Free Republic

What turned Sri Lanka’s economic situation from difficult to catastrophic was the decision by the Rajapaksa government to implement a nationwide ban on synthetic fertiliser. It was made not at the behest of neoliberal economists doing the bidding of global capital, but rather on the advice of environmentalists in the name of sustainable agriculture. [T]hat strategy backfired in spectacular fashion. Domestic rice production fell by 14 per cent from 2021 to 2022, forcing the nation, long self-sufficient in rice production, to import hundreds of millions of dollars of rice and more than eroding all of the savings from ceasing fertiliser...

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North CarolinaThe 4th Fighter Wing is the host unit at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and accomplishes its training and operational missions with F-15E Strike Eagles. Two of the wing’s four fighter squadrons are operational units, capable of deploying worldwide on short notice and immediately generating combat power. The other two squadrons are responsible for training all F-15E aircrews for the Air Force. The 916th Air Refueling Wing, a tenant unit at Seymour, is an Air Force Reserve Command Wing under the Air Mobility Command. It is assigned...

HAH ALAM - An economic expert has warned some countries may face hyperinflation or out-of-control inflation where price of goods and services rise at an annual rate of 1,000 percent or more and urged for more discussions and negotaions are needed over the issue. Universiti Malaya Asia-Europe Institute Economic Professor Datuk Prof Dr Rajah Rasiah said this could lead to economic depression unless world leaders address the issues. “What we are facing now, in some countries, is that inflation is already here. “The stagnation would lead to rising unemployment and hyperinflation,” he said during Wacana English Edition on May 9....

In response to Disney’s commitment to increasing the amount of LGBTQ content in their children’s progamming following the fallout with the state of Florida over its newly-passed Parental Rights in Education law, a number of U.S. Republican senators are calling for a major change in the way said content is rated. On May 4th, GOP Senators Roger Marshall (Kansas), Mike Lee (Utah), Mike Braun (Indiana), Steve Daines (Montana), and Kevin Cramer (North Dakota), sent a letter to Charles Rivkin, the Chairman of the TV Guidelines Ratings Boards and whose organization is responsible for designating TV programs with content ratings such...

<p>Yet Iraq collapsed like a paper tiger. The ease with which the US utterly crushed the Iraq military no doubt contributed to their later hubris, which led the US to invade Iraq in 2003 with the intention of toppling Saddam Hussein and finding his non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction.</p>

Samantha Power: ‘Never let a crisis go to waste.’ Do the World Economic Forum and China agree? “Fertilizer shortages are real now.” Uttered by USAID’s Samantha Power in a May 1 ABC interview with former Democratic advisor George Stephanopoulos, the words briefly drowned out the din of the news cycle. They were not unexpected to some. Power, who served as U.N. ambassador under Obama, mentioned fertilizer shortages after weeks of hints from the Biden administration. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki repeatedly alluded to challenges obtaining fertilizer in recent press briefings. So did President Joe Biden himself in a joint...

It has become almost impossible for most Americans to avoid the anti-abortion arguments, the protest placards and the graphic pictures of foetuses. They might encounter them outside abortion clinics, but they are also in thousands of churches, schools, clinics and homes. Women who want an abortion, especially in Republican-controlled states, face a maze of regulations. And now, finally, the anti-abortion movement is in sight of its greatest victory. Americans have had the right to abortion since 1973 when, in the landmark Roe v Wade decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the right was guaranteed by the US constitution. No state...

“The Late Show” announced Monday afternoon that it will pause production due to host Stephen Colbert showing symptoms of COVID-19. Colbert tested positive for the coronavirus last month but returned to the CBS series last week. “Stephen is experiencing symptoms consistent with a recurrence of COVID. Out of an abundance of caution for his staff, guests, and audience, he will be isolating for a few additional days,” the late-night show tweeted from its official account on Monday.

An estimated $350 million in undisclosed royalties were paid to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and hundreds of its scientists, including the agency’s recently departed director, Dr. Francis Collins, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, according to a nonprofit government watchdog. “We estimate that up to $350 million in royalties from third parties were paid to NIH scientists during the fiscal years between 2010 and 2020,” Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski told reporters in a telephone news conference on May 9.

Queen Elizabeth II is suffering from "episodic mobility problems" and will not attend the opening of Parliament, Buckingham Palace announced Monday. Instead, Prince Charles will appear in her place Tuesday and deliver a speech with his son Prince William in attendance. Elizabeth, 96, recently celebrated the 70-year mark of her time on the throne.

The Biden administration’s new disinformation chief says that parents who are upset about critical race theory (CRT) making its way into public school classrooms are “disinformers” who “weaponize” the issue “for profit.” [Let’s not forget the US Attorney General’s son makes millions selling CRT materials]Nina Jankowicz, who was appointed to lead the newly established Disinformation Governance Board at the Department of Homeland Security, dismissed the pushback against CRT indoctrination at an event in Ohio last October, when the debate over parents’ right to direct their children’s education had taken center stage in high-profile elections, including Virginia’s gubernatorial race. “Critical race...

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Monday on FNC’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” that the protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices after a draft opinion leaked that would overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling were a violation of both federal and state law. Waters said, “You see these protesters at the homes of these justices, what goes through your mind?” Barr said, “Well, that’s not a valid form of protest because it’s a violation of the law. There is time and place for protests, and the federal statute makes it clear if you go to the house of...

After taking up a gun to lead his country’s battle against the invading Russian army, Ukraine’s Jewish Presiden, Volodymyr Zelensky, became an international hero. But recently, he has become a religious icon, with some people even lighting votive candles to “Saint Zelensky.” In an address to the Danish Parliament in late March, Zelensky tapped into a widespread and deeply ingrained Nordic tradition of lighting a candle as a symbol of hygge (domestic coziness). As a result of this tradition, Denmark uses more candles per capita than any other country in the world, and 28% of Danes light candles every day....

In recent weeks I have been canceled by Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, all without explanation. ... Long may The Epoch Times—and those few others like it—thrive. And thank you so much to the readers who keep them alive! Nevertheless, this is all starting to remind me of the Soviet Union that I visited twice on cultural exchanges during the early glasnost (in the late ’80s). In fact, the America of today has for some time. I remember visiting two apartment buildings that were named Screenwriter I and II. They housed favored writers, screenwriters or not, and were sought after because,...

New York (CNN)Former President Donald Trump said he no longer has four cell phones identified by the New York attorney general's investigation into the Trump Organization's finances but has turned over his personal phone to be searched as he tries to convince a state judge to lift a civil contempt ruling that so far has cost him $140,000. In an affidavit filed with the court Friday, Trump said he doesn't currently have any phones, computers or electronic devices issued to him by the Trump Organization and that he has authorized his attorneys to search his homes in Bedminster, New Jersey,...

Has it finally happened? Has Hillary Clinton at long last actually said something honest and accurate? In an interview with PBS Friday, the once and possibly future presidential candidate warned that the 2022 elections were shaping up to be a showdown between “authoritarianism” and “democracy,” and for the first time in Hillary Clinton’s long and distinguished political career, she is actually quite likely to be correct. As you might expect, however, she is only right by accident, and in a way that is diametrically opposite to what she intended.PBS’ Judy Woodruff asked Clinton, “The midterms: conventional wisdom is, not a...

Russia is struggling to make significant military gains in Ukraine's Donbas region because it is fighting Kyiv's forces one-on-one, a pro-Moscow reporter has said. War correspondent and Putin propagandist Aleksandr Sladkov made a rare admission of Russia's military struggles in Ukraine, speaking in a video posted to social media late on Monday. He said that Vladimir Putin's so-called special military operation was 'shamefully indecisive', that Russian troops 'can't push out Ukrainian forces', and that Moscow's armies are 'making a feat out of something that should be routine'. Sladkov, a journalist for Russia's state-run Russia-1 TV channel, has in the past...

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that President Biden has no plans to visit Ukraine despite first lady Jill Biden’s recent trip to the country. When asked in a press conference if the first lady’s trip would “change the calculations” for President Biden, Psaki said he would “love” to go to Ukraine but has no current plans to do so.

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – With a week to go in the Pennsylvania Senate race, the leading candidates are pulling out all the stops and bringing in their biggest endorsements to help swing undecided voters. Dave McCormick, who finished third but within the margin of error of leading a new Trafalgar Poll, will be joined by Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Lancaster on May 13. McCormick and Cruz will be at the Listrak Headquarters in Lititz from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., according to an event invite. Attendees must register to attend the event. McCormick and Cruz will also have...