Free Republic

President Biden will deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday to a deeply pessimistic nation, one that largely sees the economy worsening under his watch, disapproves of his leadership on key issues and currently prefers that Republicans control Congress after the November elections, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The poll finds Biden’s presidential approval rating at a new low, with 37 percent saying they approve of the job he is doing and 55 percent saying they disapprove. Overall, 44 percent say they strongly disapprove. Predictably, Republicans overwhelmingly disapprove (86 percent) of his job performance, but most...

Last June, while being interviewed on the “The Ezra Klein Show" podcast, Obama said: “I think that what we’re seeing now, is Joe and the administration are essentially finishing the job. Ninety percent of the folks who were there in my administration, they are continuing and building on the policies we talked about."

Biden could stop Putin today. All he needs to do is use the proven tactics President Reagan used to take down the Soviet Union. President Reagan's strategy against the Russians in the 1980s would be a great lesson for the Biden administration today if they cared to look at what worked in the past. No shots had to be fired and the United States became much stronger because of it. Reagan’s multi-pronged Cold War against the Soviet Union was genius and effective. President Reagan famously ramped up military spending. He increased the defense budget by over 40 percent, and that...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half of the 500 million free COVID-19 tests the Biden administration recently made available to the public still have not been claimed as virus cases plummet and people feel less urgency to test. Wild demand swings have been a subplot in the pandemic, from vaccines to hand sanitizer, along with tests. On the first day of the White House test giveaway in January, COVIDtests.gov received over 45 million orders. Now officials say fewer than 100,000 orders a day are coming in for the packages of four free rapid tests per household, delivered by the U.S. Postal...

The eyes of the world are now fixed on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The motivations of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, are now the biggest unanswered question of this geopolitical event. One prominent line of thinking is that Putin is looking to reclaim the territory lost after the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and the Russian leader’s own words appear to support this claim: Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space. Since time immemorial, the people living in the south-west of...

Prayers up. 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 in the support of God,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The term Russian oligarch conjures images of posh London mansions, gold-plated Bentleys and sleek superyachts in the Mediterranean, their decks draped with partiers dripping in jewels. But the raft of sanctions on oligarchs announced by President Joe Biden this week in response to the invasion of Ukraine may do little to dim the jet-setting lifestyles of Russia’s ultra-rich and infamous – much less force a withdrawal of tanks and troops. U.S. sanctions target Russian President Vladmir Putin and a handful of individuals believed to be among his closest security advisers, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. But the...

Economic discontent is hurting President Joe Biden and his party's midterm election prospects, with six in 10 Americans reporting inflation hardships, three-quarters saying the economy’s in bad shape and a nearly 20-point lead for the Republican Party in trust to handle it. Biden has other problems, with underwater ratings for his handling of the invasion of Ukraine, a split on the pandemic and weak scores on personal attributes including leadership, handling a crisis and mental sharpness. But 40-year-high inflation leads his headaches: Americans are twice as likely to say they’re worse off than better off under his presidency, by 35-17%...

A few caveats. All I write here is based on limited information on conditions on the ground, predictions are dicey because I do not know exactly what Putin is thinking, and let me say clearly I do support Ukraine and I loathe the Putin regime. Some MisconceptionsI think the whole “Putin is afraid of Ukraine as a post-Soviet democratic example to Russia” is exaggerated, if not plain wrong. Very, very few Russians want Russia to be like Ukraine, because Ukraine is a poor country burdened by grossly ineffective government. And note: there are about a million Ukrainians who live and...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced sharp hikes in the country's defence spending. Speaking at an emergency session of the German parliament he said €100 billion ($113 bn) will be added to Berlin's military budget this year. It means Germany will now spend more than 2% of its annual GDP on defence, a longstanding NATO target the country has previously failed to meet - despite pressure from the US, and in particular former President Donald Trump.

resident Joe Biden is absolutely committed to punishing Russian President Vladimir Putin for his aggression in Ukraine. You can’t turn on the TV without some clip of the silver haired, senile embodiment of Jeff Dunham’s puppet Walter insisting he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make the butcher of Moscow pay for his evil actions. In spirit, I agree with him. In spirit, Biden actually imposed sanctions that matter, that hurt. In reality, he didn’t do a damn thing. Putin’s power comes from money, most of Putin’s money comes from oil and gas. It stands to reason that if...

The Talk Shows February 27th, 2022 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Guest anchor Harris Faulkner: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Panel: Peter Doocy; Jonathan Turley; Whine Williams; Charles Hurt. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Hosted by Chuck U. Toad: U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.); Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio); Richard Engel, reporting from Ukraine; Keir Simmons, reporting from Russia. Russia and Ukraine: Kori Schake; Clint Watts. Panel: Jeremy Bash; Andrea Mitchell; Danielle Pletka; Kristen Welker. Panel: Former chief of staff to Leon...

Politico Is Wrong: It’s The US-Led West, Not President Putin, Who MiscalculatedThe new geostrategic reality that the US-led West is solely responsible for triggering through its irresponsible miscalculations in refusing to encourage Kiev to implement the UNSC-backed Minsk Accords for ending the Ukrainian Civil War and its lack of interest in respecting Russia’s security guarantee requests is expected to accelerate the decline of the US’ unipolar hegemony over International Relations. It’ll of course take time for that to more fully unfold, but it appears inevitable since the US cannot simultaneously ‘contain’ Russia and China, with the second-mentioned expected to take...

A few years back in 2018 (which seems like the age of innocence considering what the world has devolved into currently), President Donald Trump had a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Unlike most meetings where polite banter occurs before TV cameras, and core dealings occur behind closed doors, the cameras were allowed to remain for the entire duration of the meeting. After the customary pleasantries, Stoltenberg emphasized the importance of NATO for the EU, he thanked Trump for compelling others to contribute more to NATO, and said he looked forward to Trump’s meeting with President Putin. It was at...

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem2 Thessalonians 15 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our...

Ukrainian forces have regained control of the key city of Kharkiv, the regional governor has said. In a post on Telegram, Oleh Synyehubov said: "Control over Kharkiv is completely ours! "The armed forces, the police, and the defence forces are working, and the city is being completely cleansed of the enemy." Russian troops were able to enter the city, Ukraine's second largest, overnight. Footage circulated on social media showed street fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops. The situation on the ground remains fluid and claims of control are hard to verify - but civilians on the ground have also told...

I once respected Vladimir Putin for his effectiveness, although I emphatically did not like what he did to neighboring countries, and also Russians with whom he disagreed. One can similarly respect the effectiveness of other despots such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great without liking how they treated other countries or even their own people. When Peter the Great built Saint Petersburg, for example, tens of thousands of workers died from disease and privation, and some were eaten by wolves in the streets. Putin's invasion of Ukraine, however, demonstrates a colossal lack of judgment that reveals him to...

Another example of the softness, feminization and infantilization of our culture. Even in an aging population, finding an actual mature adult is an increasingly difficult task. A February 25 tweet from National Public Radio purported to address how Americans should deal with traumatizing headlines about the ongoing war in Ukraine. NPR noted, "Russia’s attack on Ukraine means there’s a stressful news cycle ahead of us. The reality of conflict is always a shock to the system.” Patriotic Ukrainian citizens are dying in the streets defending their families and their nation against an overwhelming Russian invasion of their land and we...

The reason I'm not a libertarian is because I'd like to be free. The libertarian says he does, too, but is living proof that wanting something and getting it are two completely different matters — and his theory stands directly in the way of his practice. His first problem is his dislike of government, which he shares many times with other "conservatives." This means he's the least likely to actually go into it (and who wants to hire a man who doesn't believe in his job?), and since he forfeits the position, all kinds of important bureaucratic and so-called "oppressive"...

'When you look at all of the evidence together, it's an extraordinarily clear picture that the pandemic started at the Huanan market,' Worobey told the New York Times. Worobey and his team said that they focused on about 156 cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan in December 19. They continued by mapping cases in January and February using data from Chinese researchers of over 700 cases that popped up away from the market in Wuhan, particularly those with a lot of older residents. The team then studied mutations in what's known as the virus' family tree and concluded that they had...