Free Republic

As Vladimir Putin’s health reportedly declines, body doubles have been put on alert to stand in for the Russian not-so-strongman when he undergoes surgery, according to a report. Putin will be out of commission for up to 10 days and the body doubles will be used to make it seem like he’s still in control of the country, the anti-Putin Telegram channel “General SVR” reported. The mysterious Telegram account also claimed that pre-recorded footage will be released of Putin attending meetings and signing laws to make it seem like he is still working. The channel — which is purportedly run...

California’s water use jumped dramatically in March, state officials said Tuesday, as one of the driest stretches on record prompted a wave of homeowners to start watering their lawns earlier than usual in defiance of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pleas for conservation amid a severe drought. Newsom last summer asked residents to voluntarily cut water use by 15% compared to 2020 as climate change intensified a drought that threatened to drain the state’s reservoirs to dangerously low levels. Water conservation increased gradually through December, aided by some intense fall and early winter storms that reduced water demand. But the first three...

Police said the alleged incident happened more than six months agoA San Jose police officer has been placed on leave over an allegation that he traded a meth pipe to a woman in exchange for information, according to authorities. San Jose Police Department Sgt. Christian Camarillo confirmed the incident is under investigation. He didn’t reveal the officer’s name or any details about the allegation, citing a personnel matter, but said the alleged incident occurred more than six months ago. The officer has been on administrative leave since December. The news comes as the department continues to grapple with a series...

Life should never be reduced to economics.Yet, in the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that could overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion supporters have resorted to shocking claims that limiting abortions will hurt the economy.During a Senate Banking Committee hearing on May 10, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about the “real-world economic consequences” for American women if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Yellen said this “would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades.”She went on to argue that “abortion helped lead to increased labor force participation....

An Arizona man convicted of killing a college student in 1978 has become the first person to be executed in the state after a nearly eight-year hiatus in its use of the death penalty. Clarence Dixon, 66, was put to death by lethal injection at the state prison in Florence for his murder conviction in the killing of 21-year-old Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin. He is the sixth inmate to be put to death in the United States this year.

In 1983, the last effort by pro-life forces to pass federal legislation providing full protection for the unborn failed on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Stunned by this defeat after a decade of grassroots mobilization, the pro-life movement turned in new directions. The most momentous of these was a campaign of support for mothers and babies, led by pregnancy care services and policymakers allied with them.An argument can be made that, in terms of services and policies, America was not ready for the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 1983. Today, on the threshold of the Supreme Court itself...

Americans are now entering uncharted, revolutionary territory. They may witness things over the next five months that once would have seemed unimaginable. Until the Ukrainian conflict, we had never witnessed a major land war inside Europe directly involving a nuclear power. In desperation, Russia’s impaired and unhinged leader, Russian President Vladimir Putin, now talks trash about the likelihood of nuclear war. A 79-year-old President Joe Biden bellows back that his war-losing nuclear adversary is a murderer, a war criminal, and a butcher who should be removed from power. After a year of politicizing the U.S. military and its self-induced catastrophe...

Well, that was quick. In the past week and a half, the radical left went from saying “men can get pregnant” to vowing to protect “a woman’s right to choose.” In an instant, radical leftist gender theory was tossed aside as quickly as the news broke that the Supreme Court appears to be on the verge of overturning Roe v. Wade. It was actually a welcome side-effect. But it didn’t last long. It turns out that the radical left is still very much beholden to the LGBT lobby, they just … kind of sort of forgot for a while. But...

Wholesale prices accelerated more than expected in April as inflation continued to hover near a 40-year high as a result of strong consumer demand, pandemic-related supply chain snarls and the Russian war in Ukraine. The Labor Department said Thursday that its producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, climbed 11% in April from the previous year. On a monthly basis, prices grew by 0.5%. Although that marks a slight moderation from March's reading of 11.2%, the gauge still came in higher than the 10.7% forecast from Refinitiv economists, suggesting inflationary pressures remain strong....

