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Happiness is not as simple as it sounds. Philosophers advise that the pursuit of happiness may be a misguided aspiration, and psychologists warn that illusory happiness achieved through denial can harm your health. The United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s World Happiness Report 2023 has perplexed many people with its surprising national rankings of what it termed “happiness.” Because this significant work has spawned many commentaries and much confusion, it awaits clarification.Finns and Israelis have little in common yet are now doubly bonded: Both ranked in the top ten on “happiness” – Finland first and Israel fourth – and many...

... Walter Mead, in an essay in Foreign Affairs, described the politics underlying Trump’s rise and enduring appeal as follows: The distinctively American populism Trump espouses is rooted in the thought and culture of the country’s first populist president, Andrew Jackson. For Jacksonians — who formed the core of Trump’s passionately supportive base — the United States is not a political entity created and defined by a set of intellectual propositions rooted in the Enlightenment and oriented toward the fulfillment of a universal mission. Rather, it is the nation-state of the American people, and its chief business lies at home....

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14

Nanaimo RCMP say they’re looking to speak with key witnesses after arresting a man accused of deliberately setting several brush fires on Tuesday. Police were called to the area of Northfield Road and the Nanaimo Parkway just before noon to multiple witness reports a man was setting fires on walking trails. The resulting fires forced the closure of Highway 19 and Northfield Road for more than an hour as fire crews dealt with flames in a number of locations. On Wednesday, Mounties said they haven’t been able to locate several people who were at the chaotic scene shortly after noon....

"Sound of Freedom" hit theaters on Tuesday, and due to the "Pay It Forward" technology used by Angel Studios, the true-life thriller, which was reported as tied with Disney/Lucasfilm's "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," actually beat out the studio giant for the No.1 spot at the box office on Independence Day. As recorded by Box Office Mojo, "Sound of Freedom" grossed over $14 million in total: $11.5 million in direct box office sales and $2.6 million from the Pay It Forward tickets sold through the July 4 holiday. According to Deadline, "Indiana Jones" brought in $11.698M in total...

AMERICA'S most prolific Bigfoot hunter - who caught a mysterious 800-pound beast on camera and dedicated her life to investigating hundreds of other strange sightings - has been found dead. Claudia Ackley, 51, was so passionate about proving the existence of Sasquatch, she even launched a lawsuit to try and force Californian authorities to take Bigfoot sightings seriously. The mom of two was found dead at her home in Tenessee, on July 3, her partner Ed Brown confirmed to The US Sun. Back in 2018, The Sun spent time with Claudia in the mountains of Big Bear, California, retracing the...

New footage has emerged showing the moment a Los Angeles police officer grabbed a woman with cancer by the neck and slammed her to the ground outside a grocery store before pepper spraying her. The unnamed Sheriff's office deputy threw the woman to the ground and put his knee on her neck after she filmed him and another officer arresting her husband for allegedly shoplifting on June 24. Police say they responded to a call about an 'in-progress' robbery at the a WinCo Foods in Lancaster when they came across the couple, who they claim watch thee suspects' descriptions. The...

Staying solidly in character, on July 4, 2023, Joe Biden issued another call for the kind of gun control that King George III favored in his long-ago effort to squash American independence. Jackboot Joe didn’t waste the opportunity of news reports of multiple shootings across the country this holiday weekend to reiterate his support for removing weapons from all the people who don’t commit crimes — and customarily failing to even attempt to explain why such an action would positively affect the people who do. Citing recent shootouts in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and other such Democrat-led hellholes, Biden demanded support...

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has a packed diplomatic calendar taking him to regions including the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where Tokyo aims to supplement a weak U.S. presence by focusing on economic ties over values such as democracy and human rights. Kishida will visit Europe from Tuesday, then return home briefly before traveling to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar from July 16 to July 19. This marks the start of a string of diplomatic engagements running into the end of the year. This will be Kishida's first trip to the Middle East as...

Jackie Chan was slammed by fans online for abandoning his openly gay daughter Etta Ng Chok Lam, in a controversy prompted by a viral video of a movie clip in which he was acting like a loving father. The situation involving the Hong Kong-born film star, 69, began after a clip of an emotional scene from his new film Ride On circulated. Following the initial positive reaction to the sentimental clip, public opinion shifted as details of the Rush Hour actor's relationship with his actual daughter emerged - and many were critical of Chan. 'Jackie Chan disowned his actual daughter...

