Free Republic

The 75 largest cities in America were collectively $288 billion in debt at the end of fiscal year 2022... 53 major cities that do not have enough money to pay their bills. Yet all of them claimed their budgets were balanced, as is required by law. That means lawmakers understated each city’s debt by not including future costs like employee pensions and healthcare ... New York City has a taxpayer burden of $61,800, the largest by far despite being the most populous. The city has only six cents saved up for every dollar it will need to spend on retiree...

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that President Joe Biden’s strategy on Israel is not working. Co-host Joe Scarborough said, “If the president turns on Netanyahu aggressively, if the president says we’re going to stop sending weapons, then Netanyahu actually uses that to gain more power inside of Israel saying, see, we have been abandoned even by the United States, we have to fight on.”

Russia cannot defeat Ukraine or the West - and will likely lose - if the West mobilizes its resources to resist the Kremlin. The West’s existing and latent capability dwarfs that of Russia. The combined gross domestic product (GDP) of NATO countries, non-NATO European Union states, and our Asian allies is over $63 trillion.[1] The Russian GDP is on the close order of $1.9 trillion.[2] Iran and North Korea add little in terms of materiel support. China is enabling Russia, but it is not mobilized on behalf of Russia and is unlikely to do so.[3] If we lean in and...

Is it possible to speak obvious truths without being chastised? It depends entirely on whether that truth supports The Narrative™ or challenges it. The most powerful tool to enforce compliance with the dominant Elite ideology is the requirement that the language we use be chosen and defined by that Elite. Legally and common sensically everybody knows that men do not belong in women's sports and women's spaces. So for those who want to make that happen the answer is to redefine the word "women" to include everyone who wants to be one. Hollow out words and pour in whatever meaning...

Vice President Kamala Harris is reportedly working to fix the Biden campaign strategy — nine months from election day. Harris, whose favorability rating is worse than President Joe Biden’s, appears to be positioning herself as an alternative if he decides not to run for reelection before the Democratic National Convention (DNC). A majority of voters say there is no chance they would vote for Biden in 2024, a recent CNN poll found. The convention is the only feasible route Harris could take to replace Biden, 81. Politico reported a three-step process: Biden Must Voluntarily Step Aside Before Democratic National Convention...

JERUSALEM – Top Iran experts in the U.S. and in Israel are warning President Biden that his administration’s strategy of de-escalation and containment targeting the world’s worst state-sponsor of terrorism – the Islamic Republic of Iran – has failed and America needs to reestablish deterrence against Tehran as fears of the regime obtaining a nuclear device grow. Alarming reports about Iran moving at an astonishingly fast pace to possess a nuclear weapon have emerged since last month. In December, Reuters reported that a confidential IAEA report released to member states said it had "increased its production of highly enriched uranium,...

Ukraine's forces slammed against stiff Russian defenses in southern Ukraine this summer, and ultimately, the counteroffensive failed. Unable to get the US onboard earlier, the move in a critical sector of southern Ukraine came a year later than when the country's top general first wanted to make it, a new book reports. Had it come when he wanted, it might have reshaped the war, for better or worse. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Gen. Valery Zaluzhny pushed for a bold, and by some observations risky, counteroffensive in 2022 that never came to be, according to the new book...

With U.S. and European aid to Ukraine now in serious jeopardy, the Biden administration and European officials are quietly shifting their focus from supporting Ukraine’s goal of total victory over Russia to improving its position in an eventual negotiation to end the war, according to a Biden administration official and a European diplomat based in Washington. Such a negotiation would likely mean giving up parts of Ukraine to Russia. The White House and Pentagon publicly insist there is no official change in administration policy — that they still support Ukraine’s aim of forcing Russia’s military completely out of the country....

Joe Biden has turned 81 with plans for a low-key celebration in Nantucket - as his administration deploys a 'Bubble Wrap' strategy to stop him from falling in public. The President has seen repeated questions over his fitness for office, with polls and pundits suggesting it is a huge problem with less than a year to the 2024 election. When asked to respond to concerns about his age by the New York Times, the White House swerved and tried to rattle off a list of his achievements. 'Because of President Biden's decades of experience in public service and deep relationships...

(Excerpt) Thus we arrived at a convolution situation where, despite Russia’s many obvious advantages (which in the end come down to a superior indigenous capacity to mobilize men, industrial output, and technology), it became “propaganda” to argue that Russia was going to achieve some sort of victory in Ukraine - that Ukraine would end the war having failed to re-attain its 1991 borders (Zelensky’s stated victory condition) and with the country in a wrecked state of demographic hollowing and material destruction.... As the autumn began to drag on without battlefield results materializing for Ukraine, the process of finger pointing began...

