Free Republic

Of America’s most powerful and prominent cultural institutions, it’s quick work naming those that aren’t entirely left-wing satrapies. TV? Fox News, although things are looking less and less encouraging there. Colleges? Hillsdale, I guess, though how many Ivy League faculty members would ever admit to having heard of it? Newspapers? The New York Post (sometimes), Wall Street Journal (kind of), and perhaps one or two others from sea to shining sea. Silicon Valley? Nothing. Hollywood? ¡Nada! Big business? Hmm: what is there, nowadays, honestly, other than that My Pillow guy? One field in which there’s at least a soupçon...

“A light from the shadows shall spring,” J. R. R. Tolkien wrote in The Fellowship of the Ring. Hope is a dominant theme in Tolkien’s famous fantasy. Despair threatens to grip each of us in these turbulent times. Thankfully, there are many reasons to avert despair—and run into the arms of Hope:  Experts say—and data shows—the economy is recovering The Silent Majority can—and will—defeat Joe Biden With concrete action steps, you will be part of America’s revival Before expounding on these reasons for optimism, it’s important to know that if you’re feeling down, you’re not alone. Social isolation is proven to exacerbate...

Among the Nobel Prizes awarded each year is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It was first awarded in 1901, and through 2019, 219 have received the award. Of the 219 recipients, 100 have been American, according to Statista. This one piece of information leads me to conclude there is a high likelihood it will be an American who delivers the medicines we seek now in the battle to defeat the coronavirus that plagues us. Am I looking for a reason for pride in America? Not really. I'm looking more to shine light on what it is that makes...

Patrick Harrington is sitting on a rock high on a hilltop...his head in his hands. The owner of Kindness Yoga, and one of the most well-known yogis in Denver, is struggling to piece together the words to explain what happened — in the span of a week — to his once-stellar reputation and his 19-year-old business. He is stunned, though remorseful. He is eager to speak up, yet on edge for fear of saying anything that could make all of this any worse. Harrington, a straight, white guy who expanded Kindness to nine studios and 160 employees across metro Denver,...

Justin Timberlake is calling for the removal of Confederate monuments across the country. The singer, who is from Tennessee, posted his comments on Instagram on Monday along with a video on the subject from the American Civil Liberties Union. “America was built by men who believed in and benefitted from racism. Plain and simple,” Timberlake said in the caption. “...those men who proudly owned and abused Black people are STILL celebrated all over the country.” Timberlake cited a statistic that there are about 1,848 Confederate statues in the country. “More than half are in The South, and it’s not acceptable,”...

Byron L. Dorgan @ByronDorgan Trump says “our children are taught in schools to hate their own country”! That is an unbelievably ignorant statement by a demagogue who tries in every way to divide Americans!

Here is a checklist for fans of the “greatest of all presidents.” Where’s the wall — and is Mexico paying for it? Where’s the fabulous plan to replace ObamaCare? Where’s the deal with North Korea to end their nuclear threat? Where’s the racial healing in retweeting a supporter shouting “white power”? Oh, didn’t he tell you in February the virus was going to magically disappear and then repeat it to you last week after more than 125,000 Americans died from it? Now that’s a record of failure. And here is one more question on empty promises for Trump’s biggest fans,...

Republicans keep hoping and expecting that former vice president Joe Biden will have to leave his basement and hit the campaign trail sometime soon. Don’t be surprised, though, if that doesn’t happen. Biden looks to be trying to run a 21st-century version of the standard 19th-century “front porch campaign” - and it might work. Presidential candidates rarely actively campaigned in the 19th century. The lack of a national railroad system made travel too arduous for candidates before 1850. Even after that, it took days for trains to travel between major cities, and the lack of any means of mass communication...

Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday that taking comfort in news of declining coronavirus death rates is a”false narrative” encouraging “complacency.” Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci downplayed the apparent low death rate of the novel coronavirus pandemic in a (internet streamed) press conference with Democrat Alabama Senator Doug Jones on Tuesday. He also emphasized that there was still a “window of opportunity” for the state to respond proactively to the outbreak. “You’re not there yet, so you have an opportunity, a window to get your arms around this and to prevent it...

The manufacturer of the popular American Girl dolls says it is “disgusted” by an online parody that depicted one of its toys as a gun-toting white doll named Karen who refuses to wear a face mask while shopping during the coronavirus pandemic. American Girl, which makes 18-inch dolls portraying female youngsters, responded to the fake image last week after it was posted to Facebook and went viral on other platforms. “I saw a post of an American Girl doll, Karen, who refuses to wear a mask and carried a gun as disgusting,” a Twitter user wrote the Wisconsin-based company....

