Free Republic

From Madison reading Cato and Cicero when framing the Constitution to the outsized impact both Rome and America had on the world around them, the United States has long been associated with historical Rome. There are great similarities, and there can be much to learn. When most of us think of the worst emperors Roman in history we think of names like Commodus, Nero, Caligula and Elagabalus. To a man they were vain, self centered, bloodthirsty hedonists who took what they wanted and tortured and killed many thousands of Romans and provincials. All emperors, including the great ones like Augustus,...

When many people feel disconnected from their social environment they become prone to fanatical belief in an unreasonable narrative, creating favorable conditions for the emergence of a totalitarian state, said Mattias Desmet, a professor of clinical psychology. The psychological phenomenon where individuals who feel disconnected from their natural and social environment and experience purposelessness in life start to fanatically believe in a certain narrative—even if it is absurd—is a specific kind of group formation called mass formation, Desmet told EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program on June 16. The individuals in the grip of the mass formation are blind to the...

As a prepper, you might sometimes need to look more intimidating, such as when you’re trying to scare off a potential attacker. Even under normal circumstances, you can benefit from knowing how to look intimidating, like if you want to be taken seriously at work. (h/t to TheSurvivalMom.com) Body language and how it affects how people perceive you You’re always communicating, even if you’re not saying a word to another person. Consciously or unconsciously, you say things through your gestures, movements and facial expressions. Other people also perceive attitudes, personality and character qualities from these actions. In fact, nonverbal communication...

This morning the CPI (Consumer Price Index) report came out and was higher than expected (Inflation stayed red-hot in May as CPI spiked 8.6% — highest since 1981). (Article by Stan Szymanski republished from EncouragingAngels.org) It is kind of like telling someone who is buried on the beach up to their neck in sand that the tide is coming in but not as fast as you think it is. Most of the food prices I see are up at least 15-33% from what I was used to paying. I know that the standard government numbers say that food inflation is...

America has always been an accommodating home for misfits, loners, and others who have drifted outside the mainstream of society. One of the more appealing aspects of the American experience is that you don’t have to belong to get along. You can make your way in the world or find success and happiness without the approval of your fellow man. That type of independence is a rare commodity and has long been a sore spot for the purveyors of “group think.” The overbearing pressure of conformity has been, to a large extent, the way of the world before 1789 and...

Men who are feminine? Why are men so soft? Effeminate men sin? Video is 40 minutes long, might offend those with woke pronouns

Recent violent crimes and staffing shortages are prompting demand for private security officers. Johnathan Long is chief of operations at Home State Security, located in the Tri-State. He says it’s not just the latest shootings in Buffalo and Texas that are driving demand for businesses like is, it’s also lack of police officers. “Because of the increase in that, and in the criminal activity, we have seen an increase in business,” Long said. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has allocated $70 million to help with first responder and officer recruitment and retention. While those efforts are underway, Long says companies like...

Why does the Millennial generation (people born between 1982-1996) have lower marriage and birth rates than previous generations? And when Millennials do get married, why is it at a later age than previous generations? Prominent periodicals like The Atlantic, Time, Washington Post and others have published articles trying to explain the phenomenon. Some claim that the cause is economic – we graduated from college into the 2008 Recession, we have a lot of student loan debt, and we receive stagnant wages as housing prices soar. Financial difficulty prevents young people from getting married. This is of course part of the...

So. We vilify action men, brand chivalry and valor “toxic masculinity,” stamp on the manly virtues that made civilization possible. Then we are shocked when armed cops stand around outside a classroom while children are slaughtered, or when straphangers watch passively as a woman is ­assaulted on the subway. SNIP We pathologize manly virtues and bow to the tyranny of identity politics that seeks power by overthrowing a make-believe patriarchy. We raise boys in a soup of ­reproach and negativity that tells them their intrinsic nature is ­diseased.

The precept of honoring one’s parents is a force throughout one’s entire life. One is never free from this obligation.The precept of honoring one’s parents is a force throughout one’s entire life. One is never free from this obligation. This is an adapted excerpt from “Conservatism: A Rediscovery“Honor is one of the central ideas in a conservative political theory. I do not mean any particular code of honor, such as that which was accepted among English gentlemen two hundred years ago. Rather, I want to understand honor as a general phenomenon appearing across all human societies. In examining it, we...

