Free Republic

The triumphal arch holds a very important place in the annals of Western architecture and urbanism. In Roman times it played a lofty honorific role, even though most Roman arches commemorated civic achievements and personages rather than military victories. The freestanding monumental arch was a syncretic creation, structurally derived from Etruscan gateways and decoratively enriched with Hellenistic architectural and sculptural forms. Its distinctive presence, which accommodated an astonishing variety in massing and detail, enriched towns and cities across the Roman empire, from Spain to Syria. The monumental arch should be regarded as a universal entity—eminently appropriate, one would think, to...

On Monday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said that while there are changes that need to be made to FEMA, the agency has been fully cooperative with helping the state out with the recent flooding in Kentucky, the state’s disaster declaration for the floods was turned around by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “in near record time”, and Trump, Noem, “and FEMA are doing a great job here with us right now.” On “CBS Mornings,” Beshear said, “[L]et me give credit to the Trump administration. We have seen FEMA operating just like they did in the...

The Biden administration has quietly extended a controversial “emergency declaration” under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act until December 31, 2029. “Secretary Becerra signed the 12th amendment to the declaration under the PREP Act for COVID-19 Medical Countermeasures. The Secretary issues this amendment pursuant to section 319F–3 of the Public Health Service Act to extend the duration of the Declaration to December 31, 2029, and to republish the Declaration in full,” according to the announcement. The timing? Conveniently, it ensures that Big Pharma and mRNA vaccine makers remain shielded from liability throughout President Trump’s second term and beyond.

Final Observations on the Sally Hemings Controversy (from Potomac Tea Party’s Guardians of History team) - The Left Spins Another Yarn to Trash the Founders

Fortunately, the Constitution should still operate to prevent a leftist administration from handing to the UN American sovereignty and Americans’ rights. When five different people send you a link, you know that something very important has happened, even if the drive-by media aren’t trumpeting it on their outlets. In this case, it’s Robert Williams’ report at the Gatestone Institute that, in September, the Harris-Biden administration, without fanfare, adopted a UN pact that gives the UN and the World Economic Forum (“WEF”) control over American speech, foreign policy, and, possibly, internal sovereignty. Thankfully, while the administration can sign someone’s name on...

Few in the media seemed eager to attend a ceremony last week in Washington, D.C., where the prestigious American Academy of Sciences and Letters was awarding its top intellectual freedom award. The problem may have been the recipient: Stanford Professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. Bhattacharya has spent years being vilified by the media over his dissenting views on the pandemic. As one of the signatories of the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration, he was canceled, censored, and even received death threats. That open letter called on government officials and public health authorities to rethink the mandatory lockdowns and other extreme measures in...

Below is my column in the Wall Street Journal on the growing counter-constitutional movement in the United States. This assault on the Constitution is being led by law professors who have lost their faith in the defining principles and institutions of our Republic. Here is the column: Kamala Harris declared in Tuesday’s debate that a vote for her is a vote “to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy ’cause you don’t like the outcome.” She was alluding to the 2021 Capitol riot, but she and her party are also attacking the foundations of our...

NEW YORK — As the United Nations (UN) Summit of the Future began Sunday morning, delegates from across the 193 member states adopted the Pact for the Future, Global Digital Compact, and Declaration on Future Generations.“Back From the Brink”Underscoring the summit is a sense of desperation to save the global governance movement from distrust, lack of credibility, and outdated processes. According to Sunday’s agreed-upon Pact for the Future:We are deeply concerned by the growing Sustainable Development Goal financing gap facing developing countries. We must close this gap to prevent a lasting sustainable development divide, widening inequality within and between countries...

World leaders at the United Nations Summit have officially adopted the so-called “Pact for the Future,” a sweeping agreement that purportedly aims to address the world’s most pressing issues. However, beneath its glossy promises lies a dangerous move towards centralized, top-down control that could have devastating consequences for individual freedoms, national sovereignty, and democratic governance. The Pact, hailed by the UN Secretary-General as a “vision for the future,” includes initiatives like the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations. But for many, this reads more like a manifesto for totalitarian governance than a collaborative effort to improve international...

