Free Republic

Politicians have too much power over our lives. Many used the pandemic as another excuse to take more. Early on, politicians declared that they would decide who was "essential." Everyone else was told to stay home. Much of the economy stopped. Millions were laid off. Then politicians relaxed the rules for industries that they deemed "essential." "You can't just call somebody essential without implicitly suggesting that half the workforce is not essential," points out Mike Rowe, host of the surprise hit TV series, "Dirty Jobs." That's a big problem, says Rowe, because people find purpose in work. Now the Biden...

The World Economic Forum, founded by Klaus Schwab in 1970, hosts a yearly January gathering of global corporate and political elites in Davos, Switzerland. Annually, it draws hundreds of private jets, as attendees gather to assure the rest of us that we must tighten our belts and sacrifice our standard of living in order to reduce carbon emissions. It calls itself: …the foremost creative force for engaging the world's top leaders in collaborative activities to shape the global, regional and industry agendas at the beginning of each year. That sounds an awful lot like powerful people conspiring with each other...

What people want from politicians is not to put on the same tired show they have been watching for years. They want them to get things done.The extreme disconnect between the political class and the people they ostensibly serve is by now extremely clear. It was the primary factor behind Donald Trump’s ascendance to the presidency, as the left largely abandoned the working class in favor of woke ideologies and their special interests. At a certain point, the lip service politicians pay to the working class’s needs and concerns was not enough, and they lost their votes. Naturally, it was...

There’s nothing more tiresome than hackneyed references to The Matrix, except for the constant propaganda we’re hosed down with by the Establishment and its media lackeys about how everything is groovy in our totally free, free enterprise paradise of freedom and happiness and more freedom. Some of us have been woke for a while, having realized the undeniable truth that the system is rigged for the benefit of a garbage ruling class, whose sole accomplishment is to perpetuate a paradigm in which they maintain power and prestige by controlling institutions they didn’t create or build. Instead, they are cultural trust...

Like the mighty Gulliver pinned down by the Lilliputians, the Reddit Raiders have had the giant hedge fund boys tied up in knots. The suits were executing a classic short squeeze where they collectively shorted GameStop shares. It’s a time tested strategy where their shorts alone were virtually guaranteed to drive the stock price down. They consistently made hefty profits while the small shareholders lost big. But a funny thing happened to the wolves on the way to this kill. They ran into an army of small day traders, armed with laptops. A few did the research and shared it...

This week, a small contingent of retail stock traders discovered that big hedge funds had taken large short positions on several stocks. In some cases, the shares shorted exceeded the total number of shares issued by the companies. "Shorting" means selling stock you don't own. With the cooperation of market opinion makers, negative assessments can be created and circulated driving the share prices down. The hedge fund that shorted the stock can then close the deal by buying the shares at a lower price and net billions in profits. This time, though, outsiders used the large short position in GameStop...

The rules here are simple: Heads Wall Street wins, tails you lose.For those who haven’t heard, there’s a bit of a brouhaha brewing with the video game retailer GameStop, which is publicly traded. Much of Wall Street soured on the company, believing it to be the next Blockbuster or Radio Shack: a dinosaur from a bygone era that has no hope of succeeding in the increasingly internet-run future. As a result, a major Wall Street hedge fund worth billions decided to make a bet that the company’s already low stock price would just keep going lower. The traditional way to...

In the aftermath of the disgraceful Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, the American ruling class has flexed its muscles like never before. Big Tech oligarchs moved in unison to kneecap upstart Parler, a would-be Twitter competitor, and ban former President Donald Trump and scores of other conservatives. Simon & Schuster, one of the nation's most reputable book publishers, canceled a book deal that it had commissioned with the conservative Sen. Josh Hawley. President Joe Biden, in direct defiance of his campaign-season vows to unify the country, oversaw a deeply divisive and ideological first week in office. And just...

Rush Limbaugh on Thursday pointed to GameStop stock as the latest example of Washington elitists coming after ordinary Americans. Shares of GameStop, a video game retailer, have soared in recent weeks, going from $17.08 to $347.51 at Tuesday's close. Brokerage platforms such as Robinhood and TD Ameritrade restricted trading on Wednesday and Thursday following an unexpected surge in trading volume of various stocks. Limbaugh said the move was made to protect hedge fund billionaires, per Fox News. "Folks, it's not just political now. The elites are bent out of shape that a bunch of average, ordinary users have figured out...

Kyrie Irving didn’t fly with the Nets for Friday’s game at Memphis, and his status (along with that of Kevin Durant) is still up in the air for Sunday’s home tilt against the Thunder. A source familiar with the situation told The Post that Irving is fine physically, but was upset by the attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington by supporters of President Donald Trump. The All-Star isn’t AWOL, and the team has been aware of why he’s not playing. Irving, in essence, took personal days, according to a source.

