Free Republic

The right-leaning media and pundits are excited: Marine Le Pen’s party gained twice as many seats in recent French elections. The left-leaning media and commentariat are thrilled, too: Le Pen’s right-wing party won the popular vote but landed only third place in the French National Assembly. If both sides of the political spectrum are so enthusiastic, it could mean only one thing: something is missing here. The answer lies most likely in conflating two different political spectra: absolute and relative. Since Stalin proposed the modern relative political spectrum, it garnered popularity, and members of the Frankfurt School of socialism brought...

The recent French election illustrated that elites will happily ally with left-wing radicals just to prevent the right from winning.After a promising first-round lead, France’s right-wing National Rally party came up short in the second round of the country’s legislative election. It ultimately came in third for seats in the National Assembly, France’s lower house, behind left-wing coalition New Popular Front (NFP) and French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance, Ensemble.More than 300 contests in the first round proceeded to a three-way runoff involving National Rally, the NFP, and Ensemble. If those three-way races had gone ahead, National Rally had a...

Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar believes that “[W]e have the Israelis right where we want them,” despite massive losses to the terror organization, because of growing international pressure on Israel to stop short of victory. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Sinwar, who is likely hiding in a tunnel in southern Gaza, possibly surrounded by Israeli hostages as human shields, is happy with how the war is going — civilian casualties and all. The Journal noted: For months, Yahya Sinwar has resisted pressure to cut a ceasefire-and-hostages deal with Israel. Behind his decision, messages the Hamas military leader in...

(Screenshot: Channel 12) US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew insisted Sunday evening that “fundamentally, nothing has changed in the basic relationship” between Israel and the US — despite the decision last week by US President Joe Biden’s administration to delay a shipment of high-payload bombs to Israel, and Biden’s declaration that he would not supply offensive weapons to Israel for a major IDF offensive affecting population centers in southern Gaza’s Rafah. Noting that military aid from Washington to Jerusalem has increased since war erupted in Gaza after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, Lew stressed in a Channel 12 interview that only...

The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The state has confirmed an additional case of pertussis — or whooping cough — on Hawaii Island amid an outbreak that has so far sickened 11 since March. Several of the recent cases have been in infants too young to be fully vaccinated. Officials said the cases indicate “community spread” of pertussis on Hawaii Island. Because of that, the state Health Department is strongly recommending that parents stay up...

Fiscal conservatives are winning in — of all places — the state of Washington. Members of the Democratic-dominated state Legislature have passed three initiatives that are part of a six-part strategy developed by conservatives in that state. Leaders of the conservative group Let’s Go Washington announced late last year that they had collected enough signatures to force six referendum questions on the November 2024 ballot. In the past, some might have argued that conservatives were on life support in the state of Washington. The state has the nation’s longest streak of Democratic governors. The last Republican elected governor was John...

Millions of Americans, depressed by the ideological divide in America, harbor a wish that something or someone can bridge this divide. This wish is understandable. But it is fantasy. The divide is unbridgeable. One might as well wish that daily consumption of a hot fudge sundae will lead to weight loss. To cite a few samples: How are we to bridge the gap between those who believe men can become women and women can become men and those who don't believe this? Between those who believe men menstruate and those who believe only women menstruate? How are we to bridge...

The Western world is experiencing the most dramatic political realignment since the rise of socialism over a century ago. The driving force then was the rise of the working class, created by the Industrial Revolution. Today, it is the shift to an economy dominated by information industries, technology, finance and media. This new economic order, just like that which arose a century ago, is creating a highly disruptive political dynamic and a shift in historic class allegiances. The wealthiest people today are no longer fans of the free market. Instead, they and their businesses are deeply tied to the progressive...

Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom won big in Dutch parliamentary elections last month. One of the keys to the nationalist’s party success was its large share of the youth vote. Young people in the Anglosphere tend to be more left-wing than their elders. Seeing the reverse in continental Europe always surprises outside observers. The Guardian tried to solve this mystery. It asked young Dutchmen why they voted for the Party for Freedom. The Dutch youth said they did so because it was the one party that addressed their concerns. Other European parties, such as AfD in Germany and National Rally...

