Free Republic

Why aren’t even the wealthiest people having offspring? Because having kids isn’t about money, it’s about priorities.For the first time since 2014, and after decades of almost constant decline, the total fertility rate in the United States rose in 2021. But before you start popping bottles to celebrate, here’s what the birthrate looks like in graphic form, and no, that’s not a crude drawing of a ski jump.Source: Wall Street JournalIn response to this, Elon Musk, who has seven children, most of whose names you can pronounce, tweeted, “Contrary to what many think, the richer someone is, the fewer kids...

I am so pleased and proud that the first annual edition of the "State of Black America" (Encounter Books), published by my organization, CURE, Center for Urban Renewal and Education, in conjunction with the Claremont Institute has just been released. CURE was founded to provide a platform for an alternative vision of what "Black America" is about and what the real challenges are of our citizens of color. Heretofore, the left has dominated the discussion concerning Black Americans. The left has dominated the discussion to such an extent that too many Americans of all backgrounds believe that the view from...

Everyone knows the horrible feeling: A stuffy night, just a little too warm, leads to restless sleep, and then next morning, you feel like a slow, groggy shell of yourself. That feeling isn’t just unpleasant. Years of research show that sleep deprivation can ramp up heart disease risk, intensify mood disorders, slow one’s ability to learn, and much more—problems with big personal, societal, and economic costs. Now a new study links sleep loss—and by extension, all the problems that come with it—with climate change. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen found that ever-warmer nighttime temperatures, nudged higher by climate change,...

Robert Barnes: The biggest loser in this Russian Ukraine conflict has been the globalist visions of George Soros and his like crowd. Because a lot things aren't...global digital currency ain't coming any time soon. Global WHO control over pandemics they can try as much as they want legally, politically probably ain't coming any time soon and this is all because they misread Vladimir Putin and Russia frankly. That's what it boils down to. Alexander: Going back to globalization and the issue of globalization I saw that there was a whole group of business leaders who came along to Davos WEF...

What many political observers initially expected to be a titanic clash between Georgia's incumbent Republican governor and the former president of the United States turned out to be a lopsided fight. Brian Kemp thumped Donald Trump's hand-picked challenger in the GOP primary, advancing to a gubernatorial re-match with Democrat Stacey Abrams in November. Abrams starts the general election campaign in a defensive crouch, engaged in damage control over her "worst state" self-inflicted blunder – while spinning incoherently about how "increased turnout has nothing to do with suppression," as her "Jim Crow 2.0" demagoguery goes up in smoke. Her opponent is...

A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles and equipment of both sides can be seen below. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.

The World Swimming Coaches Association has released a position statement on the issue of boys competing on girls' swim teams, acknowledging that their "inclusion" in girls-only competitions "cannot be balanced with fairness.” While emphasizing that the WSCA has “an unequivocal agenda for the sport of swimming to be experienced in an environment where everyone can partake in the sport and where everyone is treated with both dignity and respect,” the association maintained that male athletes have an unfair advantage when competing against female athletes. The WSCA cited the “retained differences in strength, stamina and physique that are present when comparing...

VIDEOThe Gods of Comedy blessed us with the voice of former Disinformation Czar Nina Jankowicz whose songs were so cringeworthy that they helped to cause her to be quickly laughed out of office. Among the cringe songs in this album is one you have probably never heard that she performed at a show from way back in 2011. So listen, enjoy, and above all... LAUGH!

resident Joe Biden's minders have kept their man away from granting interviews -- with reporters who overwhelmingly voted for him. Republicans went on Twitter to mock Biden when he reached 100 days since his last interview on Feb. 10. This is a pattern. Biden sat for just 28 interviews during his first year in office, compared with 168 for President Barack Obama -- and 95 for President Donald Trump, who reporters hated with white-hot intensity. This is not just TV interviews but print interviews, too. Instead, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman just wrote a column about grabbing lunch with...

