Free Republic

"‘Justice with Judge Jeanine’ host Jeanine Pirro reveals the key Democrats behind nationwide crime surges in her Opening Statement"

The U.S. went on a borrowing binge last year and the hangover could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to fight inflation without crashing the economy. Powell’s challenge is to try to curb price pressures without large costs to employment or growth, a move that would likely anger both political parties and blotch his record with the first Fed-assisted hard landing since the 1990-1991 downturn.” The Federal Reserve is laying the groundwork for the start of a cycle of interest-rate hikes that the bond market warns might be unusually constrained in how far it can go, setting the two...

It's never a good thing when locals warn you to stay out of their crime-infested city.p>When it's the police themselves, well, then it's pretty obvious the city has a problem. Which has brought us this:The Los Angeles police are telling the public not to come into the area for Christmas because it’s like “The Purge” movie.LAPD Detective Jamie McBride recently told media, “My [message] to anybody considering coming to Los Angeles is ‘Don’t,’ he said. “We can’t guarantee your safety. It is terribly out of control […] It’s like that movie ‘Purge’ [sic]. Instead of 24 hours to commit your...

Sergei Lavrov backs out of meeting with Bennett and Lapid amid Ukraine tensions and delicate Iran talks; Israeli sources say visit officially postponed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled on Friday a planned trip to Israel and the region, during which he had been slated to meet with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and President Isaac Herzog. Lavrov had been scheduled to meet with the Israeli officials on Sunday and Monday, before meetings with Palestinian, Algerian, and Moroccan leaders, according to Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. He had been expected to attend the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum...

A recent sighting of Putin’s notorious Buk missiles on their way to the frontline does not bode well for talks A flatbed rail wagon speeding through south-west Russia last week carried an ill omen for negotiations to avert a larger war with Ukraine. On board was a Buk-M1, the kind of medium-range surface-to-air missile system that became notorious in 2014 after a missile fired from territory controlled by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine shot down a Malaysian airliner, killing all 298 people aboard. If Russia goes to war in Ukraine, it still needs to take a number of steps: establishing...

The priority deadline for Texas students to complete the Free Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) is on January 15. Texas high school students are required to submit that application to graduate... “It was a great struggle filling out the FAFSA,” Martinez said. Millions of students face the same struggle of filling out the FAFSA. Some say that the application is too complicated for some. Congressman Doggett has been working for years to make it simple.

Blinken met with his counterparts in the G7 countries over the weekend in Liverpool, England, about Moscow’s enormous military buildup on Ukraine’s eastern border that many see as a prelude to an imminent invasion. “They are equally resolute in their determination to stand against Russian aggression, to ideally deter it, prevent it. And we’ve made clear as well that there would be massive consequences if Russia commits renewed acts of aggression against Ukraine​,” Blinken said Sunday during an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”​ America’s top diplomat said the Biden administration seeks to have a “stable, predictable relationship” with...

PM makes claim that children died from Omicron variant during weekly Cabinert meeting, but no deaths have been confirmed so far. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared today (Sunday) at the opening of a weekly Cabinet meeting that two British middle school students who had contracted the Omircron variant had recently died. However, this did not occur, according to an investigation by Channel 12 News. "The Omicron variant also attacks children. We see this in other countries and we are also seeing this in Israel. Just this week two middle school classmates in England died from Omicron. One was not vaccinated...

LIVERPOOL, England, Dec 12 (Reuters) - While Russian President Vladimir Putin keeps the West guessing over Ukraine, it was the might of Chinese President Xi Jinping that garnered the long-term strategic focus when the diplomats from the Group of Seven richest democracies met this weekend. The United States and its other G7 allies are searching for a coherent response to Xi's growing assertiveness after China’s spectacular economic and military rise over the past 40 years.

Here's your basic "start here" scone recipe. While this simple vanilla scone is delicious as is, it's also the perfect vehicle for your favorite add-ins; we happen to love dried cranberries and walnuts. Though chocolate chips are tempting, too!

"The original classic anime series “Cowboy Bebop,” premiered in 1998 and came to fame in America via “Adult Swim” in 2001, every Saturday night at midnight. It quickly gained a reputation as one of the greatest works in animation that has ever graced the television screen. Now, Netflix audaciously thinks it can do better, releasing a live-action adaptation last month. Sadly, Netflix’s cowboy is an obese and crude bore, unable or unwilling to comprehend why the original worked. ..."

"Mayor of Yuma, Arizona Douglas Nicholls discusses declaring a local emergency in his city after thousands of illegal migrants cross the border"

"Venezuela used to be a thriving and prosperous Latin American nation. Its citizens enjoyed a high quality of life, and immigrants flocked there to better their situation. All of that changed abruptly when socialism took over the Venezuelan government. The once flourishing country quickly became an example for other nations as to what happens when socialism is allowed to run rampant. Violent crime skyrocketed, people lost their lives and livelihoods, and neighbors began to view each other as rivals for ever-diminishing resources. Yet, many Americans, blissfully ignorant of the ravages of socialism, want to bring it to the United States....

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) on Sunday said Democrats must "quit lying" about the cost of the Build Back Better Act and called for the House to revote on the massive social spending package. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Graham claimed that the electric vehicle tax credits included in the bill would exacerbate inflation and hurt companies like BMW and Volvo. Both companies have recently announced commitments to rolling out new electric vehicles, with Volvo aiming to be all electric by 2030.

America's deadliest tornado occurred on March 18, 1925. Tracking across three states, it killed at least 695 people. The tornado was later considered to be F5 strength, the top of the original Fujita Scale for tornado intensity. One or Many Tornadoes? In the era of the Tri-State Tornado, storm survey techniques were more primitive than today. With no aerial surveys and limited ground investigations, tornadoes were often assumed to remain on the ground the entire time. No radars or satellite data were available to help determine the most likely locations of any damage. The Illinois portion of the track was...

Fear of COVID-19 and weakened faith were most frequently cited as reasons for staying away from Mass.(LifeSiteNews) – A recent survey shows that more than half of Ireland’s former Mass-goers have chosen not to return largely due to fear of COVID-19 and weakened faith. A November 2021 Amárach Research survey of Irish Catholics found that more than 53 percent of those who “identified as Mass-goers” before COVID-19 have not been going to Mass since. Of those who have chosen not to go back to Mass, 61 percent said they are staying away because of fear of COVID-19. This was the...

Of the 3,137 Omicron cases that have now been reported in the UK, 2,953 cases have been reported in England, 159 have been reported in Scotland, 15 in Wales and 10 in Northern Ireland. The UK has reported 1,239 additional confirmed cases of the Omicron variant - the highest daily rise and nearly double the previous high recorded on Saturday. That takes the total numbers of cases of the variant to 3,137 in the UK. Of those, 1,196 new cases were reported across England with 2,953 overall recorded. In Scotland, another 38 cases were reported on Sunday, taking the total...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that there could be lockdowns again without widespread “tough” vaccine mandates like the one he implemented in New York City. De Blasio said, “Look, right now, here’s what I fear. Omicron is here. It’s all over the country. This variant moves fast. We have to move faster. I’ll tell you what I hear from our business community that their greatest fear is shutdowns. Their greatest fear is going back to where we were in 2020 to restrictions, to people losing their livelihood. You mentioned unemployment....

California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) is strategizing to use the enforcement mechanism of a recently enacted Texas abortion law, which the Supreme Court allowed to survive on Friday, to curb the sale and circulation of “assault weapons” in the state. On Saturday, Newsom said in a press release that the governor’s office would work with the legislature and attorney general to create a bill that would empower private citizens to sue for at least $10,000 “anyone who manufactures, distributes, or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in the State of California.” “If the most efficient way...

In a case that hinges on enforcement rather than abortion itself, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 on Dec. 10 that abortion providers can continue their legal challenge of the Texas Heartbeat Act, but the restrictive abortion law will remain in effect in the meantime. The court accepted the case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, “to determine whether, under our precedents, certain abortion providers can pursue a pre-enforcement challenge to a recently enacted Texas statute,” the opinion of the court, delivered by Justice Neil Gorsuch, reads. “We conclude that such an action is permissible against some of the...