Free Republic

Donald Trump focused on his lavish White House ballroom in his first public appearance since Democrats seized control of the House and Senate. The President largely ignored the disastrous midterm results that have left his political legacy in jeopardy, instead showing off the construction of his $600million vanity project to reporters on Wednesday morning... Trump invited the press to view his ongoing construction efforts and spoke at length about the progress on his personal vanity projects. 'It's going to be not only one of the biggest, but it'll be the most beautiful ballroom, I think, anywhere in the world,' he...

California Rep. Ro Khanna boasted about return of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) after historic Democratic victories across the country Tuesday — while a high-profile wealth tax measure he championed looked headed for defeat at the ballot box. “Tonight, DEI is back as America celebrated diversity and inclusion,” the progressive Silicon Valley congressman bizarrely said in a video posted to X as election results rolled in on Election Night. “Likely three Black governors: the first Latina governor in Texas, the first Muslim American senator, the first gay senator. I love this America tonight,” Khanna added. His celebration came as the...

A German doctor who rose to prominence for his criticism of Covid measures has been arrested in Berlin for "insulting" Berlin’s Mayor over his links to a convicted paedophile drag queen, reports John Rosenthal. A German doctor who rose to prominence during the Covid period for his criticism of the Covid-response measures has been arrested in Berlin in connection with “insults” of Berlin’s outgoing Mayor Kai Wegner. Paul Brandenburg, who has several social media channels and a podcast, has previously been the target of numerous other German speech-crime investigations and charges. Although a native Berliner, he presently lives in Switzerland....

The returns from the 2026 midterm elections had hardly finished being reported when Politico's senior political columnist, Jonathan Martin, let loose with an orgiastic burst of joy over what he considers to be the very favorable prospects of a Democratic being elected to the White House in 2028. The gloating title: "Republicans’ 2028 Presidential Map Just Blew Up."The Democratic landslide Tuesday was not just a rebuke of President Donald Trump but a political earthquake that could fundamentally transform the country’s electoral map.Suddenly, the Republican path to 270 electoral votes appears considerably narrower. But that’s not all. The red-and-blue presidential map...

Caroline Sunshine calls on White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to resign following Republican midterm losses, arguing that Wiles and her political team should be held accountable for the party's election performance.

BC Partners has abandoned plans to relaunch the breakaway league in 2027 after failing to secure commitments from several of golf's biggest names, leaving LIV facing a potential wind-down following five years of competition. LIV Golf's future is hanging in the balance after its proposed $300 million rescue deal reportedly collapsed, leaving the breakaway league facing the prospect of winding down operations. BC Partners Credit has abandoned plans to invest in a revamped LIV Golf 2.0, according to the Financial Times, dealing another significant blow to the organisation's hopes of continuing beyond 2026. The investment was dependent on LIV securing...

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) said there will be Senate Republican support for ending the war with Iran as soon as possible and threatened that Democrats will use the “power of the purse” to starve the Defense Department of funding if necessary to bring a swift end to the conflict. “We are going to end the war. We have some Republicans already who have joined us in ending the war, and the Founding Fathers had the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people,”...

Prediction markets made an interesting shift in the aftermath of the 2026 midterm elections. Websites like Kalshi and Polymarket cut Vice President JD Vance’s chances of securing the Republican presidential nomination while elevating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. This comes the day after Democrats seized control of the House and Senate in a series of upsets nationwide. Vance still leads the nomination market at 27 percent, but that price is down eight points, according to Kalshi. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits at 21 percent, down 3 points, and DeSantis is at 19 percent, up 14.6 points. The two-exchange averages tell...

James Fishback and Alex Jones declare that after leading the GOP "to the worst electoral defeat in 50 years," Trump "should resign immediately." (I say resign January 21, 2027)

Washington — President Trump touted the construction of the White House ballroom in his first appearance since Republicans' overwhelming losses in the midterm elections, hosting a celebratory event that stood in stark contrast with his new political reality in Washington. The president assembled reporters and construction workers in the unfinished massive new structure, where the building's final steel beam was set to be hoisted into the ceiling. The president praised the addition of the ballroom and nearby helipad to the White House complex as a "thing of beauty," declaring that his administration has "beautified" Washington, D.C. "This is a special...

