Free Republic

The civilian population always pays a heavy price for the adventuristic endeavors of its rulers. This is true for the bad economic and financial policies, bad political moves, and poor military choices that the government leaders and their staff may make in the course of furthering the "national" interest, which is often a nicer label for pursuing their own personal and political best interest. Should the people, the means by which families earn their living, and the entire community be destroyed in such cases? Our head says, absolutely not! But, what about our emotions? Apparently, they shout an angry "yes"!...

When asked whether they’d flee or fight an invading force, far too many Millennials and Gen-Zers give the wrong answer. As part of a recent survey of attitudes toward Russia’s execrable invasion of Ukraine, the polling firm Quinnipiac asked Americans whether they would stay and fight if the United States were invaded by Russia. The results make sobering — and often disgraceful — reading. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans said that they would “stay and fight,” with 25 percent indicating that they’d run away. Among independents, those numbers are 57–36. Among Democrats, they’re in negative territory, at 40–52. Among 50- to...

“People who spend a lot of time in front of Fox News or MSNBC,” writes Kevin Williamson in National Review Online (NRO), “are not in the main what you’d call happy and well-adjusted people.” Williamson is one of the bright young writers of NR and NRO, presided over by Rich Lowry (or is it Richard now?) who have made National Review increasingly irrelevant to modern American conservatism. Williamson’s estimation of Fox News viewers resembles Hillary Clinton’s description of populist conservatives as “deplorables” and Barack Obama’s snide remark about those voters who cling to their religion and guns. Bill Buckley (who...

This isn’t rocket science: gas prices are hitting astronomical new heights every day because Old Joe Biden closed the Keystone Pipeline, ended our energy independence, and forced us to rely on supplies of Russian oil that have become problematic in all kinds of ways with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yet even as the crisis intensifies, Biden’s handlers refuse to reverse course and restore America’s own oil supplies; instead, it is courting authoritarian regimes, as if paying Russia for oil wasn’t enough financing of tyranny already. Next in line: Venezuela. First came the Islamic Republic of Iran. On Wednesday,...

Construction of the controversial pipeline, which would have raised Canada’s oil-sands export capacity to the U.S. by almost 900,000 barrels a day, had already begun when the project was scrapped last year by the U.S., Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said during a news conference. U.S. President Joe Biden canceled a key permit for Keystone XL on his first day in office, citing environmental concerns. “We could turn this around in less than a year,” Kenney said on Monday. Kenney’s comments come as crude prices surged to almost $140 a barrel after the U.S. said it was looking at a potential...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week stated 90% of Americans no longer need to wear face masks indoors, including in K-12 schools. Yet through mandates or local guidance, young children — who face the lowest risk of COVID complications — are still being forced to mask for hours a day across the country, including in New York, California and DC and its suburbs, in some cases even outdoors. In America’s great unmasking, 2- to 5-year-olds are excluded even as the harms from masking them continue to come to light. ... Many places in Europe, including the United...

President Joe Biden just gave his State of the Union Address. Here's what I wish Biden said: "Russia's unwarranted invasion of Ukraine reminds us why it's crucial that America's military remains strong, and focused on defense, not distractions like gender equity. "I stand with the people of Ukraine, and I will help them where I can, but America will not enter this war. "My predecessors involved us in wars all over the world. Today, America posts soldiers in 80 countries: 25,000 in South Korea, 30,000 in Germany, 50,000 in Japan ... "I will bring those troops home. Those countries can...

U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar applauded the opening of the Interim Central Reference Laboratory in Odessa, Ukraine, this week, announcing that it will be instrumental in researching dangerous pathogens used by bioterrorists.The level-3 bio-safety lab, which is the first built under the expanded authority of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, will be used to study anthrax, tularemia and Q fever as well as other dangerous pathogens.“The continuing cooperation of Nunn-Lugar partners has improved safety for all people against weapons of mass destruction and potential terrorist use, in addition to advancements in the prevention of pandemics and public health consequences,” Lugar...

In an excellent piece of analysis from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), research fellow Justin Bronk offers a number of insights into Russia’s air superiority struggle. While the article warrants reading, here are some important conclusions from Bronk’s essay: -Russia’s small stockpile and long resupply timelines for precision-guided munitions have limited their air force’s ability to conduct viable strike missions. As Bronk points out, this isn’t just a problem today, but also means Russian pilots have very limited experience leveraging these types of weapons. -A lack of targeting pods makes precision strikes difficult, meaning most fixed-wing assets may be...

