Free Republic

Three months ago in our quarterly list of the top 10 most likely Democratic candidates for president in 2024, we changed things up. For a while, we had been ranking only the candidates not named Joe Biden. In the seemingly unlikely scenario he didn’t run again, the idea was, here’s who would be next in line. [Snip] 10. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 9. Roy Cooper (North Carolina governor) 8. Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan governor) 7. Gavin Newsom (California governor) 6. Bernie Sanders 5. Elizabeth Warren 4. Amy Klobuchar 3. Kamala D. Harris 2. Pete Buttigieg 1. President Biden (Brandon)

Both of America's first two monkeypox patients had first experienced symptoms of the virus on May 4 In the coming days, cases started to appear around Europe, spurring officials to eventually test for the virus in mid-May Officials report that all but one U.S. case are among people who either had traveled internationally or were a close contact of another patient All but one case, in Northern Virginia, is among a man who has sex with other menTwo men that eventually became America's first two monkeypox cases had sought out treatment for rashes and warts multiple times before doctors finally...

“Enough, enough,” President Joe Biden exclaimed over and over Thursday night, as he delivered an impassioned address to the nation imploring Congress to take action against gun violence after mass shootings he said had turned schools, supermarkets and other everyday places into “killing fields.” If legislators fail to act, he warned, voters should use their “outrage” to turn it into a central issue in November’s midterm elections. [Snip] “How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked after last week’s shootings by an 18-year-old gunman, who killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde,...

Within moments of widespread media reports that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire when the current term ends this summer, the Washington parlor game of making a short list of judges President Joe Biden might consider to replace him began. ... There’s one major problem facing Biden’s prospects, though: he might not be able to win confirmation for the expected pick. [Snip] But the nuclear option can go into motion only if the Judiciary Committee reports the nomination to the floor, a procedural move that says whether a majority on the committee recommends the full Senate consider the pick....

"Hillary Clinton's all-encompassing ambition will ensure that she can never be completely counted out for a presidential run as long as she is still drawing breath," noted Robert Spencer recently. With Biden more addled by the day, and few prospects on the bench, such a run could indeed happen -- especially with Hillary's recent hints on the matter. But Hillary has a problem. "If Hillary were held accountable for her actions," Spencer adds, "there would be no question of her running for president in 2024 or ever." Those actions include the home-brew server, the Russia Hoax, Benghazi, and the Clinton...

The news comes out tonight the University of Miami will be unable to play in this year’s Sun Bowl. Originally, the plan was for UM to face Washington State. ... The team has said a significant number of players testing positive for COVID, but they initially planned to withhold from any of the ritual pre-game events in the days ahead. Despite hopes that enough players could be cleared by the New Year’s Eve kickoff, the school tonight declared this would not be a feasible goal. [Snip] An irony now arises, as more teams are technically eligible but there are fewer...

Biden is the oldest man ever to serve in the Oval Office -- and is nearly four years older than former President Bill Clinton, who was recently hospitalizedPresident Biden will undergo a physical examination soon but no specific date has been set, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a news briefing Thursday. Video from the briefing shows Psaki fielding questions from Playboy reporter Brian Karem as she donned a face mask and prepared to leave the White House briefing room after a session with a roomful of journalists. "Hey Jen, will he take a physical anytime soon and...

Perfect. A new meme is floating around the internet today on the Bidens. Who wore it best? The image shows Jill Biden’s dress along with crackhead mega-millionaire grifter Hunter Biden on a crack couch with a similar pattern. Uncanny!

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell insisted on Thursday that NBC’s costly investment in the Tokyo Olympics will be profitable despite a massive drop in viewership that reportedly has caused "anxiety" for the network’s advertisers. Through five days of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, NBC’s average primetime audience of 15.2 million viewers is down 47% from Rio in 2016 and 57% from London in 2012. The opening ceremony, delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drew 16.7 million viewers for NBC on Friday, the smallest audience for the network broadcast since the 1988 Seoul Games. "We had a little bit of bad...

When lawless mobs impulsively loot, commit arson, and kill the innocent, police can often restore order only with lethal force. But when cops run out of ammunition, what happens to social order at that point? The current situation in South Africa provides a real-world example. 6:53 video describing South Africa's outcome of permitting ANTIFA type rioting.