When the Constitution formed this nation, we were a country of around 4 million. But in 2020 at least 74 million Americans have had their votes tossed in the trash along with the Constitution. More Americans had their votes discarded, stolen, nullified, corrupted, and obstructed in this election than existed in the entire United States when it fought for its independence from monarchy and tyranny, when it brought into being a “more perfect union”, when it expanded westward, and when brother against brother fought in a civil war to preserve that union. There were more Americans who voted for President...

What began as a self-righteous crusade to supposedly save the Republican Party from Donald Trump has now morphed into an explicit enterprise for personal profit.What began as a self-righteous crusade to supposedly save the Republican Party from Donald Trump has morphed into an explicit enterprise exposing who they were all along: financial opportunists capitalizing on media-fomented Trump Derangement Syndrome for personal profit while masquerading as white knight Republicans.More than any other culprit — the Bulwarks, The Dispatches, the legacy papers promoting ex-GOP columnists as “conservative” — the vile con artists at the Lincoln Project reveal the left-wing campaign purportedly about...

It’s been a hard year but at least we know, beyond all doubt, that our elites despise us and will do anything to expand their power.For as difficult as the past year has been, from politics to the pandemic, it has at least helped to illuminate and clarify certain things about the state of our country.Above all, 2020 has illuminated and clarified the relationship between America’s elites—in government, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, corporate America and the corporate press—and everyone else. In short, our elites believe, contra Thomas Jefferson, that most people were born with saddles on their backs while a favored...

CONCORD — Gov. Chris Sununu said it was “outrageous” and “insulting” that members of Congress such as U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., were “cutting the line” to get the coronavirus vaccine ahead of more needy New Hampshire residents. Sununu, 45, took to social media over the weekend to criticize Congress after several confirmed they had gotten a shot, including Kuster and 2020 presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. “Congress has literally done nothing these last eight months. Now they are cutting the line and getting the vaccine ahead of residents in long-term care, nurses and essential workers who stock...

New York Times op-ed columnist David Brooks ignited a wave of backlash after insulting rural Americans who have no contact with the “expert class.” SNIP “Look at how much more Republicans are affected by conspiracy theories than the Democrats, so it can’t just be the internet, there must be some demand,” Brooks said, pointing out the “two core problems.” “A lot of people in the expert class live in blue cities who are thriving,” he claimed. “And a lot of people left behind in the rural parts of America, they feel threatened economically, culturally, socially and they have no contact...

Recently entertainer Seth MacFarlane made a quiet announcement that his sci-fi space satire television show ‘’The Orville’’ was going back into production. This is a somewhat unsettling announcement for a couple of reasons. For one, over the past months Seth had been a loud proponent of shutdowns, quarantines, and basically any limitations done in the name of safety. We can guess that the virus has been scientifically shown to avoid television productions. The other issue is that as Seth’s show ramps back up California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has imposed tougher lockdown standards on citizens and businesses, as well as instilling...

Comedian Whitney Cummings took a swipe at wealthy Hollywood elites for selfishly supporting the lockdowns. In a tweet posted on Friday, the Two Broke Girls comedian tweeted her amazement over wealthy Hollywood elites who support the new lockdowns, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) unveiled new regional lockdowns expected to shut down much of the state in coming days. "It’s amazing how wealthy hollywood people want everyone to say home except grocery workers and Postmates and Amazon delivery people and nannies," Cummings tweeted. Like the governor, Hollywood elites don't mind the lockdowns because they aren't impacted as much as the...

It is an overplayed cliché to refer to the insanity of the current year. Still, 2020 manages to surprise. It is increasingly looking like 2020 has created the greatest challenge to democratic legitimacy in the past century.Yesterday was a truly remarkable day in American history.The official legal team for President Donald Trump—led by Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis—outlined an argument that America’s elections were hijacked by a conspiracy involving Dominion voting systems, the Smartmatic corporation, and elected officials of both parties. The team claimed that these actors collaborated with foreign enemies of the president to ensure he lost...

President Trump leaving office will not make America more decent if it just returns power to those whose garb of civility covers corrupt hearts. There is honor among thieves. There has to be, if they are to be successful. Even lawbreakers require some sort of law, both in reality, where organized crime requires organization, and in fiction, where it is a standard trope that the Guild of Assassins (or whatever) has rules. The wicked still need some virtue to be effective, although it must be severed from the whole of virtue. This explains a lot about politics. The rules and...

Leftist elites in Europe are tying their fate with Democrats, becoming a natural adversary of any future Republican administration. That is a long-term mistake.“Biden’s victory returns a recognizable, reassuring figure to the Western throne,” an Atlantic essay claims, “a restoration of the old dynastic order — a figure who will hear Europe’s petitions with respect and grace.” Europe, it appears, banked on Biden, whom it believes will deliver. At least such is the received wisdom. Politico argued the same, saying, “For many European leaders, Biden’s win represented more than just the prayed-for end of Trump’s presidency — it was a...