Under pressure from a veto-proof majority in Congress, Joe Biden loudly announced a cutoff of energy purchases from Russia, amounting to about 7% of U.S. energy imports."Russian oil will no longer be accepted at U.S. ports — and the American people will deal another powerful blow against Putin’s war machine," he tweeted.Russian oil will no longer be accepted at U.S. ports — and the American people will deal another powerful blow against Putin’s war machine. pic.twitter.com/dk7QNXnDA6 — President Biden (@POTUS) March 9, 2022Russia had been sending about 600,000 barrels of oil a day to the states in a big export...

Congressional leaders announced Wednesday they had agreed on a $1.5 trillion spending measure that funds the government through the end of September — and includes $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine. With Congress facing a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Friday to avert a government shutdown, a House vote was scheduled for later Wednesday on the 2,741-page measure. Separately, the House planned to vote on a stopgap measure that would keep funding at current levels through March 15. That would allow Congress extra time to approve the larger bill and send it to President Biden without any pause in funding.

Forget About Covid, They SayEarlier this year, a phrase was trending because Bari Weiss used it on a talk show: “I’m done with Covid.” Many people cheered simply because the subject has been the source of vast oppression for billions of people for two years. There are two ways to be over Covid. One way is to do what the memo from the consultants of the Democratic National Committee suggested: declare the war won and move on. For political reasons. Deaths attributed to Covid nationally are higher now than they were in the summer of 2020 when the whole country...

Putin's a thug, but he's an excellent politician and a strong leader. And he’s not crazy, as some seem to surmise. He is a cold, calculating, strategic thinker who has disciplined his mind and body for decades. He’s a Russia first guy. Think Donald Trump minus all that hot air, Big Macs, and add a willingness to off his enemies. We promised Russia we would not expand NATO when the Soviet Union fell. We went back on that promise and incorporated almost the entire Eastern Bloc into NATO.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who start by eating all the fries and those who start by polishing off the burger. I learned how to eat fast food with my grandma. As kids, whenever my cousins and I would visit, right around lunch time she’d march us over to the nearby McDonald’s as long as we followed one rule: Eat your burger before your fries. At the time, my grandma’s logic was that she wanted to make sure we were getting the “nutrients” that came from eating the heftiest part of the meal, whether that...

President Biden on Tuesday said that he “can’t do much” about gas prices that are surging past all-time highs after he signed an executive order to ban Russian oil imports. “Do you have a message for the American people on gas prices?” a reporter asked Biden as he arrived in Fort Worth, Texas, for an event about veterans health.

Flawed design and poor communication, including an operator’s decision to flip a switch marked “Do Not Operate,” were the main causes of an island-wide power outage in Taiwan last week, according to a government investigation. A failure at the Hsinta coal-fired power plant in Kaohsiung last Thursday led to blackouts across multiple regions, including the capital Taipei and parts of the chip-making hub of Hsinchu. In the hours before the power plant failure was confirmed as the reason for the disruption, speculation swirled online that with ex-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visiting, the island’s grid had been targeted in...

Richard Medhurst @richimedhurst YouTube has just deleted @TheOliverStone and @lopatonok's critically acclaimed documentary "Ukraine on Fire" on the US-engineered 2014 coup, and much more. Wonder why! Quote Tweet Igor Lopatonok @lopatonok · 9h #YouTube #BigTech deleted #UkraineOnFire film from our production official channel, I'm asking everyone who like our film to download it from our Vimeo here and post it everywhere. As a copyright holder we giving to you - The People that rights Download Link

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 6 percent in 2021 to a record 36.3 billion metric tons, their highest ever level, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. "The increase in global CO2 emissions of over 2 billion metric tons was the largest in history in absolute terms, more than offsetting the previous year's pandemic-induced decline," it said. It pointed to the widespread use of coal to power growth as the world economy rebounded from the COVID crisis. "The recovery of energy demand in 2021 was compounded by adverse weather and energy market conditions – notably the spikes in natural...

The Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Thomas Siderio Jr. last week, after several officers were shot at during an investigation, will be fired. Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Tuesday that the officer is being suspended for 30 days with the intent to dismiss for violations of the use of force policy.

If only someone had informed the CDC how ineffective those “vaccines” really are! Oh, wait: Those who tried to tell such truths were censored, gagged, delicensed, smeared. Here’s the CDC director going very easy on herself, and on her worse-than-useless agency, for what she represents as wishful thinking, in having readily swallowed CNN’s report of 95% “vaccine” effectiveness. Note too her disingenuous lament that “nobody said” anything about certain variants possibly eluding the “vaccine,” or about the “waning” impact of the shots: