Free Republic

1-7: CHILDHOOD - the age of accidents, griefs, wants, sensibilities 8-14: ADOLESCENCE - the age of hopes, improvidence, curiosity, impatience 15-21: PUBERTY - the age of triumphs, desires, self-love, independence, and vanity 22-28: YOUTH - the age of pleasure, love, sensuality, inconstancy, enthusiasm 29-35: MANHOOD - the age of enjoyments, ambition, and the play of the passions 36-42: MIDDLE AGE - the age of consistency, desire of fortune and of glory 43-49: MATURE AGE - the age of possessions, the reign of wisdom, reason, and love of property 50-56: DECLINE OF LIFE - the age of reflection, love of tranquility,...

Fears of a growing totalitarian tendency in the United States have swelled during 2020–2022. But how close are we really to a totalitarian state? How have such regimes come about historically and what are the warning signs? This article will answer these questions by examining totalitarian regimes in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries and the pattern by which they came to power. Stage 1: Discontent and Rumblings Every new order rises on the ruins of the old. Those who would establish a new regime must tap into or generate dissatisfaction with the status quo. However much those desiring a reset...

First Lady Jill Biden staged a media photo-op with pallets of baby formula on Wednesday, as store shelves remain empty. “I’ve always said that food is love, but food is life too,” the First Lady said, appearing with the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.

Stages of griefDenial and isolation - This first stage may start before the loss occurs if the death of the loved one is expected. Or it may begin immediately at the time or shortly after the loss. It can last anywhere from a few hours to days or weeks. The feelings experienced in the first stage of grief may be fear, shock, or numbness. The person may be have pangs of distress, often triggered by reminders of the deceased. During this time, the bereaved person may feel emotionally “shut off” from the world. The grieving person may avoid others or...

All the way to acceptance?

"The symbol of the murderous Islamic State is waving in The Hague. ‘Death to the Jews,’ shout the demonstrators. Yet the Dutch government authorized the protests. “Death to the Jews” chanted the crowd waving the black flags of the Islamic State, or ISIS as it used to be known." Proving yet again what I have been saying for months, years --Europe once again is embracing madness and evil as its central unifying characteristic – only this time it’s under “Palestinianism,” not Nazis

There are just times when a saint speaks and one is stunned by the insight, the piercing analysis, like a surgeon’s scalpel dividing diseased from healthy tissue. Such is the case with a quote I read recently from St. Bernard that Ralph Martin references in his Book “The Fulfillment of all desires.”In this quote Bernard analyzes the descent into the increasing darkness of sin experienced by those who do not turn back, who refuse to hear the call to repent. And not individuals only, but, I would argue, cultures too.St. Bernard’s quote is long enough that I can only make...

You live, you love, and you die. Perhaps that is oversimplification. Life can be smooth and easy one moment and a combined skydiving, bull ride the next. Getting in and out of this world can even be complex. 7 stages of the human life are explored below. In common terms, the stages are in order: 1) Infancy, 2) Youth; 3) Early adulthood, 4) Midlife adulthood, 5) Seasoned adulthood, 6) Senior adulthood, and ultimately 7) Death. For the purposes of this discussion they will be named otherwise. While the stages cannot always be nailed to exact ages, nor are they applicable...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2005 – Operation Shank wrapped up today, officials in Iraq announced. The operation, conducted in central and southern Ramadi, was the fifth in a series by the Iraqi army and coalition forces engaged in combined clearing operations to disrupt terrorism and set conditions for a successful Dec. 15 election in the provincial capital of Anbar. Shank primarily involved targeted raids conducted by Iraqi soldiers and U.S. forces against terrorist safe houses in the area. The raids resulted in the detention of four suspected members of al Qaeda in Iraq, who were held for questioning. About 200 Iraqi...

Leave it to a California high school, a charter member of a state now ranked 48th out of 50 states in academic proficiency, to demonstrate exactly why so many parents are pulling their kids out of government educational institutions. Silverado High School, located in the city of Victorville in the California high-desert region, has had its share of student-body challenges, most recently an outbreak of racially motivated fisticuffs between black and Latino students during an assembly on February 4. "It was divided along racial lines," said Superintendent Greg Lundeen, of the Victor Valley Union High School District. "A lot of...

An analysis of the troop deployments announced by the United States and Britain indicates that a ground war could be launched from about the middle of March, according to military experts. The war could be in two stages - an initial assault from sea and land to take Basra and western and northern Iraq and then an operation to take Baghdad. The capture of Basra would give the US and UK two airfields and a port Major Charles Heyman The plan would be for the fighting to be over by May when the weather hots up. The type of forces...

Israeli Chief of Staff Ayalon caused a political stir this week by announcing that the Palestinian Authority plan is to destroy Israel in stages, through the implementation of the Oslo Accords. His professional assessment based on military intelligence analysis confirms the findings in a PMW report published last year which documents some of the numerous statements made by Palestinian political leaders in Arabic, including Faisal Husseini, which lead to the same conclusion. These include explicit statements in Arabic that the purpose of Oslo is to destroy Israel. As a service to our readers we are redistributing this report. PMW Special...