Free Republic

A top commodity research firm in Norway warns a “perfect storm” is brewing as European energy security worsens following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which could result in the tripling of natural gas prices. “There simply is not enough LNG around to meet demand. In the short term, this will make for a hard winter in Europe. “For producers, it suggests the next LNG boom is here, but it will arrive too late to meet the sharp spike in demand. The stage is set for a sustained supply deficit, high prices, extreme volatility, bullish markets, and heightened LNG geopolitics,” Kaushal Ramesh,...

PESHAWAR – Taking its cue from Sri Lanka, Pakistan is heading toward bankruptcy amid a highly charged political atmosphere marked by threats of a march on the capital Islamabad by the ousted prime minister, who is demanding fresh elections in the country by May 20. The political instability, analysts fear, may turn violent in the coming days, affecting Pakistan’s reeling economy, which has been headed toward default-like situation. The country’s foreign exchange reserves are falling, food inflation is spiraling and the Pakistani rupee is on slippery ground, showing massive 21.72% drop during the current financial year. Economic experts and analysts...

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."Justice in a free country is an important concept. Around the globe, there are countries that still carry-on atrocities to this day – China being one of them with Uyghur concentration camps – and there is no punishment brought down on the ones responsible. In America, when we think about justice, we think about an individual who commits a crime and is later arrested by the authorities. Eventually, they go...

The data about police shootings just didn't add up, but no one at Thomson Reuters wanted to hear it. If you are a devoted reader of Common Sense, by now you have surely noticed a trend: workplaces—in some cases, storied institutions—that turn hostile to independent thinking seemingly overnight. That’s what Paul Rossi experienced at Grace Church School. It’s what Jennifer Sey went through at Levi’s. It’s what Antonio García Martínez dealt with at Apple. And Roland Fryer at Harvard. And Gordon Klein at UCLA. And Maud Maron at Legal Aid. Now comes the story of Zac Kriegman, who, until not...

Goldman Sachs Senior Chairman Lloyd Blankfein urged companies and consumers to gird for a US recession, saying it’s a “very, very high risk.” I am not surprised. Take a look at The Fed’s Overnight Reverse Repo operations. As inflation surged in 2021 and 2022, banks are parking more funds at The Fed. Fear? We are seeing the S&P 500 futures down today after a nice rally on Friday. The &P 500 forward 12-month P/E ratio is back to pre-Covid, pre Federal spending surge, pre Fed monetary Stimulypto of 2016. Goldman Sachs see the 10-year Treasury yield rising to 3.3%. That...

15 Explanations For The Slow But Steady Pace Of Russia’s Special Military Operation The present piece will attempt to provide some cogent explanations for helping everyone better understand the evolving military-strategic dynamics at play that are responsible for this. Observers across the world are debating the reasons why Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine is still raging despite over 80 days of fighting. Critics and supporters of that Eurasian Great Power alike largely seemed in agreement that the Kremlin would crush Kiev within a few days, if not a couple weeks at the absolute most. That obviously hasn’t happened,...

IPray For The Peace of JerusalemGenesis 1The Beginning 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6 And God said, “Let...

The United States and the European Union are looking at how to improve food supply chains with export restrictions from India and other nations accentuating global problems, the EU’s trade chief told CNBC. G-7 foreign ministers warned over the weekend that the war in Ukraine is increasing the risk of a global hunger crisis. This is because Ukraine has been unable to export grains, fertilizers and vegetable oil, while the conflict is also destroying crop fields and preventing a normal planting season. This has increased the reliance on nations from other parts of the world for these products. But some...

Putin's commanders are slaughtering their own wounded soldiers rather than retrieving them from the battlefield for medical treatment, captured Russian soldiers reveal Lieutenant-colonel is accused of shooting dead multiple injured Russian troops Army intelligence troops captured by Ukraine say they say the killings Ukraine has accused Russia of failing to take back its war dead Russian commanders are slaughtering their own wounded soldiers instead of retrieving them from the battlefield for treatment, according to Putin's own troops. A lieutenant-colonel was accused of personally shooting dead multiple troops as they lay injured. The commander asked one soldier if he could walk,...

CUMBERLAND, Va., Wednesday, May 14. Gen. MCCLELLAN's headquarters were established here yesterday, and are now pleasantly located on the banks of the Pamunkey River. The main body of the army is rapidly concentrating at the point designated by the commanding General. The Quartermaster and Commissary stores are in abundance. The advance guard of the army, under Gen. STONEMAN, Still remains at White House, within sight of the enemy's position. A contraband, who arrived from Richmond yesterday, states that between that city and the Chickahominy River, a distance of some seventeen miles, the enemy are encamped in large force, where they...

If one were about to compile a list of the five most powerful Americans alive today, most of the names would be different from the ones you’re about to read about below. You’d obviously find resident Joe Biden at the top, because, feeble and brain-addled or not, the president of the United States is always the most powerful person alive. You’d also see former President Donald Trump displayed prominently because he still commands wide support and plays kingmaker in GOP politics. Others, like House Speaker Nancy Pelisi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, would obviously be included, as would Democratic...

/a>The invasion of Ukraine has led many Western companies to suspend or exit Russia, and the latest to do so is McDonald’s, after three decades of operations. NYTimes reports McDonald’s will sell its Russian book of business to a local buyer. The stores will be “de-arched,” meaning the new buyer will no longer use the McDonald’s logo. Most of McDonald’s 847 restaurants in Russia are company-operated. It will write off between $1.2-$1.4 billion and recognize “foreign currency translation losses,” McDonald’s said. “This is a complicated issue that’s without precedent and with profound consequences,” Chris Kempczinski, the chief executive of McDonald’s,...

<p>PHILADELPHIA - Police say a robber is dead after being shot by the man he was trying to rob in South Philadelphia Wednesday night.</p><p>A 24-year-old man was smoking a cigarette outside his house on the 2200 block of South 6th Street when a man approached on a bicycle, according to police.</p>

A Donald Trump return to the White House will see Dr. Anthony Fauci heading for the exit, America’s top infectious disease expert promised Sunday. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director used an interview on CNN to reveal he does not want to serve under the former president if he is re-elected in 2024 and would likely resign. “If Trump were to return to the White House as President, and COVID was still a threat or there was some other public health emergency, would you have confidence in his ability to deal with a pandemic of this nature?...

@ChadPergram 1) The Senate tonight takes a procedural vote to launch debate on a $40 billion aid bill for Ukraine. The Senate tried to get clearance to synch up with the House on the bipartian plan. 2) But Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) unilaterally blocked the bill late last week - despite pleas from his Bluegrass State colleague to approve the measure post-haste, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY. 3) McConnell and three other GOP senators then paid Ukrainian leader Volodomyr Zalenskyy a visit in Kyiv over the weekend. The House approved this bill 368-57. All noes came from Republicans. 4)...

The world is fragmenting and changing in all different directions. Unfortunately, contemporary America is offering no guidance. We are witnessing a number of radical military, social, and political revolutions that are changing the United States—and the world—in fundamental ways that we still have not appreciated. The taboo about never mentioning the first-strike use of nuclear weapons in a major conventional war is now apparently over. Vladimir Putin routinely threatens their use. Communist China hints at its growing nuclear capability and is hell-bent on rushing into production a huge new nuclear missile force. The world is defining nuclear incineration down. The...

Lyra describes Javelin missiles bouncing off Russian tanks, NATO replacing good weapons with fragile junk (follow the money) and other things that nazi soldiers are not allowed to complain about...

Broadcasting of MTV Russia, Paramount Comedy, Nickelodeon and Paramount channels will be suspended on WednesdayParamount will suspend broadcasting of Nickelodeon, Paramount Channel, Paramount Comedy, and MTV Russia TV channels

You gotta hand it to conservatives – we get abused and dumped and generally treated like dishrags, but we never stop falling for the latest politician who is going to sweep us off our feet and make sweet, sweet political love to us. Yet maybe, instead of acting on our infatuations, we should be players instead of getting played. Maybe we should banish the starry-eyed romanticism, stop scratching "Cons + Pol" surrounded by little hearts in our Pee-Chee folders and start, as noted political theorist Sir Mix-A-Lot observed in his renowned treatise "Baby Got Back," to "hit it and quit...

George C. Leef has written a wonderful, definitive book that lays out the difference between self-identified progressives and conservatives. The Awakening of Jennifer Van Arsdale, A Political Fable for Our Time is a fictionalized narrative about a Washington Post journalist -- a progressive leftist, of course -- who is chosen to write an official biography of the first woman president, Patricia Farnsworth. The facts of this woman’s eight years in office are essentially the Obama/Biden two terms in all but name. Their destructive policies, briefly interrupted by the successful presidency of Donald Trump, are all in play again. The Supreme...