Free Republic

How Bill Gates Destroyed the SAT The corruption of the College Board. May 27, 2019 Daniel Greenfield 81 FrontPage comments Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. Standardized testing is the engine of meritocracy. When the College Board standardized testing through the SAT, it introduced merit to an educational system where status was determined by family history. A poor immigrant who studied hard and worked hard might have a shot at the best schools in the land. Over a century later, the College...

On Saturday, Apple CEO Tim Cook, who was recently acclaimed as an even better leader than the legendary Steve Jobs, carved out a morning from his very busy schedule to deliver a commencement speech for the 2019 graduates of Tulane University in New Orleans. [cut] But as soon as Cook stepped up to the podium on Saturday, his message to Tulane’s graduates became the very opposite of what was expected of him—instead of presenting himself as a role model for the young graduates in the audience, Cook encouraged them to challenge older generations’ successes and to find their own. “In...

Self-described socialist Bernie Sanders has become a favorite of young voters by posing as an apostle of daring new ideas. Socialism, however, is anything but new. It’s hard to think of another idea that has been tried and failed as many times in as many ways or at a steeper price in human suffering. The term “socialism” was coined by followers of Robert Owen (1771-1858), whom Karl Marx would label a “utopian socialist.” In 1825 Owen founded New Harmony, an Indiana commune, to demonstrate the superiority of what was first called the “social system.” The same year, Owen explained his...

From Rachel ‘Tin-Foil-Hat’ Maddow’s glorious near-tears to Eric ‘Nuke-em’ Swalwell and his pal Adam ‘Pencil-Neck’ Schiff’s stubborn refusal to give up even the most minuscule aspects of the Russian collusion conspiracy theory, it’s more than obvious that Dems were more than just a little upset to watch their carefully orchestrated hoax go down in dumpster fire-style flames.For going-on two years now, every Trump hater from Bill Kristol to Tom Arnold had pinned their hopes on the Mueller probe to “find” the “crime” and “get Drumpf” for good this time. But, like Wile E. Coyote’s always-futile attempts to catch the Road Runner,...

he Green New Deal, a sweeping Democratic proposal for dealing with climate change, fell at the first hurdle Tuesday as the Senate failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to begin debate on the non-binding resolution, with 42 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., voting "present." No senator voted to begin debate on the legislation, while 57 lawmakers voted against breaking the filibuster. Democratic Sens. Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona joined 53 Republicans in voting "no." Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who caucuses with the Democrats, also voted "no." The vote had...

As the final weeks of the GOP-controlled Congress draw to a close, pro-life voters look on with great disappointment at the Republican politicians who failed to follow through on their most crucial promise: to defund Planned Parenthood. In about a month, Democrats will take over the House of Representatives and any hope of stripping the abortion giant of federal funding will pass away. With precious little time left in the lame-duck session, GOP congressional leaders have chosen to ignore the persistent urgings of pro-life leaders. Just last week, leaders from Live Action, Students for Life America, the Susan B. Anthony...

The Campaign Update Week in Review (Because The Campaign Never Ends) I was asked the other day by a reader why Bill and Hillary Clinton are embarking on this joint speaking tour across the U.S. and Canada. It’s a good question to which the most obvious answers are a) to set the Pantsuit Princess up for another run at the Democrat Party’s presidential nomination in 2020, and b) to try to rehab Slick Willie’s reputation, which finds itself once again in tatters in this era of #MeTooism. That must be right since it is so hard to think of any...

Lionsgate’s take on Sherwood Forest suffers worst opening of any film this year with a budget above $90 million Lionsgate’s “Robin Hood” is turning out to be this year’s biggest blockbuster bomb, with a $14 million five-day opening against a budget of just under $100 million. This year’s Thanksgiving weekend has provided the most lucrative box office ever. But even with all the record-breaking success, there have been some failures in 2018. Most of those bombs, like Paramount’s “Annihilation” and Fox’s “The Darkest Minds,” have had low-to-mid-level budgets that have reduced how much of a financial hit their studios have...

The night before the midterm elections, House Speaker Paul Ryan touted “tax reform 2.0,” the economy, and the rebuilding of the United States military as the agenda accomplishments of the Republican-controlled Congress. “Frankly, our members feel pretty good because they have a really good message … I mean look at what we’ve just been able to achieve in Congress with the President in the last two years,” Ryan told Fox News’ Bret Baier. “A record economy, the military being rebuilt, people feeling better about things … wages growing faster than they have since before the recession.” The accomplishments of the...

In Minnesota Republicans experienced electoral disaster that verges on disgrace if it doesn’t get there. We lost both Senate races by wide margins. We lost the governor’s race by a wide margin. Indeed, we lost every constitutional office. We even elected former hate cult and longtime supporter of cop killers Keith Ellison over Republican Doug Wardlow in the contest for attorney general. Ellison was assisted by the fact that his disgraceful views were held in confidence by the reporters at the Star Tribune. Ellison’s 4-point margin over Wardlow, however, made for the narrowest statewide win last night.

