Free Republic

In all my years of writing, I have never seen more economic pessimism than I am seeing right now. Over the past couple of months there has been a monumental shift in public sentiment, and now just about everyone realizes that we are heading into very troubled economic times. Of course there were still a few economic optimists that were searching for a ray of hope, but the Federal Reserve left no room for optimism when it announced the largest interest rate hike in 28 years on Wednesday. When the Fed aggressively raised rates in the early 1980s, it resulted...

Share GOP Resolution Rebukes Cornyn Condemns the proposed “violation of the Second Amendment and our God given rights.” By Michael Quinn Sullivan | June 17, 2022 In unambiguous terms, the Republican Party of Texas’ Platform Committee unanimously approved last night a resolution condemning the “compromise” package U.S. Sen. John Cornyn crafted unilaterally with his Democrat colleagues to impose new gun control laws. Earlier this week, Cornyn announced he had taken the lead in working with Democrats to reach a “compromise” on gun restrictions. Among other things, Cornyn’s proposal would incentivize states to impose “red flag” laws. The purpose of such...

For years, TikTok has responded to data privacy concerns by promising that information gathered about users in the United States is stored in the United States, rather than China, where ByteDance, the video platform's parent company, is located. But according to leaked audio from more than 80 internal TikTok meetings, China-based employees of ByteDance have repeatedly accessed nonpublic data about US TikTok users — exactly the type of behavior that inspired former president Donald Trump to threaten to ban the app in the United States. The recordings, which were reviewed by BuzzFeed News, contain 14 statements from nine different TikTok...

"One of the most urgent tasks facing the next Republican president -- I wonder who that will be," Trump said at one point, prompting a standing ovation and chants of "USA!" "Would anybody like me to run for president?" he asked the crowd, unleashing more cheers.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Thursday that the Biden administration is aware of a third American possibly missing in Ukraine. CNN subsequently identified that American as Grady Kurpasi, a veteran of the U.S. Marines, citing his wife. Price said Thursday that the U.S. government had not confirmed the reports of the missing Americans but said officials were closely monitoring the situation. The State Department has been in contact with the individuals’ families, the Ukrainian government and the Red Cross, Price said. The U.S. had not spoken to Russia about their cases as of Thursday, Price said, and does...

[Catholic Caucus] Worship Prefect interviewed.At Vatican News we find an interview with the Prefect of Worship, whom Francis designated as a Cardinal, Archbp. Arthur Roche, once of Leeds and less-than-successful head of ICEL.Roche is an inveterate enemy of the Roman Rite, the Vetus Ordo, and has peculiar notions about what the Second Vatican Council mandated for liturgical reform. He reads into documents curious things. However, Roche is exemplary, in that he is one of those who wants to make Vatican II the only lens through which the whole of the Church’s history, doctrine and practice, including worship, must be reinterpreted.The...

The Boring Company's underground transportation system will be more expansive than what it originally planned. The Elon Musk-founded company has just received approval from the city to bring its underground transportation system called the Vegas Loop to city limits. When Clark County Commissioners first approved the Vegas Loop, it was supposed to be a 29-mile tunnel network connecting 51 stations. Now, the network will span 34 miles and have a total of 55 stations, including ones that will serve the Harry Reid International Airport and the Allegiant Stadium. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Boring Co. President Steve Davis said...

With Friday marking the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, Fox News Digital takes a look back at the media's fondness for invoking Watergate in its coverage of modern scandals. Throughout the presidency of Donald Trump, figures on CNN, MSNBC and other networks frequently referred to the infamous White House scandal that brought down Richard Nixon in their coverage of Trump, often saying what he was accused of was "worse than Watergate." From the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to the 2019 Ukraine phone call, to his handling of coronavirus and the sprawling Russia investigation...

Anxiety over a Fed-induced US recession – as the central bank battles stagflation – have prompted a plunge in prices in the energy complex. With Atlanta Fed’s GDPNOW model now forecasting a recession has started – and inflation expectations rising – FedSpeak this morning confirmed their hawkish commitment to ‘whatever it takes’ to slay the inflation dragon, whether that means sparkjng a recession or not… WTI prices fell back below $110, but remain above the Biden SPR plan levels…Wholesale Gasoline prices are down hard this morning also…The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF dropped 7.2% (entering bear...

The number of coronavirus patients in serious condition in Israel reached 140 on Friday, marking a near 70% rise since last week, with health experts warning that the current situation was “unstable.”While Israel has seen rising infection numbers for a few weeks, a rise in seriously ill patients marks a real concern as the country deals with the spread of the new variant BA.5, with experts warning that hospitals may need to reopen COVID wards. The number was up from 85 seriously ill patients on Friday last week.Some 7,313 Israelis tested positive for the virus on Friday, the Health Ministry...

