Free Republic

Democrats built this inferno to immolate one man. Now, watching it surge back on them, they rage at not their hypocrisy, but their powerlessness. When was the last time a prominent Democrat politician (other than John Fetterman) said anything remotely factual, or proposed any legislation to make America safer, stronger, more prosperous, or more united? All they have are lies, psychological projection, and logical fallacies. In the last case, they’re especially fond of proof by assertion — unfounded claims stated as if they were true. Democrats have a new mantra: “We must save democracy from Trump.” This noble-sounding imperative has...

Brussels’ climate policy a poverty engine -- one that is systematically draining Europe’s industrial base in global competition. The roadmap is already set: in the coming years, the EU and its member states will make both businesses and consumers pay even more for CO2 emissions. BASF CEO Markus Kamieth warns of the enormous destructive potential of this policy. Truth comes on pigeon feet -- Friedrich Nietzsche already knew that. And apparently, the same applies to European climate policy: slowly, but inevitably, the reality of the true costs of the green transformation and its impact on Germany’s industrial foundation is emerging....

Democrats in the party continue to radicalize, and the position of the socialists in supporting Marxist ideology increases its hold. Many people are wringing their hands over the election of self-identified democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor. Unfortunately, they have reason to be worried, because his election reflects a trend that can be called conservatively, concerning, and liberally, alarming. To understand this assessment better, it helps to understand the nature of democratic socialism. What is the history of the movement in this country? Although he wasn’t an admitted socialist, Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced sweeping socialism to America:...

Democrats wield chaos as a strategy, overwhelming voters with nonstop turmoil that obscures blame and rallies key groups—leaving Republicans scrambling to counter before the clock runs out. We can draw a few conclusions from an off-year election, when iconic races in blue states went, as expected, overwhelmingly Democratic. Nevertheless, there is only a year left before the midterms. So Republicans must react to even these paltry results. 1) Democrats’ chaotic nihilism still works. The chaos strategy causes so much turmoil, noise, and negative media coverage that the confused voting public simply cannot sort it all out. The public wishes the...

Discover more from AND Magazine Expert Analysis & Commentary on Politics, National Security, Foreign Policy and more. Senior Editor, Sam Faddis Over 15,000 subscribers Enter your email... By subscribing, I agree to Substack's Terms of Use, and acknowledge its Information Collection Notice and Privacy Policy. Already have an account? Sign in It's Not Your Imagination North Carolina -Your Government Really Is Run By People Who Despise You Sam Faddis Oct 05, 2024 The stories coming out of North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene are heartbreaking. Hundreds are dead. Communities are devastated. The federal government’s response has been slow...

Reports of Democrats’ death have been greatly exaggerated. As it turns out, it is the republic that is on life support. The recent elections have made that abundantly clear. To wit: Maine Democrat (and now Senator) Graham Platner won his race despite revelations that he has an actual Nazi tattoo, the “Totenkopf” (Death’s head), adorning his body. And a history of shameful online comments. Not only did Platner suffer no meaningful political consequences, he claims that his candidacy was "strengthened" by the disturbing revelations. He also stated that he found it “amusing” that some in the media thought his campaign...

The Islamification of the West is happening everywhere. Now that New Yorkers have elected a terrorist-sympathizing communist to run their city, I think we can all agree that the barbarians are inside the city gates. Along with Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City represents the foreign face of major Western metropolises. What’s next? Should we expect an imam to take over Vatican City as the next pope? Anybody who experienced the 9/11 Islamic terror attacks firsthand should feel queasy about what just happened in New York. Anybody who sacrificed years to fight Islamic extremism...

illiam F. Buckley Jr. once quipped that he would rather be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. New York City is about to be governed by the Columbia University student body. A city that used to think of itself as grown up has just elected a mayor who seems the very embodiment of the American college student: uninformed, entitled and self-important, enjoying a regal quality of life that depends parasitically upon a civilization about which he knows nothing, yet for which he has nothing but scorn. American college students regularly...

The establishment’s supposed love of democracy ends exactly when democracy—as expressed by the popular vote—stops loving the establishment. And so, with the AfD looking increasingly likely to gain power in one or more German states after next year’s elections—especially in Saxony-Anhalt, where it recently crossed the 40% mark in a regional poll for the first time—mainstream figures are preparing to make it as difficult as possible for the party to govern. That is, if they can’t simply strip the AfD of its hard-won power altogether. Politicians are considering destroying documents before the opposition enters office, and even handing state power...

There are good reasons why homeschooling is on the rise. I am an enthusiastic supporter of homeschooling. When parents are in a position to prioritize their children’s education, young minds learn more information more quickly. A young person who excels in mathematics, for instance, is not forced to follow the regimented schedule of the state’s curricula, in which geometry belongs to a certain grade level, an introduction to calculus must be kept secret until the final years of high school, and summer vacations interrupt the accumulation and application of new knowledge. Those who show promise in mathematics — especially those...

