Free Republic

U.S. President Joe Biden's chances of re-election are being jeopardized by voters' concerns over his age, the economy and crime, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, creating an opportunity for Republican challenger Donald Trump to return to the White House. The opinion poll found Democrat Biden, 80, tied in a hypothetical November 2024 election against Trump, 77, the former president who is the front-runner for the Republican nomination, with both receiving 39% of the vote and one in five voters undecided. Democrats held a strong advantage among voters most concerned about protecting abortion rights, while Republicans had an edge among those...

The Big Three auto companies and the UAW are suffering under Bidenomics (code for massive green energy payoffs to large donors). As I pointed out yesterday, the auto industry suffered a large decline of -7.60% in Q2 as a result of rising car prices (going electric is EXPENSIVE) and increasing consumer debt to cope with Bidenomics. So when we consider the UAW’s demands of $20 an hour hike in pay, you have to consider that under “Union Joe” gasoline prices are up 70%, and food CPI is up 20%. So a 20% pay hike won’t even cover the cost of...

On this date in 1931, Libyan independence martyr Omar [al-]Mukhtar was publicly hanged by the Italians at their concentration camp in Suluq. Mukhtar (English Wikipedia entry | Italian) was born an Ottoman subject back in 1858 and had lived long enough to see his native Libya seized in the 1911-12 Italo-Turkish War. Mukhtar, a religious teacher and follower of the Senussi movement, became the leader of the Libyan resistance that dogged the Italian occupation. Mukhtar proved an energetic and successful desert guerrilla fighter, and he had to be given the Italians’ mechanized military. The Italians executed an estimated 4,000 Libyans...

Want to have some ability to choose where your child goes to school? Well, then you’re a racist. So says Randi Weingarten, leader of the American Federation of Teachers. Words like “school choice” or “parental rights,” she maintains, are the “same kinds of words” used by segregationists, so if you use them too, you’re one of them. Predictably, Weingarten is now furiously backpedaling, claiming that she was just making an innocent comment about “language” rather than actually accusing anyone of being racist, but this isn’t the first time she’s beat this drum. In 2017, she called school-choice programs the “only...

Special counsel Jack Smith obtained at least 32 direct messages found in Donald Trump's Twitter account as part of the investigation into the former president's alleged efforts to thwart the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election, according to a court filing unsealed Friday. [Friday Night Document Dump - more quotes in Comment #1 - Jack Smith made extraordinary secret Search demands on Twitter in April 2023]

“If a politician does a ‘favor’ for a crime boss, and the crime boss pays the politician’s wife, it’s still bribery. If the crime boss pays the politician’s crackhead son on account of the favor, it’s still bribery.” — Jeff Childers, the Coffee & Covid blog. Just as a janky investment can turn catastrophically ruinous in the finance world, “Joe Biden” has transmuted from an asset to a liability for the Party of Chaos as we enter the season when things get real. Just weeks ago, the phantasm in the White House could do nothing wrong, despite doing absolutely everything...

Former Vice President Mike Pence warned this week that if Russian forces are not repelled in Ukraine, U.S. military service members may have to step up to the fight. "I’m convinced that if the Ukrainian military doesn’t stop and repel that Russian invasion, it’s not going to be too long before that Russian army crosses a border that our men and women in uniform are going to have to go and fight under our NATO Treaty," Mr. Pence said during a town hall-style interview with NewsNation on Wednesday. "I truly believe it. Whether that's Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, ... Poland, I...

Who says there isn’t life after death? The death of socialism in the United States (except on college campuses) had been solemnly pronounced many times during the 1980s and 1990s. But for the past several years, we have seen multiple sightings of the beast. Back in 2018, for example, the actor Jim Carrey told Bill Maher: “We have to say yes to socialism—to the word and everything. We have to stop apologizing.” I'm pretty sure that no one told this poor fellow that, were socialism to be instituted in the United States, one of the first things that would happen...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

Ukraine says it has destroyed a sophisticated Russian air defence system in occupied Crimea. Kyiv's security service (SBU) and navy carried out the attack on a Russian facility near Yevpatoriya using cruise missiles and drones, a Ukrainian intelligence source told the BBC. Video footage on social media showed a fire and smoke near the city, in the west of the Russian-occupied peninsula. Moscow has yet to directly comment on the claim. (snip) According to the BBC's intelligence source, the Ukrainian operation used drones to take out radar equipment, then cruise missiles to hit air defence missile launchers. "After disabling the...

