Free Republic

The late, great wildlife biologist and expert on animal behavior, Valerius Geist, noted the tremendous benefit that hunters create for other people who use wild country. He calls it “freedom of the woods”. A short version is included in this Wolf Essay. There is a great Public Good that hunters give to society at large, which I may call here the “freedom of the woods.” It is based on the fact that an armed person acts quite differently from an unarmed one when meeting predators, and we have reason to believe that the predators notice the difference via sight, sound...

Barack Obama’s presidency didn’t just strain America—it shattered its social fabric, fueling the political divide that made today’s bitter polarization inevitable. Someday, when today’s young Americans look back in anger at what their country has become—and believe me, they will be angry—they will have their pick of culprits to blame for the sad state of affairs. If there is any justice in the universe, however, they will focus their resentment and frustration on one man: Barack Obama. Although the United States (and the West more generally) had been drifting toward collapse for decades, Obama’s efforts to “fundamentally transform” the nation...

Meet Chuck. Chuck is an actual, card-carrying Nazi. But now that everyone is a Nazi, he struggles to stand out in the world. Sad!

Boston's raging drug problem has deepened after images surfaced of a man hunched over outside of the city's poshest mall. The unidentified man could be seen lurched over and using a phone outside of Copley Place in the Democratic-led city, in footage taken by a passer-by. It was shared to social media by a group of locals openly opposed to Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu as the latest example of the problems facing the Massachusetts city. 'Wow can't even shop in Mayor Wu's Boston without running into drug addicts,' the post said. 'This is in Boston's most luxurious mall too.' The...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared shoulder-to-shoulder Friday with Texas Democratic lawmakers in a show of support for their nearly weeklong walkout, which has blocked a vote on congressional redistricting maps sought by President Donald Trump in a widening national battle over U.S. House control. Texas has been the epicenter of Trump’s push to gerrymander congressional maps to shore up Republicans’ narrow House majority before next year. But the standoff is threatening to spill into other states — including California, New York, Florida and Indiana — in an emerging proxy war for control of Congress...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Saturday the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning that any peace deal excluding Kyiv would lead to “dead solutions.”The Trump-Putin meeting, scheduled for Friday in Alaska, is seen as a potential breakthrough in the more than three-year war.Trump had previously agreed to meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy, stoking fears Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continent’s biggest conflict since World War II.In a statement posted to Telegram, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s territorial integrity, enshrined...

Daily Readings from the USCCBThen the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:19–20A man came up to Jesus, fell on his knees before Him and begged Jesus to cure his son who was possessed by a demon. The man explained that Jesus’ disciples had tried to...

In speaking of Democrats verbally attacking law enforcement officers, President Trump is quoted as saying, “Well, they would not be saying that if they didn’t hate our country. And obviously, they do.” Then President Trump spoke a generality concerning Democrats and said, “This is the problem with Democrats, they have a lot of bad things going on in their heads. They’ve become very…they’ve lost their confidence, number one. And they’re really, they’ve become somewhat deranged.” Just to prove President Trump correct when he stated Democrats have “a lot of bad things going on in their heads” causing them to “become...

They gave us abortion and legalized hard core pornography. Among others. Justices were Lewis Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, William Rehnquist, Potter Stewart, William O. Douglas, Chief Justice Warren Burger, William Brennan, Byron White. Which were good and which were liberal?

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(8/9/25)[Prayer]Water, Rivers, and Streams in the BibleRevelation 8:8-118 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11 the name of the star is Wormwood.[a] A...

Archaeologists in Croatia have unearthed the remains of a 1,800-year-old watchtower that was erected to help the Romans defend the "limes" -- the border along the Danube River that marked the frontier of the Roman Empire.Roman artifacts revealed at the site, including military equipment, brooches and ceramic vessels, indicate that the watchtower was constructed in the late second century A.D. and used in the third century A.D., the team reported...During the Marcomannic Wars (circa A.D. 166 to 180), Roman soldiers under the rule of emperor Marcus Aurelius fought several peoples -- including the Germanic Marcomanni who lived north of the...

