Free Republic

In the national explosion known as the midterm elections of 2018, ground zero had to be the Kansas 3rd District congressional race. There, a political novice who is Native American, openly gay and whom hardly anyone had ever heard of a year ago, swept away a historically popular, four-term Republican incumbent with 20 years of political experience, renowned for his campaigning skills and fundraising prowess. Sharice Davids was the most unlikely of candidates to beat Rep. Kevin Yoder. But that was before Yoder was body-snatched by President Donald J. Trump. To really grasp how that alliance had morphed two men...

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited. micah (Micah Cohen, managing editor): As far as we know, Republicans are pushing ahead with Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court — for the moment, anyway — amid accusations of sexual assault and misconduct from at least two women. Nate made a semi-compelling argument that that’s a bad move politically. The counter-argument was succinctly expressed by Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief Matthew Continetti in an interview with Politico: “A defeated Kavanaugh nomination would not only demoralize the conservative base, it could seriously jeopardize Trump’s relationship with the...

Yuri Bezmenov (alias Tomas Schuman), a Soviet KGB defector, explains in detail his scheme for the KGB process of subversion and takeover of target societies at a lecture in Los Angeles, 1983. Yuri Bezmenov was a former KGB propagandist who was assigned to New Dehli, India - and defected to the West in 1970. Bezmenov explains his background, some of his training, and exactly how Soviet propaganda is spread in other countries in order to subvert their teachers, politicians, and other policy makers to a mindset receptive to the Soviet ideology. He also explains in detail the goal of Soviet...

Monday morning, Congressmen Steve Scalise and John Fleming—both Republicans representing districts in Louisiana—sent a letter signed by 59 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon, demanding answers regarding Pentagon officials meeting with an anti-Christian extremist. This story began two weeks ago when Breitbart News reported on at least one such meeting. Since that time it has become a growing controversy, as Breitbart News reported additional disturbing details. Now Congress is weighing in. The Scalise-Fleming letter begins: It has come to our attention that as recently as April 23, 2013, Pentagon officials...

Several universities are taking advantage of the new year to renew their efforts against “toxic masculinity,” with some schools hosting events that will “construct new futures for masculinities.” At the University of Oregon, for instance, students are invited to attend a “healthy masculinities conference” where they will “engage in collective imagining to construct new futures for masculinities, unrestricted by power, privilege, and oppression.”

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. government says it will begin using the term “sexual rights” in discussions of human rights and global development. The statement at a U.N. meeting this week comes after years of lobbying from groups who have argued that the U.S. should show global leadership on the rights of people of all gender identities and sexual orientations. The statement, posted on a State Department website, says sexual rights include people’s “right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination, and...

Maybe we shouldn’t expect anything much from a president who gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod filled with his own speeches, and who gave former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown a set of American movies on DVDs that didn’t work in the U.K. But the way this White House is choosing to “welcome” Pope Francis is appalling. When Francis arrives at the White House on Wednesday for a welcome reception, his greeters will include “Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Anglican bishop who’s now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a think-tank with ties to the...

Everyone who thinks one of these scandals will remove Obama from the White House is sadly mistaken. Let's look at Nixon to see what it takes to remove a President. In Nixon's case, it took a well prepared and knowledgeable witness John Dean, a lot of tape recordings, a press that hated Nixon, and a political party that was the same as the president and somewhat honest and fair minded. In Obama's case, we have nothing close to John Dean, we have no recordings, the media still likes Obama and the democrat party is ruthless and corrupt as the mafia....

... Griffin: I think you’re trying to tell us something… to this country. Bezmenov: Oh yes. I am trying to tell you that it has to be stopped, unless you want to end up in [a] gulag system, and enjoy all the advantages of socialist equality, working for free, catching fleas on your body, sleeping on planks of plywood, in Alaska this time, I guess. That’s where Americans will belong unless they will wake up, of course, and force their government to stop aiding Soviet fascism. ...

The fears of major health organizations have come true: Gonorrhea that is immune to the last remaining effective oral antibiotic has been detected in at least nine North American patients, meaning the era of "incurable" gonorrhea could be close.

