Free Republic

Transgenderism, decadence, sexual deviancy, and moral decay were all present in Rome when the republic became an empire. What could this mean for America, which faces similar problems right now?

Ontario has been ordered to pay for surgery for a resident who is seeking to The Ontario resident, identified in court documents as K.S., has been locked in a legal battle with the Ontario Health Insurance Plan since 2022, when OHIP denied a funding request to have a penile preserving vaginoplasty performed at a clinic in Austin, Texas. The surgery, which is not available anywhere in Canada, involves creating a vaginal canal, or opening, without removing the penis. K.S., 33, was born male but identifies as female dominant and uses a feminine name. OHIP denied her request for funding, arguing...

The past week of Swedish politics has been a mysterious case of a dog that should have barked, but then simply didn’t. In a barely covered press release, the Riksbanken — Sweden’s central bank — announced that it had lost some 44 billion kr (£3.2 billion), and needed that much money from the state in order to return to the minimal level of capitalisation stipulated by the law. For a small country such as Sweden, this is a very large sum: it represents fully half of what the state spent on defence during the 2023 fiscal year. The reasons for...

A cursory examination of history reveals that the United States is mired in the same process that precipitated the collapse of the great empires of the past. The foibles and failures of human nature and their impact on the rise and fall of empires is amazingly consistent and the end result always inevitable. Can this nation avoid a similar fate? Empires are defined as great military and economic powers encompassing large occupied or controlled land areas. Although they vary greatly, they average around 250 years in duration. The United States will be celebrating its 250th anniversary in 2026. In 1976,...

In July 1968 four pairs of mice were introduced into the Utopian universe. The universe was a 9-foot (2.7 m) square metal pen with 54-inch-high (1.4 m) sides. Each side had four groups of four vertical, wire mesh "tunnels". The "tunnels" gave access to nesting boxes, food hoppers, and water dispensers. There was no shortage of food or water or nesting material. There were no predators. The only adversity was the limit on space. Initially the population grew rapidly, doubling every 55 days. The population reached 620 by day 315, after which the population growth dropped markedly. The last surviving...

E Pluribus Unum worked in the past but now multiculturalism has turned it around on itself, so that many voices out of one (Plures Ex Uno) are a Babel of sins destroying The West. A conservative reformation is the path I see to save us. Harnessing the inherently good faiths values of more than one culture to oppose stupidity and reassert true human life in God, family and community.

Luxury dog treats have boomed during the pandemic but experts are reminding owners what our pets really need – love, attention and walks. Dogs with well-heeled owners can now wolf down a menu worthy of a Michelin-starred restaurant with dishes including grass-fed buffalo tails and canine caviar. But experts at The Kennel Club have reminded owners that dogs can prosper without the opulent treats that fly off the shelves for more than ten times the price of human equivalents. Thrive ProReward 100 per cent Liver dog treats sell for £7.60 per 100g (£76 per kilo), compared with a human alternative...

ransomnote: How did Prostasia obtain 501c3 status?!For many, charitable status is a legitimizing factor taken into consideration when choosing what organization or foundation to donate to. Government recognition that an entity’s work is valid enough to exempt them from taxes is often a good indicator of the work’s importance.However, there are always exceptions.California-based charity Prostasia is one such deviation to the rule, the organization having been given IRS tax exemption in 2018. While marketing itself as a children’s rights organization, Prostasia is a veritable grab-bag of causes surrounding sex and sexuality, but there is plenty of evidence to demonstrate that...

The Hollow Men Mistah Kurtz-he dead    A penny for the Old Guy   We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar   Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion;   Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us — if at all — not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men...

Ready for a thought experiment? Imagine a society that has solved the problems of overpopulation and environmental collapse. Crime is a nonissue, as are homelessness and hunger. Racism? Sexism? Homophobia? Sorted. Science has conquered disease and disability. Everyone has useful work, perfect skin, total emotional equilibrium. Every day is a pleasure. Every night is a party.

