Free Republic

Someone I grew up with is a pothead, and all his friends are potheads, so I’ve seen firsthand how destructive it is. I’ve seen how it destroys ambition, discipline, intelligence, and moral fiber. It’s a vile drug, and a new study reveals that, no matter how you ingest it (eating versus smoking), it also destroys the body. That being the case, we must ask why Democrats are so determined to see it legalized across America. You don’t need to take my anecdotal claims to know just how bad marijuana is for the people who use it. There are endless studies...

Graduating students of color at Harvard University and other colleges across the country would end their semester by attending affinity graduation ceremonies — but this year, they had to organize the celebrations without the school’s financial backing. Harvard, currently battling the Trump administration over a range of issues, halted all of its affinity ceremonies for students this year. Alumni stepped in to raise funds, and students scrambled to find new spaces. Members of the Harvard Black Alumni Society raised $46,000 for this year’s event after the university announced April 28 that it would no longer fund the ceremonies.

Hans-Georg Maaßen. Hans-Georg Maaßen is a German lawyer and former senior civil servant who served as President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, from 2012 to 2018. He is known for his critical stance on government immigration policy and for publicly opposing the political instrumentalisation of intelligence services. Since leaving office, Maaßen has become an outspoken political commentator and a prominent voice within Germany’s conservative circles. In early May, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), classified the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as an...

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

"Senior executives are being pushed out and the director, Kash Patel, is more freely using polygraph tests to tamp down on news leaks about leadership decisions and behavior"Behind the scenes, his vision of an F.B.I. under President Trump is quietly taking shape. Agents have been forced out. Others have been demoted or put on leave with no explanation. And in an effort to hunt down the sources of news leaks, Mr. Patel is forcing employees to take polygraph tests.Taken together, the moves are causing worrisome upheaval at the F.B.I., eliciting fear and uncertainty as Mr. Patel and his deputy, Dan...

WASHINGTON (7News) — While President Donald Trump will be hosting a military parade in Washington, people across the country are getting together to protest his administration. According to organizers, this mobilization is inspired by the success of the Hands Off! and May Day protests. The NO KINGS Nationwide Day of Defiance is set to take place on Flag Day, June 14, at over 100 locations. Gatherings in the area include: Garrett Park, MD: Strathmore Avenue, Garrett Park **SNIP** You can find a full list of them all here. Indivisible is organizing the protests with the following partners: 50501, American Federation...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukraine will attend a meeting in Istanbul on Monday proposed by Russia. "I outlined (Ukraine's) positions ahead of the meeting in Istanbul on Monday," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram after meeting with his officials. He added that the Ukrainian delegation would once again be headed by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

Flaming June triumphed at exhibition in 1895, but its moment in the sun was short. Leighton's death the following year heralded the end of an era. As Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and abstraction gained prominence in Europe and the United States, the artistic vision that he proposed came to be seen by many curators, scholars, and critics as outmoded and sentimental. Flaming June seemed superficial and vapid, an invocation of sensibilities that no longer rang true; the painting fell into obscurity. We do not know where it was from 1930 until 1962, when it resurfaced on the art market without its original...

Incredible new post-apocalyptic novel based on conservative ideals and current events Hey folks, I’ve just finished a newly released novel titled “Ivy Moon Total Eclipse” and I have tell people about it. Trust me, it’s like nothing you’ve ever read. It’s by a guy named Bill Furney who lives in North Carolina where I live and the story takes place in the eastern part of the state. Technically, it’s a young adult novel, but in the vein of Hunger Games, which simply means there’s no sex, drugs, or profanity. But the story revolves around adult themes and conservative principles that...

For President Donald Trump, anytime is a good time for dealmaking, but never more so than now with the leaders of China and Russia. Last Monday, Trump said he wanted to normalize commerce with Russia, appearing to lessen the pressure on Moscow to settle its war with Ukraine. And he is trying to limit the fallout from his own global trade war by urging China’s leader to call him. “We all want to make deals,” Trump said in a recent interview with Time magazine. “But I am this giant store. It’s a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go...

