Free Republic

Why do we suffer? It's complicated. It amounts to some issues about the nature of generosity and gratitude. A first principle is that you should never do for others what they can do for themselves, because they will be ungrateful and, moreover, despise the gifts given to them. Then the ingrates will criticize you and, ultimately, turn on you, and maybe even attack you. Why do we never get an answer, when we're knocking at the door, With a thousand million questions, about hate and death and war?, 'Cause when we stop and look around us, there is nothing that...

The culture wars are taking their toll, and the nation could suffer irreparable damage. The late Andrew Breitbart emphasized that “politics is downstream from culture,” meaning that culture shapes society’s values, which in turn determine its politics. Today, we are in the midst of a colossal culture war, with zealous radicals seeking to overturn our long-standing traditions and institutions. One ongoing struggle that has received national attention is the absurd claim that a male who decides he’s a female has a constitutional right to compete in women’s sports. At this time, 27 states have laws or policies prohibiting the gender...

Lately, I’ve been noticing behavior from adults that would’ve been considered unusual — or even unacceptable — not that long ago. This video isn’t about politics, sides, or beliefs. It’s about behavior, accountability, and how adults are responding to stress, conflict, and frustration in public spaces. Public outbursts, emotional escalation, lack of self-control, and performative behavior used to be rare. Now, they’re becoming common — and that should concern all of us. This isn’t a judgment. It’s an observation. And it raises an important question: When did this become normal?

Is marriage financially penalized in the US for low-income couples, esp. on welfare, or not [mainly asked in analyzing reasons for long term "cohabitation" (fornication) esp. among low-income parents] Marriage is often penalized for low-income couples in the US, especially those receiving welfare or means-tested benefits.Welfare and Tax PenaltiesMeans-tested benefits: Welfare programs like SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, housing assistance, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) calculate eligibility and award levels based on household income. When two low-income adults marry and combine incomes, their joint income frequently exceeds program thresholds, causing sharp reductions or complete loss of benefits.1234SSI marriage penalty: Married disabled...

Wyoming's oil and gas producers say Christmas came early last week when the Bureau of Land Management extended the deadline for compliance with bonding requirements that threatened to shutter small operators across the state. The Direct Final Rule delays enforcement of Biden-era regulations that would have increased bonding costs by 1,400% while the Trump administration works toward permanent solutions. "This marks significant progress in addressing the anti-oil and natural gas regulations that were handed down during the previous administration," said Pete Obermueller, president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. "While this rule does not cover new bonds and does not...

The parole board of Massachusetts is set to release 39 "emerging adult" convicts imprisoned for murder who were given life without parole but have now become eligible after a court ruling. The ruling states that those between 18 and 20 at the time of their offense are "emerging adults" and are not permitted to be given life without parole. Since the ruling was made last year by the state's Supreme Judicial Court, the board has greenlit the release of 39 first-degree murderers as well as those guilty of accessory to murder as they deny parole to 12 other inmates, according...

When insurance costs more than survival, coverage is just a word. Obamacare didn’t protect families, it priced them into submission. A system that only works for the rich or the dependent is not a safety net. ====================================================================================== BRIEFING It’s been just over a decade since Obamacare was implemented, and for a majority of Americans, it’s done jack diddly squat for them. As a matter of fact, one American family sat down, did the Obamacare math honestly, and realized that working, paying premiums, and playing by the rules still left them staring at a literal dead end. Let’s break it down....

Screenshot/Rumble/KMOV A Missouri woman on Thursday receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds complained about only being able to buy “real food” with the program, according to St. Louis TV station KMOV. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced Wednesday the approval of a waiver request from Missouri and five other states to restrict the purchase of candy, sugar-sweetened drinks and other items after Oct. 1, 2026. Hannah Moore complained to KMOV reporter John Kipper in a story that the restrictions were “not even cool.” “What is the point of food stamps if it’s just for ‘real food?’” Moore asked. WATCH:...

Inside a closed Los Angeles courtroom, something wasn’t right. Clerks working for family court Judge Amy Pellman were reviewing routine surrogacy petitions when they spotted an unusual pattern: the same name, again and again. A Chinese billionaire was seeking parental rights to at least four unborn children, and the court’s additional research showed that he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering at least eight more—all through surrogates. When Pellman called Xu Bo in for a confidential hearing in the summer of 2023, he never entered the courtroom, according to people who attended the hearing. The maker...

Imagine a scenario in which large numbers of white people start saying that they “feel black,” and that because of this feeling, and their enjoyment of stereotypically “black behavior,” they are now not just black themselves, but the most marginalized and vulnerable type of black person. Imagine them insisting that they should be the main focus of all activism meant to help PoC. Imagine them having operations to darken their skin and mimic stereotypically black features. Imagine them walking around in blackface, and saying it’s the exact same thing as actually being black. Imagine them being honored as black citizens...

