Free Republic

Former first lady Melania Trump’s upcoming memoir will hit bookstores on Sept. 24, her publisher tells CNBC, just weeks before the presidential election on Nov. 5. Her husband, former President Donald Trump, will face the de facto Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. Titled “Melania,” the book is billed in a press release Thursday as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence.” “The former First Lady invites readers into her world, offering an intimate portrait of a woman who has lived an extraordinary life,” the release goes...

A study involving the University of Otago, Christchurch, has uncovered a significant connection between low vitamin C levels and increased body weight, raising concerns amid the global rise in obesity. Published in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, the research indicates that heavier individuals need a higher intake of vitamin C to stay healthy, a need not currently met by existing guidelines. Lead researcher Professor Anitra Carr, who directs the Nutrition in Medicine Research Group at Otago’s Christchurch campus, highlights the insufficiency of current vitamin C recommendations. “Our data suggests current vitamin C recommended daily allowances internationally...

“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcVmBRcZ92o

New York Times national religion correspondent Elizabeth Dias and national politics correspondent Lisa Lerer joined The Daily Show temp hosts Desi Lydic and Jordan Klepper on Comedy Central on Wednesday to promote their new book, The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America. It was a mournful time for all as they mused about “radicalized” Republicans and how “horrified” they are about the book's subject. Lydic claimed that, “we enjoyed your book very much and also were thoroughly horrified by all of it, obviously. But so many Americans felt, kind of, blindsided when Roe v. Wade was overturned,...

A recently published book gives the history of leftism in America, identifies the damage it’s done to our institutions, and offers concrete remedial steps. During July, the month we celebrate America’s independence, we must be extra vigilant and victorious against those seeking our dependence. In Winning America’s Second Civil War: Progressivism’s Authoritarian Threat, Where It Came From, and How to Defeat It, research professor Jeffrey E. Paul promotes America’s independence and exposes the left’s long war to make Americans dependent on an elite, socialist autocracy. This exceptionally important book may have escaped many people’s notice. Winning America’s Second Civil War...

Audrey, a documentary by 26-year-old British film-maker Helena Coan, comes from the producers of the Bafta-nominated McQueen, about the life of fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and is packed with revelations about one of the most enduring of all Hollywood’s stars. Throughout her career, Hepburn came to be seen as the epitome of elegance and grace. Born into European nobility in 1929 but devastated by the impact of the second world war as a child in the Netherlands, Hepburn kept a tight lid on her personal problems until her death in 1993 from cancer. Coan, who spent three years researching her...

The origin of this phrase dates back to the tale of Hans Christian Andersen, titled “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” which was published in 1837, along with The Little Mermaid. The story tells of an exhibitionistic emperor who is obsessed with clothing and fashion. Two swindlers pull a fraud on him by telling him and his court that they will tailor an outfit that can only be seen by the wise. This results in nobody admitting that the emperor is, in fact, naked, up to the very end of the story, when a boy exclaims that “The Emperor Has No Clothes.”...

Tar-Atanamir (pron. [aˈtanamir]) was the thirteenth King of Númenor. Tar-Atanamir succeeded his father, Tar-Ciryatan, and ruled for 192 years, from S.A. 2029 until his death, being the first King to rule for life since Tar-Minyatur.He was proud and greedy like his father. During his reign the Númenóreans exacted heavy tributes from the men of the coasts of Middle-earth. In his time the Shadow fell upon Númenor and the king and those that followed his opinion spoke openly against the ban that forbade them to sail to Tol Eressea and Aman and the mortality of Men, but they still kept their...

Hauling in a big fish here folks. Today, the audiobook release has been completed for Friedrich Hayek's intellectual essay The Use of Knowledge in Society, which can be downloaded here: https://librivox.org/the-use-of-knowledge-in-society-by-friedrich-hayek/I have a lot of goals I wish to accomplish, but seeing the completion of this Hayek book as well as the Mises book that should be done soon, brings our Librivox books into view of a much more diverse crowd of consumers and that has a lot of value. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Use_of_Knowledge_in_SocietyI am so happy and excited that this has been completed and is now available, I can't wait to go...