Ahead of Prime Video's first weekend streaming a NASCAR Cup Series race, the first half a four-part documentary on the late, great Dale Earnhardt was released. The show immediately shot to No. 1 among trending shows on the streaming service, and remains inside the top five a full week later as the final two parts were released.

Using AI to help write? The short answer is, I don't. There is a person, Tim Boucher, who has used AI to write at least 97 books. That's impressive, but I would wager that if I got into reading one of them, it would be an intolerable slog that I wouldn't be able to get through. That is because of my observations when getting AI to experimentally generate some fiction. Everything it writes is very hackneyed, very trite material. Everything always ends up positive, everyone is happy, there is little conflict or conflict resolution, and every character has the exact...

Democrats are spending $20 million to win back men—but until they understand what men actually want, they’ll keep buying maps without learning the terrain.Since last November, Democrats and their friends in the media have spent a great deal of time wondering what they can do to win back male voters. Now they’re prepared to spend a great deal of money to help them figure it out. The “gender gap” in American politics was traditionally about Republicans’ inability to win over a majority of women voters, but this imbalance has more than evened out over the last few election cycles. Today,...

TWO Russian airfields housing Putin's nuke bombers have reportedly been blitzed in an extraordinary drone strike - wiping out at least 40 aircraft. A Ukrainian security official told Reuters that the SBU conducted a large drone attack on Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers - which Russia uses to fire long-range missiles at Ukraine. The source did not specify where the drone attack took place, but Ukrainian media said that Olenya airbase - home to Russia’s Tu-95 strategic bombers - had been targeted. The second base under fire is understood to be the Belaya nuclear airbase in eastern Siberia’s Irkutsk region...

These clans act like armed militias, forcibly seizing food, looting warehouses, and shooting to protect their members from Hamas security forces. Armed clans are reasserting themselves in the Gaza Strip, challenging Hamas’s authority, particularly in areas where the IDF is conducting operations and Hamas has lost control, senior IDF officials told Walla. Sources told Saudi-owned site Al Hadath on Sunday that Hamas has lost security control over the Gaza Strip, adding that thieves and gangs seize aid, loot homes, and terrorize residents. According to a senior IDF officer, these clans act like armed militias, forcibly seizing food, looting warehouses, and...

There are actors and there are movie stars and then there are those rare legends whose image projected on a screen inspires tributes and treatises, polemics and diatribes, encomiums, tracts and paeans. Every movie star who ascends, even briefly, to some rare level of fame becomes the subject of this sort of beetle-browed inquiry by the sorts of writers tasked with finding something in pop culture that explains everything about a moment in social and political time. But there are few celebrities who can support this kind of scrutiny and carry the burden of this much significance for long decades....

The Talk ShowsJune 1st, 2025 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FACE THE NATION (CBS): Margaret Brennan anchors: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; FDA Commissioner Marty Makary; Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.); Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.); Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University. FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Anchor Shannon BreamSen. Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.); Rep. Jake Auchincloss; (D-Mass.); Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Sunday special: Modern Warrior Live. Panel: Marie Harf, Guy Benson, Horace Cooper and Meridith McGraw. MEET THE dePRESS (NBC): Hosted by Kristen Welker: : Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-LA); Sen. Raphael Warlock (D-Ga.)....

A century has passed since the Supreme Court clearly declared kids are “not creatures of the state.” 100 years ago today, the United States Supreme Court unanimously decided the case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters, a landmark blow in favor of parental rights. The Court’s bold words deserve to be recalled today: “The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations” (268 US 535). Pierce arose because, amidst post-World War I anti-Catholic activism, Oregon...

AL QLB BNT CIPDNB XZQT ILMTM CWLH BL FTTB BNV JPMM EB FLIQPQD NLZIM? --HPWWPEF R. CIVEQB

I post this for the nerdy few of you who, like me, might find it interesting.;-) This is a relatively short video interview of Dr. Iain McGilchrist, a highly regarded British psychiatrist, philosopher, and neuroscientist. In this video, he offers a theory as to why a large part of our culture thinks the way it does. He doesn't explicitly say “the political Left is left-hemisphere dominant.” But he clearly describes characteristics of left-hemisphere thinking that closely align with the behavior of the political Left—especially the Woke, extremist wing. I've been listening to Dr. McGilchrist in podcasts for a while now...