Free Republic

One in five Democrats disapprove of President Joe Biden’s job performance, a recent Harvard/Harris survey found. Overall, the survey showed that Biden’s approval remains low, at 42 percent. Of those, just 20 percent “strongly approve” of him. Most, 57 percent, disapprove of his job performance. His ratings are even worse among independent voters, as 62 percent disapprove of him compared to 35 percent who approve. Further, one in five — 22 percent — of Democrats disapprove of Biden’s job performance.

It may not seem unusual that a corporate CEO would want to focus on increasing shareholder value, but in October this was treated as big news. A Financial Times headline announced that "Unilever's new chief says corporate purpose can be 'unwelcome distraction.'" That new CEO, Hein Schumacher, went on to explain that he rejected the idea that "every brand should have a social or environmental purpose." He intended, he said, to build a "performance culture" instead. Why would it be newsworthy for a CEO to be focused on corporate performance? Not long ago, that was simply assumed. What changed? The...

Baltimore’s failing schools. Recent test scores found that there were 23 schools in the city where not even one child was doing math at grade level. These included Elementary Schools, Middle Schools and High Schools. Those were the extreme low end but the numbers also showed that city-wide just 7% of 3-8th graders were doing math at grade level. Today, Fox News highlights a similar report coming out of Illinois from a conservative group called Wirepoints. In this case, there were 53 schools where not one child could do math at grade level. Granted this is a small number of...

Former national security adviser John Bolton called the political philosophy of former President Trump “performance art” as Bolton mulls a potential 2024 presidential bid. Bolton, who served in the Trump administration from 2018 to 2019, told NBC’s Ali Velshi on Saturday that the “fundamental point in politics is philosophy.” “Everything else flows from that. Donald Trump has no philosophy,” Bolton said. “Donald Trump doesn’t think in policy terms. There is no Trumpism. And there is no real succession to Donald Trump.” Bolton said Trump is an outlier in the GOP with no clear vision for the party’s future. “It’s not...

President Biden faced the media in the first semi-normal press conference since he took office and declared "I have probably outperformed expectations." Despite the claim, polls show him plumbing the depths of how low public approval of a president can go. While admitting his hopes for unifying all Americans behind him have run into trouble, the President blamed "racist and disloyal Republicans for fomenting the hatred that is dividing the country. Rather than accepting the mandate of the largest number of votes I received than any other president, they have consistently objected my plan to spend ourselves back to prosperity....

The attempted murder case against a Massachusetts college professor nears its end. Rie Hachiyanagi, 50, who taught art at Mt. Holyoke College, pleaded guilty on Friday to trying to kill a friend in a four-hour attack. “She expected to get away with murder — my murder,” survivor Lauret Savoy, herself a professor of geology and environmental studies at the school, said in her victim impact statement, according to The Greenfield Recorder. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Thomas told the court in Greenfield, Massachusetts, that Hachiyanagi arrived at Savoy’s home unannounced late Dec. 23, 2019 and hid until the geology professor realized...

U.S.—In a recent Quinnipiac poll, 38% of people still approve of the job President Biden is doing. This is surprising, since Biden has been a complete failure at every aspect of his presidency — the economy, protecting the border, foreign affairs, handling the pandemic — and it’s unclear what those who approve of him think his job is. “Oh yeah, good old Joe,” said Rufus Reed, a plumber who approved of Biden’s job performance. “He works at the local hardware store, right? He knows a lot about washers.” Isabel Howard, a nurse, thought Biden was the guy who mows the...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was seen putting on a mask for a photo op on the steps of the Capitol on Monday. The New York representative took part in a demonstration — while not wearing a mask — calling for an extension of a national eviction moratorium. Despite being filmed across the previous 45 minutes without a mask, Ocasio-Cortez put a mask on as demonstrators assembled on the steps for a photo at the demonstration’s conclusion. Virtually all persons seen in attendance were maskless during the event and photo op. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) similarly put on a blue...

Under pressure from the Georgetown University Black Law Students Association (BLSA), adjunct professor Sandra Sellers was fired for lamenting the fact that black students dominate the bottom tiers of performance. Georgetown Law Dean Bill Treanor said he was "appalled that one of our faculty members would be caught admitting this. Under our affirmative action guidelines, all students are considered equal regardless of their performance in the program." It's not as if finding blacks disproportionately occupying the lower strata of the the class rankings is unusual. Coming into elite universities like Georgetown the average SAT scores for different ethnic groups has...

