Free Republic

Fifty years ago, on August 9, 1975, Dmitri Shostakovich, the celebrated Russian composer and pianist, passed away in Moscow. A figure of immense complexity, he “managed to navigate a difficult situation with great prudence and political astuteness.” Born on September 25, 1906, in Saint Petersburg, Shostakovich came from a family of Polish Roman Catholic origin. His grandfather, Bolesław Szostakowicz, was exiled to Siberia, where he eventually settled. Dmitri Boleslavovich Shostakovich, the composer’s father, later relocated to Saint Petersburg, where the young Dmitri grew up and received his education. After six years at the conservatory in Saint Petersburg, Shostakovich graduated at...

....The bills — Senate Bill 254, sponsored by Sen. Josh Becker, and Assembly Bill 825, sponsored by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, both Democrats — aim to lower electricity costs for Californians. Both include provisions that would force the big three utilities to accept public financing.... .

Zohran Mamdani, mayoral candidate in New York City, has been expressing high hopes of spreading socialism around New York. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has admitted to assisting Mamdani with his platform and having helped him win the primary. Mamdani tosses out Marxist quotes — control the means of production, altering private property ownership, state-run grocery stores, free transportation — but there is more, or perhaps less, to the current Democratic Socialists, and therefore more, or perhaps less, to Mamdani. There used to be a clear distinction between socialism and communism. When the Communist Manifesto was released, socialism was...

Had the American people not rallied around President Trump as odious phony prosecutions engulfed him during his presidential campaign, he may not have been re-elected president and instead endured a terrible fate. In South America this week, we are seeing how bad it could have been. Late yesterday, Brazil's manic, freakish, version of Judge James Boasberg, Justice Alexandre de Moraes, ordered Brazil's equivalent of President Trump, former President Jair Bolsonaro arrested for questioning the 2022 Brazilian presidential electoral result, that, as with President Trump, he was mysteriously defeated in by a narrow margin after showing significant strength on the campaign...

Husbands, LOVE your wives, just as Christ LOVED the church and gave himself up for her… Eph 5:25 How far ahead would America be if they never had Harvard, Yale and Columbia? These three institutions have done more damage to American than any other institutions in the Country. When you look at where communism started in this Country as well as its institutionalization you have to look no further than these schools to their indoctrination of the most wealthy and powerful children who go on to destroy the foundations which brought their families the success and lifestyles they enjoyed. Whether...

...The second annual Panamerican Congress, which took place from Friday through Sunday, brought together leftist “delegates” from around the Americas, including Democrat lawmakers such as Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib of Minnesota, according to the event website. The summit was organized by the leader of Progressive International — a radical left-wing group that describes capitalism as a “virus” that must be “​​eradicated” — .

Antifa has become one of the most polarizing forces in modern American politics. Labelled by critics as a violent extremist group and by supporters as anti-fascist defenders, its true identity lies somewhere between the headlines and the chaos in the streets. But where did Antifa come from, and how did it rise to prominence in the 21st century? In this episode, we trace Antifa's ideological roots back to pre-WWII Europe, where militant resistance groups first confronted fascist movements. We explore how those ideals evolved over decades and crossed into the U.S., merging with elements of anarchism, socialism, and direct-action activism....

https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/billionaires/Since Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani, and other people believe that billionaires shouldn’t exist, I asked Grok what would happen if the government were to seize Elon Musk’s wealth.By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)July 30, 2025Bernie Sanders said:“Billionaires should not exist.”Source:https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/1176481898685710337Billionaires should not exist. https://t.co/hgR6CeFvLa— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 24, 2019Zohran Mamdani said:“I don’t think that we should have billionaires.”Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VowT8L8Uu6kI asked Grok:Some people, such as Bernie Sanders and Zohran Mamdani, say that it’s wrong for anyone to be a billionaire. Twitter has a hashtag called #BillionairesShouldntExist. Some also say that rich people “hoard” their money. What percentage of Musk’s...

Peru’s embattled president achieved the lowest ratings of her career this month, dropping to an abysmal 1.3% approval rating. President Dina Boluarte’s approval ratings have been steadily declining, starting the year with a dismal 4% approval rating and constantly decreasing each month by approximately 0.5%. Women approve of her slightly more than men — recording a 1.5% approval rate as opposed to the 1% of men that approve of her. Boluarte has the worst approval rating among those aged 30-59, with only 0.9% approving of her. The poll, conducted by El Centro de Investigación Territorial Peru, was conducted by interviewers...

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he is launching a new political party, promising to "build a democratic movement that can take on the rich and powerful". It doesn't have a name yet but the MP for Islington North says the plan is for the group to fight May's local elections ahead of the next general election, which is likely to take place in four years' time. The new venture has the potential to shake-up the political landscape, with Labour and the Greens appearing to be the most at risk of losing votes. Polling of around 2,000 Britons by...

Newly appointed Chicago Park District Supt. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa issued a statement saying the temporary art would “celebrate Chicago’s diverse communities” in a proposed “Peoples’ Plaza.” The new plaza is expected to open in late summer or early fall after pavement restoration. Ron Onesti, president of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, viewed the move as a betrayal of the innovative agreement he cut with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration nearly three months ago. The deal called for the Columbus statue in Arrigo Park to be “loaned” to the civic committee for display in a new Chicago Museum of Italian Immigration...

Sun Fresh grocery in Kansas city MO opened 7 years ago. Funded by the government to help an area of the city with no food stores. Now it's failing and we all know why. a story from the daily mail will be posted below for those who don't enjoy the Hodge Twins take on this story

Karl Marx: “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.” Recent Breitbart headline: “Zohran Mamdanin Pushes for ‘Abolition of Private Property’” Well, of course, the commies are already here; Marxism dominates the Democratic Party now, so Mamdani’s call for the abolition of private property is not surprising in the least. But that’s just my conclusion. Let me share with you some quotes from Karl Marx, and then you can decide if, or to what extent, his communist theory has infiltrated and/or taken over the Democratic Party. All the quotes below are from Marx....

Billionaire In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder stirred up a storm of online controversy over the weekend when she revealed that she planned to move her family out of California to Tennessee. The news comes as In-N-Out begins to expand heavily into the South, launching a new joint headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville — where Snyder will also now be based. Snyder revealed the coming move on a recent podcast appearance, saying, “There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here.” The clip, from a new episode of...

There is a sickness inside our hearts. It aches for something brighter, better, a more resplendent mode of being. God, perhaps. Or temporary deliverance from the pain of being alive, and of knowing we will die. It urges us to create something: family; home; work; and art. To contribute something good and useful to future generations. But it also impels us to assert ourselves here and now, to compete for power over others. Please allow me to introduce myself … Because it feels good to have power—telling people what to do, getting things done. The boss sets the agenda, defines...

It has been painfully obvious, ever since the presidential election last November, that the Democratic Party's brand is in tatters. This week, a Quinnipiac University poll revealed that congressional Democrats have a minuscule 19% approval rating -- an all-time low in the history of that particular poll. Earlier in the week, a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll similarly found that the party as a whole has an approval rating of 40% -- considerably lower than the Republican Party's 48% approval rating found by the same poll. Nor can Democrats necessarily rely on any GOP infighting to redound, in seesaw-like fashion, to their...

More cities and states are experimenting with the concept of city-owned grocery stores, but these experiments often don’t account for social issues.KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was the lone tomato in the produce bin that nearly made Marquita Taylor weep. She’d stopped in her neighborhood grocery store, the place that was cause for celebration when it opened seven years ago. Area residents had long lived without a decent supermarket on Kansas City’s east side, and KC Sun Fresh was the city’s attempt to alleviate a lack of access to healthy food in its urban center. But the store, in a...

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said that the government grocery store plan from New York City mayoral candidate Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani (D) is “a new and fresh plan for New York City. But it’s been tried in other cities around the country and has had some real successes.” Warren stated that Mamdani “said, we’ve got a problem with entire food deserts where people can’t get access to grocery stores. He said, I’d like to take a look at whether or not we can have some kind of — like we do on military bases...

Socialist Zohran Mamdani called for ‘abolition of private property,’ resurfaced video shows New York City socialist Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani is being ripped for advocating “the abolition of private property” — as a video resurfaced of him touting the radical position this week. “If there was any system that could guarantee each person housing — whether you call it the abolition of private property or you call it a statewide housing guarantee — it is preferable to what is going on right now,” Mamdani said in the video shared by RNC Research. “People try to play gotcha games about...

The far left’s disgraceful response to September 11—it has temporized about terror, embraced moral equivalence between the Islamist fanatics who killed thousands of innocent Americans and the military actions of the democratically elected U.S. government, and even blamed the U.S. for the atrocity—shows that its hatred of democratic capitalism and, more broadly, Western civilization itself remains fierce more than a decade after the collapse of socialism. The intensity of this hatred will come as no surprise, however, to anyone who has paid attention to the praise that the academic left and its sympathizers in the liberal media have been showering ...