A Bronze Age man buried in a monumental tomb near the Black Sea may have died from complications of a urinary tract infection (UTI) more than five millennia ago, according to a new study. Archaeologists identified a grape-size object consistent with a kidney or bladder stone in the man's burial. "He lived with a chronic urogenital infection," study lead author Natalia Berezina, an anthropologist at Lomonosov Moscow State University in Russia, told Live Science in an email. "It was not a brief episode," she said. "His last years were probably marked by considerable and more or less constant pain." Berezina...

Socialists are moving immediately to squeeze Gov. Kathy Hochul on taxes — even as political insiders argue her re-election on Tuesday was owed more to anti-Trump backlash than to a surging left-wing in the Empire State. The Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter — which saw a record-number of its members win election to the state Legislature — will turn up the heat on Hochul over hiking taxes on the wealthy and other issues, including expanding free childcare and raising the minimum wage. “I’m hopeful that Hochul has seen the energy, the excitement that can come from the...

Explanation: “I see” IC 342, the Hidden Galaxy! Today’s image peers through the plane of the Milky Way, through all its gas, dust and stars, to unveil this spiral galaxy. IC 342 (or Caldwell 5) is one of the brightest members of the IC 342/Maffei group of galaxies. Located about 10 million light years away, this group is quite close to the Local Group that includes our Milky Way. Inaccurate accounting of the crowded and dusty Milky Way foreground has led to misunderstandings in IC 342’s history, including the theory that the galaxy was ejected from the Local Group. IC...

For four years, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and state House Democrats blamed Republican leadership in the state Senate for blocking bills and delaying what they see as progress. But that obstacle will soon be gone. Pennsylvania Democrats won the state Senate majority by two seats, expanded their majority in the state House and reelected Shapiro. So now that the Democrats control all three bodies, what are their top priorities and how soon can they deliver on them? Democratic leaders in both the Senate and House said their first priority is raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. “If you...

Is JD Vance capitulating to the islamists in Iran to end the war (for now)?

Much of the betting appeared recreational—and Kalshi and Polymarket didn’t forecast any big surprises ahead of Election DayBy Election Day, Thomas Morrow had bet about $1,200 on prediction markets that Republicans would win their races—excited to have a way to put his money where his mouth was. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to prove very clearly that I know what I’m talking about when I make my prognostications about politics to my friends,” Morrow, 64 years old, said Tuesday.By Wednesday morning, Morrow was down about half—around $640—after Democrats staged a blowout victory in the midterm elections to recapture majorities in both...

A critical power structure near Bluff looks like a sinking Leaning Tower of Pisa after waves of floods have inundated southeast Utah over the past week. Now, as the area braces for another rise in the San Juan River, Bluff Mayor Josh Ewing is worried that a new surge could cause the damaged power pole to collapse. If it does, he said, hundreds of families in Navajo Nation communities to the south could lose power and Bluff could lose cell service for “a very long time.” Rains roared down washes in southeast Utah on Sunday and Monday, flooding Bluff’s post...

West Hollywood’s City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to create a local registry that allows throuples, foursomes, and other multi-partner groups to officially register as domestic partners, granting them rights normally reserved for families, such as hospital visitation and tenant protections. The ordinance, introduced by Mayor John Heilman, lets three or more adults file paperwork with the city clerk to record their relationship, provided the arrangement is consensual and the participants are not related by blood in a way that would bar marriage under California law. Registration is open even to people who do not live in the city.

Outgoing Florida Governor and former 2024 presidential contender Ron DeSantis has taken a swipe at Donald Trump after the Republican defeat in the midterm elections. DeSantis called it 'close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country' and singled out the Democratic wins in the Texas governor and Senate races in what he called 'the crown jewel of Republican politics.' 'Let's just be clear, that is going to hurt, not just for the next two years, that's something that can reverberate for the next decade or more,' he said at a press conference in Tallahassee on...

SACRAMENTO, CA — With pivotal midterm elections taking place across the country, one state added an extra incentive to influence their outcomes, as Governor Gavin Newsom offered electricity to California residents who vote for Democrats. With electrical power now at a premium throughout the Golden State, Newsom held a press conference to announce that any California resident who votes to elect Democratic candidates would be graciously granted electricity. "Just sweetening the pot a little bit," Newsom told reporters. "I want all Californians to know that if they vote Democrat in today's elections, not only will they receive the same...