Free Republic

When J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story, The Garden of Time, was announced as the theme for this year’s Met Gala several months ago, I printed off a copy. It seemed oddly thoughtful for such a plastic event. In all likelihood, it was an entirely superficial decision. J.G. Ballard’s garden has flowers. Flowers are pretty. Time is crazy. That sort of thing.But whether the organizers know it or not, The Garden of Time is the perfect choice for this year’s Met Gala, which takes place just a short walk from Columbia University. It’s a story about Count Axel and his wife,...

Every semester, the largest classroom at Northwestern University in Chicago is filled with hundreds of students who are eager to take a course devoted to Russian literature. The answer as to why comes down to the who. That says something not only about the class, but about the professor who happens to be my guest today. Professor Gary Saul Morson, welcome to Thinking in Public. Gary Saul Morson:Oh, it’s my pleasure to be here. Albert Mohler: Professor, I just want to tell you right up front, this was one of the most significant reading experiences I have had in a...

Jeffrey Epstein is going to name names — again. A mysterious “black book” believed to belong to the late pedophile financier, which revealed the names and addresses of 221 previously undisclosed people, is going up for auction — and bidders are being assured that their identities will be kept secret. It could fetch up to $200,000 — or more, the auction house owner told the Daily Beast, which first reported the story. **SNIP** The book was reportedly found on Fifth Avenue in the East Village by a female musician in the 1990s, but how it came to be there remains...

Back in 1955, when I was endeavoring to found the conservative quarterly that indeed did take on flesh two years later, I discovered how difficult it is to raise money for any conservative cause. Modern Age, like T. S. Eliot’s Criterion in England a generation earlier, has staggered along almost without sustenance since the day of its birth. We found writers for our journal with the greatest of ease, some distinguished men and women among them. And approval of our undertaking was widespread and cordial, extending to liberal quarters. “Even inveterate liberals ought to look with favor on the revival...

"Sonnet 18" by William ShakespeareShall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate:Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fade,Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and...

While we don't like to talk ill of the dead, new physiological analysis has found that the king of the dinosaurs was not so smart after all. It upends previous research that last year likened the brain and neuronal composition of the Tyrannosaurus rex to that of a primate. It's been a rough year or two for the long extinct dinosaur. First, we questioned their teeth, finding that those iconic chompers could very much have been smaller and hidden behind lips, and now an international team of paleontologists, behavioral scientists and neurologists have concluded that the T. rex wasn't smarter...

A New Jersey college cancelled a “drag queen story hour” planned for faculty members’ children during “Bring your child to work” day when staff objected. Brookdale Community College had been planning a read-along event with a drag performer known as “Harmonica Sunbeam” for months before calling it off the night before in order to “respect the comfort levels of all involved,” school officials said. The reading event was supposed to be part of the Lincroft college’s “Bring Your Child to Work Day” last Thursday, NJ.com reported. “I did ask why, but I did not receive an answer,” Sunbeam told the...

Sometimes you can feel like you can get more out of reading a single book then you have an entire semester of college. Some of these books might be surprisingly simple to read. Which three books made you feel much more educated and enriched after reading them?

George Orwell’s “1984” is perhaps one of the most-referenced books of the modern age. Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” is considered a masterclass in social prescience. Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s “Lord of the World” has been hailed as prophetic by the late Pope Benedict XVI. Even C.S. Lewis’s “That Hideous Strength” is fast becoming a staple in the discourse of Christian conservatives. What do all these works have in common? Yes, they were all penned by British authors within the first two-thirds of the 20th century. But as far as their content, these works share three key characteristics: each centers...

Anyone who relies on the voice of reason cannot ignore Immanuel Kant. April 22 marks the 300th anniversary of the German philosopher's birth. What does the author of "Perpetual Peace" still have to say to us today? If you want to understand the world, you don't necessarily have to travel it. Take one look at Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). On April 22, the world celebrates the 300th anniversary of his birth. The German philosopher never left his East Prussian home of Königsberg — now Kaliningrad and part of Russia — yet this did not stop him from trying to understand the...

How do you get past Writer's Block?

