Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Saturday, Oct. 19. A CHAIN ACROSS THE POTOMAC. The gunboat Resolute was nearly sunk on the Potomac this morning, while endeavoring to tow two vessels past the rebel batteries at Chopowamsic Creek. The Commander of the flag-ship, the Union, had ordered the Resolute to convoy the vessels up. Accordingly, the schooner Fairfax, loaded with hay, was taken alongside nearest the batteries, forming a perfect breastwork. The Lady Ann, another river vessel, was taken on the other side, and the Resolute steamed up the river, the batteries keeping up a brisk fire, though doing little damage as long as the...

If the parking lot at the government center is anything to go by, we’re all going to be in trouble very soon. Fairfax County, Virginia, one of the richest counties in the nation, lies figuratively in the shadow of the nation’s capital. Highly-paid federal government workers and government contractors are the reason why. I recently visited the offices of Dranesville Supervisor John W. Foust (located in the McLean Government Center)—one of many sitting on its Board of Supervisors. Two signs—one is for electric vehicles, the second is for hybrid vehicles—greeted me. Those signs identified the prized parking spaces nearest the...

Video surfaced on Monday (Oct. 18) showing two Chinese men storm out of a restaurant in California after they were angered by Chinese-Americans singing the U.S. national anthem. In surveillance camera footage of the incident, two men dressed in dark clothing and wearing black masks can be seen entering a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13. About 20 minutes later, camera inside the restaurant's banquet hall shows four or five tables packed with customers, including elected officials and community representatives from various cities in southern California. The event was a fundraising dinner being held for...

Overview The Commerce Clause refers to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes. Congress has often used the Commerce Clause to justify exercising legislative power over the activities of states and their citizens, leading to significant and ongoing controversy regarding the balance of power between the federal government and the states. The Commerce Clause has historically been viewed as both a grant of congressional authority and as a restriction on the regulatory authority of the States....

When the sad news broke that Gen. Colin Powell had died of complications from COVID-19, much of the coverage was reverent of his decades of public service and his status as the first black national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state. Colleagues such as former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer tweeted warmly about Powell's upbeat demeanor: "Always laughing, always happy, always kind." The leftists on Twitter brought out the usual "war criminal" goon talk, complaining about his testimony from intelligence sources that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The most annoying part of...

ON almost every day of the year, the beach at La Herradura is a pleasant place for holidaymakers. But a large shorefront sculpture of a sailor in distress recalls an historic event when this same beach saw disaster, destruction and death. In October 1562, 28 galleys put into the horseshoe-shaped bay that gives the town its name to shelter from strong easterly winds. The ships were filled with soldiers and their families, and supplied for an expedition against the powerful Ottoman Empire. Double-anchored along the eastern shore, experienced commander Don Juan Hurtado de Mendoza y Carrillo thought his fleet was...

There’s an undeniable synchronicity in the “disaster socialism” of 2020 and 2009, and it’s that in both years Democrats controlled the budget. On August 11, President Joseph Robinette Biden spoke about his Build Back Better proposal, and he took the opportunity to allege this: “This isn’t going to be anything like my predecessor, whose unpaid tax cuts and other spending added nearly $8 trillion in his four years to the national debt. Eight trillion dollars.” That Trump could have added $8T to the national debt made this kid’s ears prick up. Being fairly familiar with the history of federal deficits,...

The U.N. is licking its chops. The U.N.'s Agenda 2030 is still in place, and the clock is ticking toward its empowerment — only eight years and two-plus months to go. This Agenda is for a new world government, which will implement the policies of the Agenda. This new government on our horizon explains many of the failures in policies in these first months of the Biden administration. The failures are based not so much on mistakes as on deliberate sabotage to weaken our country, dilute the power that undergirds our sovereignty, and prepare us to accept one world government....

The disgraced former British spy Christopher Steele has kept a low profile in recent years. Understandably so, given that investigations revealed his dossier -- the collection of anti-Trump stories he compiled to try to undermine Donald Trump's 2016 presidential candidacy -- was filled with falsehoods and unverifiable claims. But now Steele has granted an interview to ABC's George Stephanopoulos. And if you were wondering whether Steele feels any remorse for being so wrong about something so important, wonder no more: He doesn't. Steele is standing behind the dossier, and standing by even its most preposterous, unsupported allegations. Let's take one:...

