Free Republic

Voters are souring on the state of the nation, with a stunning 74% saying the US is on the wrong track, according to a survey released Sunday. The NBC poll found just 20% of respondents say America is moving in the right direction. The last time voters were that bitter about the nation’s course — in 1992 and 2008 — the party in control of the White House changed hands, NBC’s Chuck Todd noted in unveiling the results.

By the close of June, the Supreme Court will almost certainly end affirmative action in college admissions. For Edward Blum, who spearheaded the lawsuits against the University of North Carolina and Harvard—claiming the schools’ race-conscious policies admit unqualified Black and Hispanic students, while “intentionally discriminating” against deserving Asian American applicants—the verdict would fulfill a decades-long quest. In 1992, Blum, who is white, lost his only political run, failing to unseat the Black Democratic incumbent in a majority-Black Houston congressional district that had never elected a Republican. Blum sued Texas, citing racial gerrymandering, and eventually won the case in the US...

Matthew, Chapter 18 1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6...

FTX is seeking to claw back some $700 million from a former aide to Hillary Clinton-turned Hollywood super agent who was allegedly showered with cash by disgraced fallen crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange took legal action on Thursday against Michael Kives, who was an assistant to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), and his company, K5 Global, and firm co-founder Bryan Baum. According to court papers filed in bankruptcy court in Delaware, Bankman-Fried authorized the transfer of $700 million to K5 entities in 2022, and he leaned on K5’s celebrity and business connections in his effort to obtain rescue...

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A controversial new ordinance came into force on Saturday in San Diego requiring landlords to compensate renters when their lease is terminated through no fault of their own. “This is a good step in the right direction,” said Rafael Bautista, director of the San Diego Tenants Union. The ordinance, which was brought forward by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and Council President Sean Elo-Rivera gives tenants new protections that start on the first day of their lease.

Explanation: Does lightning occur only on Earth? No. Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected lightning on other planets, including Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and lightning is likely on Venus, Uranus, and Neptune. Lightning is a sudden rush of electrically charged particles from one location to another. On Earth, drafts of colliding ice and water droplets usually create lightning-generating charge separation, but what happens on Jupiter? Images and data from NASA's Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft bolster previous speculation that Jovian lightning is also created in clouds containing water and ice. In the featured Juno photograph, an optical flash was captured in...

Rather long video by Scott Manley, who normally blogs about things space related. This is a "rant," in which he streams his thoughts and responds to questions and comments from viewers. One interesting thing he did say that I made note of, concerning the energy released when the Titan submarine imploded. If we assume that it made it to a depth of 8000 feet, we can estimate the amount of energy that was focused on its occupants by just turning the situation around (in a sense) and calculating the amount of energy needed to clear one cubic meter of volume...

Former President Trump expanded his lead over the GOP presidential field following his federal indictment earlier this month, with over half of Republican primary voters now saying in a survey that the former president would be their first choice for the 2024 nomination. The latest NBC News poll found that 51 percent of GOP primary voters said Trump would be their first pick for the 2024 Republican nomination, a 5-point jump from April. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is in second place, currently holding 22 percent of the votes, a 9-point drop from where he stood in April. Only 7 percent...

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on May 13, 2023, at Hillsdale College’s 171st Commencement Ceremony. Congratulations to the Hillsdale College Class of 2023. It is a thrill to be here at Hillsdale, which I have heard about for a long time. Last night I had a wonderful tour of campus, and the evening culminated in a concert in your beautiful chapel. The concert included Mahler’s First Symphony played by the student orchestra and was just marvelous. When I was a theology professor, I taught a course on the Reformation for many years, taking seriously the works of...

(VIDEO at link - posted as VANITY as not yet a 'sourced story') This is the BEST video on the internet right now. - Pro-America Patriot rally ongoing - Feds show up dressed as “Nazis” - Patriots force Feds out of rally - Unmask the Feds, who PANIC - The “Nazis” cry, tremble in fear - Cops rush to save Feds

In a secret society typically left untouched by the outside world, the Freemasons are struggling to come to terms with the transgender ideology in their all-male fraternity, according to members who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation. In 2018, the United Grand Lodge of England issued a decision allowing transgender individuals to join the secret society, but this year, the Grand Lodge of Texas announced its own opinion on the issue, barring transgender members. The Freemasons, an all-male secret society whose history goes back to the Middle Ages, have been struggling to deal with the transgender movement infiltrating their...

