Free Republic

Magazine Cover Story Snapshot X MARKS THE PEDWALKBY FRITZ LEIBER[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of Tomorrow April 1963 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]This is how it all began—the terrible civil strife that devastates our world!Based in material in Ch. 7--"First Clashes of the Wheeled and Footed Sects"--of Vol. 3 of Burger's monumental History of Traffic, published by the Foundation for Twenty-Second Century Studies.The raggedy little old lady with the big shopping bag was in the exact center of the crosswalk when she became aware of the...

The new film suggests that collectivism works well enough until capitalism gets its hands on it. Viewers reacting to the trailer on social media noticed this immediately, with one post summarizing the film’s apparent message with withering accuracy: “It’s 2025. And Animal Farm is a movie about communism working, and being ruined by capitalism.”

It makes perfect sense that Democrats freaked out when DOGE started following the money. Look at what they’ve been up to all these years. here’s a reason Al Capone spent a few years in Alcatraz for tax evasion: Money is harder to hide than bodies. Any thug can take a few bucks from someone weaker. But when used, money leaves a trail. The key to criminal success is making ill gotten booty look as though it’s not ill gotten. That’s way easier said than done. This brings me to the Democrat party’s current woes. It is a political organization in...

The National Instant Criminal Background Check System numbers for March 2026 are in, and they show the same pattern gun owners and industry watchers have seen before: the raw FBI total and the NSSF-adjusted figure are telling two different stories.According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the March 2026 adjusted NICS figure came in at 1,412,917, up 1.9 percent from March 2025. At the same time, the unadjusted FBI total fell to 2,212,094, down 10.5 percent from 2,470,705 a year earlier.NICS is being used for more and more background checks, which are not directly related to firearm sales. Chief among...

NYT columnist says that while he supports the downfall of the Iranian regime, he would not want to see it politically strengthen the leaders of the US and Israel, who he called 'terrible, terrible people.'

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Vice President JD Vance said the US and Iran failed to strike a peace deal to end the six-week war rocking the Middle East, blaming Tehran’s refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions — leaving uncertainty over whether fighting will resume. Vance delivered the quick-hit update after 21 hours of grueling negotiations in Pakistan, noting meaningful discussions were held with Iran but none that brokered a deal on terms laid out by the US. “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement,” Vance told reporters in Islamabad. “And I think that’s bad news for...

So you say you want a revolution? Well, take a look at what’s happening in Ireland right now. Tens of thousands of farmers, truckers, and other fed-up “normies” are taking to the streets of Dublin to protest fuel taxes, mass immigration, and poverty-inducing “climate change” policies. For the most part, corporate news propagandists in both Europe and North America are intentionally ignoring the combustible situation. Just when I had begun to think that all the “fighting Irish” had moved to America, the Old Country has started to show signs of life. Perhaps there are still a few irascible pugilists willing...

California is under invasion from a 20-pound rodent once believed to have been eradicated from the state – and officials now fear humans may be to blame. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said DNA testing of the 2.5-foot-long pest, known as a nutria, shows the current population is linked to animals in Oregon, not to the species that roamed California in the 1970s before being wiped out. “This study supports our long-held belief that the current invasion is the result of reintroduction rather than explosive growth of a remnant, undetected population,” the CDFW ‘s Nutria Eradication Program Manager...

🇺🇸Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem 🇮🇱(4/12/26)[Prayer]A New Study For A New Year: PersonalitiesExodus 16:1-7 16 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: 3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord...

As the administration's trap is closing on the Iranian government (at least the fourth level of it, which is all that has not been eliminated by the IAF and U.S. forces) Irishmen are blockading major roads and streets in Ireland. Only the Guinness tankers are being let through. Ostensibly, the dispute is over the rising cost of fuel, which will bankrupt farmers and truckers. However, if you’ve been paying attention, the rebellion goes deeper, to the high taxes, third-world immigration, and the highhandedness of the government. Under the guise of the idiotic net-zero policies, the Irish government has been using...

One person has been killed and multiple people injured during a mass shooting at a New Jersey Chick-fil-A. The horror unfolded at the restaurant in Union Township on Saturday night, sending terrified patrons scrambling and the business into lockdown. At least six people were shot after gunfire erupted at around 8.40pm inside the crowded establishment, according to RLS Media. A local living a block away told the Daily Mail that they could hear 'a ruckus' as well as sirens blaring hours after the shooting ended. The father of a Chick-fil-A worker said his son told him multiple armed suspects in...

The Talk Shows April 12th, 2026 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FACE THE NATION (CBS): Margaret Brennan anchors: Israeli Ambassadorto the USA Michael Leiter; Sen. Mark Warner (DeepState-Va.); Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio); Kristalina Georgieva, Bulgarian economist and the leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); CBS News Polling Director Anthony Salvanto.FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Anchor Shannon Bream: Former Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin; Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.); Nate Morris, Kentucky’s U.S. Senate Republican candidate; American author and academic Arthur Brooks; Pascal Confavreux, deputy spokesperson at the French Minister of foreign affairs. Panel: Olivia Beavers, Michael...

The Ministry of Interior announced today (Sunday) that it has issued official locality designations to eight additional communities, a step marking the final confirmation of their status as fully regulated communities within the State of Israel. This move follows the allocation of 25 locality designations granted recently, bringing the total number of communities formalized over the past four months to 33. The new designation grants administrative and budgetary independence to several strategic locations. .....

IBM has agreed to settle the US Department of Justice's accusations that the company violated civil rights laws with its DEI practices. According to a press release from the DOJ, IBM will pay more than $17 million to resolve allegations of taking "race, color, national origin, or sex" into account when making employment decisions. This settlement is the latest development in a longstanding effort from the Trump administration to end DEI programs, which was kick-started from an executive order in early 2025. IBM denied any wrongdoing and said the settlement wasn't an admission of liability, while the US government said...

Firms cash in by coaching claimants in exchange for half their payout Taxpayers are shelling out £800 in disability benefits every minute to people claiming to suffer from anxiety, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. The cost of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for the disorder has rocketed from under £100million in 2019 to nearly £427million last year - under rules that allow anyone, regardless of their income, to collect the payments without ever seeing a doctor. Instead, the benefit - worth up to £194 a week - can be awarded on nothing more than a personal diary or a letter...

.BREAKING: 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia fully restores East-West oil pipeline, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and pumping 7,000,000 barrels per day. Saudi Arabia says it needs no more strait of Hormuz.

Orbán offered his support to Putin, likening his assistance to that of a mouse helping a lion in a well-known Hungarian fable, according to a phone conversation transcript obtained by news agency Bloomberg. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reportedly offered Russian President Vladimir Putin his friendship and assistance, including by hosting peace talks in Budapest, in a phone call last year adding to concerns about Hungary's ties with Moscow. The news was first reported by US news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing a transcript from a bilateral call in October 2025 from the Hungarian government. “Yesterday, our friendship reached such heights...

As birthright citizenship is debated in the Supreme Court, resurfaced videos of top Democrats echoing the argument of the Trump administration sparked a conservative uproar on social media. "If making it easy to be an illegal alien isn’t enough, how about offering a reward for being an illegal immigrant?" Sen. Harry Reid said on the Senate floor in 1993. "No sane country would do that. Right? Guess again. If you break our laws by entering this country without permission and give birth to a child, we reward that child with U.S. citizenship and [a] guarantee of full access to all...

Before he launched a daring military capture of the dictator Nicholas Maduro, President Donald Trump brought the Venezuelan economy to its knees with a naval blockade that strangled the nation’s oil revenues. If Iran refuses to accept the final deal the United States offered Saturday, Trump could bomb Tehran back to the “Stone Ages” as he vowed. Or he might just reprise his successful blockade strategy to choke an already teetering Iranian economy and ratchet up diplomatic pressure on China and India by cutting them off one of their key sources of oil. Ironically, the massive USS Gerald Ford carrier...

Congressman Eric Swalwell’s senior staff have said they are “horrified” by sexual misconduct allegations made against him. “As leaders of teams working for Eric Swalwell, we’re horrified by the recent reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle and by CNN,” a statement signed by staffers for Swalwell’s 14th congressional district and the “Eric Swalwell for Governor 2026” campaign read on Saturday, April 11. “We stand with our former colleague, and the other women who have come forward. We believe you should stand with them, too.” His staff went on, “The behavior detailed in these reports is abhorrent, beneath the dignity of...