Free Republic

The U.S. – China trade fight was never going to be easy – just like going to the dentist for long overdue root canal surgery. And like an infection complicating recovery from surgery, once resentment takes hold in nation-to-nation disputes things get harder – and more dangerous. And the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has now got a full-blown case of resentment. This isn’t surprising since China always simmers in resentment. But part of the problem is the US Government’s failure to explain itself properly. American foreign policy, often as not, is all about “sending messages” and “signaling.” And it’s...

Parks are New Yorkers’ oasis. They’re where we escape the crowds, the din of traffic, and our often tiny apartments; where we play with our children, walk our pets, and relax in the sun. Parks should be a place where New Yorkers can relax and play without being exposed to dangerous chemicals. So why is a herbicide believed to cause cancer being sprayed in our parks? The New York City parks department is a prolific user of Roundup, a popular weedkiller sold by Monsanto. Yet research by the World Health Organization has linked the active chemical in Roundup, glyphosate, to...

For more than a generation, James Carville's campaign maxim, "It's the economy, stupid," has been held up as an essential truth of American politics. There's no denying that a strong economy is an incumbent president's best friend. Seventy-three percent of voters currently rate the economy as a very important issue. As a result, if the economy remains strong for another 1 1/2 years, many analysts believe President Donald Trump will be favored to win reelection. On the other hand, if a recession hits next year, we will almost certainly have a new president in 2021. However, recent data about the...

The largest invasion in history, and Google just has its logo on the home page. Oh, let's make sure to commemorate the 50th anniversary of some gay milestone a few days ago, but 156,000 men charging relentlessly onto those beaches, under withering gunfire, to literally save the world? Meh. I have thousands of emails on gmail, and I dread the thought of having to switch, but I'm to that point, I think. How do I get started?

On Monday, President Trump learned that CNN was the primary source of news coming out of the United States for the U.K., and he was not happy.Trump tweeted the following after he spent a few minutes watching television during a break with his state visit to the island. Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner @ATT do...

"Roe v Wade was an errant ruling by the Supreme Court, and one that has rightfully earned Public opposition because the Court ventured too far in the change it ordered. And presented an incomplete justification for its action.” Those utterances will be condemned as taking reproductive rights away from women. Leftists will tell you that whoever spoke those words should be run out of town after being tarred and feathered. It is interesting to see the reaction from the progressive socialists and rabid feminists when they are told those words were uttered by none other than Ruth Bader Ginsburg in...

Three Things Elitists Simply Can’t Abide While in Verona, Italy on his last “last ever” world tour, Farewell Yellow Brick Road, Elton John told fans: “I’m ashamed of my country for what it has done. It’s torn people apart … I am sick to death of politicians, especially British politicians. “I am sick to death of Brexit. I am a European. I am not a stupid, colonial, imperialist English idiot.” An odd comment, that, coming from Sir Elton John.

Joseph DiTonno’s LST transport ship was about halfway across the English Channel to Normandy when the captain’s voice cut through the dark over the speaker. “It’s too rough, we’re going back,” said the captain, to the recollection of DiTonno, now 94 and a resident of a state veterans’ home in Queens, but then the ship’s 19-year-old cook. “We’re going to see what [Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight] Eisenhower wants to do.” It was just after midnight on June 5, 1944, and inclement weather conditions had scuttled the D-Day invasion after months of planning. The next day didn’t bring conditions that...

When Pennsylvania-based aerospace company Astrobotic launches its lander to the Moon within the next couple of years, a four-wheeled robot no bigger than a toaster will be along for the ride. The robotic rover, built by Carnegie Mellon University, will help test just how small rovers can get and still survive on the Moon’s surface.Last week, NASA awarded Astrobotic a contract of $79.5 million to carry up to 14 NASA-sponsored payloads on its lander, named Peregrine. Along with those, the lander will carry another 14 from other commercial companies, research organizations, and space agencies. That’s a total of 28 payloads...

ATHENS -- After Greece temporarily hosted a pair of U.S. military drones, Greek Defense Minister Panagiotis Kammenos said last fall that, "It's very important for Greece that the United States deploy military assets in Greece on a more permanent base." Indeed, Greece just took delivery of some 70 military helicopters that it had purchased from the U.S., and there have been discussions about basing American drones, air tankers and other military aircraft on Greek soil. COSCO, a state-owned Chinese shipping and logistics services company, has invested more than 3.5 billion euros in renovating the historic Greek port of Piraeus, which...