17 September 2023 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time the Abbey Church of St. Hildegard in BingenReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(I).First readingEcclesiasticus 27:33-28:9 ©Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you; and when you pray, your sins will be forgivenResentment and anger, these are foul things, and both are found with the sinner.He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord, who keeps strict account of sin.Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?Showing...

After decades of America’s political, cultural, and media elites lying to the American electorate, the public has become deeply cynical and distrustful of institutional authority. But while this may initially seem like a depressing development, the fact that voters now understand they are being deceived has eroded the effectiveness of the lies propagated by those in power – perhaps marking the first step toward a restoration of constitutional government where the people are truly in charge. There is no clearer illustration of the declining trust in American institutions than the complete collapse of faith in the legacy press. The percentage...

Billionaire Democratic donor George Soros is financing an army of Gen-Z TikTokers to push his extreme left-wing causes, praise President Joe Biden, and bash conservatives, a review of public documents and social media by The Post shows. Soros’ Open Society Foundation shelled out $5.5 million to the nonprofit Accelerate Action Inc. in 2020 and 2021 — which in turn gave at least $300,000 in 2022 to another nonprofit, Gen Z for Change, which boasts a network of 500 “activists, organizers, and creators,” tax filings show. The woke foot soldiers regularly go into battle on behalf of abolishing border enforcement, defunding...

The nation's largest federal appeals court has put public schools across the western U.S. on notice that they cannot penalize student groups for their religious beliefs while granting secular clubs exemptions to nondiscrimination policies. The sweeping ruling Wednesday prompted multiple partial and full concurrences, dissents and alliances, particularly on legal standing, among 11 judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They heard the case en banc after California's San Jose Unified School District appealed a three-judge panel's ruling in favor of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The 9-2 majority made no legal distinction between clubs that require leaders...

President Biden on Friday delivered brief remarks on the United Auto Workers strike that began Thursday night, accusing auto companies of refusing to share their profits with workers. In a televised statement, Biden said the Big Three automakers were making "record profits" that "have not been shared fairly, in my view, with workers." "No one wants a strike," Biden said. "But I respect workers' right to use their options under the collective bargaining system. Autoworkers sacrificed so much to keep the industry alive and strong, especially through the economic crisis and the pandemic. Workers deserve a fair share of the...

16 September 2023 Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs on Saturday of week 23 in Ordinary Time Saint Cyprian Catholic Church, Long Beach, CA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: A(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst reading1 Timothy 1:15-17 ©Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinnersHere is a saying that you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them; and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to...

... I think we all knew this request was eventually going to happen. The question going forward is whether Judge Chutkan is willing to attempt to block the #1 presidential candidate from speaking, while simultaneously allowing the DOJ/FBI and Jack Smith to leak to the media. Unfortunately, I think the intent to support the request is exactly why Judge Chutkan unsealed the request. She is trying to control the blast damage from a decision she fully intends to make. ...

Gabriel Metcalf was arrested in Billings, Montana, for violating the Gun Free School Zone Act on August 22, 2023. The Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Thomas K. Godfrey asked for pre-trial detention at the August 25, 2023, preliminary hearing. The reason for pre-trial detention is listed in the image. The Magistrate Judge, Timothy J. Cavan, granted the Order of Detention for Gabriel Metcalf. The reasons checked on the order of detention pending trial form is a claim the judge believed the Government had proven, by clear and convincing evidence, that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably...

Angry New Yorkers heckled and screamed at Democrat lawmakers during a chaotic press conference Friday morning as they tried to address the city’s migrant crisis. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerry Nadler and other Democrats were drowned out by the furious crowd outside the Roosevelt Hotel mega shelter in Midtown. “Immigrants makes America strong,” said Nadler. “Nowhere is that clearer than right here in New York.” “Close the freaking border!” one protester shouted as Nadler spoke. The protesters waved signs against illegal immigration and flipped the Democrats off as they spoke. “The city is always changing,” Nadler continued. The one constant is...

Sen. Bernie Sanders addressed striking autoworkers in Detroit on Friday, calling on working people across the U.S. to stand in solidarity with the walkout. Sanders called out General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares and Ford CEO Jim Farley, all of whom made over $20 million last year, about their pay. “It is time for you to end your greed,” Sanders said. “It is time for you to treat your employees with the respect and dignity they deserve. It is time to sit down and negotiate a fair contract.” The independent senator from Vermont has promoted the strikes...