Georgian-born American artist David Datuna has eaten a banana used in an art work by Maurizio Cattelan, which had sold for $120,000 (£91,000). The artwork, titled Comedian, was on display at Art Basel in Miami, one of the world's most high-profile art fairs.

Compare Coco to Roman J Israel. Pixar is back - the bold, creative Coco ... manages to tell a family-friendly story centered entirely around death, one that reflects on the legacy we leave behind. Coco proves to be a pleasant surprise - an emotional, philosophical story of life and death, that despite the gorgeous visuals, doesn’t sugar-coat anything. Right away, both the importance and the potential danger of respecting one’s heritage is highlighted, and proves to be a poignant theme. Our young protagonist Miguel yearns to play the guitar, but his artistic urges are severely repressed by his family, who...

One of the establishment press's rules about the Donald Trump era is apparently, "There shall be no puff pieces."The Washington Post's Simon Denyer unilaterally decided to extend this rule to Arabella Kushner, the President's young granddaughter, giving him free rein to tell readers that her wonderful singing for China's president wasn't really an unconditionally wonderful event — because, you see, she was "forced to perform."Previous examples of potential puff pieces which have turned into digs at Trump include at least the following: Two Time correspondents, invited to a dinner with the Trumps, observed that the President gets two scoops of ice...

Tis the season and music decorates the season. Lets have a list of Seasonal Christmas Music flash performances.

So Consumer Reports decided to put a 2015 Volkswagen Jetta TDI and a 2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI to the test. To activate the car’s cheat mode, they pumped the accelerator pedal 5 times while the ignition was in the “on position” but the engine was off. To avoid being “kicked out” of the cheat mode when the car noticed the rear, undriven wheels spinning, CR simply unplugged the rear wheel speed sensors. Simple as that. Cheat mode activated. They ran their standard Consumer Reports drive cycle. This involved a city traffic simulation on the track and a 65 MPH highway...

Colorado does not elect judges to office in contested elections (they are appointed by the governor from a list of 3 nominees selected by a judicial nominating commission), but they are required to receive voter approval to retain office (on a 4, 6, 8, or 10 year schedule based on the level of the court). The Colorado judges seeking retention in 2014 (appearing on the November 2014 general election ballot with a “Yes” or “No” vote option) are: 2 Supreme Court Justices (Boatright, Marquez) 2 Court of Appeals judges (Fox, Loeb) 63 District & 78 County judges (141 total trial...

Living in TEXAS, I have been hearing campaign ads being aired by Senator John Cornyn that really are irritating me. In these ads, one would not know that Senator Cornyn IS the Senate Minority Whip or that he's been in the Senate for almost a full 2 terms (11 years). Further, he paints a self portrait as being a Real Conservative just like me. In light of this, I am preparing to fill out an Employee Performance Evaluation form and then send it to him. Can anybody recommend a good and comprehensive form with which to do this? I'm also...

Grand Prairie-bred pop star, singer and actress Selena Gomez took the stage on her home turf Thursday as the halftime performer during the Thanksgiving Day football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. In part a product of the Disney Channel family, Gomez is clearly making a classier transition from adorable to adult compared to many of her peers (ahem, Miley). She was a vixen at center field Thursday, sporting a floor length skirt of leather fringe and golden, knee-high wedges. From hair and makeup to style and grace, Gomez exuded confidence and...

So the fix to not filling page requests is near infinite response times on reading postings, posting response and some other features is to drag them out?Not much of an improvement.

Memo From: Performance Review CommitteeEmployee: Barack Obama Employee Code: USAPOTUS0044\ Contract Term: 4 YearsRecommendation: Do Not Renew (“Shoebox”)Dear Mr. Obama:It is with a measure of regret that I must recommend to the review committee that our firm decline to renew your contract, based on non-performance of the following deliverables:Deliverable 1: National Security. This is the key deliverable for your role in our organization. Failure here is critical, and, while there will be inevitable setbacks and unforeseen developments, your performance here has been substandard. While I have frequently recommended to the management a more restrained policy on overseas matters —...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says Joe Biden "was terrific" in the vice presidential debate. Obama spoke to Biden briefly after the debate. The president says he "could not be prouder" of Biden and believes he made a strong case for making sure the economy grows for the middle class. ...