Free Republic

Parents unhappy with the woke takeover of their local education systems won big on Tuesday when they ousted progressive school board members and beat out pro-critical race theory candidates in multiple districts across the nation.In Southlake, Texas, Andrew Yeager, a father concerned with the top-achieving school district’s drastic “cultural competence action plan” — which aims to shame people, especially white people, based on their race — won the seventh spot on the Carroll Independent School District’s school board on Tuesday in a landslide victory against his opponent Stephanie Williams. Yeager’s win was quickly maligned by NBC News as the result...

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced Wednesday he has canceled in-person appearances at events due to a coronavirus exposure. DeWine and his wife, Fran DeWine, canceled all in-person events through Sunday after they were exposed to COVID-19 by two staff members. The governor’s office said DeWine and his wife both are fully vaccinated and received the COVID-19 booster shot.

While speaking to reporters on Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that while she is saddened by Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe’s defeat in the Virginia gubernatorial race, “the people have spoken.” And “We respect the results.” Pelosi also stated that the results in Virginia do not change the agenda for the House of Representatives. Pelosi said, “Well, the people have spoken. We respect the results. I’m very sad. Terry McAuliffe was a great leader and he was a great governor of the state.”

We rarely pay attention to one of the most shocking warnings Jesus ever gave: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea (Mark 9:14). This is the gentle Jesus, meek and mild, speaking to everyone, addressing everyone as whoever. One of the great signs of degradation in our present culture is the attack progressivism has made and is making on our children. The Puritans in Massachusetts in 1647 “ordered that every township in...

Republican Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin garnered more support from Hispanic voters than Democrat Terry McCauliffe, a Fox News exit poll shows. According to the poll, 54 percent of Hispanic voters backed Youngkin and 45 percent cast their ballots for McCauliffe — a nine percentage point difference for Virginia’s fastest-growing ethnic group. In pre-election analysis from the Washington Post, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University Mark J. Rozell noted that Latino voters are an “emerging powerhouse in Virginia politics.” “It can make a critical, perhaps, the critical difference in this election,” Rozell correctly forecasted.

UPSET ALERT: GOP truck driver Edward Durr, who spent $153 on his campaign, leads incumbent Dem State Senate President Steve Sweeney.. In what could be the BEST story of the 2021 election cycle, Republican Edward Durr — a Harley-riding, Eagles fan and truck driver — is on the verge of defeating his Dem opponent, 7-term incumbent State Senate President Steve Sweeney after reportedly spending only $153 on his campaign: https://www.nj.com/politics/2021/11/live-election-results-nj-senate-assembly-races-2021.html

Last night in the New Jersey Governor’s race Republican Jack Ciattarelli was leading current Democrat Governor Phil Murphy in the largest county in the state, Bergen County. Then suddenly things changed. Last night the governor’s race in New Jersey was showing the Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli in the lead over the incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy. Then miraculously things changed. With 83% of the votes counted in the state, Republican Ciattarelli held a statewide lead of 42,000 votes. At this time, Bergen County, the largest county in New Jersey, claimed 100% reporting with Ciattarelli winning 52% of the vote. Then things...

The institutions of civil society are now thoroughly politicized. "Wokeness" is their ideology and religion, and mastering an ever-changing arcane vocabulary is now the key to access to the elite, as well as making sure you're not the next one sent to the proverbial Gulag. I can't keep up with everything in this vein. Still, I've been silent long enough, so I think it's worth passing along interesting tidbits as they come. A few items on this theme came across the transom last week, that seem fun to share. The American Medical Association issued an official 54 page document instructing...

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch issued an apology on Monday after using the R-word during a post-race interview at Martinsville Speedway. Busch uttered the slur against people with disabilities on Sunday while describing a move made by his opponent, Brad Keselowski. "It's frickin' r-------, man, so stupid," Busch said. "I don't understand these guys. I should beat the s--- out of [Keselowski] right now, is what I should do, but that doesn't do me any good either."

What looked like a draw for control of the House of Delegates turned into an apparent Republican victory with the defeat of Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, who had appeared to narrowly win re-election over GOP newcomer Kim Taylor. Instead, Taylor took a late lead in what appears to be an upset victory over Aird, as the battle for a House majority swung back and forth Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning with unofficial results subject to canvassing by local electoral boards to determine final winners. House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, declared victory with a statement released at 1:40 a.m....