From the very first moment the world learned that American forces had killed Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, even the tiniest details from the momentous event have captivated the nation. Every single nugget of data has been the stuff of breaking news, handheld "alerts" and watercooler discussion, in a way the country has never previously witnessed. No landmark event of the 20th century, from World Wars I and II to the Cuban missile crisis, from the moon landing to the fall of the Soviet Union – not even the attacks of September 11, 2001 -- have been as widely...

If there is anyone who are confused by our present day crisis and have questions with no answers, you have to look no further for what is coming to America. I'm begging for everyone to go the source url and pay particular attention to 5 minutes 30 seconds into the interview. Yuri Bezmenov prediction has reached a stage, unless we act, this Republic will be lost. I also would ask everyone to save the url from disappearing forever. As noted on the site most links are no longer available but the top link with the video of the interview, 'The...

From The American Forum During the Korean Conflict, press censorship went through different stages. Censorship was voluntary until the Chinese Army entered the war. U.S. military commanders complained that correspondents had released information about troop movements, recovery of American prisoners from the Chinese and the use of a new combat airplane. Tougher restraints were imposed upon the press. All news stories were required to submit news reports and film to Army and Air Force censors. On March 13, 1951, all news stories and film were also required to be approved by censors in Japan. In January 1953, a Joint Field...

Morning Edition, February 8, 2007 · Some Iraqis in Baghdad are eagerly awaiting a U.S. troop "surge," fearing a delay in action may cost them their lives. In one neighborhood, both Sunnis and Shiites see the arrival of U.S. troops as their last chance to live as a mixed community. Click on "Listen" to hear to the radio story.

Somewhere along the road to a "permanent majority," the Republican Revolution of 1994 went off track. For several years, we had confidence in our convictions and trusted that the American people would reward our efforts. And they did. But today, my Republican friends in Congress stand on the precipice of an electoral rout. Even the best-case scenarios suggest wafer-thin majorities and a legislative agenda in disarray. With eight days before the election, House speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi has already begun her transition planning. Where did the revolution go astray? How did we go from the big ideas and vision of 1994...

November 06, 2006, 7:15 a.m. To Vote Or Not To VoteA tough call for conservatives. By John Derbyshire Of course, it is not a matter of simply “staying home.” I shall be voting not only for my U.S. senator and representative, but also for a state senator and assemblyman, a county clerk and comptroller, and a town councilcritter. You probably have a similar array of positions to vote for. By all means do the best you can for your state and district. Whether or not it is the case that all politics is local, it is certainly the case...

"Don't vote until you know where the candidates stand on the issues." That's the message on the AARP website, but you have to go there to see it. How many people have seen the commercial of the singing and dancing politician, while the voice-over tells people "don't vote" until you go to their website to learn the issues? Yes, the campaign is about going to their website, but how many people really will do that? How many people will just get the subliminal message to "don't vote" because their politician is just playing them with a song and dance and...

Entering the weekend before his midterms, George Bush and his party appear fated to lose the House they have held for a dozen years. The Senate is on a knife's edge. The latest polls continue to show that by 52 percent to 37 percent Americans wish to see a Democratic takeover. Approval of Congress has never been lower. Americans think the nation is on the wrong track. Support for the war in Iraq has collapsed to a third of the nation. What went wrong? Certainly, on three traditional Republican issues – strong military, conservative judges and lower taxes – the...

12 SMARTCARDS GO MISSING IN TENNESSEE; CONTROL ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES Fri Nov 03 2006 10:09:31 ET Political insiders have expressed alarm after 12 voter smartcards have gone missing from one Shelby County, TN early vote location! The cards are used to activate electronic voting machines. The location at the center of the controversy is Bishop Byrne High School on E. Shelby Drive in Memphis. The polling place started out with 25 cards. By Wednesday, 11 were missing, says an eyewitness. The location was given 5 more smartcards on Thursday. And another card went missing! Someone possessing a smartcard could use...

Some people get mad at me when I tell them not to vote. But I believe there is a right time to abstain from casting a ballot – particularly if the only choice is a Democrat or Republican who are indistinguishable on the major issues of the day. A good example of a race where a protest vote for a third party candidate or a non-vote would be the right thing to do on Election Day is the New Jersey Senate race between incumbent Robert Menendez, the Democrat, and Republican challenger Thomas Kean Jr. (Column continues below) Pollsters say the...