Free Republic

VIDEOIt might sound like a crazy question now but a year ago the idea that videos questioning election results would be banned by YouTube also sounded crazy. And now it is an Orwellian reality. All these bans by the YouTube "platform" seem to be leading to the ban, or at least demonetization, of videos that so much as even mention the U.S. Constitution. The ban might be a lot nearer than you think at the rate YouTube is going.

https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/12/Hanukkah-Dreidel.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=618&h=410&crop=1 Why did Hanukkah irk everyone from the late Christopher Hitchens, who memorably ­derided it as a “celebration of tribal Jewish backwardness,” to author Sarah Prager, who took to the pages of The New York Times recently to explain that she won’t be teaching her kids about it? Well, because Hanukkah is about as out of step with the contemporary elite consensus as any religious tradition can be. If you haven’t reviewed the story in a while, here’s how it goes. One fine day in 167 BC, a crowd of Jews was gathered in the town square of Modi’in, a...

There are two major theories as to why Christmas falls on December 25, Barber said, though the long and short of it is that Christians do not know for certain the exact birthday of Jesus. The first theory dates back to 1905, when German scholar Hermann Usener posited that December 25 was adapted by Christians as the date for Christmas because it had been the birthday of the sun god, Sol Invictus. According to Barber, Usener claimed that Emperor Aurelian established Sol Invictus “as the official god of the Roman empire in 274 and established his feast day as December...

A vast majority of Americans remain “confident” they are protecting themselves from the Chinese coronavirus by wearing masks, a Gallup survey found. The findings precede a Danish study that cast doubt on the efficacy of surgical masks and comes as experts emphasize the importance of social distancing. “Which of the following are reasons why you feel confident you are able to protect yourself in public?” the survey asked.

Wave of Evictions ComingThe federal ban on evictions expires in January. For millions that's when huge problems start.Prepare for a Wave of Evictions in January as Federal Ban Expires.Millions of U.S. renters face the prospect of eviction in January unless federal officials extend protections put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.That month is when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ban on evictions is set to expire. The moratorium protects tenants who have missed monthly rent payments from being thrown out of their homes if they declare financial hardship. The CDC ordered the halt on evictions under the Public...

Black Lives Matter activists are complaining about the lack of protection from law enforcement, despite actively calling for police departments to be defunded. At a "Defund the Police" rally in Washington D.C. on Sunday, BLM activists complained that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is not doing enough to protect them.

Many Catholics today already possess the intuition that there is a crucial link, so to speak, between Humanae Vitae and homosexuality. They can see how the severing of the unitive and procreative meanings of marital relations—and the reduction of marital relations to mere “sex”—paved the way for the ideologies of “orientation” and “gender” that generate so-called “sexual minorities” and “sexual identities.” Yet, the genie was let out of the bottle so long ago that most of us can no longer see just how glaringly obvious this connection really is. To get a glimpse, one needs to go back to the...

Popeyes is adding chocolate beignets to its menus nationwide for a limited time, starting Monday. The fried chicken chain only has one dessert on its menu permanently, but it’s trying to create more limited-time treats to lure customers to its stores. Beignets are a dessert staple in New Orleans, where Popeyes was founded.

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year is an embarrassment. Designed to acknowledge and document men, women and groups who’ve changed the world, historically it never promised to fill readers with warm and fuzzy feelings: Impact didn’t require good intentions, and didn’t necessitate good results.Over much of its 93-year history, world-changers like Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Soong Mei-ling, and Adolf Hitler held the title. Aside from being very different people with different codes and different legacies, these people didn’t win simply by virtue of not being the other guy; and for the lion’s share of their lives, for good or evil...

So the Treasury Department was “hacked” via a cyber attack. Common sense would tell us to get these critical government offices off of the internet so they can’t be hacked by anyone. Let’s be real. The federal government agencies, along with state and local agencies are generally dumber than a box of rocks when it comes to IT stuff. They always think they are the smartest in the room, when in fact they can’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag.

