Free Republic

4 ‘African Socialists’ charged with election meddling for Russia after FIB raided their homes Four American socialists have been charged with election meddling and spreading Putin’s propaganda after they were arrested in dramatic FBI raids. The four, are members of the African People’s Socialist Party. Omali Yeshitela, the group’s chairman was one of the 4 Americans indicted Tuesday for “sowing discord, spreading pro-Russia propaganda and interfering in elections within the United States.” The DOJ says that the 81-year-old veteran leader of the far-left group conspired along with three others to help Russian efforts to meddle in elections. Yeshitela has called...

How can one write history so that it seems like a thriller? How does one write a biography without making the subject the centerpiece of the narrative? I have no idea if David Pietrusza asked himself these questions — or this one: How can history be written as a newspaper headline? Call this a biography by indirection. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defined by competing individuals and movements: Huey Long, Father Coughlan, Al Smith, the Liberty League, Earl Browder and the Communist Party, Dr. Francis Townsend and the Townsend Plan, Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party. They threatened FDR’s majority in...

After years of Russiagate conspiracy theories about how the Russians had somehow rigged the 2016 presidential election using Facebook ads, the Senate Intelligence report awkwardly revealed that the Russian operation had focused most of its attention on black nationalists. The Senate report revealed that "most of the videos" put out by the Russian IRA troll factory on YouTube "pertained to police brutality and the activist efforts of the Black Lives Matter organization" and found that "no single group of Americans was targeted... more than African-Americans" around "race and related issues". But that was an understatement. The Russians had created their...

As the situation of the migrants on hunger strike in Brussels worsens, French-speaking socialist party PS and green party Ecolo have threatened to quit the federal government if any one of the activists dies, which would result in the current government falling. Both parties have informed Prime Minister Alexander De Croo that the ministers and secretaries of state will resign, which would see the government De Croo I losing its majority as part of the Vivaldi coalition. During the core cabinet meeting on Monday morning, federal Economy and Labour minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne warned that the PS ministers and secretaries of...

The experience of Venezuelans under the late President Hugo Chavez offers a cautionary tale to the United States about where packing the Supreme Court can lead. Last fall, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden refused to answer whether he would support adding justices to the Supreme Court and now has established a commission to review the proposal and other issues concerning judicial reform. One need look no further than Venezuela’s recent history for the devastating impact on liberty such a move could have. “In 2004, Chavez’s allies held a majority in Venezuela’s National Assembly (congress), passing a law that increased the number...

MIAMI -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stood defiant in the face of a $15 million bounty by the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges, calling Donald Trump a "racist cowboy" and warning that he is ready to fight by whatever means necessary should the U.S. and neighboring Colombia dare to invade. Maduro's bellicose remarks Thursday night came hours after the U.S. announced sweeping indictments against the socialist leader and several members of his inner circle for allegedly converting Venezuela into a criminal enterprise at the service of drug traffickers and terrorist groups. One indictment by prosecutors in New York accused...

Presidential week in Provence: Obamas arrive in south of France on private jet for vacation at $60,000-a-week, 18th century farmhouse - just days after Sasha graduated from high school Former US president Barack Obama and his family arrived in Avignon, in south of France on Friday The Obamas are reportedly staying at a luxurious 18th century farmhouse Bathelasse island The seven-bedroom property called Le Mas des Poiriers, was rented at 55,000 euros for the week The main house features seven double bedrooms, a family room with large windows that allow for natural light illuminate the lavishly decorated space. It also...

MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party took a beating Sunday in an election in Andalusia that saw the far right win seats in one of the country’s regional parliaments for the first time in decades. The Socialists (PSOE) — which have ruled the southern region uninterrupted for 36 years — came in first but could lose their grip on power if parties on the right team up against them. Juanma Moreno — the local leader of the Popular Party — said as the results came in that he would try to replace the Socialists’ incumbent regional leader,...

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faces growing pressure from within his Socialist Party to call an early election, before scandals besetting his four-month-old minority government undermine a surge in voter support. Riding high in the polls, Sánchez aims to serve a full term to mid-2020 as he focuses on approving next year’s budget and countering renewed independence moves in the Catalonia region. But last week, his science minister was forced to deny media reports he cheated on his taxes, days after a recording emerged of the justice minister using a homophobic slur. Two other ministers have already been pushed out,...

For the last century control of the United States has cycled between the 19th Century Democratic and Republican parties. Voters choose between the old ideas of the Democratic Party and the old ideas of the Republican Party. The two parties are mired in the same old partisan conflicts election after election. The Democrats in particular seem more interested in playing partisan political games than in dealing seriously with the nation's problems. Republicans are increasingly following their example. Millennials need to decide whether they want to continue the politics of their grandparents' generation or replace the 19th Century parties with 21st...