The Biden administration is holding meetings with Saudi Arabia on the issue of normalization with Israel, Walla! reported. According to the report, the US would like to see Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan raised the issue in his meeting with the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to the kingdom last month, three US and Arab sources familiar with the issue said. According to the sources, bin Salman did not reject outright the possibility....

There's so much negative news these days. I was glad to see that a new podcast, "American Optimist," features good things that are coming. It's hosted by Palantir founder and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale. He interviews entrepreneurs like Sal Churi, who funds companies like Icon, which found a way to 3D print homes in just one day. The process is cool to watch. You can see it in my new video. Fast home-building is such a good thing for poor people who want an affordable house! Unfortunately, Churi has to struggle to get past the government's rigid zoning and safety...

Most of us would like to remain in this world as long as possible but when we inevitably shuffle off this mortal coil, CNN's Chris Cillizza might be the last person you would want to write your obituary. Why? Because there is a strong chance you would be relegated almost to a sideshow in the remembrance. Such was the case with Colin Powell, who passed away on Monday. He was a diplomat, a statesman, and a four-star general as well as the first African-American Secretary of State. However, in Cillizza's account on Monday, "The Colin Powell Republican no longer exists...

Pray For The Peace of JerusalemIsaiah 25Praise to the Lord 25 Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. 2 You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you. 4 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm...

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The government and big financial institutions promote a fraudulent analysis of the cost of solar and wind electricity. Their narrative is that wind and solar are competitive with traditional fossil fuels and that the cost of wind and solar is rapidly dropping. Academics and the media amplify and spread the fraudulent analysis. The basis of the fraud is a simple comparison of the cost per kilowatt hour at the plant fence for electricity produced by wind or solar versus electricity produced by a traditional plant. Some or all of the massive subsidies for wind and solar are ignored in such...

In many ways, Columbus Day, which recently passed, has become emblematic not just of the accusation that Columbus was a racist who inaugurated a genocidal campaign against the natives, but a reminder that virtually all Europeans preceding the great era of woke were horrible people. This conflation was especially on display during the summer of 2020, following the death of George Floyd, when not just Columbus's statues, but the statues of many traditional heroes of Western and American civilization were attacked on the accusation that the men they represent were all racists and somehow involved in or approved of the...

In the educational wars occurring throughout the country, most of the conservative commentary has focused on two parties: children and parents. This is because states and school districts are treating children not as individual human beings but as lumps of clay to be fashioned into the image of the State. Instead of teaching children to think critically and developing their individual gifts, public schools are indoctrinating children in leftist ideology, seeking to destroy their individual identities and reconstruct them into a homogenized group of progressives. Similarly, many states and districts have begun implementing policies that run roughshod over parental authority....

For hundreds of public employees in the state of Washington, where a new vaccine mandate for state employees went into effect this week, Monday was their last day on the job. That includes a sergeant with the Washington State Patrol, who told KUOW, Seattle's NPR station, that he had made an appointment to turn in his patrol car and equipment. In Los Angeles County, Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced earlier this month that he would not carry out the county's mandate for his department's 18,000 employees, warning that the nation's most populous county could lose "5, 10% of my workforce overnight."...

A new “peer-reviewed” paper has been released from Cornell University titled “Greater than 99% Consensus on Human Caused Climate Change in the Peer-Reviewed Scientific Literature.” The study is yet another attempt to convey the nebulous notion that widespread scientific consensus exists regarding the primary causal factor behind climate change. A previous study, spearheaded by climate blogger activist John Cook, concluded in 2013 there was “97 percent consensus.” Despite near universal acclaim and its citation by leading policymakers such as the United Kingdom’s energy minister, the study was inherently flawed. Dr. Mike Hulme of the University of East Anglia explains, “The...

The first Republican candidate to challenge Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said Tuesday he’s leaving the party and will run against Stitt as an independent. Former state Sen. Ervin Yen, an Oklahoma City physician, said in a statement he disagrees with the state party’s opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, and the insistence of some party officials that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. “I vehemently disagree with these views and that is why I have withdrawn my Republican voter registration," Yen said. “I have not changed, the party has.” A Chinese-American, Yen was the first Asian...