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday unveiled new travel restrictions to Cuba as part of President Donald Trump's foreign policy position. The Department amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) which now bans all non-family travel to the country. The State Department said the United States will no longer permit visits to Cuba via passenger and recreational vessels, including cruise ships and yachts, as well as private and corporate aircraft. The goal of the restrictions is to significantly hinder Cuba's economy and pressure its government to stop aiding Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. “Cuba...

There was no conceivable reason for border agents to be suspicious when “Charles” flew from Brazil to Chigaco, with a final destination of Denver. But that didn’t stop them from searching his luggage, searching him, and finally searching his phone. Customs and Border Protection has been ramping up their searches of the electronics of travelers to the United States. Over 30,000 people had their electronics searched at a U.S. airport last year while traveling to or from the United States. In this interview, Charles tells me about his ordeal with the United States Customs and Border Protection. He was traveling...

In Dennis Sullivan's photograph above, a landing craft from HMCS Prince Henry carries Canadian troops toward Juno Beach in the early hours of D-Day. Many years ago, I spoke to someone who'd been aboard the Prince Henry's sister ship, HMCS Prince David, who talked about the subtly different dynamic among the guys on those landing craft. The Royal Canadian Navy men at the front are concerned to make their rendezvous on time: They're in the middle of the mission, and they want to complete it. The infantrymen behind them are waiting for theirs to start. As the Prince Henry recedes...

NYC schools training teachers to discriminate against white students A new mandatory, $23 million “anti-bias” program is training New York City school teachers to discriminate against white children, no matter what. The New York Post recently published remarks from one training session, in which the instructor defined ‘racial equality’ as favoring non-white students over white students, regardless of any other circumstances. In another session among NYC school superintendents, attendees were asked to discuss various life experiences that inspired them to fight for social justice. One high-ranking school official– a white, Jewish man, described his family’s experience in the Holocaust and...

Red pill or blue pill? You decide.Twenty years after the Wachowskis’ iconic 1999 film, The Matrix, introduced us to a futuristic world in which humans exist in a computer-simulated non-reality powered by authoritarian machines—a world where the choice between existing in a denial-ridden virtual dream-state or facing up to the harsh, difficult realities of life comes down to a red pill or a blue pill—we stand at the precipice of a technologically-dominated matrix of our own making.We are living the prequel to The Matrix with each passing day, falling further under the spell of technologically-driven virtual communities, virtual realities and virtual conveniences managed by...

It has been 30 years since Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David’s groundbreaking sitcom Seinfeld first hit the airwaves, and the show is still as timeless and relevant as ever. This is mostly due to the central ensemble of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer—one of the greatest casts in television history—but they also had solid support from a wide range of minor characters. Of course, as with any show, some of those supporting characters were stronger than others, and, naturally, there were also some weak ones to contrast against the strong ones. So, here is every Seinfeld supporting character, ranked.11. SUSAN...

As presidential candidates promise to refuse so-called “dark money” and Members of Congress decry the role of money in politics, a Special Report from CRC dispels one of the biggest myths in political discourse: the Left doesn’t use “dark money.”CRC’s report by investigative researcher Hayden Ludwig, Big Money in Dark Shadows: Arabella Advisors’ Half-billion-dollar “Dark Money” Network, profiles four nonprofit organizations, all controlled by senior leaders at Arabella Advisors, a for-profit consultancy.Read the full report here and find the executive summary of Big Money in Dark Shadows below.* * *Executive Summary The political Left often criticizes—and the mainstream media frequently report on—the network...

Key players on the To The Stars Academy team—a group with curiously impressive resumes from the military industrial and intelligence complex's highest rungs and darkest corners—are virtually everywhere in the media right now. In what has been one of the most impressive media pushes I have seen in a long time, the group has gone all out in promoting their new show, Unidentified, on the History Channel. At the same time, as if right on cue—which isn't all that surprising—huge UFO-related stories have hit the mainstream media. These have included on the record accounts of Navy fighter pilots recently encountering...

“My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend” (Proverbs 6:1-3 KJV).

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., an advocate for a $15 minimum wage, returned to work as a bartender for one day. Ocasio-Cortez said: "All labor has dignity, and the way that we give labor dignity is by paying people the respect and the value that they are worth at minimum. We have to make one fair wage, and we have to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, nothing less." The issue is simple: Does a government-mandated minimum wage help or hurt the very workers and job seekers that Ocasio-Cortez wants to help? Ask her former boss, who owned...