Free Republic

Today marks the 150th birthday of one of England's most revered composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams, who is also widely beloved beyond Britain. A folksong expert who logged long trips collecting traditional tunes all over the British Isles, Vaughan Williams famously produced gently modal folksong fantasies evoking England's "green and pleasant land." He also became a go-to composer for major occasions of church and state, called on to reflect and amplify national feeling. This year, his sesquicentennial, celebrations of the English master have been surprisingly muted, even in his homeland – a boost in Vaughan Williams programming last summer at the...

The Pelosis may want to skip the wine tasting this time. A little more than a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul was busted for DUI in California — leaving him facing jail time — the multi-millionaire couple was spotted at a ritzy resort on the Italian seaside owned by legendary tenor Andrea Bocelli. The Post exclusively obtained photos of the couple — Nancy dressed in all white with Paul clad in dark-colored shorts and shirt — hanging with Bocelli, his wife Veronica Berti, and others at the Alpemare Beach Club. The California Democrat was also pictured in...

Most won’t say it, so I will: America has thankfully lost another war. Let’s make this the last. This is nothing here to celebrate. This should only be a monumental gut-check moment of serious reflection and a desire to seek redemption for ourselves. We don’t need to spend a single minute right now analyzing how Biden has or has not messed up while bravely handling the end of this mess he was handed — including his incredible private negotiations all this week with the Taliban leaders to ensure that not a single enemy combatant from the occupying force (that would...

As former Vice President Joe Biden’s camp scrambles to contain any political damage over his past behavior with women, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has some words of advice: Keep your distance. “Join the straight-arm club,” Pelosi told a breakfast hour Washington event on Tuesday. In other words, keep your handshakes at arms’ length and don’t be touchy-feely. “Just pretend you have a cold and I have a cold,” Pelosi said. Pelosi, D-Calif., told the event, which was sponsored by Politico, that Biden “has to understand that in the world we are in now people’s space is important to them and...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who is a pediatric neurologist, and who on WTOP radio on Wednesday morning described how a baby who was born alive could be left to die, gave a speech at a Virginia prayer breakfast last year where he quoted from a passage in the Gospel of Matthew. Northam’s remarks at the Eastern Shore Christian Businessman’s Association’s annual prayer breakfast were reported on May 11, 2018 by delmarvanow.com...

Comedian and left-wing activist Chelsea Handler stripped nude to promote voting in Tuesday’s midterm elections in a new video she posted on social media. “You have to vote like your life depends on it! Vote!” Chelsea Handler said in an Instagram story where she appeared naked. This post comes as many Hollywood stars are getting involved in the midterm elections in favor of Democrats. Handler has been engaging in the important act of examining her “white privilege” President Donald Trump’s America.

Lena Dunham has shared an emotional message alongside naked pictures nine months after her hysterectomy. The 32-year-old, who had the operation in December after suffering for years with endometriosis, said the occasion felt bittersweet. She explained that the date was particularly poignant as nine months is the length of time a woman carries a baby before birth – and ‘I won’t ever do it the way I planned to.’

Barbra Streisand has struck a sultry pose for the latest W magazine cover, showing off her incredibly toned legs in a pantless photo shoot. The 74-year-old legend wore only a white dress shirt, men's tie and left little to the imagination in the sexy snaps. "Strong women are, simply, women with opinions," she told the magazine.

Prior to Hall's runoff loss, 256 straight incumbent Republican U.S. House members from the Lone Star State had launched successful renomination campaigns since 1870 Ending a Texas Republican Party streak that began over 140 years ago, 17-term U.S. Representative Ralph Hall lost his renomination bid in a primary runoff election Tuesday. Hall was defeated in the runoff by John Ratcliffe, who won with approximately 53 percent of the vote. Only one other sitting Texas Republican U.S. Representative in history has ever lost his party's nomination - although technically it was not a renomination bid.

Rarely are Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and John A. Boehner of Ohio publicly on the same side of a GOP primary campaign. But a band of geographically and ideologically diverse Republicans are rallying behind Texas Rep. Ralph M. Hall, who is in danger of becoming the first incumbent defeated in 2014 later this month. Hall’s political trouble initially caught many off-guard. Texas House members offered plenty of moral support in the days and weeks after Hall failed to secure the nomination in the March 4 primary. But, according to Hall’s recent fundraising reports, including his pre-runoff report filed May...

The Muslim terrorist group Qa’adat el-Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for a terrorist bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bombing in Bulgaria last week killed five Israelis, one a pregnant woman. The Lebanese paper El-Nashra reported that the group, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility in an email to the Arab press.

SNIPPET: "They are: Soheil Omar Kabir, 34, a Pomona man who is an American citizen from Afghanistan; Ralph Deleon, 23, an Ontario man who was born in the Philippines; Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales, 21, an Upland man who was born in Mexico and whose was U.S. citizenship was pending; and Arifeen David Gojali, 21, of Riverside." SNIPPET: "The three men followed the essays of the now-deceased al-Qaida leader Anwar Al-Awlaqi, who led terrorist operations in the Arabian Peninsula." SNIPPET: "Santana and Deleon told the plot to a confidential informant working for the FBI, according to the complaint." SNIPPET: "In order...

Rachel Maddow now has a "Blackness Scale" with which to grade President Obama.

Both of these animated shorts from the 1950s are about a boy named Ralph Phillips, who has these extraordinarily amazing daydreams. These are two of the greatest Looney Tunes cartoons ever made. Both were written by Michael Maltese and directed by Chuck Jones. I fear that if a child acted this way today, he would be put on Ritalin, and have all of his creativity forcefully removed. Can you count how many “politically incorrect” things there are in these two cartoons?

Johnny Dollar does an excellent job in this video showing the blatant hypocrisy of MSNBC and specifically Rachel Maddow: Rachel Maddow’s holier-than-thou smugness is best encapsulated in her claim that on Fox News, hosts allow fundraising for Republican candidates on the air. Ergo Fox is political, MSNBC isn’t. Ms Maddow’s examples of this happening on FNC? A grand total of: one. John Kasich, appearing on Hannity, gave out his website URL and encouraged donations. It’s the only example Maddow gave because it’s the one Media Matters cited. That’s called ‘journalism’. What follows is the video Rachel Maddow doesn’t want...

Police investigating a fire that destroyed a Denver-area business say they're seriously considering a claim by an animal rights activist who takes credit for it. Glendale Police Chief Victor Ross says his department is looking closely at a claim on a website associated with the Animal Liberation Front. The posting by "ALF Lone Wolf" ... The Animal Liberation Front is aligned with the Earth Liberation Front, whose members were convicted in a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort that did $12 million in damage.

(CBS) Ralph the rabbit seems to be the stuff of fairy tales: Once upon a time, there lived a rabbit named Ralph. He lived in England. But he wasn't any ordinary rabbit... But this rabbit isn't the stuff of Peter Cottontail. Ralph the rabbit would likely frighten Peter by his immense size. Ralph weighs in at 42 pounds and is about two feet long -- bigger than most 3-year-old kids. And he's still growing, eating about four pounds of food a day. One could claim Ralph's the biggest bunny ever. However, it can't be officially verified because the Guinness Book...

WASHINGTON — Ralph Nader is seeking the presidency — again. The consumer activist and political gadfly kicked off an exploratory presidential campaign Wednesday with the launch of a new Web site that promises he’ll fight “corporate greed, corporate power, corporate control” and asks people to donate $300 each.

Tim Jacobs passed away durig the night of 9/27/07. He was also known as the freeper Ralph. Sorry for the delayed notice.

Ted Haggard, founder and former senior pastor of New Life Church, plans to leave Colorado Springs and move to Iowa or Missouri to return to college, according to a message he e-mailed Sunday to some church members. Haggard’s family has been “offered two places” in the Midwestern states, Haggard wrote. He and his wife, Gayle, will go back to school together, but Haggard didn’t specify what college or university they would attend. “We are both planning on getting our masters in Psychology so we can work together serving others the rest of our lives,” Haggard wrote. The nationally known minister...