The Golden Age of Virtue, which Article V opponents attach to our early republics, never existed.This isn’t to say the literature and political writings by gentry and revolutionary leaders of the day did not appeal to virtue. After Benjamin Franklin wrote, “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom,” he warned that without virtue, people are doomed to ever more oppressive masters. Similarly is John Adams’ famous, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”1 We read these reminders, especially those of John Adams on a regular...

[Catholic Caucus] Argentinian Archbishop: Francis “Is A Vengeful Man”When Benedict XVI appointed John Paul II’s secretary as Krakow Archbishop he acted “according to ecclesiastical common sense", writes former La Plata Archbishop Héctor Rubén Aguer (Es.News, June 23).Francis lacked such common sense when he forced Gänswein to return to Germany without honour.Gänswein was punished because he wrote that Benedict felt "very humiliated” by some of Francis’ decisions. For Aguer Francis’ attitude towards Gänswein shows contempt for Benedict’s work “and perhaps an inferiority complex.”There is more, “Those who have known Jorge Bergoglio for a long time and have witnessed his actions as...

Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) predicted Sunday on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will be the Speaker of the House after the 2024 election. Psaki said, “We are sitting right here in the Capital building, and over the last week, we’ve seen the hearing with John Durham, Republicans trying to force a vote to impeach Biden, a vote to censure congressman Adam Schiff, should we anticipate, do you anticipate that Trump is going to keep driving the agenda of the Republican-led House?” Pelosi said, “It appears so because the fact is, when we had...

A new national NBC News poll shows voters deeply dissatisfied with the direction of the country and having concerns about both President Biden and former President Donald Trump. Right Direction - 20% Wrong Direction - 74%

Peter Schweizer, head of the "Government Accountability Institute," told Maria Bartiromo on FNC's "Sunday Morning Futures" that he tipped off the House Oversight Committee to look into records for a private global cell phone he alleges Hunter Biden's business gave to Joe Biden during his time as vice president: PETER SCHWEIZER: It's interesting, what is the line of communications between Hunter Biden and his business partners and Joe Biden when he's vice president of the United States? It's not the government phone, it's not Joe Biden's personal phone. We know from the laptop that Hunter Biden's business paid for a...

Millions of Americans generously donate a slice of their paychecks every year, offering to help those in need while maybe earning a slice of good karma. The US charity industry is worth well over $2 trillion, but many have no idea the sector is littered with greed, and their good intentions may be lining the pockets of fatcat CEOs instead. According to a study by the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative reporting, the 50 worst charities in America gave less than four percent of donations to their advertised recipients from 2003 to 2013.

Just one year ago, Roe v. Wade was reversed by evil right-wing justices, and the consequences have been every bit as devastating as we knew they would be. Join The Babylon Bee team as we take a trip through the past year, and all the horrible aftereffects of ending Roe v. Wade. Literally millions of horrifying baby giggles: Everyone now has to hear the most delightfully pleasant sound on earth. SO gross. Inflation: Know whose fault that is? Yep, babies. Millions of dads now had less time to play video games: Don't these babies know Tears of the Kingdom came...

Wagner is estimated to have around 5,000 troops across #Africa. Its contractors control strategic sites and mineral deposits. But #Wagner’s CEO, #Prigozhin, uses the PMC as a springboard to score points with #Putin.

Most observers (Western and Russian) seem to have expected Ukraine to go over onto the offensive sometime in the 2023 campaign season. Such a move was well telegraphed and a natural extension of Ukraine's stated objectives of taking back occupied territories from the Russian Federation. By mid-June, it was clear Ukraine had started an offensive effort, launching probing actions at multiple points along the front and finally showing some of the heavy Western equipment it had received over the last six months. Those initial attacks ran into the teeth of heavy Russian defences, and progress since then has been slower...