Free Republic

I mentioned in my last piece that the standard (mis)interpretation of Oedipus Rex—that Oedipus got what he deserved thanks to a moral shortcoming he couldn't or wouldn't correct—traces back to an earlier misinterpretation of Aristotle's comments on tragedy. That provides a nice segue, because what Aristotle actually says in his Poetics (and his Politics) provides further insight into our current problems. What Aristotle actually points out in Chapter 13 of Poetics is that great tragedies revolve around hamartia (ἁμαρτία) inherent in, or committed by, a protagonist. All this Greek word refers to is error. It does not necessarily imply moral...

Why are white people sending unsolicited donations to their black friends - or forking it over to total strangers? The phenomenon may have begun as satire, but like so many jokes in 2020, “mini-reparations” have become reality. With race relations in the US front and center ever since last month’s police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, some people are taking the matter of reparations for slavery into their own hands. Guilty white people sending unsolicited cash donations to their black acquaintances – or eagerly responding to calls for cash from random social media accounts purporting to be needy black...

The Black Hole of Organizational DysfunctionDystopia Note: When this book was prepared, the terms Dystopia and Utopia were widely used to describe the two complementary but opposite categories of the social system. As progress continued, we evolved away from those popular, but vaguely-defined terms. When you encounter “dystopia,” think organizational dysfunction. When you encounter “Utopia,” think happy prosperity. General Remarks Book 1 of the Pilgrimage to Utopia (P2U), “Philosophy,” presented the purpose of the pilgrimage. It is assumed the reason you’re here is that you are interested in joining one. Following along with the derivation of the paradigm of the...

It’s a late-breaking case of electoral bondage. Zack Weiner, 26, a City Council candidate running in Manhattan, has found his campaign tied up after video of him enjoying a sadomasochism session found its way onto Twitter.

A Taco Bell employee has been filmed jumping into a kitchen sink on his last day of work, in a video watched nearly 19 million times on TikTok. The clip shows TikTok user Steven, who uses the handle @undeaddot, standing on a small stepladder next to a large sink filled to the brim with water and suds, in the kitchen of a Taco Bell restaurant in West Virginia. Steven jumps into the air and cannonballs into the sink, sending water gushing to the floor. He is completely submerged in the water for a few seconds until his head bobs up...

Let’s admit it: Of all the ways that the son of a U.S. president might cash in on his family connection, we had never thought of having the presidential scion declare himself to be an artist, selling his artwork for sums of five or six figures–and maybe even more. Yet Hunter Biden, son of you-know-who, has thought of it and is moving fast to snag some big money. A June 14 report in Artnet had the scoop on Hunter’s ambitions and seemed to repay the scoop with a flatteringly aspirational headline: “We Spoke to Hunter Biden About His New Life...

The Pentagon’s top brass have insisted the U.S. military will conduct operations launched from outside the country if needed, but they’ve offered few details on logistics such as where those troops would be based. The lack of specifics came into focus Friday when the Afghan government's chief peace envoy warned that the Taliban will not have an interest in reaching a peace agreement with Kabul after American and NATO forces depart. The remarks come amid reports that the Taliban are quickly reclaiming territory they had lost during the 20-year conflict, putting more pressure on the Biden administration to spell out...

Pineapple pizza has long been a divisive dish, but one TikToker seems to have found a way to bring together the pro-fruit topping and anti-fruit topping crowds with his recipe for watermelon pizza. Oliver Paterson shared the instructional video on the app last week, breaking down how to make pizza using a slice of grilled watermelon for the 'crust.' His clip has gone viral, with 2.5 million views and counting — but commenters are pretty united in panning the dish, calling it a 'war crime' and accusing Oliver of being 'possessed.'

Twitter and the Democrat-run government of California are facing a lawsuit alleging that they colluded to suppress the First Amendment rights of Rogan O’Handley, a popular pro-Trump activist who was banned from the platform earlier this year. The complaint includes emails showing California officials directing Twitter to remove political commentary about the 2020 election from its platform. Twitter banned O’Handley, also known by his online moniker “DC Draino,” after he tweeted the statement “most votes in history.” He had over 440,000 followers on the platform prior to his ban, which was permanent. According to O’Handley’s lawsuit, brought by Harmeet Dhillon’s...

(President Trump's Operation Warp Speed Update) (65% of American Adults now have had at least a first shot - 87% of those 65 or older have at least one shot - vaccination inching along slowly) Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 379,003,410 (21,434,300 J&J) Administered: 317,117,797 (11,931,392 J&J) People Vaccinated, At Least One Dose: 176,737,141 Fully Vaccinated: 149,125,164

“A Great Storm, a Great Calm, a Great Fear” (Mark 4:35-41) Our text is the Holy Gospel for today, from Mark 4, the story of Jesus stilling a storm. It’s only seven verses long, but this story will take us from a great storm to a great calm to--perhaps surprisingly--a great fear. So let’s get in the boat now with Jesus and his disciples, under the theme, “A Great Storm, a Great Calm, a Great Fear.” First, a great storm. Our text begins: “On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, ‘Let us go across to the...

