Free Republic

<p>In a sparkling silver dress, the homecoming queen at J.M. Tate High School in Cantonment, Fla., stood on the football field on a brisk evening in late October to accept her crown.</p><p>But among the students, whispers had already begun spreading about her victory. The homecoming queen had bragged for years about abusing the access her mother had to student records as an assistant principal in the same school system, witnesses later told investigators.</p>

James Bradley McCloughan watched as President Donald Trump placed the Medal of Honor around his father's neck, commemorating a series of selfless, heroic acts that saved the lives of fellow soldiers during the Vietnam War, As the president read the citation during the July 2017 ceremony, the son — a Michigan state policeman — heard for the first time the story of his father's bravery under fire. "It's something that you just don't bring up for two reasons," medal recipient James Charles McCloughan explained in an interview Thursday. "No. 1, you don't want to go there. You've been through it....

A year after “15 days to flatten the curve” began our lockdowns, we have enough data to answer the classic question about lockdowns: cui bono? (who benefits?) The answer is: as an individual, Jeff Bezos. His stock in Amazon, the single biggest beneficiary of lockdowns, is worth billions of dollars more than before the lockdown. As a group: educated professionals, able to work from home via Zoom and other internet-based services and able to afford home delivery. The Ace of Spades pungently summarizes: The general lockdowns weren't general lockdowns. As a friend said, we didn't have a lockdown, we had...

Last week, the Wall Street Journal broke what should be viewed as the top media story of the past decade… at least. In a story headlined Trump Call to Georgia Lead Investigator Reveals New Details, the Wall Street Journal published a verbatim transcript of a telephone call between President Trump and the chief election fraud investigator for the office of the Georgia secretary of state, Frances Watson. The alleged contents of this conversation had been part of the national conversation ever since January 9 when Washington Post reporter Amy Gardner published a story claiming, based on a single anonymous source,...

At the end of Donald Trump’s prime time interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo asked the former president about reports that ex-royal diva Meghan Markle is looking into running for the White House. “I am glad you came on to talk about all of the success that you had in your term because it certainly was significant,” she said. “As we wrap up here, Mr. President, what was your take on Meghan Markle now saying — meeting with Democratic operatives, she may want to run for president?” “Well, I hope that happens,” Trump replied. “Because if that happened, I...

The offend parents’ “sin” was that they opposed the schools’ efforts to force Critical Race Theory on their children. The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak came out with a blockbuster report about current and former teachers in Loudon County, Virginia, plotting via Facebook to infiltrate, hack, and dox parents in the school district who object to the district teaching Critical Race Theory (“CRT”). Dennis Prager did go far enough when he says public school education is child abuse; it’s adult abuse too. Just last week, Dennis Prager wrote again about how extraordinarily toxic public school is for American children. After pointing...

A man captured in South Georgia on Tuesday night is the suspect in three metro Atlanta massage parlor shootings that left eight people dead, authorities said. Robert Aaron Long, 21, of Woodstock, was first identified as the suspect in the shooting at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor in Cherokee County that left four people dead and one person injured, according to the Cherokee sheriff’s office. He was captured Tuesday night in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta. Complete details and photos here… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9369859/Four-people-shot-dead-two-spas-Atlanta-hours-three-killed-massage-parlor.html

Blomme called himself the “progressive alternative” to Walker’s appointee during his campaign, according to the Journal Sentinel.

Just when you think that wokeness could not become more absurd, it surpasses itself. A leaked document from the Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group recently revealed that the grave of Adam Smith—author of one of the most important books written in history, the Wealth of Nations (1776)—has been listed as a potential site to investigate on the basis that Smith allegedly accepted slavery as “inevitable.”

Top ‘o the mornin’ to everyone and may the spirit of St. Patrick be with you throughout this fine day.At Zephyr's recommendation today’s St. Patrick’s Day post is dedicated to Succotash and her Irish roots. I do hope that freedom and justice – indeed the roots of Western civilization – are still alive and viable here in America where many of us are proud to have some of those Irish roots. In order for them to thrive once more we too need to drive the snakes out of the country. It won’t be easy.The hard stuff never is, but once...

