Free Republic

“Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” That’s from President Donald Trump’s last State of the Union address. I’m sure many people found it as encouraging as I did, especially in light of surveys indicating that socialism is gaining popularity here in the United States. And not just at the fringes. One recent Gallup poll showed 4 out of 10 Americans have a favorable impression of socialism. Almost half—47%—said they would vote for a socialist candidate for president. But don’t despair just yet. The same poll also revealed that almost 2 out of every...

We are living in a time of increasing domestic tension. Some of it stems from the presidency of Donald Trump. Another part of it is various advocacy groups on both sides of the political spectrum demanding one cause or another. But nearly totally ignored is how growing government control over our lives, along with the betrayal of constitutional principles, contributes the most to domestic tension. Let's look at a few examples. Think about primary and secondary schooling. I think that every parent has the right to decide whether his child will recite a morning prayer in school. Similarly, every parent...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that she is “done” with President Donald Trump after he called her a “nasty” and “vindictive” person while commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France. “We never criticize a president of the United States when we are overseas,” Pelosi said during an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s annual Fiscal Summit. ,“The president took a different tack. I’m done with him. I don’t even want to talk about him.”

The state’s powerful budget committee could have the authority to impose millions of dollars in new driving fees through a mileage-based or even tolling system if their proposal makes it into law. The provision, included in the GOP’s sweeping transportation plan that passed the committee late Thursday, would give the 16-member committee, currently composed of 12 Republicans, the sole authority to approve any amount of new driving fees if Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signs off on the bill. Republicans on the state’s budget committee approved the plan 11-5 Thursday night. The bill would give the Department of Transportation, controlled by...

The more things change, well, the more they . . . So it is with the perpetual German resentments of the U.S. Recently German chancellor Angela Merkel reminded us of that German fixation, when she made some astounding statements to the German media that revealed what many Americans had long ago surmised. Merkel all but announced that Germany, or for that matter Europe itself, is no longer really an ally of the United States: “There is no doubt that Europe needs to reposition itself in a changed world. . . . The old certainties of the post-war order no longer...

A sign of change? Feelings of frustration? Ulterior motives? These are all ideas that have been coming to the mind of those who have been well aware of the factual reality that UFOs are in fact real, verifiable for at least the last 3 or 4 decades. Without issuing any sort of official proclamation, the United States government in general and the Pentagon in particular began speaking openly of not one, not two, but dozens and dozens of verified sightings of UFOs. It’s the strangest thing, really, but that’s exactly what happened. In 2019, our government casually mentions UFO encounters...

On April 10, 2018, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz grilled Facebook Chairman and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg over the social media platform’s content moderation policies. Citing examples of Facebook censoring pro-conservative accounts and articles, Sen. Cruz explained to Zuckerberg, “to a great many Americans, that appears to be a pervasive pattern of political bias.” Sen. Ted Cruz then pressed the Facebook chairman on whether his organization was a “neutral public forum,” arguing that neutrality is necessary to enjoy the protections guaranteed by Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. A willingness to consider modifying Section 230 to weaken protections enjoyed by...

SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico - The City of Sunland Park announced Tuesday the construction of a privately-funded border barrier on private property over Memorial Day weekend is not in compliance with City ordinance. The City has issued a cease and desist order. "At this point, it will be turned over to the courts for follow-up on the matter," said Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea.

The number of acres of U.S. farmland held by foreign-owned investors has doubled in the past two decades, raising alarm bells in farming communities. American soil. Those are two words that are commonly used to stir up patriotic feelings. They are also words that can't be be taken for granted, because today nearly 30 million acres of U.S. farmland are held by foreign investors. That number has doubled in the past two decades, which is raising alarm bells in farming communities. When the stock market tanked during the last recession, foreign investors began buying up big swaths of U.S. farmland....

America is now at the Samizdat stage. For those not hip, Samizdat refers to the underground press in the old Soviet Union. The government had almost total control over public discourse; today, it’s private corporations. Which is worse because it has the sheen of “free market” and “private property” – which provides the basis for doltish intellectuals to defend it. Only government can censor, they exclaim! Very true. But when private companies can suppress speech generally – it amounts to the same thing.

Which class of full-time, year-round American workers has the highest median earnings? Is it the class that works for private-sector employers? Is it the class that works for the government? Or is it the entrepreneurial class, those of whom employ themselves? According to the Census Bureau Personal Income Table 07 (PINC-07), the competition isn't close. When it comes to making money in the modern United States of America, government workers win. Among Americans who actually earn income by working, they are the upper class. In 2017, according to PINC-07, there were 115,704,000 Americans who worked full-time (at least 35 hours...

Too often as I read commentary on this and other blog site, I notice a sense gloom and doom. Some try to disguise it as snarky comments. But what may surprise you is that our opponents are the minority. We out number them, and have more power. The only reason we don’t see it is because they have organized and are continuing. We for the most part, have not. So here’s a little anecdotal information that may convince some of you that all is not lost.

(from Aug 20, 2018) Donald Trump’s muscular Anti-Communist pronouncements and observations from his 2000 “The America We Deserve”highlights the seditious role reversal underlying the manufactured “Trump-Russia collusion” faux narrative. A simple juxtaposition of Trump’s written words, versus the writings, utterances and behaviors of key players orchestrating what is now tantamount to a putsch (or coup d’etat, per former Federal prosecutor DiGenova)) against POTUS Trump—John Brennan, Nellie Ohr, Christopher Steele, and James Comey—should make this dichotomy plain to even the most blinkered, and doctrinaire Never Trumpers of any persuasion. Readers are referred to my colleague Diana West’s extensive, illuminating backgrounders to...

“How did things ever get so far? I don’t know. It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary.” —Don Corleone, “The Godfather” I keep thinking about the dynamics the past few years between the president and what used to be called official Washington. That relationship is ugly and broken, but it could have been otherwise. he old ambassadors were willing to give him a chance. He destabilized the whole town instead. “How did things ever get so far? I don’t know. It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary.” —Don Corleone, “The Godfather” I keep thinking about the dynamics the past few years between...

I've tracked this guy (whose name I do not know) for some time and sent some of his stuff around before. This one is serious FOOD FOR THOUGHT on the difference between "statist" (a term I have used in the past and will begin to use more in the future for members of BOTH parties) and "anarchist" (a favorite scare word of the power hungry, statist control freaks in our midst). A few years ago, it was proposed that our area of the county should become another political subdivision to, you know, assure better, closer-to-the-people GOVERNMENT!  I campaigned AGAINST it...

April 12, 2019 The Morning Report - 4/12/19 —J.J. Sefton Good morning kids. The weekend is here and, all together now, what a week it's been. The over two-year long constant drum beat and narrative that Trump with the aid of Putin stole the 2016 presidential election has been turned on its head by Attorney General William Barr's unassailable and unimpeachable (heh) declaration of his belief that it was the President that was spied on during the course of the election and even afterwards. Despite my cynicism of any of the real culprits in all of this ever facing serious...

<p>IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa social worker has been charged with perjury for delivering false testimony that helped convince a judge to remove four children from their parents, investigators said Tuesday.</p> <p>Former Department of Human Services employee Chelsie Gray is charged with knowingly giving false information during a December 2017 hearing in which she recommended a judge terminate the parental rights of a mother and father.</p>

Actual title: Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax. Just in time for Tax Day, the for-profit tax preparation industry is about to realize one of its long-sought goals. Congressional Democrats and Republicans are moving to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system. Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., passed the Taxpayer First Act, a wide-ranging bill making several administrative changes to the IRS that is sponsored by Reps. John Lewis, D-Ga., and Mike Kelly, R-Pa. In one of...

Over the last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature picked the pockets of city and state taxpayers with a spending plan that takes and takes, then takes some more. They did it quietly, like assassins, with only peeps of protest. Disagreements over which taxes to raise were settled by raising them all. Such is life in a one-party town. As a result, New York is taking a giant leap toward the promised land of democratic socialism. The cost of living here already is soaring and Albany responded by injecting a huge dose of high-octane fuel. Expect a crash landing....