Free Republic

The overuse of financial sanctions risks much of the world losing confidence in the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.America cutting off Russia’s central bank from its U.S. dollar reserves could carry huge consequences that the D.C. establishment hasn’t considered.Here’s how the Wall Street Journal’s Jon Sindreu framed what happened: “After Moscow attacked Ukraine last week, the U.S. and its allies shut off the Russian central bank’s access to most of its $630 billion of foreign reserves. Weaponizing the monetary system against a Group-of-20 country will have lasting repercussions.”Reserves are globally accepted foreign currency that a foreign central bank holds...

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept an offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin, which would require Kyiv to make significant consessions in order to end Moscow's invasion, the Walla news site report. Walla does not divulge the details of Putin's offer, but pervious reports from the news site said that Putin is demanding an independent Donbas region, but stopping short of regime change in Ukraine. "If I were you, I would think about the lives of my people and take the offer," Bennett told Zelensky during a phone call on Tuesday, according to a senior...

Late last night and as Rebecca reported, Congress passed a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package. It clocked in at 2,741 pages, which lawmakers didn't have a chance to read before voting. As usual, the bill is packed with non-essential, pet projects funded by the American taxpayer. Just tipsy skimming through the omnibus.$200,000,000 for the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund$50,000,000 for the Women’s Leadership Fund.We are thirty f**king trillion dollars in debt pic.twitter.com/9ZRKTFUudq— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) March 10, 2022Help me understand this one....the Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection fees get hit by COVID.And therefore taxpayers have to give them a $250...

Remember how Republicans "pounced" in so many news articles that it became a laughable cliché to the extent that, in order to avoid more mockery, it was replaced by "seized?" Well, perhaps "seized" has also worn out its welcome because now Politico has a new term to mean the same as the other two: "pile."That is the term Politico used on Wednesday to describe what those nasty Republicans are doing in reaction to Joe Biden now begging Venezuela for oil in "Venezuela talks strike political nerve in Florida."

Stepping up the economic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin as he continues to attack Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced Friday that in conjunction with other G-7 nations and the European Union, the U.S. will move to revoke "most favored nation" trade status for Russia. "As Putin continues his merciless assault, the United States and allies and partners continue to work in lockstep to ramp up the economic pressures on Putin and to further isolate Russia in the global stage," Biden said from the White House. "Revoking PNTR (permanent normal trade relations) for Russia is gonna make it harder for...

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul blamed the recent shooting death of Jason Rivera, a New York City police officer, on “a shot from an illegal gun.” In this strange passive voice, the Democratic governor didn’t mention the officer by name, but concluded that the true threat facing New York City was “the scourge of illegal guns on our streets.” By refusing to state that an actual person acted viciously and illegally in killing a police officer, Hochul asked us to believe in a lie. Obviously, that lie’s utility rests in its redefinition of violent crime as a problem stemming from...

President Biden on Friday warned that Russia would pay a severe price if it launched a chemical weapons attack during its invasion into Ukraine. “I’m not going to speak about the intelligence… but Russia would pay a severe price if they use chemical weapons,” Biden said when asked if the U.S. would have a military response if Russian President Vladimir Putin launched such an attack. He didn’t comment further or mention if that response would include U.S. military involvement.

The elected officials who claim to champion women’s rights aren’t taking women’s justified fears seriously. It’s no accident that when Frank Abrokwa allegedly smeared his feces on a victim in a Bronx subway station on Feb. 21, the victim was a woman. Before the attack, the suspect tried to hit on his victim, saying, “How come you don’t want to talk to me?” She ignored him — so he committed a premeditated act of retaliation designed to humiliate and degrade. He fled the scene to poop into a bag, returned, and smeared the poop across his victim’s face, hair and...

East Hartford’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday evening to revoke a permit for a planned Tesla service center at 300 Connecticut Boulevard. ... The PZC signed off on the plans last April, but that decision came under fire in the form of a lawsuit filed by East Hartford-based Hoffman Auto Group, which argues that Tesla, which sells cars directly to consumers without going through dealerships, is trying to get around state law, which bans such sales. ...The Hoffman family of 10 auto dealerships along with more than 250 other dealers statewide remain committed to defending this state’s pro-consumer...

