Free Republic

Russia's military setbacks in Ukraine pose a new set of security challenges in Europe and beyond. When Russian forces began to roll towards the Ukrainian border on the evening of Defender of the Fatherland Day, 23 February, Moscow was anticipating the capture of Kyiv within three days. Many outside observers – including the authors of this report – feared the destruction of the conventional Ukrainian military, even if they expected the fighting to last longer than Moscow had hoped. Moscow’s plan was for repressive measures to have stabilised control of Ukraine by Victory Day on 9 May. Instead, the...

While headline inflation is growing at 8.6% YoY in March, flexible price inflation grew at a terrifying 25% YoY rate. Even with headline inflation of “only” 8.56% YoY, today’s Q1 real GDP growth checked in at -1.4% QoQ. Clearly, Bidenflation isn’t help the economy or anyone else. Instead of Shoeless Joe, we have Clueless Joe as President. But instead of an orange grower endorsing Shoeless Joe, we have the Chinese Communist Party endorsing Clueless Joe.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government on Thursday released its long-awaited plan to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, citing the toll on Black smokers and young people. “The proposed rules would help prevent children from becoming the next generation of smokers and help adult smokers quit,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, in a statement. He added that the ban would also be an “important step to advance health equity” by reducing disparities in tobacco-related diseases. The Food and Drug Administration said eliminating menthol cigarettes could prevent between 300,000 and 650,000 smoking deaths over 40 years. Menthol...

Elon Musk put this out today showing where he stood .. and now stands politically.

Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted on Thursday saying, “Meet [Nina Jankowicz] the new director of the first Federal Speech Police in American history. Instead of stopping drugs and illegal immigration [DHS] will be focused on stopping American citizens from sharing opinions or information this new bureau decides is misinformation.”

@ColumbiaBugle Hard to think of a Congressional floor debate more detached from reality than this Ukraine lend-lease spectacle happening now on the House floor. Both party’s speeches have been replete with references to World War II and our “sacred responsibility to defend democracy.” Bizarre.

A husband and wife in Crystal Lake, Illinois, were recently renovating their home when they unearthed something deliciously strange inside one of the bathroom walls: a pair of balled-up McDonald’s hamburger wrappers and a remarkably well-preserved bag of McDonald’s french fries. The unusual discovery is now causing quite a stir on social media. The food’s wrappers are without McDonald’s famous golden arches and emblazoned with the 1950s McDonald’s mascot, Speedee, a predecessor of Ronald McDonald. The antiquated packaging can only mean one thing. The leftover fries — which homeowner Rob Jones declared “still perfectly crispy” — are extremely old. In...

Anatoly Antonov added that it is merely nonsense to design some illusory projects of Russian aggression MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. Russia is not planning to attack Ukraine, as Moscow does not need that and it is not in its interests, Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said on the YouTube channel Soloviov Live on Saturday. "We keep saying that Russia is not going to attack anyone, we do not need that, it is not in our interests. It is merely nonsense to design some illusory projects of Russian aggression," he said. According to the diplomat, the alleged American exceptionalism, which...

Multi-instrumentalist who played with Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel before admired solo career is hailed for his ‘innovative spirit’ Klaus Schulze, the German multi-instrumentalist whose work with drones, pulses and synthesisers was hugely influential on generations of electronic music makers, has died aged 74. Frank Uhle, managing director of Schulze’s label SVP, wrote: “We lose and will miss a good personal friend – one of the most influential and important composers of electronic music – a man of conviction and an exceptional artist. Our thoughts in this hour are with his wife, sons and family. His always cheerful nature,...

Mostly we get lies, spin and obfuscation from central bankers, politicians and bureaucrats. But every once in a while, one of these people accidentally wanders into the truth. IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva did just that during a recent panel discussion hosted by CNBC. She conceded that central banks globally “printed too much money and didn’t think of unintended consequences.” I think we are not paying sufficient attention to the law of unintended consequences. We take decisions with an objective in mind and rarely think through what may happen that is not our objective. And then we wrestle with the impact...

An Obama judge will not allow Hillary Clinton’s tweet claiming Trump colluded with Russia to be admitted as evidence in Michael Sussmann’s trial. As previously reported, Special Prosecutor John Durham wanted to use Hillary Clinton’s tweet accusing Trump of having a secret line of communication with Russian Alfa Bank as evidence in Michael Sussmann’s trial next month. Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann’s motion to dismiss Durham’s case was denied by a federal judge a couple weeks ago. Sussmann was indicted last September for lying to the FBI. According to the indictment, Sussmann falsely told James Baker he wasn’t...

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) touted President Joe Biden’s efforts to support Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia. Although many from the GOP have lamented the United States has been “slow” to assist Ukraine, Coons asserted that “Biden has done an outstanding job of leading” through Russia’s invasion.

When Olivia Wilde was handed a mysterious envelope on stage midway through her presentation before a packed Las Vegas audience, many assumed it was the set-up for an elaborate joke. Instead, she was getting served legal papers from her ex-partner Jason Sudeikis. SNIP “Very mysterious. I’m going to open it now,” she said, opening an envelope marked “Personal and Confidential” after it was slid calmly onto the stage by an unknown person.

Where does infidelity begin? For some, infidelity starts long before a kiss or a more intimate relationship. It can start with a look, a text message, a coffee date… These actions may seem insignificant or minor, but when put together, they can be the first signs of infidelity. Hence, the term micro-cheating. This could be described as gentle flirting with someone who is not your partner. Micro-cheating does not involve physical contact. With micro-cheating, it’s more a question of emotional infidelity. This betrayal could even be more complicated to manage for the person who has been “cheated on.” In fact,...

Twitter's top lawyer Vijaya Gadde is in the spotlight after Elon Musk criticized her in a string of scathing tweets, leading a former company executive to accuse the billionaire of 'bullying' and spearheading a harassment campaign. Gadde, 47, has been a low-key Silicon Valley power player for years, and at Twitter played a key role in the contentious decisions to ban Donald Trump and suppress news articles about Hunter Biden's laptop. After moving to the US from India with her family as a toddler, Gadde and her family faced racism as she grew up in Beaumont, Texas, where she has...

Rivalry between stars of a unique accordion-based style of music in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho has sparked years of deadly gang warfare that has turned the tiny country into the murder capital of the continent. "Maybe I've survived because I'm a woman," Puseletso Seema says quietly, her whisper a shadow of the powerful voice that once entranced thousands of fans in beer-halls and stadiums across southern Africa and beyond. Acclaimed as the Queen of Famo, the popular national music of Lesotho, she sits on a scuffed sofa in her tiny, bare, cement-block home, with little to show for...

Breaking911 @Breaking911 PSAKI: "The former president invested billions of dollars in a border wall that was never going to work or be effective." 4:54 PM · Apr 25, 2022

Loud fireball spotted over southern Mississippi mostly heard, hardly seen. A fiery meteor streaked across the morning skies in southern Mississippi yesterday, April 27, 2022. More than 30 eyewitnesses in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi reported seeing a bright fireball at 8:03 a.m. CDT. The sighting was soon followed by numerous reports of loud booms heard in Claiborne County, Mississippi, and surrounding counties. Approximately 22,000 miles out in space, NOAA’s Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLM) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) 16 and 17 detected several bright flashes associated with the fragmentation of this bolide, or exceptionally bright...

How is it that in America one man is able to singlehandedly cripple the U.S. economy, deprive over 300 million people of affordable fuel, allow millions of illegal aliens into the country — and oh, yeah, pick a fight with a superpower that could possibly lead to WWIII? This dictatorial oppression shouldn't be possible in a constitutional republic. We have divided government into three branches that operate separately and independently. . .So where are Congress, our courts? They can all see what's happening. It's their duty to stop the one-man wrecking crew in the White House, to provide constitutional checks...

More than 27,000 chickens were boiled alive in a ventilation system malfunction, described by a judge as ‘a disaster’. Hudson & Sanders, the firm managing the Leicestershire poultry farm, were fined £44,000 over the computer failure that happened nearly two years ago. Leicester Magistrates’ Court heard there were 50,000 chickens at Hose Lodge Farm in Colston Bassett when the systems that regulated air flow failed. As the temperature in the large barn rose rapidly, more than half of the animals died, while the ones that survived still suffered dramatically. The birds could not cool down because of the ventilation failure,...