Ever since archaeologists started digging up ancient Hittite records, researchers have endeavored to link them to the legend of the Trojan War from Greek mythology. Many of these records mention prominent individuals by name. According to some researchers, King Priam of Troy actually appears in these Hittite sources. What do the facts really show? Who was King Priam of Troy? King Priam was the famous king of Troy during the Trojan War. It was his son, Paris Alexander, who took Helen back to Troy and inadvertently caused the enormous war with the Greeks. Priam himself was allegedly a powerful monarch....

Sir Ian McKellen has been taken to hospital after falling off stage during a performance of Player Kings at the Noël Coward theatre in London. The 85-year-old actor was in a fight scene when he lost his footing and fell. It is not clear whether he has sustained any injuries. The audience was evacuated from the theatre and informed that the evening show was cancelled. Player Kings is a production of Henry IV, Parts One and Two, and started its 12-week West End run in April.

For almost 400 years America has seen its citizens educating their children and themselves, though both the scope, structure and quality of education has changed somewhat during that time. For much of the history of the United States, education of children took place primarily at home, often along with private schools for some, and locally managed and supported schools for others. Education included the general ethos of Christianity and Biblical morality as well as academic subjects. The New England Primer and later, the nation-wide McGuffey's Readers (120+ million copies) were the primary instruments of education, and in helping to form...

In Deir Al-Balah, a city in the Gaza Strip, Marwa Al-Hasanat has found a way to bring some joy to her community amid the destruction and hardship of war in the form of a roadside bookstore. Al-Hasanat, 22, a lifelong lover of books inspired by her grandfather who authored three of his own on the Arabic language, started an online bookstore in June 2022 called Marwa.Book. But since the war began on Oct. 7, Al-Hasanat has not been able to purchase books to sell online from Gaza City, where she used to get her supply. The intermittent internet connection throughout...

Hollywood movies like Marley & Me or Hachi: A Dog’s Tale have brought both joy and tears to millions of viewers around the world, with their ability to capture the special bond between humans and their canine companions – aptly dubbed “man’s best friend”. In some ways, not much has changed over thousands of years. The ancient Greeks had their very own stories concerning this special relationship between man and dog. Of all the tales in Greek mythology, one of the most touching and relatable is that of the loyal dog Argos separated from his master Odysseus. Argos was Odysseus’...

Costco will no longer offer books for sale year-round and will instead stock them only for the holiday shopping period and during special promotions, according to a report — a surprise move that poses yet another threat to the publishing industry.Several publishing executives who were informed of the retailer’s plans told The New York Times that Costco will cease offering books for sale on a consistent basis starting in January.The decision was met with criticism on Reddit, where users vented that the decision was akin to “cancelling the hot dog in the food court” — a reference to Costco’s beloved...

I left off the previous post considering what might have happened if Belisarius had accepted the imperial diadem of the Western Empire when it was offered to him at the end of the first war in Italy in AD 540. Could he have remained on the throne? How would Justinian have reacted? Did Belisarius have the diplomatic and administrative skills to manage the Western Empire? Would his men have remained loyal to him and willing to advance his military goals abroad? In a best-case scenario that's perhaps not too far-fetched, the answer is yes, Belisarius could certainly have ruled...

Navy Seal Author and Historian Matt Bracken comes back on the podcast to discuss his new book Doomsday Reef, insanity of the escalation with Russia, Israel, how the United States will tear itself apart if the grid goes down and much more. Video is 1h 12m 38s

From its first issue in 1953, Playboy’s publisher Hugh Hefner sought to distinguish it from the sleazy sex magazines stored under the newsstand counter and sold in brown paper bags. He once explained that he chose a rabbit as the magazine’s mascot “because of the humorous sexual connotation,” but dressed him in a tuxedo “to add the idea of sophistication.” The models may have been nude, but the articles were written by acclaimed authors like Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Jack Kerouac, and Vladimir Nabokov and covered highbrow topics including “Picasso, Nietzsche, [and] jazz,” to quote Hefner’s introductory editorial. Even...

We have an amendment, the Second Amendment, because in part when the colonists had no say in how their own societies should be run and what they wanted most was self-government, Britain though it a good idea to confiscate. Mostly the confiscation centered around gunpowder, but there were along with it plots and schemes to take away actual weapons such as guns and cannons. Today we have the story of The Capture of Fort William and Mary, which details a unique and fun chapter in pre-U.S. history in which the colonists said we are going to disarm you before you...