Hollywood celebrities let loose a collective wail of despair after Republicans won big in Tuesday’s election, with Glenn Youngkin handily beating former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) in the race for Virginia governor. Stars including Rosie O’Donnell, Cher, Amber Tamblyn, Jeffrey Wright, Sophia Bush, Bradley Whitford, and Rosanna Arquette expressed their panic and anger at the electoral trouncing.

<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran seized a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman last month and still holds the vessel off Bandar Abbas, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.</p><p>One of the officials said paramilitary Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops took control of the MV Southys on Oct. 24 at gunpoint. U.S. forces had monitored the seizure, but ultimately didn't take action as the vessel went into Iranian waters.</p>

On this date in 1324, Ireland entered the witch-burning club by burning to death servant Petronilla de Meath for the infernal traffickings of her escaped mistress. Alice Kyteler, the stock of a successful family in the prosperous medieval trading hub, was the real target of what Jeffrey Burton Russell reckoned “complex machinations prompted by politics and greed.” Kyteler was on to her fourth husband and had done well from her previous matches: a little too well, in fact. The various stepchildren from Kyteler’s various marriages were aggrieved that she took the assets she married into, and lavished them on her...

An election loss by Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe would spell doom for Democrats in the 2022 congressional midterms as well as the 2024 general election, warned Vice President Kamala Harris Friday evening. She spoke just days before McAuliffe suffered a crushing defeat, as she stressed the election’s crucial impact on “how the country is gonna move.” Harris’ warning was made last week as she joined McAuliffe campaigning at a “get out the vote” rally ahead of the Virginia governor election.

The voters of Maine passed the "right to food" state constitutional amendment on Tuesday, the first amendment of its kind in the U.S. The Associated Press reported that the amendment to Maine's constitution would “declare that all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment, sustenance, bodily health, and well-being.” The vote on the "right to food" amendment was passed with large support in Maine's state legislature, but needed to be placed on the ballot following approval from lawmakers.

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali has been ordained to the Catholic priesthood for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham by Cardinal Vincent Nichols. Mazur/cbcew.org.uk The former Anglican Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has been ordained as a Catholic priest by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, in a ceremony described by the Cardinal as a “moment of great joy.” The ordination, held on on Saturday 30 October, was, Nichols added, an occasion to “to build on the fruitfulness of the priestly ministry” Nazir-Ali had “faithfully exercised for so many years.” Celebrated by Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, the ordination Mass was attended...

Novavax Inc (NVAX.O) expects regulators in India, the Philippines and elsewhere to make a decision on its COVID-19 vaccine within "weeks," its chief executive told Reuters, after the shot on Monday received its first emergency use authorization (EUA) from Indonesia. Novavax shares were up about 13% after the company also said it had filed an application for emergency use of the vaccine to Canada and the European Medicines Agency. For Indonesia, the shot will be manufactured by the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, Serum Institute in India (SII), and sold under the Indian company's brand name, Covovax. Novavax said initial shipments...

Sydney Catholics Azelie and Joseph Harb reclaimed Halloween this year and it was no trick and all treat! The tiny revellers were among growing numbers of families celebrating in a way both faithful and festive by ditching costumes of ghouls and goblins in favour of their favourite Saints. As the night before All Saints’ Day followed by All Souls’ Day, it’s a festival with deeply religious roots and today being resurrected as a time of remembering Saints and departed souls, not just an opportunity to dress up, knock on neighbours’ doors and collect lollies. Long-time parishioner of Belfield’s St...

Meet the political prisoners of the new 'War on Terror'. The accused of 1/6 have endured abuse and months of pretrial detention. And now 'War on Terror' 2.0 has its first confirmed kill: slain protestor Ashli Babbitt.

New Jersey’s neck-and-neck gubernatorial race could head to a recount after the votes are tallied — as Democrat Phil Murphy and Republican Jack Ciattarelli remain in a dead heat the day after the polls closed, political commentators say. “Every pollster was wrong. This is likely to be a recount race, either way,” former Garden State Gov. Chris Christie told TownHall early Wednesday. “There’s a very legitimate chance Jack could win this,” he added. In New Jersey, there is no automatic recount, but any candidate can request a recount within 17 days after an election by applying to a judge of...