Free Republic

Labour’s Shadow Chancellor and right-hand man to party leader Jeremy Corbyn has said it is his “job” to “overthrow capitalism” and “radically” transform society, whilst praising the former leader of socialist Venezuela. John McDonnell repeatedly and emphatically backed bringing down the UK’s system of free enterprise and trade in an interview with the BBC, as well as calling for private firms to hand over their profits to the state. The man who Labour would put in charge of the Treasury, tasked with running Britain’s economy, said he aimed to transform society “in a way that radically changes the system”....

You've heard of skunks at the garden party? Such as still-ruling Nicaraguan socialist strongman, Daniel Ortega, who got his famous nickname from none other than the great Ronald Reagan? Well, now we have pigs at the garden party of democracy, the Organization of American States' Summit of the Americas, and this time, quite literally. At the globally watched summit, locals released a bunch of pigs through the streets of the Peruvian capital of Lima, around the Plaza San Martin, which is one of its main public spaces, spray-painted with the names of Venezuela's dictator, Nicolas Maduro, and Cuba's dictator, Raul...

The Maduro diet: How most Venezuelans lost an average of 19 pounds in 2016, plus another 24 pounds in 2017 In May 2017, the Washington Post reported:In a recent survey of 6,500 Venezuelan families by the country’s leading universities, three-quarters of adults said they lost weight in 2016 — an average of 19 pounds… a level of hunger almost unheard-of outside war zones or areas ravaged by hurricane, drought or plague.In February 2018, Reuters reported:Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year… according to a new university study…That’s 43 pounds in two years.Before I explain...

Here’s how most Venezuelans lost an average of 43 pounds in two years In May 2017, the Washington Post reported:In a recent survey of 6,500 Venezuelan families by the country’s leading universities, three-quarters of adults said they lost weight in 2016 — an average of 19 pounds… a level of hunger almost unheard-of outside war zones or areas ravaged by hurricane, drought or plague.In February 2018, Reuters reported:Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year… according to a new university study…That’s 43 pounds in two years.Before I explain how this came to happen, I want...

[FULL TITLE] Journalist Describes How Fusion GPS Smeared Him as a 'Pedophile,' 'Extortionist' and 'Drug Trafficker' The shady, liberal opposition research firm behind the discredited anti-Trump dossier uses smear tactics and intimidation to discredit people who go against its clients, a London-based Venezuelan journalist told Fox News Thursday. In congressional testimony as well, Alek Boyd said Fusion GPS labeled him a “pedophile,” “extortionist” and “drug trafficker” after he criticized Derwick Associates, one of its clients. “I believe that Fusion GPS’s business is to do basically whatever the paymasters tell them to do,” Boyd said in his first American TV interview....

Michael Morell, former acting head of the CIA, became a political animal in August 2016 when he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. This month, he came to grips with the consequences of that decision -- that it might have played into President Donald Trump's distrust of the intelligence community. It is possible, he told the Review Journal, "I played a role in that." Back to last year. In an opinion piece in The New York Times, Morell not only endorsed Clinton, he also warned that, to the eyes of an intelligence analyst, candidate Trump could be considered "an unwitting agent...

In a 1,500-word article about the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, The Washington Post waited until the 25th paragraph to note that the self-declared socialist faces an “obstacle” to winning the presidency. The paper said that “…Sanders has not faced the kind of media scrutiny, let alone attacks from opponents, that leading candidates eventually experience.” The authors, Philip Rucker and James Wagner, added, “Sure to follow his summer surge is an autumn of investigations that could reveal new details about his personal background and record.” One of the more interesting members of the DSA is Kurt Stand, a communist spy for...

“From the Soviet Union to Cuba, Venezuela, wherever socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish, devastation and failure. Those who preach the tenets of these discredited ideologies only contribute to the continued suffering of the people who live under these cruel systems…”– President Donald Trump, Sept. 19.A big takeaway from my prior years in ministry is that things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes people hide dark secrets behind nice smiles and happy faces. Here in the U.S., gobs of sorely misinformed people fantasize about the pie-in-the-sky idea of socialism, having no idea all it does is...

Once there was a South American country with a promising future. It had a functioning democracy, a rapidly developing economy and a growing middle class. All the important indicators, including education, health care and foreign investment, were pointed in the right direction. It was far from perfect, but the mood was hopeful – and with good reason. But now all that promise is gone. The country is a failed state, a hollowed-out shell of its former self. Services like power and water are sporadic. The most basic consumer goods--from bread to toilet paper--are in chronically short supply. Crime has skyrocketed....

Hugo Chávez's populist government had expropriated the property from its longtime owners Among the once-productive farms put out of business earlier this decade was this 33,606-acre ranch in Cojedes state owned by the Vestey Group, a British company. El Charcote used to turn out 3.3 million pounds of beef a year, making it one of the country's top 10 producers. Today, the 13,000 head of cattle that once roamed here are gone. New farm machinery, painted the government's trademark red, gathers dust in a lot on the outskirts of this town. Officials, including Chávez, had previously announced that they have...

