Free Republic

Louisiana State Treasurer John Schroder announced on Wednesday that the Pelican State will withdraw $794 million in treasury funds from BlackRock over its ESG green energy activism. Schroder announced that $560 million had already been removed from BlackRock and $794 million will be removed from the world’s largest asset manager by the end of 2022. “This divestment is necessary to protect Louisiana from mandates BlackRock has called for that would cripple our critical energy sector,” Schroder said in a statement. “I refuse to spend a penny of Treasury funds with a company that will take food off tables, money out...

“Put him in a body bag.” Did that really happen at a Biden State Department press conference? Did the media push back on an attempt by this administration to take credit for a Trump-era policy? Yes, it happened. And the spokesperson was not too pleased for being called out for this attempted gaslighting of Trump’s Russia policy. The Associated Press’s Matt Lee was not going to allow Biden State Department spokesperson Ned Price to take credit for it, as it was clearly outlined and executed under the Trump administration. Lee is aggressive noting that this is a bit disingenuous, as...

“Silver Spoons” actor Ricky Schroder on Tuesday defended his role in getting Kenosha, Wisconsin, killer Kyle Rittenhouse freed on a $2 million bond, saying he was “infuriated” when he saw the teenager being vilified in the press. Schroder, an avid supporter of gun ownership and 30-year NRA member, said during an exclusive telephone interview with The Post that he’s putting up “hundreds of thousands” of dollars for the bond and the 17-year-old’s legal defense as he awaits trial on murder charges in the deaths of two protesters and the wounding of a third on Aug. 25.

Actor Ricky Schroder doubled down on his decision to contribute his own money to help bail out Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager accused of fatally shooting two men during anti-police rioting in Wisconsin in August. Schroder’s generosity will enable the 17-year-old Kyle to celebrate Thanksgiving at home with his family. Schroder, who has been eviscerated by trolls on Twitter and in the media, said the mob bullying by left-wing thugs won’t intimidate him.

Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teenager charged with killing two men during the Jacob Blake protests in Wisconsin this summer, made bail on Friday and walked out of jail, officials said. "Kyle Rittenhouse's bond was posted this afternoon at about 2:00 pm which was set up through his attorney," Kenosha County Sheriff's Sgt. David Wright said in a statement. "He is no longer in custody at the Kenosha County Jail."

HOPE IS MAKING A COMEBACK IN PENNSYLVANIA!Look what arrived in my inbox today: SCHRODER ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY FOR CONGRESS State Representative Curt Schroder running to serve the 6th Congressional District Downington, PA –State Representative Curt Schroder today announced that he is seeking the Republican nomination for the 6th Congressional District that includes portions of Chester, Berks, Lehigh, and Montgomery counties. “I have decided to enter this race to ensure that the values that built our country remain for our children, that we encourage the policies of entrepreneurism, limited government and to preserve the economic future of our nation,” said Curt Schroder....

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has criticized Georgia for the war over South Ossetia, calling Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili a gambler, and warning against allowing the country to join NATO. In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine due out on Monday, Schröder said he thought Georgia’s chances of joining the transatlantic alliance had moved “even further into the distance,” following the fighting with Russian forces. Schröder’s comments are sure to be scrutinized due to his close personal and political friendship with former president and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, as well as his acceptance of a Gazprom job immediately after leaving...

<p>Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder has written a damning critique of Tony Blair's special relationship with the United States, saying it hampered Britain's links with Europe. In his memoirs, Decisions: My Life in Politics, which were launched yesterday, Mr Schröder examines Mr Blair's relationship with George Bush and attempts to divine the motivation behind it.</p>

Tomorrow's formal election of Angela Merkel as Germany's chancellor will not mark a new era in economic policy. But in one respect there is a cause for guarded optimism. German foreign policy towards both the European Union and the US may become more stable and predictable. Ms Merkel intends to return to the foreign policy doctrine that prevailed under Helmut Kohl, the last Christian Democrat chancellor. Mr Kohl managed to combine unwavering support for European integration - often in seeming contradiction to the national interest - with a firm commitment to transatlantic relations. It was this policy that made Germany,...

Schröder bows out with a dig at Blair and Bush By Kate Connollyin Berlin (Filed: 13/10/2005) Germany's outgoing chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, took swipes at Britain and America yesterday as he announced that he would not be part of the next government. In a speech to trade unionists in his home town of Hanover, he criticised Tony Blair over his vision for the future of the European Union. Gerhard Schröder yesterday "I say to my British friend that people in Germany, in Europe, do not want complete denationalisation," he said. "They want a state that is not in front of their...