June 7th

Mortgage applications decreased 1.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 20, 2022. The Refinance Index decreased 4 percent from the previous week and was 75 percent lower than the same week one year ago. And under Biden, the refinance index is down -83.2%. The good news? The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 0.2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 16 percent lower than the same week one year ago. And...

Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded to his colleagues in the Senate and others accusing him of “politicizing” the tragic mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, TX, which has reportedly left 19 children dead. Murphy, who in an interview the night before pushed for gun control in the wake of the shooting, pushed back against the notion that he was “supposed to shut up and not talk about changing laws” following shootings. He argued that not politicizing the shootings was “a fiction created by the gun industry.”

In the days after Russia attacked Ukraine, there was a lot of talk among Republicans that Vladimir Putin would not have invaded had Donald Trump still been president. Trump was so difficult to predict, so impulsive, so impetuous, the thinking went, that Putin would not have risked a massive U.S. response under Trump. "The sheer unpredictability of Trump, his anger at being defied or disrespected, his willingness to take the occasional big risk (the Soleimani strike), all had to make Putin frightened or wary of him in a way that he simply isn't of Joe Biden," National Review editor Rich...

The shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was another in a long line of senseless tragedies involving guns and schools. That it involves little children is almost beyond our capacity to bear. What is the government’s responsibility in dealing with this horrific incident? Everyone wants to do something. Everyone demands action. But far and away the most popular “solution” that comes out of any tragedy like this is tasking the government with finding a way to control gun ownership. Calls for gun registration in the wake of an 18-year-old kid murdering 21 people is ludicrous and a transparently useless...

In this administration, it's always someone else's fault. Inflation is now the No. 1 concern of voters, so the White House first blamed COVID. Then Donald Trump's tax cuts. Then Vladimir Putin. Then meatpackers and the poultry industry, Big Oil and pharmaceutical companies. Now, Democrats have identified a new inflation scapegoat: plastic. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and other credit cards hidden away in your wallet. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has had it out for credit cards for almost two decades, even though over that period, credit cards, which were once reserved for the rich, are now nearly ubiquitous in our...

Nine counties in eastern Oregon have voted yes to join Idaho since 2020, and two more counties in northeast Oregon, Morrow and Wallowa, are also set to vote on the proposal soon. The addition of eastern Oregon to the Gem State is just the first phase of the proposal. The second phase would see Greater Idaho spread into northeast California, where the movement claims that residents identify closer to Idaho ideologies based on voter trends.

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How does one pity a group that itself regularly exhibits no pity or even mere tolerance for others? This is the conundrum one faces when considering Muslim victim groups. Take the Rohingya, for instance, a Muslim people that primarily lived in Myanmar, while, like most invading and conquering Muslims, not being indigenous to Myanmar. There they have been severely persecuted by the indigenous Buddhists of that nation. While the Rohingya are regularly presented as victims—aspects of which is no doubt true—historically and precipitating their current status, whenever they had the chance, they were the ones quick to victimize others....

Among the providential results of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been the reawakening of the West to the value of its mutual defense pact, NATO, whose 30 members are all pledged to come to the defense of any member threatened with aggression. And the Ukraine war has led to a spectacular development: the desire expressed by both Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO. Before the invasion of Ukraine, most Finns and Swedes were lukewarm about joining NATO. All that has changed: 76% of Finns now want Finland in NATO, and so do more than 60% of Swedes....

Planning to fly this summer? Good luck. Delays are up. Cancellations, too. Why? Because of the pilot shortage. A pilot shortage? How can this be? Flying is a popular job. Some people fly small planes just for fun. Why aren't there enough commercial pilots? Because the government passed another dumb law. In 2009, after a Colgan Air crash near Buffalo, New York, killed 50 people, Congress decided that airlines could only hire aspiring commercial pilots who already had lots of flight time. Instead of 250 hours, now they have to have 1,500 hours! "That never made any sense," says current...