Free Republic

I have learnt from painful experience that modern feminism is an evil misandrist force which threatens the survival of the social order in The West. I congratulate activist attorney Phyllis Schlafly, who died 7 years ago on the 5th of September 2016, for being a great anti-feminist. I believe that one of Schlafly’s great human intellectual achievements is to clearly articulate how important motherhood is to so many women. “Feminism has changed the way women think, and it has changed the way men think, but the trouble is, it hasn’t changed the attitudes of babies at all.” “When I had...

Raquel Welch helped Bob Hope entertain the boys fighting communism in Vietnam. Jo Raquel Teqada was born on September 5th 1940, in Chicago, Illinois and died in February this year in Los Angeles. She was both willing and reluctant to be an amazing sex symbol. I call that being human. Her own words distance her from her sex goddess status without totally rejecting it: “My family was very conservative, and I had a traditional upbringing. I was not brought up to be a sex symbol, nor is it in my nature to be one. The fact that I became one...

A person was found dead outside a North Carolina State residence hall on Monday - as campus returns following a year that saw 14 student deaths. Students returning to NC State on Monday saw police tape around Sullivan Residence Hall on the Raleigh campus as officers investigated the death of a male student. Last year, NC State saw 14 deaths, including seven by suicide. Two deaths were overdoses, one by car wreck and four were 'natural causes.' Students on campus fear this year may be no different, with another death just two weeks after returning to campus. ‘It gave me...

LETTER TO LLOYD AUSTIN The Kentucky Republican, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, referenced Brig. Gen Moussa Barmou, the American-trained commander of the Nigerien special operations forces who helped oust Niger’s democratically elected president. “Under what authorities, and or what purpose did U.S. forces provide training to Moussa Salaou Barmou or any other Nigerien forces and coup leaders who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum,” Paul wrote in the letter. He also asked for descriptions of which forces in Niger received security aid and support, which legal authorities were used and what steps the Pentagon is taking to ensure U.S.-supplied...

In an era of soaring tuition fees and mounting student debt, choosing which undergraduate degree to pursue has become a crucial decision for any aspiring college student. And it always helps to see which way the winds are blowing.As Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao shares below, this visualization by Kashish Rastogi, based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), examines the changing landscape of undergraduate degrees awarded between the 2010–2011 and 2020–2021 academic years.Undergraduate Degrees Growing in PopularityThe NCES classifies all four-year bachelor degrees into 38 fields of study. Of these fields, 21 saw an increase in graduates...

South Korea’s intelligence services believe that Russia, China and North Korea are preparing to conduct joint military drills. Moscow, Beijing, and Pyongyang have all frequently complained about American war games near their borders.According to Yoo Sang-bum, a South Korean legislator, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu likely proposed that North Korean soldiers join Russian and Chinese troops for military exercises during a July meeting with Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Yoo says he learned the information during a closed-door discussion with South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.The report comes as Moscow, Beijing and Pyongyang have become increasingly frustrated with Washington and its...

Is Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, about to sing like a canary against his former boss? Politico writes that he “signaled that his defense is likely to include blaming the former president as the primary driver of the effort.”Granted, it’s Politico, and they are not fans of Trump World. The online site relishes stories that pit the various players against each other. But, in this case, it is entirely plausible. Why would Meadows do time for Trump if he can strike a deal? Meadows has proven himself a political opportunist, in my opinion. He seems to...

"We must not forget that we are talking about empowering partisan politicians such as state Secretaries of State to disqualify their political opponents from the ballot, depriving voters of the ability to elect candidates of their choice. If abused, this is profoundly anti-democratic." EUGENE VOLOKH | 8.12.2023 6:58 PM I'm delighted to be able to pass along this response by Prof. Michael McConnell (Stanford Law School) to a couple of items that were posted on the blog in the last few days: "There is a recent flurry of interest in Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which bars any person...

It’s the second largest city in England and it just effectively declared bankruptcy. There are multiple problems that have contributed to this situation but one near the top of the list is a settlement over equal pay.Birmingham City Council, which provides services for more than one million people, filed a Section 114 notice on Tuesday, halting all spending except on essential services.The deficit arose due to difficulties paying between £650 million (around $816 million) and £760 million (around $954 million) in equal pay claims, the notice report says.What will this actually mean for residents? No one is quite sure yet...

In case you’ve somehow missed all the news coming out of San Francisco for the past several years, the city has the highest rate of property crime in the country. The SF Chronicle published a story today asking the obvious question: “Why is it so bad here — and not elsewhere?” The answer the article comes to is not entirely satisfying but it does make some amount of sense. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first the article does admit there’s a possibility Prop 47 plays a role.Lobbyists for retailers and some politicians have blamed Proposition 47, a...

