Free Republic

The COVID crystal ball is murky. Will it clear or darken further? In what seems like a lifetime ago, elected officials were selling two weeks of economic and social sacrifice as the price to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Today, more than a year-and-a-half later, there remain cities and states in which citizens need permission from the powers that be, in the form of vaccines and masks, to do everything from eating in a restaurant to keeping one’s job. The extremes to which local, state, and federal authorities have gone to exercise their newfound COVID “emergency powers,” is...

Pelosi, her spending dreams in partial ruins, is promising to trim the bill but assures us that the feds will continue to spy on just about everyone's bank accounts. Nancy Pelosi finally admitted that, faced with Sen. Joe Manchin's and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's laudable refusal to back down, the Democrats are not going to get their $3.5-trillion spending bill. However, Pelosi insists that the bill will still allow the feds to track every banking transaction over $600, something that manifestly violates the Fourth Amendment. After Pelosi admitted that Democrats would have to trim their spending bill, she was asked whether...

WASHINGTON, Saturday, Oct. 12. During to-day the rebels advanced in large force in the direction of Prospect. Hill, driving in our pickets to that point. The result was that the Division of Gen. McCALL was soon formed in line of battle with orders to advance. It was supported by cavalry and artillery. Several shots were fired by the rebel battery, but being out of range no injury was sustained by our troops. The Divisions of Gens. SMITH, PORTER and McDOWELL were also soon prepared for an apprehended emergency, but nothing further in addition to what is already stated occurred to...

When things start to seem like they are spinning out of control, I pray. Pray with me today if you need but remember, I love each and every one of you and there is nothing you can do about that. Peace today.

Ostensibly democratic governments around the world have reacted shamefully to the spread of COVID, with law enforcement personnel helping them abuse their power. Ostensibly democratic governments around the world have reacted shamefully to the spread of COVID, with law enforcement personnel helping them abuse their power. What has happened in New Zealand and parts of Australia is truly frightening. Those two formerly free and democratic nations have seen the exercise of cruel totalitarianism in the past months. Despite the fact that lockdowns have not mitigated the spread of COVID anywhere in the world, despite the failure of mask mandates to...

Texas Right to Life says S.B. 8, the state law that prohibits abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, has "saved at least 100 lives PER DAY" since it took effect on Sept. 1. Another calculation suggests the number "could be as high as 132." One reason for the uncertainty is that Texas women who have crossed S.B. 8's legal threshold, which typically happens around six weeks into a pregnancy, can still obtain abortions in other states with less restrictive policies. In that respect, recent experience in Texas offers a preview of what will happen if the Supreme Court...

There are so many things wrong in Biden’s America but, arguably, the one that most immediately needs attention is public school indoctrination. There were so many subjects I wanted to cover in this op-ed that I really had to think about what was most important. My list included the present and future horrors and bloodshed sure to emerge from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, both regionally and globally. I would have asked where all the unvetted Afghans leaving US military bases unhindered are going or if General “Marx” Milley’s intel (which he stands by vociferously) used to drone and murder an aid worker...

Tonight, the Fed is still partying with your currency like this is the richest country in the worldThere's probably no institution in American life that has more effect on how you live, but that we talk about less than the Federal Reserve. People don't care to talk about the Federal Reserve because it seems very complex and a lot of what it does is in fact complex. Unless you have a grounding in monetary policy, it's hard to know exactly what's going on. But the basics aren't that complicated, actually, and here are a few of them. The Federal Reserve...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemEcclesiastes 1212 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”— 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; 3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; 4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of...

For the next century historians and military officers will analyze the Biden administration's Afghanistan withdrawal humiliation. Here are three questions I guarantee will spur debate. No. 1: Was there any way to convince the Biden administration to reconsider its "perception driven" Beltway media-political strategy in Afghanistan, see the terrible on-the-ground facts as consequential and then take action to stop an impending debacle? No. 2: How late in summer 2021 could decisive U.S. action have reversed deterioration? No. 3: Would action in a specific geographic position have positive political and military effects throughout the region? As for No. 2, I suggest...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks about election security in his state at a press conference.

