Free Republic

With “Midsommar” earning raves and performing well at the box office, horror has never been hotter. And if, as Justin Chang argued in the Los Angeles Times back in 2017, horror has become the defining genre of the Trump presidency, then Stephen King is its patron saint. The master of horror’s many works have seen renewed interest thanks to a slew of successful adaptations, from the box office record-breaker “It,” to its much-hyped follow-up “It: Chapter Two,” and many more projects currently in the works. And while the master of horror certainly is the king of scary set-ups, he says...

California billionaire and liberal activist Tom Steyer will announce this week that he plans to enter the already crowded field of candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, according to a person close to him. The decision by Steyer, one of the biggest donors to Democratic politicians, was unexpected. He had traveled to Iowa earlier in the year to announce he would not run, but would instead focus on his large grass-roots campaign to impeach President Trump. But Steyer now appears to see an opening. The Democratic primary field remains unsettled. Former Vice President Joe Biden’s poor debate performance last month...

Even if you’ve never heard the phrase “dark patterns,” you’re almost certainly familiar with them. They’re the sneaky ways online companies trick you into agreeing to stuff you’d normally never assent to. Classic example: You encounter a prompt asking if you want to sign up for some program or service, and the box is already checked. If you don’t uncheck it — that is, if you do nothing — you’re enrolled. A bipartisan bill has been introduced in Congress that would prohibit websites and online platforms (hi, Facebook!) from employing such deliberately deceptive tactics, and would empower the Federal Trade...

Black voters in South Bend, Ind., have vocally opposed Mayor Pete Buttigieg, blaming him for leaving the city to campaign for president amid the tense aftermath of a police shooting that claimed the life of a 54-year-old black man. The tensions broke out afresh at a town hall event on Sunday evening."We don't trust you!" a woman hollered as Buttigieg attempted to address the issue, The Los Angeles Times reported.Last Sunday, Sergeant Ryan O'Neill shot and killed 54-year-old Eric Jack Logan. Logan was allegedly breaking into cars with a knife in hand. O'Neill has been accused of racist behavior by...

[...] What do you think of when you hear the word “witch”? Pointy black hats? The Salem witch trials? The free-spirited members of the pagan religion Wicca? Today’s working witches, whose prominence is growing thanks to social media, primarily see themselves as healers. They help clients who are struggling to cope with life’s hurdles — heartache, aging, misogyny, work stress — and who find that more culturally accepted remedies, such as therapy and meditation, aren’t enough. They want to help you be your best possible self, or as the Oracle puts it, “My contribution is to … cultivate beauty and...

The Los Angeles Times ran a piece that is demonstrated just what is wrong with today's ramped up rhetoric. The headline read, "Call immigrant detention centers what they really are: concentration camps." No. That is a lie. The centers are nothing like concentration camps. No one is tattooed with a number. No one is worked to death. No one is sent to gas chambers. There are no mass cremations in fact there are no cremations at all. Running that piece was irresponsible because it downplays the evil that Hitler and his nation did. The American left has demoted Hitler. He...

Two agents from U.S. Homeland Security’s ICE unit arrived at my door in September looking for a Polish lady — not a person, but a painting: Melchior Geldorp’s “Portrait of a Lady.” She had, they informed me, been looted by the Nazis from the National Museum in Warsaw. Unsure if these gentlemen were indeed who they claimed to be, I didn’t invite them in. But I knew exactly what they were seeking: My partner, David, and I had purchased this very portrait — ostensibly the work of a different artist — a decade earlier from a major auction house in...

WASHINGTON — When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke last weekend at the California state Democratic Party convention, she was greeted with cries of “Impeach! Impeach!” from the crowd. The reality, however, is far different: Among House Democrats, a majority do not currently support even opening a formal impeachment inquiry, let alone an actual vote to impeach President Donald Trump, House members and staff say. About one-quarter of House Democrats publicly support opening an impeachment inquiry against Trump. More say they are moving closer to that position as the White House continues to defy congressional demands for documents and witnesses. The...

You may remember all the glowing predictions made for the December 2017 tax cuts by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration: Wages would soar for the rank-and-file, corporate investments would surge, and the cuts would pay for themselves. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has just published a deep dive into the economic impact of the cuts in their first year, and emerges from the water with a different picture. The CRS finds that the cuts have had virtually no effect on wages, haven’t contributed to a surge in investment, and haven’t come close to paying for themselves. Nor have they...

