Free Republic

Did anyone watch the New York City mayor's debate? I saw the rerun later, and it's clear to me that Mamdani is one step closer to winning the election. Let's check this from Newsweek: On Thursday before the debate, Betfair gave Mamdani a 90 percent chance of victory, but this dropped to an 88 percent chance once it was complete. Over the same period, Cuomo saw his chances of victory improve from 11 percent to 12 percent. However, prior to the debate, bookmaker Star Sports gave Mamdani an 80 percent chance of victory, which improved in the immediate aftermath of...

Socialist Zohran Mamdani skirted tough questions and offered few specifics as he smoothly swatted off a barrage of attacks from ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a heated first general mayoral election debate Thursday. The rat-a-tat verbal brawl between the three contenders – including a zinger-lobbing Curtis Sliwa – from a 30 Rockefeller Center stage made for good TV, but arguably left New Yorkers without an idea how their next mayor would handle the nitty-gritty while governing the nation’s largest city. The front-runner Democratic candidate Mamdani stayed on his “affordability” message, but could offer few details of how he’d actually put his...

Oxford Union alumni plan to descend on the university city this weekend in an attempt to oust the president-elect. Former members of the debating society are considering travelling from as far afield as Hong Kong and New York to vote against George Abaraonye in a poll on his leadership on Saturday, sources told The Telegraph. University alumni have been encouraged to attend the in-person vote in order to preserve “the reputation of Britain’s historic institutions”. It comes after Mr Abararaonye took the unusual step of triggering a no-confidence motion in himself on Monday, following widespread anger over his remarks about...

VIDEOIt was fascinating to watch Abigail Spanburger reveal herself as a complete unfeeling robot during the Virginia Governor Debate. The psychological description of that mental condition is "psychopathic." Someone who displays a lack of emotion or empathy. There were several people who analyzed the debate performances but the person who should have weighed in was Dr. Buddy Rydell to analyze the robotic behavior by Spanberger.

Seattle Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell said during a mayoral debate Thursday night he has “no desire” to put repeat criminal offenders in jail, and he doesn’t know how to answer the question on whether the city is “too lax” on repeat offenders. “So, let me make something very clear. I was the one that sponsored the ‘Ban the Box’ legislation when everyone opposed it because the criminal system has had a disparate impact on Black and Brown communities, let me lead with that,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a mayoral debate Thursday night when asked a follow-up question about...

With each passing day it becomes more obvious that the left has become incapable of rational debate or political compromise, and must now embrace the only tools available to it: intimidation, coercion, and political violence. Whatever liberals might believe about their progressive politics, today their program is based not on persuasion or representation, still less on open-minded rational inquiry or practical solutions to problems. It’s based on force.The assassination of Charlie Kirk last month is of course emblematic of what the left has become. Kirk was murdered for speaking out against transgenderism. Dissenting from that ideology in particular is intolerable...

After several school districts and universities across the nation fired or suspended faculty for their controversial social media posts about the murder of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, some of these educators are now taking legal action, claiming their free speech rights were violated. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the University of South Dakota to temporarily reinstate professor Michael Hook, after the board of regents recommended his termination over his social media post responding to Kirk’s killing. Hook, a tenured fine arts professor, wrote on his personal Facebook account that he didn’t give a "flying f---" about Kirk,...

A well-funded, highly organized effort is underway to destabilize the United States and crush conservative voices. This is not the organic unrest of grassroots activism. This is a calculated, strategic assault executed by Soros-funded NGOs, their operatives working in concert to disrupt, intimidate, and silence. From violent attacks on Tesla dealerships to the swatting of conservative influencers, from the hijacking of GOP town halls to the doxxing of DOGE employees, this effort bears all the hallmarks of an orchestrated conspiracy. If these actions are coordinated and funded with the explicit goal of suppressing political opposition, they are not examples of...

Pro-life warrior Lila Rose, the founder and president of Live Action, shocked organizers at leftist Ivy League Yale University during a debate with Frances Kissling, a former abortion clinic director and president of Catholics for Choice. Before the event, Rose shared why she agreed to the debate in the unfriendly atmosphere of higher education. “I will be going to Yale University to do a debate on abortion against the head of a pro-abortion group. I had originally said no to this event a few weeks ago. That’s because, as you guys may know, I don’t do a ton of in-person...

Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed on Wednesday, pioneered a new model for conservative political advocacy, merging multi-platform media commentary with in-person gatherings and get-out-the-vote drives. Kirk, 31, was a hugely successful political field organizer, TikTok influencer, radio host, nonprofit leader and public speaker all rolled up in one telegenic figure. One minute, Kirk would be on Fox News promoting his friend President Trump’s agenda; the next, he would be on X or Instagram, inviting young people to start conservative groups at their high schools and college campuses. With Turning Point USA, the nonprofit he co-founded in 2012 at...

A man was arrested by Capitol Police on Sunday after interrupting the Senate debate on President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," shouting from the Senate Galleries that the lawmakers are "horrible." Allen D. Rogers, of Florida, was arrested for unlawful conduct after he refused to obey officers' orders to stop the disruption, according to police. "At approximately 7:00 p.m., our officers arrested a man who started being disruptive in the Senate Galleries," police said in a statement. The interruption happened between speeches by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on the Republican-backed spending bill. Rogers...

"Since you’re so eager to talk about me, how about saying it to my face?" Newsom then suggested. "Let's debate. Time and place?" Vance is also seen as a contender for 2028, and Newsom may want to watch out, especially with how well Vance did against Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) in last October's debate against Harris' poorly vetted and particularly failed running mate.

Thursday on ABC’s “The View,” former President Bill Clinton defended former President Joe Biden’s 2024 debate performance by blaming the staff for his travel schedule. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said, “Mr. President, I want to ask you, last time you were here, you were actually fiercely defender of President Biden’s when people were questioning whether he should stay in the race and when he decided to step aside. You praised his decision to do so. t]There have now been a lot of reports, books written with Democratic sources talking about what appeared to be decline while he was in the...

resident Joe Biden struggled in practice debates ahead of his disastrous showing against Donald Trump last year — leaving his advisers with little option but to cross their fingers and hope he would be a “game-day performer,” a new book about the collapse of the Democratic administration reveals. Biden’s advisers “blocked out substantial time to prep over several days” at the presidential retreat at Camp David in rural Maryland in June 2024. When the president turned up after a trip to Europe to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day and attend a G7 summit, he was “rusty and exhausted,” according...

New York state legislators got one step closer to legalizing assisted suicide for terminally ill people on Tuesday. The state Assembly, following nearly five hours of emotional debate, passed the controversial “Medical Aid in Dying Act” 81-67, with around 20 Democrats breaking ranks to oppose the controversial measure. “Each and every life has value,” Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh (R-Saratoga), one of the legislation’s opponents, said on the Assembly floor. “Progress may not be on a straight line and will look different to each of us, but this idea of giving up and dying is not excelsior, ever upward. It’s incredibly...

Canada held prime minister debates on Wednesday and Thursday, the first in French and the second in English. The Thursday debate was, by all accounts, a more spirited joust between interim Prime Minister Mark Carney and his rivals from the Conservative, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois parties. Carney, an investment company executive and former central banker who has never been elected to anything, ascended to leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada and the prime minister’s office when deeply unpopular Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in March. Trudeau’s departure, and President Donald Trump’s tariffs, revived the Liberal Party’s fortunes after a...

Barack Obama has lost his mojo and ruined his brand. It used to be said that Joe Biden was serving Obama’s third term, that his former boss was controlling him from the home he had bought in DC’s ritzy Kalorama neighborhood, two miles from the White House. The feeling was that Obama was the real leader of the Democratic Party and his wife Michelle was the secret weapon they would whip out in 2024 to replace Biden and trounce Donald Trump. Well, none of it came to pass, and judging by his irrelevant poll numbers, Obama’s star has long faded....

Stephen A. Smith has challenged President Trump, Vice President Vance, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to a debate over DEI policies after an article about color-barrier-breaking MLB legend Jackie Robinson was removed from a Defense Department website. On Thursday’s edition of his ESPN show First Take, Smith took Hegseth to task after the Department of Defense (DOD) removed an article about Robinson’s military service from its website. The article on Robinson was not targeted by DOD; instead, it was one of several scrubbed as part of the effort to purge diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content from government websites....

Transgender activists stormed the Iowa Capitol on Thursday as lawmakers consider a bill that would eliminate “gender identity” as a protected class from state civil rights law. “Hundreds of Iowans again packed the Iowa Capitol rotunda to protest the bill, waving pride flags, holding signs and chanting ‘no hate in our state’ and ‘you represent us.’ A line of protesters led out the building’s door as more people waited to be let inside,” the Des Moines Register reported.