Free Republic

During an online meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven countries earlier, Kishida had announced that Japan will ban Russian crude oil imports "in principle" as part of a G-7 campaign. "[For Japan] oil imports contribute to a long-term, inexpensive and stable energy supply," Kishida told reporters. "We will take steps to phase out imports in a way that minimizes the adverse impact on people's lives and business activities." "We will consider how to reduce oil imports and the timing of the suspension based on actual conditions," he added. Regarding alternative energy, the prime minister said that "we...

Bitcoin continues to fall, extending its losses from the past week. The largest cryptocurrency by market value dropped 4% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, breaching a key support level and hitting a daily low of $34,406. It’s currently trading at around $34,519, down 9% in the last seven days and down 40% year to date. Ether, the second-largest, is also in the red, down 6% in the last day and down 7.4% in the last week. Overall, the cryptocurrency market is taking a hit, down 4.2% in the last 24-hours. Though weekends are typically bad for Bitcoin...

China's armed forces carried out another round of exercises near Taiwan last week to improve joint combat operations, the People's Liberation Army said on Monday, after the Chinese-claimed island reported a spike in activity. Taiwan has complained for the past two years about frequent Chinese military activity near it, mostly concentrated in the southern and southwestern part of the island's air defence identification zone, or ADIZ. Taiwan's air force scrambled planes on Friday to warn away 18 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defence zone, and reported further incursions on Saturday and Sunday, though with fewer aircraft. read more The...

A Portland-area trans woman is among a group of three trans suspects and a man who have been convicted and sentenced on May 6, 2022, over their role in a transgender porn production company that victimized a seven-year-old. Tools used in the child sex abuse video included neck collars, sex devices and a cage. The pedophile convicts ran Rosy Hills Productions and called it a “family-owned transgender pornography production studio specializing in amateur, BDSM and taboo fetish content.” Marina Volz, 32, formerly known as Matthew Volz, of Vancouver, Wash. (near Portland, Ore.), was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Volz...

Fewer Americans are moving than ever before, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau data — but a new report says the people who are taking the plunge are flocking to some familiar cities.Houston, Las Vegas and Phoenix topped this year's edition of truck rental company Penske's annual Top Moving Destinations report, which uses data from its one-way consumer truck rental reservations to compile a list of the country's 10 most popular cities for movers. More generally speaking, the Sun Belt led the way, with Dallas, Austin and San Antonio also ranking highly.Eight of the 10 cities made the list in...

The United States will face "unimaginable consequences" if it plays the Taiwan card and Beijing will not be intimidated by sanctions like those on Russia, a Chinese foreign vice-minister has said. Le Yucheng told an online security forum on Friday evening that it was "ridiculous" to blame China for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accused the US of sacrificing Ukraine for its own geopolitical interests. China has been criticised for not condemning Russia's invasion, and the US and its allies have expressed concern over the security of Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province be to reunified with the mainland...

On Sunday, the Former Deputy prime minister of Russia, Dmitry Rogozin, threatened the Starlink founder for assisting Ukraine — “Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment. And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult – no matter how much you’ll play the fool.”“The word “Nazi” doesn’t mean what he seems to think it does,” Musk tweeted.” If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2022 The word “Nazi” doesn’t mean what he seems to think it does pic.twitter.com/pk9SQhBOsG>— Elon...

The Turk's a jerk.Get rid of him.President Donald John Trump's endorsement of Dr. Mehmet Oz was a bewildering move that now is a national security threat. No one less than Mike Pompeo said so, and with good reason because Oz voted in the last election in Turkey!Pompeo told reporters, "Maybe it’s all innocent, [or] maybe it’s all straight up, but we and the people of Pennsylvania and the Americans who he will be representing as one of the 100 members of the United States Senate voting on important national security matters need to understand the scope and depth of his...

As it looks increasingly likely that Elon Musk is serious about buying Twitter and taking it private, reporters have been scrambling to figure out precisely what the richest man in the world plans to do with the company once the deal closes. That’s expected to take another six months before all of the wrangling is complete. In usual Musk fashion, Elon isn’t making it easy to figure out because he has yet to release any sort of official agenda, instead just tweeting out various ideas and proposals. But the New York Times got hold of a “pitch deck” that Musk...

A top business group warns China’s zero-COVID policy has made European companies weigh a shift of investment out of China.The strict COVID lockdown and supply chain disruptions have rattled business confidence, according to a survey by the European Chamber of Commerce in China published on May 5.“Our members are weathering the storm for now, but if the current situation continues, they will increasingly evaluate alternatives to China,” said Jorg Wuttke, the chamber’s president.“A more expensive, functioning market is better than one that is relatively cheaper but paralysed,” Wuttke said.Some 92 percent of businesses responded to the survey saying they had...

Several top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials, including Commissioner Robert Califf, admitted that Americans will now have to accept COVID-19 as another respiratory virus, comparing it to influenza.Califf, Principal Deputy Commissioner Janet Woodcock, and top vaccine official Dr. Peter Marks wrote for the Journal of the American Medical Association that COVID-19 will be around for the foreseeable future while suggesting that it will require yearly vaccines targeting the most threatening variations of the virus.“Widespread vaccine- and infection-induced immunity, combined with the availability of effective therapeutics, could blunt the effects of future outbreaks,” the officials said, referring to another name...

Zelensky is also not the Churchill of the Second World War. The struggle in Ukraine will not decide the fate of Western civilization the way the struggle against Hitler did. But by portraying it as such, Bush has sided with those in our country who want America and NATO to get more deeply involved in the war, which would heighten the already serious risk that the war will widen to engulf all of Europe and beyond, especially if the nuclear threshold is crossed. We are in very dangerous times. The last thing we need is a former president who botched...

On Thursday, it was finally officially announced that Jen Psaki would be Joe Biden’s press secretary no longer. Following months of reporting that she had long since secured a deal to host an opinion program on MSNBC, a major ethics violation as she continued to operate within her official capacity, May 13th will now be her last day.Her replacement, Karine Jean-Pierre, has taken to the podium several times over Biden’s tenure, and you’ll be less than shocked to learn she’s just as dishonest as Psaki.But she’s following in her soon-to-be-former boss’ footsteps in more ways than one. Like Psaki, Jean-Pierre...

In 1973 when the United States Supreme Court issued the Roe v Wade decision legalizing abortion, the justices did not know much about life in the womb or fetuses themselves. No one did—the technology simply wasn’t there.Since then, advances in virtually every aspect of life have exploded, with the development of personal computers, cellphones with microchips more powerful than anything they had aboard the Apollo Space 11 mission, cars that drive by themselves, and so much more. Nowhere has that innovation been more pronounced than in the study of fetuses and their capabilities.Those advances have roiled the debate over abortion...

Portland reporter Mike Bivins was arrested on Saturday over alleged attacks of vandalism and arson at houses of worship, according to the Portland Police Bureau. Michael E. Bivins, 34, of Portland, Oregon was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center early Saturday. Bivins was charged with multiple counts of criminal mischief in the first degree, criminal mischief in the third degree, and arson in the first degree. On April 30, Bivins allegedly broke windows to Congregation Shir Tikvah, a Jewish Synagogue, located at 2420 NE Sandy Blvd in Portland. On May 2, Bivins allegedly graffitied the Jewish Synagogue Congregation Beth...

When the draft Supreme Court opinion overruling "Roe v. Wade" leaked on Monday, my first thought was: WHY COULDN'T THEY WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR? ("Roe" is in quotes because Planned Parenthood v. Casey already overruled Roe, but "Roe" is still used to describe the nonexistent right to abortion.) Yes, it's human life we're talking about. Millions of babies are killed in their mothers' wombs each year -- it's a massacre. On the other hand, I thought, ending late-terms might end the midterms. But then I read Justice Samuel Alito's opinion and was intellectually offended all over again by the idea...

I want to return to John Durham’s objection to Michael Sussmann’s plan to offer notes from an FBI Agent and notes from a March 6, 2017 meeting as evidence. The defense also may seek to offer (i) multiple pages of handwritten notes taken by an FBI Headquarters Special Agent concerning his work on the investigation of the Russian Bank-1 allegations, (including notes reflecting information he received from the FBI Chicago case team), and (ii) notes taken by multiple DOJ personnel at a March 6, 2017 briefing by the FBI for the then-Acting Attorney General on various Trump-related investigations, including the...

A shocking incident occurred Saturday outside of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’ home. A screengrab appears to show a demon in the crowd. USASupreme originally posted on this. Here is the video in question. The image appears at the 15-second mark.

Former President Trump called his former defense secretary a “lightweight” and a “RINO” in response to a “60 Minutes” interview that covered a series of shocking claims about the former commander-in-chief. Former Pentagon Mark Esper is releasing a book about his time in the Trump administration this week, and in early excerpts accuses the former president of wanting to shoot racial justice protestors in the legs and fire missiles into Mexico to crush cartels. In response to CBS’ questions about the interview, Trump disputed those allegations and others, accusing Esper of being a failure as defense secretary. “Mark Esper was...

Two months after responding to President Volodymyr Zelensky's call, sniper Wali is back in Quebec – unscathed, although he nearly lost his life there “several times”. But most foreign fighters who have visited Ukraine like him have come away bitterly disappointed, mired in the fog of war without even having been to the front lines once. "I'm lucky to still be alive, it really came close," said the former soldier of the Royal 22 e Régiment, in an interview with La Presse in his home in the greater Montreal area. His last mission in the Donbass region, in a Ukrainian...