Free Republic

Nearly three years after promising to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah," President Joe Biden is set to extend an olive branch to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman following months of reproach. The White House confirmed Monday that Biden will visit the oil-rich nation this summer, the culmination of an 18-month rollercoaster that started with Biden ostracizing Crown Prince Mohammed, commonly known as MBS, and ends with his administration trying to win back MBS' affections as gas prices soar due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Attempts by US officials to convince the Saudis to pump more oil have been unsuccessful so...

The nation had a sweet maple season this year, producing more than 5 million gallons of maple syrup, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Vermont — the country’s top maple producer — yielded a record 2.5 million gallons, an increase of 800,000 gallons from 2021. “This year’s record level of maple production is good news for our sugar makers and our economy,” Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said. The other top producing states were New York with 845,000 gallons, followed by Maine with 672,000 gallons, the USDA said. Last year the retail price of syrup varied among the maple-producing states,...

Fox News highlighted the story Friday of a biological girl whose family encouraged her to identify as a boy, as part of its “America Together: LGBTQ+ Pride Month” series. The video would be absolute despicable insane lunacy if I saw it on CNN or MSNBC. To see it on Fox News is a complete betrayal of anything remotely resembling conservatism or decency. Every element of this video is propagandistic, dangerous garbage. The report states that this biologically female child was choosing her gender before she could speak. That is madness. The report further states that Ryland’s parents began social transition...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has authorized Russian troops, planes and ships to deploy to Nicaragua for purposes of training, law enforcement or emergency response. In a decree published this week, and confirmed by Russia on Thursday, Ortega will allow Russian troops to carry out law enforcement duties, “humanitarian aid, rescue and search missions in emergencies or natural disasters.” The Nicaraguan government also authorized the presence of small contingents of Russian troops for “exchange of experiences and training.” Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told the Russian news outlet Sputnik that the measure was...

The Naval Postgraduate School‘s Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS), in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), maintains a K-12 school shooting database project as part of their Advanced Thinking in Homeland Security program. They found the need for accurate, detailed information on this subject was paramount to campus safety.The database documents every instance a gun is brandished, fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time, day of the week, or reason. You can find the entire database here but we will highlight some of the important findings...

Despite being an advocate of “civility,” “decency,” and “unity” in the past, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) has apparently been so radicalized by her caucus that she now says the Republican Party is “diseased” and must be “cleansed.” “This is, in my opinion, a diseased Republican Party. And it needs to be cured and cleansed,” Houlahan said on the Daily Beast‘s The New Abnormal podcast last month. “So the stakes of having a Republican, as an example, in my seat are more than just policy differences. They are democracy, in my opinion.” The GOP is “diseased” and must be “cleansed?” Where...

Peter Schiff latest interview on economy, money printing, taxes, inflation and more. Audio... [6:29]

Ukraine is now facing "massive losses" with Russia overpowering Ukraine's ammunition and artillery store. There has been a rise in desertion as morale declines, says an intelligence report seen by The Independent.Up to 200 Ukrainian soldiers are killed every day, an aide to President Zelenskyy told the BBC on Friday, and there are now signs that Ukrainian fighters' morale is starting to buckle.The report, says Kim Sengupta of The Independent, describes the spike in deaths as having "a seriously demoralizing effect on Ukrainian forces as well as a very real material effect; cases of desertion are growing every week."

Fresh off of last week’s decision to implement a sweeping ban on handgun sales, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doubled down and decried ‘American-style’ views on gun ownership while arguing that Canadians have no right whatsoever to use guns for self-defense. From Trudeau: “There are debates, and we have a culture where the difference is. Guns can be used for hunting or for sport shooting in Canada – and there are lots of gun owners, and they’re mostly law-respecting and law-abiding – but you can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada. That’s not a right that you have in...

Elon Musk recently told Tesla employees they must work a minimum of 40 hours a week in the office. However, experts say the world's richest man is wrong to say that logging on from home during the pandemic "tricked" people into thinking they don't need to work hard. Nick Gallimore, director of innovation at Advanced People Management, told Insider that Musk would need "something of a miracle if he expects people to even stick with him ... let alone be more productive." "Musk's comments – that remote work simply can't be as effective or as productive as working from a...

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) criticized former President Trump for endorsing Alabama Republican Senate challenger Katie Britt, saying late Friday on Twitter that “Donald Trump is the only man in American politics who could get conned by Mitch McConnell twice in an Alabama Senate race.” “This is weird: last time Donald Trump talked about Katie Britt, he said she was unqualified for the Senate,” Brooks said in a tweeted thread. “Let’s just admit it: Trump endorses the wrong people sometimes. He endorsed Mitt Romney, he endorsed John McCain and now he’s endorsed Katie Britt, who his own son, Don Jr. called...

(LifeSiteNews) — New Zealand has long boasted that its relationship with its indigenous population is one of the more enlightened. Not anymore. The brutal imposition of house arrest on residents of the Pacific island of Nukunonu because they have not agreed to be vaccinated has revealed that the New Zealand government is willing to ignore basic citizen rights. A letter late last year from the Office of Council of Nukunonu to the unvaccinated family revealed that extreme pressure was put on them to comply. It set deadlines and saying they are “sad” the family has not complied. It said: “You...

Are we now a minority in this country?

GLAMIS, Calif. — One of the five U.S. Marines killed when their Osprey aircraft crashed during a training flight near Glamis in Imperial County was identified on Friday as, Capt. John J. Sax, 33, of Placer, California, an MV-22B Pilot. Sax is also the the son of Steve Sax, 5x All Star, former Major League Baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Oakland A’s. Steve Sax said in statement, “It is with complete devastation that I announce that my precious son, Johnny was one of the five (5) US Marines that perished on...

TheHill.com STATE WATCH Thousands to rally in D.C. for gun safety BY ELIZABETH CRISP - 06/11/22 5:59 AM ET SHARE TWEET ... MORE Thousands of young people are set to descend on Washington, D.C., on Saturday to urge Congress to pass stricter gun laws as bipartisan negotiators work to reach a deal following a spate of recent mass shootings. The March for Our Lives demonstration will take place less than a month after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and 10 Black people were gunned down in a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y....

Comedian Bill Maher said Friday on HBO’s “Real Time” that The New York Times “buried” on page A20 the story about the attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Mahar said, “OK, and they stopped him. OK? But he was, he’s from California, Chuck Schumer said some very inflammatory words, the kind of thing that people on the right to say and there’s a horrible shooting and they blame it is rather comparable. And Chuck Schumer did walk it back. Nobody on the right ever does that. He did. I saw this. He did. He said, ‘We’re from Brooklyn....

Lucretia Hughes, the mother of a man who died from gun violence told Congress Wednesday that she doesn't want more gun control laws because she wants to protect herself "from evil."

Democrats know “virtually nothing” about the firearms they seek to ban, according to Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, who called out House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler for his ignorance on the subject earlier this week. On Tuesday, during a House Rules Committee hearing on Democrat-led legislation to restrict law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights, Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) asked Nadler what the “AR” in AR-15 stands for.

Alaska’s new voting system and an unexpected special election have attracted a crowd of 48 candidates to run for the state’s lone House seat this year, including former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and a Democratic socialist from the city of North Pole who legally changed his name to Santa Claus. The contest Saturday is the state’s first foray into nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting after a narrowly passed 2020 ballot measure upended the typical party primary system. The new system had been expected to launch later in the state’s scheduled August primary, but longtime Rep. Don Young’s death in...

"Scott, 56, who is not married and has no kids of his own."