Free Republic

Memorial Day used to be on May 30th. Then Congress came in to help celebrate the day and shifted it all over the place by making it a Monday holiday. This was done to help federal workers and that’s fine with me, but it shows what congressional priorities are.The Greeks and the Romans had Memorial Days too with Pericles holding one in Athens in 431 BC. The highlight was his somber speech that praised the sacrifice and valor of those killed in the Peloponnesian War.2,452 years later, the man’s words ring true. His speech was so important that it is...

15 Ron Howard made JD Vance’s bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy into a major Hollywood movie four years ago. Now the filmmaker has publicly turned on the GOP vice presidential candidate, saying he is “surprised and disappointed” by the “rhetoric that I’m reading and hearing.” At the Toronto Film Festival to promote his latest movie Eden, Ron Howard faced questions about JD Vance from multiple news outlets, some of which clearly had an ax to grind against Vance.

This piece was first published in 2019. My book Hillbilly Elegy is really an exploration of the American Dream as it was experienced by me and my family and the broader community in which I lived. It chronicled a real decline in the American Dream, not because people weren’t consuming as much as they have in the past – if you look at the trend lines, we’re certainly able to buy more stuff today than we ever have been able to. It’s a story about family decline, childhood trauma, opioid abuse, community decline, decline of the manufacturing sector, and all...

Hey Y'all, February 5th of 2005 will mark 7 years for me as a daily reader of, and sometimes contributor to, the Free Republic. While cleaning out a few files over the weekend, I came across the following piece of fiction I cranked out a few years ago after my friend Bill was killed in an accident. I wrote it for two reasons: 1.) to put my own life in perspective after losing someone I cared a great deal about and 2.) for Bill's sister, Sue. I wanted her to understand that although his life had been cut short, it...