Free Republic

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Russia has a system that can replace the SWIFT international payments system internally, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Monday, stressing the need to support clients of banks. Nabiullina said all banks in Russia will fulfil their obligations and all funds on their accounts are secured.

Switzerland's historic neutrality is no longer: moments ago Reuters reported that the Swiss government had joined the EU in adopting sanctions on Russia, freezing assets of targeted companies and people effective immediately:SWISS GOVERNMENT SAYS ADOPTS EU SANCTIONS ON RUSSIASWISS GOVERNMENT SAYS FREEZES ASSETS OF TARGETED PEOPLE AND COMPANIES EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELYSWISS GOVERNMENT SAYS ADOPTS FINANCIAL SANCTIONS AGAINST PRESIDENT PUTIN AND OTHER RUSSIAN OFFICIALSSwiss President Ignazio Cassis said that adopting the EU sanctions against Russia was a unique, difficult step that required careful consideration. Previously, on Sunday, he said that Switzerland’s neutrality must be preserved and it stood ready to offer its...

This is not original with me but relayed by a Christian minister from a Russian brother in Christ.

Kepler-16b Artist’s impression of Kepler-16b, the first planet known to definitively orbit two stars – what’s called a circumbinary planet. The planet, which can be seen in the foreground, was discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle ********************************************************************************* Study proves ground-based telescopes can search for planets with two suns. Astronomers have used a new technique to confirm a real-life Tatooine, the fictional planet with two suns that was home to Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars.” The planet, Kepler-16b, is about 245 light years from Earth, is a gas giant, and is roughly the size of Saturn. Scientists already knew...

There are times when a church attendance plateau is a victory. I believe many churches are in a season of stagnation, and it’s not all bad.But first, a few caveats.Stagnation is not the goal, but a plateau can point to a future growth climb. Also, churches can be in denial about declines. Leaders should never ignore problems.The first step on the plateau is to recognize where you are. Unfortunately, churches and leaders can tend to lack self-awareness. Don’t call declines a plateau. The definition of being on a plateau is an extended season of not growing or declining. Be self-aware....

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Mike McFaul on Monday weighed in on the possibility of a coup from Russia’s military leaders and those closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to the ramped-up aggression toward Ukraine. McFaul told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Putin has been “isolated forever” and “doesn’t have people around him that he listens to.” He advised that for the first time ever with Putin leading Russia, people are hoping there would be a coup to stop him and remove him from power.

The trucker convoy has come and gone. The bouncy castles have been put away, the hot tubs dismantled, the 18-wheelers towed, the party atmosphere vanished into air, into thin air. They are such stuff as dreams are made of. The convoy’s main accomplishment was to force the government to show its autocratic hand to the observant and the doubtful. The invoking of the Emergencies (or War Measures) Act was a groundless abuse of power and its hasty withdrawal a sign of an authoritarian government caught with its pants down. But in the aftermath of the Freedom Convoy’s magnificent display of...

The war being waged by Russia in Ukraine shows no signs of coming to any type of peaceful end. Meanwhile, it appears to me that a separate war on the U.S. dollar could be “officially” waged at any moment, by Russia and China collectively, as the situation in Ukraine grows more dire, as Russia’s options wane and its ties with China grow closer. While the hope is still to avoid a World War III type scenario, escalating sanctions from the West are forcing an increasingly unhinged Vladimir Putin to consider his options for pushback. For example, on Sunday, Putin put...

Ukrainian forces have pulled off an extraordinary feat in holding off Russian forces for days, but President Vladimir Putin’s superior manpower and weaponry will likely triumph at a substantial cost to the autocratic leader and his people, experts told Fox News Digital. "It is nothing short of remarkable what the Ukrainian military has accomplished," said U.S. Army Gen. Jack Keane, who serves as chairman of the Institute for the Study of War. "But I think despite the fierceness of the Ukrainian resistance, they are overmatched by the Russians, and the Russians will eventually prevail," Keane predicted.

In 1969, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross published a seminal work, On Death and Dying where she described five stages of grief that individuals experience after profound emotional loss, such as the death of a loved one. Today, Americans are grieving — their trust in great institutions has died. Americans have lost faith in Washington; in federal medical bureaucracies like the CDC, FDA, and NIH; in legal institutions including the FBI and DOJ, and in school systems from K–12 through universities. Science itself has been called into question. Politicians and bureaucrat-M.D.s claim they "follow the science," but real scientists, clinical physicians, and policy...

As ABC and CBS ran reports commemorating the 10th anniversary of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin being shot to death by George Zimmerman, both networks misinformed their viewers, and ABC even imitated the same smear that NBC News was forced to apologize for 10 years ago. As both networks incorrectly implicated Florida's "stand your ground" law for making it easier for Zimmerman to avoid punishment, ABC News correspondent Zachary Kiesch used edited audio of Zimmerman's 911 call, making it sound like the neighborhood watch volunteer had told the dispatcher that Martin seemed suspicious in part because he was black. When...

The Texas Military Department and Department of Public Safety officials issued a warning to law enforcement officers and soldiers working along the state’s border with Mexico. The warnings of possible retaliation from members of the Gulf Cartel follow the arrest in recent days of a key leader. The Texas Military Department (TMD) command staff and officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety issued a warning to the National Guard soldiers and DPS troopers working the border security mission about possible retaliation from the Matamoros faction of the Gulf Cartel, Operation Lone Star, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas....

A new ABC poll finds only 37% of Americans approve of Joe Biden’s job performance. Only 30% of independents support Biden. Six in ten Americans are concerned about the record inflation under Joe Biden and Democrats. And three-quarters of Americans say the economy is in bad shape. And 54% of all Americans believe Biden is not mentally fit for president. And keep in mind — ABC is famous for their slanted, fake polls. The fake news media is 95% in the tank for Joe Biden. This should worry all Democrats. ********************************************************************************* Yikes! Also 54 percent think Biden mentally incapable of...

It's the easiest thing in the world: Cut off Russia's oil earnings and watch the war in Ukraine collapse. A U.S. oil embargo on Russia would destroy its cash stream which is financing 30% of its government, including its attack on Ukraine. In war, at least one you want to win, you cut off supply lines. Grant and Sherman understood this. But General Biden is a little different. He wants to keep Putin getting that money until Bad America reforms to a green energy system to his liking. He has a live war in front of him, he has the...

The convoy has left Vinita, Oklahoma and will be going through Missouri today. Celebrating the trucks, the Phantom of the Honking, the bridge gangs. We demand our freedom back! We will also be watching reports out of Ukraine and are questioning the pro-Ukraine anti-Russia narrative that has been pushed by the Democrats, MSM, George Soros and New World Order.

Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman joined "Fox & Friends" Monday to discuss Putin's latest move to put nuclear deterrent forces on alert after seeing a lack of momentum in overthrowing Ukraine. Hoffman said Putin made the risky decision because he is "running out of cards to play" and is looking to discourage NATO from sending weapons and aid to Ukraine.

DEL RIO, Texas — Texas ranchers are rejecting an offer from the federal government to cover property damages resulting from illegal immigration and drug smuggling, fearing the aid will come with strings attached and won't help with the underlying problems at the border. A Department of Agriculture initiative to pay landowners across the state for a wide array of losses they sustained due to a surge in trespassers traveling from the border north into Texas is being met with skepticism and calls for President Joe Biden to secure the border. Under the Environmental Quality Incentive Program, the USDA's Natural Resources...

General Assembly: Eleventh Emergency Special Session (Ukraine) - 1st plenary meeting. Watch Live UN Web TV

Democratic Socialists blame US imperialism for Russian invasion of Ukraine The Democratic Socialists of America blamed US and NATO “imperialist expansion” for helping trigger the Russian invasion of Ukraine — provoking criticism from local political leaders. “DSA reaffirms our call for the US to withdraw from NATO and to end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict,” the DSA said in a statement. “While the failures of neoliberal order are clear to everyone, the ruling class is trying to build a new world, through a dystopic transition grounded in militarism, imperialism, and war. Socialists have a duty...

Most Americans have been conditioned to believe that if you don’t enroll in college after high school, you have almost no chance at a successful life. That’s not true. As a 3rd-year engineering student working for a semester at an old-school machine tool company in Detroit, I got my first inkling that alternative paths into careers other than expensive college degrees existed. On my first day of work, the shop foreman told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to disturb the gray-haired “master craftsman” seated next to our enormous CNC machining center, reading the Wall Street Journal...