Free Republic

The results are in: this time is not different. Indexing remains the optimal investment strategy. Every year S&P Global Ratings publishes reports comparing all actively managed investment funds with various stock indices. These reports are considered the gold standard for evaluating the performance of active fund management with their index-fund alternatives. The bottom line from the year-end 2024 report out this month is that there were no surprises. US passive index funds in 2024 outperformed about two-thirds of actively managed funds. That is consistent with past results that also show that one-third of the managers who outperform in any single...

Second lady Usha Vance will be part of a delegation traveling to Greenland this week, after President Donald Trump's repeated statements that the U.S. should own and control the semiautonomous Danish territory. Vance's office announced the trip on Sunday, describing it as one dedicated to learning about Greenlandic culture with stops at historical sties and its national dogsled race.

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear oral arguments Monday on whether a lower court can properly address the Trump administration's efforts to deport Venezuelan nationals via a 1798 wartime law. The administration asked for a stay pending appeal shortly after an initial March 15 order was issued, calling it a "massive, unauthorized imposition on the Executive’s authority to remove dangerous aliens who pose threats to the American people." The Trump administration had attempted to invoke a 1798 wartime authority to deport Venezuelan nationals, including alleged members of the gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), for a period...

Brad Pitt has hit a snag in the $20.5 million lawsuit against his Make it Right Project. Pitt, 61, started the project in the wake of 2005's devastating Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans with an aim to build ecologically sustainable homes to replace the houses that were flooded. He spent $12 million through his Make It Right Project to build 150 ecologically sustainable homes but now, nearly two decades later, those homeowners have organized a class action lawsuit against him and his non profit. Many of the homes have developed mold problems and other serious issues. The homeowners' legal team,...

WASHINGTON — A large corporate marketing firm co-founded and led by Stephanie Cutter, a senior adviser to Kamala Harris’s failed presidential campaign, recently laid off 10% of its staff amid a steep revenue disruption following the Democrat’s loss, The Post has learned. The nine-person layoff unleashed an outpouring of criticism about allegedly hypocritical treatment of employees by Precision Strategies, which is staffed by prominent Democrats and counts many of America’s top corporations and unions as clients. “She was telling people that she lost a lot of business after the election. And she has also been telling people companies are being...

The issue of sex trafficking minors is often treated as a cut-and-dry issue: Soliciting minors for sex is BAD. All caps. We have to protect children. No room for daylight. But we all know that real life is more complicated than a pat answer. Nothing is wholly black and white. Not every act of sexual solicitation is made through a car window on a dark street, not every payment is money left by the bedside table — and not every sexual act committed by a minor is inherently sex trafficking.

Dear FRiends, We're gonna need a whole lot more of your help to get this FReepathon done. And, unfortunately, our credit card program is still down. That means we'll have to do it with paypal and mail-in checks. Some good news is that paypal also has a credit card feature where you can pay by credit card and you don't even have to have a paypal account to do so. Please click here: to donate by PayPalOr by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you....

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s Health Secretary pick, just launched a bombshell move to ban Big Pharma ads on TV, and it’s a direct strike at the heart of networks like CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC—leaving Trump supporters cheering and the left in panic. In a video, Patrick Bet-David exposes the dirty truth: “Big Pharma is keeping Cable TV in business. 75% of ad revenue on cable television comes from the Pharmaceutical Industry.” That’s $4.5 billion in 2022 alone, per MediaRadar, propping up these networks while they push drugs like Ozempic.

In 2024, a bill was introduced into the Minnesota legislature that would ban many semi-automatic rifles. The bill was similar to the President Clinton-era “assault rifle” ban. A related bill, HF3628, did not pass out of the legislature in the last legislative session. In 2025, a new bill, Senate File SF1596/House File HF2449, takes a somewhat similar approach. The bill adds some new twists and turns. The new bill was introduced on February 20, 2025, and posted on February 25, 2025. SF1596/HF2449 takes a different approach than HF3628 did. HF3628 banned the possession of a large number of rifles, pistols,...