Former Hallmark CEO Bill Abbott will now compete with his former company for family-friendly content with GAC Media’s newest network channels. Abbott, who helped Hallmark grow its streaming content and become one of the most popular family-friendly channels in the market, left in Jan. 2020 after the company came under fire after a commercial featuring a gay marriage. At GAC, we’re focused on creating strong brands, compelling programming and a consistent family friendly viewing experience across multiple genres,” Abbott said. “The launch of GAC Family and GAC Living is the next phase in our strategy to bolster the company’s portfolio...

The backlash Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) received from fellow Republican senators last week is a wake-up call to the GOP leader that he doesn’t have any more political capital to spend on helping Democrats raise the debt limit again, say GOP aides and strategists. McConnell is still secure in his position as Senate Republican leader, despite regular attacks from former President Trump, who has called for him to be replaced. Yet at the same time, Senate Republican aides and strategists say McConnell’s reputation took a hit last week when he agreed to a two-month increase of the debt...

During the first four years that Nancy Pelosi served as speaker of the House (2007 through 2010), approximately 4,676,300 unborn babies were aborted in the United States, according to estimates published by the Guttmacher Institute. To put that in more precise language, adopting the accurate wording to describe abortion that Pope Francis recently used, 4,676,300 unborn American babies were murdered in those four years. "It's more than a problem, it's homicide," Pope Francis said about abortion on Sept. 15 as he flew from Slovakia to Rome. "Whoever has an abortion, kills. No mincing words," said the pope. "It is a...

Parents whose kids excel in school need to be on guard. Leftist school administrators across the country -- not just in New York City -- are banning gifted programs in elementary and middle school and Advanced Placement courses in high school. Typically, without any notice to parents, an eight grader's accelerated science class or a fifth grader's fast-track math class is merged into the regular classroom. Top students lose out. They need accelerated programs every bit as much as children with learning challenges need special education. It's discrimination. The left is seizing on a newly published study of Ohio students...

@LBC Enraged drivers are dragging eco-protesters away after they blocked roads at an industrial park near the Dartford Crossing, United Kingdom. Clip..

Cancel culture has reared its ugly head once again, and this time in a new and unprecedented way. A lecture by a physicist was canceled at one of America's premier institutions of science, MIT, for reasons having nothing to do with the subject of the lecture. The lecture was canceled not because of its scientific content but because of the politically incorrect views on diversity of the scientist scheduled to give the lecture. Dorian Abbot is a professor in the department of the geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago. He has an undergraduate degree in physics from Harvard and...

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s primary challenger landed former President Donald Trump’s endorsement before she even officially launched her campaign. Now, she’s cashing big checks from Trump’s biggest donors — including tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel has contributed the maximum-allowed, $5,800 check to Harriet Hageman, the Trump-endorsed attorney running against Cheney in next year’s Republican primary. The former president has made Cheney, an outspoken critic who voted for his impeachment in January, his top target in the 2022 election, and now big-money benefactors like Thiel are piling into the race.

Democrats are feeling gloomy as their "infrastructure" bills are stuck in a fight between leftists and "centrists." Many predict that if these huge spending bills could be passed, then the midterm prospects for President Joe Biden and his party would look much brighter. Will Saletan at Slate tweeted for the optimists: "Soon the infrastructure and reconciliation bills will pass. A year from now, COVID will be largely under control, supply chains will be restored, and the Afghan collapse will be forgotten." Many Democrats cling tightly to the popularity of massive spending as Biden's approval rating keeps sinking. Fiscal conservatives should...

The CEO of Kraft Heinz, Miguel Patricio, warned that around the world and in the United States, people will have to get used to higher food prices due to “across the board” inflation. “We are raising prices, where necessary, around the world,” he told the BBC, adding that his firm has increased prices on more than half its products in the United States, Kraft Heinze’s home market, in recent days. The firm—famous for making tomato ketchup, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese—is dealing with a rapid increase in agricultural costs, including oils and cereals. The surge has pushed the global...