Free Republic

So you're at a 4th of July cookout when all your friends and family start discussing Facebook's Orwellian alert about being exposed to extremism - when it dawns on you that everyone you know has received this alert except for you! Are you the person Facebook is warning everyone about? Did you become radicalized, and not even know it? Here are seven helpful clues to look for to know if you've become a dangerous extremist on Facebook: 1. You don't immediately start shrieking in terror whenever you see an American Flag: The American Flag is one of the most extreme...

Fed up with work stress, Guo Jianlong quit a newspaper job in Beijing and moved to China’s mountain southwest to “lie flat.” Guo joined a small but visible handful of Chinese urban professionals who are rattling the ruling Communist Party by rejecting grueling careers for a “low-desire life.” That is clashing with the party’s message of success and consumerism as its celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding. Guo, 44, became a freelance writer in Dali, a town in Yunnan province known for its traditional architecture and picturesque scenery. He married a woman he met there. “Work was OK, but...

The 4th of July used to be considered an important national holiday in the Philippines. Not because it was the United States’ birthday, but because it was Philippine Independence Day in 1946. Seventy five years ago, the Philippines was recognized as an independent, sovereign country by the United States, which withdrew its authority over the archipelago as colonizer. PRE-INDEPENDENCE HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES The road to July 4, 1946 was long and tenuous. The Philippines had been a Spanish colony since 1565, and since that time numerous revolts broke out challenging Spanish rule. These revolts were disunited, however, until the...

In Wakefield, Massachusetts, an armed group that apparently believes it is not subject to the laws of the United States engaged in an hours-long standoff with police in the early hours of Saturday morning. On its Twitter account, The Associated Press reported that nine suspects were taken into custody after the incident, which closed down Interstate 95 — the major north-south artery for the entire East Coast — in both directions on the Fourth of July holiday weekend. No member of the group — carrying long guns and clad in military fatigues — was wounded in the standoff. July 4,...

POINTS Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome for what the Vatican said was scheduled surgery for an abnormal narrowing of his large intestine. The Argentina-born Roman Catholic pontiff is 84 years old. The announcement that Francis was entering the hospital came just hours after the pope made a public appearance before crowds in St. Peter’s Square.

Humans have used chaga for thousands of years. But its popularity is shining new light on forest medicinals. Black Gold. The Diamond of the Forest. The Mushroom of Immortality. Hearing the chaga fungus referred to by its many nicknames, it's easy to imagine sparkling gemstones and tendrils of precious metals hanging from trees. Instead, chaga protrudes parasitically on the trunk of the boreal birch; bulbous, black and more reminiscent of bark than fungi. But a fungus it is. And a powerful – or at the very least, powerfully popular – one at that. While people in Russia and parts of...

It’s no secret that fireworks can cause some serious air pollution, in the United States as well as in other countries where holiday displays are common, like China and India. But not everyone is equally at risk from the noxious particles that suffuse the sky during our pyrotechnic light shows. In California, for example, vulnerable populations are more exposed to fireworks pollution on the Fourth of July.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Republicans who were not getting vaccinated for coronavirus are playing “the death lottery.”Guest anchor Martha Raddatz said, “Let’s go back to who is not getting vaccinated. Statistics show it’s poverty, race and you look at the map, it’s a lot of red states.”Justice said, “Well, there’s some truth to that and everything. Because the red states probably have a lot of people that, you know, are very, very conservative in their thinking, and they think, ‘Well, I don’t have to do that.’ But they’re not thinking right.”He...

Washington, DC — “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Those are the beginning words of the Declaration of Independence which was adopted by the Continental Congress and signed by our nation’s founders on the 4th...

SOMEONE has truly said that every tree in the forest has, under ground, roots which are equal in body to all of its branches above ground. If this is correct, perhaps it can be said with equal truth that the great tree of American Liberty possesses, buried in the remote and distant past, as many roots and rootlets as its beautiful structure of branches exhibits to our admiring gaze. We sometimes think of liberty's roots in the Swiss Mountains where William Tell slew the tyrant Gessler, and we often refer to the English Plains of Runnymede where the Barons compelled...

Happy 4th of July! Our benevolent and wise King Joe Biden has mercifully granted us loyal subjects a generous $0.16 savings on our cookout expenses this year. Wow! Thanks Biden! You may be having a hard time deciding where to spend your newfound wealth, but we're here to help! Here are 10 great ways to spend your 16 cents: 1) Go ahead and splurge on that extra packet of ketchup: You've probably never experienced the pure decadence of applying extra ketchup to your fries. Here's your chance! Only one extra packet per guest though-- let's not go crazy here. 2)...

Students from Georgetown and American Universities were asked if they felt proud to be American Majority of students said they were not proud to be American with some adding they were 'embarrassed' Upon being asked if they thought the United States of America was the greatest country in this world, most agreed it was good as a white person but not overall When asked if they could name a better country, none could SNIP

A group of people marched in front of Philadelphia City Hall Saturday night with the American Flags, drawing jeers from BLM activists, as well as some scuffles. The group of dozens of men wore white face coverings, kakis, blue shirts, and tan hats and waved flags with insignias appearing to belong to the Patriot Front organization. They were seen approaching from Market Street before walking in front of City Hall shortly after 11 p.m. Some could be seen holding shields as watchers-on shouted at them, demanding they leave Philadelphia. A few people could be seen engaging in minor pushing and...

My Samsung 8S+ won't display FR properly. A few days ago it shrunk the screen so that everything is super small with long text strings. I can access anything but it is a pain in the butt because the more I zoom up the further out I have to pan back and forth to read it. And yes I am logged on 🤪 Thanks

I am an American. I weep over the fact that American history is no longer taught in our schools. In its place is a worldly, cynical skepticism inculcated by authors and educators at war with our basic values. I am an American. I cringe at the collection of connivers, cowards, clowns and quacks that passes for our political leadership. I wonder that so many of my compatriots have no idea what America means and show no gratitude for the blessings that are theirs. I am an American. My ranks grow thin; the night closes in. Whether I will be the...

I LOVE AMERICAWritten on July 4, 2007 when we were actually able to recognize our country. Can we take it back?

Fauci claims it's critical to 'get the extra added level of protection' --- Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said that Americans traveling to places with a low COVID-19 vaccination rate should "go the extra mile" and wear a mask even if they are fully vaccinated. NBC's "Meet the Press" anchor Chuck Todd said that Mississippi has the lowest vaccination rate in the United States and asked Fauci whether he would wear a mask if he was traveling there, prompting him to say, "I think there would be a good reason to do that." "I think there would be a good...

The Credo of the Catholic DemocratsThey issue a declaration of independence from Church teaching. Rep. Ted Lieu, May 16, 2015lmost 60 Catholic Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives recently released a statement declaring their “principles.” The statement is a classic illustration of modern liberalism’s one-sided conception of church-state relations: the church should never lecture the state, but the state is free to lecture the church. The statement is also a snapshot of the pitiful imbalance of power and confusion in the Catholic Church: heretics, far from fearing clerics, feel emboldened to instruct bishops on what they can and cannot...

The sun erupted with a surprise solar flare on Saturday (July 3), the largest since 2017, in an early explosion of cosmic fireworks ahead of the Fourth of July. The solar flare occurred from a sunspot called AR2838 at 10:29 a.m. EDT (1429 GMT) on Saturday and registered as a powerful X1-class sun event, according to the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) tracking the sun's weather. It caused a brief radio blackout on Earth, center officials said in an update. A video of the solar flare from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the flare erupting from the upper right...

In its statement, the Vatican said the pontiff needed treatment for "symptomatic diverticular stenosis" of the colon, part of the large intestine. Diverticular disease is a condition that involves bulges in the wall of the large intestine. This can lead to a narrowing, of the colon. Symptoms include bloating, recurrent abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits.