Free Republic

The key to our elites’ (hate the word but using it for convenience) riches and power is access to the giant Chinese market no matter how the CCP behaves. This began with Kissinger and Nixon. The theory then, or the rationalization, was that if we opened to China, they would become like us. Consequently, in the decades since, the U. S. government more or less looked away, doing little more than raising its eyebrows in UN conference rooms, as the CCP oppressed its minorities (If you can call millions of people minorities) in the Tibetan, Uyghur, Falun Gong, and Christian...

Lindsey Graham joins Democrats in backing witnesses, saying, ‘If you want a delay, it will be a long one with many, many witnesses.’Former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial looked on track to last longer than expected after the Senate voted on Saturday morning in favor of calling witnesses. Witnesses hadn’t been expected in the proceedings, but the lead House manager, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said on Saturday morning that his team wanted to call Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state after she released a statement late Friday that said Trump on Jan. 6 resisted telling...

The European Union on Saturday called on China to reverse its ban on the BBC World News television channel imposed in apparent retaliation for Britain’s pulling of the license of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN.The EU said in a statement that Beijing’s move further restricted “freedom of expression and access to information inside its borders," and violated both the Chinese constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.The statement also said that Hong Kong’s announcement that its public broadcaster would also stop carrying BBC broadcasts added to the “erosion of the rights and freedoms that is ongoing" in the semi-autonomous Chinese...

New York police K9 was filmed taking down a suspect after the man punched a police officer in the face on Friday. Randy Martinez, a 23-year-old man who lives in Newburgh, said he was leaving his house with a friend when a man, identified as Tony Mann, 31, wandered onto his driveway and threatened him with a knife. “I rolled down the window and was going to tell him he can’t be on my property, and then he takes out his knife, and I’m just like, ‘Oh, God, no. What’s going to happen?’” Martinez said he called police because he...

WASHINGTON, DC, Feb 12 – “We’re not giving up on our efforts to eliminate the unfair income tax on Social Security benefits. The Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act is being reintroduced and the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC] will be doing what it takes to encourage lawmakers to support the measure,” says Bob Carlstrom, president of AMAC Action, the association’s senior advocacy affiliate. The original Social Security and tier 1 railroad retirement benefits were specifically exempted from income taxes when they were created in the mid 1930s. “After all, workers pay for them with taxes that are taken out...

And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent. 1 Samuel 17:54 America just has gone through a fake impeachment to hide a fake election hidden by a fake media which resulted in a fake President who is using this fake election to turn this country into a Communist dictatorship. Since we wasted six months catering to the Democrat Communist Party it is time to realize nothing, we have watched during fake pandemic house arrest has been true it is time to break down the most sacred of...

The British economy suffered its biggest decline in more than 300 years in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic closed shops and restaurants, devastated the travel industry and curtailed manufacturing.The economy shrank 9.9% last year, more than twice the figure for 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis, the Office for National Statistics said Friday. The drop is the largest since 1709, when a cold spell known as the Great Frost devastated what was then a largely agricultural economy.

Opinions needed on best King Cake from a commercial bakery. So far most impressed with Paul's. Just ordered a Haydel's and the filling was placed in blobs on the top. So not really a "filling" and unevenly spread. Would have DIYed but in a cast this year.

Prayers up for continuing progress and success!! FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly...

We know a lot more on February 12 than on January 6. First, it is clear that the assault on the Capitol has become the most damaging event of Donald Trump’s political career. Combined with forfeiting the Senate in the January run-off elections, the lethal storming of the federal legislature by Trump’s most unscrupulous and foolhardy supporters the next day has now overshadowed a surprisingly strong performance for then-President Trump and the GOP last fall, in a year where everything went wrong.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told fellow GOP senators via email Saturday morning that he will vote to acquit President Trump when his impeachment trial comes to a vote.

