Free Republic

U.S. diesel consumption is likely to decline by 200,000 to 600,000 barrels per day (5%-15%) over the next year as the economy slows in response to rising interest rates. The Federal Reserve is not deliberately trying to induce a recession to bring inflation under control, central bank chief Jerome Powell told legislators on Wednesday. But he said that was a possible and foreseeable outcome of rapid rate rises – an interesting application of the doctrine of double effect. The central bank hopes for soft landing but feels it must risk a hard one to reduce inflation running at the fastest...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday intensified his criticism of Israel's refusal to sanction Russia, during an address by the Jewish leader to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Bennett has refrained from criticising Russia's invasion and stressed Israel's close ties with Moscow and Kyiv while his administration has not imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin's government. Zelensky, who has family in Israel and visited the country several times, told Hebrew University in a video address that he has struggled to understand the Jewish state's soft approach towards Russia. Israel's government and major rescue organisations have sent humanitarian and medical...

After the Supreme Court ruled on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, corporate giants from a range of industries pledged to provide support and financial assistance for employees - and, in some cases, their dependents - seeking abortions in states that outlaw the procedure. The court's decision to roll back the nearly 50-year-old landmark ruling, which protected the federal, constitutional right to an abortion, is expected to transform the landscape of reproductive health in America, leaving abortion policy up to individual states and paving the way for numerous states to pass new abortion restrictions. As of Friday afternoon, state officials...

Pro-abortion rioters attempted to storm the Arizona capitol building in Phoenix while the state’s senate was in session. Pro-life Republican state Senator Kelly Townsend, who was inside the senate building, tweeted members of the Senate were “being held hostage inside the Senate building.” Townsend said during one period the senators could “smell teargas and the children of one of the members are in the office sobbing with fear.” “I expect a J24 committee to be created immediately,” she added.

For generations, the mystery of what transpired at the Little Bighorn River on Sunday June 25th, 1876 has left both historians and amateur analysts miffed as to how a heavily decorated Civil War General who had the most astounding success (or luck) could have suffered to complete annihilating defeat at the hands of a stone-aged culture and 'uncivilized' force of 19th century barbarians. Writers, authors, Military Veterans, even contemporary soldiers of the Boy General himself have not been able to completely grasp the outcome totally. This has been going on for generations. Lawrence Frost, E. Lisle Reedstrom, Cyrus Brady, President...

The USS Samuel B. Roberts was recently found by a team led by Victor Vescovo who also found the USS Johnston. Both Ships were lost in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It lies at a depth of 6,895 meters (22,621 feet), in the Philippine Sea. By comparison, Mount Kilimanjaro's peak is 5,896 meters, while the highest permanent settlement in the world, La Rinconada in the Peruvian Andes, is 5,100 meters (16,700 feet). Previously, the deepest wreck ever identified and surveyed was the USS Johnston, found last year by Vescovo. That lies at 6,469 meters.

ELCA presiding bishop issues pastoral message on Roe v. Wade ruling June 24, 2022 Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, has issued a pastoral message on the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding Roe v. Wade. “Whatever personal perspective one might take on the June 24 abortion ruling from the Supreme Court, it is the legal framework in which we now minister,” Eaton said in the message. “This church’s 1991 social statement Abortion argues that ‘the number of induced abortions is a source of deep concern’ but teaches that the practice should be legal (pp. 3, 9-10). … Overturning Roe...

“Freedom, Flesh, and Fruit” (Galatians 5:1, 13-25) Our text today is the Epistle from Galatians chapter 5. In this text, St. Paul takes up three points that very definitely affect you and the way you live. And they are “Freedom, Flesh, and Fruit”: the freedom we have in Christ; the works of the flesh that we are to put behind us; and the beautiful fruit that the Spirit will produce in our lives. So let’s go. Freedom is a wonderful thing. It’s a relief to not be shackled down by restrictive oppression. However, freedom can be abused. Freedom can be...

Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla has said he is working on the creation of a new vaccine against COVID-19 that could be taken annually in order for people to become more “compliant” in taking COVID vaccines. Bourla made the comment at a press briefing organized by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), which took place Wednesday and where he discussed the creation of a new COVID vaccine.An annual vaccine to boost ‘compliance’“What the world really needs is a vaccine that can last a year,” stated Bourla. The head of the pharmaceutical giant described this idea as “the optimal...

WASHINGTON — As Russian troops press ahead with a grinding campaign to seize eastern Ukraine, the nation’s ability to resist the onslaught depends more than ever on help from the United States and its allies — including a stealthy network of commandos and spies rushing to provide weapons, intelligence and training, according to U.S. and European officials.But even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the massive amounts of intelligence the United States is...

