Free Republic

Obama and psychohistoryby John Ruberry | March 9th, 2014 Isaac Asimov’s greatest and best-known work was the Foundation series. The plot is centered on the mathematical model created by Professor Hari Seldon–one that can scientifically predict the history of our galaxy. On the surface it appears to be a dry read, but plot twists and intriguing characters make the stories work. Barack Obama is not a mathematician and he may not even be a reader of science fiction, but he is a believer in psychohistory. Obama all but tells us he knows how the future looks–and what will remain in...

The major thrust of the books on West’s list — namely that Roosevelt’s cabinet and much of the federal bureaucracy was filled with Communists, fellow travelers, dupes and “useful idiots,” and that at the very least this influenced an FDR agenda that proved heavily favorable towards “Uncle Joe” Stalin and the Soviet Union, enabling its expansion and increasing its sphere of influence well beyond its borders — leads to a total paradigm shift when thinking about the World War II era. It bears noting that in “American Betrayal,” West herself seeks to draw a parallel between the modern-day whitewashing of...

An extensive interview on all things Benghazi with radio host, investigative journalist and author of the new book, "The Real Benghazi Story," Aaron Klein.

Freedom for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) president Greg Lukianoff “Freedom From Speech,” a 61-page broadside written by Freedom for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) president Greg Lukianoff, deftly illustrates the evolving assault on free speech. “The public’s appetite for punishing attempts at candor gone wrong, drunken rants, or even private statements made in anger or frustration seems to be growing at an alarming rate,” Lukianoff warns. The author cites a range of incidents to make his initial point, covering a large and diverse cast of characters. They include former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson,...

Today's genre books are full of future dystopias, which only have one weakness: teenagers. And everybody knows that most dystopias are kind of contrived. But here are 10 lessons from real-life rebellions against repressive regimes, that we wish the creators of fictional dystopias would pay attention to. 10. The Enemy of Your Enemy Is Not Your Friend Politics makes strange bedfellows. It even makes some unacknowledged bedfellows. Any repressive government — any government at all, for that matter — will prohibit something. It could be hard drugs, or it could be booze, or it could be untaxed salt, or it...

This Kindle free run of Castigo Cay and The Bracken Anthology will last until Wednesday September 10th at midnight PST.

Recently we have been pouring over “Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan that Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America,” a collection of numerous speeches written by Reagan primarily in the years leading up to his 1980 run for the presidency. One such speech on treaties — and how frequently throughout history they have been broken — is ringing particularly timely, not just in light of the ongoing Iranian nuclear negotiations or Russia’s eastward march, but in context of two recent stories out of Hong Kong, where as the New York Times writes, “Pro-democracy advocates…are girding for...

Kylene and Jonathan Jones' book "The Provident Prepper" (Plain Sight Publishing, $16.99) gives straight forward and easy-to-understand details on emergency preparedness. It's a great resource for families or individuals who'd like to learn how to take care of the necessities during an emergency. Written in conversational style, readers can adapt the information to fit their situations. The 358-page book has sections on a variety of topics including survival kits; communication; water storage and purification; food and fuel storage; emergency heating; lighting; and cooking. Here are a few tips the husband and wife team share: In the case of an emergency...

Last August, Amazon flew about 80 writers on its Thomas & Mercer mystery and thriller imprint—including me—to Seattle for a conference. They put us up at the Westin downtown, a nice hotel by any standard, and spent the weekend feeding us well and serving us top-shelf booze at an increasingly fabulous series of parties. There were tourist outings, the usual conference mix of panels and workshops, and a non-stressful visit to the Amazon Death Star. Also, they gave us a free Kindle Paperwhite, a nice touch. With a few exceptions, none of the writers at the conference were particularly famous;...

Today is the birthday of a man who left an indelible imprint on American history and the history of the free world more broadly. The Englishman John Locke was born on August 29, 1632. Locke was one of the most heralded Enlightenment thinkers — preeminent among classical liberals — developing theories on natural rights, property, government, not to mention law and philosophy more broadly that would influence the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Western civilization itself. His intellectual achievements were so great that Thomas Jefferson identified Locke as one of “the three greatest men who ever lived, without any...

