Free Republic

With the Biden administration pushing hard to force a war with Russia, it was a rare pleasure to see Matt Lee nail Ned Price for refusing to give a straight answer. The same media types who were horrified at the thought of the Gulf War even though it was ostensibly to increase America’s security, are all in for the Biden administration’s frantic effort to get America involved in a winter land war against Russia that will confer no benefit whatsoever on America. That’s why it was strange and wonderful to watch the Associated Press’s Matt Lee nail Ned Price, the...

A North Carolina school board doubles down on student indoctrination. On January 31, 2022 the Orange County NC School Board held a special meeting, reviewing the books Out of Darkness, Gender Queer, and Lawn Boy. The board voted unanimously to keep these books in the public-school libraries. The board then waived procedure stating the status of the material as indefinitely approved, unable to be challenged after two years per the stated policy. Parents needed to be punished for raising concerns! Towards the end of the meeting, board member Sarah Smylie, inferred that parental concern is a “distraction” from real work....

SALT LAKE CITY – Republican officials meeting in Utah advanced a watered-down resolution Thursday that would formally censure GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for their perceived disloyalty to former President Donald Trump but not seek to expel them from the party. The resolution's passage through a subcommittee followed hours of hand-wringing over language that initially would have called on the House Republican Conference to oust Cheney and Kinzinger, the only Republicans on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The censure resolution is expected to be voted on Friday by all 168 Republican National...

Our Canadian brothers and sisters to the north are known universally for maple syrup, hockey, and an unwavering politeness. But what used to be an endearing quality common to the peoples of the great North is now proving to be their cultural undoing. The same can be said for our easygoing Aussie counterparts. Until recently, we were all under the impression that Australians were just a sort of crazier version of Americans. Similar in temperament and values and most notably in their love of freedom. But just look at what has happened to their country in an incredibly short period...

A German artist has created a cube supposedly made from pure gold and plopped it in the middle of Manhattan's largest greenspace - in a wild publicity stunt to draw attention to a new cryptocoin that was launched at the same time. Reportedly made from pure, 24-carat, 999.9 fine gold and weighing 410 pounds, Niclas Castello took more than 4,500 hours to create it. The cube has a hollow core. If the gold is real, the entire artwork would be valued at $11.7 million, going by the current price of the precious metal of $1,788 per ounce. A security team...

United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement last week. (Or, more accurately, his announcement was leaked by resident Joe Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain, months before Breyer planned to announce it himself.) Breyer is part of the Court's liberal faction, so his replacement, named by a Democrat president, is unlikely to change the outcome of cases. Even so, Biden wasted no time proclaiming that he intended to make good on a campaign promise to appoint the first Black female Supreme Court justice. The last person who should be bragging about his commitment to advancing the cause...

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Paths to power and winning elections inside the GOP are changing rapidly and radically, spawning a new generation of kingmakers while diminishing the clout of many who lorded over the party for years. Why it matters: Fourteen of the Republican Party's top consultants and operatives across the country spoke in detail with Axios about how profoundly primary races have changed since 2014 — the last pre-Donald Trump midterm election and the last midterms in which a Democrat occupied the White House. What we found: Those sources — whose clients range from as Trumpy as they come to establishment Republicans —...

Are we returning to normalcy? The word "normalcy," as history buffs know, was used (but not invented) by our only journalist president, Warren G. Harding, to sum up his 1920 campaign. Normalcy was political shorthand for returning to normal times after a European war, prosecutions of peaceful protesters, sharp inflation and depression, terrorist bombings at home, totalitarian revolutions abroad and a pandemic influenza that killed, proportionately, more than twice as many Americans as COVID-19. Normalcy was popular, too. Harding won the popular vote 60% to 34%, the largest percentage margin in history. The fighting ended; the economy grew; political protesters...

Source: Twitter, Jill BidenOne of the memorable scenes in the 1993 movie "Dave" involved the president and first lady walking their dog in front of the cameras and promptly dumping him on staff when they walked into the White House. Having a pet is an easy way to get positive press that "humanizes" any politician, so almost every president does it -- and milks it. For example, there was Socks the cat, who came in with the Clintons in 1993. Then the Clintons added Buddy the dog at the end of 1997, weeks before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. Hillary...

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics kicks off with around 2,900 athletes from more than 90 countries and regions participating in over 100 events.

In large part, policies currently implemented in many states show a profound misunderstanding of human nature. Every human being is a living structure made up of at least four components: biology (the physical, the behavioral, a.k.a. what humans do), psychology (the mind, a.k.a. what humans think), social connections (our relationships to other beings), and spirituality (our beliefs in something that transcends, goes beyond the physical). Each of these components has inherently good features, bad features, and ugly features (the GBU, for short). In the physical, the bad is illness, disease, genetic defects; the good is excellent form and health; the...

Homeless encampments in Austin, Texas, were legalized in 2021, but the people of this fast-growing tech mecca have had second and third thoughts about what looked like a good idea on paper but turned out to be an eyesore under bridges. Austin politicos have just finished removing virtually all remaining visible homeless camps. Other cities are taking notice. The journey to this current outcome was far from a straight path. Put bluntly, it was a dizzying display of waffling “wokeness.” In 2019, the city council of Austin had the bright idea to legalize homeless camps. Unfortunately, they took the vote...

NEW YORK — A century ago, the publisher of the New York Times scolded an attorney for the newspaper who had just settled a libel lawsuit that had looked as though it would be hard for the paper to win. “I would never settle a libel lawsuit to save a little money,” Adolph Ochs wrote in a letter to the lawyer. “If we have damaged a person we are prepared to pay all he can get the final court to award.” That sensibility has guided the newspaper ever since, with the Times generally refusing to settle libel lawsuits for money...

resident Biden ignited a political firestorm last month when he announced that he would fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by Justice Stephen Breyer’s resignation with a Black woman. This was reportedly the result of a deal (political quid pro quo) that candidate Biden struck with Representative James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) in return for delivering the Black vote in the South Carolina primary. resident Biden did a huge disservice to both the integrity of the selection process in nominating justices to the high court and to the candidate that is ultimately chosen. The fact that Biden would enter into such...

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

MOSCOW, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Russia and China on Friday called in a joint statement for NATO to halt its expansion, while Moscow said it fully supported Beijing's stance on Taiwan and opposed Taiwanese independence in any form.

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) Russia's Gazprom has agreed a 30-year contract to supply China's CNPC with natural gas from a new pipeline connecting Russia's Far East with China's northeast..... The first gas will start flowing in two to three years, with volumes building up to 10 billion cubic meters a year around 2026, said the person, who declined to be named due to company policy. The deal will be settled in euros, the person added

New series on Amazon.