Free Republic

Some 200,000 ultra-Orthodox men blocked the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon for a “million man” protest against military conscription. The gathering saw protesters attack journalists, and hundreds clashed with police as the event came to an end. A 20-year-old man fell to his death from an unfinished high-rise building in the city center, where several ultra-Orthodox youths had gathered on several floors. Police later said they were investigating the death as a possible suicide. The fall victim was later identified by Hebrew media outlets as Menachem Mendel Litzman. As word of his death spread, the rally organizers declared the...

Recent survey data reveal that support for socialism is increasing in the United States. This may be surprising, given that socialism is a much-criticized economic system that has failed spectacularly everywhere it has been tried. The mounting support for socialism reflects a growing frustration with capitalism and the economic woes of an increasing proportion of the population that believes it has been left behind.The election of Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor of a city that is home to Wall Street is sobering. This pied piper of economic illiteracy has been swept into office by a majority of voters that...

President Donald Trump this week cut deals with the drug-makers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to increase access to obesity drugs in a major benefit to American public health.

It’s called the “gender gap” (should be “sex gap,” really) in voting, and, boy, did it ever manifest itself Tuesday night. In fact, November 4 was a great day for the GOP. That is, in an alternate universe in which only men vote. Let’s go down the list. In Virginia there were three major races, and men broke Republican in all of them. They went for Winsome Earle-Sears for governor (all figures represent percentages), 53-47; John Reid for lieutenant governor, 55-44; and Jason Miyares for attorney general, 57-42. Meanwhile, in the upside-down, women broke Democrat in all three races by...

For too long, merit has taken a back seat in American higher education. Under the banner of DEI, admissions policies at many institutions have prioritized demographic balancing over academic excellence. But the pendulum is swinging back. A growing number of selective universities—including Princeton, Dartmouth, and Yale—have recently announced they will once again require standardized test scores for admission. These decisions reflect a broader reappraisal of merit-based criteria, driven not just by partisan pressure but by internal reviews of academic outcomes and fairness. The message is clear: Excellence matters, and the most promising students deserve a fair shot. Increasingly, qualified students...

Chiefest among these converts is billionaire hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman, who famously contributed nearly $2 million of his own money to efforts to kill Mamdani’s candidacy…I read the Pershing Square Capital boss’s tweet on Tuesday night at-ing Mamdani: “Congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.” Elsewhere in the world of high finance, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who previously called Mamdani “more a Marxist than a socialist” and slammed him as pushing “ideological mush that means nothing in the real world,” is also...

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney “just loved Israel,” recalls Michael Oren, past Israeli ambassador to Washington. Oren was in the room as an Israeli reservist in the 1991 Gulf War when Cheney, then defense secretary, and his counterpart Moshe Arens met to discuss the response to Iraqi Scud missile attacks on Israeli cities. He was the Israeli notetaker, as Cheney sought to convince Israel not to respond. “The Israeli government was telling the administration that we couldn’t wait anymore, that the paratroopers were out on the runway ready to go to western Iraq,” says Oren. Cheney feared that the...

A higher power will hand down judgment for the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, his widow Erika Kirk believes, and she doesn’t want a role in deciding whether he should receive the death penalty if he is convicted. “I do not want this man’s blood on my ledger when I stand before the Lord,” she told Fox News’ Jesse Watters in an interview aired Wednesday evening. “I want the government to decide. It’s Biblical too. Justice will ultimately be served.”

Zohran Mamdani’s triumph has given socialists huge power in New York City. Now they must use it well—or see the ruling class crush them.Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City has thrust the US democratic socialist movement into the national spotlight. If Mamdani’s triumphant affordability platform—which includes plans to provide universal childcare by increasing taxes on high-income earners—is implemented, it could lead to a significant transfer of wealth from the wealthy elite to the working class and provide a blueprint for socialist leaders across the country. Equally, if Mamdani’s mission is stymied, the forces banking on his failure...