August 24, 2014 Fareed Zakaria Busted for Plagiarism Once More By Jack Cashill First, I will acknowledge up front that this is a revised version of an earlier American Thinker article, which in itself was a revised version of an earlier American Thinker article, which in itself was an update of the information contained in my book, Deconstructing Obama. But when a Harvard worthy gets busted for literary fraud anew, I feel compelled to update the scorecard. The man on the hot seat once again is Fareed Zakaria. Born to a Muslim family in Mumbai, the fifty year-old Harvard Ph.D....

Into our town the Hangman came. Smelling of gold and blood and flame and he paced our bricks with a diffident air and built his frame on the courthouse square The scaffold stood by the courthouse side, Only as wide as the door was wide; A frame as tall, or little more, Than the capping sill of the courthouse door And we wondered, whenever we had the time. Who the criminal, what the crime That the Hangman judged with the yellow twist of knotted hemp in his busy fist. And innocent though we were, with dread, We passed those eyes...

Via the Daily Caller, you would think an eyewitness account of the disappearance of the last American POW in Afghanistan would be easy money for a publisher. But sometimes there are higher considerations. While the U.S. Army weighs whether to bring charges against Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was freed earlier this year after spending nearly five years as a Taliban captive in Afghanistan, six of his former platoon mates are shopping proposals for a book and movie that would render their own harsh verdicts… “I’m not sure we can publish this book without the Right using it to their ends,”...

The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority Forty years ago, on August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned the office of President; the first and only President to do so. I was just into my thirties in 1968, the year Richard Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States. What I recall most of that year was the way the Chicago police, after enduring an onslaught of name-calling and insults from anti-war protesters aggressively drove them away from their effort to disrupt the Democratic Party convention that would nominate Hubert Humphrey. His...

Let me geek out on you (I love science) and explain to you the science (I love science) and why this had previously been confined to the pages of science fiction (I am a nerd; and oh Dear Sweet Bunsen-Burner Lighting Lord, do I love science). So it's a pretty firmly established principle that every act causes, and requires, an equal and opposite reaction. If I understand this right (did I mention I love science?), this means that any space vessel will have to carry with it an enormous amount of reaction mass. You can't -- we think, or thought...

Here is a great new bookd just out on Amazon and Kindle http://www.amazon.com/.../ref=pe_385040_30332200_TE_item "The Point of Escape' by J. F. Hussey

To the women of America: Please do not underestimate the significance of this. Here, now, you have been given the opportunity to grab ahold of our society and drag it back from the precipice. You cannot cure all of our ills, but, if you answer the call, you can at least help us take one small step toward peace and prosperity. This is truly a seminal moment in our history. The weight of our future, our children’s future, our children’s children’s future, partially rests on the decision you are facing. Your task, ladies, is simple. All you must do is...

Jesse Ventura, Minnesota’s former governor, won his lawsuit against the late Navy SEAL and American Sniper author Chris Kyle on Tuesday. He claimed he was defamed in that book and, while a jury agreed, the vainglorious former wrestler-turned-politician-turned-conspiracy-buff has not exactly comported himself in a fashion that elicits much sympathy. After having been awarded nearly $2 million to be paid by the late serviceman’s widow, one might assume that Ventura would simply slip away and enjoy his victory. It seems, however, Ventura’s narcissism prevented him from taking the tasteful approach here. In an appearance on CBS News’ This Morning on...

Jesse Ventura, on Tuesday, was awarded a $1.8 million settlement in a defamation lawsuit he filed against slain Navy SEAL and “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle. The former Minnesota governor has alleged that Kyle intentionally lied when he claimed that he punched him in a bar after he said the Navy SEALs deserved to “lose a few.” Ventura was asked Wednesday what he plans to do with the nearly $2 million that will come from the Kyle estate on CBS’ “This Morning,” with one of the anchors mentioning that it will be taken from Kyle’s widow, Taya, and two children....

Ms. Tracy Van Slyke has uncovered such a dastardly attack upon our vulnerable youth, it’s shocking that nobody else before her noticed this malign cancer hiding in plain sight.  She has exposed Thomas the Tank Engine as a pernicious evil, causing so much “classism, sexism, anti-environmentalism bordering on racism” in its “hidden lessons.” I was completely captured and intrigued by Ms. Van Slyke’s keen insight and discernment on this topic, because, frankly, my two boys are very much taken with Thomas and his friends Percy, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Emily, and the very scary Diesel Ten.  If there were something...