Free Republic

Doug Ogden doesn’t know what to do. The 75-year-old retired law enforcement officer is disgusted by President Donald Trump. But he can’t imagine voting for a Democrat in 2020, either. A self-described independent in South Carolina, Ogden doesn’t recognize the modern-day Democratic Party. “The state of the Democratic Party is wild against wilder,” says Ogden, standing with his arms crossed at a recent town hall meeting for Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg. “It scares me.” At the core of Ogden’s concern is a broader question about the direction of the Democratic Party and its values in the age of Trump....

In her breathtaking new memoir, Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World published Tuesday, Leigh Ann Henion, 37, writes of the birth of her 5-year-old son Archer: “I love and marvel over him as if he were my own heart pushed into the world and, still beating, set on top of my chest. Yet I cannot help but mourn the loss of something I can’t quite place. I have an inner emptiness—literal and figurative—that I’ve never felt before.” What follows is a raw, sometimes gut-wrenching account of the dark and lonely place Henion finds herself in...

I was born in one country, raised in another.

BHOPAL, India - Local authorities in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh face a perplexing problem. The authenticity of some of the area's eunuchs is in question, and officials claim they're powerless to resolve increasingly violent disputes between the rival - real and fake - factions. Authorities say problems started more than a year ago, but in recent months the situation has deteriorated into street clashes and murder. In India eunuchs are commonly called hijras and estimates of their numbers range from 50,000 to 5 million. Most earn their livelihood by the age-old tradition of performing at weddings, baby...

A Bath woman convinced herself she was French after she developed a rare disorder.Louise Clarke, 30, a recruitment consultant, babbled away in French for weeks, according to the Sun. She demanded croissants, rang her pals to tell them she was living in Paris and even invited them over. Louise said: "It might sound funny to others, but suddenly thinking you are French is terrifying."She had been in France four years before becoming one of only four people in Britain, and 200 in the world, to be diagnosed with Susac's syndrome. The brain disorder, which can be brought on by stress,...

Barbara Colonna had a secret.For most of her 56 years, she led a solitary existence to protect her identity. But now that she has filed as a Republican candidate for Haworth Borough Council, she's breaking her silence. The 5-foot-3-inch woman with bobbed salt and pepper hair and piercing green eyes was once a man named Edward.  After becoming more involved in town, it made sense that eventually she would run for council. But what would she tell people about her past? She started with her running mates. When they were not alarmed, she was encouraged. Her slate plans to run...

PARIS - President Jacques Chirac said Monday that the unrest in France's poor, largely nonwhite suburbs revealed a "crisis of identity" that the entire nation must heal with firmness and with measures that combat what he called the poison of discrimination. Chirac — speaking to the nation for the first time since the unrest erupted Oct. 27 — said France must instill values and hope in the "sons and daughters of the Republic" growing up in the poor, largely immigrant suburbs ringing French cities. French law must be obeyed, he said, but all of France — its companies, unions and...

CHICAGO — When it comes to gender, Alex Polanco is not easily pegged. Some days, he wakes up in the morning and feels male, pulling on jeans and a T-shirt and leaving it at that. Other times, he wears makeup and one of the wigs he keeps in tidily packed boxes in his bedroom closet

NEW YORK -- New research suggests teens are revealing their homosexuality at younger ages than ever before. An upcoming article in Time magazine takes a look at what has become a growing issue among America's youth. The age move has some conservative groups worried while surprising gay activists. Time staff writer John Cloud says the conservatives are targeting the youth "to combat this" phenomenon. Gay activists, meanwhile, are scrambling to reach these teens. Publications targeting gay kids are cropping up on the Internet and are available by subscription. Cloud also reports gay-straight alliance groups are forming rapidly on school campuses....

Group debates Cowboy State's 'identity crisis' By Ilene Olson rep3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Wyoming's competing identities result in both challenges and opportunities for the state and its communities, participants in a local conversation said Thursday. Milward Simpson, manager of the Wyoming Arts Council, said his work with the committee that will choose the design for Wyoming's quarter has highlighted many residents' perceptions of their state. The bucking horse and rider was the image most often cited, he said. "That icon is becoming intensely powerful in our sense of who we are," he said. Simpson was one...

Parents and teens alike are exploring sexual identity issues. Are they heteroflexible -- or fauxmosexual? Girls barely in their teens are exploring their sexuality. And more and more often, that exploration includes same-sex behavior. The trend has, inevitably, spawned new words. Some say they're "heteroflexible." Others sneer that they're merely "fauxmosexual." Is it really new? More importantly -- to parents and to the teens themselves -- what does it mean? Lisa M. Diamond, PhD, assistant professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, studies young women's sexual orientations, sexual attractions, and sexual behavior. "Women's...