Free Republic

The Biden administration, like all political enterprises, loves to take credit but is loath to confess mistakes. Biden is currently looking for someone, anyone, to take the fall far escalating gasoline prices. A favorite scapegoat is the oil and gas industry. According to many Democrats, the industry is a blight on humanity that must be canceled. High oil prices fit the DNC playbook, so be prepared to view morose montages displaying diabolical men drilling dirty oil wells. In an odd turn of events, these diabolical oil executives are being scolded because they aren't drilling oil wells as quickly as President...

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian troops in southern Ukraine have been carrying out torture and kidnappings, and he called on the world Sunday to respond. “Torture chambers are built there,” Zelensky said in an evening address to the nation. “They abduct representatives of local governments and anyone deemed visible to local communities.” Zelensky said humanitarian aid has been stolen, creating famine. In occupied parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, he said, the Russians are creating separatist states and introducing Russia’s currency, the ruble....

American society is in the midst of a vigorous meta-debate concerning censorship, free speech, and democracy. This debate is, at times, difficult to follow because of the apparent contradictions and double-speak that it produces. It may be useful to make some distinctions that are inherent in this discourse. The first such distinction is in what different parties mean by the term "democracy." There is a progressive faction that insists that, for example, social media suppression of certain views is essential to "our democracy." Free speech is therefore a potential threat to democracy, a counter-intuitive claim. The progressive view of democracy...

For a certain kind of establishment Republican, David McCormick has the perfect CV: a West Point graduate and former Army ranger with a PhD from Princeton, several years in the George W Bush administration, and most recently, a stint as the chief executive of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds. But in a crowded ballroom just north of Pittsburgh last month, McCormick, who is now running for US Senate, projected a different image: one of a “battle-tested” and “Pennsylvania true” candidate campaigning in lockstep with former US president Donald Trump. Trump was not in western Pennsylvania that...

In global warming circles, carbon dioxide is the bogey man, the cause of all evils. CO2 is another Vladimir Putin, blamed for rising gasoline prices and President Biden’s 8.5 percent inflation. Just as Putin isn’t responsible for consumer prices, which began rising shortly after Biden took office, CO2 may not be the bogey man hiding under the beds of Greta Thunberg and Al Gore, ready to pop out and consume the world. Is CO2 really the bogey man? Is it a friend or foe of planet Earth? The answer may surprise you. YouTube screen grab CO2 is one of several...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) - More than 20 local businesses and residents have filed suit in state court in Pennsylvania seeking to overturn Philadelphia’s renewed indoor mask mandate scheduled to be enforced beginning Monday in an effort to halt a surge in COVID-19 infections. The lawsuit, filed in Commonwealth Court on Saturday, said Philadelphia lacks the authority to impose such a mandate. **SNIP** Attorney Thomas W. King III, who was among those involved in last year’s successful challenge to the statewide mask mandate in schools, said the city’s emergency order went against recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

Karl Rove tells 'Jesse Watters Primetime' that Riyadh is not happy with Washington VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMr7rDOVFBg

A Kentucky restaurant manager has recalled the hateful treatment he received from customers after he flew a Ukrainian flag in solidarity with the country, amid the war. Ben Ashlock, who heads Colton's Steak House and Grill in Bardstown, Kentucky, told The Washington Post that he has a personal connection to Ukraine because he and his wife adopted their son from there three years ago. So when the war broke out, Ashlock said he wanted to show solidarity by flying a Ukrainian flag at the restaurant. "You just let them know, even in little old Kentucky, we see you, and we're...

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The hybrid war is like a masquerade—it has brought some colorful characters to the fore. These characters include a familiar image of Russian Cossacks in sheepskin hats and vibrant uniforms with many medals. There is a misconception that the Russian Cossacks are the same as the Ukrainian Kozak communities, with people wearing their costumes and uniforms and participating in community life on the same basis as other non-governmental organizations and associations. However, they aren’t. Instead, the Russian Cossacks (from the Don, Kuban, Terek, and elsewhere) act as a force that is much more intricately connected with the government and even...

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Fox News Digital first reported on Bush's security payments in July 2021, which prompted questions from CBS News about the cash and whether it was hypocritical to hire security while pushing to defund law enforcement. "They would rather I die?" Bush asked. "You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know, because that could be the alternative." Bush said she would ensure she has security because she has had attempts on her life and has "too much work to do." "So suck it up, and defunding the police has...

“A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach” (Proverbs 18:2-3).

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY (NYSE:SPY) traded higher by 0.9% on Tuesday morning after the Labor Department reported an 8.5% increase in the consumer price index in the month of March, the highest inflation growth since 1981. What Happened: The headline CPI rose 8.6% in March, above economist estimates of 8.4% and marking the highest growth rate since December 1981. The CPI was up 1.2% on a monthly basis. Related Link: Analyst Cuts S&P 500 Earnings Estimate, Says Recession Risk Rising Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was up 6.5% in March, in-line with economist...

Authorities said that attendance matched pre-pandemic numbers: as many as 1.5 million visitors crowded into the streets of the capital’s Iztapalapa borough to witness the spectacle. Five years ago Alejandro made a promise he had to keep. So on Good Friday he joined the ranks of pious residents of the Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa in bearing a literal cross to show his devotion to the vow he made. The Covid-19 pandemic put his promise on hold the last two years, but this year Good Friday events in Iztapalapa were reopened to the public. He and dozens of others who...

Anyone who commits a mass attack has mental problems. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, probably did have post-traumatic stress disorder, and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev probably was manipulated by his mastermind brother. The 9/11 hijackers also (apparently!) had disordered thoughts. Nobody ever says that he needed housing services. Like these other attackers, James knows right from wrong and action and consequence. In one video, he said that “I wanted to kill people” but “I don’t want to go to f–king prison.” Should the FBI have zeroed in on the videos James posted just before his attack, when he...

Join together with Fellow FREEPERS to Pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media.'I Urge, then, First of All, that Requests, Prayers, Intercession and Thanksgiving be Made for Everyone: for Kings and All those in Authority that we May Live Peaceful and Quiet Lives in All Godliness and Holiness.' 1 Timothy 2:1-2Religion Forum Threads Labeled [Prayer] are Closed to Debate of Any Kind.Psalm 139:17,18How Precious it is, Lord, to Realize that You are Thinking about me Constantly.I can't Even Count How Many Times a Day Your Thoughts Turn Towards me.And...

Here’s what we’re not going to do here. We are not going to indulge the lazy rationalizations, false equivalence, cheap gaslighting and other forms of rhetorical chicanery that have become so common to political discourse in this era. Our country is in crisis, and we owe it better.

April also marks one of the most decisive mounted operations of the entire war, and certainly one of the most successful raids. Here I am talking about April 1863, when Union Brigadier General Benjamin H. Grierson with 1,700 Illinois and Iowa cavalrymen rode the almost the full length of the state of Mississippi from north to south, departing LaGrange Tennessee on April 17, and riding into Baton Rouge on May 2.

News AnalysisA recent report from the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) showed that China’s control of global container manufacturing poses a threat to supply chains and economies worldwide.On March 30, FMC Commissioner Carl Bentzel released his assessment (pdf) of China’s control of container and intermodal chassis manufacturing after a year of research, market observation, and synthesis interviews.The report points out that the three largest Chinese manufacturers control over 86 percent of the world’s supply of intermodal chassis. Those same companies manufacture over 95 percent of the 44.2 million containers used in global shipping, including U.S. domestic train and truck intermodal...