Want to know how Republicans can win in 2024? By taking a few pages out of the Democrat playbook, that's how! You also need strong, principled and fearless leaders running your local Republican party. Not a bunch of spineless RINOs. But really courageous go-getters who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work that's required to take on the well-oiled democrat election machine. Here's some advice from the most unlikely of places, deep blue Connecticut, where Republicans did exactly that, and won. It started nearly two years ago when hundreds of energized Republicans from Greenwich, CT,...

the LEFT'S plans to control state elections.It's PUT OUT THERE for all to see..wonder if RINO McDaniel's knows this?

Pro-lifers must work diligently to shift public opinion against abortion, but they neglect the current political reality at their peril.With Tuesday’s relatively easy passage of an Ohio constitutional amendment that effectively bars that state’s legislature from regulating abortion in the state, abortion advocates are now convinced that they not only have the public on their side but have found political gold. They now view abortion as such a winning issue that they think it can pave the way to enacting a wide range of other leftist goals. They are largely mistaken, as abortion mercifully remains a highly contentious issue in...

The Darien Gap route is viable for Chinese immigrants because they can fly into Ecuador without a visa. From Quito, they join Latin Americans to travel through the once-impenetrable Darién and across several Central American countries before reaching the U.S. border. The journey is well-known enough it has its own name in Chinese: walk the line, or 'zouxian.' Short video platforms and messaging apps have popularized the route. They provide on-the-ground video clips and step-by-step guides from China to the U.S., including tips on what to pack, where to find guides, how to survive the jungle, which hotels to stay...

Republican senators have sounded the alarm on the Biden administration's border policies after Border Patrol agents caught illegal border crossers who were carrying explosive devices that Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said were "tailor-made for terrorism." Mr. Barrasso, who is the Senate Republican Conference Chairman, made the startling revelation at a press conference on Oct. 31, alongside Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), following their recent visit to the U.S.–Mexico border.

Dr William Makis has reviewed 8 published papers that clearly show the techniques employed by governments world wide to ensure vaccine uptake. From punishments and threats to employment and reputation, to rewards for complying, studies show that the Covid vaccine rollout was aided by the the greatest psychological fear campaign in human history using tried and tested brainwashing techniques.Propaganda Series – Brainwashing Techniques Used to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake – 8 papers reviewed, looking at the psychological manipulation of the massesThis article originally appeared on makismd.substack.com by Dr. William MakisPapers Reviewed:2023 Jun – Steffens et al – “Testing persuasive messages...

It seems like the Ron DeSantis “reboot” is placing its bets on a somewhat risky scenario: the prospect of President Trump ending up behind bars, rendering him incapable of campaigning. That’s what a recent report from NeverTrumper’s at The Bulwark claims. According to the report, the DeSantis Super PAC “Never Back Down” is taking a strategic approach, gearing up for a potential delegate battle should President Trump face legal challenges that will render him unable to go on.

This is a great analysis of the US's global security stategy. It is not that much about Ukraine and it is well worth understanding. Watch Summary: We are not this invincible collasus bestriding the world. The US is not investing at home where we need to: energy and high end manufacturing and agriculture. It is absurd to be thinking about another war with China 6000 miles away when we are bogged down in Ukraine Lengthy analysis of the history of Ukraine and how we and NATO got involved. Includes all the sins of Stahlin and so forth but then NATO...

Ukraine is prepared to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive on Moscow’s forces, a senior security official said. The Ukrainian assault aiming to take back territory from Russia does not yet have a start date but could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week,” Ukrainian Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov told the BBC. Danilov went on to emphasize the weight of the decision. “We have to understand that that historic opportunity that is given to us — by God — to our country we cannot lose, so we can truly become an independent, big...

DES MOINES, Iowa – The super PAC promoting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to have dozens of staff in place in the first 18 states on the Republican presidential primary calendar in the coming weeks, a move indicating that his expected 2024 announcement is drawing closer. The plans, shared with The Associated Press, are part of the group Never Back Down's strategy to begin political organizing for DeSantis all the way through Super Tuesday on March 5 and point to a novel approach the super PAC is attempting ahead of a likely DeSantis run. In Iowa, where the leadoff GOP...