Free Republic

In the past few days, Democrats have secured majority control of the Pennsylvania House and moved within one seat of ending Republican control of the New Hampshire House. Those wins are not aberrations. They are the latest measures of a nationwide blue wave that has seen Democrats outperform expectations in 24 of 30 special elections for open state legislative seats this year. Legislative contests that were once considered local or regional races are being nationalized, as concerns about abortion rights and voting rights—two issues that are up for grabs in statehouses—are putting Republican candidates in a perilous position. SNIP The...

Carlos Campos came to Miami from Venezuela in 1979, before dictator Hugo Chávez’s socialist revolution brought about the unraveling of the oil-rich country. But it wasn’t until 2016 that Campos became actively engaged in US politics. Donald Trump’s “America First” message stirred something in him. Sitting down at a Cuban restaurant just minutes from the Trump National Doral golf resort — one of the former president’s major Miami-area properties aside from his Mar-a-Lago estate — Campos described how he came to the realization that his values aligned more closely with Republicans than Democrats. He attends Alpha & Omega, a Spanish-language...

The Republican Party of Florida on Friday night scrapped plans to require presidential candidates to sign a loyalty oath, siding with former President Donald Trump over Gov. Ron DeSantis in a proxy war that tested the strength of the two rivals’ support in their home state. The party had quietly agreed in May to institute a pledge, mandating candidates promise to endorse the GOP nominee in order to make next year’s primary ballot The vote by the state GOP’s executive committee took place during the organization’s quarterly meeting in Orlando (over successes) Instead, the meeting exposed deepening divisions in the...

The Cuban government has exposed a Russian trafficking operation used to lure Cubans into the war against Ukraine, Cuban authorities announced Monday. “The Ministry of the Interior has detected and is working to neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network operating from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine,” the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday. The authorities are taking legal actions against the traffickers, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.

Only two questions mattered going into Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate. Number one: Would any one viable candidate stand out among the crowd? Number two: If the answer to the first was “Yes,” would our champion distinguish themselves by acting as the absent Donald Trump’s proxy or by setting up a favorable contrast with the frontrunner? Trump’s decision to sit out the first forum of the 2024 primary season has been cast as a cautious, cowardly decision. It was undoubtedly the latter, but despite the illusion of political safety, the choice also came with considerable risks. If another candidate was...

Russia tried downplaying the destruction of one of its prized supersonic bombers. Ukraine has launched two major kamikaze drone strikes that took out one of Putin's prized nuclear bombers in a spectacular fireball and caused significant damage to a train station used to supply Russia's invasion of Ukraine. New footage of the strike on Soltsy airbase in the Novgorod region shows one of Russia's nuclear bombers being swallowed by an enormous fireball. Smoke billowing from the fireball could be seen for miles around. -snip- The attack on the prized bomber came a day before a major railway station was also...

ONE of Putin's prized war planes has been damaged after a kamikaze drone strike deep inside Russian territory. The attack, at the military airport in the Novgorod region more than 700 miles from Ukraine, witnessed a "helicopter style" drone. The ministry said nobody was hurt and the fire was quickly extinguished. The aircrafts which survived the attack are reportedly being being moved to an airfield in the Murmansk region. The Russian defence ministry admitted a strike: “The Kyiv regime carried out a terrorist attack using a copter-type UAV on a military airfield in Novgorod region." "As a result of the...

President Vladimir Putin's economic adviser rebuked the central bank on Monday as the rouble slid past 101 per U.S. dollar, blaming its 30% year-to-date slump on loose monetary policy and revealing growing discord among Russia's monetary authorities. The rouble, which has lost around a quarter of its value against the dollar since Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, hit 101.04 per U.S. dollar, its weakest point in almost 17 months. As the rouble tumbled, Putin's economic adviser Maxim Oreshkin said in an op-ed for the TASS news agency that the Kremlin wanted a strong rouble and expected a...

Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NGdKlEUq-Jo

A poll shows former President Donald Trump leading President Joe Biden by three points nationwide and six points in swing states.Probing 1,013 likely voters between July 24-27, an Echelon poll showed the former president leading the current president by healthy margins where it will matter come the 2024 election.Among those polled nationwide, 42 percent supported Donald Trump while just 39 percent supported Joe Biden. In swing states, Trump’s lead doubled to six points: 44 percent to Biden’s 38 percent. Support for an independent or third-party candidate stands at just nine percent.🇺🇲 2024 Presidential Election Poll(R) Donald Trump: 42% (+3)(D) Joe...