The annual data on coral cover for the Great Barrier Reef, produced by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, was released on Monday showing the amount of coral on the reef is at record high levels. Record high, despite all the doom stories by our reef science and management institutions. Like all other data on the reef, this shows it is in robust health. For example, coral growth rates have, if anything, increased over the past 100 years, and measurements of farm pesticides reaching the reef show levels so low that they cannot be detected with the most ultra-sensitive equipment....

Democratic mayors in 20 of the nation’s 25 biggest cities slashed police department budgets and positions even as they spent millions of tax dollars on their own security details, according to data obtained by a government watchdog. [Snip] In San Francisco, for example, the costs of the security detail protecting Mayor London Breed and other city officials spiraled from $1.7 million in 2015 to $2.6 million in 2020. Breed has proposed shifting $120 million from the city’s police department to mental health and workforce training programs. City officials declined to say how many officers are assigned to the security details,...

President Biden opened up about his conflict with the more progressive side of the Democratic Party, arguing in a recent interview that he encounters criticism for not embracing a socialist agenda. "The progressives don’t like me because I’m not prepared to take on what I would say and they would say is a socialist agenda," Biden told The New York Times this week.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday signed the "heartbeat" bill into law, banning abortion in the state once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. [Snip] Other states have passed "heartbeat" bills and, once signed, abortion rights activists filed lawsuits challenging them. Subsequently, courts have blocked these laws, ruling they are unconstitutional. However, the Texas measure contains a unique enforcement mechanism whereby any private citizen may file a civil lawsuit against an abortion provider or any other individual who "aids or abets" a "criminal abortion."

I’ve shied away from reporting on events in Maricopa because it would require more hours than I have in a day to track intelligently the back-and-forth in that recount. My touchstone there is the fact that the Democrats’ and NeverTrumpers’ ferocious efforts to stop the count strike me as the actions of people with something to hide. Otherwise, they’d be there helping to prove that they’re right. Events in a small town in New Hampshire, though, are more interesting because a low-key audit may reveal serious election anomalies harming Republicans. Windham, New Hampshire, a town of 14,853 people, has long...

Maricopa County deleted entire databases prior to turning over election equipment to the AZ Senate for the forensic audit now occurring. The Senate President Karen Fann today sent a letter to the County Election’s Board for an explanation. The letter can be seen on the tab below. 5-12-21_Letter_to_Maricopa_County_Board-1Former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne asked the following questions on his Telegram channel: Maricopa County purposefully deleted a directory full of election databases related to the past 2020 election cycle --10 days before the election equipment was delivered to the @arizonaaudit. This is destruction of evidence and at least, contempt.Why did security seals...

The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed. After three years of falling homicide totals, 2020 ended with 769 homicides — 274 more than the previous year and the most since the 784 homicides in 2016. The latest shooting victim figures told the same story, with the year ending with 4,033 shooting victims compared with 2,598 the year before. And it never let up, as is illustrated by the fact that in December, there...

The Pennsylvania, responses are filed and can be downloaded Pennsylvania ResponseThey assert that:Texas’s Claims Do Not Meet the Exacting Standard Necessary for the Court to Exercise its Original JurisdictionTexas’s Claims Do Not Meet the Exacting Standard Necessary for the Court to Exercise its Original Jurisdiction because Texas lacks standing and its actions are untimely.Texas’s Claims Do Not Meet the Exacting Standard Necessary for the Court to Exercise its Original JurisdictionTexas’s Claims Do Not Meet the Exacting Standard Necessary for the Court to Exercise its Original JurisdictionMichigan's ResponseGeorgia's ResponseWisconsin's Response

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on Wednesday joined 16 other states in backing a last-chance effort by Texas to get the U.S. Supreme Court to block election results in four swing states where the vote went in favor of President-elect Joe Biden. “The integrity and resolution of the 2020 election is of paramount importance,” Moody wrote in a statement as Florida joined a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to allow Texas to move forward with the case. “The United States Supreme Court should weigh the legal arguments of the Texas motion and all pending matters so that Americans can...

17 States have intervened in support of the Texas Lawsuit Amici curiae are the States of Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia.The President has also filed a motion to personally interveneMore information here: One Third Of US States Have Now Joined Texas SCOTUS Bid To Overturn Election