Free Republic

New York Times reporter Evan Gershkovich is being held in Russia as a suspected spy. President Biden is eager to reach a deal to free "this courageous defender of democracy," but is "waiting for the appropriate person to exchange in return for his release." Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained that "as the President sees it, the person he wants to exchange for Gershkovich is Donald Trump. Trump, as most people will remember, was Russia's preferred candidate for president in 2016. They worked hard to rig the election in his favor, and sadly, were successful in stealing it away from former...

CNN was the kingmaker in 2016; why shouldn’t it be now? In a shift for his campaign, Ron DeSantis plans to sit down with CNN’s Jake Tapper to discuss the Florida governor’s vision for America. It will no doubt make CNN some cash that the network apparently needs. Like a quickly arranged fight between two spendthrift boxers, both the network and the campaign have a sense of urgency. While I remain unconcerned about DeSantis’s prospects, the early success of DeSantis’s campaign in national and state-level polling has slipped ever since Trump regained the news cycle, in the wake of investigations...

White House aide John Kirby said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that the inconclusive investigation into who brought cocaine into the West Wing was handled properly. Anchor Shannon Bream asked, “I want to talk about a national security issue that is domestic and that is cocaine in the White House.” She added, “Certainly you can understand that Americans, many of them, first of all, are aghast that there was ever cocaine in the White House. We heard reports of marijuana a couple of times found there last year as well. But more importantly it is that the...

Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., agreed Sunday that the expansion of NATO into Asia is only a matter of time amid the alliance’s growing concern about China.During appearances on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked each senator, who described one another as close friends, whether they thought NATO expansion into Asia was "inevitable" over the next one to two decades."Oh, I think it is. And I think it was a positive summit. I think there was a lot of progress," Sullivan, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and a military veteran...

Former President Donald Trump is boasting a 39-point lead in the Republican primary race, a TIPP Insights survey found.The survey found Trump with majority support, 53 percent, among registered Republicans and Republicans who lean independent. That reflects a two-point drop from the 55 percent who said the same in June.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second with 14 percent support. That reflects a five-point drop for the presidential hopeful in the span of one month.Anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy saw the greatest increase in support over the last month, tying former Vice President Mike Pence for third place by...

The Left likes to treat skeptics of electrical cars as if they were Luddites. Truth is, making an existing product less efficient, but more expensive, doesn’t really meet the definition of innovation. Even the purported amenities and technological advances EV makers like to brag about in their ads have been a regular feature of gas-powered vehicles going back generations. At best, EVs, if they fulfill their promise, are a lateral technology. Which is why there is no real “emerging market” for EVs in the United States as much as there’s an industrial policy in place that props up EVs with...

Leading House Democrats distanced themselves Monday from top progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s characterization of Israel as a “racist state” over the weekend as official Washington prepares for a visit by the Jewish state’s president, Isaac Herzog. Jayapal (D-Wash.), who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, made the controversial retort while seeking to assuage protesters at the progressive Netroots Nation conference on Saturday. She later walked the comment back, but party leaders quickly tried to make clear she didn’t speak for them. “Israel is not a racist state,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) and Caucus Chair...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I just feel like there's some stuff they're not telling us about these electric cars... A Rivian owner said his R1T electric pickup truck cost about $42,000 to fix after it was hit at a stoplight earlier this year, according to a report The New York Times. Chris Apfelstadt told the publication that while he'd expected the repair wouldn't be cheap, it was a "shocking number." The incident, which occurred February in Columbus, Ohio, was at first believed to be somewhat minor, according to the Times report, which said the other...

I see many Republican candidates proudly exclaim the importance of USA being the strong leader of the free world. I'm curious what that means for today, and why that is important. What values is USA promoting in other countries in the world. Which examples of successes do we have to show from this role as a leader in the past 20 years. Maybe I'm too ignorant about all the many nuances of the international scene. Can someone explain what this means and why it is important?