Two months into his presidency, as he did often on the campaign trial, President Joe Biden asked America to embrace the legitimacy of government. “Put trust and faith in our government to fulfill its most important function, which is protecting the American people,” the 46th president implored his country in a March 2021 speech on the anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdowns. On Friday, after being stung by abortion and gun rights rulings by the Supreme Court that he disagreed with, the president changed his tune and launched a verbal assault on America’s judicial branch of government and its iconic marbled...

Grace period for $100mn in interest payments ends on Sunday evening. Russia could default on its foreign debt for the first time this century as the clock ticks down on a pair of overdue interest payments blocked by western sanctions. About $100mn worth of interest on Russian government debt is due to bondholders by Sunday night, the end of a 30-day grace period during which the country must make the payments to avoid defaulting. Russia said it had sent the funds to investors, but financial sanctions imposed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine have hampered Moscow’s ability to...

Yeah, that’s a rather blunt headline, right? It’s something that we’ve known for decades. It’s why this issue is intense, emotional, and loaded with nuance. With the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court wiped out Roe v. Wade yesterday. It did not ban abortion nationwide. Abortion is not illegal. The Court did what it should have done with this issue eons ago—return it to the legislative process. There is nothing in the Constitution about abortion. There is no constitutional right to an abortion—that’s left-wing propaganda. The fact that the Constitution doesn’t say anything about isn’t a smackdown of the pro-abortion side....

Col. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, called the police response to the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas “an abject failure. All the excuses they gave for never attempting to save the victims were false. The claim that they couldn’t get into the room because they needed a key was false. The door was never locked. Even if it had been the police on the scene had a ‘hooligan’ crowbar that could have been used to force a locked door open. The claim that it...

Saturday, June 25, 2022: Join the RSBN broadcast team LIVE from Mendon, IL for all day coverage of President Donald J. Trump's Save America Rally. President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, will hold a rally in Mendon, Illinois, on Saturday, June 25, 2022, at 7:00PM CDT. President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, delivers remarks. Venue: Adams County Fairgrounds 2010 E 1250th St Mendon, IL 62351 Timeline of Events: 8:00AM – Parking and Line Opens 2:00PM – Doors Open and Entertainment Begins 4:00PM – Pre-program Speakers Deliver Remarks 7:00PM...

Trump didn’t simply tarnish the GOP brand in certain circles — that’s a very temporary thing, and Republicans of all stripes had done plenty to tarnish the brand on their own. Trump habituated Republicans and conservatives into conspiracy-theorizing, into lib-owning as the highest undertaking, and into defending corruption and abuse of power. Yet Trump brought about the end of Roe. That is something every prior Republican decidedly couldn’t do or refused to do. The majority in Roe included five Republican appointees. The majority in 1992 upholding Roe in Planned Parenthood v. Casey included five Republican appointees. Pro-life voters were told...

“‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it’” (Matthew 7:13–14). Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount has been heading toward the appeal found in these two verses. Here is His call to people to make a decision about becoming a citizen of God’s kingdom and inheriting eternal life, or remaining a citizen of this fallen world and receiving damnation. Every person...

Who could possibly have seen this coming: a drag queen that works with “LGBTQ+ youth” has just been arrested on child pornography charges after a two year investigation. That drag queen is Brice Williams, who goes by the name Anastasia Diamon when in drag; once heavily involved as a “community organizer,” mainly regarding “LGBTQ+” issues, he’s now locked up on child porn charges. Williams, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania has been charged with 25 counts of felony class 2 child pornography and 18 counts of criminal use of a communications facility. He is being held on a $100,000 bail at Franklin County...

<p>A former West Virginia lawmaker who livestreamed himself on Facebook storming the U.S. Capitol and cheering on what he described as a "revolution" was sentenced Wednesday to three months in prison.</p><p>Derrick Evans, 37, who pleaded guilty to a felony civil disorder charge, told the judge that he regrets his actions every day and is a "good person who unfortunately was caught up in a moment."</p>

The name E.T.A. Hoffmann is probably not one that most readers will immediately recognize. But the odds are good that they have encountered him, at least indirectly. In 1816 he published a story titled “Nußknacker und Mausekönig”—in English, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” About 75 years later it inspired Tschaikovsky to write his popular ballet The Nutcracker, performed now in countless variations every year at Christmas. There is much more to Hoffmann’s legacy than The Nutcracker, which was not even considered one of his best works, and which Tschaikovsky altered considerably for his ballet. When Hoffmann died exactly 200...