Free Republic

... What would fear of Sanders in the White House mean for the economy, even before the election? If he enters office with a Democratic Congress, he could accelerate the national transition from a relatively free market to a planned economy, with direct and indirect state control of the means of production. His Marxist views have altered little in the last five decades. Both Main Street and Wall Street would price in these potentials, and if Sanders runs away with the Democratic nomination and leads in general election polls against Trump, the economic results would be frightening. Money would flee...

Instead of self-examination and taking stock of their copious failures, many in the media have chosen to blame Trump and suggest his supporters are victims of 'disinformation' instead of winning back readers' trust. Over at The Atlantic, McKay Coppins has a lengthy new article that’s raising a lot of eyebrows in D.C., “The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President.” Coppins is a good journalist and makes a good effort to get inside the online and social media efforts in the Trump organization. It didn’t get a lot of public credit in 2016, but as Coppins notes in the article,...

In northwest Europe, meanwhile, the Viking game Hnefatafl popped up in such far-flung locales as Scotland, Norway and Iceland. Farther south, the ancient Egyptian games of Senet and Mehen dominated. To the east in India, Chaturanga emerged as a precursor to modern chess. And 5,000 years ago, in what is now southeast Turkey, a group of Bronze Age humans created an elaborate set of sculpted stones hailed as the world’s oldest gaming pieces upon their discovery in 2013. Senet is one of the earliest known board games. Archaeological and artistic evidence suggest it was played as early as 3100 B.C.,...

This summer's bushfires were not just devastating events in themselves. More broadly, they highlighted the immense vulnerability of the systems which make our contemporary lives possible. The fires cut road access, which meant towns ran out of fuel and fell low on food. Power to towns was cut and mobile phone services stopped working. So too did the ATMs and EFTPOS services the economy needs to keep running. In a modern, wealthy nation such as Australia, how could this happen? In a human sense, social systems range from the small, such as a family, to large organizations or the national...

DES MOINES — Nearly a full week after the Iowa caucuses, the state Democratic Party on Sunday released results indicating that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was the winner after it updated data from 55 precincts. But errors in the result tabulations have led several news organizations, including The New York Times, to refrain from calling the race.... The Associated Press, which historically verifies election results and makes calls on the outcome of races, has not allotted the final delegate to Mr. Buttigieg because of the errors in the caucus results-counting, nor has The A.P. declared...

Tired of all this WINNING yet? – Apparently, Hollywood is. At last night’s Academy Awards ceremony – which I didn’t even know was happening until about 8:00 in the evening – the voters gave the award for Best Picture to some movie from South Korea. I’m sure it’s a fine movie, at least as far as movies go these days, but wow, the film industry in South Korea is now turning out higher-quality films than the film industry in California? That’s rather a stunning admission for the Academy to make. Who is this Milton Keynes fellow, and how can we...

Bernie Sanders By Peter Buttigieg St. Joseph’s High School South Bend, Indiana ... Fortunately for the political process, there remain a number of committed individuals who are steadfast enough in their beliefs to run for office to benefit their fellow Americans. Such people are willing to eschew political and personal comfort and convenience because they believe they can make a difference. One outstanding and inspiring example of such integrity is the country’s only Independent Congressman, Vermont’s Bernie Sanders. Sanders’ courage is evident in the first word he uses to describe himself: “Socialist”. In a country where Communism is still the...

With Democrat dreams of a soft coup now a heap of smoldering wreckage, and no need to play Mr. Nice Guy to please prissy softcons on Capitol Hill, President Trump is finally free to channel his inner Michael Corleone. It’s about time to re-christen Don Jr., and use that opportunity to take out the heads of the five families.  Trump already tossed mealy-mouthed ambassador Gordon Sondland out on his Nadler. Then military Twitter started buzzing with delight – well, not Blue Falcon Twitter but the one with vets who aren’t half-stepping weasels – at the news of That’s Lieutenant Colonel...

Seemingly everyone watching 2018’s race in Texas’s 7th Congressional District felt the same way about Lizzie Fletcher. Her Democratic primary opponent Laura Moser called her “Republican-lite.” When Fletcher won the primary, the Huffington Post called her an “establishment-backed moderate.” The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott saw Fletcher’s campaign as “less a collection of partisan talking points and more a commentary on local issues….” Once Fletcher prevailed that November against incumbent Rep. John Culberson, The Houston Chronicle said “Lizzie Fletcher looks to legislate the way she won: in moderation.” This year, Fletcher needs a new campaign playbook; her moderate self-portrayal can’t hold up...

Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson offered Nancy Pelosi some souvenir acquittal pens after the Senate voted ‘not guilty’ on articles of impeachment Wednesday. Johnson, a member of President Trump’s impeachment defense team, can apparently troll with the best of them. “Just in case Speaker Pelosi is too torn up to hand out acquittal pens, I went ahead and picked some up for our exceptional impeachment defense team,” Johnson tweeted. First off – a ‘torn up’ pun referencing the House Speaker’s staged temper tantrum at the State of the Union is a thing of beauty. Second, Johnson is subtly blasting Pelosi for...

A massive firework launched over a Colorado ski resort town has set a record for the world's largest aerial firework. The 2,800-pound (1,270-kilogram) shell flew 2,200 feet (671 meters) above the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival before it burst, turning the sky bright red and drawing gasps from the crowd,

Three people were arrested Saturday after a demonstration in downtown Portland, Ore., turned "violent" and a war memorial was vandalized, according to officials. The Portland Police Bureau said the protesters gathered to counter a demonstration outside the Multnomah County Courthouse that was abruptly canceled. Police did not provide details about the previously planned demonstration, but Oregon Live reported it was rumored to be a Ku Klux Klan white supremacy rally at a downtown park. Counter-protesters, including members of Antifa, still showed up even though police said the original event was scrapped. "While the rally was being held and was peaceful,...

HAMPTON, N.H. — Madison Moore warned Joe Biden that the question she was about to ask was going to be a bit mean. Then the 21-year-old student at Mercer University in Georgia launched into a version of what’s been asked of the former vice president since his disappointing fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses: “How do you explain the performance in Iowa, and why should voters believe that you can win the national election?” What happened next left her a little shaken, Moore said. Biden said it was legitimate question, but then turned the spotlight back on her, asking: “Iowa’s...

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Pope Francis has called tax cuts for the wealthy a 'structure of sin' before telling a conference at the Vatican the 'rich world can and must end poverty'. At a seminar on economic inclusion hosted by the Church on Wednesday, Francis insisted that poverty could be beaten if the world's rich play a full part in ending inequality. 'Today’s structures of sin include repeated tax cuts for the richest people, often justified in the name of investment and development,' Francis told the meeting organized by the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. 'We are neither condemned to inequality nor to paralysis...

MANCHESTER, NH - For the past year, Democratic voters have been anxious to settle on a savior capable of defeating President Donald Trump. The first week of primary balloting was supposed to speed the winnowing of an outsized field of candidates and showcase Democrats’ readiness to take back the White House in November. But an embarrassing meltdown in the Iowa caucus vote count, and a dismal showing by Joe Biden, once seen as the safest choice to unseat the Republican incumbent, have only heightened fears among some Democrats that their party isn’t up to the task. The early strength of...

The Credibility Crisis of America’s Institutions And there’s only way one out. Mon Feb 10, 2020 Daniel Greenfield 2 Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism. The nation’s credibility crisis didn’t arrive overnight. It’s been coming down since the sixties. That was a time when 4 out of 5 Americans believed that they could trust the federal government. These days it’s more like 1 out of 5. Congress enjoys the trust of 1 in 10 Americans. The presidency, 4 in 10. (That’s up...

Deep thoughts with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez… AOC speaks to Congress: “Ms. Hutchinson, I also want to thank you about bringing up the poverty draft and this idea of a bootstrap. You know, this idea and this metaphor of a bootstrap started off as a joke because it’s a physical impossibility to lift yourself up by a bootstrap, by your shoelaces? It’s physically impossible. The whole thing is a joke.” __________ 'It's a physical impossibility to lift yourself up by a bootstrap': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argues everyone needs help to succeed The progressive lawmaker argued nobody succeeds alone, and some people have...

Its Swingin' Monday and we have Chicken Reel Stomp by the Tune Wranglers. The tune was recorded in San Antonio on Feb. 24, 1937. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

Bernie Sanders’ campaign plans to ask for a “partial recanvass” of the results of last week’s Iowa caucuses. A campaign aide confirmed the plans on Sunday night, ahead of a Monday deadline for candidates to ask the Iowa Democratic party to recanvass the results. A recanvass is not a recount, but a check of the vote count to ensure the results were added correctly. The state party released updated results on Sunday showing Pete Buttigieg leading Sanders by two state delegate equivalents out of 2,152 counted. The Associated Press remains unable to declare a winner because it believes the results...