'What About Hillary Clinton... And Joe Biden... And Hunter Biden?': Wesley Hunt Grills FBI's Wray.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed constitutional amendment on gun safety has two great things going for it. The first is that it aims to protect four popular and modest commonsense restrictions: a ban on assault weapons, mandated background checks on gun buyers, a waiting period before buyers can take possession, and a minimum purchasing age of 21. All four requirements are already law in California, where they contribute to a gun death rate that’s about 37% lower than the national average. All four are currently in peril as the U.S. Supreme Court continues to strike down reasonable gun laws. Under Newsom’s...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced Monday that Edward Caban will be the next head of the city’s police department, making him the first Latino officer to lead the branch since its establishment. “We knew we had to get it right. We knew we had to appoint the right person. And I saw in Eddie long ago, the possibility. I knew that there was something special about Edward Caban,” Adams said. “I’ve watched him, his discipline, his attitude, the diversity of the people who constantly told me what he meant to them.”

Video of teenage boys crushing US Woman's soccer team.

Is there a way to have the 'Links' page where things we've Bookmarked on FR sort by date, rather than alphabetically?

The New York Post reports that Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and a well-known woke billionaire, has recently made a contribution of $699,600 to President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. Hoffman’s political activities have been a subject of scrutiny for quite some time. Hoffman joined forces with George Soros in 2021 to create a project aimed at combating “disinformation.” This was seen as somewhat ironic, given that Hoffman himself had previously been embroiled in a scandal for a project that deliberately spread disinformation during the 2017 Alabama Senate race. The project, known as “Good Information Inc.,” was led by Democratic...

Walt Disney DIS –2.97% stock was nearing a one-year low on Monday morning as the entertainment company’s recent slide continued. Walt Disney stock (ticker: DIS) was down 1.5% to $87.32, while the S&P 500 SPX +0.29% index was up 0.2%. Disney was the second-worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.19% , which was up 0.1%. Only Verizon Communications VZ –4.85% (VZ), down 3.2%, had fallen more. Disney shares are up just 3.7% from their 52-week closing low of $84.17 on Dec. 28. If the stock falls below $83.83, it would mark Disney’s lowest close since 2014. Shares...

It is very rare for a movie’s popularity to grow after the first weekend of wide release. Studios routinely expect a significant decline, after the eager fans have already attended and the impact of the marketing blitz fades. When a movie’s gross receipts soar, it is almost a certain sign that word-of-mouth publicity – the hope and dream of every mass entertainmåent product – is spreading the word that this is a film not to be missed. >That appears to be what is happening with Sound of Freedom, the movie chronicling one man’s fight against child sex slavery. (If you...

In the wake of the recent discovery of newly disclosed documents by the House Select Subcommittee on the COVID Pandemic, a former State Department investigator insists there is evidence indicating that Dr. Anthony Fauci not only knew about the gain-of-function research at the Wuhan laboratory but also recognized the man-made nature of COVID. It’s well known at this point that scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were conducting gain-of-function research with funding originating from the National Institutes of Health. According to the redacted documents, on Feb. 1, 2020, Fauci wrote a letter acknowledging that while it was still possible...

Photo: AlamyPresident Donald Trump shared his vision for America at Saturday’s Turning Point Action Conference in Florida, vowing to end the war in Ukraine, secure the border, and stand up to the corruption of Big Pharma.He declared, “The great silent majority is RISING like never before—and under our leadership, the forgotten man and woman will be forgotten no longer! With your help, your love, and your vote, we will put AMERICA FIRST – WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”Saturday’s event was swamped by thousands of young American patriots whom Trump called on to “propel America to glorious new heights.”"2024 is...

President Donald Trump told Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” that America has a man in the White House that “has no clue what’s happening” on the world stage. Trump said, “So I know President Xi better than I know you, which is pretty good.” He continued: “You’ve got to understand this is a man who’s at the top of this his game. He’s dealing with an incompetent person in Joe Biden.” “He’s never seen anything like it. And I was very tough on China,” Trump continued. “I tariffed them to a level 25 and 50%, everything. We took in...