Free Republic

…As the defining crisis in American history gathered momentum and became civil war, ministers North and South spoke with authority, even defiance, about the overriding purposes of God. The impact was sobering. Precisely at a time when Protestant influence on national values had no real rivals, America collapsed into a war over the decisive moral issue of the day. The most astute theologian of the crisis, a layperson named Abraham Lincoln, framed the issue in simple terms: “Both sides read the same Bible and pray to the same God.” And since they prayed for different outcomes, “the prayers of both...

Grok Summary of Video Transcript:1. Core Allegation: The "Podesta Plan" and Imminent Civil War PlotDescription: Jones repeatedly references a 2020 Democratic "war game" simulation (attributed to John Podesta via New York Times reporting and congressional records) as an "official plan" to refuse Trump's Electoral College win, send fraudulent electors from swing states, threaten Western secession (e.g., "Cascadia"), and demand reforms like abolishing the Electoral College or splitting California. He claims it's revived post-2024 election, aiming to stoke race-based riots, false flags (e.g., AI deepfakes of Trump crimes, attacks on Black churches blamed on him, or shooting down his plane), and...

The political assassination of Charlie Kirk continues to impact America. Charlie’s conservative nonprofit organization, Turning Point USA, has seen a surge in membership. There are reports across the country of increased church attendance, as lapsed congregants contemplate the sacrifice Charlie made to spread a Christian message. Conservative and Christian Americans are expressing themselves more boldly on social media platforms and college campuses. An equally important, though darkly troubling, consequence of his murder has been the deluge of mockery and hatred from leftists celebrating Charlie’s death. Antifa-aligned groups show up on college campuses to attack Turning Point staff and prevent students...

There was a thread earlier entitled "Too Many Americans Want a Civil War." Referring to the Kirk assassination, the author warned "how close the country had come to a 'potential' civil war." I've got news for him, and everyone else. Technically speaking, we're not "potentially" in Civil War II, it's already begun. Anyone involved with or familiar with various factions of the intel community, which geek-out on societal analysis, will tell you it's here. The 3 phases of civil war are, technically, classified as follows: 1. Routine Peaceful Competition Remember, not too long ago, when we could argue vociferously, especially...

Glenn Beck recently referred to an important point made by Joe Rogan, in that with the left celebrating political violence, we may have reached his step seven of nine in the lead-up to civil war. Note that each one of these builds on the previous step in breaking down our society. And we might as well dispense with the notion that 'both sides' are equally at fault. While that may sound magnanimous, it doesn't square with the present reality, because it should be obvious that most of one side would like to bring down our society, while the other would...

Former President Joe Biden delivered a strong critique of his successor Friday, arguing to a room of supporters that President Donald Trump has “taken a wrecking ball” to democracy. “I knew Trump was going to taking a wrecking ball to the country, but I had no idea, I have to admit, I didn’t know there was going to be an actual wrecking ball,” Biden said at a gala hosted in Omaha by the Nebraska Democratic party, referring to Trump’s demolition of the the White House’s East Wing to build a 90,000-square foot ballroom. “It’s a perfect symbol of his presidency,”...

Whenever you delve into the modern history of internal national conflict you’re bound to come across post-crisis accounts from people who said “We never saw it coming…” or “The violence hit us from nowhere…” Generally speaking, these were the people who weren’t paying attention and they just happened to survive by sheer luck. I think of this dynamic a lot these days. I see a large contingent of American society (perhaps 25% of the population) which has been radicalized or brainwashed beyond all reason or repair. These people (leftists) operate deep within a protective bubble of propaganda and zealotry; they...

(Video link at article click.)So, do you remember when exactly you realized that it's not about left vs. right (trans vs straight, pagans vs. Christians, Biden vs. Trump), it's about the tiny number of filthy rich vs. the vast majority of hard workers?Cartoon: Servant to King | Oh, You Don't Need to Fight Them - You Just Need to Convince the Pitchfork People that the Torch People Want to Take Away their PitchforksJimmy Dore: 29% of American are considered low-income, 98 million Americans. (Ronald Reagan: A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose...

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Beat,” DNC Chair Ken Martin stated that the Democratic Party’s job right now is to win elections, and if “we are truly in a dictatorship and an authoritarian regime here has completely shredded the Constitution, then party doesn’t matter, and then elections don’t matter and then the resistance looks completely different” “and we may be nearing” that moment, but for now, their job is winning elections. Martin said, “[L]et me say to you, what is the role of the Democratic Party in this moment? Our job is to win, to win elections. That is...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., stood by Virginia’s embattled Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones who sent text messages fantasizing about putting "two bullets" in his Republican rival's head and also suggested his ‘fascist’ children should die as well. As Jones faces mounting calls to drop out of his race because of the text scandal, with his GOP opponent going so far as saying he should disqualify himself at a Thursday night debate, Jeffries suggested that Jones already did the right thing by apologizing. "The attorney general candidate has appropriately apologized for his remarks, and I know his remarks...

