Free Republic

If you're not familiar with the term "Bretton-Woods" and "Petrodollar", allow me to provide a brief summary. To help fund World War II, the US ratified the Bretton-Woods agreement, essentialy creating Fiat money (tying only a small fraction of Gold to the US Dollar). Since the US controlled 2/3 of the worlds gold, it placed the US Dollar as the world reserve currency and created the ability to print money on demand (then ultimately leading to a complete severing of gold and the beginning of the endless devaluation of the US Dollar) Bretton-Woods was terminated in 1971, and the Petrodollar...

Time to debut a little bluegrass today, and from his brand new CD here is Andy Thorn with Five String Picker in a Second String Band. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday abandoned his efforts to block a law in the upper house of Parliament that would prevent the country from withdrawing from the European Union without a deal in place. Members of Johnson’s Conservative Party in the House of Lords had initially prepared a slate of amendments to the legislation, which passed the House of Commons Wednesday, in the hopes of delaying a vote on it until Monday, when Parliament will be suspended. However, the party announced early Thursday that it was dropping its opposition, according to Reuters. Richard Newby, an opposition member...

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj) says Republicans will face “a reckoning” over a policy agenda he says is out of sync with Christian values. Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Thursday, Buttigieg kicked off a day of television appearances in which he highlighted his Christian faith.

This is insane. California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation allowing the public to refuse helping police officers in distress. The law was meant to protect African Americans from aggressive California police officers.

Michigan will be the first state in the nation to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarette products under emergency rules Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered Wednesday in an aggressive attempt to curb youth vaping. The East Lansing Democrat pointed to flavors like apple juice, bubble gum and Nerds in announcing pending rules that will also prohibit “misleading marketing” of vapor products using terms like “clean,” “safe” and “healthy.” Retailers will have 30 days to pull banned products off their shelves once the rules are filed later this month, a directive that could spark legal challenges but will be implemented under an...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a measure Wednesday making the state the first to ban fur trapping, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Wildlife Protection Act bars commercial or recreational trapping on both private and public land, according to the Times. The commercial trapping industry shaped the early economy of California and the American West in general but has played an increasingly smaller role over the decades. “It seems especially cruel, obviously, and it’s just unnecessary and costly,” said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D), who introduced the bill. She added that the roughly 70 trappers who continue to work...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) declined to go as far as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in calling for the public ownership of utilities during CNN’s climate change town hall Wednesday evening, but she said she will tell utility companies that use carbon-based fuel that they are “done” by 2035. “Bernie Sanders has endorsed the idea of the public ownership of utilities, arguing that we can’t adequately solve this crisis without removing the profit motive from the distribution of essential needs like energy,” an attendee said. “As president, would you be willing to call out capitalism in this way and advocate for...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is raising money to support Antifa members who threw urine at police officers. DNC Chairman Tom Perez said she “represents the future of our party.” In July 2018, DNC Chairman Tom Perez said that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez“represents the future of our party”You can see him saying those words in this video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIriGu5dtHMGiven Perez’s statement, I think that it’s important that we pay attention to the many ridiculous and absurd things that Ocasio-Cortez says and does.You can read about many of them here and here.And now on to the newest example.Ocasio-Cortez is raising money to support Antifa members who threw urine at...

Let me start by saying this, Walmart as a company is free to do whatever it wants to do. This doesn’t mean what it does can't be called stupid but they can do sell or not sell whatever they want. However, I will say if you’re going to virtue signal, don’t half-ass it.6 minute video.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs have created the “perfect storm” at the wrong moment for the housing industry, California builders say. The California Building Industry Association estimates tariffs have driven up the cost of an average-size new home by $20,000 to $30,000.

A fast-moving fire erupted in hillside terrain near Murrieta on Wednesday night, quickly scorching almost 1,000 acres and prompting mandatory evacuation orders for multiple residential enclaves as fire officials urged others nearby to voluntarily leave. At least 300 firefighters responded to the Tenaja fire in Riverside County, which sent up an eerie and massive plume of smoke at dusk. By nightfall, hillsides were aglow in hot and windy conditions on a day marked by thunderstorms in the region. By late Wednesday, the fire had burned hillsides in unincorporated Riverside County and appeared to be headed northeast toward Murrieta. .....

Why is Walmart doing the right thing? Because you, the average American fed up with the stupidity of our nation’s gun laws, want Walmart to do the right thing. Good luck trying to get Congress to enact even the most widely supported gun reforms. Congress does not answer to you. Congress answers to the gun lobby, with its tens of millions of dollars to throw around. It answers, as well, to a relative minority of gun-defending extremists who control Republican primaries in red states and — thanks to gerrymandering — congressional districts. But Walmart, in its way, answers to you....

.... “In my mind, it’s the right thing to do and we need to make it cool,” said the Duke of Sussex, who said he always offsets his travel-related carbon emissions. “It can’t just be a ticking-the-box exercise. Somehow we have to connect people to where that little bit of extra money is actually going, and the moment that you have that connection, you feel you have a bigger purpose in life and you can actually see the difference you’re making.” Huh? ....

In 1943 a directive was given to all COMMUNISTS to label those that obstruct them, fascist, nazi or anti-semetic.They used their do good organisations to push their agendas in the 1940's , they're doing it now in 2019.This warning from the 1950s proving the communist agenda behind the left and the dirty smear tactics they are using today against anyone who disagrees with them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIylzZCv_ww 

The federal government has violated the rights of more than 1 million people by placing them on a watchlist of “known or suspected terrorists,” a federal judge ruled Wednesday. The plaintiffs, 23 U.S. citizens, argued, with the backing of the Council on American Islamic Relations, that they were wrongly placed on the list, causing “a range of adverse consequences without a constitutionally adequate remedy.” The plaintiffs, ruled U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, “have constitutionally protected liberty interests that are implicated by their inclusion” on the list, and the Department of Homeland Security process by which people listed on the watchlist...

Today’s post is in honor of Air Force Staff Sgt. Todd J. Lobraico Jr., who was killed on this date in 2013 by enemy small-arms fire during a patrol outside Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The 22-year-old native of New Fairfield, Conn. was assigned to the 105th Security Forces Squadron, Stewart Air National Guard Base (N.Y.). 1781: The Royal Navy fleet commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Grave’s Royal fleet clashes with Comte de Grasse’s French armada at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. The navies fight each other at close range for two hours before the British disengage and sail...

When a diet rises to popularity as fast as the ketogenic diet — a very-low-carbohydrate, high-fat, and moderate-protein diet — it inevitably gains panacea status. (For reference: See the popular movie The Magic Pill on Netflix, which asserts the keto diet can be a powerful cure for health problems.) While clinicians may be using this diet as an adjunct to therapy for particular diseases, it’s certainly not the answer for all situations, and keto can be downright harmful for some people.

A Wisconsin mom died in a suspected road rage incident over the weekend while teaching her teenage son how to drive, authorities said. Tracey Smith, 46, was giving her 17-year-old son a driving lesson on Friday evening when the pair got into what investigators described as "a minor accident," according to the Milwaukee Police Department. Things took a tragic turn when Smith, a sergeant with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, got out to confront the driver who ran into them. The two exchanged words and Smith was shot during the encounter, according to police.

Democrats howl about partisan gerrymanders, but look who is using the courts to usurp democratic redistricting. Ground zero is North Carolina where state judges on Tuesday ordered new legislative maps that will help Democrats gain control of redistricting after 2020.