Free Republic

Paint splattered on floors. Spray-painted messages and screeds covering walls. Furniture moved and overturned. Security cameras disabled. Fire extinguishers missing and entrances blocked by stacks of chairs. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” a facilities manager at Portland State University said Thursday as he examined the destruction left behind after a three-day occupation by pro-Palestinian protesters in Millar Library.

It was a day of infamy.Worse than Pearl Harbor, 9/11, or even the Civil War, Americans were told.A bloody insurrection by a wild, ruthless, armed mob of election deniers.A coup d’etat. A revolution.That first Wednesday in January 2021, however, was none of the above.Yet Jan. 6 will forever be a prominent part of American history—in ways that few people fully realize.It was most certainly a fork in the road.Defining and understanding that historic day requires solid information, full context, and a willingness to look beyond the narratives that began before Jan. 6 was even a few hours old.Jan. 6 is...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken a very public stance against looters in the aftermath of the devastating hurricane damage Ian left in its path. Last week, The Gateway Pundit reported on the Governor’s warning to looters, “We are a law and order state, and this is a law and order community. So do not think that you’re going to take advantage of people who’ve suffered misery.” The governor warned those seeking to “ransack people’s homes” that the state is heavily armed. “I can tell you in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy has died after being “targeted and ambushed” by gunfire in Shively. According to JCSO, Brandon Shirley, 26, was working an off-duty security detail at a used car lot when he was shot inside his vehicle. The shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. at the Rockford Lane Auto Sales, which is near Western High School. After the shooting, he was rushed to UofL Hospital, where he was immediately taken into emergency surgery. His wounds were too extensive, and he did not survive. As of now, the shooter or shooters have not been captured. LMPD...

An Orwellian nightmare is unfolding in Turkey, where life for Turks and foreigners has gotten much worse in the post-election period during which the paranoia of the countryÂ’s strongman has started to run even deeper, painting a bleak prospect for the nation of 81 million that straddles Asia and Europe. The fear factor in the mindset of Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan has clearly reflected itself in the Cabinet reshuffle, bringing more loyalists, hard-core Islamists to the government, allowing cronies to rise to increased prominence. The face of the Cabinet can only be interpreted as a further indication that ErdoÄŸan...

Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath gives a voice to victims of the Church of Scientology despite public attempts to discredit them.

Death Toll in Chinese Fire Rises, Along With Anger at Apparent Safety LapsesBEIJING — The high-rise apartment complex closest to Tianjin’s toxic chemical storage inferno was only 2,000 feet away, despite Chinese laws requiring a 3,200-foot minimum distance from hazardous sites.

On July 10, 1941, half the residents of Jedwabne, a Polish village 85 miles northeast of Warsaw, murdered the other half. The mob, led by the mayor, were Catholics; their 1,600 victims were Jewish, slaughtered over several nightmarish hours with bats, knives, rifles and other improvised weapons. Those who survived the massacre were then rounded up in a barn donated by a local farmer, which was then set ablaze. A plaque erected at the site blamed Nazis for the massacre, but, in fact, Nazis had only authorized it. Locals walked by the plaque for half a century, knowing the truth,...

Okay, guys. Today was a bad day for us. No getting around the facts. It was the biggest gutting since the Kenyan scored a second term. In New Jersey, a senate seat that looked possible went to Corey Booker by about 10 points. Regards to Steve Lonegan. Excellent man who did better than he had any right to. He worked tirelessly against all the odds. Props too to Levin, Palin, and Rand Paul for campaigning on his behalf. Krispy was absent yet again. This loss is hugely overshadowed by the complete collapse of the GOP in Washington. It was a...

No, a bunker will not save you from the apocalypse Everybody talks about the apocalypse, but almost nobody actually prepares for it. But let's say you're one of the few visionaries who actually plans for every eventuality. You've been stashing your supplies. You've built a personal bunker, or you've purchased your own spot in a communal "survival suite." When the apocalypse finally comes — possibly later this year — will you really survive if you're locked inside a bunker? (Answer: No.) Protecting against any 2012 scenario A thriving industry exists to offer structures that will defend against a variety of...

