Free Republic

If only it were true. – The National Review went around the bend five years ago with its decision to push rank propaganda in opposition to the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, but every once in a great while it still publishes a piece worth reading. This morning is one of those rare cases. The Editors at TNR published a piece late yesterday titled “Anthony Fauci Has Worn Out His Welcome,” whose title is self-explanatory to some extent, although stopping short of exactly which audiences the Little Menace to Society has worn out his welcome with. It’s an interesting thought...

By draping itself in the finery of political activism, the corporatist class consolidates political power, corrupts democracy and distracts from its real functions. The British spy agency GCHQ is so aggressive, extreme and unconstrained by law or ethics that the NSA — not exactly world renowned for its restraint — often farms out spying activities too scandalous or illegal for the NSA to their eager British counterparts. There is, as the Snowden reporting demonstrated, virtually nothing too deceitful or invasive for the GCHQ. They spy on entire populations, deliberately disseminate fake news, exploit psychological research to control behavior and manipulate...

Progressives are becoming more enthusiastic about using race to allocate medical resources. Two years ago, we learned the story of Dr. Lara Kollab. During 2011–2013, while an undergraduate at John Carroll University, she tweeted many antisemitic comments, including: “I'll purposely give all the yahood [Jews] the wrong meds,” and “People who support Israel should have their immune cells killed so they can see how it feels to not be able to defend yourself from foreign invaders.” SNIP Recently, ten years after Dr. Kollab's undergraduate antisemitic tweets, Drs. Bram Wispelwey, a 2014 Ben-Gurion University medical school graduate, and Michelle Morse, a...

During the mid-14th Century, the Black Plague ravaged Europe, killing up to half the population by some estimates. Urban centers were hardest hit, but the plague didn’t discriminate -- rich and poor, nobles and peasants all suffered. Calamities of that magnitude inevitably lead to big changes. But, like the trade routes opened by Genghis Khan, the long-term societal consequences of the Black Death were not all necessarily bad. Because the continent held fewer people after the plague’s devastation, labor was in short supply. A limited labor supply meant that workers had greater bargaining power and could command higher wages. Frustrated...

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is a well-known phrase to many Americans. Thomas Jefferson famously enshrined it into the Declaration of Independence. What’s interesting about the addition of ‘happiness’ is the historical record is unclear of its precise meaning as Jefferson used it. The research center at Monticello -- Jefferson’s Presidential Library -- concluded the most logical guess is that Jefferson borrowed from George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights. Regardless of the source of inspiration, the pursuit of happiness begs several questions:What does it mean to be happy?How is happiness quantified?How do Americans set aside their political ideologies...

In their study, the prevalence of the South African strain among vaccinated individuals who were infected despite their inoculation was eight times higher than its prevalence in the unvaccinated infected population. Though the number of such infections among the vaccinated was relatively small, the findings indicated that this variant was far more successful in getting through vaccinated individuals’ defenses than other strains. “Based on patterns in the general population, we would have expected just one case of the South African variant, but we saw eight,” Prof. Adi Stern, who headed the research, told The Times of Israel. “Obviously, this result...

What a coincidence. The Biden administration is on the offensive against extremism. However, it is having trouble defining the term. The newly installed defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, has signed a memo ordering several "immediate actions," including military-wide "stand downs," to weed out "extremism" in the ranks of the military. Actions also included a review of and update to the DoD's definition of extremism and a review and standardization of the screening questionnaire — "[t]o solicit specific information about current or previous extremist behavior, and to clarify that any demonstrably false answers provided in response could form the basis for punitive...

Social distancing, mask mandates, and lockdowns have put civil society on ice. Church congregations either do not meet, “meet” in socially distancing congregations, or try to fellowship over video conferencing. Many schools are still closed, still trying to replace face-to-face learning with farcical “distance learning.” Public sporting events have been almost nonexistent. Many small businesses have gone under, and many of the survivors are struggling. Most remaining social interaction has been pushed to social media, which at its best is a weak substitute for face-to-face human interaction. Even ardent supporters of mask-wearing can’t deny that they stifle communication, verbal and...

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, a cartel controlling the multibillion-dollar college athletics business, may be painting itself into a corner. Probably because it is a creature of the higher education industry that has gone off the deep end in its commitment to far-left politics, the NCAA is taking an extreme position on transgenderism and apparently seeking a confrontation with the State of Florida if it passes a law currently under consideration that would limit participation in women’s sports to biological women. SNIP Florida appears to be the trigger for the NCAA’s statement and is the principal object of itss implicit...

Hyperinflation is starting to set in. Individuals who study history, economics and the present situation realize we are entering a period of out-of-control inflation. This will destroy the wealth of everyone but those who are able to raise the price of their labor/goods to match the market. Those who can't will perish economically. The very wealthy are obviously very aware of this. They are buying land/houses/goods which they can finance long-term knowing they will pay back those loans with inflated dollars, making the items they purchase extremely cheap. Or, some are buying every piece of land they can get their...

