Free Republic

Showing once again why he didn’t fit in with the progressive orthodoxy at Vox, Matt Yglesias has a piece up on his Substack today arguing that diversity training might be doing more harm than good. The whole piece covers a lot of territory but he starts by arguing that there’s not a lot of certainty about what works in terms of anti-racist training, but there is some evidence about what doesn’t work. …as best I can tell, none of the literature seems to support the idea that in-your-face calling-out tactics are effective. What seems to work best are fairly gentle...

Russian officials in recent days have issued an unusual number of claims of what they consider fearsome provocations from neighboring Ukraine, mirroring the spurious expressions of concern that have previously served as a pretext to military deployments under the auspices of self defense. Through a series of public statements and posts through its state news services, leaders in Russia on Monday presented the unified case that Ukraine was needlessly deploying its military forces to challenge Russia’s sovereignty and its nearby interests, that rising concern in the West of military action by Moscow represents only an attempt by Kyiv to mask...

Americans are divided over whether to have fresh or canned cranberry sauce at their Thanksgiving table, according to data from Instacart. By the numbers: Fresh cranberry sauce has a slight edge, winning 26 states to canned cranberries' 24 states. Mississippians are 22.3% more likely to buy canned cranberry sauce compared to the national average. Iowans are 70.6% more likely to buy fresh cranberries. Of note: The top four states for cranberry production — Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Oregon — are split on cranberry preferences, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center. Wisconsinites and Oregonians lean toward fresh berries. Massachusetts...

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The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies posted a statement on Facebook Monday, saying members of the group were among the dead in Sunday's tragedy in Waukesha, Wisconsin. "Those who died were extremely passionate Grannies," according to the group's statement. Five people were killed and 48 were injured after a red SUV sped into Waukesha's Christmas parade Sunday afternoon. The five deceased victims from Sunday's incident range in age from 52 to 81 and include 4 females and one male, according to Police Chief Dan Thompson. The city of Waukesha confirmed the names of the victims Monday as Virginia Sorenson, 79; LeAnna Owen,...

An Indian man was declared dead following a motorcycle accident and placed in a morgue freezer — but shocked his family when they discovered that he was still breathing the next day. Srikesh Kumar, 45, was in critical condition after he was struck by the motorcycle in Moradabad, east of the capital, New Delhi, on Friday, Agence France-Presse reported. He was declared dead on arrival at a private medical facility and was taken to a government hospital. The body was placed inside the freezer until his relatives arrived six hours later. Kumar’s sister-in-law Madhu Bala noticed that he was still...

Go Ron go! Governor Ron DeSantis continues to demonstrate he is for the people of his state, announcing Monday the Republican-dominant Florida legislature will work to suspend the state’s gas tax to help residents combat the ever rising inflation. The suspension will provide a whopping $1 billion in relief to Florida drivers. DeSantis, speaking at a Buc-ee’s gas station and convenience store in Daytona Beach, blamed “inflationary policies out of Washington” for driving up prices ahead of the holidays. The Biden administration has created huge inflation with excessive government spending to the tune of 6.2%. Not only has inflation soared...

A man has bizarrely claimed he was stalked by a terrifying “dog man” monster in the Australian outback – and even says he has picture “proof”. The fisherman, called John, wildly claims he was left “petrified for a month” after encountering the supposed “half-dog, half-human creature” on two separate occasions. Speaking on the Believe: Paranormal & UFO Podcast, the Aussie insisted he was “followed” by what he has branded a “dog man” – and claims he “thought he was going to be killed”.

Target stores will no longer open their doors on Thanksgiving Day. The change, which was announced to employees on Monday, comes after the big-box retailer closed its stores on the holiday last year in an effort to limit crowds and ensure customer safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Target and other retailers have traditionally opened on Thanksgiving to capitalize on Black Friday, the start of the holiday sales rush. “What started as a temporary measure driven by the pandemic is now our new standard — one that recognizes our ability to deliver on our guests’ holiday wishes both within and...