Under the newest version of a code of conduct originally established in 2018, nearly three dozen entities vowed to step up efforts to detect false claims, to label political advertising more transparently and to restrict advertising around disinformation, among other moves. Demonetizing disinformation is the “cornerstone” of the new initiative, said Thierry Breton, a European commissioner and one of the EU’s top digital regulators. Many of the biggest platforms signing onto Thursday’s agreement had already been operating under the older set of 21 commitments, which ranged from supporting fact-checking to scrutinizing ad placement. This week’s expansion grows the list of...

Kyiv has said its missiles struck a Russian vessel which was heading to Snake Island, the strategic Black Sea location that has been bitterly fought over since the start of the Ukraine war.Ukraine's defense forces tweeted on Friday that the Russian tugboat Spasatel Vasily Bekh had been "successfully demilitarized" by the Ukrainian Navy."The ship was transporting personnel, weapons and ammunition to the occupied Snake Island," the tweet said next to an image of the vessel with a red cross apparently drawn on it.Military analyst Rob Lee shared video ... "Given the slow speed of the munitions, these were likely MAM-L...

Three weeks ago, we showed readers what happens when the infamous “Bullwhip effect” reversal takes place by presenting the unprecedented surge in the “Inventory to Sales” ratio for a broad range of US retailers covering the furniture, home furnishings and appliances, building materials and garden equipment, and a category known as “other general merchandise,” which includes Walmart and Target. Since then, this ratio has only gotten even more extended, and as shown below it is now at the highest level since the bursting of the dot com bubble! What does this mean for retailers and the price of goods? Three...

Explanation: On June 15, innermost planet Mercury had wandered about as far from the Sun as it ever gets in planet Earth's sky. Near the eastern horizon just before sunrise it stands over distant Andes mountain peaks in this predawn snapshot from the valley of Rio Hurtado in Chile. June's other morning planets are arrayed above it, as all the naked-eye planets of the Solar System stretch in a line along the ecliptic in the single wide-field view. Tilted toward the north, the Solar System's ecliptic plane arcs steeply through southern hemisphere skies. Northern hemisphere early morning risers will see...

A 90-year-old Tennessee woman has managed to fight off a black bear outside her home — with just her lawn chair. Altha Williams miraculously only suffered a scratch to her arm after the bear — who was with three cubs — attacked her on the front porch of her Sevierville home on Wednesday, WVLT News reported. “It just made a lunge at me,” Williams said, adding the bear’s “face was right in my face.” “I was just sitting here, hadn’t been here more than two or three minutes. Evidently it heard me.” Williams, who lives near the Smoky Mountains National...

We'd all have done it one time or another - plug our battery-dying handphone to a portable power bank and continued chatting or watching a show. That was exactly what a Singaporean woman in Australia did when she took a video call last Thursday (June 16). More from AsiaOne Read the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite. In a telephone interview with TNP, the woman, who wanted to be known as Ms Leong, recounted the incident: "My handphone battery was running low, so I plugged it to the power bank and placed them on the...

June 17 (Reuters) - Russian media outlets on Friday broadcast images of what they said were two U.S. citizens captured while fighting for Ukraine, in what could be the first confirmation the duo had been taken prisoner. The Izvestia newspaper showed a video clip of what it said was a brief interview with Andy Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama. The RT channel posted an image of a man it identified as Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

President Biden on Friday loaded up first cat Willow for yet another long weekend in Delaware, as first lady Jill Biden cut short her husband’s replies to questions on what most Americans are struggling with — record-high gas prices and soaring inflation. The cat was carried in a crate across the White House lawn by a Biden aide to the humming Marine One helicopter. Journalists did not see first dog Major. Biden took a few reporter questions before joining Willow and Jill for the trip to his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., including about rising prices.

The Navy has fired nearly a dozen officers in leadership positions in less than three months, including five in one week, due to a “loss of confidence” in their ability to command — an unusual string of terminations across land, air and sea teams, experts said. At least nine commanding officers and two senior advisers have been relieved of their duties since April, when a cluster of suicides on the USS George Washington warship sparked widespread concerns of a mental health crisis. A total of 13 commanding officers have been fired so far this year, including 12 in the Navy...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Shelbyville man pleaded guilty on Friday to carrying a revolver loaded with shotgun shells and hollow points on Capitol grounds along with assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan 6., 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. Mark Andrew Mazza, 57, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon and carrying a pistol without a license. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for charges against the officers and up to five years in prison for the firearms charge. Mazza’s sentence will be determined by...