Free Republic

School Closings and Violent Youth: A Potential LinkOur greatest fears have now seemed to materialize. The school closures, social dislocation, the two years of isolation, the lockdown psychosis, plus dehumanizing masking and the resulting anxiety, depression, and despair, may have unleashed and may have enhanced depraved and murderous behavior. Two major incidents have been in the news but the trend is larger. The FBI reports that deaths from active shooter incidents have soared. In 2021, the number of deaths reported as a result of active shootings (103 total) was a 171% increase from 2020. The relationship to lockdown policies should...

SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER JOHN 16:12-15 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to guide the Church through time. “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.” Since Jesus is the Son is God, it is impossible for us adequately to interpret him through our own powers of perception. We require a divine pedagogue through which the speech of the Father is to be understood. This is the advocate we call the Holy Spirit. The words...

The same wealthy New York Times economist who admitted he was dead wrong on inflation is claiming that stagflation is nothing to worry about.

Allegedly murdered Jerry Smith after the pair had sex A Virginia Tech football player begins his trial today for the alleged murder of a homosexual, cross-dressing man named Jerry Smith. Montgomery County prosecutors accused Isimemen Etute (pictured) of murdering Smith, a 40-year-old homosexual man who allegedly presented himself as a woman during a Tinder date with Etute. He pleaded not guilty on May 19 to the charge. His trial is expected to take two days, according to the Virginia judiciary database. The county declined to provide a police report because the case is ongoing. Virginia Tech did not respond to...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney said Wednesday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and planned to work through minor symptoms she said she was experiencing. The Wyoming Republican's diagnosis comes amid a nationwide surge in new coronavirus cases and reports of positive tests from Cheney's congressional colleagues, including North Carolina Democrat David Price, who tested positive last weekend.

Relatively speaking, the Incas are recent history. One unfortunate consequence of the fame of the Incas is that they tend to crowd out the long and rich history of the region with its many kingdoms and civilizations that went before. Some pre-Inca cultures were incorporated into the Inca Empire, while others were ancient history by the time the Incas appeared on the scene. The oldest city now known in the Americas is that of Caral. It flourished at around the same time as the Egyptian pyramids were being built. The ruins of 'Sacred City of Caral-Supe' or simply 'Caral,' is...

The crushing defeat of David Perdue in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary in Georgia likely delighted Donald Trump's adversaries, who have been keeping scorecards to measure the performance of election candidates backed by the former president. Trump has weighed in on November's midterm elections like no former president, announcing more than 190 endorsements and holding rallies with his proteges. The success of his endorsees is seen as a key sign of his continued influence over the party as he hints at another run for the White House in 2024. But political analysts and Republican strategists caution that any jubilation among Trump's...

Here is what children need:1. Children need a mother and a father who love each other and work together as a team.2. Children need a bicycle, neighbors, and cousins.

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on Wednesday reacted to the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, TX, that has reportedly left 19 children dead. Scarborough blasted Republicans, who he said would argue that talking about gun safety legislation immediately after mass shootings was “too soon.” He called them “cowards” and “barbarians.” “They’re cowards. They’re such cowards,” Scarborough declared. “And, of course, they don’t want to talk about it, just like January 6. Like we saw in the focus group, they want you to forget about it. … When was the right time to talk about 9/11?”

<p>Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego pulled absolutely no punches in his response to the tragic mass shooting that happened at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school Tuesday afternoon, answering his colleagues' tweets of "thoughts and prayers" with aggressive and explicit language, even going so far as to call Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a "f--king baby killer."</p>

Last year, current and former world leaders joined experts to conduct a tabletop exercise simulating a deadly monkeypox outbreak. And now, the results of that exercise are attracting fresh attention, with monkeypox making headlines after cases were reported in a dozen countries—including the U.S., U.K. and Australia—in a surprising outbreak of a disease that rarely appears outside of Africa. The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) partnered with the Munich Security Conference for its annual exercise on March 17, 2021—virtually due to COVID-19— and summarized the scenario, key findings and actionable recommendations in a report released in November. The NTI's exercise scenario...

