Free Republic

Mortgage rates when President Joe Biden took office? 2.65 percent. Today? 6.28 percent.On Tuesday, Biden held a weird celebration of his “Inflation Reduction Act” on the lawn of the White House. Why was it weird? Because at the very same time as Democrats were applauding themselves, the U.S. Labor Department was releasing figures that showed an “unexpected” rise in inflation, with the cost of rent, food, and other basic necessities continuing to skyrocket.Now we learn that mortgage rates have climbed above six percent for the first time since 2008. Wonder what kind of party Biden has planned for this milestone?30-Year...

We’ve been saying the momentum seems to be going in the Republicans’ direction when it comes to the Senate. We’ve been looking at eight races that Decision Desk has said that the race for the Senate may turn on: Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Ohio. Virtually all of them seem to have the Republicans up or have the race moving in a favorable direction.Now, Wisconsin has just moved in the Republican direction as well.Democrat Mandela Barnes had been up by more than 7 points in polling against Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) in August. Admittedly, that...

I have been a member of Free Republic on Facebook forever. Today I went to post something and it has disappeared. Has Free Republic been banned or is my account restricted?

The Corinth Canal is a waterway that crosses the narrow isthmus of Corinth to link the Gulf of Corinth to the Saronic Gulf...It is believed that Periander, the tyrant of Corinth (602 BC), was the first to conceive of the idea of digging the Corinth Canal. As the project was too complicated given the limited technical capabilities of the times, Periander constructed the diolkós, a stone road which allowed ships to be transferred on wheeled platforms.Later on, Macedonian king Dimitrios Poliorkitis (c. 300 BC) tried to dig the canal, but his team of engineers warned him that if a connection...

Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) called parents at school board meetings “MAGA Republicans” and compared them to those who entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6. “January 6 2021, will never be forgotten, an infamous day in American history. MAGA Republicans descended upon the Capitol, engaged in an insurrection,” Johnson said at a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday.

It started with Crimea and it will end with Crimea. The grinding war of attrition is into its seventh month with no peace settlement on the horizon. Before the invasion, the issue of Crimea did not top the international agenda. It was not even included in the infamous Minsk Accords and the work of the Trilateral Contact Group, forcing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to look for new formats to voice the Crimea case loud and clear. In turn, Putin legitimised the illegal annexation through false historical narratives, nurturing it with recognition from his authoritarian friends. International actors expressed their traditional concern...

President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed his frustration with Republican governors sending migrants from the Southern border to Democrat-run cities, calling their actions “Un-American.” “Republicans are playing politics with human beings, using them as props,” Biden said. “What they’re doing is simply wrong. It’s un-American. It’s reckless”

In the midst of their three-night run at the Masonic in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday night, Pavement became the band they were destined to be. They were no longer content to generate the most noise on stage, choosing instead to turn their instruments down a notch so that their sonic cohesion could flourish. (Guitarist Scott Kannberg has credited Wilco for this adaptation.) A surprise sixth member, keyboardist and percussionist Rebecca Clay Cole, was added to this tour, and her textural additions allowed the band to finally perform certain cuts that could never survive outside the studio. For perhaps the...

Just off Highway 101 North on route to Rohnert Park is an unassuming storefront attached to a Shell gas station. The building is home to Vinoma restaurant, where a selection of handmade savory and sweet empanadas are prepared by the hundreds. If you don’t pull over, you might miss out on one of the best Bay Area restaurants to eat at right now. I found myself at Vinoma on a recent drive to Sonoma County. The road to Rohnert Park isn’t exactly a quick trip from my East Bay home, but when I heard that an Argentinian restaurant attached to...

President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that his administration would push to end the immunity Big Tech platforms enjoy for third-party content, an effort Republicans previously backed. "I'm calling on Congress to get rid of special immunity for social media companies and impose much stronger transparency requirements on all of them," the president said, per the New York Post. Specifically, he called for the repeal of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, echoing similar demands from Republicans in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, amid the outcry over tech company censorship of explosive allegations against Hunter Biden....