A former special agent says the agency has become top-heavy and self-absorbed. “Uh, Pat, the FBI is at the door,” my wife called out to me on an otherwise quiet Tuesday morning last month. Those words would strike fear in most, but this wasn’t the first time I’d heard such a thing. In my almost two decades with the FBI, colleagues helped with childcare, invited one another over for holidays, and drove each other to doctor appointments. A pop-in wasn’t out of the ordinary. But this time seemed different, and I could hear it in my wife’s voice. Two agents...

Like a monstrous experiment in social engineering, the profoundly anti-patriotic immigration policy of New Labour has brought about demographic changes that, right from the outset, were intended to be irreversible. For centuries, Britain — and England in particular — has represented a civilizational ideal for much of the modern world. The birthplace of parliamentary democracy, the common law system, and global standards of governance, Britain has exported its political and cultural values far beyond its shores. At home, it once epitomized social cohesion, stability, and civic pride. Yet, in the 21st century, many Britons — particularly in working-class communities —...

The Radical Left (“RL”) no longer has a coherent message. President Trump, with his platform focused on restoring public order, promoting economic prosperity, securing the borders, advocating for merit-based policies, and opposing the inclusion of boys in girls’ sports, among other issues, appealed to voters, resulting in his landslide victory in 2024. The RL’s rebranding as Democratic Socialism (Mamdani, AOC, and Sanders) is nothing more than the Old Pied Piper promise of a new utopia if given more public money and power. The RL’s Marxist/Islamofascist ideology remains fundamentally at odds with and a real threat to our constitutional republic. The...

On his weekday podcast (which I sorely miss), Dan Bongino would occasionally refer to a scandal as “the biggest of our time.” This raised questions in my mind, such as how big was it compared to the others? How big must a scandal be before it could be considered “the biggest scandal of our time”? How are scandals measured, anyway? You can’t easily assign a dollar value to loss of trust or societal division. Evaluating the damage from these events requires considering multiple dimensions: economic costs, loss of life, social cohesion, political polarization, and erosion of trust in institutions. For...

Whenever you delve into the modern history of internal national conflict you’re bound to come across post-crisis accounts from people who said “We never saw it coming…” or “The violence hit us from nowhere…” Generally speaking, these were the people who weren’t paying attention and they just happened to survive by sheer luck. I think of this dynamic a lot these days. I see a large contingent of American society (perhaps 25% of the population) which has been radicalized or brainwashed beyond all reason or repair. These people (leftists) operate deep within a protective bubble of propaganda and zealotry; they...

By criticizing the secretary’s policies publicly and casting aspersions on his fitness for the office he holds, these officers are flaunting both fundamental leadership principles and long-established military tradition. Trump derangement syndrome and its variant, Hegseth derangement syndrome (HDS), continue to infect an undetermined number of victims in the military. Like the original affliction, this new strain is a debilitating malady that deprives the aggrieved victim of the ability to think and act rationally. Like the sufferers of TDS who warn the country that Trump is politicizing the justice system by investigating and prosecuting some who have opposed him, the...

Patriots, the storm has broken. For nine years, the Deep State cabal led by Barack Obama has slithered in the shadows, peddling their Russia hoax like a venomous serpent to poison the well of American democracy. But now, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has hurled the thunderbolt of truth, declassifying ironclad documents that lay bare the full scope of their betrayal. This isn’t some dusty footnote in history. It’s a full frontal assault on the Republic, a treasonous conspiracy engineered to rip the presidency from Donald J. Trump’s grip and hand it back to the Clinton machine. The evidence...

Attempting to bargain with the Left is futile. The current Schumer shutdown amply illuminates their fanaticism, quest for power, and economic illiteracy. What’s more, the four long, hard years before the second Trump administration offered endless clues as to how far the Democrats and the Left in general have regressed. ... What is the common denominator to the socially destructive, heart-sickening behaviors which we’ve witnessed repeatedly? Each and every activity of the Left, from the minuscule to the monumental, in one way or another, is undertaken to diminish the status, strength, and sovereignty of America. Whether it's attempting to flood...

Let’s say you paid top dollar to go to a fancy, five-star restaurant, and the waiter served you warmed-over McDonald’s. Would you ever go back? Maybe, if you didn’t know any better. I started thinking about that after I recently changed my residency from Virginia to California (for reasons I won’t go into) and noticed that my state income taxes had gone up by more than 33%. Over the course of the year, I will pay California $2,115 more than I’d been paying in Virginia, which is hardly a low-tax state (Virginia has the 14th highest income tax burden in...

Anumber of top officials in President Donald Trump’s administration are being housed, along with their families, on military bases, due to increasing threats of left-wing political violence. High profile members of the Trump team, including Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller have all been moved into military housing typically reserved for senior officers. According to a report from The Atlantic, members of Trump’s cabinet have faced growing concerns about political violence after many of them have been confronted at their private residences...