Free Republic

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ team is already plotting out a strategy to run against Donald Trump for the long haul. The plan focuses less on making a quick splash in places like Iowa or New Hampshire and more on outlasting the former president in a battle for Republican convention delegates. Even though it’s early and DeSantis isn’t officially a candidate yet, in talks behind the scenes, an expanded map is viewed as one of the keys to victory, three sources close to the governor said. “There have been multiple conversations about delegates and how they are picked in various states...

‘I’m just not going to respond to that from here,” snapped White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Wednesday to a question about how the Biden family profited from a Chinese energy company. And thus the Biden White House revealed its tactic for Joe’s re-election campaign: Ignore, and hope most of the media runs interference for them. Heck, it worked before! Jean-Pierre was rebuffing a question from Fox News’ Peter Doocy about the Biden family members getting than a million dollars in secret payments from firms tied to the Chinese Communist Party. Jean-Pierre declared, “It’s been lies and lies and inaccuracy...

The federal government of Canada announced a “Black Justice Strategy” on Wednesday with a press release describing the operation as a countermeasure against “systemic racism” and “anti-black racism.” The government’s statement says the “Black Justice Strategy” is necessary because of black residents’ “overrepresentation” both as victims of crime and as suspects targeted by police and prosecutors: Black communities in Canada continue to live with the effects of prejudice, discrimination, and hatred—from unconscious bias to anti-Black hate crimes and violence. These systemic inequalities have resulted in the overrepresentation of Black people in Canada’s criminal justice system, including as victims of crime....

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is nearly three months old, but already it’s clear whom he sees as his biggest threat with the Iowa caucuses still a year away: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The perspective comes as Trump continues to act more like an underdog in the race for the Republican nomination. In recent days, the former president has gone after DeSantis, with Trump somehow claiming that Florida “was closed for a long period of time” after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. “They’re trying to rewrite history,” he added of DeSantis in an interview earlier this week. It’s an...

California “lacks a clear strategy” to meet the ambitious climate change goals set by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and the Democrat-dominated legislature, according to a report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. The report, released Wednesday, assesses California’s plan to achieve the goals it has set in recent years: 100% renewable energy by 2045; a ban on sales of gas-powered cars in 2035; and other goals, none of which will have much direct effect on the phenomenon of global climate, but which aim to lead and inspire other jurisdictions. Growing emissions from China and India dwarf U.S. emissions, which have...

White House coronavirus response coordinator Ashish Jha on Sunday indicated China’s “zero COVID” strategy is not realistic. During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” anchor Martha Raddatz asked Jha about demonstrations in cities across China over the weekend protesting the strategy, which seeks to isolate and eliminate every COVID-19 case, leading to lockdowns for millions of residents in recent months.

The Richard Nixon Foundation, created to memorialize the achievements of the 37th president of the United States, recently commemorated the 50th anniversary of his historic opening to China. The program was entitled “Grand Strategy Summit Dedicated to Addressing America’s Geopolitical Challenges,” and began with a keynote address by Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s first national security adviser and second Secretary of State. It was moderated by Robert O’Brien, a successor of Kissinger’s at the National Security Council. Kissinger noted that Nixon came into office at a fraught moment for U.S. foreign policy, facing issues in Vietnam, the Middle East and the Soviet...

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs will be the next governor of Arizona, barring a recount that says otherwise. And when the Democrat is sworn in, she’ll likely thank her handlers privately for their media strategy in getting her over the finish line after looking like the underdog going into Election Day against outspoken Republican Kari Lake. Hobbs embraced the same strategy that served Joe Biden as a candidate and continues to serve him as president: almost entirely avoiding the media, shunning any interviewer who may ask a tough question and rejecting the opportunity to debate an opponent. Hobbs did...

The World Economic Forum’s ‘First Movers Coalition’ climate change agenda was “modelled” off the effort to roll out vaccines during the Chinese coronavirus crisis, John Kerry said at a COP27 panel in Egypt on Tuesday. Appearing alongside WEF President Børge Brende and various corporate executives, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said that it is urgent for the private sector to pair with governments to realise the goal of preventing the global temperature from rising and to save lives in the allegedly looming global climate crisis.