Bryan Carmody, a freelance reporter in San Francisco, awoke Friday to the sounds of someone trying to break into his house.

After police came into his home, officers handcuffed him for six hours as they collected his equipment. The search warrant for his home said officers were investigating “stolen or embezzled” property. It was unclear whether he was handcuffed because of the guns he says he legally owns. Carmody said the guns were locked in a safe, and he said that over the hours-long search, it was evident officers didn’t view him as a threat. At one point, some police took off their bulletproof vests on account of the heat, he said. While he was shackled, officers got a second warrant...

Washington seems to be barreling toward a constitutional crisis. Democrats are barraging President Trump with demands for witnesses and documents. Trump has answered by stonewalling, vowing to fight “all the subpoenas.” As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned, Trump seems to be goading the Democratic-controlled House toward impeachment, perhaps because it’s a battle he thinks he can win. Politicians on both sides are repairing to their tribal corners. Is there anyone who can serve as honest referees in this partisan standoff? One answer — don’t laugh — is lawyers. Specifically, Republican lawyers. Even as Republicans in Congress have fallen in line...

The Trump administration on Thursday detailed its plan to open more than a million acres of public and private land in California to fracking, raising environmental concerns at a time when opposition to oil and gas drilling in the state is intensifying. The action would end a five-year moratorium on leasing federal land in California to oil and gas developers. That pause came after a federal judge ordered the Obama administration to halt similar leasing efforts until it could better evaluate the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Trump’s plan – first proposed by the administration in...

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's reelection victory secured, the Trump administration is preparing to roll out Jared Kushner's "peace plan" as early as this month, sources familiar with the plan tell ABC News. President Donald Trump has been briefed on the plan, which Kushner and a small "peace team" have been quietly working on for months. The text itself remains a closely guarded secret -- even within the White House -- and has only been seen in its entirety by four people within the administration, the sources said.

However unlikely it may seem, Trump has good cause to worry about a primary brawl. Since 1968, four presidents have faced serious opponents who sought to wrestle away their party’s nomination: Democrats Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter and Republicans Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush. Each was gravely wounded by the fratricidal fighting and all failed to win another term. By contrast, the presidents who avoided strenuous primary opposition — Republicans Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama — all won reelection.

Race was front and center on Wednesday night during a meeting coordinated to garner support for just one black candidate in Savannah’s mayoral election. With signs stating “Black press only” on the doors of the church where the meeting was held, white reporters were barred from entry, while black reporters for at least two television stations were permitted inside. The event was coordinated by the Rev. Clarence Teddy Williams, owner of the consulting firm, The Trigon Group, who declined to discuss the entry policy. Former Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson declined to comment before going inside, as did Chatham County Commissioner...

Full Title: Trump campaign sends memo to television producers warning about 'credibility' of six Trump critics who it says spread false claims about collusion Trump's re-election campaign sent a memo to television producers on Monday instructing them to "employ basic journalistic standards when booking" six current or former government officials that the campaign said "made outlandish, false claims, without evidence" while on air. The memo names: Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the chair of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez John Brennan, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency Rep. Adam Schiff,...

President Trump has promised an economic boom that will last for years to come, but he’s unlikely to get one without the help of Congress to pass major new legislation, according to estimates by Trump’s own economic team. To achieve about 3% growth for the next decade, Trump would need a big infrastructure bill, more tax cuts, additional deregulation, and policies that transition more people off government aid and into full-time jobs, according to the 2019 Economic Report of the President, released Tuesday by Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers. There’s skepticism that Trump will be able to get all of...

In his first month in office, Attorney General William Barr has sent a reassuring message to the beleaguered Justice Department -- he wants a return to basics after years of disruptive firings, tweet storms and scandals. In briefings, Barr has asked detailed questions about cases, suspects and legal arguments. He has wandered his fifth-floor hallway to converse about the law. Advisers and associates said the approach reflects Barr's low-key persona, and his top goals of steering the Justice Department out of the line of political fire, boosting public confidence in it, and improving the morale of its 110,000 employees. "Everything...

Are rich people fleeing California to escape astronomical state income taxes? That’s the word. But it’s fake news. In fact, more wealthy people are moving to California than leaving, research indicates. It’s the poor and middle class who are departing. It makes sense. If you’re getting rich in California and can afford to live comfortably here in this balmy climate, there’s little incentive to leave — except to stick it to the tax collector in Sacramento. “If you’ve got your business here and you’re making money, it’s hard to leave,” says Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce....