Free Republic

The economy invariably ranks among the top issues on the minds of voters in presidential elections. At the moment, it appears to offer President Trump a meaningful tailwind. But how big is that tailwind? Fortunately, economists have worked hard to develop models for predicting election outcomes, and according to one of the best of these, it should be quite large. One of the first — and perhaps still the best — of these models was created by Ray Fair, a professor at Yale. He found that the growth rates of gross domestic product and inflation have been the two most...

Take this for what it's worth... From The Hill: President Trump on Monday sounded an optimistic note about future negotiations with Iran, saying at a press conference in Japan that he's not looking for regime change despite increasing tensions between the two countries. "I'm not looking to hurt Iran at all. I'm looking to have Iran say, 'no nuclear weapons,'" Trump said during a press conference in Japan. [...]"I think we'll make a deal," Trump said Monday. "I think Iran, again I think Iran has tremendous economic potential. and I look forward to letting them get back to the stage...

A couple of months ago, I posted this write-up here which points out that Richard Bissell Jr. (CIA Director of Plans) was the first cousin (once removed) of Robert Swan Mueller III. (FYI – “removed” is the cousin of a parent. So, your father’s “first cousin” is your “first cousin - once removed.” A “second cousin” is how your child and your first cousin’s child are related.)(Original here) Robert Swan Mueller’s mother, Alice Mueller nee Truesdale, had a sister named Marie Truesdale. Marie Truesdale married Richard M. Bissell Sr. There son, Richard M. Bissell Jr. is therefore the first cousin...

U.S. sanctions on oil-rich Venezuela appear to be taking hold, resulting in mile-long lines for fuel in the South American nation’s second-largest city, Maracaibo. Some drivers said they’d had to wait almost 24 hours to fuel up, and people have been grabbing catnaps on the hoods of cars or in truck beds. ... The U.S. sanctions essentially cut off Maduro’s government from its Houston-based subsidiary Citgo, depriving officials of an estimated $11 billion in hard currency from exports this year. U.S. officials say this cash flow long bankrolled what they call Maduro’s “dictatorship.”

If you missed the live broadcast on Fox News Channel, you can catch it here.

MARACAIBO/PUNTO FIJO (Reuters) - Soldiers oversaw rationing of gasoline at service stations in several parts of Venezuela on Sunday as worsening fuel shortages forced angry drivers to wait for hours to fill their tanks, prompting protests in some areas. Venezuela, whose economy is reeling from a five-year recession amid a prolonged political crisis, saw long lines of vehicles appear at services stations in several regions this week after a shutdown at the OPEC nation’s second-largest refinery. Shortages have been exacerbated by tough U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) in January, which have slashed crude...

RUSSIA has secretly installed nuclear missiles in Venezuela a US politician has sensationally claimed in a chilling echo of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Republican congressman Mario Diaz-Balart said he believes Vladimir Putin's hidden nukes are now a direct threat to the "national security" of the United States. He made his astonishing allegations hours after Venezuela was pushed to the brink of civil war when opposition leader Juan Guaido called for rival Nicolas Maduro to be ousted from office. Diaz-Balart told Fox News if Maduro stays in power it could be "an open door for the Russians and for the Chinese...

As Iran girds for possible war with the United States, President Trump may turn out to be the best friend it has. Despite the saber-rattling of senior aides and Trump’s own tweets, when push has come to shove over the past two years, the president has repeatedly backed away from the threatened use of military force. Whether the target has been North Korea, with which warnings of “fire and fury” have become little more than an exchange of “beautiful” letters between Trump and Kim Jong Un, or Venezuela, where the threat of “all options” has failed to upset the status...

“Make no mistake about it, John Brennan is the mastermind of this conspiracy to frame Donald Trump and to steal his presidency from him after he was elected.” (Former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova.)“Trump's claim of no collusion is hogwash." (Former CIA director John Brennan)“Cuba is not a threat to the United States…They don’t implicate our national security in any way…The government of Cuba has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six-month period; and the government of Cuba has provided assurances that it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.” (President Obama after meeting...

It was Iran, not the US, that breached international law by carrying out the US Embassy takeover in Tehran.... It was also Iran, not the US, that immediately began using its proxies, such as Hezbollah, to commit terrorism and incite antagonism towards America. Should the mullahs be appeased for killing thousands of Americans? For continually taking Americans as hostages? For being the leading executioner of children in the world? For ranking the first in the world per capita when it comes to executing people? For being the world's top state sponsor of terrorism? For making every possible effort to damage...

Socialism works. If you doubt that, stop by North Korea, Venezuela or Cuba. After helping reduce Venezuela to the brink of famine, Cuba is rationing basic foodstuffs. The Cuban government announced Friday that it is launching widespread rationing of chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic products in the face of a grave economic crisis. Commerce Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez told the state-run Cuban News Agency that various forms of rationing would be employed in order to deal with shortages of staple foods. She blamed the hardening of the U.S. trade embargo by the Trump administration. Economists give equal...

After self-declared interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido failed in calling on his nation’s military to oust dictator Nicolas Maduro, the attempted revolt appeared to have been strangled in the cradle. Only a handful of military leaders came over to his side and the civilian protests in the major cities fizzled for the most part. Guaido himself still hasn’t been arrested, but his deputy and several other opposition party leaders in the National Assembly have been locked up. This week, Guaido seemed to be getting a bit more nervous and he sent out an even more emphatic “invitation” to the...

Not just a lie—a scurrilous slander. On her MSNBC show today, Joy Reid claimed that "during the Bush era, we were . . . starving people in Guantanamo."The truth is precisely the opposite. During the Bush era, Guantanamo officials took forceful measures to prevent people from starving. A number of prisoners had gone on hunger strikes to protest prison conditions. Among their complaints: "the prison authorities broadcast the call to prayers only four times daily, rather than the required five for religious obligations and . . . many of the detainees resented when women GIs broadcast the call to prayer."...

The Cuban government announced Friday that it is launching widespread rationing of chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic products in the face of a grave economic crisis. Commerce Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez told the state-run Cuban News Agency that various forms of rationing would be employed in order to deal with shortages of staple foods. She blamed the hardening of the U.S. trade embargo by the Trump administration. Economists give equal or greater blame to a plunge in aid from Venezuela, where the collapse of the state-run oil company has led to a nearly two-thirds cut in shipments...

Vice President Pence renewed his calls on Friday for Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) to be removed from her post on the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her comments about Israel and Venezuela. “Ilhan Omar has made statements, anti-Semitic comments against our most cherished ally, Israel, that ought to be rejected by every American," Pence said in an interview on Fox News. "And frankly the fact that very recently, she’s been trying to blame the United States of America for the deprivation and the poverty brought on by the dictatorship in Venezuela tells me … Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has no place...

Tensions are rising in the Vatican in the last few hours for a number of reasons. First of all, a group of 19 (now 51! [now, 8 days after publication, many more] Catholic priests and academics have appealed with an “Open letter to the bishops of the Catholic Church” to declare Pope Francis a heretic: [snip] However, this is not the only crisis discussed at the Holy See, because the priority of the day for Pope Francis and the Venezuelan Black Pope of the Jesuits, Arturo Sosa, is protecting and saving the life of their loyal agent Nicolás Maduro. The...

President Trump is questioning his administration’s aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a U.S.-backed effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist strongman with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers. The president’s dissatisfaction has crystallized around national security adviser John Bolton and what Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires. Trump has said in recent days that Bolton wants to get him “into a war”...

President Trump would destabilize his reelection coalition if he attacks Iran or Venezuela, supporters and outside observers say, as key administration officials threaten war. Trump is nearly alone inside the West Wing as the voice for military restraint following a phase-out of grassroots backers, five former White House aides say, leaving the often mercurial president with advisers pushing in one direction. Wars often rally the public around a president, but a Trump-led intervention might hurt him.

A U.S. law first enacted in the 1990s allowing Americans to sue corporations doing business in Cuba is finally being allowed to take effect. Signed by President Bill Clinton, the Libertad Act, also known as the Helms-Burton Act, was intended to strengthen the U.S. embargo on Cuba. But a waiver was granted for a section known as Title III, which allowed U.S. courts to hold companies doing business in or with Cuba liable for damages to U.S. citizens harmed by the Castro regime. Every President since Clinton continued to waive that section of the act, but just this year, President...

US President Donald Trump said in a statement issued by the White House on Wednesday that the decision to recognize Brazil as a major non-NATO ally comes due to "Brazil's recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States". "I am making this designation in recognition of the Government of Brazil's recent commitments to increase defense cooperation with the United States, and in recognition of our own national interest in deepening our defense coordination with Brazil", Trump said in his message to Congress. During a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, at the White House in March, Trump...