This week is the 200th anniversary of Lord Byron’s death. The most famous poet of his age (an odd phrase now) died fighting for Greek independence in the marshes of Missolonghi. “Who would write, who had anything better to do?” he once said. There was a strange contest over his body and memory: The lungs and larynx remained in Greece but friends carried the rest back to England, where huge crowds followed the funeral procession. A month after his death, his former editor burned his memoirs, worried they would damage the reputation of a superstar read around the world. Does...

A £560,000 prize was on offer for scholars who could read the ancient Roman texts buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Scrolls cocooned in volcanic ash that consumed the Roman city of Pompeii have been deciphered for the first time in 2,000 years. Using AI researchers were able to discern some meaning from the writings which were discovered in the doomed ancient Italian city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. ...In a statement the Vesuvius Challenge revealed some of the information hidden until now in the scrolls which appear to be philosophical treatises concerning...

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state of Utah and its prison system after a transgender inmate “removed her own testicles” in response to “unnecessarily delayed” treatment for her gender dysphoria. The lawsuit alleges that the incarcerated transgender woman – unnamed in the complaint – was discriminated against by the Utah Department of Corrections following “multiple requests to UDOC staff for treatment for gender dysphoria, including multiple requests for hormone therapy” upon entering the state prison system in 2021. The inmate was diagnosed with gender dysphoria in June 2022, nine months after she first requested hormone therapy,...

America fascinated me as America fascinates every newcomer. Nineteen years old and fleeing the study of medicine at my Nigerian university, I longed to be a writer, to live a life of the mind. From my first days, I watched and read and learned. I was struck by the excess and the newness of America, by its flagrant contradictions, but mostly by how identity as an idea shaped so much of American life....... Shortly after the Black American George Floyd was murdered by a White police officer, a woman told me she had just read Americanah. “You are a prophet;...

Are YOU living in a secret forever chemical hotspot? Interactive map shows parts of US where cancer-causing PFAS toxins are most common in drinking water - after Biden's new ban More than 70million Americans live in homes with PFAS-contaminated water PFAS have been linked to cancers, fertility complications, hormone disruption and liver damage READ MORE: How cancer-causing chemicals found in food packaging have seeped their way into animals Biden today announced a crackdown on forever chemicals in American drinking water that will force utility companies and local governments to strip the toxins from tap supplies. More than 70million Americans live...

The Life of Frederick William Von Steuben: Major General in the Revolutionary Army - tells the story of Baron Steuben, who had been an officer in the Prussian army. Considered one of the fathers of the United States Army, he had a leading role in improving the Continental Army during the American Revolution and turning them into a professional fighting force. https://librivox.org/the-life-of-frederick-william-von-steuben-by-friedrich-kapp/

For any American curious about the full extent to which cultural Marxism and left-wing political dogma have infected the intelligence community, J. Michael Waller’s new book, Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains, is a good place to start. Big Intel is part spy thriller, part historical account, and part political clarion call, all wrapped up in a horrifying true story. No one could be a more perfect fit to tell this story than Waller, who has devoted his life to studying foreign propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion. He...

Scholastic is both a publisher and a distributor of books. It’s well-known for publishing educational material for schools, teachers, and parents, as well as books and resources for children. Scholastic’s publishing arm is responsible for producing a wide range of content, including books, magazines, and digital products and includes popular series and titles that cater to children and young adults. Scholastic is also well-known for its book fairs in schools where it children can attend and purchase books without direct parental supervision—and some of the stuff you might find at these book fairs is rather disturbing. So parents, beware. First...

North Carolina’s first Black-owned children’s bookstore, Liberation Station is being forced to move out of downtown Raleigh after only being open for less than a year. Liberation Station reportedly opened on Juneteenth last year. The book store is known for hosting events for the community and selling children’s books written and illustrated by Black and underrepresented authors and illustrators. “Unfortunately, we live in a country that has given permission to the nameless and faceless people to make threats and cause harm, emotional harm,” owner Victoria Scott-Miller said. On Monday, Scott-Miller took to her Instagram to tell her followers that the...