Free Republic

Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday he doesn’t believe a bipartisan effort to force a House vote compelling the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents will succeed. Asked about the discharge petition led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Johnson said he doubted they would convince enough Republicans to sign on. “I don’t expect he will,” Johnson said when asked about Massie’s chances of success. .. White House officials are running an intense pressure campaign to keep Republicans from joining the discharge effort. Trump aides have made calls to GOP members who have co-sponsored the Massie-Khanna measure, pressuring those...

CALLS FOR REPARATIONS are all the rage among our contemporary "civil rights" crusaders. These shrewd individuals have chosen to direct their extortion efforts toward such American corporations as Aetna, New York Life, and Chase Manhattan Bank which are charged with having profited, in one way or another, from slavery more than 137 years ago. They understand that such companies’ deep pockets and fears of bad publicity make them likely to eventually cough up some cash in exchange for the privilege of not having their names perpetually smeared. What the moral icons of the "civil rights" establishment never mention, however, is...

The Indian Ocean from the early Islamic conquests (8th century) to the European voyages of discovery (15th century) was essentially an Arab lake dominatd by armed Arab traders, contested at times by the Persians. One of the important commodities transported over the Arab-controlled Indian Ocean was enslaved Africans. The principal port of embarcation for Afrians taken by Arab slavers was entrepôt Zanzibar. Not a lot is known about Zanzibar and the slave trade until the 19th century. By the time the Royal Navy moved against the Arab Indian Ocean slave trade, it was largely in the hands of the Sultanate...

A flair for history is a prerequisite to understanding the Muslim world and its people. Their yesterdays are closely bound up with the here and now. A good grasp of geography will be helpful as well. Slavery in Early Islamic History It was intriguing to note in Bernard Lewis' book, The Arabs in History, that paper was made first in China in the year 105 B.C. In A.D. 751, the Arabs defeated a Chinese contingent east of the 'Jaxartes'. (Jaxartes is a river that lies on the border between China and present-day Afghanistan. Persian King Cyrus was killed fighting near...

Illegal Worker Hiring Sites Promote Racketeering by Bridget Geegan Blanton Mexico is notorious for corruption... ...and is nearly unresponsive to a persistent, staggering poverty suffered by millions of Mexicans. At the top of the Mexican power structure is an elitist, wealthy ruling class that vehemently resists even a modest level of taxation while supporting the status of Mexico as a nation dependent on American financial aid. Onerous taxation and big government is never a solution, but at the other extreme is the Mexican ruling class who has shunned any responsibility for the dire economic state of their country. In a...

Cambodia, a country without a soul By Julio A Jeldres PHNOM PENH - During a recent visit to Cambodia, a Buddhist monk who has long been a good friend and adviser of mine said that Cambodia is a country that has lost its soul, and that the land that once had been blessed by Lord Buddha now has been cursed by men. Sadly, I have to agree with this grim assessment because after reading the daily press cables and reports, the picture that emerges of today's Cambodia is far from the "oasis of peace" of the 1950s and 1960s. Trafficking of drugs and...