A healthy four-year-old girl died suddenly in the Northern Territory, Australia leaving her loved ones and medical professionals searching for answers. Millicent Edwards collapsed at home on April 14 and was rushed to hospital where she was put into an induced coma to stabilize her condition. She was subsequently transferred to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, Australia where 30 of her closest family members and friends gathered by her side. But despite tireless efforts from doctors, Millicent tragically died on June 16. The cause of her sudden death remains unknown.

At 4 o’clock in the morning this day — as a favor to her powerful father to limit the public spectacle — Jean Livingston lost her head for arranging the murder of her husband just three days before. Provoked by one beating too many, Lady Waristoun (or Lady Warriston) got a servant to murder him in his bed on the night of July 1. Robert Weir blew town — he wouldn’t be apprehended until 1604, whereupon he suffered one of the very few instances of execution on the breaking-wheel to occur in the British Isles — but the Lady and...

Revealing interview with Archbishop Fernández: "Francis wants to give a different meaning to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith"Giuseppe NardiKatholisches.infoJuly 5, 2023(source in German)Msgr. Victor Manuel Fernández, the newly appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church, flirts with the media while discrediting his new office and his predecessors in office. The Dicastery of the Faith had been the old Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Holy Office, in other words, the Inquisition, an institution that investigated all kinds of people -- including himself, the new Prefect of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Biden's pledge during the 2020 Presidential Election to restore decency and integrity to the White House has been fulfilled, as testing revealed the cocaine found on the premises this week was truly of the highest quality. "It is this administration's policy to maintain the highest standards," said Karine Jean-Pierre, a black gay White House Press Secretary who made history as a gay person who is black and works as the White House Press Secretary. "The American people deserve to feel confident that any cocaine found within the presidential residence will only be of the very finest...

U.S. — Democrats across the nation were reportedly confused by thousands of local parades held yesterday, as everyone in them kept their clothes on and didn't swing sex toys around. "What even is this?" said local Democrat and cat mom Glenda Fitzgerald. "Where are the BDSM displays, the transgender furries, and the naked men on bicycles? This is not what parades are for! I don't get it! I'm so annoyed I even bothered to bring my 5-year-old nephew to this strange event!" Initial reports indicate that over 60 million Americans attended the events in question even though they featured no...

A Canadian utility is starting early work to expand a nuclear plant, potentially building the world’s biggest facility as growing demand for clean energy spurs interest in atomic energy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Ontario government said Wednesday Bruce Power will conduct an environmental assessment of adding as much as 4.8 gigawatts of capacity to its plant in Canada’s most-populous province. The plant’s eight reactors currently have about 6.2 gigawatts of capacity and supply 30 per cent of the province’s power. The expansion would make the site larger than Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the...

It may be one of the most surefire findings in all of social psychology, repeatedly replicated over almost five decades of study: American conservatives say they are much happier than American liberals. They also report greater meaning and purpose in their lives, and higher overall life satisfaction…. [T]he entire gap…equates to about a half-point on a four-point scale, a sizable happiness divide. According to social scientists, here are four reasons why conservatives are happier than (il)liberals:

Gee! Isn't that a shame?Despite the fact that the White House is probably the most intensely video-surveilled building on the planet, an official with the investigation wants us to believe that the public shouldn't expect the discovery of the culprit who left cocaine there just this past weekend. At least that is what the utterly skepticism-free Politico reporter Daniel Lippman is relaying to his readers on Wednesday in "White House cocaine culprit unlikely to be found: Law enforcement official."

Video posted of Hunter Biden while watching the Fourth of July fireworks show from the Truman Balcony at the White House Tuesday night has people wondering if the First Son had a case of the sniffles–or something else– in the wake of the Secret Service discovering cocaine in the White House West Wing on Sunday while the Biden family was away at Camp David. Hunter is due to face a sweetheart deal on federal tax charges at the end of July, as well as a diversion for a gun charge based on his being a self-admitted cocaine addict. In the...

Under President Joe Biden, the government has faced intense scrutiny for its efforts to curb disinformation online, with critics contending that such undertakings were in truth an attempt to silence opposition to government narratives. The Biden administration will appeal a recent judicial order that a range of administration officials, including the entire FBI and DOJ, refrain from contacting social media companies to have First Amendment-protected content removed.Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty issued the order on July 4. The case is part of an effort by Republican-led states to challenge the administration's coordination with social media platforms, which they...