Free Republic

In attempting to describe Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the last four years, the press has reached for a whole host of inapt comparisons: He’s Donald Trump! He’s Scott Walker! He’s Satan! But none of these seem right. Instead — and hear me out! — he may well be Bill Clinton. No, not morally. Despite Donald Trump’s grotesque insinuation that there is something “unflattering” about DeSantis that only he knows about, there’s no indication that Florida’s governor is anything other than an upstanding husband and father.

At 5am on Wednesday Serhii Melnikov heard a noise outside. The Russian soldiers who were living in the house opposite – were packing up to leave. They had occupied the village of Mylove in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region for eight months. Now they were off, as part of a humiliating pull-out from the right-bank of the Dnipro river. “Vladimir Putin said Russia would be here for ever. In the end they left in five minutes and ran away like goats,Putin wanted to kill us. He’s ended up destroying his own country. Russia’s retreat from Kherson is an enormous failure.” ...The...

When the midterm election results were announced, I was disappointed, demoralized, and angry. I really anticipated a deadly red tsunami, 100 feet tall and moving at the speed of a Cat-5 hurricane, to overwhelm and destroy the Democrat party. I slept soundly on election eve with visions of the Democratic Party joining the Whig Party and disappearing forever. Yeah, that didn't happen The morning after the election I arose from my slumber expecting to see stunned Democratic voters washed up by the tide with the other flotsam and jetsam. Suddenly, my wonderful dream turned into a nightmare. It was mortifying...

Former President Donald Trump – who himself has come under fire for Republicans’ lackluster performance in the midterm elections – is blaming Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for the party’s apparent failure to flip the chamber’s majority in its favor. “Mitch McConnell, the Republicans Broken Down Senate Leader, does nothing about this,” Trump on social media Friday night. “He’s too busy spending vast amounts of money on bad Senator Lisa [Murkowski] of Alaska when Kelly [Tshibaka] is FAR better.” Yet Trump’s own spending choices in this year’s midterm elections have also drawn criticism.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common latent virus with over half of Americans infected with it by the age of 40, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).1 CMV typically lays dormant in people who do not have compromised immune systems. For those who are beset with the active virus, they can have more serious symptoms affecting various parts of the body including the eyes, lungs, liver, esophagus, stomach, and intestines. And for babies born with CMV, they can have brain, liver, spleen, lung, and growth issues. Hearing loss is the most common problem in this patient group...

Some years ago I was driving through the back hills of Ohio with my son, and we passed a billboard in a farmer’s field that read: “God has a Judgment Day coming!” My son asked me if the farmer who had placed the billboard in his field was Catholic or Protestant. I suggested he probably was a Protestant. My son asked why Catholics didn’t put up billboards like that. I theorized that perhaps fewer Catholics owned farms close to the highway, or maybe they were less convinced that announcing the coming judgment was really an effective means of evangelism. Billboards...

Pop quiz: Which of these two individuals do you find more problematic? Kyrie Irving, a kooky basketball player who believes that the Earth is flat, that JFK was shot by bankers, that the COVID vaccines were secretly a plot to connect all Black people to a supercomputer, and that Jews worship Satan and launched the slave trade? Or Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, who accepted $500,000 from Irving last week without even meeting or even talking to the all-star—and who was then forced to give back the donation when Irving blatantly refused to apologize? Let’s think about...

This is a developing report. Arizona Ballots Make Stop at Runbeck Printing Company to Sort Ballots Before They Are Sent to County — WITH NO OBSERVERS Ben Bergquam was outside the Maricopa County election center and followed a Penske truck leave the center and return to Runbeck. Once at Runbeck, the gate is closed.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said on Friday that the 2022 midterm elections were a “complete disappointment” for Republicans, lamenting low voter turnout on Election Day. “Here’s what happened to us. Election Day, our voters didn’t show up. We didn’t get enough voters. It was a complete disappointment,” Scott told Fox News host Sean Hannity during his prime-time show.

New House Math: Dem called/likely (212), incl. #AKAL, #CA09, #CA21, #CA47, #CA49, #CO08, #ME02, #OR06 GOP called/likely (217): incl. #CA03, #CA27, #CA45, #CO03, #NY22, #OR05 Toss Ups (6): #AZ01, #AZ06, #CA13, #CA22, #CA41, #WA03 Dems need to run the table on Toss Ups for 218.

