Free Republic

One of the most worrying trends in Western societies is the failing institution of marriage. Not only are divorce rates high, but increasingly young people are opting out altogether. A generation ago, 80 to 90 percent of the population in the United States would have been married by the age of 35; the number is now closer to 60 percent and has been falling over the past 10 years. That number matters because marriages are less likely to produce children after 35. In virtually all Western countries, the birth rate is now below replacement, which is almost certainly linked to...

Hundreds of incoming Howard University students from across the country were blindsided just weeks before the start of school after learning they had been unenrolled over unpaid bills. Freshmen were informed this week that they had missed a July 10 payment deadline and would not be allowed to attend the upcoming fall semester at the private HBCU school in Washington, DC. ABC 7 reported. Students were set to start moving into their on-campus housing on August 3 while the Fall semester begins on August 17. Isabella Williams had her truck packed and was gearing up to take the long trip...

Former First Lady Jill Biden has found herself in a pickle after her recent book, View from the East Wing, was #1 on The New York Times bestseller list upon release. But weeks after its release, the book didn't simply fall in the rankings, but completely disappeared from the list itself. The sudden drop caught the eyes of the critics, which fueled speculation that bulk purchases may have boosted its debut. The theory motivated the netizens to mock her, calling the book a scam. Last month, Jill Biden’s book View from the East Wing debuted on The New York Times...

Painting depicting Odysseus and his crew at their ship (Odysseus tied to the mast), while Sirens are around them. John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the Sirens (1891). Did this voyage take Odysseus to America? Credit: Public Domain For centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have debated where Odysseus truly traveled during his legendary journey back to Ithaca. Among the most intriguing theories is the notion that the hero ventured beyond the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and reached the shores of what is now known as America. But what evidence supports this extraordinary claim, and does it truly align with Homer’s descriptions...

Oli London @OliLondonTV King Charles visits new ‘eco friendly’ mosque in Cambridge, England. “The fact that you have a purpose built mosque here with a community center attached, makes a huge contribution, not only to the Muslim community here- but to Cambridge itself.”

Amnesty International picked a fight it's going to lose. The other day, the human rights organization made the very bad choice to list Beria's Place, a women's rape crisis shelter, as well as For Women Scotland and the Gay Men's Network, as hate groups. Why? Because they believe in the gender binary, Beria's Place only allows biological women to use its services. Gone are the days when Amnesty lobbied to protect political prisoners. Instead, they're now pushing to abuse women and punish gays and lesbians who don't bend the knee to the radical trans agenda. The problem is this: Beria's...

Prepare to see Han shoot Greedo on the big screen again. For years, we thought it could never happen. But now we know for certain — the 50th anniversary theatrical release of the original Star Wars will indeed be George Lucas' original cut from 1977, not available commercially since 2006. The original Star Wars movie hasn't had a wide theatrical release in over forty years. But, according to the Star Wars official site, the original version of Star Wars blasts its way back into movie theaters for a limited release on February 19, 2027. This happens almost thirty years to...

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Eric Metaxas’s bestselling book Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. Since then, it has remained on the New York Times bestselling list and is currently ranked number two in nonfiction behind Maggie Haberman’s TDS offering, Regime Change.One would have thought a book published during the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence would be stocked and displayed prominently at Barnes & Noble. Instead, during his frequent appearances on Steve Bannon’s War Room program, the author testifies that the nation’s leading storefront bookseller doesn’t typically have copies on...

Disgraced ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell’s zombie congressional campaign has dwindled to just over $11,000 after he coughed up another $50,000 to celebrity defense attorney Sara Azari and refunded nearly $190,000 to donors following his epic career collapse following sexual assault allegations. The details were documented this week in new federal campaign filings and come as California ethics investigators continue probing more than $300,000 in payments made to Azari from Swalwell’s failed gubernatorial campaign — raising fresh questions about the disgraced Democrat’s mounting legal bills as his political career continues to unravel. Swalwell’s federal campaign filings, which list him as treasurer, paint...

On July 16, “The Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger, will turn 75. Commemorating such a nice big number would surely strike its adolescent hero, Holden Caulfield, as the absolute nadir of “corny,” but maybe we could use a little corn, as the data centers invade our farmland. Pour out a Scotch and soda — make that a malted milk — for this spry codger of a novel that’s stayed on the dance floor long past when might be expected, leaping over book bans from the right and dodging cancellation from the left. “Catcher” has somehow inspired artists as...