Amid chaos on many fronts, globalists march forward into the night. Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum convening in Davos, Switzerland, welcomed fellow globalists with this: “The future is built by us, by a powerful community, as you, here in this room.” Meanwhile in the United States we face soaring gas prices, shortage of baby formula, and the highest inflation seen in 40 years. The global elite would find more reality than their self-aggrandizing meeting if they drove to nearby France for the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival, where Tom Cruise drew a five-minute...

PARIS -- It was inevitable that sooner or later, leading European countries would start distancing themselves from the aggressive rhetoric that has been the hallmark of the European Union leadership's approach to the armed conflict in Ukraine. Last week in Turin, Italian Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio presented a four-point peace plan to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who made contact with Moscow and Kyiv in visits a few weeks ago. Di Maio also chaired the group of Europe's foreign ministers at a meeting in Turin, including those of other EU countries which have recently shown interest in de-escalating...

BERLIN — The Swiss government on Wednesday said it will initiate proceedings to confiscate more than 100 million francs ($104 million) in assets of a close associate of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Switzerland’s governing Federal Council said it is providing support to Ukraine as Kyiv is facing “certain difficulties” in its efforts to confiscate the money, which have been compounded by the current war. But it said the move is unrelated to sanctions imposed on Russia this year. The government said the assets of Yanukovych associate Yuriy Ivanyushchenko and family members were frozen in Switzerland following the ouster of...

News is still coming in, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott says at least 14 children and a teacher were killed by a mass shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. This comes on the heels of the Buffalo, New York mass shooting by a white supremacist that claimed ten lives. There is little left to say when it comes to mass shootings in America. Politicians, pundits and pastors have scarcely finished trotting out their last round of condolences and talking points then they have to return to their respective pulpits, expected to have fresh insights. It’s difficult because, increasingly,...

All I can say is “Wow.” Tobias Peter and Ed Pinto of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) released their April housing report and it was a doozy. The AEI’s home price appreciation index came in at a blood curdling 17.3% YoY. The reason why home prices are still raging at 17.3% YoY? The Fed’s monetary stimulypto is STILL in place! The Fed’s balance sheet (green line) is still staggering, and The Fed Funds target rate (white line) is a measly 1%. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic is talking about a pause in Fed tightening. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is really...

Venus Protocol, a decentralized money market, announced on Thursday evening that about $11 million had been lost due to people exploiting the historic collapse of the Luna cryptocurrency and its sister stablecoin UST. The team behind the Venus Protocol released a statement confirming suspicions that had been floating around for hours about the potential mishandling of the fiasco around Luna. “Today, we became aware of errant price behavior for LUNA on Venus Protocol. Upon investigation, it was learned that the price feed had been paused by Chainlink due to extreme market conditions,” Venus Protocol explained... Venus Protocol and several other...

House of CardsThe data that got some heads, and markets, turning yesterday was US new home sales, which slumped 16.6% m-o-m and 26.9% y-o-y to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000 in April, the lowest level since April 2020. Economists had expected a figure of 748,000. Yes, this is always a very choppy series, but the drop was widespread: -5.9% in the Northeast, -15.1% in the Midwest, -19.8% in the South, and -13.8% in the West. That’s synchronicity which takes me back to a conversation I had with a Russian-American in mid-2006 when working at another bank, who explained...

"In New York," former Gov. Andrew Cuomo bragged on Sunday, "we passed the best (gun control) laws in the nation." Although those laws manifestly did not prevent the mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket on May 14, Cuomo thinks the answer is more legislation of the same sort. Cuomo mentioned a federal "assault weapon" ban, and other politicians have responded to the Buffalo massacre by calling for expanded background checks and more aggressive enforcement of "red flag" laws that aim to disarm dangerous people. But those policies are fundamentally ill-suited to stopping would-be mass murderers from...

Just two days ago we reported about the unfortunate death of a Goldman Sachs analyst, who was shot dead on the northbound Q train as it passed the Manhattan Bridge. Daniel Enriquez, who joined Goldman’s research division in 2013, was shot in the chest in an unprovoked attack. According to NYPost at the time, the family of Enriquez had only one message for Mayor Eric Adams: “Do your job … Get crime off the streets.” And they make a crucial point, especially as it relates to this specific attack. Why? Because it was revealed in follow up reporting yesterday that...