Free Republic

“Hardly anybody is still alive today who has personal memories of the Hollywood blacklist of the immediate post-World War II period, let alone of the rabid Communist agitation that took place in the film colony before and during the war,” notes Bruce Bawer in his review of my book, Hollywood Party: Stalinist Adventures in the American Movie Industry, adding “don’t expect this terrific, truth-telling tome to be made into a major-studio movie anytime soon.” Bawer is right, but as they say in Hollywood there’s more to the story.

For the first time in nearly 70 years, children and teenagers in South Carolina can legally play pinball. A law the governor signed last month removed the arcade game from the list of so-called status offenses outlawed for anyone under the age of 18, following a decade-long effort. The original ban was never enforced, but it remained a source of anxiety for law-abiding business owners, supporters of the bill said. Pinball gained popularity during the Great Depression as cheap, accessible entertainment — which critics called unskilled gambling tied to crime. Players released a ball that bounced into holes with different...

[Catholic Caucus] The Fallout from Archbishop Vigano’s Message to Pope LeoArchbishop Vigano’s letter to Pope Leo was a straightforward list of questions for the new Pope to answer regarding actions by Pope Francis and the direction of the Catholic Church.The letter to Leo XIV from Monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò [here] has the merit of confronting the Pope with inescapable questions. And since it comes not from a fanatical ideologue but from a faithful servant of the Church, it fully warrants being taken seriously by anyone questioning what has become of a Church that still calls itself Catholic but, in essence,...

Two direct descendants of prominent abolitionists reflected on the legacy of slavery and the challenges facing Black Americans during a visit to WHYY on Juneteenth. Kevin Douglass Greene, a descendant of Frederick Douglass, said he has little sympathy for people who believe they have lost rights or privileges, noting that African Americans spent generations fighting for basic rights and opportunities. “I can’t feel sorry for … certain populations in the United States [who] felt that they lost their rights and privileges. Just think about the amount of time that it took for African Americans in this country to achieve those...

Taxing the rich sounds good, until they move away.It has never been a better time in America to be a socialist. We aging Gen Xers who thought that socialism had been decisively refuted by the fall of the Berlin Wall have been refuted ourselves: Democratic socialists now run Seattle and New York City, and come January, probably D.C. too, where Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary that generally decides the district’s mayoral elections. It is a heady moment for the left, because socialism’s tainted brand has recovered from the vivid failures of the Soviet Union. Fully 66 percent of...

Iranian officials reportedly abandoned peace talks in the wake of President Donald Trump's threat to 'blow the s*** out of them,' just hours after Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland for negotiations with Tehran. The president threatened Iran to restart his bombing campaigns on the country through profanity filled phone calls and posts on social media while Vance began negotiations. Iranian officials back out of the talks after having filed a formal complaint with Pakistani and Qatari mediators and also refused to pose for photographs, according to the Telegraph. Tehran's Chief negotiator Mohammed Ghalibaf warned that the US should...

Hospitality does not require a perfect home, a big screen, or a gourmet meal. It requires room in the heart before it requires room in the house. Paul told the Romans to “practice hospitality” (Romans 12:13); Peter told believers to “offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9); the writer of Hebrews warned that some have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2). World Cup hospitality can be especially powerful because the event already creates natural openings. You do not have to force a conversation about culture, home, language, family, or national memory. The game brings those things...

While political pressure mounts on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer amid rising tensions within the Labour Party, attention inside 10 Downing Street has unexpectedly shifted to an unlikely figure who seems completely unbothered by the unfolding drama - Larry the Cat. As Starmer faced a day of political turbulence, marked by the resignation of multiple junior ministers and increasing pressure from within his own party, Larry was seen casually roaming around Downing Street, repeatedly appearing near the iconic black door while media crews gathered outside. The situation took a humorous turn when the cat’s official X account commented on the...

This is what a major city looks like after years of suffering under criminal-friendly, incompetent, woke (but I repeat myself) leadership. Chicago, where mayors are concerned, seems to have a predilection for going from bad to worse, and never has that been more apparent than in the term of the feckless, incapable Mayor Brandon Johnson. Crime is spiking in Chicago again. The long weekend beginning with "Juneteenth" on Friday, June 19th, has now, as of this writing, seen 22 people shot, with five dead. President Trump has weighed in on the matter, offering to do for Chicago what he did...

