Free Republic

THE SUBURBAN ARMED VIGILANTE RESPONSE In the absence of effective official police response to the exploding levels of violence, suburbanites will first hastily form self-defense forces to guard their neighborhoods—especially ones located near ethnic borders. These ubiquitous neighborhood armed defense teams will often have a deep and talented bench from which to select members, and they will not lack for volunteers. Since 9-11, hundreds of thousands of young men (and more than a few women) have acquired graduate-level educations in various aspects of urban warfare. In the Middle East, these troops were frequently tasked with restoring order to urban areas...

(I wrote this back in 2012. It was originally published at the old Western Rifle Shooters Association website, and since then it’s been reposted dozens of times on other websites. It’s also included in “The Bracken Collection: Essays and Short Fiction 2010 to 2019" which is available at Amazon, or you can get it directly from me. Details on my own website at EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com.In response to recent articles in mainstream military journals discussing the use of the U.S. Army to quell insurrections on American soil, I offer an alternate vision of the future. Instead of a small town in the...

The system isn’t broken — it’s working as exactly intendedAs long as the right is arguing with the stated goal instead of stopping the real purpose of a policy, the left wins.One of the key faults of conservative political analysis has been its focus on stated goals instead of true purpose revealed through actions. Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, recently declared on X (formerly Twitter): “Mass migration has failed.” “Oh no my friend,” I quickly replied, “it has succeeded at its actual goal.” Kirk is correct that mass migration has been a disaster for citizens of the...

OpenAI, the maker of Artificial Intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, announced on Tuesday that it has released a new software tool to help detect whether someone is trying to pass off AI-generated text as something that was written by a person.The tool, known as a classifier, comes two months after the release of ChatGPT, a chatbot that generates human-like responses based on the input it is given. Schools were quick to limit ChatGPT’s use over concerns that it could fuel academic dishonesty and hinder learning, as students have been using the chatbot to create content that they are passing off as their...

Wasn't there a time when the country had great newspapers with great editorials that regularly thundered and whispered, sighed and screamed, were outraged or outraged others? Where did they all go? Newspapers had character in those days of yore, whether good or bad. The reader could depend on it. And the editorials were a window into their soul. Those editorials might be loved or loathed, admired or despised, but they were read. Like the newspapers themselves. No day could start properly without at least a glance at the editorial page. Sensational or thoughtful, brief or discursive, each editorial might have...

This misunderstanding indicates that Bernanke is unlikely to recognize the problematic nature of stopping the deleveraging process that has seen TOTLL, total loans and leases by the commercial banks, fall from $7.2 trillion to $6.8 trillion in the three months from June through August. The third is point is the explanation for Bernanke's focus on the banks rather than the consumer or even the private and commercial mortgage holders. ...While those who understand that the problem is too much debt, not too little money, will rightly be skeptical of both Bernanke's historical diagnosis and current prescriptions, this does explain some...

Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness by Thomas Jefferson edited by Eric Petersen Were Thomas Jefferson alive to read this book, he would recognize every sentence, every elegant turn of phrase, every lofty, beautifully expressed idea. Indeed, every word in the book is his. In an astonishing feat of editing, Eric S. Petersen has culled the entirety of Thomas Jefferson’s published works to fashion thirty-four original essays on themes ranging from patriotism and liberty to hope, humility, and gratitude. The result is a lucid, inspiring distillation of the wisdom of one of America’s greatest political thinkers. From his personal motto—“Rebellion...

On Saturday I handed out the first batch of Hookie Awards. These prizes, determined by a rigorously subjective scientific formula, go to some of the important political essays of 2004, and celebrate the legacy of great public intellectuals like Sidney Hook, Daniel Bell and Irving Howe. So here's the second batch. A warning: if you read these pieces you will be so intimidatingly well informed it may cramp your social life. "Holland Daze" by Christopher Caldwell; The Weekly Standard. Many of the most important essays this year dealt with the confrontation between radical Islam and the West. Caldwell published a...

Right Angles and Other Obstinate Truths by Michael Bates Category: Non-fiction / Politics 165 pages; ISBN: 0-595-32048-1 Rating: 6/10 Right Angles and Other Obstinate Truths is a collection of short essays taken from the author's regular column in the Chicago Reporters Newspapers. These outspoken, opinionated commentaries are divided into seven sections containing the topics Boomers; Government; Pets and other critters; Heroes and villains; Political correctness and other nonsense; Society; and Personal. The majority of essays in this book are extremely politically charged. The stories within these topics range from personal experience that the author shares through general comments on past...

Capitalism just galls some people. They just. Can’t. Stand it. Now I have thought about this one long and hard, and no matter how I look at it, I come to the same striking, awe-inspiring conclusion, and that is this: Where you stand on the political spectrum, what you think of rich and poor people, and what you think about rich and poor nations and how they should act in the world, comes down, in my mind, to one single issue, and one only: Can wealth be created, or can it only be redistributed? If you believe, as I do,...

A Few of FR's Finest...........Every Day FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders; tell a few jokes; learn a new word; write poetry; pray for those in need; and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves. Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997. I can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars...

A Few of FR's Finest...........Every Day FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders;  tell a few jokes;  learn a new word;  write poetry;  pray for those in need;  and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves. Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   I can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars...

A Few of FR's Finest...........Every Day FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues; salute and support our military and our leaders;  tell a few jokes;  learn a new word;  write poetry;  pray for those in need;  and congratulate those who are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which we can express ourselves. Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   I can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars...

September Imprimis Unnecessary Wars Midge Decter Midge Decter’s essays and reviews have appeared over the past four decades in a number of periodicals, including The Atlantic, the American Spectator, First Things, National Review, the New Republic, the Weekly Standard and Commentary. She has published four books: The Liberated Woman and Other Americans; The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women’s Liberation; Liberal Parents, Radical Children; and An Old Wife’s Tale: My Seven Decades in Love and War. She has been the executive editor of Harper’s, literary editor of Saturday Review, and a senior editor at Basic Books. From 1980...