Free Republic

Free Speech is perhaps the most important cornerstone of Western Civilization, and it is disappearing from the American landscape as our system of government takes the shape of the third world we have tried so hard – for generations- not to resemble. Americans are now betraying the dangerous work of trying to protect our historic civil liberties. And one man, Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter says he wants to do something about that. “This is a Battle for the Future of Civilization,” Musk tweeted this week. “Elon Musk announced he will make internal files on Twitter’s suppression of free...

TWEET FROM ELON MUSK:Elon Musk @elonmusk · FollowGood conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so. Sounds like Tim Cook didn’t want a new smartphone competitor. 6:05 PM · Nov 30, 2022

Color me a bit surprised at this news, considering the context of our times. Twenty years ago, this result would have been utterly predictable, but critical race theory and ethnic determinism had not yet ingrained themselves into the educational, legal, and corporate establishments at that time.Maybe those radical concepts haven’t actually ingrained themselves as much as people think. At least that’s what the result of today’s Marquette Law poll on racial preferences suggests:The Marquette survey finds that the public is skeptical of the use of race in college admissions, with 41% in favor of a decision that would find a...

They really really REALLY are scared of Elon Musk.As I have written about before, the European Union has been making noises about Twitter’s compliance with its Digital Services Act, which among other things requires pretty aggressive censorship of speech, under the guise of preventing “misinformation.”More details on #Mastodon ⤵️ https://t.co/rNlULHh181— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) November 30, 2022Today the EU went a step further, openly threaten to ban Twitter in Europe unless Musk buckles to their demands:The EU has threatened Elon Musk’s Twitter with a European ban unless the billionaire abides by its strict rules on content moderation, setting up a regulatory...

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team defeated the Iranian team on Tuesday in a must-win game. Now the American team moves on the playing The Netherlands on Saturday. There was a little extra sweetness in celebrating the U.S. victory this year because of the political protests going on in Iran now. Iranians in support of the protesters celebrated the U.S. victory in Iran. One woman spoke on the condition of remaining anonymous from her home in southern Iran. “Mahoora” said, “It’s not just some people in Iran, it is the majority of people in Iran that want the U.S. to...

Florida’s red wave is already wiping out school superintendents across the Sunshine State. Backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and conservative activist groups, right-leaning candidates have gained control of many major district school boards and are purging prior leadership. “Parents woke up in the last few years,” a newly elected school board member backed by the conservative Moms for Liberty advocacy group told The Post. “They were exposed to the garbage that has gone on behind closed doors for so many years. That’s finished.” A trio of superintendents have been shown the campus door in GOP-leaning districts in November alone —...

In a shocking statement that has now been withdrawn, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote that Ukraine has lost 100,000 soldiers and 20,000 civilians in the Ukraine war. This conforms to comments made by US Joint Chief of Staff head General Mark Milley, who in a speech at a conference hosted by New York’s Economic Club said that more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war and that the number of troop casualties is probably the “same” for Ukraine’s army. Ukraine’s heavy casualties are a signal that Washington’s de facto war with Russia...

On September 13, 2020, a little more than two years ago, President Trump announced the first of the Abraham Accords deals. The UAE agreed to recognize Israel, exchange diplomats, and begin economic cooperation. Over the next four months, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan were added to the list of countries making peace with the Jewish State, and we were told that other countries wanted to hop on the peace train. The Foggy Bottom rumor mill suggested that the big fish, Saudi Arabia was on the edge of joining the accords. But on January 20, 2021, the process ended as soon as...

Gun crime offenders and our court system’s anemic response As the “gun control” debate heats up again, it’s important to stay focused on what the real issue should be — holding gun crime offenders accountable. Conservatives know and should not waiver on the fact that legal gun owners are overwhelmingly responsible and law-abiding. If we are serious, our focus should be on issues that negatively impact our public safety. We should be able to agree that gun crime offenders belong at the top of our public safety concerns. Unfortunately, our liberal state criminal justice system has failed to hold gun...

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece by attorney Robin Keller describing how she lost her job at a large law firm after daring to speak up in favor of the Dobbs decision. This didn’t happen at a general staff meeting but on a conference call explicitly held to allow staffers to discuss the decision.After the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June, global law firm Hogan Lovells organized an online conference call for female employees. As a retired equity partner still actively serving clients, I was invited to participate in what was...