I am a middle-aged African American father, reeling from the sheer horror of what happened to members of my community in Buffalo. Through my pain, I am praying for all the victims and their traumatized families, friends and neighbors -- and for all the minority Americans who are feeling even more afraid now than they did before. (snip) Because you are male, you were born a winner of the patriarchal jackpot. You are more likely to rise to the top of the career ladder and will be better paid on your way up. The state will not attempt to dictate...

Americans are now entering uncharted, revolutionary territory. They may witness things over the next five months that once would have seemed unimaginable. Until the Ukrainian conflict, we had never witnessed a major land war inside Europe directly involving a nuclear power. In desperation, Russia’s impaired and unhinged leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin, now talks trash about the likelihood of nuclear war. A 79-year-old President Joe Biden bellows back that his war-losing nuclear adversary is a murderer, a war criminal, and a butcher who should be removed from power. After a year of politicizing the U.S. military and its self-induced catastrophe...

The past two weeks have been quite an adventure for people who are concerned about the direction which American civil society has been taking recently. The widely reported leak of the Supreme Court’s impending decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation led to a system-wide meltdown on the Left. Since then, they’ve been “protesting” at the homes (and threatening the safety) of conservative SCOTUS justices, which is a federal crime. Violent left-wing fanatics have been firebombing pro-life HQs and pregnancy centres across the country. More generally, lefties have been making royal nuisances of themselves as they’ve...

Alexander Solzhenitzen's middle son talks about his father. The format of the interview is similar to Levin https://youtu.be/p1OYMYpj3Lo

The West has gone through many eras — the so-called Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Age and the Post-Modern. The present era is the Age of the Absurd. In terms of the absurdities the cultural elites believe, and have convinced masses of people to believe, there has never been a time like today. Here is a list of the most ridiculous that immediately come to mind. No. 1: Men give birth. Heading the list has to be the radical redefinition — indeed, denial of — sex and gender, leading to such reality-defying statements...

You might be, as I am, alarmed about the future of liberty. How deep are the roots of liberty when so many submit to authoritarian measures in response to COVID, and approve the use of coercion against those less eager to comply? Unable to visualize alternatives, public acceptance of top-down coercive solutions to COVID demonstrates a willingness to sacrifice liberty for the promise of safety. To restore liberty, our understanding of liberty needs to deepen. The prolific author and educator Leonard Read is most famous for his timeless essay “I, Pencil.” In one of his earlier works, Students of Liberty,...

Sometimes a mask is so completely torn away that only the willfully and ideologically blind or the stupid cannot see what the real game is. Frank Bruni of the New York Times kindly provided those who desire to see with such an opportunity with his own Two Minutes Hate against Florida's protection of 5- to 9-year-olds from groomers. The gist and heart of Bruni's tirade is that in this latest incarnation of the culture war, too much emphasis has been put on "parental rights." Public schools, he emphasizes, don't exist "as some bespoke service attending to the material wants and...

Sometimes I think about what America was like when my grandfather was young. In 1908, when he was 22, he started a business that, I’m happy to say, thrives to this day. He was the son of Swedish immigrants and started with nothing but some mechanical know-how and a good entrepreneurial idea. Stories like his were very common in the America of a century ago. Millions of ambitious immigrants flooded into the US because its governmental system and culture were conducive to productivity and innovation. The people overwhelmingly expected to succeed or fail on their own efforts. Almost nobody thought...

On July 2, 1863, Confederate forces approaching Gettysburg found the high ground already occupied. A Union Signal Corps was stationed atop the large, smooth hill known as Little Round Top, where they could observe troop movements and communicate that intelligence to battlefield commanders below. Since this gave the Federals a distinct advantage, the Confederates resolved to take the lightly guarded hill. Signal Corps officers, seeing the soldiers in gray amass for an all-out assault, sent up a cry for help. It was answered by Maj. General George Sykes and Colonel Strong Vincent, whose combined divisions were able to beat back...

WARNING—Graphic footage: Fox News host voices his concerns over the crime spike on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight 16 minutes