. OUU YFOY XRUQ, XRUQ, MDY QOV. —QE. CDICC You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general...

**SNIP** Such is the case for Harvey Weinstein, one of the richest men in Hollywood who, although he was found guilty of rape in the 3rd degree and criminal sexual assault in the 1st degree, has yet to arrive at prison on Rikers Island where he was ordered by a judge, instead taking a respite at Bellevue Hospital. Weinstein was apparently admitted to Bellevue because of high blood pressure, which is funny because that’s what writing this story about Weinstein has given me. However, unlike Weinstein, I am not trying to evade prison and as such do not need to...

Politicians are known for exploiting tragedy, and no party has perfected this art more than Democrats. From shootings (name one and there’s always a Democrat there seeking to exploit it) to plane crashes (Paul Wellstone) and memorials (Elijah Cummings), Democrats are the ambulance chasing lawyers of the political world. If something bad happens, there will be a Democrat there trying to use it to their advantage.  With the outbreak of COVID-19, AKA “coronavirus,” Democrats have crossed the line from opportunists to provocateurs - actively trying to manufacture panic to aid their 2020 prospects.There is no doubt coronavirus is a serious...

A 23-year-old woman who is taking legal action against an NHS gender clinic says she should have been challenged more by medical staff over her decision to transition to a male as a teenager. A judge gave the go-ahead this week for a full hearing of the case against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. Lawyers will argue children cannot give informed consent to treatment delaying puberty or helping them to transition. Keira Bell is one of the claimants and will give evidence in the judicial review, which is likely to be heard in early summer. The second claimant, known...

As we are all told, it is wrong, wrong, wrong to stereotype gay men as sexually insatiable and indiscriminate. If you have a negative or even somewhat critical view of gay male culture, you are not entitled to notice things like this Salon article. Excerpt: If you’ve ever pulled over to a rest area, you’ve been near men having sex. I’m one of those men, I’ve done it a hundred times; we go into the woods or a truck with tinted windows, in a stall under cold light. It never stops, not for season or time. In the winter, men...

PARIS—French Pres­i­dent Em­manuel Macron moved Sat­ur­day to pass his pen­sion over­haul with­out a vote in the leg­is­la­ture, seek­ing to brush aside tens of thou­sands of amend­ments filed by op­po­si­tion law­mak­ers to slow de­bate. snip The French con­sti­tu­tion al­lows the gov­ern­ment to pass leg­is­la­tion with­out the ap­proval of the As­sem­blée Na­tional, the main body of the French leg­is­la­ture. The move can only be blocked by a suc­cess­ful vote in the leg­is­la­ture on a mo­tion cen­sur­ing the gov­ern­ment. But that is un­likely to hap­pen since Mr. Macron’s party, Re­pub­lic on the Move, con­trols the leg­is­la­ture. snip Mr. Macron wants to es­tab­lish a...

After an appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy, a stand off at the US Mexico border. U.S. authorities said they closed the busy Ciudad Juarez-El Paso border bridge after more than a hundred mostly Cuban migrants tried to cross in response to the court ruling. Put in place just a year ago, the program - known as the Migrant Protection Protocols or MPP - has already forced nearly 60,000 people to be sent back to Mexico as they wait for hearings in immigration courts. There, they are vulnerable to kidnapping, rape, robbery and...

As Wuhan’s Coronavirus poses an increasing global threat, more and more experts from various countries have also cast more attention to the source of the new crown virus (COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2). In this scientific investigation on the mysterious origin of Coronavirus we explore the sources of New Coronavirus from five major areas, including epidemiological investigation, virus gene comparison, cross-species infection research, key “intermediate hosts” and the findings on the Wuhan P4 lab, to provide readers with a deep and completely scientific perspective. Two months have elapsed since the outbreak of New Coronavirus in Wuhan, but the scientific community’s knowledge is...

The United States would not be able to care for its millions of veterans if it becomes a socialist country, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) secretary cautioned Breitbart News at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday. Asked to make the case against socialism during an edition of Breitbart News Saturday, airing on SiriusXM 125, at the 2020 CPAC event, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie warned host and Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle: “If America were suddenly to descend into a socialists State, that promise [to take care of our veterans’ that [Abraham] Lincoln made [when he...

Canadian researchers are reacting with puzzlement to the news that a “policy breach” has caused the nation’s only high-containment disease laboratory to bar a prominent Chinese Canadian virologist, her biologist husband, and a number of students from the facility. On 5 July, officials at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, escorted Xiangguo Qiu, biologist Keding Cheng, and an unknown number of her students from the lab and revoked their access rights. The Public Health Agency of Canada, which operates the lab, confirmed it had referred an “administrative matter” matter to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but said it would not...