It is time for Americans to wake up, stand up, #Walkaway from the new Democrat [Socialist] Party Intermarriage is not always a matter of race or religion - sometimes it is a matter of politics. In 2008, Barack Hussein Obama officiated at the wedding of the Democrat party and Socialism. In this case the bride and groom came from very different family backgrounds with diametrically opposed world views and political perspectives. The bride’s family, Constitution, was 242 years old and deeply committed to individualism, equality, liberty, and limited powers of government. The groom’s family, Socialism, came to America in 1877...

Pedro Sanchez aims to remove Catholicism from public lifePolitical changes in the West mostly occur through the ballot box. A week ago, however, one exception to that rule took place in the Kingdom of Spain. On June 1, the governing People's Party lost a motion of censure which amounts to a vote of no confidence without an election, forcing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign and the main opposition leader Pedro Sanchez to assume the post and form a government. The People's Party, which had won the last three elections in Spain, lost the vote to a coalition of opposition...

Remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron that he wanted to repair church-state ties caused uproar Tuesday, sparking charges he was tampering with France’s longstanding secular tradition. The Church and the state were for centuries virtually indistinguishable in France, but the 1789 Revolution marked the first step by republicans to exclude religion from government affairs, codified in a 1905 law separating the two. But tensions have persisted, with conservative politicians often accusing officials of denying France’s cultural heritage — as seen in efforts to install nativity scenes at town halls during Christmas. Macron, who prides himself on tackling difficult issues head-on,...

A proposal to ban smoking in French films has been met with splutters of indignation in a land raised on images of puffing, pouting silver-screen stars. The idea was floated last week by a senator from the opposition Socialist Party, Nadine Grelet-Certenais, during a parliamentary debate on how to help the French quit smoking. Quoting a study that found 70 percent of new French films show at least one character lighting up, the senator accused filmmakers of painting smoking in a positive light.

PARIS — President François Hollande stunned France on Thursday when he announced that he would not run for a second term in next year’s presidential election. In a televised address from the Élysée Palace, Mr. Hollande said that he was “aware of the risks” of a candidacy that would not “rally” enough people to it. “I have thus decided not to be a candidate in the presidential elections,” Mr. Hollande said. Mr. Hollande, a Socialist, ended weeks of speculation about his intentions to participate in a re-election bid that few observers thought he could win. He has had some of...

Marine Le Pen got a huge boost in France’s first round of regional elections this week, drawing upwards of 40% support in the northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie. Showing some unusual restraint after the initial results were reported, she said her party would treat the result with humility and a profound sense of responsibility. In the broader sense, her “far right” National Front party did far better across all 13 regions than in recent outings. (Mashable) France’s far right National Front won more support than any other party in the first round of regional elections Sunday, according to polling agency...

The day after the first Democratic presidential debate, Donald Trump called Bernie Sanders a maniac. "This socialist-slash-communist," Trump said to raucous cheers. "I call him a socialist-slash-communist, because that's what he is." Well, no. The terms "socialist" and "communist" are often confused, thanks in large part to the Cold War. Layer on top of that the nuance of the term "democratic socialist," which is how Sanders describes himself, and it's easy to see why people might generally be confused... To offer America a bit of a primer, I reached out to Dr. Lawrence Quill, chairman and professor of political science...

The debate is finally over. After more than a year of national consultations, draft bills and parliamentary discussions, French MPs finally adopted the bill for an Energy Transition for Green Growth on Wednesday 22 July. The substance of this far-reaching bill was subject to significant re-shaping by both houses of the French parliament, as well as the government. […] The adopted bill contains several last minute additions, including a Senate amendment to increase the carbon tax on fossil fuel use to €56 per ton in 2020, a four-fold increase, and €100 in 2030. “The trajectory of the carbon tax increase...

Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s Socialist Alternative City Councilmember, was captured on video entering a February 21 fundraiser and birthday celebration for a local leader of the Democratic Party, King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. The video was posted online, but has subsequently been removed. Sawant and the organization to which she belongs have not yet sought to explain why a self-proclaimed socialist would spend an evening rubbing elbows and clinking glasses with the political elite in a major American city. Nor did Socialist Alternative announce beforehand that Sawant would be appearing at an event sponsored by the Democratic Party establishment. That’s because...

<p>The French government was dissolved Monday amid turmoil among top ministers.</p> <p>President Francois Hollande asked Prime Minister Manuel Valls to form a new government, which will be announced Tuesday...</p> <p>"The crisis in the heart of the government is clear, and it promises to be bloody," reported Le Figaro, a right-leaning national newspaper.</p>