Free Republic

Wednesday, I posted on the rather strange absence of the two men at the top of Russia’s military hierarchy (Correlation or Causation? The Ukraine Invasion Has Stalled and Putin’s Defense Minister and Chief of the General Staff Have Vanished). Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov dropped out of sight on March 11. Considering Russia is at war, this seemed most odd. One would have expected Gerasimov to make ceremonial appearances, perhaps at one of the thousands of funerals conducted for Russian men killed in Ukraine.Shoigu was personally selected to be Defense Minister by Russian...

Thursday, US intelligence officials leaked a classified assessment about the performance of Russian precision-guided munitions in the Ukraine invasion.The United States assesses that Russia is suffering failure rates as high as 60% for some of the precision-guided missiles it is using to attack Ukraine, three U.S. officials with knowledge of the intelligence told Reuters.The disclosure could help explain why Russia has failed to achieve what most could consider basic objectives since its invasion a month ago, such as neutralizing Ukraine’s air force, despite the apparent strength of its military against Ukraine’s much smaller armed forces.The U.S. officials, who spoke on...

The White House on Thursday issued a statement condemning North Korea for allegedly testing a new ICBM missile, reportedly the largest one tested by the government since 2017. “This launch is a brazen violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “The President and his national security team are assessing the situation in close coordination with our allies and partners,” Psaki wrote in her statement. The White House noted “the door has not closed on diplomacy” with North...

I think, going into the Senate confirmation hearings this week, Ketanji Brown Jackson had a shot at getting some Republican votes. But given her responses–in particular, her testimony in regard to child porn offenders, her contradictory statements in regard to Critical Race Theory, and perhaps especially her inability to be able to define things like “what is a woman“–she certainly has made it more difficult on herself.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) just came out against her, saying he would be a “no” vote on her confirmation.I went into the Senate’s consideration of Judge Jackson’s nomination with an open mind.But...

Roughly a dozen states are proposing sending tax rebate checks to their residents to offset the highest inflation in four decades, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pointing to high gas and food prices as prompting their actions. Among them is Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, who on Wednesday signed a law to send checks of up to $500 to state residents. The reason, he said in a statement, is to soften the impact of inflation on household budgets — and also return some of money amid a record state budget surplus.

Top Chinese ports in Shenzhen and Hong Kong record some of the largest congestion in nearly half a year due to China’s zero-tolerance approach, locking down more than 50 million people and shuttering factories to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Bloomberg reports 174 vessels anchored or loaded off the country’s top ports, the largest number since Oct. 21, when a massive typhoon battered the area. “Shenzhen is the second-busiest port next to Shanghai, so we will expect to see significant volume shift to the other ports within China,” said Ryan Closser, a director at FourKites, a supply-chain information provider. “A...

On Mar. 20, 1991 MiG-23 pilot Orestes Lorenzo Perez circled the Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West three times, waggling the wings of his Flogger (the NATO reporting name for the MiG-23) to signal friendly intentions, hoping that no one would shoot down the Soviet-built fighter jet. Perez said he borrowed the aircraft from the Cuban government. He didn’t know a single word in English, he said. But he was escaping Cuba for freedom. As explained in an extensive piece appeared on The Ledger, Perez, a former Cuban Air Force pilot has received a lot of attention since his escape...

A photojournalist blasted NBC for purposefully altering her photos of transgender UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas, apparently making Thomas look more feminine during a recent Today Show report. The Today Show came under stark criticism for using photos that were noticeably softened or “airbrushed” during its March 17 report on the trans swimmer as Thomas was competing at the NCAA championships in Georgia. Now, a photojournalist who took some of the photos is decrying NBC for altering her photos. “I pride myself on providing authentic images as a photojournalist,” Erica Denhoff told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. Denhoff, a student-athlete and...

I kind of lean toward Peter Gunn, but there are so many. Mancini wrote it, btw. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pdAuDHL9E4

Jakku, the Pomeranian puppy vs. brush. Video: 2 minutes, 11 seconds

The woke revolution in the West was supposed to teach us that the “white male”-dominated Western world is toxic. Its origins, ascendence, and current leisure and affluence were supposedly due only to systemic exploitation, racism, and sexism. Elites introduced cancel culture, doxxing, deplatforming, and social ostracism to shame these supposed exploiters and to destroy their lives and careers. Few asked how a supposedly noxious West of some 2,500 years duration became the number one destination of millions of global non-Western migrants and offered the greatest degree of global prosperity and freedom for its citizens. So a reset reckoning is coming...

