Free Republic

The Colosseum, a symbol of modern Rome, was finished in 80 AD and became the main center for entertainment in Rome. It was built of travertine marble, is elliptically shaped and c. 1,729’ in circumference on a foundation of six acres. It has four stories and is c. 157’ high. On the top story was an enormous awning, the velarium that protected the spectators from the sun and inclement weather. It required 1,000 men to open and to close this Full Colosseumingenious device. The four arches at the four axes of the building were the main entrances, but 76 other...

On this date in 1821, a chief of the Seneca Native American nation slit the throat of a woman named Kauquatau, who had been condemned as a witch. As Matthew Dennis explains in his book on the Seneca of the early American Republic, Seneca Possessed, the rapid march of European settlement and the Seneca’s recent and ambiguous incorporation into the newborn United States had strained the indigenous society in complex ways. One of those reactions was a period of gendered witch-hunting in the early 19th century, especially growing out of the religious movement of the prophet Handsome Lake. “Handsome Lake...

Anyone with an IQ above the low double digits knows very well that Senate Democrats are coordinating closely with Christine Blasey Ford’s lawyers. For example, Bromwich’s bizaare insistence that it would be unfair for Ford to be questioned by anyone other than a Senator is clearly a product of Chuck Schumer’s office. Hopefully, Chuck Grassley is remaining firm on that. However, we should not forget the even more bizaare demand by Debra Katz that Kavanaugh testify first – essentially defending himself under oath against allegations that haven’t yet been entered into the record. As we have discovered, the Left –...

I was one of a number of Jewish conservatives who spoke out in defense of Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of The Christ. (See "More Power To Mel," published in FrontPageMag.com on February 10, 2004.) For that, I have no regrets. I believed then – and continue to believe – that The Passion is not anti-Semitic. However, based on what followed Gibson’s drunk-driving arrest on Friday, I’m convinced that the actor/director himself is an anti-Semite. According to various news reports, when he was arrested by a sheriff’s deputy in Malibu for DUI, Gibson was enraged. At one point, he reportedly...

Things have reached a pretty pass when reports of a celebrity’s drunken misbehavior and anti-Semitic rants are treated as bigger news than an actual war in Israel. But there you have it, life in America in 2006, and for the moment Mel Gibson’s encounter with a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is The Story. Tel Aviv could be in flames and I’m not sure it would push Gibson’s sordid little tale off the front pages. We don’t see many celebrities in the part of town where I work, and as I’m employed by the Los Angeles Police...