Pennsylvania voters have rejected a Republican effort to remove three Democrats from the state Supreme Court. The stakes of Tuesday’s election were high: Had Pennsylvanians voted to remove the justices, the court would have gone from a seven-member Democratic majority to a four-member group with a complete ideological split. The three justices’ vacant seats would not have been filled until another election at the end of 2027. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court regularly holds these kinds of votes for its justices. The justices are first selected in partisan elections, but at the end of their 10-year terms, voters then decide whether to...

Pro-Palestinian positions may have fueled Mamdani’s politics and established his early volunteer base, but they didn’t win him the election. The New Yorkers who voted for him “overwhelmingly” said cost of living is their top issue, reported CNN. For most New Yorkers who hit the polls, questions about Mamdani’s attitude toward Israel — and even concerns about antisemitism — paled in importance beside affordability. Yet one tone-deaf Jewish leader after another pleaded with voters to reject Mamdani because of his highly critical attitude toward Israel. That stance, they said, could lead to attacks on Jewish New Yorkers. Exactly why should...

Next week my firm will hold its annual health insurance information meeting. The news won’t be good. Premiums are expected to increase 10-15% after increasing a similar amount last year. If only my 401(k) could grow like that! The bottom line is that my paycheck will become smaller and my health care costs will become larger. My wife and I have also spent most of this year scurrying through the endless maze of our byzantine and befuddling health care system. Our journey began when my wife’s father had a stroke in April… Over the past seven months we have had...

@RepThomasMassie Maybe it suggests not alienating independents and shrinking the GOP tent… which has been done through attacks on the non-interventionist liberty wing of the party and by calling the Epstein situation a hoax.

Conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro argues Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a serious contender in the race for the White House, following Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayoral race.

Zoom out: For now, MAGA is being held together by Trump's personality. But open disagreement has broken out over who should, and shouldn't, be accepted under its tent. U.S. support for Israel's operations in Gaza inflamed America First diehards and hardened Israel's MAGA allies. The online divisions have raged during the tenuous ceasefire, including tropes over Jews' supposed disproportionate influence in the U.S. A leaked group chat from New York State Young Republicans included racist comments and messages from a Trump administration nominee declaring he had a "Nazi streak." The revelation sparked debates over who — if anyone — should...

Genuine concern about antisemitism on the right is being hijacked by neocons to attack J.D. Vance in hopes of re-taking control of the GOP.Let’s get something straight about the civil war breaking out on the right: it’s not primarily about Tucker Carlson “platforming” or “normalizing” Nick Fuentes, or about Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ decision to defend Carlson, or even about the rise of antisemitism on the right. The primary target here isn’t Carlson or Roberts, but Vice President J.D. Vance. And the people targeting him are Never Trump foreign policy interventionists who hope to destroy the MAGA movement and...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene showed a softer side Tuesday as she broke repeatedly with President Trump and the GOP during an interview on “The View” — calling for “women of maturity” to unite in a surprisingly warm appearance.. *** The populist conservative, calling herself “unapologetically America first,” trashed Trump’s endorsement of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral race — saying she backs Republican Curtis Sliwa, despite his slim chances against socialist Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. “I wouldn’t vote for Andrew Cuomo. All these women came out with accusations against him, which I found pretty disgusting, and then...

Nick Fuentes, the highly controversial white nationalist roiling the MAGA movement, took a victory lap over Vice President JD Vance, following his interview with Tucker Carlson last week. Fuentes has long been a fierce critic of Vance and has made deeply racist comments in the past about Vance’s interracial and mixed-faith marriage. Carlson’s platforming of Fuentes on his show has led to an escalating battle on the right as many argue that such blatant hate speech should remain outside the realm of mainstream MAGA, whereas Carlson has let it in. “He’s getting squeezed because the Groypers are on the one...

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) repeatedly cursed at law enforcement officials at Charleston International Airport on Thursday, calling police “f***ing incompetent” and berating Transportation Security Administration personnel, according to the incident report. The scene, first reported by Wired on Friday, began when police tasked with escorting Mace to her gate were a few minutes late in meeting her car outside the airport. Mace chose to use an access lane intended for flight crew members, a smaller checkpoint that is part of the Known Crewmember program and overseen by TSA. Officers from the Charleston County Aviation Authority Police Department, who expected her...

Some of President Donald Trump’s voters are leaving Republican New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa for former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, according to a new poll.