Free Republic

Cafes and restaurants are open and largely busy. It was in one of the latter that I met a senior Ukrainian government official who had contacted me, expressing approval for something I had said in the international media"You know, don't you, that this time next year, a Russian soldier could be sitting right where you are," he said after a brusque introduction. "We are losing this war." He is right. There were the great victories at Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkhiv. But with setbacks in Donetsk and Luhansk, the appalling realization is sinking in that this is likely to be a...

The Bible In Paintings 2 ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE ASSYRIANS vs. KING HEZEKIAH 2nd KINGS CHAPTERS 18-19 In the third year of Hoshea king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) 1 "Hezekiah Removes the Bronze Serpent" 2...

There is no doubt that the US economy is slowing, thanks in part to The Federal Reserve’s sudden crusade to slow inflation (caused by … The Federal Reserve and Federal spending). My favorite chart is US Average Hourly Earnings YoY. It peaked in March at 5.6% and has been slowing to 5.1% in June. BUT historically high inflation has caused REAL US Average Hourly Earnings YoY to decline to -3.25%. The good news? 372k jobs were added in June. The bad news? It was lower than jobs added in May (390k) showing a slowing trend. Unemployment remained at 3.6%. Labor...

(AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) As we reported, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, 67, was shot in the back during a campaign speech in Nara, Japan ahead of the coming upper house elections. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The shooter didn’t flee and was captured at the scene. He has been identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, a local man in his forties, who appears to have assassinated the former prime minister with what looks like a homemade weapon. The shooting occurred about 11:30 a.m. local time in Nara, 10:30 p.m. on the East coast in Washington, D.C. As we’ve...

The National Education Association is seeking to change the word “mother” to be more inclusive to the LGBTQIA+ community. Fox News reported the resolution would change the word to “birthing parent.” The proposed resolution stated, “Using this contract language, members need not worry about how a Board of Education/solicitor defines ‘maternity leave,’ ‘mother,’ and/or ‘father’; the language is an inclusive reflection of how LGBTQIA+ members build families.” The outlet noted the resolution, NBI 63, was not brought to a vote. The news of the resolution sparked criticism on Twitter. Nicole Neily of Parents Defending Education told Fox News that “normal...

Donald Trump has declared that Shinzo Abe's killer must be dealt with 'swiftly and harshly' as world figures voiced their shock over the former Japanese PM's death today. Trump said his assassination is 'Really BAD NEWS FOR THE WORLD!' after Japan's longest serving PM was shot to death while delivering a campaign speech in the city of Nara in western Japan. Trump crowned Abe a 'unifier like no other [...] who loved and cherished his magnificent country. Abe will be 'greatly missed' according to the former president who called him a 'true friend of mine'. Tributes from more world leaders...

As Biden’s border crisis continues, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) encountered a record-breaking number of illegal migrants in May, wreaking havoc on the southern border. According to CBP, “In total, there were 239,416 encounters along the southwest land border in May, a 2 percent increase compared to April.” Illegal migrants are flooding into the country in waves, and the current trends place the U.S. on track for more than 2 million arrests before the end of the federal fiscal year in September. CBP has currently logged more than 1.7 million arrests so far.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump publicly honored ex-Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday morning, saluting their long friendship in the hours leading up to the late leader’s death.Trump described his shock at the shooting which later claimed Abe’s life, as Breitbart News reported.“Absolutely devastating news that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, a truly great man and leader, has been shot, and is in very serious condition,” Trump said in a statement.“He was a true friend of mine and, much more importantly, America. This is a tremendous blow to the wonderful people of Japan, who loved and admired...

German energy supply giant Uniper said Friday it is asking the government for a bailout amid a growing natural gas crunch due to the war in Ukraine. Uniper, which is Germany's biggest importer of Russian gas, said in a statement that its board has applied to the government for “stabilization measures.” The move could see the government pump billions of euros (dollars) into Uniper to keep the company afloat. Germany's Cabinet had approved a plan preparing for such measures earlier this week.

Far be it for us to tell President Pudding Pop how to do his job but you’d THINK the assassination of the former Japanese Prime Minister would garner at least a tweet from him or the White House, even though gosh golly and gee, it’s so HARD being president 24 hours a day. He must need his nappy. Although let’s be honest, whatever he tweets, writes, or says won’t be from him anyway, why not just get it out the door? We suppose the interns doing all of this need their shut-eye too. People are less than impressed (as usual):...

A Texas cancer survivor who suffered three miscarriages was banned from aborting a longed-for pregnancy in her home state on discovering the fetus was too disabled to survive. Kailee DeSpain, 28, and her husband were forced to make a 10 hour trip to New Mexico in February after a 16 week scan revealed their son Finley had an unsurvivable condition called triploidy. Carrying the pregnancy to full-term would have put DeSpain at risk of potentially fatal complications, but Texas's so-called heartbeat abortion bill bans almost all abortions except for those vaguely defined as 'medical emergencies.' DeSpain was told hers did...

Former President Donald Trump’s billions of dollars worth of tariffs on China-made products have successfully helped spur a manufacturing boom across the United States, business executives and their recent investments reveal.While President Joe Biden considers cutting U.S. tariffs on China — first imposed by Trump — new data and reports from manufacturing executives published in Bloomberg show the tariffs have helped bring a resurgence of manufacturing back to American communities, as they were intended to do.Bloomberg reports:For some companies, the first nudge they got to revamp their supply-chain lines came two years before Covid, when then-President Donald Trump began slapping...

Former Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway has said that Donald Trump should keep his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, far away from the campaign trail if Trump makes another presidential run in 2024 — and accused Kushner of profiting “handsomely” from his four years in the West Wing. Conway, who helmed the 45th president’s successful 2016 White House run, mocked reports that Kushner has said he is through with politics, calling that statement a “convenient way of saying, ‘Don’t hold me responsible for all the authority I gave myself.'”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced criticism after she said that the U.S. is “stronger economically” than it has ever been in history. Jean-Pierre took many questions on the economy, but she made a questionable claim while addressing the high inflation plaguing Americans. “Do you think it’s possible that your plan just is not popular with the American people right now?” asked Fox News reporter Peter Doocy. “I don’t think it’s that our plan is not popular with the American people, we know that the American people are feeling the high cost. We understand what they are feeling,” said...

The major changes CNN has made in leadership, philosophy, and structure have not yet borne fruit in the ratings, and now CNN employees are reportedly beginning to panic. A “well-placed” source at the network told the New York Post that “new management is not freaking out but everyone else at CNN is.” The numbers are indeed cause for concern. In June, CNN primetime shows averaged just 654,000 nightly viewers, despite the allure of the Jan. 6 committee hearings, which the network covered at length. And of those 654,000, just 148,000 of them were in the coveted 25-54 age demographic. The...

NEW YORK -- New York Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt said Thursday he "probably won't" inform team and Major League Baseball officials if he feels COVID-19 symptoms in the future and that MLB should "just stop testing." Bassitt was placed on the COVID-19 list on July 1 after complaining about sluggishness to team officials. The right-hander missed his scheduled start against Texas last Friday and only rejoined the team Thursday. "I probably won't (again)," Bassitt said before the Mets' series opener against the Miami Marlins. "There's no way. There's no reason." Bassitt claimed he was asymptomatic. "Just stop testing. Stop acting...

What started in the Netherlands is spreading like wildfire across the European Union. Farmers in Italy. Germany and Poland have come out in the streets as well. They are not just protesting European Union policies that will crush farmers. They are increasingly talking in terms of fighting the entire globalist agenda and the policies pushed by the World Economic Forum. Farmers in Italy are now calling for their supporters to descend on Rome and take their protests there. The government in Rome is already on shaky ground and working hard to maintain an unstable coalition government. This may well cause...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ~ 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Religion Forum Threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

[Catholic Caucus] The unintended consequences of Desiderio desideraviThe non-acceptance of the liturgical reform, as also a superficial understanding of it, distracts us from the obligation of finding responses to the question that I come back to repeating: how can we grow in our capacity to live in full the liturgical action? How do we continue to let ourselves be amazed at what happens in the celebration under our very eyes? We are in need of a serious and dynamic liturgical formation.— Desiderio Desideravi, 29 June 2022Having been fairly uninterested in liturgy until relatively recently, in the last twelve months...

After the much-hyped John Durham probe ends with a whimper and House Democrats ratchet up their public pursuit of Trump associates, the Republican base wants action, not more sternly worded letters. The U.S. Department of Justice will soon decide whether to close down the investigation into the origins of Russiagate, a lie fabricated by Barack Obama’s FBI, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and the Democratic National Committee among other bad actors seeking to ruin Donald Trump. U.S. Attorney John Durham, named special counsel by former Attorney General William Barr in October 2020 after more than 18 months of dawdling, has...