Hollywood celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, and Jameela Jamil have promoted a clip of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan that was posted by comedian Chelsea Handler, who praised the anti-Semitic figure’s comments about black Americans. Chelsea Handler posted a clip of Farrakhan’s undated appearance on The Phil Donahue Show to her Instagram account, where she described it as a “powerful” video, according to screenshots of her since-deleted post. Her post was shared and liked by a slew of celebrities who helped the video rack up more than 1.8 million views.

When it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace, Jennifer Aniston said she has been treated worse by women than men in Hollywood. Aniston was asked about the #MeToo movement and more in a new wide-ranging interview for the September issue of InStyle. "I’ve definitely had some sloppy moves made on me by other actors, and I handled it by walking away," she told interviewer Molly McNearney, who is married to Jimmy Kimmel and has known Aniston for half a dozen years. "I’ve never had anyone in a position of power make me feel uncomfortable and leverage that over me....

Mary L. Trump, President Trump’s niece, plans to publish a tell-all family memoir next week, describing how a decades long history of darkness, dysfunction and brutality turned her uncle into a reckless leader who, according to her publisher, Simon & Schuster, “now threatens the world’s health, economic security and social fabric.” The book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” depicts a multigenerational saga of greed, betrayal and internecine tension and seeks to explain how President Trump’s position in one of New York’s wealthiest and most infamous real-estate empires helped him acquire what...

Peter Heck of Kokomo Indiana, was quoted by Rush on his show at 2:10 PM today 6/7/2020 ---- Opinion: President Trump can win in 2020 by doing this 1 thing by Peter Heck · Jul 6th, 2020 4:44 pm 35 Last Updated Jul 7th, 2020 at 1:43 pm Everyone seems to be ready to write President Donald Trump's electoral epitaph. Not that I blame them, given the current chaotic state of the country. Race riots have crippled our cities, a global pandemic lingers and has become dangerously politicized, the once roaring economy has been intentionally, even if necessarily, stifled, and...

Clint Lorance had been in charge of his platoon for only three days when he ordered his men to kill three Afghans stopped on a dirt road. A second-degree murder conviction and pardon followed. Today, Lorance is hailed as a hero by President Trump and conservative media. His troops are still haunted by his crimes....

As a marine infantryman, I deployed to the occupation of Ramadi Iraq, in 2005. It was there, that I first witnessed the true nature of the war. I heard the cries of mothers screaming as their families were torn apart, and I began to realize I was not a liberator. As my comrades died around me, I began to realize we were nothing more than cannon fodder for empire. Fighting, killing, and dying for profit, resources, and global domination. Returning home I witnessed the same war waged against communities all around me. The police terror unleashed on Black lives. Colonialism...

Last night actor and activist Terry Crews was on a local access channel Don Lemon’s show on CNN. The subject was a tweet sent by Crews on June 30 terry crews terrycrews If you are a child of God, you are my brother and sister. I have family of every race, creed and ideology. We must ensure #blacklivesmatter doesn’t morph into #blacklivesbetter What a novel concept: grace, a celebration of our shared humanity, an echo of St. Paul (Galatians 3:28), an expression of the American ideal. But that isn’t the reception he received in social media where a movement focused...

On Monday night, CNN host Don Lemon spoke over black actor Terry Crews, lecturing him about the Black Lives Matter movement. Crews noted that Black Lives Matter has a broad range of demands far outside the realm of police brutality, and if other black voices try to suggest other approaches to various issues, they find themselves shut down and branded as “Uncle Toms.” Lemon illustrated Crews’ point by speaking over him, dismissing the actor’s concerns about black-on-black crime that has killed innocent children caught in the crossfire. (snip) Lemon gave a rather interesting answer. He suggested that Black Lives Matter...

The numbers: Restaurants, dentists and other service-style companies that dominate the U.S. economy saw a surge in growth in June as businesses were allowed to reopen, pointing to a gradual recovery after extended coronavirus lockdowns. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of nonmanufacturing companies jumped to 57.1% in June from 45.4% in May, marking the single biggest increase since the survey was created in 1997. It was also the highest reading since February and easily topped the 51% forecast of economists polled by MarketWatch. Any number above 50% indicates more companies are expanding, but the big increase in June overstates...

VIDEO Here is a sneak preview of what a debate between Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto and Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel on the subject of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19 could look like. Watch as each make their cases both pro and con on the subject of this treatment.