Free Republic

Here’s all you need to know about the Oscars ceremony that apparently took place last night somewhere in Hollywood. – The Academy gave its “best picture” award to a film about the homeless people in America called “Nomadland.” I didn’t watch a moment of the ceremony (didn’t even know it was being held last night until I was getting ready to go to bed, in fact), but I have no doubt at all that the person or people who went up to the stage to accept the award poured out their hearts with sympathy towards the homeless community. Yeah, that...

Green, green everywhere. Spring blooms are here: nascent lime green buds and tufts of emerald green grass—proffering glimpses of God’s enchanting creation—long hidden under snow.On the first day of Spring, my mother—an avid gardener—visited with a big smile and a small box of heirloom Rudbeckia and hollyhock seeds. “Do you have a rake and a watering can? Today would be a great day to plant!” Rain and sun nourished the soil and soon two small leaves pushed through the ground—boldly declaring an intent to become a lofty plant. (Rudbeckia reach 2-to-4 feet in height, depending on the variety, while hollyhocks...

Everybody says they hate “We Built This City.” But… everybody doesn’t — even if it really seems like they do. In 2004, Blender magazine and VH1 ganged up on “We Built This City” and placed it at No. 1 on their list of The 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever. In 2011, Rolling Stone’s readers named the Starship tune the worst song of the ’80s, and did so by a huge margin. GQ called it “the most detested song in human history.” In The New York Times, Stephen Holden called the album that spawned the song, Knee Deep in the Hoopla,...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., pushed back against the notion that the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice was merely a case of "suicide by cop," after Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, revealed at a hearing this was exactly how the FBI characterized it at the time. Paul was there at the time of the incident, during which Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., suffered a gunshot wound that resulted in serious injury and was nearly fatal. In a statement to Fox News, Paul rejected the idea that the attack was not politically motivated. "I was present at the baseball practice where a...

Despite increasing numbers of initial unemployment claims across the region, local business and industry leaders say the jobs are available but no one is applying for them. The 60 members of the Greater Rome Existing Industry Association report some 400-plus open positions but say additional federal unemployment benefits and stimulus payments give some possible candidates no incentive to work. “There are hundreds of jobs here, we just can’t find people to fill them. I was at the GREIA meeting this week and all manufacturers were saying the same thing,” says David Newby, President and CEO of Profile Custom Extrusion in...

Usually, the Federal Reserve acts as a counterweight when Congress and U.S. presidents follow inflationary policies. We haven’t had an incompetent Federal Reserve chairman since Arthur Burns and G. William Miller produced simultaneous inflation and recession, an economic malady known as “stagflation.” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell may not be as bad as Burns and Miller, but he does seem to be making one economic mistake after another. Like Miller, Powell is that rare exception: a Fed chair without a background in economics. Being an American today is a bit like riding on a bus driven by someone who lacks...

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- On 7 January 2020, John Andrews was the target of a “controlled delivery”. A controlled delivery is where contraband has been intercepted and is delivered to a suspect as part of a warrant for a search. Acceptance of the parcel containing the contraband is part of the necessary conditions for service of the warrant.The parcel in question was a solvent trap ordered from China. Solvent traps are not contraband.The warrant claimed the solvent trap was an illegal silencer. New York is one of only eight states where it is completely illegal to possess a silencer.Agencies present at the...

Following the "defund the police" movement and the "abolish the police" movement, constant negative coverage of law enforcement by the media, anti-police sentiment becoming mainstream, and the threat of riots have contributed to a police shortage across the country. The Philadelphia Police Department currently has 268 vacancies and is expecting even more shortages in the near future. "From Jan. 1 through Thursday, 79 Philadelphia officers have been accepted into the city's Deferred Retirement Option Program, meaning they intend to retire within four years, according to Mayor Jim Kenney's office," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. "During the same time period last year,...

In his lengthy address to the country on April 21, after numerous fatuous promises of enhanced social welfare programs, environmental protections, support for education, and the like — promises meant to divert attention from the genuine grievances behind the countrywide protests planned for that day — Putin proceeded to warn "organizers of provocations against the Russian Federation" against "crossing the red line in relation to Russia." As he continued, it became clear that the United States is included in these warnings, especially considering that the expulsion of ten American diplomats was to take place that same day. Putin appears to...

A basic rule of international relations is that you do not impose sanctions without an end state in mind. You also need to be able to muster strong international support by providing clear proof of the charges you are bringing. Does the U.S. have that support? When you levy charges against another country and then apply sanctions, there will invariably be pushback. The situation can easily escalate into a major crisis. Has Biden thought through his dealings with Russia and President Vladimir Putin? What does he intend to accomplish with the latest round of sanctions against the Russian Federation? In...