What’s the carrying capacity of Martha’s Vineyard? We found ourselves asking this question on Thursday when the island off Cape Cod announced that it was experiencing a “humanitarian crisis” after 50 people arrived there seeking shelter. These were reportedly migrants, some of whom may be refugees from Venezuela’s communist dictatorship, who had reportedly been flown up to Martha’s Vineyard on a plane sent to pick them up from Texas by Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis. The island’s officials announced that its residents, towns, and “community-based, non-profit” groups had sprung into action to provide food, shelter, health care, and other amenities to...

It’s one of the richest, fattiest fruits and treated as a delicacy across Southeast Asia. It’s also known for its pungent reputation, which once led to the evacuation of an Australian university campus. It’s even banned from being carried on subways, aboard airplanes and in certain hotels overseas. Durian, with its bright yellow meaty interior, is a fruit you either love or hate — and it’s coming to a Bay Area Costco near you in pint-sized ice cream form this October, dreamed up by the two sisters behind San Jose-based Mavens Creamery. “Some things just can’t be explained,” said Christine...

As Kaiser Permanente therapists across Northern California enter the second month of an ongoing strike, a growing number of patients are saying they’ve been unable to get appointments during the work stoppage, despite the HMO’s legal obligation to provide timely access to mental health care. The California Department of Managed Health Care, which launched an investigation into Kaiser’s behavioral health services last month, said its help center has received 100 complaints about patients struggling to access care through Kaiser between Monday, Aug. 15, and Saturday, Sept. 3, the most recent data available. Lisa Rubio, who lives in San Rafael and...

Federal prosecutors asked a judge to sentence California “super mom” Sherri Papini to eight months in prison, saying she continues to lie about faking her kidnapping six years ago, according to court records. Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed this week that the 40-year-old woman continues to tell people that she actually was kidnapped in 2016 — even after pleading guilty to fraud and lying counts, according to the Sacramento Bee. “Papini’s actions had real negative consequences for the community and other victims,” Assistant US Attorneys Veronica Alegria and Shelley Weger wrote in the document. “There needs to be...

“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul” (Proverbs 16:16-17).

The corrupt media are already working overtime to set the stage by playing up the "civil war" potential and predicting violence from "white supremacists and far-right extremists." The president and Dems in Congress will have no choice but to react decisively to save democracy and protect the American people from this horrible MAGA threat. The critical decision will need to be made: will they have time for more televised show trials before the election, or should they just move on to declaring martial law and postponing the election indefinitely? Provocation of violence was the obvious intention behind Biden's insane speech...

(Not a 'sourced story yet' - GRAPHIC) Convenience store clerk shot dead after complying with robber in Georgia

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 sparked the beginning of an intensified war between the two forces. Now, the richest man in Ukraine, Rinat Akhmedov, set out to build shelters for Ukrainian soldiers as the war raged on with all of its devastations. According to Bloomberg's report, a Ukrainian steelworks controlled by billionaire Akhmetov has started constructing prefabricated dugouts and transporting them to soldiers engaged in front-line combat with Russia. WAR CAPSULES According to steel manufacturer Metinvest Holding LLC, the capsules can resist impacts from 150-millimeter rounds after being buried 1.5 meters (5 feet) beneath the surface. They...

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday appointed New York Judge Raymond Dearie as special master to independently review documents the FBI took from former President Donald Trump's Florida home in early August. Cannon's appointment of Dearie came alongside a separate ruling that denied the Department of Justice's request to continue its own review of the documents. "The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion," Cannon wrote in her ruling denying the DOJ further review of...

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 13, 2022 / 14:00 pm South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced legislation Tuesday that would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger. The Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act is an updated version of Graham’s previous 20-week federal ban. Speaking at a press conference alongside members of several national pro-life groups Sept. 13, Graham said the legislation was designed to “get America in a position at the federal level that’s fairly consistent with the rest of the world.”...