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Conservative leader Angela Merkel is set to become Germany's first woman chancellor under a deal with Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, sources from both parties have said. The deal, which ends Schroeder's seven years in office, breaks a three-week deadlock that started when voters gave Merkel's conservatives a narrow victory but not the majority needed to form a center-right government. Instead, the two leaders' parties will form a "grand coalition" that bridges the country's right-left split, officials told news agencies. In exchange for Schroeder surrendering the chancellery, his party gets eight seats in the Cabinet, compared to...

THE German conservative leader Angela Merkel appeared to be gaining the upper hand this weekend in the struggle to become the next chancellor, after an inconclusive election result produced one of the most extraordinary weeks in the country’s post-war politics. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), narrow winners of last Sunday’s poll, insisted yesterday that she must lead a “grand coalition” with Gerhard Schröder’s Social Democratic party (SPD) — the only combination that looks able to secure a majority in Germany’s fractured parliament. “We went into the election with Angela Merkel as our candidate for chancellor, the CDU is the strongest...

Germany was thrown into political chaos on Sunday evening as the early federal election delivered a hung parliament and both chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel, his conservative challenger, claimed victory and the right to form the next government. While Ms Merkel's opposition Christian Democratic Union obtained the largest number of votes by a small margin with 35.2 per cent, according to early estimates, it failed to muster a majority for a conservative-liberal coalition with the smaller Free Democratic Party. Recent investing newsPost-Enron Era Unlucky for Ex-Tyco Execs 'Heaven' Beats the Devil at Box Office ExxonMobil secures Java oilfield rights...

A centre-right coalition sought by German conservative leader Angela Merkel is running marginally ahead of the other main parties before Sunday's general election, according to two polls released on Friday. A poll by Forsa for RTL television indicated support for Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), their sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and their liberal Free Democrat allies (FDP) at 48 to 51 percent. Combined support for Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats, the Greens and the new Left Party stood at 45 to 49 percent, the poll indicated. Forsa said the SPD had slipped slightly since its poll last week,...

Germany needs painful economic reforms. That, at least, is what politicians were saying last year. But this year, the emergence of the new Left Party has seen all major parties veer to the left and dramatically soften their rhetoric. Which is grim news for Germany. Here's a string of un-fun facts about Germany -- not for the sake of feeding Germany's near pathological pessimism, but to foster an honest conversation about the future. Since German reunification in the early 1990s, all growth in the country has been financed by billions in public debt. The national debt has doubled to €1.4...

The sex, bribes and corruption scandal at Volkswagen is shaking the company to its core. But in a company whose largest shareholder is the German state of Lower Saxony, a number of politicians also have their fingers in this mess. Now, the affair is casting a shadow over federal elections.

Yesterday saw the first Tee Ball game of the season on the White House Lawn. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings was the first base coach and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson acted as third base coach. President Bush yells "Play Ball!" as he places the ball on a tee to start the game and afterwards presents awards to the children taking part in the game. Today President Bush had a meeting in the Oval Office with the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the two leaders met privately to discuss regional security and diplomatic issues, afterwards they answered questions from the...

There's ample cause to criticize Sen. Ken Salazar for reneging on a key campaign promise. But the picketing of his wife's Dairy Queen restaurant by members of the Faith Bible Chapel who carried signs reading, "Salazar is anti-Christian" and "Salazar mocks God" is absurd. This dispute isn't about Salazar's religion; it's about his politics. === Correction Because of an editing error, this column misidentified those picketing a local restaurant as being associated with Faith Bible Chapel. The picketers were from Denver Bible Church. === On the other hand, Salazar's angry diatribe against Focus on the Family's advertising campaign targeting him...

TO THE rest of the world they seem the perfect couple. After years of bickering between their two countries, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Russian President Vladimir Putin have stood shoulder to shoulder on a host of issues, including opposing the US-led invasion of Iraq. But behind the outwardly chummy relations between the two countries, it has been business as usual for Russian agents, who have continued to spy on their former Cold War foes. The spying has reached such epidemic proportions that German intelligence officers say the best way to find out what German MPs are talking about on...

Is German chancellor Gerhard Schröder's coalition government in danger of falling apart? A lot depends on negotiations this week in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, where neither the ruling Social Democrats (SPD) nor the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) managed to win a majority in a February state election. After incumbent SPD state premier Heide Simonis failed to build a minority government, the SPD and CDU have opened talks on a possible "grand coalition." The CDU has the advantage: by walking away, it would trigger new state elections and almost certainly win. Failure to strike a deal could even force...