The largest pediatric hospital in Texas has announced that it will no longer provide puberty blockers to children after the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote an opinion labeling the practice “child abuse.” In a statement Friday, the Houston-based Texas Children’s Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in both the United States and Texas, announced that it will pause “hormone-related prescription therapies for gender-affirming services.” The hospital cited the “Attorney General’s and Governor’s Actions” as factors in its decision, referring to Paxton’s assertion in last month’s non-binding Opinion No. KP-0401 that the prescription of puberty-blocking drugs “can legally constitute child abuse...

I know there’s a lot going on in the world today, but can we just take a moment to reflect on how crazy it is that the United States House of Representatives just passed a $1.5 TRILLION spending bill that no one has read?The House passed an expansive $1.5 trillion spending bill on Wednesday night that includes funding for the government through the end of the fiscal year…So that piddling, measly $1.5 trillion isn’t the full budget, it’s just through the end of the fiscal year, which is to say September 30. That’s more than Ronald Reagan’s first two budgets...

“Well, you all imagined it,” Vice President Kamala Harris commented during a so-called clean-transit event, where she appeared with her fellow tautologist, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “That’s why we’re here today — because we have the ability to see what can be, unburdened by what has been, and then to make the possible actually happen.” When Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete get together, it’s Platitudicon. As it was this week, when, as the reality of imminent historic gas price spikes was hitting Americans, the duo spent the day promoting electric cars, the Green New Deal and the Environmental Protection...

The Senate passed a massive bill to fund the government and provide new Ukraine-related aid, sending the 2,741-page bill to President Biden’s desk. Senators voted 68-31 on the bill, which includes $1.5 trillion in government funding and $13.6 billion in aid tied to Ukraine. The bill moved at lightning speed through Congress, passing the House less than 24 hours after it was unveiled early Wednesday morning. The Senate’s vote comes less than two days after the bill was introduced. The Senate also passed by voice vote a days-long continuing resolution to buy time to get the massive legislation, which funds...

As inflation worsens, the University of Michigan survey of consumers fell again as US inflation worsens. On the housing front, buying conditions for houses fell to 70 as a result of soaring home prices. MY confidence in Biden and Congress has certainly declined.

The news is grim all over the world: war, famine, pestilence (kind of), and inflation aplenty. In fact, there are only two bits of good news to cheer us up.The talks between Iran and the West on how fast they get to build their nuclear bomb are near collapse. Politico: Negotiations have reached an impasse over the Russian requests, diplomats said, imperiling the revival of a 2015 landmark deal under which Iran limited its nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief.Russia is requesting that any return to the agreement include guarantees that any future Russian business with Iran be exempt...

VIDEOYes, being the butt of jokes and laughed at for all eternity is probably even worse punishment than 5 months in jail for Jussie Smollett. Comedians will forever be grateful to Jussie for giving them an endless supply of joke material. Just the name "Jussie Smollett" can't help but induce smiles followed by laughter.

Climate czar John Kerry told an informal U.N. Security Council meeting on Wednesday that President Joe Biden is committed to increasing U.S. funding to developing countries by upwards of $10 billion annually to help combat the “climate crisis.” Kerry told the meeting on “Climate Finance for Sustaining Peace and Security” U.S. taxpayer dollars will be forthcoming and placed at the disposal of the globalist body to help redistribute wealth in a time of crisis to poorer countries that need it most.

President Biden got a double-bit of bad news.First, Rasmussen reported that he is at 39% job approval. So much for the SOTU bounce or whatever else was supposed to turn things around.Second, Americans are not falling for the "Vlad did it" story. This is from Fox News:Americans feeling the price at the pump told FoxNews that President Biden's claim that he "can't do much" about soaring gas prices does not add up."That's a bunch of bull," Chester from Kentucky said.Lynn, of South Dakota, told Fox : "There has to be reserves here in the states, that they can release." During...

Negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the Iran nuclear deal were called off indefinitely on Friday after Russia upended the talks by raising objections to Moscow’s participation while under the new U.S. sanctions imposed in punishment for its invasion of Ukraine. The European Union’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell announced the decision to “pause” the talks in a tweet, citing “external factors” for the decision to break off the talks. Negotiators for the seven countries involved have spent most of the past year huddled in Vienna 2015 trying to find ways to revive the 2015 nuclear deal following President Donald...

Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to create. #StandWithUkraine️ At DuckDuckGo, we've been rolling out search updates that down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation.