Free Republic

Hillary’s accusations that Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian tool and Jill Stein is a “Russian asset” is so bizarre, so wild, that it leads me to wonder: (a)is she is mentally ill, or (b) is she a Russian asset; Putin's puppet? Keep in mind that Hillary Clinton has been a major public figure for decades. ... Speculation on this subject is now no longer out of bounds since her accusation is being amplified in the "respectable" media. Millions of Democrats believe her. Making accusations that politicians are Russian assets, or “puppets,” now mainstream. They are widely believed by the press...

What makes Trump a man of historic greatness is that he wakes up every morning and continues doing his job with strength in the face of the worst character assassination imaginable, led by the Corrupt Journalist Corps. He still booms the economy. He still dares and stares down China on tariffs and trade. He still shows North Korea that he will not be hoodwinked as Bill Clinton and Obama were by promises devoid of results. He stares down the Iranian Ayatollahs and tightens the vise, despite their bombastic threats and tactical efforts to get the weak-kneed, yellow-livered, gutless and cowardly...

What’s fascinating is to see the reaction of the Never Trumpers. A tweet by Never-Trumper Allahpundit asks why Trump continues to “flog” Biden. “It helps Democrats; Biden is already slipping in the polls and seems unlikely to win; even if Biden does win, Trump could revive this next year.” And there you see the viewpoint of the Never-Trumpers. They view Biden’s corruption through a lens of politics. They agree with the Democrats and the rest of the media that Trump is doing this for purely political reasons. They never actually entertain the idea that Trump is really trying to expose...

The country has a Rick Moran problem. Rick Moran has a column in PJ Media, generally considered a right-leaning source. He recently wrote about Stephen Miller’s appearance with Chris Wallace. Moran called the interview “contentious” and accused Miller of seeking to “alter the media narrative” about the call President Trump made to Ukrainian President Zelenski. There is no question that Moran is right. Because the media narrative is a lie. And making a desire to correct the media narrative an accusation is to make the implicit assumption that the media narrative is the correct one. That's the Rick Moran problem....

Somebody once made a movie "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?" There is a very common misperception about war. The beginning of a war is generally marked by an attack, invasion or other aggressive move by a country. But a war can’t start until the aggressor meets resistance. A brawl is usually begun by someone throwing a punch. But unless the person getting punched puts up some resistance it’s not a fight, it’s just somebody taking a beating. The Twentieth Century was known for big wars. But when Germany invaded Austria in 1938 and Czechoslovakia in 1939 we...

Stop the presses! No, it’s not a joke. It’s not satire from “The Onion.” This is the Virginian Pilot banner headline - front page center - on New Year’s Eve. And if you think that this is an aberration, the following day’s front page features “Norfolk doctor turns 180 pounds of sugar into Chrysler Museum.” Complete with a color photograph of this creation. Happy New Year? This is not some rinky-dink student publication. The Pilot is Virginia’s largest daily, serving Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and smaller communities in Southeastern Virginia and parts of North Carolina. It’s all...

America was founded to destroy “native Americans” and to find a place to invent slavery which never existed before. These slaves built the country, settled the land, fought its wars and invented everything while white male devils whipped the slaves, oppressed women, keeping them barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, lying around idly when not destroying the environment. Christians are hateful bigots who want to ruin your sex life while atheists are enlightened believers in science and Muslims practice the “Religion of Peace™” while living in fear of religious oppression. Then these racist, bigoted, homophobic, sexist, drug addled, white, male,...

Why are they unable to come to grips with the fact that people have finally turned on them? Part of the establishment – its Left wing – is always ready to ask, after each terrorist attack: “why do they hate us?” It’s actually not a bad question. It helps to understand your enemy and what motivates them. But the Left asks the question because it believes that American history and its people are wicked and wants to atone for its manifold sins. But the Jonathan Tobin wing – the neo-conservative wing of the establishment - has not really bothered to...

Ann Althouse is a college professor who runs an eponymous blog. She recently blogged about a Chinese professor at Vassar, Hua Hsu, who believes: “there is a naïve idealism at the heart of student protest, which might be desperate or loud but never as cynical as the world that necessitated it." She goes on to say: “I — who went to college in 1969 — think they are a lot less weird than we were. But if you think they are weird — entitled, oversensitive, whatever — you should look to your own mind and ask why it has created...

The Bible story of the virgin birth is at the center of much of the holiday cheer this time of year. The book of Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus decreed a census should be taken. Mary gave birth after arriving in Bethlehem and placed baby Jesus in a manger because there was “no room for them in the inn.” Some people believe Mary and Joseph were mistreated by a greedy innkeeper, who only cared about profits and decided the couple was not “worth” his normal accommodations. This version of the story (narrative)...

Casey Stengel, when he first began coaching the Mets, and they were losing big, said: “You look up and down the bench and you have to say to yourself, can’t anybody here play this game?” That’s what I want to say to the Republican bench as they face the Trump phenomenon. Based on current polls Trump would lose the general election if he got the nomination because his negatives are sky high. Yet polls tell us he’s the most popular candidate with the base of the Republican party. And the reason is blazingly obvious: he’s not afraid to embrace politically...

The Federalist's Robert Tracinski examines the question: Why are we suddenly having a full-blown culture war right now? The answer is that the vital political issues are no longer under the control of the American people. He says that the President and Congress stymie each other. This implies that just about everything that’s actually going to happen in national-level politics is going to be happening by executive Fiat. ...[and]What doesn’t get done by executive fiat will be done by the courts, as in the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on ObamaCare and gay marriage.Foreign policy decisions are made by one man:...

And they're right! DRUDGE has a link to an article in The Hollywood Reporter on the defamation suit brought by University of Virginia (UVA) Dean Nicole Eramo. Rolling Stone responds by blaming UVA. Rolling Stone was sued by Dean Eramo for defamation. The article by Erdely implied that Eramo and UVA did nothing to help "Jackie" and was "indifferent to rape on campus, and more concerned with protecting its reputation than with assisting victims of sexual assault." Rolling Stone's lawyers said that it wasn't their fault that they got their facts wrong. They claim that the UVA administration, faculty and...

Bud Norman Such strangely differing standards of what should be met with indifference and what should be met with offense are by no means confined to the academy, or to those corners of the world only culture vultures still take an interest in, but also define the broader public’s approach to politics. Thus The New York Times is outraged by the four traffic tickets that Republican presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio has received over the past 20 years, but seemingly indifferent to the four brave Americans who were killed in an American consulate in Libya that failed to receive requested...

I was born an 18th century Duke with a vast estate, a stable of two dozen hunters, a bevy of mistresses, a summer “nooky house”, more estates in the West Indies (where I can assure you that the workers are all very happy with their lot and address me cheerfully as “Massa Duke, Sir”), a beautiful if slightly remote wife who is related to the King, lots of paintings (especially of me) by Gainsborough and Reynolds, yet I am trapped in the body of a middle-class, middle-aged journalist in ugly, pointless, 21st century Britain. And it is HELL, I tell...

The Virginian Pilot (slogan: “Dear reader, we hate your f***ing guts”) helped sell Norfolk on the “Tide.” The Tide (slogan: “if we have not run into you yet, give us time, we will.”) is a light rail system that just captured the title of “by far the biggest loser per passenger in the country.” Determined not to let go of its record of supporting every money losing public project it can find, the Virginian Pilot (favorite prediction: Norfolk will be under water by next Tuesday because of Global Warming) is doubling down on stupid. Admitting that the Tide has captured...

GoFundMe has determined that if Christians are accused of crimes, such as not baking cakes for gay weddings, they will not be able to use their service. It appears that gay activists have objected to a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to keep the Sweet Cakes bakery in business or pay the fine, which could be as high as $150,000, for declining to bake a cake for a gay wedding. It is, of course, the right of GoFundMe to deny service to anyone – even as Sweet Cakes is denied the same right – but it leaves a market for...

Stacy McCain has written an important article A Coven of Liars: Sabrina Rubin Erdley, Emily Renda and Catherine Lhamon that starts to connect a few of the dots that may help explain the why and wherefore of the UVA Rape Hoax. How did this thing get started, who facilitated it and who is even now trying to cover their tracks? Here are three dots: The UVA rape hoax did not suddenly appear - ex nihilo - from the fevered fingers of Sabrina Rubin Erdely. She was looking for a story that would support her narrative of a campus "Rape Culture"...

The Virginian Pilot reacted with hate and bigotry to the evidence that the fable about coed “Jackie” gang raped by the fraternity brothers at UVA was a lie from beginning to end. They ran a cartoon showing a “right wing” couch potato ranting about rape to his TV set while his daughter enters the room, apparently the victim of rape. It’s the kind of thing you expect from the “cool kids gang” in junior high taunting their classmates after they are exposed as fakes. It’s what the little bastard do to reclaim their superior status. There is a great takedown...

There were news reports yesterday that there was going to be an attack by American, Iraqi and Kurdish forces on ISIS in Mosul. The attack is scheduled for a month or two or three from now: April, May or possibly later. Please don't. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Forget the reasons given for telegraphing our intentions months ahead of time. They make no logical sense. What will happen is that the ISIS forces will have months to prepare, to reinforce, to dig in, to booby trap ... in other words to create a killing field. And it will...