Free Republic

An extinction event is a rapid, sweeping collapse -- something so disruptive that what emerges afterward is unrecognizable from what came before. Volcano eruptions or meteor strikes can trigger such events in the natural world. Washington, D.C. may be approaching a political version of the same phenomenon, and Republicans seem disturbingly unprepared for what is coming. The GOP currently holds narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress -- seven seats in the House and six in the Senate. Those margins are razor-thin by any measure, and fragile given that five senators, three Republicans and two Democrats, are over eighty years...

In 1914, Europe stumbled into a war no one wanted and few understood;a war that destroyed empires and redefined civilization.Today, Washington risks repeating that mistake, this time with nuclear weapons on the table. Through arrogance, ignorance, or incompetence, the United States is drifting toward direct confrontation with Russia, the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, with consequences that could be apocalyptic.President Trump last week said he has “sort of” made a decision about supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine or NATO allies.He wants to learn more about “what they are doing with them” before making a final decision. His goal is to...

In 1965, the Four Seasons released “Bye Bye Baby.” Today, there is a new top hit called “Bye Bye Jimmy,” referring to the recently suspended Jimmy Kimmel. A few years earlier, in 1962, NBC premiered “The Tonight Show” featuring Johnny Carson. It was ranked as one of the greatest T.V. shows of all time. Carson was funny and entertaining. Although he interviewed past presidents including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton, he “refused to discuss his personal political views on the show out of concern it might alienate his audience.Several decades later, ABC launched “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in 2003....

My flak jacket is on as I write this since I am sure to offend or piss off some friends, family, and colleagues who are ostensibly Republicans or conservatives but have a visceral aversion to Donald Trump. Some tell me they are Republican and miss Ronald Reagan but also admit they “couldn’t” vote for Donald Trump in either 2016 or 2020. Nothing says one is Republican like voting for a liberal Democrat. This is the NeverTrump wing of the Republican Party, emerging shortly after Trump secured the GOP nomination in 2016. Reasons for NeverTrump-ism are myriad. Some were offended by...

It has been three years since COVID-19 entered the scene. It probably emerged in the previous year based on COVID antibodies found in banked blood from the fall of 2019 and a severe non-influenza respiratory illness sweeping through ICUs in the early winter of 2019. In those days it was simply called the Chinese coronavirus, based on the reported origin but we still don’t know that for sure.In fact, much of what we have been told about COVID over the past three years has turned out to be “misinformation”, as government, corporate media, and big tech described everything that went...

In the movie Moneyball, Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane queries his team of scouts when discussing a prospective player, “If he's a good hitter, why doesn't he hit good?” The scouts all have solid explanations, at least in their minds, of why a prospect might be a good hitter, from the sound of the crack of the bat when they hit the ball to the player’s good looks. These explain why the player should be a good hitter, but what if the numbers, from batting average to on-base percentage, tell a different story? The question Billy poses is obvious...

Cardboard cutouts are life size replicas of a person, typically famous, perfect for parties, events, and photoshoots, as Amazon describes for a cardboard cutout of President Trump. As Amazon explains, these cutouts are easy to assemble, stand on their own, won’t break or damage easily and best of all come with a 30-day money back guarantee. Joe Biden is a cardboard cutout candidate. He was easy to assemble. He did no work on his own with his handlers at CNN and MSNBC assembling his candidacy out of the ash heap of the Democrat primaries. Granted Biden’s primary opponents were as...

I believe that Donald Trump will be the last Republican president many of us will ever see in our lifetimes. We hope that he will serve two terms, but even that is not a given, despite his popularity both personally and of his MAGA agenda. I’ll call it the three D’s, in honor of Trump’s first name Donald – demeanor, demographics, and deception. (snip)...In other words, Trump is a one-off, an exception. Unlike Obama, Trump is the one we have been waiting for, after a string of wet noodles named Bush, Romney, McCain, and Ryan to name a few. But...