The Lord rules over all of creation with majesty and power. His laws govern the whole universe—all of nature, every nation and all the affairs of men. He rules over the seas, the planets, the heavenly bodies and all their movements. The Bible tells us: “He rules by His power forever; His eyes observe the nations” (Psalm 66:7). This Psalm was written by David, who is testifying, in essence: “Lord, your testimonies—your laws, decrees and words—are irrevocable. They are utterly reliable.” The author of Hebrews echoes this, declaring that God’s Living Word is eternal and unchangeable: “the same yesterday, today,...

“‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34). As Jesus forgave others (including us), we should extend forgiveness to those who wrong us. Jesus had a forgiving heart right up to the end, even after He had experienced a lifetime of mankind’s worst treatment. He came down to a world He had created, but that world rebuffed Him. Its inhabitants’ eyes were blinded by sin, and they could not see any beauty in Jesus. Almost immediately after His humble birth in a stable, King Herod sought to have Him killed (Matt. 2:13, 16-18). And...

In the race to save lives, the United States and England are winning. A stunning 47% of U.K. residents and 36% of U.S. residents have received at least one dose. Compare that with the European Union, where only 15% have gotten at least one jab. The U.S. and the U.K. are way ahead thanks to the brash nationalism of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former President Donald Trump. The U.S. is now vaccinating as many as 4 million people a day, and President Joe Biden has announced vaccines are plentiful enough that all adults will be eligible by May...

Dan Fogelman, creator of NBC’s hit drama This Is Us, says it was important that the network push the season 5 premiere up so audiences could see the Black Lies Matter and coronavirus themes he had “woven” into the show before the Election day. The season 5 opener and its first few episodes will reportedly focus on the hurtful words delivered during last season’s finale between the Pearson brothers, Kevin (Justin Hartley) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown). But during Friday’s panel discussion about the upcoming season, Fogelman said that he also shoved political charged themes into the first episode and...

Do you remember this tragic and horrendous story? It started on the afternoon of April 27, 2018, when a 28-year-old man in Nogales, Arizona, tried to rob a taxi driver. It eventually led to the murder of a police officer. The Federal Bureau of Investigation later explained what happened in its annual summary of cases involving law enforcement officers who are "feloniously killed" in the line of duty. "Earlier in the day, a person called for a taxicab, intending to rob the driver and carjack the vehicle using a .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle," said the FBI summary. "Once he was seated...

It’s surprising how the techniques for controlling worried cattle work just as well with humans who are nudged into fear. As I listen to pandemic program managers spouting COVID-19 bromides and watch their efforts to rush people into getting vaccinated, I’m transported back to the little mixed farm in Alberta, Canada, where I grew up. I saw the COVID-19 playbook in action over sixty years ago in barns and fields, but particularly the corrals, out behind the barn. SNIP Each fall we brought the cows — thirty-five or so — and their calves from the summer pasture, to the “home...

Sen. John Cornyn came under blistering attack from Washington Post scribe Aaron Blake for having wondered whether President Joe Biden is really in charge, since he's kept an extremely low profile with the press. Blake took after the senator for implying the Trump spin that old Joe has lost a few mental gears and is something of a "Manchurian Candidate." "It's a baseless and ugly bit of innuendo," Blake wrote. On Twitter, Cornyn linked to a Politico story in which writer Eugene Daniels noted: "The president is not doing cable news interviews. Tweets from his account are limited and, when...

A group of top Democratic Party pollsters are set to release a public statement Tuesday acknowledging “major errors” in their 2020 polling — errors that left party officials stunned by election results that failed to come close to expectations in November. In an unusual move, five of the party’s biggest polling firms have spent the past few months working together to explore what went wrong last year and how it can be fixed. It’s part of an effort to understand why — despite data showing Joe Biden well ahead of former President Donald Trump, and Democrats poised to increase their...

Arizona’s AG is arguing Biden's immigration policies are in violation of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) — because illegals keep littering as they hop the border. Mark Brnovich said he would force Biden to resume construction of the border wall and reinstate Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy until DHS has complied with NEPA’s requirement that federal agencies assess the environmental impact of major policy changes prior to their implementation. “I think it’s imperative that we do everything we can to try to address the crisis at our border, so I’m using the tools that I have in my toolbox,”...

The business world’s discrimination against anything “Trump” has reached an epidemic level, touching former aides to the president, anybody pictured near the Jan. 6 Capitol protest, and now those who endorsed him on social media posts. A new survey of hiring managers provided to Secrets found that backing Trump on social media is the top reason to reject a job applicant. The apparent reason: Human resources departments want to avoid “tiffs” between employees. “Likely to avoid future office tiffs, a significant portion of hiring managers admitted to negatively judging candidates based on the political content posted. For 27% of hiring...