Free Republic

Russian troops are reinforcing their position in Crimea in anticipation of attacks from Ukraine, a Russia-installed regional official admitted. “Fortification works aimed at guaranteeing Crimeans’ security are being conducted under my supervision,” Russia’s regional governor of the annexed peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, said Friday. The prospect of a showdown over Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in the clandestine operation that began the war, has loomed into view due to a series of Ukrainian successes in a counteroffensive conducted this fall. Russia’s retreat from the west bank of the Dnieper River not only freed the key city of Kherson...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to the Middle East this week, a rare trip abroad intended to signal that the protracted and costly war in Ukraine hasn’t diminished Moscow’s place on the world stage. In only his second trip outside Russia since the country invaded Ukraine in February, Mr. Putin is set to travel to Tehran on Tuesday, where he will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The visit reflects the importance Mr. Putin places in maintaining the leverage Russia gained from years of military and diplomatic intervention in the Middle East.

China power problems are affecting 20 out of China’s 34 provinces. Cement production has been reduced by 29% and aluminum production capacity has been reduced 7%. Heavy industry has seen the most cutbacks. Coal prices are up but China’s utilities have energy price controls. There were quotas on coal mining. The rolling blackout and other power shutoff is also hitting hospitals and street lights. The power shutoffs are very broad and the facts do not align with various excuses and stories coming from China. China’s leadership has not been on top of the power shortage problem and has been months...

With 16 new and 105 total cases of coronavirus now reported in New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called upon the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to authorize the use of private labs to do automated testing for the virus on Sunday. "We don't have the testing capacity we need," Cuomo said. "The testing capacity is now more than the state lab can handle. Let us bring in private labs to do some of the testing." As of Sunday morning, Cuomo said the total number of confirmed cases jumped to 105, up from 89 on Saturday evening and from...

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1176559966024556544

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Saturday called on her supporters at a rally to confront Trump Cabinet officials in public spaces like restaurants and department stores to protest the administration's policies. "I have no sympathy for these people that are in this administration who know it is wrong what they're doing on so many fronts but they tend to not want to confront this president," Waters said at a Los Angeles rally on Saturday. "For these members of his cabinet who remain and try to defend him they're not going to be able to go to a restaurant, they're not...

As I walked into a soundstage Wednesday night at Grumman Studios, which was filled with thousands upon thousands of Donald Trump supporters penned into metal barricades and donning all manner of Trump paraphernalia, I immediately thought of the words Richard Strout of The New Republic used more than four decades ago to describe the scene at a George Wallace rally during the 1968 presidential campaign. “There is menace in the blood shout of the crowd,” wrote Strout. “You feel you have known this all somewhere. Never again will you read about Berlin in the ’30s without remembering this wild confrontation...

A key part of President Obama’s legacy will be the fed’s unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.” Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama’s racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school — all to document “inequalities” between minorities and whites. This Orwellian-style stockpile of statistics includes a vast and permanent network of discrimination databases, which Obama already...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are trying to muster a majority in the cabinet in favor of military action against Iran, a senior Israeli official has said. According to the official, there is a "small advantage" in the cabinet for the opponents of such an attack. Netanyahu and Barak recently persuaded Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who previously objected to attacking Iran, to support such a move.

Just in.

It has been an incredible year loaded with surprises but I think that the next few years will surprise even more. Whenever I feel certain about something coming, I ‘m glad to put it in print. In 2004, I had successfully forecast many economic events such as the housing bubble popping and the credit crisis among other events. Current economic conditions and political outcomes have laid the groundwork for more events that we should be prepared for. All of these events combine to create a “Financial Vortex” that will hit us in the coming years. First of all, be aware...

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - The world's top polluting nations were told on Wednesday to prepare for decades of weather turmoil, even if they act now to curb emissions and pursue green energy sources. Environment and energy ministers meeting in the Mexican city of Monterrey vowed to work faster to control global warming as scientists told them each year wasted in curbing greenhouse gas emissions would cost them dearly. The informal talks did not set emissions-cutting targets, but delegates agreed on the need to expand the global carbon trading market to provide investment for green initiatives. British Environment Secretary David Miliband...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Episcopal General Convention approached another defining vote Monday in the wake of electing its first female presiding bishop: whether the church should temporarily bar gays from becoming bishops to preserve Anglican fellowship. Delegates began considering a moratorium at the request of world Anglican leaders, who remain angry over the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop — V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The Rev. Frank Wade opened debate by asking delegates not to view the request from Anglican leaders as an ultimatum, but as a request for peace. "No one is being asked...

Signaling that Israel has reached the end of its preparation for a possibly imminent attack by Iraq, IDF Spokeswoman Brig.-Gen. Ruth Yaron publicly urged Israelis on Wednesday to prepare sealed rooms and get new gas mask kits. "Whoever has not yet acquired the correct equipment should do so. This is the time to make those purchases," Yaron said in an interview with Israel Radio. "As of now I want to emphasize get ready, renew your gas masks, and finish buying equipment for sealing rooms." In response, hundreds of people reportedly swamped gas mask distribution centers Wednesday, fearing an imminent attack....

© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com Pennsylvania lawmakers have passed legislation that gives homosexuals specific, statewide legal protection for the first time, prompting some to predict that pastors in the state will now be targeted for preaching against the "gay" lifestyle. The bill, which passed the House on Tuesday by a vote of 118 to 79, adds ''ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity'' to the state's Ethnic Intimidation law, which already raises the grade of crimes motivated by hatred against victims because of their race, color, religion or national origin. According to a report in the Harrisburg Patriot-News,...