Brett Baier interviewed Ron DeSantis Monday, July 31, 2023. Covered all of the anticipated topics including Trump's demand for fealty, abortion, campaign reset, Ukraine, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hITqG4vetRg

The Florida Board of Education became the first state education agency to approve the use of PragerU’s conservative curriculum in public schools, the organization confirmed to The Capitolist on Friday. PragerU, a nonprofit organization, produces video, magazine, and book resources as an alternative to what they perceive as the dominant left-wing ideology prevalent in culture, media, and education. The group’s stated mission is to “provide a free alternative to the prevailing left-wing narratives in schools,” according to its website. According to the group, the current education system “prioritizes pushing radical activism over imparting factual knowledge, leading to concerns about students’...

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday that the state has made an early paydown of $400 million towards active debt through the payoff of bonds prior to maturity, avoiding accruing interest costs. The payoff was facilitated through the Debt Reduction Program, which was established as part of the state’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 budget. Amidst its inception, DeSantis maintained that the program would allow the state to eliminate various avenues of debt ahead of schedule. According to the Division of Bond Finance, Florida’s total debt amounts to $16.0 billion at the end of FY 2023, marking the lowest level since...

It appears that at least one side of the bridge involving two lanes has been completely separated.https://twitter.com/svtv_news/status/1680755705853214721At approximately 2024 EST, reports began to emerge of at least two explosions in the sky over Kerch, Crimea. At 2104 EST, locals began to report on social media that a general alarm had sounded for all civilians to clear the bridge and evacuate the area.At 2125 EST, Republic of Crimea Head Aksyonov confirmed the bridge had been shut down and law enforcement agencies were on scene. Although no fire was reported, he did announce that a partial bridge collapse had occurred around the...

Russian air defenses on Tuesday foiled a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow that prompted authorities to briefly close one of the city's international airports, officials said, as a Western analysis said Russia has managed to slow Kyiv's recently launched counteroffensive. Ukrainian authorities, which generally avoid comments on attacks inside Russia's proper territory, didn't claim responsibility for the raid. The Russian Defense Ministry said four of five drones were downed by air defenses on Moscow's outskirts and the fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that there were no casualties or damage. The...

The capture marks the first time since Russia’s invasion in February last year that Ukraine’s forces have been able to retake land seized in the initial Donbas invasion eight years prior. Ukrainian troops were said to have liberated the lands last week, but news of the victory has been kept secret until now for tactical reasons.

VIDEOAfter some really spooky events yesterday morning concerning the upload and posting of my J6 Pipe Bomber video, things shifted gear dramatically for the better for me that evening. In this video, you can see yet another example of my wife being blessed again by Lady Luck at the casino. As typically happens, she was down to almost nothing but then suddenly the winds of fortune suddenly reversed. This happens so frequently that it is eerie (but I'm not complaining).

cardillo/unofficial team desantis media person published a link to a washpo desantis campaign article.

CBS News poll showed the former president had 61 percent support in the Republican primary, leading his opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by a full 38 points – 61 percent to 23 percent. Republican Sen. Tim Scott (SC) stands in third place with just 4 percent of support, just one point ahead of former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. Regarding the indictment, a plurality of those polled expressed concern that the former president had been targeted for political reasons, not for legal reasons. Most explicitly ruled out the charges announced in the indictment changing their views about Mr. Trump. Rather than...

Ron DeSantis starts off the week with yet more bad news for his campaign, as the first Rasmussen Reports head-to-head since his glitch-ridden campaign launch shows the Florida Governor actually losing support.A like-for-like study released by Rasmussen on Monday morning reveals DeSantis’s February 2023 numbers at 32 percent with likely Republican voters, whereas he slips to 30 percent in the latest, May poll.And while the Florida Governor’s slippage is with Rasmussen’s three point margin of error, former President Donald Trump’s massive spike in support is definitely not. The 45th President rose a whopping 13 points in comparison to February, and...