Hays CISD substitute teacher arrested for allegedly assaulting Lehman High School student KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — A Hays CISD substitute teacher was arrested Friday after a video showing her allegedly fighting with a student surfaced online. The video shows Tiffani Shadell Lankford, 32, approaching the 16-year-old sophomore girl and then (repeatedly) punching the student in the face. The substitute then continues hitting the student as others look on in shock. (snip) --- According to Hays CISD, Lankford had worked for the district since Aug. 30, when she underwent orientation training. The district says her first job in the classroom was...

It’s bizarre—perverse, really—that the people doing the most whining about cultural appropriation by Americans don’t actually have worthwhile cultures themselves. The fact of the matter is that the only culture in the history of the world that amounts to anything is that of Western civilization. The West has given all of humanity concepts like freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of the press, free markets, individualism, science, and rationality. In addition, the West has created almost all of the world’s great music, literature, architecture, and philosophy That’s absolutely true of Africa. Africans should be eternally grateful to the West...

FRENCH INSANITY on steroids JULY 10, 2019 BY BARENAKEDISLAM Court rules that France must compensate Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist behind the deadliest terror attack in Paris in 2015, must receive compensation for breach of his privacy in prison. Salah Abdeslam, 29, is the country’s most watched prisoner. He is facing multiple life sentences for organizing the November 2015 terrorist attack in Paris that killed over 130 people. More than 410 others were wounded, some of whom remain disabled for life. Human Events (h/t RF) The terror convict, who was given solitary confinement, has been the subject of privacy debates in...

It's unthinkable, and it's definitely unspeakable, but women all over the world are coming forward to say it: I regret having my children. Here's the thing about realising that you shouldn't have had kids," says Laura*, 37, a journalist based in Los Angeles. "You can't take the decision back." Laura once believed that she wanted to be a mother. She had little direct experience with children—no siblings young enough to need tending to, no babysitting jobs—and when she and her husband decided to start a family, she wondered if she knew enough about what that meant. "I asked some...

Consider this a dangerous post, and a post that will be easily misunderstood. For here I am about to make a point that explores a biblical theme and apply it to today. But in so doing, I am “holding other things equal”—a technique which examines a certain aspect of a problem and focuses on that one thing, while not denying that other factors and issues are also at work. Simply put, part of the explanation is that God is permitting increased violence, and not restraining it, as a kind of chastisement on the increasingly secular West for our unbelief. This...

Always game to push the boundaries of the portrayal of awkward sex on television, merely a few short minutes into Girls’ fourth season, Lena Dunham managed to up the squirm factor by tossing in some unexpected butt play between Marnie (Allison Williams) and Desi (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). We caught up with the cast (and Brian Williams) at the season four premiere and asked them — as delicately as we could — their thoughts on the soon-to-be-infamous sex scene.

In January of last year, Roman Sidorenko and Alexander Kukhtenko had an idea to break their sexual dry spells the way they solved many of their other problems: with an app. "We wanted an easy way to find sex, basically," says Sidorenko. But the two friends (who describe themselves as "pomosexuals") were too impatient to use the available dating apps on the market, all of which required them to spend hours flirting with potential flings via chat or text message before getting a date and, possibly, sealing the deal. They knew there were horny people around them looking for sex...

This cupcake costs $750. Repeat: this cupcake costs $750. Maybe you shouldn't get one for everyone in the third-grade class. Meet the $750 Decadence D'Or cupcake at Sweet Surrender inside the Palazzo. It's encased in a hand-blown sugar fleur-de-lis and crafted using chocolates that get more special attention during production than Rip Torn when the movie's shot in a whiskey bar. It's arguably better than the Hostess version. Here's how it breaks down: • The Cake: Made from Palmira Single Estate chocolate, which was developed by Valrhona, a French chocolatier who planted a series of Criollo bean trees to create...