Tucker Carlson is teasing a new interview with a man who alleges he had sexual relations with former President Barack Obama. The minute-long promotional clip is interspersed with some of the questions that will be asked as well as a brief preview of the man's central claim. AdvertisementAccording to past statements by Carlson, Larry Sinclair approached him, offering to sign an affidavit and take a lie detector test. Carlson went on to say that "he did," and that is likely what led to this interview.A man who claims he had sex with Barack Obama in 1999 tells his story.Wednesday. 6pm...

I remember the song by the 80s new wave group Missing Persons called “Words.” The refrain went like this: "What are words for, when no one listens anymore, What are words for, when no one listens, What are words for, when no one listens and no one's talking at all... Do you hear me, do you care, do you hear me, do you care, tell me what are words for?" Words and language have meaning and when used imprecisely cause more confusion and angst, or even advantage to those attempting to manipulate language. For example: Patient Protection, Affordable Care Act,...

In his 2019 book The Madness of the Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity, Douglas Murray exposed the cultural insanity that has gripped so much of the modern world. He pointed out that, no sooner was there more equality than ever between the sexes that the war on men was launched. And no sooner was there more equality than ever between the races that the war on whiteness was launched. Murray brought a wide array of arguments to support his theses, but none were more striking than the images that came up on Google searches for specific terms and phrases. It...

Government spending during the pandemic caused a $3.1 trillion deficit in 2020 and a $2.8 trillion deficit in 2021. It was the most expensive campaign debt in history, and paying it off caused a massive spike in inflation. Inflation is moderating — somewhat. And in 2022, the federal budget deficit dropped by the largest amount in history; from $2.8 trillion to a little less than $1 trillion. But in 2023, instead of continuing to drop, the deficit nearly doubled to a projected $2 trillion. This despite steady, if unspectacular, growth in the economy. This is counterintuitive, according to the Washington...

One of the false narratives we hear over and over again from gun-control proponents on the left is that good guys with guns do not stop bad guys with guns, and we therefore need to ban “assault weapons.” I put that phrase in quotes because radical progressives don’t have a very specific definition of what constitutes such a class of firearm. That’s because the looser the parameters for what can be considered an assault weapon, the more guns they can fit into the category. Good guys can’t stop bad guys with guns in every situation. This is especially true when...

On Sept. 15, 2020, President Trump ushered in a new era of peace and collaboration in the Middle East without a single bullet fired.This month, the world will celebrate the three-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s Abraham Accords. While the Obama administration and others said Trump’s bold decision to keep his campaign promise and move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, would cause war in the Middle East, just the opposite happened. Many of these individuals said the same when the framework of the Abraham Accords was initially announced, but just as...

The Senate GOP’s refusal to force a Democrat reconciliation with crises created by Biden means Republicans are playing into Democrats’ hands.A government shutdown is again imminent, but Republican messaging on the reason for the spending standoff is inconsistent thanks to the Senate GOP, which plans to greenlight the Biden administration’s cash infusion.If Democrats get their way, Congress will send at least $13 billion taxpayer dollars to Ukraine, something a majority of U.S. taxpayers say they don’t want to do, and spend another estimated $27 billion cash on unspecified “emergency funding.”Some GOP members in the lower chamber have pledged to do...

According to Axios, a left-leaning publication, the only thing keeping the American economy afloat is the blessed presence of foreign-born workers…because those lazy Americans just won’t work. However, according to a study by Zero Hedge, Americans are losing their jobs like crazy, and only foreign-born workers are getting those jobs. Who to believe? Who to believe? First, Axios:Immigrants are joining the U.S. workforce at much higher levels than normal.They're likely to account for roughly half a million new jobs over the next three quarters, per a new report from Goldman Sachs.Why it matters: As the U.S. continues to struggle with...

With his calm voice and authoritative demeanor, Col. Douglas Macgregor gives the initial impression of a knowledgeable and dispassionate observer/analyst. Since the beginning of 2022, the Colonel, with an impeccable ‘American hero’ background has become the “go-to” analyst for many in the American conservative media, including Tucker Carlson. Carlson is a top professional and no doubt, has a decent-size crew of researchers even when not on Fox. Given these resources, it's inexplicable that he is charmed by Macgregor, who has not put a foot right in his analysis and predictions since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on...

[snip] Home gardeners should pick tomatoes sooner than later. There is a common misconception among the public and home gardeners that vine-ripened tomatoes taste better. But picking tomatoes at color break does not hurt quality, reduces fruits’ exposure to damage and can extend their shelf-life, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. Larry Stein, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension horticulturist, Uvalde, said tomatoes are fully mature when they begin to break color. Tomatoes ripen as they begin to produce ethylene gas, which promotes the process. “Breakers,” mature tomatoes starting to change colors, begin to turn a yellowish green and then...