Free Republic

Donald Trump has won the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and is leading in the polls to become the Republican candidate for the presidency in the upcoming general election. His status as the most likely contender to challenge Joe Biden is upsetting establishment figures who think that Trump’s ascent threatens democracy. Trump is constantly pilloried by the mainstream media as a demagogue who emboldens the racist underbelly of American society. Emotions run rampant, but Trump’s villainy has been grossly exaggerated.After winning the presidency in 2016, pundits thought that Trump would revert America to an era of racism. These...

Captured on somebody's phone camera. Rooster crows in background.

One can only hope that the Trump phenomenon will bring into the sunlight several fictions, most, but not all, of which GOP boosters have been promoting for years. The first is that there are two fundamentally opposed forces within the Republican Party: "the Establishment" and "conservatives," "anti-Establishmentarians," or "outsiders." In reality, the conflicts that beset the GOP are internecine battles within one political establishment. There is no "anti-Establishment." Nor is Trump an "anti-Establishment" outsider. Trump has been peddling and receiving political influence for years courtesy of both Republican and Democrat politicians alike. Few "outsiders" have had so many "ins" with...

On Tuesday night, my daughter and her friends went down to Claremont, New Hampshire to see Donald Trump in action. She and her chums range from the not terribly political to those with the usual enthusiasms of youth, so they went mainly because Trump's a hot ticket, and we don't get a lot of those in the Granite State. Her only other candidate encounter this season was at the North Haverhill Fair last summer when Lindsey Graham pounced outside the 4-H barn, no doubt with an eye to recruiting her for one of his "rotating first ladies".

The more analysts try to figure out Donald Trump's appeal, the more they sound baffled. Pundits cite Trump's verbal sloppiness and ridiculousness as proof that he must soon implode. But Trump sees his daily bombast as an injection of outrage for a constituency now hooked on someone who finally voices their pent-up anger. The more reckless Trump's doses of scattergun outrageousness, the better the fix for his supporters. Trump's vague "make America great again" was the natural bookend to Barack Obama's even more vacuous "hope and change." The popularity of such empty slogans reflects a culture in which no one...

Mark Levin opened his show explaining the Donald Trump phenomenon and it was really good. Along the way he also made some great points about the phony conservatives whining about Trump now when they were totally ok with the corrupt Republican Establishment leaders we have in Congress. Listen to the full segment below:

He is the latest Tea Party favourite to burst through in the increasingly heated race for the Republican presidential nomination and see their poll numbers rocket them to frontrunner status. However, unlike previous rightwing darlings such as Texas governor Rick Perry and Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, wealthy businessman Herman Cain, 65, can claim to be cut from a very different sort of cloth from the average Republican candidate. First, he is not actually a politician. Cain, whose CV includes being a radio show host, a navy ballistics expert, a Baptist minister and a Federal Reserve official, has never held elected...

The video you are about to watch was filmed by a driver who stopped along the freeway with many others just outside Al-Ahsa City, in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the last few years there have been many theories put forth as to what caused this phenomenon. Along with those theories, various names have been used to describe it, like "Sand Geyser," "Sand Fountain," "Sand Volcano," and "Sand Injectites." The quality of the video is not the best because it was filmed with a cell phone, and the person who filmed it has not ever identified himself. However, the video is...

Weeks after a story shot across the Web claiming that the imminent explosion of a nearby star would result in the appearance of a second sun in the sky — a story that was later debunked — two suns were caught on camera yesterday in China. The suns — one fuzzy and orange, the other a crisp yellow orb — appeared side-by-side, one slightly higher than the other. What's going on? Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Space.com, asked Jim Kaler, the University of Illinois astronomer who squelched the excitement over the aforementioned exploding Betelgeuse and who has written...

How do you overcome an emotional phenomenon with rationality? By now most of us have seen the news stories describing the Cult of Obama, or Obamania. People cry when he speaks. Despite holding signs that say “Stand for Change” his speeches are interrupted by women fainting and falling to the ground. (Wordsmith has photos and video). Hillary Clinton, the once annointed Queen of the Democrat Party has done everything in her power to overcome that flood of raw emotion and remind people that it takes a President, not a good speechmaker, to get the job done. Hillary: Talk is Cheap...

Here's an interesting story about Delaware politics and the next Delaware Governor. Even if you don't live in or near Delaware, click in to see my own fine pic with Delaware's next Governor. And two TV reviews-"The Women's Murder Club" and the new psychic reality series "Phenomenon".

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Democratic leaders and union officials on Monday condemned a plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political team to create a "phenomenon of anger" against public employee unions leading up to an expected special election. Some critics said the disclosure of the strategy is shocking but consistent with the increasingly bitter fight over Schwarzenegger's ballot proposals. "The idea of creating anger is so offensive," said Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association. "It's the worst kind of politics. I believe the people of California are smarter than the governor is giving them credit for and they will see...

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Can This Black Box See Into the Future? - DEEP in the basement of a dusty university library in Edinburgh lies a small black box, roughly the size of two cigarette packets side by side, that churns out random numbers in an endless stream. At first glance it is an unremarkable piece of equipment. Encased in metal, it contains at its heart a microchip no more complex than the ones found in modern pocket calculators. But, according to a growing band of top scientists, this box has quite extraordinary powers. It is, they claim, the 'eye' of a machine that...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 February 26 Anticrepuscular Rays Over Horseshoe Canyon Credit & Copyright: Peggy Peterson Explanation: What's happening over the horizon? Although the scene may appear somehow supernatural, nothing more unusual is occurring than a setting Sun and some well placed clouds. Pictured above are anticrepuscular rays. To understand them, start by picturing common crepuscular rays that are seen any time that sunlight pours though scattered clouds. Now although sunlight...

<p>SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ -- A quivering blob of ectoplasm is causing more excitement at Liquid Assets go-go bar than are the comely dancers baring their flesh.</p> <p>A dancer, Dee Dee, clad in a sparse turquoise costume sprinkled with silver and sporting gemstone navel jewelry, took a break from gyrating for some very attentive customers last week to share her experience.</p>