Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO -- Early voting numbers in parts of the Bay Area seem to indicate that turnout for Tuesday's general election could be on the low side, but some officials expect a last-minute boost from in-person voters. With less than 24 hours before people are allowed to vote in person, only about 25 percent of voters have so far cast ballots by mail or by using drop boxes in Santa Clara, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. "It's super-low turnout currently," said Dawn Kruger, spokesperson for the Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters. "We've had early voting since Oct. 10...

According to Meduza sources close to the Kremlin, the presidential administration has prepared several new manuals for Russian propagandists. They indicate how to talk about the situation in Kherson – to prepare “public opinion” in Russia for the fact that the city can be abandoned. One of the documents states that the Kherson direction is “the most difficult for the Russian army at the current stage of the special operation.” Propagandists are offered to explain this situation by the fact that Ukraine “it is vitally necessary to demonstrate the combat capability of its terrorist formations to ask for new help...

Police in Wells County seized more than 1,500 fake pills they suspect had fentanyl inside during a recent drug bust. The department said Monday in a Facebook post police went to a home Oct. 26 on E 900 S, in Keystone, with an arrest warrant for 31-year-old Kyle William Burch. During a search of the house, police said they found more than 1,500 suspected fake Percocet “M30” pressed pills. Police believe the pills actually contain fentanyl- with a total weight of over 5 ounces- valued at more than $10,000. Police also found a shotgun along with what they suspect are...

Depending on which polls you look at, the Democrats are almost certain to lose the House tomorrow and might even lose control over the U.S. Senate: <@InteractivePoll tweet projecting huge Red Wave tomorrow> Sensing a midterm disaster (and a loss of power), Speaker Pelosi is resorting to a tactic that’s also been adopted by the Biden administration: Gaslighting like crazy. Who are you going to believe, your lying bank account, gas & grocery bills, or Nancy Pelosi: Oh please. And of course the Democrats have no interest in power (cue massive eye roll). Pelosi is funny, just not “ha ha”...

Texas authorities arrested a man Monday who allegedly hit Sen. Ted Cruz (R) with can of beer during the Houston Astros’ World Series parade. In a tweet on Monday, the Houston Police Department (HPD) said an unidentified man, aged 33, threw a beer can at the senator, who was on a parade float on the 2400 block of Smith Street in Houston.

Bailey accuses Pritzker of planning COVID-19 vaccine requirement for Illinois school children

Thank “infla-dating,” a term coined by dating app Plenty of Fish that means going on less expensive dates in the age of inflation due to the rising cost of living from food and drinks to gas, clothes and other everyday expenses. A steep 48% of single millennials and Gen Zers suggested going on more budget-friendly dates in a survey of 8,000 Plenty of Fish users for its annual dating trends list. It’s not surprising, considering consumer prices surged 8.2% year over year in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sticker shock is enough to make flirting happen...

I found this website while researching election ballot samples. Thought it might be helpful to others for viewing their own ballot before going to the polls.

Tanner Firl doesn’t understand why anyone would need a budget. “It never made sense to me,” the 29-year-old tells CNBC Make It. “Most people have a problem not spending money. We have almost the opposite problem.” Firl and his wife, Isabel, who live in Minneapolis, are practically allergic to spending money on anything they don’t see as a necessity, a shared attitude that plays into the couple’s financial strategy. Firl is part of the FIRE — short for financial independence, retire early — movement, and specifically adheres to a strategy known as “lean” FIRE. Practitioners of this version of FIRE...

According to a report by ‘The Verge‘, Twitter is telling advertisers that user growth is at “all-time highs” since Elon Musk has taken over. In a Twitter company document, ‘The Verge’ was able to obtain, Twitter it sharing daily user growth is at “all-time highs” since Musk took ownership of the platform. In a FAQ document sent to the Twitter sales team to be used in conversations with advertisers shares, Twitter’s monetizable daily user growth has accelerated by more than 20 percent expanding that “Twitter’s largest market, the US, is growing evermore quickly.” The FAQ also shares that Twitter has...

