Free Republic

House Speaker Mike Johnson has thwarted the installation of a plaque, approved by Congress, honoring officers who protected the Capitol. It is vital that partisans aren’t allowed to whitewash history simply because it makes some people uncomfortable. On Monday, Donald Trump will visit the scene of a crime, laying his hand on a Bible and vowing to preserve and protect the Constitution as he swears a formal oath to become the nation’s 47th president.The bloodstains of the Jan. 6 insurrection have long ago washed away. The shattered windows of the Capitol are mended, the broken doors replaced. You’d never know...

Talk of a mass exodus of residents was always overblown and more political than real.A population uptick will hopefully end all those premature death notices — at least for a bit California is growing again, news that comes as a relief, vindication or vexation, depending on where you stand in regard to the Golden State. Or, perhaps more aptly, where you reside.The state, which had its modern birth in a fever of money-lust and speculation, gained population in every assay going back to those Gold Rush days. Growth — heady, unrelenting — was not only the natural order of things,...

Chances are you’ve never heard of Tina Peters. It’s worth taking a moment to get to know her.Peters used to be the elections chief in Mesa County, Colo., a slice of rugged beauty perched on the state’s Western Slope. After the 2020 election, Peters fell in with the tinfoil-hat crowd promoting the phony claim the presidential race was stolen from Donald Trump. In furtherance of that fallacy, Peters allowed an unauthorized person to access voting equipment as part of a crackpot scheme to gather “proof” that Mesa County’s voting machines were rigged.They weren’t.But Peters’ conniving made her a celebrity in...

… That naysaying has gained much greater currency in recent years as California’s population has contracted for the first time in more than a century. The “exodus” has become an industry, stoking real estate markets from Nevada to Tennessee, fanning the red-versus-blue political flames and launching a thousand what-went-wrong analyses. The latest insult — or bracing reality check? — came last week in a Los Angeles Times poll that found 50% of adults nationwide believe California is in decline. (Bummer, man.) Nearly half the Republicans surveyed said the state is “not really American.” Whatever that means. L.A. Times columnists Mark...

Recently, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library launched a lecture series titled “Time for Choosing,” a name consciously echoing the famous 1964 speech that launched Reagan’s political career and put him on a path to the White House. The concept — marquee names, history-rich backdrop — is a throwback to a time when politics involved ideas and philosophies and wasn’t just about riling “the base” or “owning” the opposition. The program also gives Republicans a chance to paint their visions while wrapping themselves in the mantle of one of the GOP’s most beloved and sainted figures.

Immanuel Jarvis has spent most of his life in sales. Cellphones. Life insurance. Real estate. He comes at it naturally, with a warm smile, clever wit and outgoing personality. He's hard not to like. And yet Jarvis gets taunting emails, nasty phones calls, dirty looks. He recalls people standing so close he felt their hot breath on his face as they told him, "If I was your mother, I'd be ashamed of you for who you are." Jarvis is a Republican. He is Black. And he's a staunch supporter of President Trump.

However unlikely it may seem, Trump has good cause to worry about a primary brawl. Since 1968, four presidents have faced serious opponents who sought to wrestle away their party’s nomination: Democrats Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and Republicans Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush. Each was gravely wounded by the fratricidal fighting and all failed to win another term. By contrast, the presidents who avoided strenuous primary opposition — Republicans Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — all won reelection.

OAKLAND — Sen. Kamala Harris began her Democratic campaign for president Sunday with an attack on President Donald Trump and a promise to unify a country deeply riven along social, cultural and political lines. Speaking from the steps of Oakland’s City Hall plaza to a crowd that spilled over several downtown blocks, Harris depicted her candidacy as a fight against those “trying to sow hate and division.” “We are here at this moment in this because we must answer a fundamental question,” Harris said. “Who are we? Who are we as Americans? So let’s answer that question, America. We are...

No bargaining, no deals, no compromise — that's the hard-line stance that Republicans have staked in the days since seizing control of the House. Their prescription for the sluggish economy — lower taxes, huge spending cuts, less regulation, and repeal of the sweeping healthcare law just taking effect — excites the party's conservative base. But a long and ugly fight with President Obama and Senate Democrats, starting with next week's lame-duck session, could end up alienating the large number of Americans more interested in jobs than ideological battles. The midterm vote was "an expression of anger and impatience," said James...