Virginia’s Senate election did not take long to resolve. Incumbent Democrat Tim Kaine was declared the winner over Corey Stewart immediately after 7 p.m. Eastern. As three Virginia Republicans hold their breath about the outcomes of the House elections — incumbents Barbara Comstock and Dave Brat, and challenger Denver Riggleman — some will wonder if the party partially set its fate in the June 12 primary. If Nick Freitas or even E. W. Jackson had won the GOP nomination for Senate, maybe the Virginia Democratic party would have at least had to expend some resources protecting Kaine.

What happened to the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct levied against Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation battle? The claims ranged from Christine Blasey Ford’s remotely plausible if unsubstantiated allegation of a violent attempted rape to Michael Avenatti’s completely outlandish and also unsubstantiated allegation of hosting serial gang rape parties. From September 12 to October 6, the claims absolutely dominated all major media. They ran on the front pages of all major newspapers and filled the hours on cable and network news. Magazine journalists at The New Yorker ran with the claims, despite massive corroboration problems. The claims were taken so...

Politics in 2018 is a nightmarish hellscape that is largely devoid of heroes, so let us take a brief moment to revel in the astonishing stupidity of one of its third-tier villains: Jacob Wohl, who you may recognize as the greasy 20-year-old doofus who pops up first in the replies below every other Donald Trump tweet. This delightful tale began on Monday, when the disgraced teenaged hedge fund genius posted a tantalizing hint about a major forthcoming news story: Special counsel Robert Mueller, the evil mastermind behind the insidious left-wing plot to take down Wohl's beloved president, has been hiding...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) launched a bizarre Twitter rant late Monday afternoon following the disastrous rollout of DNA results that further debunked her decades-long claim to American Indian ancestry. Warren’s thread of 20-plus (and counting) tweets began at about 5:30 p.m. ET, where she attempted to both insult President Trump and defend herself.

President Trump raised eyebrows earlier this year when he announced plans to create a “Space Force,” which would become the sixth branch of the military. Vice President Mike Pence later announced in a speech that the branch was needed in order for the US to maintain military dominance in space. The proposed Space Force is estimated to cost $13 billion in its first five years. And despite some snickers among political observers, renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t think the Space Force is that crazy of an idea. But Tyson, one of the authors of “Accessory to War: The Unspoken...

Brett Kavanaugh on Monday said he will "not be intimidated into withdrawing" his Supreme Court nomination after a second woman came forward with a sexual misconduct allegation against him. Kavanaugh sent a letter on Monday to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)— the chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, respectively — saying the accusations against him are "smears, pure and simple." "They debase our public discourse. But they are also a threat to any man or woman who wishes to serve our country. Such grotesque and obvious character assassination—if allowed to succeed—will dissuade competent and good...

President Barack Obama’s election in 2008 represented a new chapter in history. His meteoric rise to the presidency was swift and shocked not only a nation, but also the political elites, including Democratic favorites such as Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. But as we look back on the eight years that Obama served as president, we see a much different picture — a picture that’s certainly historic, but for all the wrong reasons.

CNN suffered another ratings embarrassment last week, once again losing a significant amount of viewers in comparison to the same week last year.AdWeek reports that in the week of August 13-19, CNN experienced a 23 percent drop in total viewer average during primetime in comparison to the same week in 2017. During the daytime, there was another drop in ratings of 24 percent since last year.MSNBC only experienced a drop of 8 percent in primetime and 5 percent in daytime since last year. Fox News Channel, on the other hand, actually increased their viewership by 4 percent all around.CNN’s ratings...

If Democratic Socialists are "the future" of the Democratic party, they had better get used to losing – a lot. Every single candidate endorsed by celebrity Democratic Socialist politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was beaten by establishment Democrats in yesterday's primaries.  And not just beaten – they were, in most cases, slaughtered. The blood on the floor in Democratic precincts across the Midwest is Democratic Socialist blood.  American Mirror: Cortez held a whirl-wind tour of the U.S., stumping for Abdul El-Sayed for governor of Michigan, Fayrouz Saad in Michigan's 11th Congressional District, Cori Bush in Missouri's 1st District, and is backing Congressional candidate...

Civics 101: Americans who are at least 40 years old remember their basic American civics and government classes which taught how our government functions, how Congress works, what a republic is versus a pure democracy, and, of course, the Constitution. Instruction was particularly focused on the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution as basic building blocks of a free and thriving society written by our founders and ratified by the first 13 states. Learning how government functions and learning about our core constitutional rights is fundamental to the preservation of our country.