Washington(CNN)The US intelligence community said in a landmark report Tuesday that the Russian government meddled in the 2020 election with an influence campaign "denigrating" President Joe Biden and "supporting" former President Donald Trump, detailing a massive disinformation push that successfully targeted, and was openly embraced, by Trump's allies. Russia's objectives were not limited to hurting Biden's candidacy and aiding Trump's reelection bid, the report says, as US intelligence found that Moscow also sought to undermine "public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbate sociopolitical divisions in the US." Overall, the report released by the Office of the Director of National...

UPSTATE, S.C. (WSPA) – While driving around town you may have noticed an increase in street lights around the Upstate that are turning purple. 7 News’ Kristen Cheatam reached out to Duke Energy and they said this change in color is due to a manufacturer defect with their LED Lights. According to the statement, Duke Energy has been upgrading many of their older and less efficient lights with LED lighting over the past few years. Several hundreds of these white, street lights across the Upstate are now malfunctioning causing the lights to gradually turn deep purple. Other utility companies across...

Nothing exemplifies the madness of our times more than the fervent push since 2013 by therapists, educators, social workers, and journalists to poison, mutilate, and sterilize girls who have self-diagnosed themselves with the novel social-media-transmitted hysteria now known as rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). Hence, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier, an op-ed freelancer for The Wall Street Journal, is one of the most valuable (as well as sensible and lively) books of recent years. Shrier is terribly bright but not an academic: She brings a wise Jewish mother’s perspective to her advice for parents losing...

To understand the "Great Reset" that the translational globalists have in mind for us, it's helpful to imagine a zoo. Currently, transnational globalists are pushing for a “Great Reset.” It helps to understand what’s coming at us if you remember that the globalist’s mindset is akin to a zookeeper’s. Currently, the zookeepers have their animals safely confined but there remains a modicum of hope that the animals can liberate themselves. First some context. History is replete with ideologies that seek to save people either from themselves or a foreign contagion. Until recently, this impulse, as the 20th-century shows, has taken...

Although some studies have concluded that masks help stop the spread of COVID-19, usually they have failed to replicate real-world situations. A common approach is to evaluate the effectiveness of mask material at stopping the expulsion or intake of the aerosols presumed to be the airborne carriers of the virus. Useful information, perhaps, but at this stage, what we need to know is whether the widespread use of masks is measurably reducing the risk of death from the disease. To continue requiring the use of masks makes sense only if there is compelling data that death rates are lower for...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 5Psalm 5[a] For the director of music. For pipes. A psalm of David. 1 Listen to my words, Lord, consider my lament. 2 Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. 4 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. 5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; 6...

The Saudis have made it clear they will vigorously oppose any revival of the Iran nuclear deal and have openly hinted they could launch their own nuclear weapons program to counter Iran’s. The Biden administration has announced that it is “recalibrating” its relationship with Saudi Arabia to include cutting off arms sales, rehabilitating the Houthis in neighboring Yemen, and intentionally snubbing Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, widely known by his initials, MBS. Democrats in Congress and the media have long made a cause célèbre of the Saudi Crown Prince. They despise his ruthless crackdown on corruption, because he has centralized...

That old adage "we are all immigrants" has been bandied about with increasing frequency of late to support all manner of loosey-goosey immigration policies. The assumption seems to be that immigration is an unquestioned good. We are all immigrants, and look what wonderful people we are, so immigration is peachy for the country. We must have more of it! As with so many modern ideas, this one is founded on a canard. We all are most emphatically not immigrants. I'll start with me. I am a descendant of colonists turned revolutionaries. My ancestor Adam was thirteen when he joined the...

It’s just the flu, bro. Are there any public schools that have no masks and no social distancing? I know various states have eliminated their mask mandates but schools are often independent of state control (eg Texas school districts). The need to “protect the children” will be a narrative that will be difficult to overturn. Personally, I seek out activities for my children that have no protections for them from the deadly Coronavirus. - https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/16/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html Concerning variant blah blah blah experts say blah blah blah let’s not let our guard down blah blah blah

How do we tell who is contributing his "fair share" to our dynamic economy? Most Americans will be familiar with the phrase "blood, sweat, and tears" and have probably used it to describe their own contributions at some point. The phrase is commonly understood as hyperbole for determined effort, but, I believe, it also provides a useful, metaphorically graduated scale for measuring and ranking different types of economic contribution. With all the talk about "fair share" in current political discussions, I think it is useful to talk about the different ways we contribute to society through our economic activity. Without...