The world had just emerged from World War II when 20th century author and armchair theologian C.S. Lewis penned what he called “A Christmas Sermon for Pagans,” a message to British readers about the dangers of a world yielded no longer to objective truth but one lost in a sea of relativism. Lewis’ words in December 1946 — which first appeared in the erstwhile Strand Magazine — warned that “post-Christian” thought, a way of thinking that rejects absolute rights and wrongs, leads to nihilism. He wrote, in part: As for the ideologies, the new invented Wrongs and Rights, does no...

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Monday to CBS News that Israel did not have a right “to kill 12,000 people in six, seven weeks” in response to the October 7 terror attack. Sanders said, “Well, this was how I respond. Look, Israel was attacked in an absolutely horrific way by Hamas, 1,300 innocent people were slaughtered. Israel has a right to defend itself, but what Israel does not have a right to do, in my view, is to kill 12,000 people in six, seven weeks, two-thirds of whom are women and children. That they don’t have right to do, that’s...

POINTS Gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at a 4.9% annualized pace in the third quarter, ahead of the 4.7% estimate. The sharp increase came due to contributions from consumer spending, increased inventories, exports, residential investment and government spending. While the report could give the Fed some impetus to keep policy tight, traders were still pricing in no chance of an interest rate hike when the central bank meets next week.

The Walkaway movement celebrated their 5 year anniversary last night in West Palm Beach. RSBN covered the event.

The U.S. is committed to the Palestinian people’s right to “self-determination” and “dignity,” President Biden said on Tuesday, weeks after Palestinian terrorist group Hamas murdered an estimated 1,400 people in Israel. “The United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away,” Biden said Tuesday morning. It remains unclear what, specifically, prompted that statement.

On Friday, MSNBC host Joy Reid said on her show “The ReidOut” that she has a “theory” that the right does not want slavery taught in schools because their children will have empathy and not become Republicans. Reid said, “And the thing about it is, it’s a presumption that if you teach white kids about the negative parts of history, they’re going to identify with the bad guys. They’re not going to identify with the abolitionists.”

On Wednesday’s broadcast of NBC’s “MTP Now,” host Chuck Todd discussed complaints and demands for help from the federal government from Democratic officials in New York and Massachusetts about the influx of migrants in their areas and said that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) “was right” that Democratic-run cities would be angry at the Biden administration once they had to bear the weight of the migrant influx. While teasing a segment on the “growing humanitarian crisis” in New York City and demands for federal assistance from New York, Todd said, “I guess Greg Abbott was right when he said, once...

The late Great Walter Williams makes it quite clear that he believed the South had a right to secede.

As the Democratic Party becomes more progressive, radical, and insistent on its push for a liberal agenda, young Americans are stepping away and leaning toward the Right. According to data from Nate Cohn with the New York Times, millennials are shifting towards the Republican Party. Liberalism is not what it used to be before the 2000s. Being liberal in today's society does not mean walking around barefoot, selling flowers along the highway, and burning your bra. Instead, it means supporting LGBTQ propaganda and being brainwashed by an 80-year-old president who doesn't remember where he is half the time. The data...

It was a dream come true—or rather about to come true—when the Halls bought their forever home. It had everything they needed and more: five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a family room, a dining room, a roomy garage, good schools, and a good neighborhood. Sure, a fixer-upper, but they felt up to it. Prentiss Hall, a home improvement contractor, made it his life project, and everybody lent a hand—his wife, Tawanda, and six children, cousins, and friends. “We were really excited,” Tawanda told The Epoch Times. They negotiated the price down to $67,000—a bargain, perhaps, but the home demanded a daunting...

Gun control activist David Hogg tweeted Sunday that Americans “have no right to a gun,” suggesting that the right to keep and bear arms applies only to members of the militia. Hogg tweeted:You have no right to a gun. You are not a militia. When you’re talking about your second amendment rights you’re talking about a states right to have what is today the national guard. The modern interpretation of 2A is a ridiculous fraud pushed for decades by the gun lobby. — David Hogg ☮️ (@davidhogg111) February 26, 2023 The text of the Second Amendment says, “A well regulated...