PBS’s “Washington Week” host Yamiche Alcindor said Wednesday on MSNBC’s ‘”11th Hour” that “a lot of black women” felt like the Republican senators questioning Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson were disrespecting her. Guest-host Alicia Menendez said, “There was this sort of remarkable moment today between Judge Jackson and Senator Cory Booker. I want to play for our audience. Let’s take a listen.” During the hearings, Booker said, “They’re going to accuse you of this and that, heck, in honor of your birthday, you might be called a communist but don’t worry my sister, don’t worry. God has got you....

So in the run-up to the primary, Abbott who was being attacked from the right by West and others, came off as chomping at the bit to stop illegal border crossing. Now that the primary is over, crickets. What happened? Is Abbott working on some secret plan to do something? And if not, why aren't Texas Republicans up in arms?

Ron DeSantis of Florida is first choice among Republicans for whom Donald Trump should pick as his running mate if he seeks the 2024 presidency, with Mike Pence coming in second place, according to a survey. A new Morning Consult/Politico poll revealed 27 percent of Republican voters believed Trump should pick DeSantis as his potential vice president, compared to 15 percent who wanted Pence. Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, came third with 12 percent. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz placed fourth with 9 percent when respondents were asked whom they would like to see as Trump's...

Ukraine uses facial recognition to identify dead Russian soldiers, minister says By Paresh Dave March 25, 2022 12:32 AM GMT+9 Last Updated 10 hours ago OAKLAND, Calif., March 23 (Reuters) - Ukraine is using facial recognition software to identify the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in combat and to trace their families to inform them of their deaths, Ukraine's vice prime minister told Reuters. Reuters exclusively reported that Ukraine's Ministry of Defense this month began using technology from Clearview AI, a New York-based facial recognition provider that finds images on the web that match faces from uploaded photos. It was...

Hacking group Anonymous has claimed an attack on Russia’s Central Bank. In a post on Twitter, an account representing the group said that it would release 35,000 files in 48 hours that apparently contains “secret agreements”. The account has not yet given proof that it had successfully undertaken the hack, or that it had access to the promised documents.

What is a woman? Nobody knows—not even Supreme Court nominees. But we've come up with a few key indicators to look for. Run through this list and keep track of how many "yes" answers you come up with. The more affirmatives, the more likely you're a chick!1. Are you always cold? 2. Has a human ever popped out of you? 3. Have you ever decorated a bed with six or more pillows? 4. Can you tell the difference between cream white and rustic farmhouse white? 5. Have you run into a curb in the past 24 hours? Be honest, CAROL....

Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has switched his endorsement in the Alabama U.S. Senate race to Michael Durant, dealing a blow to the reeling Mo Brooks campaign. Flynn, who received a presidential pardon to avoid jail time and advocated for a military coup to overturn the 2020 presidential election, had originally endorsed Brooks last June. At the time, Flynn was in Birmingham for a speaking engagement paid for by the Jefferson County Republican Club. Now, though, Flynn has rethought his endorsement and determined that “Alabama doesn’t need another career politician.” Instead, Flynn said in a written statement that Durant is...

Hours after the U.S. Senate voted to repeal the federal transportation mask mandate—which the White House quickly threatened to veto—a group of commercial pilots filed the first legal challenge by airline workers to overturn the requirement to wear masks on all public transport. On March 15, 10 commercial airline pilots from six states filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), asking the court to strike down the federal transportation mask mandate, arguing that...

Wishful thinking that Biden will be removed by the 25th Amendment is just that. The arrogance of the Democrat Party will never let that happen. They would have to admit that a mistake was made in selecting him as the party candidate if they did this because they would have to vote to do so. The handlers of Biden will make sure that this doesn't take place. Instead there will be a medical issue necessitating a resignation by Biden. This medical issue will never be allowed to become public even though everyone will know what it is. The media will...