Free Republic

There is much to learn from Paul Johnson's history of the 20th century, not least the appalling truth about the "Republican" camp during the Spanish Civil War; some unpalatable facts about FDR and his "vanity … compounded by an astonishing naivety"; and, most importantly, the many ways in which the autocrats of the left (Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc…) and of the right (Hitler, Mussolini, Pétain, etc…) inspired, complemented, and even conspired with, one another. Much of what we have learned turns out to be myths. What explains the rise of rightist fascism, and how does it differ from leftist communism?...

When Barack Obama was campaigning for president in 2008, he was fond of saying that he wanted to "fundamentally transform America." He wasn't always upfront about the specifics, but when we read between the lines, we knew what he was talking about. Steeped in Chicago radicalism, Obama wanted to push America hard toward socialism. Seven years after Obama left office, the Democrat Party has abandoned Obama's vision of "fundamentally transforming" that nation and instead wants to end America. I know you're thinking that I'm making a melodramatic statement, but let's explore why it's true. For starters, the left has put...

It is the height of naiveté to believe that the seditious, anti-American left has any desire for, or intention of, peaceful coexistence with traditional America’s patriotic conservatives or Judeo-Christian culture. They despise those of us who reside in the so-called “flyover” part of the country…the “deplorables,” “Bitter Clingers,” “Deniers,” “American Nationalists,” etc. Despite all their empty rhetoric about tolerance, equality, diversity, and social justice, make no mistake about it: the “radical left’s” ultimate goal is the demise of all and any who oppose their totalitarian worldview.

Socialism always fails! But people still want it. They should listen to Gloria Alvarez.

Kudlow calls out Biden's economic agenda Congratulations to President Joe Biden, who continues to believe that he can tax the country into prosperity. I say "congrats, Joe" because the entire history of tax hikes shows the revenue increases never pan out. The economy is depressed. Investment falters and, if that weren't enough, you would be emulating western Europe which has been taxing itself into recession for many decades including now. If it's not exactly big government socialism, it sure comes close, doesn't it? Proud of you, Mr. President! You never miss a progressive beat. By the way, I don't want...

President Vladimir Putin is set to extend his 24 years as Russia's paramount ruler in an election on March 15-17 and has promised more than 11.5 trillion roubles ($126.5 billion) in infrastructure and social spending over the next six years. "This is the programme of a strong, sovereign country that confidently looks to the future," Putin told Russia's elite including lawmakers in a speech on Feb. 29. "We have both the resources and tremendous opportunities to achieve our goals." Russia's total budget spending in 2024 is planned at 36.6 trillion roubles, with military expenditure set to exceed social spending for...

(1/31/24 story) On the heels of Safeway's decision to keep its Fillmore grocery store open until January 2025, one San Francisco supervisor wants to regulate grocery store closures in the city to ensure local communities are not blindsided. Why it matters: The proposal is an effort to ensure food security throughout the city and is a direct response to Safeway's announcement and subsequent reversal of its decision to close its Fillmore supermarket, the only full-service grocery store in the neighborhood, in March. What's happening: Supervisor Dean Preston plans to officially introduce an ordinance, dubbed the Neighborhood Grocery Protection Act, that...

Bidenomics boosters in the media and on Wall Street are everywhere to be seen these days, selling the election-year idea that our president’s economic policies have somehow triumphantly raised our economy Phoenix-like from the ashes. Nothing could be further from the truth. A sampling of headlines going back to last summer show the adulation for Bidenomics among our supposedly objective economic cognoscenti (Latin for “know-it-alls”): “Bidenomics Is Real Economics,” Time Magazine. “Bidenomics is working,” New York Magazine. And our over-the-top favorite: “Bidenomics’ critics are being proven wrong. Happy days are here again,” Fortune Magazine. We could go on, but why...

Twenty-five years ago, far-left socialist Hugo Chavez assumed Venezuela's presidency, lawfully elected and sworn in on Feb. 2, 1999, after an up-and-down career as a restive army office involved in a coup d'etat. He ran and won as an outsider at a time when the establishment had discredited itself, got into trouble when oil prices fell, and signed on to an International Monetary Fund austerity program, such as were being employed at the time in measures that left capitals burning. Once in. it didn't take long for Chavez to turn his once-prosperous country into a socialist hellhole. Today, the country...

FBI FIELD INTELLIGENCE GROUPS Page 11 9 December 2008 Discovery of Radiological Dispersal Device Components, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased US Person On 9 December 2008, radiological dispersal device components and literature, and radioactive materials, were discovered at the Maine residence of an identified deceased USPER James Cummings. Cummings had possible ties to white supremacist groups. On 9 December 2008, four one-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon were discovered at the Cummings’ residence. (FBI comments: Literature on constructing ‘dirty...

Today is the anniversary of my first joining the army in 1974 and when I retired from the Department of State in 2012. I was wondering back to a time when the DSA.org used to publish it's elected membership and I took a stroll down the archieves of the WAYBACKMACHINE @ web.archive.org In the Body of the Comment I have dropped in the published list of names from March 3, 2000 which is the last year the DSA published their elected membership in the Congress. They used to have other lists of Senators and a combined list, but this will...

They are out in force, asking each other what they plan to do to "Trump-proof" their economies. At the World Economic Forum, the usual swells and princelings were out in force. Their latest burning issue is here: WEF leaders pressed on how they will 'Trump-proof their economies' if he wins election 'I think the best defense, if that’s the way you want to look at it, is attack,' European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said They live to tell us peons how we should live and vote. But here is a small sample of questions these blowhards should be asked...

Britain’s climate watchdog has privately admitted that a number of its key net zero recommendations may have relied on insufficient data, it has been claimed. Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, who led a recent Royal Society study on future energy supply, said that the Climate Change Committee only “looked at a single year” of data showing the number of windy days in a year when it made pronouncements on the extent to which the UK could rely on wind and solar farms to meet net zero. Sir Chris’s report for the Royal Society, published in September, concluded that a vast network...

Joseph Stalin is roaring back to life in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Monuments are being built, “Stalin centers” are being constructed, and Putin’s war against Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Ukraine is being compared to Stalin’s victory over Adolf Hitler’s Germany. Given the fascist nature of Putin’s regime and the imperialist, genocidal war he’s conducting in Ukraine, Stalin’s rehabilitation makes perfect sense. More important than the political rationale behind Stalin’s “return” to Russia, however, are the moral implications of such a move. Back in 2011, Yale University historian Timothy Snyder asked, “Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Was Worse?” His answer implied that both men were...

Argentine President Javier Milei delivered an address fiercely condemning socialism at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, rejecting the “radical feminist” and “environmental” agendas fueled by socialism as well. Milei urged world leaders to embrace capitalism as an alternative. Milei, a libertarian economist, explained in a roughly 20-minute speech how socialism ultimately leads to poverty, how the state “is not the solution,” but rather “the problem itself,” and how leftism has co-opted Western government institutions to further its agendas. Wednesday’s speech was Milei’s first international address since taking office in December. “I am here today to tell...

Pope Francis says many things that, in my opinion, just regurgitate leftist talking points, so I have many questions for this supposedly religious man who is supposed to look out for the best interest of the people, especially the poor. The pope frequently denounces capitalism as some kind of enemy of the poor, but capitalism is the best system to lift poor people up through opportunity instead of making them dependent on the government, so I would ask him: Isn't it better to give people economic opportunities than to have them depend on a master, a powerful government, for their...

Lessons from Milton Friedman, Herbert Stein ... and Cloward-Piven. Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman scolded the Wall Street Journal for cheerleading an open-border immigration policy. "It's just obvious you can't have free immigration and a welfare state," he warned. This leads to a “transfer state,” as the Heritage Foundation describes, the government taxing the upper and middle classes, transferring money to lower economic classes via subsidies and benefits. In other words, “The transfer state redistributes funds from those with high-skill and high-income levels to those with lower skill levels.” Heritage makes the assumption, “It takes the entire net tax payments...

Introduction We are living in a time of grassroots demands to transform our built environment and our relationships with one another and the earth.2 To abolish prisons and police, rent, debt, borders, and billionaires.3 To decommodify housing and healthcare and to decolonize land.4 To exercise more collective ownership over our collectively generated wealth.5 Some of us are reimagining the state. Others are dreaming of moving beyond it.6 But these are more than dreams. These are demands for a democratic political economy. These demands increased in volume this year as the violence of policing continued, the fires burned in California and...

For decades, Americans have been told that the only humane, decent health care system is one run by the government. The oft-uttered complaint is that it’s a shame that the richest country in the world doesn’t have universal medical care. The reality is that the universal systems in other wealthy nations are cruel, cold bureaucracies. If there are any doubts that this is true, look northward, to Canada, where waiting lists for treatment are leaving “patients frozen in line,” Pacific Research Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Sally Pipes recently wrote in Forbes. “When everyone within a country is trapped...

Massachusetts is considering trust funds, aimed at reducing the racial wealth gap, for the state's poorest newborns that the recipients would be able to access when they turn 18. The "baby bonds" would be an at-birth publicly funded trust fund program for Massachusetts residents, to be used for college, buying a home or starting a business. The amount given to each eligible newborn would depend on their household income, although it doesn't give a maximum amount or specify who would qualify for the funds. "Children born into households with low income (which are disproportionately households of color) are prioritized through...