Free Republic

I hear more and more frequently concerns about an impending civil war. It is certain that something momentous is taking place; the signs are all around us, but I’m not at all sure that the something will turn out to be two sides of the same country warring over principles, like the Civil War, which was mainly about slavery and states’ rights. Now, we’re up to our nose-piercings in politically polarizing problems and the leftist contingent of the country doesn’t even like America anymore. If we come to open warfare, it will be as two separate nations battling it out....

It is both harrowing and infinitely sad to see "Leaving Neverland" and "Surviving R. Kelly,"  two cable television documentaries about the crime of child sexual abuse, its perpetrators and victims. R. Kelly currently sits in a Chicago jail cell for failure to pay child support, while at the same time, years of allegations about his sexual abuse of underage girls, have finally caught up with him. The R&B star says he is unfairly accused and that his career has been ruined by the allegations. "Leaving Neverland" aired last week, profiling two men who say Michael Jackson sexually abused them when...

Hours after HBO announced when Leaving Neverland would premiere, the estate of Michael Jackson fired off a 10-page letter to HBO’s CEO slamming the film and HBO’s decision to air it. **SNIP** The letter to HBO continued, “As for Safechuck, by his own admission, he did not ‘realize’ that he had been abused until after he saw Robson on the Today Show in May 2013 being interviewed by Matt Lauer about Robson’s newly-concocted story of abuse. All of a sudden, Safechuck realized that he had been abused. He then contacted Robson’s lawyers and filed copycat lawsuits against the Estate for...

<p>There was really something about Michael Jackson. He was so likable. At his most charming, he had one of the most charismatic and endearing personas we’d ever seen. You rooted for him, were happy for him. Jackson was the most sensational performer — the full package — of his era. From his voice to his image to his dancing, it was so easy to get swept up in his High Pop Art. Off the Wall, his first adult solo album, showed off an extraordinary young man with astonishing moves, and Thriller, well, Thriller was about something more than marketing; it was the work of a pop auteur of unparalleled gifts, as both a composer and (importantly) a celebrity as well.</p>

Christopher de Bellaigue stresses how, over the centuries, many Muslim leaders have been paragons of enlightenmentChristopher de Bellaigue, a journalist who has spent much of his working life in the Middle East, has grown tired of people throwing up their hands in horror at Isis, Erdogan and Islamic terror, and declaring that the region is backward and in need of a thorough western-style reformation. As he argues in this timely book, the Islamic world has been coming to terms with modernity in its own often turbulent way for more than two centuries. And we’d better understand it, because it’s an...

Winston Churchill apocryphally said “if you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart.  If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain.”  Of course, he didn’t say it.  But if you choose to believe that anyway, you’d have a lot of support from young liberals. There’s something wrong with liberals—an immaturity of thought and a wonton ignorance of sometimes-hard truths.  The reason that quote is so popular is simple:  youth is full of exuberance and impulsiveness, but lacking in wisdom.  World peace, Kumbaya, and Star Trek are banging around in young people’s...

He was the King of Poop. Neverland’s manicured lawns and fairy-tale facade masked a house of horrors and madness, five of Michael Jackson’s maids revealed to The Post. “Michael sometimes ran around where the animals were, and he’d track . . . poop throughout the house and think nothing of it,” Maid No. 1 recalled. “Then, if you said something, he’d threaten to make doo-doo snowballs and throw it at you.” When Oprah Winfrey visited the Los Olivos, Calif., ranch for an interview in 1993, it was pristine. Floors were waxed, walls scrubbed and windows power-washed. It was after she, guest Elizabeth Taylor...

As home to pop legend Michael Jackson, Neverland Ranch housed a working locomotive, a Ferris wheel and other amusement park rides, a 10,000-volume library and a zoo. But could the opulent Santa Barbara County estate become home to California's newest state park? A resolution is in the works to order state parks officials to study converting the roughly 2,600-acre property into a state park. The state NAACP is backing the idea, and a lawmaker has signaled he is on board to carry the legislation. "I think Michael's history is world history and I think it would become the No. 1...

China has taken jobs and even the Hummer from the United States. Tom Qian of Shanghai Daily reports that Qiu Xuefan, vice director of Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce, has announced plans to construct a smaller version of Neverland at Xianghua Town of Chongming County, which is about an hour drive from downtown Shanghai. The project which will cover 667,000 square meters is expected to cost 100 million yuan (US$14.6 million) and be completed in a year. Meanwhile Gerald Posner of the Daily Beast reports that a senior executive of Colony Capital which controls the original Neverland states that it will...

