Free Republic

Russia's failure to pay $1.9 million in accrued interest on a dollar bond will trigger payouts potentially worth billions of dollars, a panel of investors determined on Wednesday, as the country teeters on its first major external debt default in over a century.

The European Union (EU) took to Twitter to announce Europe’s future will be “Queer.” They urge Europeans to follow the EU’s #TheFutureisQueer hashtag on social media and be “proud” of their LGBTQ future.Below are several of the EU’s social media channels and their anti-heterosexual propaganda.European YouthThe European Union’s information center for “young people” announced on Twitter that “The Future is Queer”…

After enjoying years of taxpayer-funded protection from agencies and departments, many of which avail themselves of AR-15 rifles, Hillary Clinton tweeted Friday, “No one actually needs an AR-15.” This is not the first time Clinton has a taken a position against guns that runs totally counter to the fact she has spent many years of her life living with the peace of mind that comes from being protected by good guys with guns. Following the December 2, 2015, San Bernardino attack that killed 14, Clinton said, “Guns, in and of themselves…will not make Americans safer.”

Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” network contributor Claire McCaskill suggested putting up photographs of mass shooting victims on public display to prevent future shootings. McCaskill, formerly a senator for Missouri, noted the act of putting up pictures of victims on public display was “horrific” but said it would help connect “the facts with the reality of the violence that happened.”

WASHIR, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have begun a campaign to eradicate poppy cultivation, aiming to wipe out the country’s massive production of opium and heroin, even as farmers fear their livelihoods will be ruined at a time of growing poverty. ... During their first time in power in the late 1990s, the Taliban also banned poppy cultivation and with a fierce campaign of destroying croplands nearly eradicated production within two years, according to the United Nations. However, after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban in 2001, many farmers returned to growing poppies. Over the next nearly 20...

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden plans to offer to Ukraine the General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle, the U.S. Army’s best unmanned aerial vehicle. The possible forthcoming offer, which Reuters first reported, would be subject to approval by the U.S. Congress. But if the president follows through, lawmakers sign off on the deal and the White House can arrange financing—likely via the federal government’s fund for foreign weapons deals—Kyiv’s forces soon could operate one of the world’s best killer drones. But the drone itself—a two-ton, propeller-driven vehicle with a 56-foot wingspan—isn’t the most exciting component of the possible deal...

I told my wife that I was going to write an article about getting rid of all guns. She looked at me, rolled her eyes and said, "You're just going to be sarcastic!" I told her, "You know I am." The Second Amendment of the Constitution seems pretty clear the topic of gun ownership: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." However, I am a reasonable man and would consider getting rid of all guns under certain conditions. Condition 1: Someone...

George Soros is a sick man, he has been manipulating governments for more than 30 years, all in an effort to create a world molded after his image. Ukraine is his Frankenstein’s Monster, the little corrupt state that was supposed to jump start his new world vision, this is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact. Most Americans are clueless to how important Ukraine is to Soros’ plan to create a new world based on his warped view of humanity. George Soros is not to be laughed at or dismissed, in many ways he is a danger to Western civilization,...

Last night, the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission hosted a debate between two Arizona legislative candidates, Anna Orth and Sherrylyn Young. The moderator touched on a range of topics, and toward the end, he took questions from viewers. The conversation turned to abortion. Neither woman was willing to die on the hill of innocent life — after all, Young spent her career dismembering babies in the womb, and Orth was so incoherent that her true sentiments were hard to gather, yet nothing from her rambling would indicate her to be a person who values the sanctity of precious unborn life.Abortion...

I see a lot of comments about what Biden is screwing up and there are many ways. Let's pretend you have a year, a cooperating Congress, and a mandate to turn the economy around as President, what would you do? (I know, a lot of ifs especially regarding Congress, but work with me here). Better yet, to stave off the "Let's vote Trump in and let him do it" voices, what would Trump have to do to turn the economy around if he were to take charge tomorrow? I also hear a lot of "you just can't turn the oil...

WASHINGTON — President Biden, who as a candidate vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” in response to the assassination of a prominent dissident, has decided to travel to Riyadh this month to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom at a time when he is seeking to lower gas prices at home and isolate Russia abroad.

Welcome to The Bicycle Thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.

With magnifying glasses, screwdrivers and a delicate touch from a soldering gun, two men from an investigative group that tracks weapons pried open Russian munitions and equipment that had been captured across Ukraine. Over a week’s visit to Ukraine last month, the investigators pulled apart every piece of advanced Russian hardware they could get their hands on, such as small laser range finders and guidance sections of cruise missiles. The researchers, who were invited by the Ukrainian security service to independently analyze advanced Russian gear, found that almost all of it included parts from companies based in the United States...

Election fraud is real. And there was a lot of it in the 2020 election. But the mainstream media in general, and the Washington Post in particular, would have you think that angry, Trump-deranged, radical Democrats, steeped in a "by any means necessary" revolutionary ideology, as well as long-entrenched machine politics, would never dream of such a thing.Unfortunately, (for them) yesterday's news from Arizona tells a different story:Arizona woman admits guilt in ballot collection schemePHOENIX — An Arizona woman accused of illegally collecting early ballots in the 2020 primary election pleaded guilty Thursday in an agreement with state prosecutors that...

“But what of the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men who returned to the country to fight the Russians?” I objected.“They will find out that it is unpleasant to fight the Russians, as their grandfathers did during the Second World War. A few tens of thousands of them will be killed, and others will rot for some time in Russian prison camps as the Russians encircle and annihilate the main body of the Ukrainian army in the Donbass. Then they will join their families in Poland or Germany.”“But surely the Americans won’t stand for this!,” I protested.“About the Americans do...

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday (3 June) asked European nations to come out of the mindset that European problems are world's problems but world's problems are not Europe's problems. Speaking at Globesec 22 Bratislava Forum in Slovakia, Jaishankar also slammed the linkages being made between the situation in Ukraine and tension between India and China. "Somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world problems and world's problems are not Europe's problems," he said. "There's a linkage today being made between China and India, and what's happening in Ukraine. China and India...

Ukraine. Across its eastern border is Russia and to its west-Europe. For centuries, it has been at the center of a tug-of-war between powers seeking to control its rich lands and access to the Black Sea. 2014's Maidan Massacre triggered a bloody uprising that ousted president Viktor Yanukovych and painted Russia as the perpetrator by Western media. But was it? "Ukraine on Fire" by Igor Lopatonok..

A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles and equipment of both sides can be seen below. This list is constantly updated as additional footage becomes available.

The Biden administration is considering a proposal to tax oil and gas windfall profits to provide a gas subsidy for American consumers struggling with high energy prices, said Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the National Economic Council at a panel sponsored by the Roosevelt Institute think tank on June 2. The news follows a similar move in the U.K. by Chancellor Rishi Sunak on May 26, to impose a 25 percent windfall tax on North Sea energy producers to provide a 15 billion pound ($18.9 billion) energy fund subsidy for Britons paying for soaring fuel costs. The White House has...

We've lost one of our own.