Anti-Elon Musk arson and vandalism targeting Tesla’s have erupted up and down America and across the world. Far Left anarchism is back. And it turns out that Trans are over represented amongst alleged perpetrators. Or as journalist Andy Ngo calls them: Trantifa. Andy Ngo, a journalist and author, discussed the rise of far-left extremism, particularly the over-representation of transgender individuals in recent attacks on Tesla dealerships across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Ngo highlights that these attacks, which include arson and bombings. With Winston they examine to what extent they are coordinated, by Dogequest for example. Andy also detailed the...

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"Nothing in the Draggieland performance offends the executive order the Board cites. No male performer in the drag show is stating an intent to become a woman. Nor does the Board point to evidence in the record establishing that the president’s executive order on “biological truth” specifically refers or applies to drag shows." "The court grants the motion for a preliminary injunction. The Board is enjoined from enforcing the ban. The Draggieland performance scheduled for March 27, 2025, in the Rudder Theatre, may proceed as originally scheduled."

Five-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion Carter Starocci joins 'Fox & Friends' to discuss making history for winning his fifth wrestling title and posing with President Donald Trump after his win.

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case on Monday that challenges Louisiana’s congressional map after it was redrawn to include a new majority-black district. The case began years ago, when Louisiana’s state legislature drew a congressional map following the 2020 census. It included one majority-Black district out of the state’s six. The map was challenged because roughly a third of the state’s population is Black. “After years and years of litigation, the legislature was finally compelled to do the right thing and pass a map that provided black voters with a fair opportunity to...

NEW-ORLEANS, Friday, March 17. Gen. CANBY is now near Mobile, and the grand attack by the land and naval forces upon the city will be made within five days. Gens. CANBY, GRANGER and SMITH, and Admiral THATCHER, went within four miles of Mobile on the steamer Laura, last week, and drew a heavy fire from many of the rebel batteries that line the harbor. Important News Expected from Mobile-The Forces Operating Against that City. Special Dispatch to the New-York Times. WASHINGTON, Thursday, March 23. Important news is expected here in a short time from the vicinity of Mobile; and it...

I don’t keep up with what Disney is doing. What they did to the Star Wars franchise is unforgivable. Yet, the new Snow White movie starring Rachel Zegler, a pro-Hamas clown, is getting bombed harder than Gaza right now, as critics and theater-goers are decidedly not watching this movie:

Good news for the people of Mississippi—lawmakers have finally removed the state income tax. Mississippi is now joins Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, and Wyoming in eliminating this excessive and predatory taxation practice. The first income tax was created in 1861 during the Civil War as a mechanism to finance the war effort. In addition, Congress passed the Internal Revenue Act in 1862, which created the Bureau of Internal Revenue, an eventual predecessor to the IRS. The Bureau of Internal Revenue placed excise taxes on everything from tobacco to jewelry. However, the income tax did...

A fire blazing at a Tesla charging station in Fargo, North Dakota, on Friday is believed to be intentionally set, the city’s battalion chief said. Acts of domestic terrorism against Tesla continue despite the federal government threatening arsonists and vandals with heavy prison fines. Fargo firefighters, who responded to a 3:15 a.m. fire at the Tesla charging station in the parking lot of Scheels on 45th Street South, revealed they found burned wood chips and a gas can near the scene of the incident, according to a report by InForum. One of the charging stations was smoking while a small...

“‘You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and...

In a nutshell * Children with higher screen time, especially on mobile devices, showed increased stress and depressive symptoms as teenagers. * Physical activity, particularly supervised exercise like sports, appeared to protect against mental health problems in adolescence. * The combination of low physical activity and high screen time was associated with the worst mental health outcomes, suggesting both factors should be addressed together. ================================================================================= JYVÄSKYLÄ, Finland — In case you needed another reason to hold off on buying your child a phone, research shows a troubling connection between childhood screen habits and teenage mental well-being. The eight-year study, which...