The solemn Declaration and Protest of the Commonwealth of Virginia on the principles of the Constitution of the US. of America & on the violations of them.We the General assembly of Virginia, on behalf, and in the name, of the people thereof do declare as follows. The states in N. America which confederated to establish their independance on the government of Great Britain, of which Virginia was one, became, on that acquisition, free and independant states, and as such authorised to constitute governments, each for itself, in such form as it thought best. They entered into a compact (which is...

The man known to history as Thomas Jefferson was born on the 13th of April 1743 at his 0:09 father’s estate of Shadwell in Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 0:16 His father Peter Jefferson was a surveyor and planter who owned several plantations 0:21 in Virginia, including the tobacco plantation of Shadwell which he founded in the 1730s, 0:27 worked by slaves and free labourers. At the time Virginia was one of the thirteen British colonies in North America, but in 0:35 just over three decades it would become one of the leading states behind the creation 0:40...

ROME — Pope Francis has signed an interfaith statement asserting that humanity faces a “global climate crisis” that demands phasing out fossil fuels. The Abu Dhabi Interfaith Statement for COP28 manifests the signers’ “shared concern for the escalating climate impacts that imperil our cherished planet, as well as our common commitment to jointly address this global crisis.”

This is very moving. It's an excellent reminder. Very appropriate for the times we are entering.

President Biden called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday about the major disaster declaration he signed for the state in response to Hurricane Idalia. On the call, Biden also conveyed that he “ordered all available federal resources to help with the continued response to Tropical Storm Idalia,” according to the White House. And, it added, “the president reiterated that the people of Florida have his full support as they recover from the storm.” The major disaster declaration allows for federal funding to be available to affected individuals in the counties of Citrus, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Taylor...

President Biden on Thursday signed a major disaster declaration for the state of Hawaii, freeing up additional federal funding as deadly fires have ravaged Maui and other areas. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, certain loans to cover property losses and other programs for home and business owners, the White House said. Biden spoke earlier Thursday by phone with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) about the wildfires, the White House said.

Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to declare a “climate emergency” with Covid pandemic-like restrictions on public freedoms, several energy industry insiders are warning. Energy industry groups fear the Biden White House is planning to declare a pandemic-like emergency that will grant the president sweeping new powers. “They’re leaning to that direction,” U.S. Oil and Gas Association President Tim Stewart told Just the News. “If you grant the president’s emergency powers to declare a climate emergency, it’s just like Covid.” A “climate emergency” declaration could give Biden and the Democrats “vast and unchecked authority to shut down everything from...

The Continental Congress chose Thomas Jefferson instead of John Adams to write the Declaration of Independence, because they wanted to solidify the southern states participation in the revolution.Jefferson suffered through Congress remaking his work. His draft at 1704 words was 366 words longer than the final. The Congress added 253 words, and removed or rephrased 792 words, thereby transforming over 60% of his work. Among passages removed was a 168 word section complaining the mercantile system, imposed on the colonies by commercial charter, mandated the importation of slaves to the New World. Such is my analysis, but you can find...

Soon another 4th of July will be upon us. On July 4, 1776, 56 men voted to adopt the final wording of the Declaration of Independence. This was a milestone in history.

A public health emergency declaration on abortion is not completely off the table for the Biden administration in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, sending the restrictions on abortion, or lack thereof, back to the states. This push to declare a public health emergency is not necessarily new, as dozens of House Democrats urged President Joe Biden to do so last summer. In a letter to Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the lawmakers called the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision both “radical and dangerous,” contending it “precipitated a...

Socialist convicted felon Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the current president of Brazil, removed that country this week from the list of signatories to the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a global document originally signed by 32 countries opposing abortion as a form of family planning and affirming the inherent “dignity and worth” of human life. Brazil signed the American-led declaration in 2020 under conservative, pro-life President Jair Bolsonaro, who lost to Lula in a bitterly contested presidential race last year. Lula, the Ministry of Health confirmed last week, also revoked an ordinance passed under Bolsonaro that required health workers to report...