When it comes to sounding yet another alarm about the rising tide of antisemitism worldwide, it’s important that we do not overstate things. After all, we don’t want to be like the boy who kept crying wolf until no one believed him anymore, even when a real wolf arrived. But when it comes to antisemitism, it’s actually very hard to overstate things or to sound a false alarm. That’s because things continue to go from very bad to even worse. In Canada, there has been such a surge in antisemitic since the October 7, 2023 massacre that the envoy appointed...

A good deal for all? Strict tariffs? Noting of substance? Full on military aid to Ukraine? Threat of military force by Trump?

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has launched a lobbying campaign against the EU’s Digital Services Act. With this step, Americans have become the last line of defense for the free speech rights of EU citizens. If, in the past, President Donald Trump often spoke of the European Union as “a tough nut to crack,” he couldn’t have been more accurate. Freedom-loving EU citizens know exactly what he meant. In Brussels, a bizarre mélange of control fetishism, economic dirigisme, and isolation from the outside world has developed -- a combination that is no longer tolerable. Not least, Brussels’s fight against...

I remember like yesterday when Dr. Paul called me into his Member office in 203 Cannon with a draft of his famous “What If” speech. He had written it in his own hand and he asked me to go over it and clean it up a bit. Not unusual for how he writes: from the heart. And afterward I spent a good deal of time in his office with a stopwatch making sure he could deliver it under the five minute rule. Shuffling the papers. What do we have to cut. Which paragraph could be spoken a bit faster. I...

The Temple Institute announced on Tuesday that the remaining red heifers that had been brought from Texas by Boneh Israel to perform the Biblically mandated purification ceremony are not suited for the ceremony. “The three weeks of intensified focus and adoption of customs of mourning over the destruction of the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem have ended,” the announcement read. “But our recap of all the work the Temple Institute is involved with, the one aim of rebuilding the Holy Temple and renewing the Divine service is far from exhausted.” The Temple Institute described its more than two decades of...

For leftists, the contrast between their maddened world view and reality epitomizes that hard-to-define word: Irony. Irony is a term whose meaning is elusive and which escapes precise definition. A lot of people think they know what it means when they actually don’t. About the best that can be said is that irony is the quality of a situation in which not only are prospects ruined and even reversed, but done so resoundingly – irony not only wrecks your plans, but does so while turning you into an object lesson. Irony occurs when the postman rings twice for the drifter...

Many enemies of Israel, including some in the United States Congress, see the U.S.-Israel relationship as one-sided. This is true of Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who, in interview with Steve Bannon earlier this month, stated, “I’m entering amendments to strike 500 million more dollars for nuclear-armed Israel. .... The $500 million Rep. Greene is speaking of is for missile defense cooperation, and the U.S. Defense Department is a major beneficiary of Israeli research and development. As a result of the experience Israel has garnered from employing various missile defense systems — such as the Iron Dome, David Sling, and Arrow...

California state Sen. Sabrina Cervantes honored transgender high school athlete AB Hernandez after Hernandez won multiple girls state titles at the end of May. The trans athlete, who competes for Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County, California, was the subject of a ceremony at the Jurupa City Council Friday where the athlete was recognized for winning first place in the girls high jump and triple jump May 31. Cervantes was present to give Hernandez two certificates on behalf of the California state senate and delivered a speech recognizing the athlete's championships. "We just want to take a moment this...

The population of Japan shrank by 0.75% in 2024, marking a record high since records began in 1968, according to official data. The decline amounted to 908,574 people, the largest population drop since records began in 1968. This is the 16th straight year in which the Japanese population has shrunk, reducing it to 120.65 million people down from a peak of 126.6 million in 2009, according to the Internal Affairs Ministry. Japanese nationals aged 65 or over made up 30% of the country's population, while 60% of Japanese nationals were between 15 and 64. Although many more economically developed countries...