Free Republic

There are things that I am definitely aware of even though I don't often or ever bring them up. One of those things is the de-humanization campaign that progressives have engaged in (in varying degrees) ever since our first progressive President, Theodore Roosevelt, and it puts us in the position to ask the question. How can we re-humanize our Founding Fathers? What tools can we rely on or use or else, what tools can we build to have an effect against the problem? First, let's recognize something. There is a lot of power in the spoken word. It is very,...

Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke was originally published in 1689. Its initial publication was in Latin, though it was immediately translated into other languages. In this "letter" addressed to an anonymous "Honored Sir" (actually Locke's close friend Philip von Limborch, who published it without Locke's knowledge) Locke argues for a new understanding of the relationship between religion and government. One of the founders of Empiricism, Locke develops a philosophy that is contrary to the one expressed by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan, primarily because it supports toleration for various Christian denominations. Locke's work appeared amidst a fear that Catholicism might...

DEAD MEN'S DUST. You don't buy poetry. (Neither do I.) Why? You cannot afford it? Bosh! you spend Editions de luxe on a thirsty friend. You can buy any one of the poetry bunch For the price you pay for a business lunch. Don't you suppose that a hungry head, Like an empty stomach, ought to be fed? Looking into myself, I find this true, So I hardly can figure it false in you.

Today I am happy to announce the release of the very short audio for Thomas Jefferson's interesting letter "A Dialog between the Head and Heart", which reaches just past 30 minutes long. Yes, it is a very short recording, but this one is a little different than most others I work on. This recording is a compilation; that is, there are three voices present that are seemingly talking to each other in a way. One of the recordings in this I recorded. This does not signal my triumphant return to the microphone though. I wish. I still have a very...

I've only just begun...and I just have to say this is a "must read" especially this year! Not a quick read, but compelling, and a fabulous detailed history that none should ignore. Prof. Turley is thorough and thoughtful. We are going through troubling times these days, and back before the ratification of our Constitution, there was much turmoil right here while the people worked on forming a system of government. Fabulously done! I have many other things to do, but I can't put it down. So...I guess I'm reading for a while.

On a search to answer the question "Who started the Great War?" the author details his encounter and subsequent journeys with a mysterious stranger - journeys not through towns and countries but through time. This spirit, whom the author names "Mered," - meaning "Rebellion" - acts as a guide and interpreter of many epochs and episodes of human history, explaining how deep are the troubles that bring about conflict, from the interactions of two individuals to the mutual destruction of nations. - Summary by E. Sharp --- Garet Garrett (February 19, 1878 – November 6, 1954), born Edward Peter Garrett,...

William Holmes McGuffey (September 23, 1800 – May 4, 1873) was an American professor and college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, one of the nation's first and most widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary.

(snip) As the title suggests, Thomas Asbridge’s The First Crusade: A New History begins at the beginning. The First Crusade was called in 1095 by Pope Urban II in response to an urgent plea for assistance from the Byzantine Empire, the last Christian state in the East. Things had been going badly for Christians for several centuries, ever since the explosion of Muslim warriors out of Arabia in the seventh century. Egypt, Palestine, Syria, North Africa—the core of the Christian world—had been conquered by Muslim jihad warriors and subjected to Islamic rule and law. When Turkish jihad warriors invaded and...

Today I'm happy to make a mention that Out of the Dark, a book written by Helen Keller, is now ready as downloadable audio. This book is interesting in that it is where Keller describes "how I became a socialist". Some of you may find that just as curious as I do as to what her reasonings were. https://librivox.org/out-of-the-dark-by-helen-keller/

Last week, I finished reading Ottessa Moshfegh’s bestselling 2018 novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation. While I usually do not read books from the “Millennial Sad Girl Navigates Modern Life” genre, I was compelled to see what all the fuss is about. Suffice it to say that I was not impressed. But I could not quite put my finger on the source of my disdain until, several days ago, it hit me: Moshfegh’s unnamed narrator walks away learning absolutely nothing. The fault of this particular novel might be with Moshfegh’s nihilistic outlook on life, but the problem cuts even...