President Trump made a big unforced error attacking DeSantis at his rally the other day. Not just because he did so just before an election day on which the Republicans simply must destroy the Democrats–after all, Governor DeSantis doesn’t need Trump’s support to win. If Trump went into full attack mode it wouldn’t dent DeSantis’ reputation one little bit. So Trump’s attack is electorally irrelevant (which in itself is an unforced error, as it shows Trump to be weaker than he wants to look against a political rival). Trump’s attack was a mistake because he opened up an old wound...

Desperate Democrat candidates in Illinois (and I presume nationwide) have resorted to some particularly disturbing moves in recent years, and especially in the closing weeks of the campaign, in hopes of convincing their base to stick with them and some remote, gullible fraction of the middle to choose them as well. We can no longer look merely at clear issues – where a candidate is pro-tax or anti-tax, pro-Soviet or anti-Soviet, pro-abortion or anti-abortion. No, today’s Democrat candidates - well aware that their traditional base is running for the exits - twist the language in an effort to hide their...

Throughout the autumn, as Election Day approached, many of us found ourselves asking the question: But what happens if we win? Every political campaign – of either party, of any ideology – focuses on the full range of issues. Tax cuts vs. tax hikes. Overspending vs. responsibility. Hedonism vs. ethics. A strong defense vs. a projection of weakness. But after the election, we have to come down to earth, and acknowledge that no one person – no single individual – can make the entire government do a 180. When one side wins both the presidency and majorities in both houses...

-The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has ceased to report China’s app data metrics since July this year -There were 2.32 million apps operating in mainland China at the end of June, down 8 per cent from 2.52 million at the end of 2021 The Chinese government has stopped reporting data metrics of domestic apps for the last three months without explanation, which makes it difficult for outside analysts to assess the health of this industry in the world’s largest internet and smartphone market. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), one of the government agencies responsible for...

Marc Elias, the Democrat lawyer who played a key role in creating the “Russia collusion” hoax, and who pushed for vote-by-mail in the 2020 election, gloated Monday that Republicans were being “destroyed” in court cases over the 2022 midterm election process. Elias is primarily known for challenging election results in close races so that Democrats win, even in cases where Republicans appear to win on Election Day. He pushed for vote-by-mail in 2020 and is active in several lawsuits to liberalize voting rules today.

Former president Donald Trump set off a scramble Monday in the Republican Party after he threatened to upend the midterm elections by announcing his 2024 presidential bid on the eve of voting. Trump told people close to him Monday that he might announce his candidacy at a rally scheduled for Monday night in Ohio, according to three people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential conversations, prompting a chain of phone calls from party leaders who have tried for months to keep him from announcing until after the midterms. Some of his advisers...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that the Republican Party is “yielding to a cult” and a “thug” in former President Donald Trump. Cooper said, “The former president of the United States, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, others have spread stories casting doubt on what happened, fomenting conspiracy theories. What do you have to say to them?” Pelosi said, “It’s really sad for the country that people of that high visibility would separate themselves from the facts and the truth in such a blatant way. It’s really sad, and it is traumatizing to those affected...

Moscow, October 27, Interfax - The Western civilization, having abandoned its traditional values, has lost its supremacy on the world stage and, thus being a minority, has no right to impose its values on the rest of the world, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. "If western elites are assuming they can inculcate in the minds of their own people, their societies, odd but newly-fashionable trends such as dozens of genders and gay pride parades, then so be it. Let them do whatever they want, but they definitely have no right to require others to follow suit," Putin told the international...

The Venice High School band will not perform on Main Street at Disney World as originally planned on Nov. 12 because Disney asked the school to cover its Native American logo, the school's principal wrote in a letter sent to parents and students Thursday. The trip to the park itself was not canceled, and the school is searching for an alternative performance to take part in, Venice High Principal Zoltan Kerestely wrote. The principal said he asked Disney twice to reconsider its demand to cover the school's logo. "Our band deserves to be honored and celebrated without having to change...

Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney said when inflation put the squeeze on his family he popped a can of Chef Boyardee – and declared “that’s what families have to do. The House Dems campaign fundraising chief, who is also a five-term incumbent representing the Hudson Valley, gave a glowing endorsement Saturday for Beefaroni and other Chef Boyardee canned pasta products when asked about his plans “to fight inflation.” “Well, I grew up in a family where if the gas price went up, the food price went down, so by this time of the week we’d be eating Chef Boyardee if...