It was only when Attorney General Letitia James faulted the state’s nursing-home data that the Cuomo administration’s stonewall started crumbling. And it took a court victory by the Empire Center, and a judge’s order, to finally flush out the full truth on behalf of more than 15,000 long-term care residents who died — and 15,000 families who lost loved ones. DeRosa’s implausible apology came Feb. 10, which was also the deadline for the state to comply with the court order. That’s probably no coincidence. The bottom line: Cuomo and his administration deceived New Yorkers as long as they could and...

Does the national mask mandate make you feel safe? Candidate Joe Biden's promised plan to control the COVID-19 pandemic featured everybody wearing a mask for 100 days. Former CDC Director Robert Redfield said it might take only four, six or eight weeks (up to 56 days), and later up to 12 weeks (84 days). Now we not only have an Executive Order for mask wearing on federal property and for federal employees and contractors, but the CDC has declared it a federal crime not to wear a mask on public transport or in transportation hubs. There was no constitutional amendment...

Good morning my conservative FRiends. I am reaching out to hopefully get an answer to my lifelong question of a central belief in the Christian faith, especially the Roman Catholic faith. Background: I grew up in a very Roman Catholic family. I am number 10 of 13 children, 8 boys, 5 girls. Mom also had 2 miscarriages which in truth, she became pregnant with 10 boys rather than the 8. Mom had 15 pregnancies in 17 years. We went to Mass every Sunday and all the holy days. Mom actually taught Catechism to the community and was a very loving...

What is in a word definition? For example, when you say you love your country, what's embedded in that? What does that mean? For me, the 51 constitutions of the states and the U.S. Constitution come to mind. That's not at all what comes to mind to a progressive. If you actually listen to the progressives, they'll tell you. In May of 1918, Theodore Roosevelt wrote the following: Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President or any other public officialYou've seen this quote before. You may have even used it yourself....

As I have written before, Critical Race Theory has become the central doctrine in the Democrats’ push to fundamentally transform the United States from a constitutional republic dedicated to protected the rights and liberties of Americans into a despotic fascist state where the government uses its coercive powers to distribute benefits and privileges among officially favored and disfavored social groups. The far left disguises this toxic doctrine as an outgrowth of the civil rights movement by using words such as “equity” (i.e. equality of outcomes rather instead of equality before the law and equality of opportunity) and “diversity and inclusiveness”...

When I worked as a consultant, I would occasionally speak with employees who were frustrated at the lack of guidance they would get from supervisors and managers. The remark uttered by their superiors, when employees would ask about benchmarks, goals, end results, and other factors was maddening: “I’ll know it when I see it.” This comment angered me on the employees’ behalf. It is unfair and manipulative in so many ways. It was impossible to tell whether the manager had no clue about how to do the work, was unwilling or unable to be specific, or whether the manager was...

Last summer I read an engrossing book entitled "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies, a retired British submarine lieutenant commander turned amateur archeologist. The book documented his efforts to demonstrate how a Chinese fleet of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of ships set sail in 1421 and circumnavigated the world, touching base everywhere from the Americas (North and South), Australia, Africa, Greenland, Europe, and all points between. The purpose of the expeditions, according to Menzies, was to chart the waters of the globe, impress and intimidate foreign rulers, and bring the entire world into China's "tribute system." ...during the...

OUR WASHINGTON DISPATCHES. WASHINGTON, Tuesday, Feb. 12. The Peace Conference adjourned over to-day awaiting the report from the Committee on propositions for adjustment. It is expected that they will submit something to-morrow. A very general feeling continues to prevail that something will be agreed upon satisfactory to a large majority of the Convention, though the delegations are so divided in opinion that it is impossible to form any definite idea as to what form the measures will take. A prominent Northern anti-compromise member says to-night that he should not be surprised if the Convention finally agreed upon a National Constitutional...

Currently residential real estate is predominantly taxed based on its estimated market value. Ad valorum taxation stems from the colonial era when an acre of land far from the Atlantic Ocean was worth less than an acre of land near the Atlantic Ocean. Ad valorum taxation made sense when getting agricultural goods from the hinterlands to coastal city markets was very difficult and expensive. In 2021, ad valorum taxation creates a great incentive for local governments and others to make residential real estate very expensive. This is clearest in California, where it may cost $700,000 to add a new apartment...