Fox News Poll: Biden approaches 100-day milestone As Joe Biden closes in on the 100-day mark of his presidency, a Fox News poll finds a 54 percent majority of voters approves of his job performance. That's lower than Barack Obama's 62 percent and George W. Bush's 63 percent approval at their respective 100-day points, but higher than the 45 percent Donald Trump received four years ago. There is an 81-point gap on approval of President Biden between Democrats (95 percent) and Republicans (14 percent). That’s even a bit wider than the 76-point partisan gap for former President Trump in April...

The Democratic Party is actively trying to start a race war in the United States, and George Bush thinks it's Republican voters who need lessons in humanity and fellowship. Bush is on the media circuit these days pushing amnesty (while calling it anything but!) for millions of foreign nationals who have entered the country illegally; lecturing Republican voters on being "more respectful about the immigrant"; and trying desperately to reclaim the Republican Party as the slightly less socialist wing of the Uniparty where neoconservative, offshoring, job-destroying, globalist-advancing, Chamber of Commerce–approved, multinationals-funded, (secret) limousine liberal, military-adventuring, surveillance state, Big Government devotees...

A humorous scoring of the GOP by the Lincoln Project and Never-Trump lunatic fringe who call themselves Republicans.Those who scored an A-rating:Senator Richard Burr Senator Bill Cassidy Rep. Liz Cheney Senator Susan Collins Rep. Anthony Gonzalez Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler Rep. John Katko Rep. Adam Kinzinger Rep. Peter Meijer Sen. Lisa Murkowski Rep. Dan Newhouse Sen. Mitt Romney Sen. Ben Sasse Sen. Pat Toomey Rep. Fred Upton Rep. David G. Valadao

An old expression notes that when you point one finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you. This aphorism may have originated in the Bible when Jesus said, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Modern Democrats and the left embody this sentiment, quick to blame anyone and anything for problems that they largely created. They offer no thoughtful consideration of their own roles in starting the never-ending dumpster fires that they blame on their political enemies. The psychologists call...

Many in the media are increasingly referring to abortion pills as “medication” – but their terminology couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s because the purpose of medicine is to save lives. The purpose of abortion is to end them.The most recent example came when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that women may temporarily receive the drug mifepristone – the first of two pills in a chemical abortion – by mail. The news comes months after the Supreme Court granted the FDA’s previous request to reinstate a federal requirement that says women must obtain it from a health...

Race has always been used by the left and the Democrats to divide us. As we’ve seen all too clearly in recent weeks, this strategy has now achieved critical mass – and it’s moved into health care, the largest sector of the economy and one with critical influence on people’s lives -- and even survival. I’ve been reporting on American medical care since the 1970s. It’s an area rife with politics but I never thought that I’d live to see anything like this. In early April, I became aware of a shocking new example of overt racism that proposes to...

A couple of weeks ago, I had an hour-long interview with a reporter from The American Prospect about PragerU’s program for families, PragerU Resources for Educators and Parents (PREP). Our discussion was genuinely enjoyable, despite our differing opinions about our nation and world. The reporter brought up issues, I offered my take and corrected some projected narratives, and she respectfully and kindly responded with more questions.When I hung up the phone, I thought, “This is how folks on opposite sides should talk about issues together.” I even sent her a thank you note saying how much I enjoyed our conversation...

Tyler Perry, the director who won the humanitarian honor at the Academy Awards, spoke of unity during his acceptance speech Sunday and said his mother taught him as a boy to refuse hate and refuse to succumb to "blanket judgments." "And in this time, with all of the internet and social media and algorithms and everything that wants us to think a certain way, the 24-hour new cycle…it is my hope that all of us would teach our kids, and I want to remember: just refuse hate. Don’t hate anybody." His message comes at a trying time in the country....

Making Academy Awards history in the most awkward way imaginable, Anthony Hopkins won the Oscar for best actor for his performance in “The Father,” becoming the oldest winner ever. Hopkins, however, was not on hand to accept the award, which for the first time in Oscars history was placed at the very end of the telecast, after “Nomadland” had won best picture and Frances McDormand took home best actress. Presenter Joaquin Phoenix instead had to accept the award on Hopkins’ behalf, providing an altogether abrupt and anti-climatic conclusion to the most unusual Academy Awards ceremony in modern history. It is...

The reactions to last week, titled with the question “Is It Time for Conservatives to Support A National Popular Vote?”, was basically a resounding, “HELL NO! It is NOT time for conservatives to support a national popular vote, there will NEVER BE a time for conservatives to support a national popular vote, and you are an IDIOT for even bringing it up! Now, go back to the Democrat-infested hellhole you crawled out of!” Or something along those lines.To be fair, it wasn’t unexpected, and I completely understand. When I first encountered a case for the issue coming from a conservative...