Free Republic

Once upon a time we mocked the Soviet Union for its gerontocracy. Aged party leaders, bundled up in overcoats and fur hats to the point of near-unrecognizability, would be wheeled out to sit, immobile, as parades passed or party congresses opened. Their withered, stale leadership was emblematic of the decaying USSR’s withered, stale ideology — and industrial base. But now the joke’s on us. A leading United States senator, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), can’t seem to remember important things, like her just-taken vote on a judicial nominee and her just-announced retirement. “Did I vote for that?” she asked an aide Wednesday,...

California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who announced earlier this week that she will not seek re-election in 2024, on Wednesday appeared to be confused about what action she had taken regarding a two-vote series in the Senate, according to a report. "Did I vote for that?" Feinstein asked her longtime chief of staff, David Grannis, about a vote to approve a judicial nominee to the federal bench, Business Insider reported. Grannis, who, according to the outlet, had already explained to Feinstein that the votes on Biden appointees would be taking place throughout the day, responded: "No." Describing the "most jarring...

Democrat California Sen. Dianne Feinstein appeared unaware of her own retirement announcement Tuesday, telling a group of reporters at the Capitol that she hadn't made a decision on her future despite announcing just hours before that she would not be seeking reelection in 2024. According to multiple reports, a Feinstein staffer quickly notified the senator that a statement had already been made on her retirement, prompting her to say she was unaware the information had been released. Reporters present for the interaction quickly took to Twitter to report on Feinstein's apparent confusion. "Asked by reporters about her announcement to resign,...

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein announced Tuesday that she will retire at the end of her term. “I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024, but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends,” Feinstein said in her announcement. At 89, Feinstein is the oldest senator. She has represented California in the Senate since 1992, and is the longest-serving woman senator in U.S. history. Before she was elected to the Senate, Feinstein was the mayor of San Francisco and made an unsuccessful bid for...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California announced Tuesday that she will retire at the end of her current term, setting up a major Democratic competition for her coveted seat.

The Twitter Files reveal that one of the most common news sources of the Trump era was a scam, making ordinary American political conversations look like Russian spywork ... Ambitious media frauds Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair crippled the reputations of the New Republic and New York Times, respectively, by slipping years of invented news stories into their pages. Thanks to the Twitter Files, we can welcome a new member to their infamous club: Hamilton 68. If one goes by volume alone, this oft-cited neoliberal think-tank that spawned hundreds of fraudulent headlines and TV news segments may go down as...

If a Republican announced a run for the U.S. Senate but was recently in the news for treating their employees horribly, what would be the chance of Politico skipping any mention of that scandal in stories about their Senate bid? Perhaps somewhere between nil and none.However, with the magic "D" by the name of such a candidate, there is a very good chance Politico would go mum on the scandal; which is exactly what happened when that political periodical published consecutive stories of Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA) first pondering and then announcing that she would be running in 2024 for...

Democrats have a lengthy history of refusing to accept the results of elections they lost.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein became exasperated with staffers who tried to brief her on the upcoming stopgap funding bill she was to vote for on Thursday, telling them: 'I don't even know what that is.' Feinstein, 89, has served as a Democratic senator from California for 30 years, and has voted on dozens of continuing resolutions (CR) to fund the government. According to a private conversation overheard by Insider, Feinstein struggled to get her bearings as she headed into an elevator that brings lawmakers to the Senate floor to vote.

I first wrote about the exodus of workers from San Francisco back in January of 2021. That trend was driven partly by the high cost of living in the Bay Area, partly by the rise of crime and homelessness and partly by the fact that the pandemic made working from home the new normal for a lot of white collar workers.It’s not just individual workers who are leaving the city, entire companies have decided to downsize their footprint downtown. Again, there are multiple reasons why this is happening now but the bottom line is that San Francisco office space isn’t...

The heads of UK and US security services have made an unprecedented joint appearance to warn of the threat from China. FBI director Christopher Wray said China was the "biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security" and had interfered in politics, including recent elections. MI5 head Ken McCallum said his service had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years and would be doubling it again. MI5 is now running seven times as many investigations related to activities of the Chinese Communist Party compared to 2018, he added. He also said China deployed...