Joe Biden released a statement Monday remembering the December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary and declared gun violence a “national health crisis.” He wrote, “To the grandparents, parents, siblings, children, spouses, and fellow broken and healing hearts of Sandy Hook, I know. No matter how long it’s been, every time you talk about it, you relive it as though you just heard the news. Eight years later, I know the pain never fully heals.”

Snoop Dogg says he believes women rappers shouldn’t rap about their anatomy or sexuality. During a recent interview with Central Ave, he gave his honest thoughts about Cardi B’s hit song “WAP,” which features Megan Thee Stallion. Apparently, he thinks it’s too explicit. “Oh my God. Slow down. Like, slow down. And let’s have some imagination,” Snoop said of the song lyrics. “Let’s have some, you know, privacy, some intimacy where he wants to find out as opposed to you telling him.” The Doggfather says Cardi should “slow down” when discussing her privates because he feels like they are something...

MELBOURNE, Australia — A paper published by the Chicago, Illinois-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has estimated that China has 350 nuclear warheads, significantly more than that estimated by the U.S. Defense Department.The report, written by Hans Kristensen, the director at the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, and Matt Korda, a research associate at FAS, arrived at the number by counting both operational warheads and newer weapons “still in development.”These weapons include hypersonic missiles, silo-based and road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, and their submarine-launched equivalents, bringing the total number of nuclear warheads to more that the “low...

The below free libertarian novels are presented in alphabetical order by author, and include explicit libertarian themes like the defense of private property, gun rights, individual choice, and free markets.

Axios published a yearlong investigation last week about an alleged Chinese spy who developed ties to politicians at both the local and national level between 2011 and 2015, including with Congressman Eric Swalwell, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. “Through campaign fundraising, extensive networking, personal charisma, and romantic or sexual relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors, [Christine] Fang was able to gain proximity to political power, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials and one former elected official,” Axios reported. Federal investigators had to step in and give Swalwell a briefing about Fang, after which he “cut...

Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Long lines formed Monday as in-person early voting for a pair of U.S. Senate runoff elections began in Georgia with control of the upper chamber hanging in the balance. Hundreds of voters were queued early in the day at the main Cobb County polling site in Marietta, Ga., where officials said wait times of two hours were expected, WSB-TV reported. Long lines were also observed in Gwinnett County in suburban Atlanta. Such runoff races usually generate low voter interest, but because of the national ramifications of the races, record turnout is expected for the Jan. 5...

The Cleveland Indians shocked their fans by announcing the historic team will be changing its name. Fans of the 105-year-old team have been loyal through times of heartache when losing seasons were all that were on the horizon. Fans Outrage Over Cleveland Indians Name Change That loyalty was crushed as fans took to social media to express their outrage. Some fans called the move a betrayal while others stated they will never attend games after a name change.

Protesters tore down and burned a Black Lives Matter sign and banner at two historic black churches during Saturday evening's rallies as supporters of President Donald Trump and counterprotesters clashed in Washington, D.C. Police said Sunday they were investigating what appeared to be potential hate crimes at Asbury United Methodist Church and Metropolitan A.M.E. Church where a BLM banner and sign were torn down, The Associated Press reported. “We take these offenses seriously and we are currently investigating them as possible hate crimes,” a D.C. spokesperson told WTOP News. Videos posted on social media showed a crowd of men taking...

Dershowitz said the social media giants are acting as platforms while also acting as publishers, which he said is “not fair” because they have both censorship and immunity. “Facebook says we don’t like this, and Twitter says we don’t like attacks on Hunter Biden. And once you act as a publisher, you’re a publisher. You know what it means — I mean, you are a publisher. And you can be sued because you’re a publisher,” Dershowitz told host John Catsimatidis. “But they are platforms. They can’t be platforms at the same time and act like publishers. They should have to...

NEW YORK — A Bible-toting gunman who opened fire at an open air a cappella Christmas choral event, held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, was shot dead by police on Sunday after shouting “Kill me!” according to eyewitnesses. Images captured by Reuters show moments from the deadly standoff, including pictures of the gunman, New York Police Department Officers, and frightened onlookers running away and huddling at the scene. “Our Carols for the Community event this afternoon was interrupted by an armed individual, who set off a round of gunfire into the air from our front...