A black feminist historian whose work is being labeled as misleading — and who may have lost her cushy academic job — says it all comes down to an attack on black women. The New York Times tells the tale of Kerri Greenidge, whose 2022 book “The Grimkes” was hailed for its narrative about a slaveholding family and its work in the abolitionist movement. Publishers Weekly put the book on its list of that year’s top books, while the American Historical Association handed Greenidge the Joan Kelly Memorial Prize, which honors scholars in women’s history and feminist theory. But the...

For years, my classmates and I have been taught that rebellion means rejecting everything that came before us. Question authority. Tear down institutions. Challenge traditions. Distrust capitalism. Mock patriotism. Treat faith as outdated, the family as optional, and America as something to apologize for instead of celebrate. That script isn’t rebellious anymore. It is predictable, conformist, and boring. Walk onto almost any college campus, scroll through social media, or turn on Hollywood, and you’ll hear the same message repeated in different forms. America is systemically broken. Capitalism is exploitative. Christianity is oppressive. The nuclear family is obsolete. National pride is...

When you accept Christ, you are justified. However, part of the Christian life is repentance and leaving the old life behind, which is to my understanding sanctification. My question is, as you study the Bible and are trying to align your life with the Bible, does that mean you should change denominations periodically as you find the church you are part of having doctrines that are not in line with the Bible and find a new church that reflects where you are in your current state of growth?

The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic (also known as Diogenes of Sinope) could have been the first anarchist, or the first absurdist, or the first satirist, or the first naturalist — depending on the reader’s point of view. By today’s standards, Diogenes was a homeless man by choice whose life goal was the search for wisdom. His unique approach to life had absolutely nothing to do with society’s norms and rules — either now or back in ancient times. He found the shelter he needed inside an enormous ceramic pot, rejecting all comforts and luxuries — yet his observations...

The author's aim was to instruct students of American jurisprudence in the fundamentals of that system. Admirably adapted to the needs of such, his treatise addressed itself to those most ardent of students, practitioners themselves. Hence it soon attained, and since has held, the distinction of the best general treatise on American law. Herein are presented, as parts of an organic whole, the international relations of our government, its constitutional organization, and the legal results flowing from the exercise of its executive, legislative, and judicial functions. Without deviation from its systematic course, the discussion passes from the Union to the...

Gone are the days of university freshmen reading classical philosophers like Plato or contemporary pedagogues like Ta-Nehisi Coates. These days, incoming college students are lucky if they can get through Judy Blume’s “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.” According to a new “Survey of Adult Skills” conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development — a forum for 38 high-income, predominantly Western countries — a not insignificant number of adult students enrolled in higher education are now reading and doing math at a level which, in a more functional society, would be alarming for a middle schooler. The survey,...

Most stories one reads about the legendary sci-fi author Harlan Ellison tend to be about how cranky and/or litigious he was. Harlan Ellison hated Hollywood. The stories about his dissatisfaction with "Star Trek" are legendary, and he often took other writers and/or studios to court, claiming they had ripped off his idea. He once sued the makers of the obscure 1970s sci-fi cop show "Future Cop," and he famously (and successfully) sued James Cameron over "The Terminator." He sued the movie "In Time" for "borrowing" one of his ideas. And in interviews, Ellison remained cantankerous. A notable 1979 interview with...

Hours before Haruki Murakami's new book was set to go on sale in Japan on Friday, dozens of fans gathered outside a major Tokyo bookstore for a special event to get their first copies as soon as the clock struck midnight. “The Tale of KAHO” is the Japanese author's first full-length novel featuring a lone woman protagonist, according to Shinchosha Publishing Co. “Kaho, a picture book author, is just an average young woman. But truly bizarre things start happening around her,” Murakami said in a brief message posted on the publisher’s campaign website. “I wrote this novel as I put...

n his many articles for Tablet and other outlets, Jacob Siegel, a journalist and war veteran, has focused on how rulers and elites use digital tools to calibrate information and control people. His new book, The Information State: Politics in the Age of Total Control, traces the evolution—from 9/11 to the advent of AI—of a mammoth alliance between government and Big Tech that subverts our constitutional republic and enslaves Americans. According to Siegel, the foundation of the information state is a “whole-of-society” approach to governance that aligns “the most powerful institutions behind the dictates of the state.” Tech platforms, NGOs,...

South Korean police are preparing huge security measures at the airport hosting the arrival of their World Cup football team - after the resigning manager faced a threat to his life. Hong Myung-bo, 57, oversaw a Korean team who won just one game and failed to get out of Group A behind hosts Mexico and South Africa and has resigned after the nation's president demanded an investigation into their poor performance. The situation has now escalated, with the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency announcing they are sending 160 riot and airport police for the return of the national team in Korea's...