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) — A New Jersey man will face federal prison time after he acted as a flight instructor without a valid pilot’s license when his plane crashed, killing a student pilot on board. Philip McPherson II, 37, of Riverside, was sentenced Thursday to 78 months in prison, or 6 1/2 years, on federal involuntary manslaughter and related charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The charges arose from a Sept. 28, 2022, plane crash in suburban Allentown. A student pilot was killed and McPherson was seriously injured. McPherson pleaded guilty in October...

The Hezbollah terrorist organization on Sunday condemned the ongoing direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, ahead of a fifth round of talks scheduled to take place on Monday in the United States. In a statement, Hezbollah said it had become "clear and certain" that the direct negotiations involving the Lebanese delegation in Washington were aimed at endorsing "dictates imposed by the US administration that undermine Lebanon's sovereignty." The group claimed the negotiations would shift Lebanon's political position "to the side of those reconciled with the Zionist occupation and its illegitimate entity." Hezbollah asserted that "no good whatsoever can come from...

Tashkent looking for more control over mining-sector value chain.Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan are strengthening economic connections, signing a variety of agreements covering mining, banking and tourism. Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ali Asadov, presided June 16 over a signing ceremony in Tashkent of a cooperation agreement under which the two countries will jointly develop an Uzbek gold deposit as well as other mineral resources. Ural Yusupov, Uzbekistan’s deputy mining minister, previously indicated that Tashkent was intent on conducting comprehensive surveys of precious metal deposits in the Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions, along with critical mineral deposits in Karakalpakstan...

At a press conference earlier this month, a reporter told Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear that people in Boyd and Greenup counties had been "caught off guard" by a deal local officials unveiled to bring a very large data center to the area. A number of Boyd County residents had packed a town hall the day before to lambast county judge-executives and other local leaders in part over concerns about what a proposed hyperscale data center could mean for electricity bills and the local environment. Beshear in response said he was not going to let a data center come into the...

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that President Trump will take military control of the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S.-Iran framework agreement falls apart, escalating the administration's rhetoric on the same morning Vice President JD Vance landed in Switzerland for talks with Iranian negotiators."If this deal fails, Trump is going to take the strait over by force," Graham said on CBS's Face the Nation. "The United States will control the strait. We will charge a fee for those who go through."The comments came hours after Trump floated the same idea on Truth Social, saying that if the...

Actor Timothy Busfield wants a judge to dismiss a grand jury indictment tied to sexual abuse charges, arguing the case is unfair and lacks evidence. Busfield filed the motion earlier this week. The motion says the case is unfair and lacks evidence. Last week, KOB 4 reported on a new independent investigation that found there was not evidence to support the allegations. Two boys say Busfield assaulted them while he worked with them on a TV show filming in Albuquerque. The case now turns on whether a judge allows the indictment to stand or dismisses it.

President Trump tore into lefty Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday over spiraling violence in Chicago – after a bloody weekend in the Windy City left at least five people dead and 22 others wounded, according to reports.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the head of Iran’s negotiating team, called on the United States and President Donald Trump to tone down what he described as hostile rhetoric toward the regime in Tehran. “The United States should be cautious in its statements. Our forces are ready to respond," ...

A few years ago, to help my mind get over the grind of writing The 33 Strategies of War, I bought a pool table. After a hard day’s work, I would settle into the game of pool and make myself completely focus on the green felt, the cue stick, the stripes and solids. It ended up being the perfect choice of a diversion. Pool, it became clear to me, is all about angles. First, there are simple angles, as you must hit the cue ball to either side when you are not straight on. This is often not as easy...

Explanation: What if you could see the entire sky -- all at once -- for an entire year? That, very nearly, is what is pictured here. Every 15 seconds during 2025, an all-sky camera took an image of the sky over the Netherlands. Central columns from these images were then aligned and combined to create the featured keogram, with January at the top, December at the bottom, and the middle of the night running vertically just left of center. What do we see? Most obviously, the daytime sky is mostly blue, while the nighttime sky is mostly black. The twelve...

So, guys, anything new? Here at Guitar World, we believe in hitting artists with the hard questions first. “Not much at all,” Geddy Lee deadpans. The bassist is speaking via Zoom from his home studio, a wall of basses behind him. “I’ve just been playing a lot of cards with Al, trying to win some money off him.” “He always does,” says Alex Lifeson, joining in on Zoom from his own home music sanctuary. “He’s vicious at Go Fish.” While we’re on the subject of games, suffice to say that nobody – including, for the longest time, Lee and Lifeson...