Bill Keller: End may be near for monstrous North Korean regime By BILL KELLER The New York Times Published: April 30th, 2012 04:49 PM Last Modified: April 30th, 2012 04:49 PM The one thing everyone knows about North Korea is that we know very little about North Korea, except that it is miserable, totalitarian, nuclear and erratic. It is the hermit kingdom, the dark side of the moon. But thanks to many thousands of refugees who have reached freedom by way of a long underground railroad through China, we know a lot more now about the grim reality. We understand...

In addition to reading from and discussing his recent book, author Nir Rosen will reflect on his 2011 sojourn in the Arab world, which took him to Iraq for three months. He also visited Yemen, where he was a witness to the beginning of the ongoing revolution and the people's struggle against the tyranny of the ruling regime. He is expanding on his research to analyze the factors fomenting the sectarianism and civil conflict that are brewing across the Arab world. Nir Rosen's Aftermath, an extraordinary feat of reporting, follows the contagious spread of radicalism and sectarian violence that led...

I watched William Shatner's new TV show on the BIO channel last night. Bernhard Goetz was his guest on the show. For those freepers not old enough to remember, Bernie Goetz was praised as a hero back in 1984 for shooting four thugs threatening him on a New York subway car. AFTERMATH with William Shatner "William Shatner takes an in-depth look at what happens when people are tragically or infamously transformed from unknown citizens into household names overnight, taking viewers back to ... the dramatic events that dominated the American news cycle as he gains exclusive access to the newsmakers...

"When a man dies, he does not just die of the disease that he has; he dies of his whole life." -- Peguy We stand, God willing, at the end of the Progressive Era in American politics and political thought. One way or another, the edifice will shortly come crashing down. The only questions that remain are whether a recognizable United States of America will rise from the rubble. Many Americans, however, will not. That's guaranteed. Our current political order does not resemble our Constitutional basis in any way. Every stricture of the Constitution has been abrogated. Most states treat...

It was just the battle, not the war. So, let’s look at the facts. Let’s take a thread and really examine what is happening to us. “Why? I’m too tired, too disgusted, too ugh,” you say. It is OK to feel that way. This has been a hard emotional battle. We put time, effort, money, voices and everything into stopping this, but we lost only the battle. The Progressives may seem on the verge of winning it all, but they are not. Not really. They have put all their eggs in one basket and that is never a good strategy....

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 28, 2010 – Ironically, when protestors in the Garmsir district here set fire to a school Jan. 12 in a fervor over allegations that a Quran had been desecrated, about 300 copies of the Muslim holy book burned with the school. About 800 local residents gather on the grounds of a school for a meeting in the Garmsir district of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, Jan. 19, 2010. U.S. Marines and Afghan forces provided security. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Dwight Henderson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. On Jan. 19, the school's white walls were...

Haitian President Rene Preval said: "The damage I have seen here can be compared to the damage you would see if the country was bombed for 15 days. It is like in a war." The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated much of the hilly coastal city on Tuesday also collapsed the elegant presidential palace and his own home. Authorities in Haiti, already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, are saying they believe the death toll will be between 100,000 and 200,000 and that three-quarters of the city will need to be rebuilt.

When an earthquake ravages a country as poor and urbanized as Haiti, it produces the cruelest kind of synergy, as poverty breeds cramped living quarters that are left even more vulnerable by substandard construction work.

Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Louisiana on Friday to highlight the White House's efforts to help the Gulf Coast recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Mary Landrieu and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin are expected to join Biden at a recreation center in New Orleans' Gentilly neighborhood. Also on Friday, Biden's wife, Jill, is scheduled to tour Delgado Community College in New Orleans.