FOURTH WEEK OF EASTER JOHN 13:16-20 Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus announces his betrayal just after transforming bread and wine into his Body and Blood. It is of great moment that, immediately after this extraordinary event, Jesus speaks of treachery: “The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.” In the biblical reading, God’s desires have been, from the beginning, opposed. Consistently, human beings have preferred the isolation of sin to the festivity of the sacred meal. Theologians call this tendency the mysterium iniquitatis (the mystery of evil), for there is no rational ground for it. Therefore,...

Stocks fell on Thursday after a failed attempt to bounce back from the session’s earlier losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 310 points, or 1%, after being up more than 80 points earlier in the session. The S&P 500 fell 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced dipped 0.6% after rising as much as 1.6%.

Layoffs are sweeping across American businesses in the first few months of 2022. Recent startups like Peloton have already laid off thousands of employees this year. Even traditionally layoff-resistant companies like Netflix are making cuts. Now, online car dealer Carvana plans to slash 12% of its workforce. The reason, broadly, is twofold: Business growth is slowing, while labor costs are increasing. The combination is causing American companies across a variety of industries to slash headcount.

Brilliant! During her weekly press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the Democrats’ latest plan to slow the surge in gas prices that is top of mind for Americans. Their solution is (drum roll please): price controls! Having begged OPEC to pump more (and quietly asked the dastardly domestic fossil fuel crowd to help out), Democrats blew their wad on the largest SPR release in history… and achieved nothing, as gas prices reached a new record high… Democratic Congresswomen Kim Schrier and Katie Porter have introduced the ‘Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act’ that will give the President the power...

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 10: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about inflation and the economy in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus May 10, 2022 in Washington, DC. Biden stated that tackling the rising prices is his top domestic priority and accused Republicans of not having a plan to fight inflation. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) The Biden White House is getting slapped with another fact-check from The Washington Post due to the way officials continue to talk about an agenda laid out by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) In an article titled, “Dissecting White House spin that...

American billionaire Elon Musk said he would like to meet a Chinese man who shares a strong resemblance with him and has become an internet celebrity as a result. Ma Yilong, who lives in Hebei province in northern China, first caught Musk's attention at the end of last year when a short video of him standing next to a car went viral. "Maybe I'm partly Chinese!" Musk humorously said on Twitter in December last year. On Monday, Musk said, "I'd like to meet this guy (if he is real). Hard to tell with deepfakes these days", after a Twitter user...

Actor Alec Baldwin — who is still facing fallout from the shooting death on the set of the movie Rust — is now pushing for the removal of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) from office, calling him a “traitorous Democrat.” Alec Baldwin called for Manchin’s removal in a recent tweet in which the actor claimed the senator is more dangerous that the “unhinged Republican” — presumably a reference to former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

"Jimmy Saville" testifies before the Oceanside, CA City Council.

The Freddie Mac 30-year mortgage rate is rising faster than a SpaceX moonshot! I’m telling your now that The Fed is killing the dreams of millions of Americans by pricing them out of the housing market. Home price growth is lethal as is the increase in mortgage rates. Do The Feddy!

"People were hurting & what did the MAGA Crowd want to do?" While President Joe Biden still has another two years in office before the next Presidential election, it appears his administration has already started hitting the streets of America as the President spent all of Wednesday speaking to Americans and union workers about rising inflation, his plan to stop it, and how much the Democrats have already done. At the same time, President Biden seemed to grow angry at the idea of people having to wait hours just to get some food. Yelling at the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’...

MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on Thursday argued that the record-high inflation was not a result of President Joe Biden’s policies. Scarborough asserted it was a “lie” whenever he heard Republicans blame Biden’s policies for the high prices across the country. According to the MSNBC host, Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the coronavirus pandemic, and China’s “insane COVID policy” have all resulted in a “global phenomenon” with prices.