When Texas intervened to protect vulnerable children against transgender child mutilation, Google was one of the companies to sign a letter warning that preventing child abuse was "against the values of our companies." A recent lawsuit provides a small insight into just what the Big Tech giant’s “values” might be. Recently a former Google employer filed a lawsuit accusing the company of discrimination. “I was fired from my team there in February of 2021 because I raised alarm about a cult within Google, a group called the Fellowship of Friends. The group is well-documented: There are allegations of child abuse,...

Newly released notes taken by high-level Department of Justice (DOJ) officials during a March 6, 2017, meeting with FBI leadership expose some of the lengths the FBI engaged in to cover up its spying on the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump. The notes were released on May 8 by lawyers representing former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann as part of an effort to clear him on charges of having lied to the FBI. The notes, in reality, appear to do little to exonerate Sussmann but do provide quite a bit of information on the FBI. The meeting at...

Episode reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's collapse during failed 2016 campaign Citizens expressed concern Tuesday after footage emerged of a "visibly shaken" Elizabeth Warren clinging to a staffer's hand for dear life while attempting to walk several yards to a waiting vehicle. Even with the staffer's assistance, the Democratic lawmaker nearly stumbled on several occasions as reporters shouted questions about abortion. "Does she have Parkinson's or something?" a concerned American asked the Washington Free Beacon after viewing the footage of Warren. "Why does she need a staffer to hold her hand while walking?" The voting public deserves an honest answer. Warren,...

The dreams of the “People’s Convoy” quickly died in the Bay Area after a critical tactical error: turning onto a street with a Safeway and a group of bored kids. The trucker convoy, which aimed to emulate the disruptive Canadian protests against COVID-19 restrictions, has failed spectacularly at every turn. During a few weeks of driving around Washington, D.C., the convoy was held up by a single bicyclist, and some convoy members said they were having difficulty finding places for bathroom breaks and, as a result, were forced to urinate in their pants. After an anemic showing in Washington, the...

Dem Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is one of the biggest liars in Congress. He was the main pusher of the anti-Trump Russiagate hoax. Now, Schiff has higher aspirations. According to a new report, Schiff wants to be Speaker of the House after Nancy Pelosi. Breitbart reported: TRENDING: Here's What Happened Yesterday When J6 Defendant Dustin Thompson Was Found Guilty in a DC Court With rumors of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) retiring amid devastating midterm polling, Schiff, a conspiracy theorist and chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, is making furious moves to transplant Pelosi as House leader if she...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi defended Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) after reports questioning Feinstein’s mental fitness to serve. Calling Feinstein “a workhorse for the people of California and a respected leader among her colleagues in the Senate,” Pelosi stated the attacks on her fellow San Francisco Democrat are “unconscionable” and “ridiculous.” “It is unconscionable that, just weeks after losing her beloved husband of more than four decades and after decades of outstanding leadership to our City and State, she is being subjected to these ridiculous attacks that are beneath the dignity in which she has led and the esteem...

This is what the people of Los Angeles wanted. They put their police force on a short leash, blaming the overworked officers for the least amount of violence against criminals while at the same time absolving the criminals of responsibility. It has led to increasing numbers of officers leaving the force or retiring early. With fewer officers on the street and those that are being hesitant to act, the criminals are taking advantage of the situation. The Los Angeles Police Department recently started warning people not to wear expensive jewelry in public, or they might become the target of thieves....

Happy Friday, dear Kruiser Morning Briefing friends. Cranberries in a tophat are a delight known only to the people of the plains. Today we’re hitting some things that I’d rather not have to write about, yet feel that I must. The future of this great country is at stake, after all. We had a couple of “senior moment” stories yesterday involving people in the upper echelons of power in this country. It’s not pretty, but it can’t be ignored. Those of us here on the reality-based side of the aisle are duty-bound to acknowledge when things are amiss. The first...

U.S. lawmakers are reportedly questioning California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's capacity to do her job at her age. Senators and other officials are reportedly concerned that Diane Feinstein, 88, is no longer mentally competent enough to do her job as a lawmaker, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Feinstein's critics, however, have declined to speak on the record and asked to have their names withheld. "I have worked with her for a long time and long enough to know what she was like just a few years ago: always in command, always in charge, on top of the details, basically couldn’t...