The lawsuit, filed in January 2020, alleged that Epstein created a network of companies and conspired with others to help him carry out and conceal the alleged sex trafficking scheme. The estate of Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands more than $105 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that he used the territory as the base of an extensive sex trafficking operation. The suit is being settled nearly three years after Denise N. George, the attorney general of the U.S. territory, sued Epstein, a New York financier who died by suicide in 2019 as he was...

As October turned to November, Sam Bankman-Fried had an estimated net worth of $16 billion. Better known as SBF, the founder of the FTX crypto exchange was predicted by some to become the world's first trillionaire. But he's now worth "close to nothing," he said in a live interview Wednesday with Andrew Ross Sorkin at The News York Times' DealBook Summit. SBF called in from the Bahamas, where he operated his FTX empire. When asked by Sorkin how much money Bankman-Fried now had at his disposal, the disgraced founder answered, "by my knowledge, close to nothing." "I don't have any...

A woman identified as Melissa Stout said she attended the wedding from Michigan. After feeling buzzed from a couple of drinks, she ate some food to stop herself from becoming too intoxicated. She had a Caesar salad, a pasta with white sauce and bread with herb dip, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Law and Crime. 'After eating the food, she felt much worse,' deputies say. She 'didn't notice anyone else getting sick as she was on her hands and knees throwing up.' Every guest tested for cannabis showed positive results, according to the warrant, and none who were...

(Reuters) - Silicon Valley leaders welcomed Elon Musk's management of Twitter, with Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings going so far as to call the billionaire "the bravest, most creative person on the planet." Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday said he was keen to see how Elon Musk's management of content moderation on Twitter would fare, arguing it was good for platforms to take different approaches. "You can agree or disagree with what Elon is doing, or how he's doing it, but I do think it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out," said Zuckerberg, speaking...

University of Pennsylvania scientists are closer to successfully creating a flu vaccine that could protect against 20 known flu strains, according to reports. While the new vaccine still in the experimental stages wouldn’t be to replace the existing seasonal flu shots, researchers hope it will protect against any new strains that could potentially lead to future pandemics, Philly Voice reported. The study’s senior author Scott Hensley is also a microbiology professor at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and has been working on the flue vaccine that’ll hopefully fight against multiple strains. “The idea here is to have a vaccine that...

In this column I’m going to explain in detail how the Balenciaga scandal is Pizzagate. The term Pizzagate stems from the release of thousands of John Podesta’s e-mails via Wikileaks in 2016. John was the campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and several e-mails between him and his associates contained the use of the word pizza, a well-known pedophile code word that has been identified by law enforcement and documented in the Department of Justice records, in a context that does not make sense for them to be referring to the Italian dish. This launched a citizen investigation around...

Bitcoin's conceptual design and technological shortcomings make it questionable as a means of payment: real Bitcoin transactions are cumbersome, slow and expensive. Bitcoin has never been used to any significant extent for legal real-world transactions. Bitcoin is also not suitable as an investment. It does not generate cash flow (like real estate) or dividends (like equities), cannot be used productively (like commodities) or provide social benefits (like gold). The market valuation of Bitcoin is therefore based purely on speculation. Speculative bubbles rely on new money flowing in. Bitcoin has also repeatedly benefited from waves of new investors. The manipulations by...

The Pennsylvania Senate voted 29-19 on Wednesday to call Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, to Senate chambers for a trial to answer for seven articles of impeachment against him. The articles could result in his removal from office. But the timing of this move is awkward because it was done in a special session on Nov. 30, the last day of the 2021-2022 session. The new session starts at midnight, but no action will be taken because newly elected lawmakers take their oaths of office and are seated in January. “The majority party is attempting to set an...

“Three Saints of Advent: St. Andrew, Apostle” (John 1:35-42a; Matthew 4:18-20) When churches have midweek Advent or Lenten services, usually the pastor tries to come up with a theme that will tie the services together. This year, in looking at the calendar for Advent, I noticed something about the dates for our midweek services. The first three Wednesdays are November 30, December 7, and December 14. Which got me to thinking: November 30 is the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle. December 7 is the Commemoration of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and one of the great Church Fathers. December 14...