Buffalo Bills player Cole Beasley made clear his pro-freedom position to the NFL and NFLPA in regards to their new vaccine protocol, and said he would rather give up playing than get the COVID-19 shots. “I will be outside doing what I do. I’ll be out in public. If you’re scared of me then steer clear, or get vaccinated,” the NFL player wrote on Twitter, “I may die of covid, but I’d rather die actually living.” The 32-year-old wide receiver’s message comes as the league, which has been steadily losing viewership for the 9th consecutive year, has updated their vaccine...

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough is taking steps toward making gender transition surgery available to veterans through Veterans Affairs health-care coverage, according to a new report. A VA department spokesperson reportedly told CNN that McDonough plans to announce the move at a Pride event at the Orlando Vet Center in Florida on Saturday. “We are taking the first necessary steps to expand VA’s care to include gender confirmation surgery — thus allowing transgender vets to go through the full gender confirmation process with VA by their side,” McDonough is expected to say. The VA Health Benefits package currently covers mental-health...

An incredibly detailed image of the Moon was composed by an Indian teen, who captured 55,000 images—racking up over 186 gigabytes on his laptop in the process—for a pastiche of celestial proportions. Sixteen-year-old Prathamesh Jaju from Pune, Maharashtra, shared his HDR (high-dynamic range) image of a waning crescent moon on Instagram. He admitted that amassing so many photos for his most detailed and clearest picture to date put his technology to the test. “[It] almost killed my laptop with the processing,” he said. The amateur astrophotographer began the project by capturing multiple videos of different small sections of the Moon...

Antiviral pills have been able to provide treatment for viruses like HIV, influenza and more. The U.S. is now investing in a pill for COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine was a worldly effort that resulted in the fastest vaccine ever made. The shot put a door stop in the pandemic and allowed millions of people to feel safe and return to a sense of normalcy. Now that there’s a vaccine that drastically reduces the odds of contracting the disease, the U.S. government is interested in a pill that could treat COVID-19 infections. As reported by the New York Times, the U.S....

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), continues to spread worldwide. To date, over 177.13 million cases have been reported, and over 3.8 million have lost their lives. Finding effective treatments that can mitigate severe disease remains a crucial area of scientific research. Drug repurposing for COVID-19 helps scientists identify potential drugs to treat COVID-19 without going through the rigorous process of formulation, clinical trials, and gaining regulatory body approval. Many of the drugs used for COVID-19 today were initially developed for other pathogens. Early-stage trials from scientists at the University of Pennsylvania,...

George Soros: Godfather of Color Revelution and Global Chaos — When Soros says “racial equality,” he means something very different from what you or the average American means when they say it. What Soros deems “racial equality” might more accurately be called “racial revenge”... - Archetype Anti-Christ - Biden Administration Pulling Patriot Air Defense Batteries From Key Positions in the Middle East — According to the WSJ report “the Biden administration is sharply reducing the number of US antimissile systems in the Middle East in a major realignment of its military footprint there. - The Smell of ObamaStrategy for Countering...

In a step toward racial equity and ending housing discrimination, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed the Fair Chance in Housing Act, barring landlords in New Jersey from asking about criminal history on housing applications. At the state’s first commemoration of Juneteenth as an official holiday, Murphy signed the historic “ban the box” bill (A1919), which advocates say is the most sweeping form of the law in the nation. … Under the law, landlords will only be able to ask about criminal records on applications if the prospective tenants are a registered sex offender or were convicted for making...

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden announced on Saturday that one of their German Shepherds, Champ, had died. Champ had been with the family for 13 years and passed away peacefully at home, a statement from the White House said. "Even as Champ’s strength waned in his last months, when we came into a room, he would immediately pull himself up, his tail always wagging, and nuzzle us for an ear scratch or a belly rub," the statement read. "Wherever we were, he wanted to be, and everything was instantly better when he was next to us." Champ,...

A 9-year-old student in Lakeville, Minnesota savaged the school board there for blatantly lying about not allowing Black Lives Matter posters on campus due to their political nature. “The other day I was walking down the hallway at Lakeview Elementary School to give a teacher a retiring gift. I looked up on to the wall and saw a BLM poster and an Amanda Gorman poster. In case you don’t know who that chick is, she’s some girl who did a poem for Biden’s so-called inauguration. I was so mad,” the child began in a video posted on social media.“I was...