Free Republic

...Kamala Harris was trying to simultaneously “reintroduce” herself and “redefine” herself after more than two decades in public office. It did not go well...

...Those unfamiliar with the National Guard activation and deployment process may not understand that this procedure is announced well in advance. Senior officers and non-commissioned officers in a unit being activated under Title 10 learn well before others of their impending call-up to go to war. Walz was in such a position, and he likely knew this when he submitted his retirement paperwork....

...Biden appears to have calmed the swarm. It looks like his presidency and his candidacy are going to survive. Is it because Biden has proven himself to be mentally fit since then? Nope. Rather, Democrats have simply come to the realization that they have no better option. And so a man so diminished that he shouldn’t be doing the job of president will simply continue to be their candidate to do the job through 2028. How is this, you ask? Because their priority is holding onto power, not the best interest of their country.

If it were the 1990s, Joe Biden’s primetime interview Friday with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos would be a ratings monster. There would be no Netflix, Hulu or PlayStation to compete with it. What’s more, Biden’s performance would be dispositive, either dooming his candidacy or resuscitating it — that’s how much power the mainstream media once had. In my estimation, doom is much more likely, regardless of how many credulous Americans tune in to the spectacle. Indeed, this interview strikes me as a no-win proposition for Biden...

It was a first — a debate between a president and a former president. And it was likely watched as much out of morbid curiosity as interest in the election, which is also a first. The questions going in were whether Donald Trump could control himself, and whether Joe Biden could hold it together for 90 minutes. The answer to the first question was “yes.” To the second? “Not so much.”

"The Russians are stubborn and want us to continue fighting...Bro, this war is unwinnable."

...The Biden administration recently promised it will finally loosen the purse strings on $39 billion of CHIPS Act grants to encourage semiconductor fabrication in the U.S. But less than a week later, Intel announced that it’s putting the brakes on its Columbus factory. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has pushed back production at its second Arizona foundry. The remaining major chipmaker, Samsung, just delayed its first Texas fab. This is not the way companies typically respond to multi-billion-dollar subsidies. So what explains chipmakers’ apparent ingratitude? In large part, frustration with DEI requirements embedded in the CHIPS Act...

On July 4, Ben & Jerry’s public relations division made headlines by tweeting, “It’s high time we recognize that the US exists on stolen Indigenous land and commit to returning it.” The tweet was widely criticized. But behind the grandstanding and virtue-signaling, there is a deadly serious movement within American and Canadian liberal circles that holds both of these countries to be illegitimate. ...[T]he cause is so popular on social media platforms such as Twitter and why people need to understand and arm themselves with counterarguments.

...The education system’s failure to prepare non-white students for college admissions on the merits is not just an accident of Democratic one-party rule. It is a feature of Democratic machine politics. The two major teachers unions — the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — tell Democrats to jump; Democrats lack the spine to do anything but ask, “How high?”...

...“Oh my gosh,” Yang responded. “One reason I am pumped to be here in New Hampshire is you all are gonna vote Feb. 11, and you know when we’re gonna find out the results? Feb. 11!” ...After laughter and applause from the audience, Yang explained what the Iowa debacle will mean for voters... "[I]t’s going to be harder to convince Americans that we can entrust massive systems with government if we can’t count votes on the same night in a way that’s clear, transparent, and reliable.”

As President Trump concluded his State of the Union address and the cameras began to shift to the congressional audience, a shot of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripping up the physical copy of Trump’s speech drew attention.

Earlier this month, the Taiwanese people reelected President Tsai Ing-wen to office with historic levels of support. President Tsai’s dedication to defending Taiwan in the face of constant hostility from the mainland Chinese Communist Party is inspiring... [N]ow is the time for the U.S. government to strengthen our ties with Taiwan and counter China’s efforts to interfere with U.S. security interests and partners in the Indo-Pacific...The Trump administration should also commit to negotiating a new free trade agreement between Taiwan and the United States this year.

I love my three-legged cat — and believe me, emotional support goes both ways especially during both of our feeding times. But the Department of Transportation has it right in proposing to allow airlines to bar passengers from bringing their self-described “support animals” on-board flights. On Jan. 22, DOT proposed narrowing regulations to require only that airlines allow specially trained dogs on planes. This planned change has already drawn plenty of ire. A vocal minority of passengers will inevitably complain that they’re being targeted by the government. But these critics are all bark and no bite.

People complain about negative advertising, but campaigns do it because it works. Well -- at least it works when it's done well. Here are five examples where negative ads backfired. 1 In the current Pennsylvania gubernatorial primary, Rob McCord recently released an ad attacking the frontrunner, Tom Wolf, for his support of former York Mayor Charlie Robertson. last decade, Robertson was charged (and acquitted) for his role in York's 1969 race riots, during which Robertson had been a policeman. Since the ad came out, Wolf's numbers have actually spiked and he's considered the easy favorite to win next Tuesday. [WATCH...

Gallup has just released a poll of how each of the 50 states’ residents feel about their respective places to live. Their survey asked residents of all 50 states whether they thought their home state was “the best possible state to live in,” “one of the best possible,” or the “worst possible.” Twenty-five percent of Illinoisans believe their state is the worst, making Illinois number one in thoroughly dissatisfied residents. Dishonorable Mention in this category goes to Rhode Island and Connecticut (tied in second place at 17 percent each), followed by Mississippi (15 percent), Louisiana (13 percent), New York (12...

The New York Times: WASHINGTON — In her darkest hour last fall, Kathleen Sebelius suffered one of the deepest cuts from an old family friend who accused her of “gross incompetence” over the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and demanded that she resign as secretary of health and human services. Now she is weighing revenge. Ms. Sebelius is considering entreaties from Democrats who want her to run against that old friend, Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas. Just a note: PPP actually polled a Sebelius run for Senate in late February. The formerly popular governor registered a 55 percent...

If Mozilla was hoping to avoid controversy by edging out former CEO Brendan Eich, the company has most certainly failed. The graph below comes from the feedback page on their site. This chart goes back to when the comment system was adopted, and the highest number of "sad" comments is today, by a factor of about two. The second highest number came yesterday. [Chart at link] For a flavor of the complaints, click through or just have a look: [Image at link]

<p>While discussing plans to smuggle arms from the Philippines, Yee allegedly said to the undercover FBI agent: "People want to get whatever they want to get. Do I care? No, I don’t care. People need certain things.”</p>

The guy who called Alberta-born Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex. “Canada’s revenge for acid rain” is having a sad over something Mark Levin called him recently. If you need a good laugh, you should sign up for the email fundraising list of Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla. You just can’t find a more shrill, hackish, email fundraising operation laden with as many gratuitous ad hominem attacks — including last year’s classic “Tea Party = KKK” pitch. And seriously — I’m signed up for an awful lot of email fundraising lists, and the fact that Grayson’s stands out this way says quite a...

Rep. Bruce Braley, D, is running for Senate in Iowa, for the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, D. Braley, a trial lawyer before he came to Congress, needs votes from a lot of farmers and a lot of people who have never gone to law school, as well as people who also like Iowa’s other senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, currently the state’s most popular politician. So this America Rising video of Braley at a fundraiser for trial lawyers in South Texas is just priceless. He talks about Grassley as if the guy just came in from slopping...