Free Republic

Thinking purely as a partisan, it is good to see that very few Democrats are willing to learn any lessons from this past week’s election. Thinking as an American patriot, it is very bad. One yard sign glimpsed in a picture online read, “Republicans are not perfect, but the other party is insane.” Just so. It would be good for Americans to have two imperfect but sane parties to push each other to be better. But that it will happen in the immediate future is doubtful. The other party’s insanity is a many splendored thing, but its deepest layer is...

This race is over. Republican Dave McCormick ousted Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey in the 2024 election. It’s over. McCormick is senator-elect and should be invited to the Senate’s orientation. Yet, Casey and lawyer Marc Elias are trying to steal the election. That’s not hyperbole—that’s straight from the Wall Street Journal, which scorched the duo for engaging in a black tar heroin version of election denialism (via WSJ) [emphasis mine]: The Associated Press and most other media have called the Senate race in Pennsylvania for Republican Dave McCormick. But never fear, Democrats, lawyer Marc Elias is on the case trying...

“If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth” (James 3:14). Humility is the hallmark of a wise person. James says that if a person has a self-centered motive for life, he should stop arrogantly boasting. He should stop claiming to possess true wisdom. Why? Because he is lying “against the truth.” In verse 13 James indicates that if a person claims to have God’s wisdom, he must show it. If I see you are motivated by self-centeredness and pride, you ought to stop your arrogant boasting about...

After today, Bastiat’s Window will move past the 2024 election for a bit and focus again on healthcare, economics, the Mideast, and popular culture. But here are a few more thoughts on the paradoxes and ironies that got us to last week and where it all might lead. We’ll examine how Joe Biden’s 2020 victory harmed Democrats and benefited Donald Trump. We’ll look for the silver lining that Democrats ought to see in 2024’s results. And we’ll explore the virtues of choosing candidates on ability rather than on symbolism. Today, my best guess for 2028 is J.D. Vance versus Josh...

As social media continues to dominate our lives, one pressing question remains largely unasked: How much are these influencers being paid to put their mental struggles on full display for the world to see? We’ve all witnessed the increasingly bizarre, emotional outbursts, online meltdowns, and what often appear to be carefully curated “real-life dramas” shared by individuals on social media platforms. And as we’ve scrutinized these moments, a troubling thought comes to mind: Is this just an organic outpouring of personal distress, or is there a deeper, more calculated financial incentive at play? Could these influencers be receiving payment either...

This campaign season saw the left still shrieking about the threat of disinformation from the right — even as Democrats openly and proudly embraced their commitment to telling lies and insisting they’re true. Exhibit 1 Billion: Courier Newsroom, a literal fake news outfit backed by the leading leftoid sugar daddy George Soros. It also counts prog megadonor Reid Hoffman among the benefactors of its parent, the astonishingly misnamed Good Information Inc.

COP29 climate talks opened in Azerbaijan on Monday amid concerns over newly re-elected Donald Trump's pledge to reverse US carbon-cutting commitments. The two-week session is expected to focus on funds from rich countries to help poor nations cut carbon pollution. "Climate catastrophe is hammering health, widening inequalities, harming sustainable development, and rocking the foundations of peace. The vulnerable are hardest hit," UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

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Most Democrats seem to be getting over last week’s thumping well enough, but a horrific fraction seem to have bought into their leaders’ irresponsible, apocalyptic rhetoric — and so are damaging themselves, their families and even their children. The most obvious case is Anthony Nephew, the Minnesota man who apparently killed his wife, ex-partner and his two sons before taking his own life in reaction to Donald Trump’s victory. Yes, he evidently had longstanding mental-health issues; we’ll never know how much of his final crisis came from marinating for years in the extremist, hateful rhetoric now common on the left....

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Democrat George Whitesides holds a 2,114-vote lead over Rep. Mike Garcia in the 27th Congressional District race, according to figures released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. 22 second video —- Also In the 45th Congressional District, Rep. Michelle Steel had her lead over Democrat Derek Tran drop to 6,128 votes, 138,573-132,445, 51.1-48.9%. The Seal Beach Republican led by 6,901 votes after Saturday’s count and 7,590 after Friday’s.

Every four years, various “experts” whine about the Electoral College, that seemingly bizarre feature of the Constitution whereby a handful of “electors” from each state get to choose the next president. This year proved why the Electoral College, which so many complain about but very few understand, was an incredible invention of our nation’s founders. On election night, Chris Hayes, the insufferable MSNBC talking head, was one of the people spewing out the hackneyed complaint, saying “We have this very funky and terrible system called the Electoral College which decides elections in a way that is totally different than every...

[transcript] either has a right to rule on not and this is done by Common consent it is understood that this person has done whatever it is they ought to have done given the current political Paradigm and the crown is on their head and so Donald Trump's re-election very much has a kind of Return of the King Vibe now calm down Americans I'm not actually talking about a literal King what I'm talking about is someone with the legitimacy the Mandate of Heaven the right to rule in people's minds it is legitimate that he is in charge...

An Australian soldier who ran into enemy fire during the Vietnam War to reach a wounded comrade and retrieve the body of another has been awarded a Victoria Cross for bravery.Private Richard Leslie Norden posthumously received the award for "most conspicuous acts of gallantry" during the war.Following a Remembrance Day service at the Australian War Memorial, Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the nation's highest military honour for Private Norden, who died after the war.During the 1968 Battle of Fire Support Base Coral, the young soldier showed extraordinary bravery by running towards North Vietnamese enemy fire to...

Boeing is exploring a possible $6 billion sale of its Jeppesen navigation unit, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The planemaker is working with an adviser on the potential sale of the unit, which provides interactive flight plans, the report said. Suitors are already circling Jeppesen, which could attract sizable interest from private equity firms as well as other companies and could fetch more than $6 billion, the report said.

https://t.me/insiderpaper/31621 JUST IN - Trump names New York Rep. Elise Stefanik US ambassador to UN: US media READ: https://insiderpaper.com/trump-names-new-york-rep-elise-stefanik-us-ambassador-to-un-us-media/

Trump announces immigration official Tom Homan as ‘border czar’

The party went into an election with policies it couldn’t defend—or even explain. Although most Americans agree that transgender people should not face discrimination in housing and employment, there is nowhere near the same level of support for allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports—which is why Donald Trump kept bringing up the issue. His campaign also barraged swing-state voters and sports fans with ads reminding them that Kamala Harris had previously supported taxpayer-funded gender-reassignment surgery for prisoners. The commercials were effective: The New York Times reported that Future Forward, a pro-Harris super PAC, found that one ad “shifted...

Kamala Harris’s speech conceding the presidential race to Donald Trump was a doomed effort to stay atop the Democratic Party after she led it to crushing defeat. After her loss became clear on Tuesday, it took 18 hours to compose the rhetorical flights of fancy she wanted, supposedly to inspire hope amid a Trumpian darkness closing in on her weeping followers.

If the 2024 presidential contest proved anything, it’s that the mass media no longer drive the national conversation. They can no longer stoke fear and outrage in average voters. They can no longer prop up terrible candidates. And, like him or not, President-elect Donald Trump’s success with black, Hispanic and Jewish voters, if exit polls are even close to correct, proves that the entire “fascist” scare was a flop. Indeed, the establishment press are less trusted than virtually any major institution in American life. It’s a well-earned ignominy. It’s also a tragedy for a free nation that we have a...