On Tuesday, a Florida judge informed two lawyers representing former President Donald Trump, neither of them licensed in the state, that they had bungled routine paperwork to take part in a suit filed after the FBI’s search this month of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club. Trump has projected his usual bravado, and raised millions of dollars online from outraged supporters, since federal agents descended on the property more than two weeks ago and carted off box loads of material including highly classified documents. But something is different this time — and the errant court filing offered a glimpse into...

DW News published this video item, entitled “Ukraine war: Is Russian defeat nothing but a ‘fantasy’? | DW News” – below is their description. Is the Ukrainian military now ready to strike back against the Russians? Five months into this war and the momentum appears to be with Russian forces. Less than two weeks ago they captured half of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region – and attacks on the other half have increased ever since. Ukraine has vowed not to cede another inch of territory to Russia. At the same time Ukraine appears to be preparing to launch an offensive in...

On June 10, both live and virtual at Burr & Forman's Birmingham Office, author Peter Zeihan discussed world developments including Ukraine, supply chain issues, the impact on mid-term elections, and more. Peter's amazing global insights and analysis always leave you wanting more and this presentation was no different.

“Threaten our homeland, our way of life, and most importantly our leader, and yes, we will nuke the sh-t of out you. I guarantee it.” That’s what a senior retired Russian diplomat told me on the sidelines of a Track 2.0 dialogue in 2012 when I asked him what would happen during a NATO-Russian war or a threat to the Russian government itself. He was pretty clear: Threats Russia’s sovereignty, ability to control its territory, run its economy—and most of all, ensure leadership survival—were all things it might go to nuclear war over. Isn’t that what we are doing today...

Watch live here: https://wepatriot.org/peoplesconvoy/live/ The convoy has updated their plans. They are in Hagerstown Maryland about 1 hour from DC right now . They will be circling the 495 beltway around DC at minimum legal speeds TWICE then returning to Hagerstown speedway for the night. They will NOT BE STOPPING or impeding traffic. They will NOT be going into DC. The convoy will repeat this slow roll encircling of DC every day until their demands - an end to national COVID emergency. President poopy pants has stated he will veto any bill ending national emergency. See the organizer's interview detailing...

…The first six days have confounded those expectations and instead seen Moscow act far more delicately with its air power, so much so that U.S. officials can't exactly explain what's driving Russia's apparent risk-adverse behavior. … David Deptula, a retired U.S. Air Force three-star general who once commanded the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, said he was surprised that Russia didn't work harder to establish air dominance from the start.

Robber flies snatch victims from the air using the same interception strategy as guided missiles and falcons, but how do they intercept airborne quarry when their view is obstructed by foliage and clutter? Researchers from the University of Cambridge, UK, and the University of Minnesota, U.S., report in Journal of Experimental Biology that Holcocephala fusca robber flies combine two strategies, one that allows them to swerve around obstructions, with their usual strategy to intercept prey. While many flies are content to land on pieces of fruit or carrion, robber flies (Asilidae) engage in mortal combat. Intercepting smaller insects on the...

The White House warned Friday that the United States is "not adequately prepared" to handle future pandemics and other "high consequence biological threats," and rolled out a strategy that would "fundamentally transform" the nation's ability to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to pandemics and threats. In a report released Friday by the White House Office of Science and Technology and the National Security Council, officials warned that the U.S., currently, is "not adequately prepared" to handle future pandemics, warning that "serious" biological threats are expected to occur "at an increasing frequency." President Biden's top science advisor and White House Office...

Biden calls out moderate Democratic senators, urges 'action' President Biden this week took the rare step of calling out two Democratic moderates — Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — in a sign of growing frustration over stalled legislative priorities. Congressional aides say Democratic lawmakers have been reaching out to the White House in hopes that Biden would be more actively involved in efforts to convince Manchin, a key swing vote, to get behind the Democratic agenda.

Republican Rome was pushed to the brink of collapse on August 2, 216 B.C., when the Carthaginian general Hannibal annihilated at least 50,000 of its legionaries at the Second Punic War’s Battle of Cannae.

Last fall, the U.S. Air Force simulated a conflict set more than a decade in the future that began with a Chinese biological-weapon attack that swept through U.S. bases and warships in the Indo-Pacific region. Then a major Chinese military exercise was used as cover for the deployment of a massive invasion force. The simulation culminated with Chinese missile strikes raining down on U.S. bases and warships in the region, and a lightning air and amphibious assault on the island of Taiwan.