Well, if you want to lose faith in humanity and see the stupidity of hipster liberals in New York City, this is the video for you. Ami Horowitz took to the streets to talk about income inequality with some of the most insufferable people on the planet: progressives. Of course, they all felt it was a critical issue. One man was a member of the Working Families Party in the state. So, which country can we look to for guidance in solving this issue? How about socialist hellhole Venezuela?  It’s the nation with rolling blackouts, inadequate medical supplies, no toilet...

At the same time that Guyanese-born businessman Edul Ahmad gave Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) an unsecured $40,000 personal loan, he was pleading poverty to state authorities who had suspended his real estate license, according to Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein in yesterday’s New York Post. Meeks failed to report the 2007 loan on his annual financial disclosure report, that all member of Congress are required to file, until June of this year after the FBI reportedly started asking questions about the loan. Meeks has repeatedly referred to Ahmad as his “friend,” but when asked by the New York Post last...

Above and beyond of the tens of thousands of incriminating emails already discovered last year, a new batch of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails reveal a more extensive abuse of classified information – along with more evidence that she gave donors favors for their generous contributions to the Clinton Foundation. The government watchdog group Judicial Watch’s lawsuit has released a new batch of Clinton’s emails – communications that reveal more proof that Clinton Foundation donors consistently received special favors from her staff, and that her top aide, Huma Abedin, routinely sent information that was classified through a non-secure...

Ken Livingstone, a former mayor of London, has blamed the turmoil in Venezuela on Hugo Chávez’s unwillingness to execute “oligarchs” after he came to power. ... “One of the things that Chávez did when he came to power, he didn’t kill all the oligarchs. There was about 200 families who controlled about 80% of the wealth in Venezuela,” Livingstone told Talk Radio. “He allowed them to live, to carry on. I suspect a lot of them are using their power and control over imports and exports to make it difficult and to undermine Maduro.”

The Fusion GPS news-for-hire scandal has not only led to the public identification of the source of the “Trump Dossier”—a for-profit company that provides opposition research to whoever could write big checks, which is staffed by four former Wall Street Journal reporters led by Glenn Simpson. The scandal has also lifted the lid off a sewer of corporate information warfare and opposition research that the flailing institutions of the mainstream press now regularly re-package as news, without ever saying where it came from—or who paid for it. While the idea that the products of paid opposition research are being main-lined...

US Ambassador Nikki Haley has called for international action to address the crisis in Venezuela, after a US-backed proposal for regional mediation failed to win support at the Organization of American States. (The US-backed proposal failed to overcome opposition from the 14 similar national jurisdictions that benefit from turmoil and discounted Venezuelan oil.) "The tragic situation in Venezuela calls out for action. The Venezuelan people are starving while their government tramples their democracy". //Snipp// The Judiciary has sold out and military command is wavering as the country, pummeled by the plunge in oil prices and the Hugo Chávez, legacy of...

Here’s how most Venezuelans lost an average of 19 pounds in 2016, and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again in 2017 In early 2017, a nationwide survey of the people of Venezuela showed that during the year 2016, almost 75% of the population had lost weight due to not having enough food, and that their average weight loss was 19 pounds.Before I explain how this came to happen, I want to start out by explaining what did not cause this to happen.Many media outlets have been blaming Venezuela’s food shortages on the 2014 collapse in the price of oil....

Roughly one month ago I asked what the end game in Venezuela might look like as the country continues to spiral out of control. Judging by what’s been happening this weekend we may be getting close to an answer to that question. Despite the ramped up “militias” of President Nicolas Maduro and the dozens of people who have died in violent clashes between protesters and militia groups, starving and disaffected citizens continue to take to the streets. In one Venezuelan city, a statue of former dictator Hugo Chavez was torn down and smashed in the streets. (Video via the Daily...

Amnesty International says a new decree in Venezuela that says the government can make any of its citizens farm the country's fields in order to combat its current, punishing food crisis "effectively amounts to forced labour." "The decree, officially published earlier this week, establishes that people working in public and private companies can be called upon to join state-sponsored organizations specialized in the production of food," Amnesty International reported. "They will be made to work in the new companies temporarily for a minimum of 60 days after which their 'contracts' will be automatically renewed for an extra 60-day period or...

Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, is a familiar name in Venezuela – and some are wondering if a decade-old feud will play a role in the bilateral agenda. The longtime chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil became persona non grata among socialist Chavistas in the late 2000s, when he confronted then President Hugo Chavez as they negotiated compensation arrangements after the oil industry was nationalized. “I don’t know if Tillerson will personalize his relationship with Venezuela or implement an institutional policy,” said Venezuelan analyst Luis Salamanca to FoxNews.com, also pointing out that the U.S. has nothing...