Free Republic

Across the country, readers were first anxious, as storms along the Eastern Seaboard threatened to depress turnout and long lines at polling places frustrated voters. As the first results were reported around 6 p.m. Eastern time, anxiety crested and the mood began to shift. Some ended the night angry. Others seemed happy. Few, however, seemed to be laughing at any point during the day.

It turns out that we were wrong. There turn out to be a huge number of people — white people, living mainly in rural areas — who don’t share at all our idea of what America is about. For them, it is about blood and soil, about traditional patriarchy and racial hierarchy. And there were many other people who might not share those anti-democratic values, but who nonetheless were willing to vote for anyone bearing the Republican label. I don’t know how we go forward from here. Is America a failed state and society? It looks truly possible. I guess...

CARSON CITY — An estimated 25,000 Nevadans will lose their unemployment benefits on Jan. 2 if Congress fails to reach a deal on the federal budget, state officials said. The state Division of Employment Security said today those people are receiving benefits under a federal program that extends state payments. Another 1,000 jobless will exhaust their regular state benefits each week thereafter and not be eligible for the extension, division Administrator Renee Olson said.

House Republicans were heading toward a down-in-the-dumps holiday. Then the House ethics committee handed them a gift. The committee's investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel's tax problems is expanding, turning what has been a minor headache for Democratic leaders into a New Year's migraine. The last thing Democrats need is an ethics cloud hovering over 20-term House veteran who, as House Ways and Means Committee chairman, will play a critical role in advancing President-elect Barack Obama's goals of an economic recovery plan, middle-class tax relief and expanded health insurance. It was only last month that the top House Democrat, Speaker Nancy...

MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government, angered by a U.S. proposal to extend a wall along the border to keep out migrants, pledged Tuesday to block the plan and organize an international campaign against it. Facing a growing tide of anti-immigrant sentiment north of the border, the Mexican government has taken out ads urging Mexican workers to denounce rights violations in the United States. It also is hiring an American public relations firm to improve its image and counter growing U.S. concerns about immigration. Mexican President Vicente Fox denounced the U.S. measures, passed by the House of Representatives on Friday,...

President Jacques Chirac declared a state of emergency Tuesday, paving the way for curfews to be imposed on riot-hit cities and towns in an extraordinary measure to halt France's worst civil unrest in decades after 12 nights of violence. Police, meanwhile, said overnight unrest Monday-Tuesday, while still widespread and destructive, was not as violent as previous nights. "The intensity of this violence is on the way down," National Police Chief Michel Gaudin said, citing fewer attacks on public buildings and fewer direct clashes between youths and police. He said rioting was reported in 226 towns across France, compared to nearly...

Boston (CNSNews.com) - As President George Bush edged closer to the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure re-election, supporters of Democratic nominee John Kerry openly wept and consoled each other at the Election Night celebration in Boston's Copley Square. Some Kerry supporters called Bush's platform "all lies" and heckled a group of College Republicans who were passing through the crowd. A distraught woman confronted Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford in the lobby of the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel and screamed, "Can you tell me why everybody made a mistake?" Ford responded, "Let me talk to the candidate before I make...

NEW YORK Hurricane Katrina has brought out the best in many people, while others are coming up short. How to keep score was swiftly dubbed the Blame Game _ a sport that, post-Katrina, was all the rage at the highest echelons of power (and seemed unlikely to lose its appeal even after Tuesday's "I take responsibility" pronouncement by President Bush). But you don't have to be a big shot to play. When you feel an aim to blame, just get in the game and imagine handing out a Blamey Award (an all-purpose finger-pointing trophy that's suitable for blamers or blamees...

< snip >Despite the potential problems with anonymous sources, news organizations aren't likely to stop using them anytime soon. There are too many people with essential information who are afraid to go public, sometimes out of fear of losing their jobs. (At present, TIME is defending in the courts the refusal of its correspondent Matthew Cooper to disclose one of his sources to a federal grand jury.) But many in the media, amid periodic waves of criticism, are re-examining how often to use unnamed sources.

Boca Raton trauma specialist has treated 15 patients More than a dozen traumatized John Kerry supporters have sought and received therapy from a licensed Florida psychologist since their candidate lost to President Bush, the Boca Raton News learned Monday. Boca Raton trauma specialist Douglas Schooler said he has treated 15 clients and friends with “intense hypnotherapy” since the Democratic nominee conceded last Wednesday. “I had one friend tell me he’s never been so depressed and angry in his life,” Schooler said. “I observed patients threatening to leave the country or staring listlessly into space. They were emotionally paralyzed, shocked and...

WHOSE PARTY? According to a former Clinton staffer, the late Saturday phone call between John Kerry and Bill Clinton was the first extensive conversation the two men had had since Kerry won the nomination. Former Clinton senior staffers Paul Begala and Joe Lockhart brokered the call, while another former Clinton staffer now on the Kerry payroll leaked word of the conversation to the New York Times. As reported by the Prowler last week, it isn't entirely clear how the staff shakeup affects some of the current Kerry advisers. A week ago, it appeared that Lockhart would be traveling extensively with...

PODIUM SCHEDULE - MONDAY, JULY 26TH4:00 pm to 7:00 p.m.4:00 pm   Call to OrderTerry McAuliffe Chairman, Democratic National CommitteeInvocationReverend Stephen AyresOld North Church, BostonPresentation of ColorsPledge of AllegianceThe Honorable Jake WheatleyPennsylvania House of RepresentativesNational Anthem  Credentials CommitteeThe Honorable Shirley Franklin Mayor of Atlanta, GeorgiaThe Honorable Debbie Stabenow United States Senate, MichiganRepresentative Robert Menendez U.S. House of Representatives, New JerseyRules CommitteeRepresentative Robert MatsuiU.S. House of Representatives, CaliforniaRepresentative Gregory MeeksU.S. House of Representatives, New York  The Honorable Jennifer GranholmGovernor of MichiganThe Honorable Steny HoyerDemocratic Whip; U.S. House of Representatives, MarylandParliamentarian, Democratic National ConventionAndrew TobiasTreasurer, Democratic National CommitteeMaureen WhiteNational Finance Chair, Democratic National CommitteeAlice GermondSecretary, Democratic National Committee Roll CallLinda...