As November draws closer, President Trump has indeed adopted a more ominous tone about the election. In speeches and interviews, he complained about “voter fraud” and warns that Democrats will use millions of fraudulent mail-in ballots to steal his second term. A few days ago Bernie Sanders said that he fears President Donald Trump will refuse to leave office if he loses reelection and is calling on Congress and the media to take action to prepare for that scenario now, he said in an interview with POLITICO. “This is not just idle speculation,” said Sanders, pointing to comments the president...

Less than a year before John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, Booth’s brother, Edwin Booth, saved Lincoln’s oldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, from being injured and possibly killed by a train. Edwin Booth was regarded as one of the great Shakespearean actors of the 19th century. He was the manager of the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, where many Shakespearean productions were made in 1862. Edwin was a supporter of Lincoln and a Unionist, and he was not close with his brother, who supported secession. In 1863 or 1864, the exact date is uncertain, Edwin Booth and Robert...

On September 1862, weeks before he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln wrestled with the enormous dilemma of whether to change the stakes of the Civil War…In a private document found after his death, the president struggled to understand what God expected of him and of the nation. “The will of God prevails,” Lincoln began. “In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God can not be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is...

Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order "banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from entering any city property to enforce federal laws against illegal immigration. This includes streets and parking lots. Further, City Police are instructed to ignore any 911 calls from ICE personnel being attacked by protesters." Gov. JB Pritzker hailed this "strong response to the federal invasion of Chicago and our state. In support of Mayor Johnson I have filed a lawsuit seeking a court injunction to prevent Trump from using National Guard troops to fight crime in our state. We going to use every lever at...

The Civil War was undoubtedly a crisis for the soldiers, the nation, and the destiny of the American people. In many ways, that war made us, and continues to make us, the country and the people we are today. Shelby Foote famously described the Civil War as “the crossroads of our being.” It was a great personal and national crisis. However, it was also a theological crisis. Leading historian Mark Noll wrote a book called The Civil War as a Theological Crisis…The book documents and addresses the fact that Northerners and Southerners experienced the shock and horror of the Civil...

Chicago’s Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson suggested on Tuesday that the Chicago Police should arrest ICE agents and other federal officers who he claims are breaking his new executive order aimed at hampering immigration enforcement. On Monday, Johnson signed a dubious executive order creating “ICE-Free Zones” to ban federal agents from using city-owned properties as staging areas for immigration enforcement. Johnson’s proclamation comes as President Donald Trump suggested that the anti-ICE actions by Chicago’s leaders are akin to an insurrection against the federal government. Now, the mayor is claiming that violations of his orders are a “crime” and those who break...

Trump is all about political theatre, or circus, and it often seems that even in resisting him, as decent citizens must do, we become part of the circus too. We are like the extras who splutter while he thrills the base by violating some heretofore inviolate human norm. So the show goes on. But why not put on our own show, our own form of political theatre, that leaves Trump out – or at least has a different focus? We could consider the kind of political theatre that Americans created from 1768 to 1776 to resist Britain’s growing crackdown. Instead...

I asked for recommendations of contemporaneous histories of the post-Civil war Reconstruction in the South years ago, but lost the bookmark to that thread. Had several great replies, but I can't remember the authors. Looking for balanced accounts, preferably pre-WW1. Thanks for any tips.

...Following President Abraham Lincoln's assassination on April 15, 1865, President Andrew Johnson rescinded Field Order 15 and returned to Confederate owners the 400,000 acres of land—“a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina to the St. John’s River in Florida, including Georgia’s Sea Islands and the mainland 30 miles in from the coast.” Roy L. Brooks, a distinguished professor of law at the University of San Diego School of Law, described Johnson as a segregationist “who wanted to basically return African Americans to a position of subordination.” Without land of their own to work, the 3.9 million members of...

TMZ founder Harvey Levin is facing massive backlash after his staff was caught on camera cheering the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a conservative leader gunned down on a college campus this week. The clip sparked outrage online, with YouTube users flooding Levin’s channel with thumbs-down reactions and angry comments. At first, Levin tried to deflect, claiming the cheers were about a “car chase” unrelated to Kirk. But now, with public pressure mounting, Levin is changing his tune—and issuing a grim warning. “I am not gonna mince words. I fear a civil war,” Levin said. “Charlie Kirk is different. This is...