Are we witnessing an unprecedented cultural shift in America? Jack Hibbs sounds the alarm about the rapid growth of Islam and its impact on politics, law, and everyday life from city councils to national headlines. Is America undergoing an expected awakening or an invasion nobody saw coming? Video is 3:39 minutes long.

… In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many American mothers began to question the institutions they had once trusted to uphold their lives. Into that vacuum stepped conservative Christian women influencers — like political commentator Allie Beth Stuckey, Make America Healthy Again pioneer Alex Clark, and anti-trans activist Riley Gaines Barker …(who famously tied for fifth with trans athlete Lia Thomas in a 2022 NCAA championship race) - who blend religion, polished aesthetics and personal stories to build trust on issues from food dyes and vaccines to transgender athletes and immigration. … For many women during the COVID-19 pandemic,...

A while back, a married couple asked for the time of the morning service at my church, promising to show up the following Sunday. They did, and enjoyed the service, but an observation by the wife surprised me. “Everyone’s dressed up,” was the essence of her comment. Even the ladies, she noticed, were wearing skirts and dresses instead of pants, something she seemed to think was refreshing. Apparently, I’ve been in my own church bubble for too long to realize that dressing up for special occasions and places is no longer a thing. It’s a pity that it isn’t. Because...

Chat, how cooked are we? October's Interest payment on US debt was a record $104.4 billion.This is how empires fall. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/vOhQYdFDJC— Jesse Cohen (@JesseCohenInv) November 26, 2025That's $104.4 BILLION for a single month. My Q4 tax payment fighting financial apocalypse: In the very near and immediate future, our interest payments (that's the key word here) will be so large that they will even eclipse all military spending. The only item we'll be spending more on is Social Security, which only makes things even worse! At this pace FY26 interest payments alone will top $1 trillion — more than the...

Your life is my background noiseThey say my generation is wasting our lives watching mindless entertainment. But I think things are worse than that. We are now turning our lives into mindless entertainment. Not just consuming slop, but becoming it. We have been posting about our lives for a long time. But now I notice something else, something more than a compulsion to capture and share moments. I see people turning into TV characters, their memories into episodes, themselves into entertainment. We have become the meaningless content, swiped past and scrolled through. Experiences, relationships, even our own children, are cheapened,...

David Brooks is one of the best-known public intellectuals in America… I have found him gracious and humble in person and have followed his writing with appreciation over the years. However, I was more than surprised by the headline of his latest Atlantic essay: “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake.” He notes that in the year 1800, three-quarters of American workers were farmers with large families living together. Until 1850, roughly three-quarters of Americans older than sixty-five lived with their kids and grandkids. Nuclear families (a husband and wife living with their children) were surrounded by extended or corporate families....

In the grand theater of American decline, there are few characters so destructive as the Affluent White Female Liberal (AWFL), a suburban archetype with a Prius, a “Coexist” bumper sticker, and an unquenchable thirst for moral superiority. From the San Francisco Bay Area to the halls of Democrat power, these women, often secular, privileged, are kicking out the pillars upholding our society. Their hyper-liberal zeal promotes family breakdown, political alienation, cultural Marxism, and racial division, all while patting themselves on the back for “saving” the world. It would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous — the irony that the...

Scientists at the University of Santiago de Compostela have unveiled a new photocatalytic method that converts methane and other natural gas components directly into versatile chemical building blocks. Researchers have created an iron-based catalyst that controls methane’s extreme reactivity, opening the door for natural gas to serve as a sustainable feedstock for high-value chemicals, including pharmaceuticals. Natural gas, one of the most plentiful energy resources on Earth, consists mainly of methane, ethane, and propane. Although it is commonly burned for power and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, researchers have long looked for ways to convert these stable hydrocarbons into useful...

Back in July, the now-infamous Tea app had surpassed ChatGPT in downloads. What is the Tea app? “Tea is a women-only app where users anonymously share info and warnings about men to spot red flags and get feedback.” If you’ve ever scrolled through the Facebook group “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” this is that, but entirely anonymous. “Why aren’t men approaching women anymore?” If you ask any young guy this question, he will look you in the face and ask, “Are you dumb?” Anyone who’s paid even half attention to the dating scene for twenty-somethings knows it’s a wasteland....

Nearly 100 years ago, Ernest Hemingway wrote that a character went bankrupt “Gradually and then suddenly.” Likewise, the disparate impact doctrine in civil rights law is ending first gradually, and then suddenly.In civil rights law, disparate impact occurs when the demographics of selected individuals (e.g., hired applicants or admitted students) does not reflect the population of applicants.Disparate impact makes organizations vulnerable to legal challenges of discrimination. For example, employers sued for disparate impact must prove that their practices serve a legitimate business purpose and are the least discriminatory option available. At no point in this legal process does intent come...