When Michael Jackson died in late June, Patricia Becht's younger children asked her about his ranch, Neverland. It was a place for kids to go, she told them, and it was similar to heaven. Going to such a place, she said, would be part of their suicide plan. Becht, of South St. Paul, was charged Friday with first-degree premeditated murder of her 10-year-old son and attempted first-degree murder of her 11-year-old daughter, who is recovering at a metro hospital. Becht gave them and herself an overdose of anti-psychotic medication, court documents say. She had planned her acts so meticulously that...

China is planning to build its own version of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on an island near Shanghai, state media said on Wednesday. The Shanghai Morning Post said the first phase of the project on Chongming Island will be completed within a year and will cover 7.2 million square feet (667,000 square meters). Named after the home of Peter Pan, Neverland Ranch was a Jackson's whimsical retreat - replete with carnival rides, a coterie of animals, two trains and a Disney-like station. The total cost of China's version is expected to be around 100 million yuan ($14.6 million). The tribute...

form intended to be disrespectful to Michael Jackson or his family. His death is tragic and sad, much like the life he led. He has had a tremendous and lasting impact on the music industry, but, as usual, the media has embarrassed themselves with the amount of coverage they have given this story. The frenzy will only escalate once the actual funeral services are held at The Staples Center on Tuesday. According to the Associated Press: “More than 1.6 million fans registered for tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service over the two-day registration period that ended Saturday.

Inside Neverland: The stunning photographs of Michael Jackson's empty fantasy By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE 03rd July 2009 Gone is the zoo with its elephants, tigers and giraffe. The exotic snakes have long since slithered away, and the amusement rides have been dismantled. The gates to Michael Jackson's fabled Neverland Ranch swung open yesterday to reveal a shell of the fantasy the boy-man had created when he was the King of Pop. [Pics in URL]

Michael Jackson's passing appears to even be attracting the attention of extraterrestrials. Last week our resident ufologist Michael Cohen received an email from a man claiming to have seen a luminous green UFO hovering over Neverland Ranch the morning after the day Jackson died. Since putting out this story we have received about a dozen other emails claiming to have seen UFOs over Neverland in the last week. Some witnesses describe glowing lights while others claim to have seen out and out flying saucers. One grieving Michael Jackson fan claims to have seen the same glowing green light we originally...

Abandoned by Michael Jackson after a humiliating child molestation trial in 2005, the late singer's Neverland Ranch could now become one of the biggest draws in the world as a memorial to the King of Pop. Jackson's family has said there are no plans for a funeral or burial of his body at the ranch in central California after his death last week. But the rural playground inspired by Jackson's alter-ego, Peter Pan, would remain an attraction in a region already visited by tourists, and it could rival Elvis Presley's Graceland as a future venue for his millions of fans...

LOS OLIVOS, California (AFP) – The plans for Michael Jackson's funeral remain uncertain, but that did not stop Desiree Crossley and her family from camping out for hours outside of his Neverland ranch. Reports that the King of Pop would be laid to rest at his sprawling fantasy estate prompted a near stampede here to the rolling hills of Santa Barbara wine country, with hundreds of media satellite trucks parking outside the gate. As newscasters broadcast live in multiple languages and traffic crews hurriedly erected no-parking signs, Crossley waited with a friend in foldable chairs, her two daughters sitting in...

Children in adult bodies want to live in Neverland. But Neverland doesn’t exist, and it never will. That’s why it’s called Neverland. In fiction, people who never grow up enjoy amusing adventures in which the dangers are imaginary. In reality, people who never grow up may enjoy themselves for a time, but sooner or later the all-too-real dangers they ignored catch up with them. And then their fantasy world will be lost to foreclosure, and their real world will become distinctly unpleasant, or even lethal. But then it will be too late.

Michael Jackson Neverland Ranch Appears in Foreclosure Report(ml-implode.com) 2007-11-06 Some kind souls alerted us to the fact that Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch has appeared in the November 5th, 2007 Foreclosure Detail Report for Santa Barbara county (full report here). While the looming foreclosure of Neverland Ranch has received some coverage, this would appear to be hard confirmation of the event... and indication that it is still underway.

ACTON - Two tigers from Michel Jackson's Neverland have found a new home in the Antelope Valley. On Saturday, actress and animal advocate Tippi Hedren spoke to the felines from behind a metal fence. The 6-year-old Bengals came from Michael Jackson's Neverland Valley Ranch in Los Olivos a month ago. Hedren explained that when Jackson decided to close his zoo, veterinarian Martin Dinnes recommended the sanctuary for their new home. The tigers were a little cranky because of the move. After weeks in a quarantine camp - standard practice for new Shambala residents - the duo took a few days...

Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals. The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!" The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether. "A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad...