Free Republic

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged there are 'challenges' for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections but said that her party has every intention of holding on to power. 'I have no intention of the Democrats not winning the House this November,' the California Democrat told reporters on Thursday morning. 'People really want us to win,' she added. 'There are challenges,' Pelosi acknowledged, blaming new strains of Covid-19 and 'other factors' that had log jammed the supply chain and lead to 40 year-high inflation, running at 8.3 percent as of April.

There is seldom any meaningful accountability for government incompetence.After presiding over the biggest Federal Reserve failure in 40 years and with inflation rating as the top concern among Americans, Jerome Powell's nomination to a second term as chairman was approved this past week by the Senate, 80–19. I know the usual arguments for ignoring the Fed's spectacular errors, even at a time when inflation is such an issue. Most common are that other candidates would be even worse or that we need continuity. Maybe. The truth, though, is that a good person facing bad incentives in that job will...

The Biden administration will propose a new five-year plan for offshore oil and gas development by June 30, the date when the current plan expires, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said on Thursday. The announcement comes as the administration has faced pressure from Republican lawmakers to expand domestic drilling to address soaring fuel costs. President Joe Biden, however, wants to reform the federal government's oil and gas program to consider its impacts on climate change. Haaland testified before the Senate energy committee to answer questions on the administration's 2023 budget proposal, but was grilled by Republican senators and Democrat Joe Manchin...

All ideologies spawn psychopaths who kill innocents in its name. Yet only some are blamed for their violent adherents: by opportunists cravenly exploiting corpses while they still lie on the ground.

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) ripped into Biden’s Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Thursday after she tried to blame soaring inflation on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hawley asked Granholm whether she thought the rising price of gasoline was “acceptable,” to which she said “it is not, and you can thank the activity of Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine, and pulling–“ To which Hawley said “With all due respect, Madame Secretary, that’s utter nonsense,” adding “The average gas price in my state was $2.07. Eight months later, eight months later, long before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, that price was up over 30%,...

The group that posted a viral sexually explicit video of a nude Rep. Madison Cawthorn with another man in bed is now focusing on Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert for its next takedown, Insider has learned. "I think we're gonna go after Lauren Boebert in Colorado in a similar way," David B. Wheeler, cofounder of the American Muckrakers PAC, told Insider on Wednesday. "I think we're gonna engage in that race pretty quickly." The group on Thursday launched a "fireboebert.com" website, seeking tips on information, pictures, videos, or documents on Boebert or her associates. The first tweet by @FireBoebert read, "Hi...

For the 2020 census, all states were not counted equally well for population numbers used to allocate political representation and federal funding over the next decade, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday. A follow-up survey the bureau conducted to measure the national tally's accuracy found significant net undercount rates in six states: Arkansas (5.04%), Florida (3.48%), Illinois (1.97%), Mississippi (4.11%), Tennessee (4.78%) and Texas (1.92%). It also uncovered significant net overcount rates in eight states — Delaware (5.45%), Hawaii (6.79%), Massachusetts (2.24%), Minnesota (3.84%), New York (3.44%), Ohio (1.49%), Rhode Island (5.05%) and Utah (2.59%). For the...

We’ve been sold a bill of goods about contraception and abortion, things we’re told ‘liberate’ us that actually suppress what makes us women.In all of the furor surrounding the (likely) imminent demise of Roe v. Wade, it has become clear to me that women have been made to fear and resent their biology for far too long. Too many women have bought the lie that they have no options but to rely on hormonal contraceptives and, if that fails, abortion. But the broad dependence on these methods — making women responsible to manage their own and men’s fertility — is...

Vovan and Lexus, Russian pranksters known for trolling Western politicians, celebrities, and other public figures, revealed Tuesday that they had tricked George W. Bush into speaking with them. The former president played an instrumental role in the second wave of NATO’s eastward expansion, and the first Euromaidan crisis in Ukraine in 2004. The United States didn’t keep its word to Moscow on NATO’s eastward expansion due to shifting circumstances, and the Bush administration always wanted to see Ukraine join the Western alliance, George W. Bush has revealed in a candid interview with Vovan and Lexus. “I wanted [Russia] on the...

On Tuesday evening, Ted Budd cruised to victory with a 56% lead over a crowded field. Budd had already clenched the victory by over half the votes after only 25% were even counted. The Senate hopeful has gained experience as three-term member of Congress and has committed to America first principles after securing an endorsement from former President Donald J. Trump.Budd’s primary victory is only one of many successful campaigns endorsed by Trump. Trump announced his endorsement of Budd in June of 2021 right after Laura Trump decided she would not be entering the primary race.“This man is a great...

I haven't hear anyone else use this word, but surely anyone with a traditional-type education must be tempted. I mean-for Heaven's sake- why else did I ever take a Latin class. I watch Supreme Court protesters with disbelief. Surely, dislike of babies or fondness for abortion can't explain their emotional emeshment. Phobia works much better as a term for what we're seeing. They are terrified by the prospect of bearing, nurturing and living with a child.

The conservative majority on the Supreme Court is potentially poised to take down one of the nation’s oldest and most restrictive gun-control laws this summer. New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen will be the court’s first major Second Amendment case in more than a decade and happens to be coming amid rising national gun violence and an uptick in gun sales in recent years. What the justices decide could unravel laws across the nation restricting who can carry guns in public. Here’s what’s happening. The case: Can New York place severe restrictions on who can carry a...

@mtracey Bernie Sanders just voted YES on funding the US proxy war in Ukraine to the tune of $40 billion. So now it's officially on the record that every national politician associated with the activist "Left" is completely on board with escalating the war. That's what the "Left" is now

We should stopping pushing 5-year-olds onto ADHD medication and start pushing them to get outside and play.My patient was struggling in the classroom and at home. His teacher complained that he couldn’t complete his math worksheets without frequent interventions to refocus him. His parents were tired of the nightly struggle to get him to sit still long enough to finish his homework. The Vanderbilt forms confirmed what everyone already knew: a classic case of ADHD. I filled out a letter for parents to give the school to start the formal process of getting him special classroom accommodations (extra time on...

Getty Images• 5:00 am SHARE President Joe Biden is loading the agency that sets federal sentencing guidelines with leftwing partisans known for their attacks on former president Donald Trump. Biden last week nominated U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves to serve as chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and tapped New York lawyer John Gleeson for one of the commission’s seven seats. Both men have a history of politically charged statements, making them an odd choice for the historically nonpartisan body. "President Biden is once again delivering for his radical leftwing base by appointing soft-on-crime advocates to the critically important U.S....

A $40.1 billion aid package to help arm the Ukrainian military and provide economic and humanitarian relief is on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk roughly three weeks after he asked Congress for another emergency cash infusion. The Senate voted 86-11 Thursday to clear the supplemental funding bill, with all of the “no” votes coming from Republicans. Biden is expected to sign the measure quickly, as Thursday was the day his administration anticipated Defense Department funding and “drawdown” authority to send weapons and equipment to Ukraine would run out. The outcome was preordained after a 368-57 vote in the...

The House voted Thursday to pass Democrats’ bill aimed at combating “price gouging” on gasoline. The bill passed 217-207, with no Republicans voting for it and four Democrats voting against it: Reps. Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), Lizzie Fletcher (Texas), Kathleen Rice (N.Y.) and Jared Golden (Maine).

Monkeypox contact tracers are probing gay bars and spas as they scramble to contain an outbreak of the rare disease. Health chiefs in the UK are 'actively investigating' venues visited by six homosexual and bisexual men who tested positive in the past week. Six of Britain's nine confirmed cases are men who have sex with men, which officials say is 'highly suggestive of spread in sexual networks'. A similar pattern is emerging in Europe, where seven gay or bisexual men have tested positive in Spain and nine 'mostly young' males in Portugal. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) today issued...

The desolation of U.S. energy security has bolstered Vladimir Putin’s dangerous geopolitical aims.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is illuminating an ugly truth: the anti-fracking war on America’s energy security is being waged by well-funded, radical U.S. environmental groups, as well as interests tied directly to Vladimir Putin. For years, the U.S. government has investigated Russian financial ties to environmental groups that push for ending U.S. fossil fuel production and have successfully shut down fracking sites and pipelines, to the detriment of U.S. workers and consumers. Who benefits? Putin, because the desolation of U.S. energy security has bolstered state-owned Gazprom and his...

A new international collaborative study, involving has found computer-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) has significantly greater impact in treating depression among adults than treatment as usual (TAU). "The remission rate with CCBT was actually double the treatment-as-usual rate, which is the comparator arm, which is not what we expected," Ali said. "We did not expect that this particular patient population would respond as well as they did." The randomized clinical trial included adult primary care patients who scored 10 or greater on the patient health questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9), a screening tool used by health-care professionals to measure the severity of depression...