For decades, military pilots, radar operators and ordinary citizens have reported strange objects darting through the skies, often dismissed by officials or buried under classification. Despite congressional hearings and government task forces, little clarity has emerged about what Americans are actually seeing. Now, the director of a new explosive documentary is pulling back the curtain on that mystery. Director and producer Dan Farah sat down with Fox News’ Bret Baier Friday to discuss his new documentary, "The Age of Disclosure." "For a very long time, the public, Congress and even the president have been kept out of the loop on...

No one uses “Malthusian” as a compliment. Since 1798, when the economist and cleric Thomas Malthus first published “An Essay on the Principles of Population,” the “Malthusian” position – the idea that humans are subject to natural limits – has been vilified and scorned. Today, the term is lobbed at anyone who dares question the optimism of infinite progress. Unfortunately, almost everything most people think they know about Malthus is wrong. The story goes like this: Once upon a time, an English country parson came up with the idea that population increases at a “geometrical” rate, while food production increases...

France and England in North America is a multivolume history of the European colonization of North America, written by Francis Parkman. The series highlights the military struggles between France and Great Britain. It was well regarded at the time of publication and continues to enjoy a reputation as a literary masterpiece.

If Good News had a patron saint, it would be the Swedish professor of global health Hans Rosling.Rosling, who died in 2017, was a wizard at using data and storytelling to challenge misconceptions around global development and progress. With statistics in hand, Rosling could convince the most determined pessimist that the world was, on balance, getting better. And there’s no better example of the Rosling touch than a TED talk he gave in 2010 called “The Magic Washing Machine.” “Laundry day” used to actually mean an entire day of soaking clothes, heating water, hauling, scrubbing, rinsing, wringing, and hanging. But...

Earlier this year in March, the book War Memories of an Army Chaplain by Henry C. Trumbull was completed as audio. I don't always make a fuss out of every single work we finish around here, I sometimes choose to avoid feature creep and some works I pick up simply for collaborative reasons. This work was recommended to me by an acquaintance at church and I am very strongly oriented toward home schoolers so it stirred my thoughts. That said, it has come to my attention that in the last six months the popularity of this work has ballooned, and...

The Democratic Party's coronation of Kamala Harris as their 2024 presidential nominee wasn't the smooth, unified effort they wanted the public to believe. Behind closed doors, it was pure chaos, with Barack Obama furious at Nancy Pelosi for moving too fast and essentially backing Kamala’s anointing before anyone else had a shot at it. When Joe Biden finally bowed out of the race in July 2024, Nancy Pelosi wasted almost no time throwing her support behind Kamala. Less than a day after Biden's announcement, Pelosi was all in on Harris. The problem? According to excerpts from Jonathan Karl’s forthcoming book,...

Former President Barack Obama was not pleased that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris the day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.In his new book Retribution, ABC News' Jonathan Karl provided new details on what had been widely known - that Obama didn't want a quick coronation of Harris, but rather 'a process' to determine who would become the Democratic nominee. The Daily Mail obtained an advanced copy. Obama called Pelosi shortly after her endorsement of Harris became public. 'The Obamas were not happy,' a Pelosi confidant told Karl. 'This...

For all the unity that the Democratic Party projects, there’s actually a lot of drama behind the scenes, and it’s nice to see the details finally come out. According to a new tell-all on last year’s campaign, Joe Biden spent the last weeks of his re-election meltdown dodging phone calls—not from reporters or donors, but from Barack Obama himself. For two full weeks before he finally bailed out last July, Biden reportedly refused to take his old boss’s calls. And get this: even after he quit, he gave Obama the cold shoulder for another month. It’s a far cry from...

Friday on CNN’s “News Central,” former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she was not “concerned” about former President Joe Biden’s mental capacity during her tenure. Partial transcript as follows: BRIANNA KEILAR: According to my colleague Jake Tapper, who wrote a book with Alex Thompson, looking back on that, cabinet secretaries were telling them that Biden wasn’t up to the task of the proverbial 2 a.m. phone call. George Clooney said Biden didn’t even recognize him at the fundraiser that he was hosting. I mean, we’re talking 2023, 2024, why didn’t you see — why didn’t you have concerns?...

<p>The FBI’s Washington Field Office requested the senior officials’ authorization before looking into “an apparent effort to obstruct Congress’ certification of the Electoral College” and “fraudulent certificates of electors’ votes were submitted to the Archivist of the United States, purporting to represent the actual elector votes from the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin,” the files show.</p>