With retirements abundant and destined to keep pouring in, it would seem that (some) Democrats have gained enough self-awareness to recognize that they’re losing. Jackie Speier has been a fixture of the California political scene for more than 40 years. So much so that in the three decades preceding her first election to Congress in a special race to replace the late Tom Lantos in 2008, there was seldom a cycle that didn’t feature Speier’s name on the ballot in the San Francisco/San Mateo County area. Before making a name for herself, though, Speier was an aide to Congressman Leo...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Former Silverton Mayor Stu Rasmussen, who was the nation’s first openly transgender mayor, passed away around 11 a.m. Wednesday from metastatic prostate cancer after spending several weeks in home hospice.

If we were standing here a year ago in Daytona, you could get a gallon of a gas — now it’s $3.34. It’s $1.31 more than it was a year ago today just right here, and that’s really true throughout the rest of the country,” he said, noting that the supply chain crisis is only exacerbating the issue. Because of that, the next legislative session will pursue providing over a billion dollars in gas tax relief for Florida families, “and that’s going to make a big, big, difference,” he announced. According to the Republican governor, the average family could save...

One of the great frustrations with Joe Biden’s vaccination mandate that has led to protests and lawsuits is the provision that puts private-sector workers out of their jobs if they remain unvaccinated. It’s already started happening in some places, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the news hasn’t been all bad for everyone. As most of you know by now, the United States has been caught up in a significant labor shortage this year as businesses around the nation have struggled to reopen. This has led some companies, including job recruiters to take note of a particular provision in the mandate and seek...

Maurice Timothy Jones, 35, was charged last month with fatally shooting 31-year-old Seth Tunstall on Sept. 7 outside of a convenience store in Cherry Hill. Surveillance video showed the two had engaged in a fist fight; Jones left the store, and was pursued by Tunstall, who emerged pointing a gun at him. When Jones drew his own weapon, Tunstall attempted to flee and was shot in the back.

There is no way to post 35 pages of documents here, but I've linked the PDF file. Long and short, it looks like the lawsuit/temporary restraining order has failed. Check out the PDF, let me know what you think.

There’s a lesson here not only about Illinois pensions but about how easily the press will let Gov. J.B. Pritzker thumb his nose at a crisis.We reported Wednesday that the total unfunded liability for Illinois state and local pensions passed the $500 billion mark. That includes pensioner healthcare liabilities, which are constitutionally guarantied just like pensions. It is based on numbers from Moody’s Investor Services which uses assumptions comparable to those used in the private sector and are less optimistic than those the state uses. Read Wirepoints Special Report: Illinois pension shortfall surpasses $500 billion, average debt burden now $110,000...

President Joe Biden broke his silence Monday about the deadly incident at a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Monday. Five people were killed and 40 wounded after an SUV plowed into a crowd of people celebrating at the parade. The president commented on the tragedy at a White House event announcing his choices to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. “An entire community is struggling, struggling to cope with the horrific act of violence,” Biden said about the Waukesha community. Biden referred to the 59th Annual Waukesha Christmas Parade as “the holiday parade in Wisconsin” and lamented...

I hadn’t heard of Winsome Sears until she appeared to acknowledge victory in her race for Virginia lieutenant governor on the evening of November 2. My immediate reaction was that a star is born. Of the politicians who spoke that night, she said what I most wanted to hear. Yesterday she appeared for a segment on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bash. Bash went in search of a cudgel with which to bash Sears and somehow landed on vaccines (see CNN story here). Neither our nor CNN’s State of the Union is good. However, I stand by my...

ABC legal analyst Sunny Hostin said Monday on ABC’s “The View” that she believes if Kyle Rittenhouse were black, he would not be alive, much less acquitted of murder and other charges after he shot and killed two men and injured a third during a Black Lives Matter protest last year in Kenosha, WI. Co-host Joy Behar asked, “Sunny, if he were black would he be free now?”

With President Biden reportedly reappointing Jerome Powell to a second term as Federal Reserve chair and make Lael Brainard as vice chair, he will have an opportunity to meet with them privately. So why am I suggesting Biden should do what no other U.S. president has done and indicate that he wants the Fed to raise rates in an election year? To be sure, throughout the Fed’s history, the opposite tack has been more common: Presidents Johnson, Nixon and, most recently, Trump all jawboned the Fed to keep interest rates low to support the economy and their reelection prospects. The...