Former President George W. Bush and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will hold a public conversation in Dallas on Tuesday amid questions among House Republicans about the importance of continuing to send money and aid to Ukraine for its fight against Russia. "Ukraine is the frontline in the struggle for freedom and democracy. It's literally under attack as we speak, and it is vitally important that the United States provide the assistance, military and otherwise to help Ukraine defend itself," David Kramer, the managing director for global policy at the George W. Bush Institute, where the event is being held, told...

The Boston City Council is taking aim at Walgreens after the company chose to close three stores in Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Roxbury. The council plans to use their legislative powers to stop Walgreens from opening any future stores in the city unless they halt the closures. An ultimatum like this is not unprecedented. Former Mayor Thomas Menino sent a letter to Chic-Fil-A, telling the company not to open in the city because of their views on same-sex marriage. "We can use whatever leverage we have, which is our zoning code, and leverage that to get them to make sure...

According to his bio Harley Pasternak, who has not denied writing these texts, once worked for the Canadian military where he participated in experiments that measured the effect of various drugs on the human mind.”

A former NFL defensive tackle and a champion motorcycle racer are the latest examples of apparently healthy people dying suddenly amid evidence the COVID-19 mRNA shots are causing serious heart damage at a rate exponentially higher than for previous vaccines.There was no report that 35-year-old Keith Farmer, a four-time British champion, and 45-year-old Adrian Dingle, who spent five seasons with the San Diego Chargers, took the COVID vaccine.However, citing the available scientific evidence, prominent cardiologists – including Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Aseem Malhotra – believe the best explanation for the "sudden and unexpected" deaths and cardiac events in otherwise...

On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) called for the Federal Reserve to remain aggressive on inflation. He also noted that New Jersey, like many other states, has unspent COVID relief money along with other government spending that will hit in the future. Murphy stated that while he is pleased by the October Consumer Price Index (CPI), “I would think, and this brings me no joy, because this is brutal at the kitchen table, but I think, if anything, the Fed continues to overcorrect. I’m on the side of aggressive behavior, because otherwise, a...

The collapse of FTX, already one of the most spectacular disasters in financial history, worsened as hundreds of millions of dollars were drained from the cryptocurrency exchange hours after it filed for bankruptcy. More than $600 million was siphoned from FTX's crypto wallets late Friday. Soon after, FTX stated in its official Telegram channel that it had been compromised, instructing users not to install any new upgrades and to delete all FTX apps. Many FTX wallet holders reported $0 balances in their FTX.com and FTX US wallets. FTX’s API appeared to be down, which could account for this. According to...

Taking on a paid role as a babysitter is a rite of passage for many teens eager to take on added responsibility and earn some cash. But a young babysitter took drastic action after the parents of her young charges failed to come home at the designated time, concocting a story that their garage was being broken into. Now, after she was taken to task by the children's mother, she has asked the internet if she was in the wrong..... "I asked how late they would need me and if I should pack an overnight bag if they were going...

Wayne Allyn Root discussing fraud in the election.

FTX is converting crypto contributions to Ukraine’s war effort into fiat for deposit at the National Bank of Ukraine. The Ukrainian government launched a new crypto donations website on Monday, streamlining its multimillion-dollar effort to turn bitcoin into bullets, bandages and other war materiel. Other estimates place the amount closer to $100 million, but totals vary with market swings and exactly which websites are included. The website deepens an unprecedented tie-up between public and private sector forces in crypto. FTX is converting donations into fiat for deposit at the National Bank of Ukraine, a press release said. It described this...

Missouri at No. 5 Tennessee | 12 p.m. | CBS No. 7 LSU at Arkansas | 12 p.m. | ESPN Indiana at No. 2 Ohio State | 12 p.m. | FOX Vanderbilt at No. 24 Kentucky | 12 p.m. | SEC Network Rutgers at Michigan State | 12 p.m. | Big Ten Network No. 20 Notre Dame vs. Navy (Baltimore, Maryland) | 12 p.m. | ABC Liberty at UConn | 12 p.m. | CBSSN Oklahoma at West Virginia | 12 p.m. | FS1 Purdue at No. 21 Illinois | 12 p.m. | ESPN2 Virginia Tech at Duke | 12 p.m....