Free Republic

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned last month that raising interest rates to cool inflation is likely to dampen economic growth -- "and there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions," he said. But there's no significant softening evident in Friday's jobs/employment report. On Friday, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of employed Americans in September rose by 204,000 to 158,936,000, a record high. The previous record, 158,735,000, was set in December 2019 when Donald Trump was president.

Five current or former IRS employees in Tennessee and Mississippi fraudulently received thousands of dollars in COVID relief funds to finance lavish lifestyles, according to the Department of Justice. The five suspects allegedly submitted bogus loan applications to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program in an effort to gain over $1 million in funding. They then used the loan funds to finance their extravagant lifestyles, such as buying new cars, luxury goods, and personal travel, including trips to Las Vegas, according to court documents. “The IRS employees charged in these cases allegedly abused the...

Safeguard Defenders, a pan-Asian human rights organization, published an investigation last month detailing a Chinese campaign to combat "fraud and telecom fraud" crimes committed by its citizens living abroad. The report indicated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has established at least 54 police stations across 30 different countries, including the U.S. "I think it shows how brazen the CCP is getting and how little regard they have for other governments," Laura Harth, Safeguard Defenders' campaign manager, told Fox News. "It’s in violation of international law, it’s in violation of territorial sovereign." The police stations are mostly located in Western...

It started with Gazprom revealing that the Line B string of NS2 is intact; not only it escaped Pipeline Terror but may “potentially” be used to pump gas to Germany. That confirms once again that NS2 is an engineering marvel. In fact the whole system: the pipes are so strong they were not broken, but merely punctured. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak followed up, with a caveat: restoration of the whole system, including NS, is possible, and “requires time and appropriate funds”. But first, in Russia’s order of priorities, the perpetrators must be conclusively identified. Sources in Moscow confirmed...

Intestine Crohn’s Disease A mystery surrounding Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease, may have been solved by a new study. This image depicts an intestine affected by Crohn’s disease. ========================================================= New research may have solved a mystery surrounding Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel disease where immune defenses meant to attack invading microbes mistakenly target the body’s own digestive tract instead. Norovirus is a common infection that causes vomiting and diarrhea. It is also one of several viruses and bacteria thought to trigger disease onset in people with Crohn’s disease, but the field does not know why....

Sharon Osbourne, a British-American celebrity, wants her $900,000 donation to the Black Lives Matter organization back after Kanye West referred to the organization as a “scam.” When asked by TMZ about Kanye West’s recent antics, including his White Lives Matter shirt and social media tirades, Sharon agreed with the rapper that Black Lives Matter is a “scam.” “Well, we gave $900,000 to [Black Lives Matter], and I’d like my money back, please,” she told a reporter during an ambush interview while shopping at YSL on Rodeo Drive in Bev Hills. Kanye West, who legally changed his name to Ye, is...

California has become the first state in the nation to mandate that all children take mRNA vaccines in order to attend schoos. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the mandate in a press release in October. “At a school in San Francisco, Governor Newsom announced plans to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of vaccinations required to attend school in-person when the vaccine receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for middle and high school grades, making California the first state in the nation to announce such a measure,” the governor announced. “Following the other first-in-the-nation school masking...

There was a shift in strategy by Democrat election consultants that started taking shape around 2005. After John Kerry lost to weak Republican incumbent George W. Bush, there were private discussions about how Democrats should be “flipping the script” on Republicans by using their media proxies. Through projection and gaslighting, they felt the way to handle any policies or proposals that may damage them could be turned against Republicans instead. I’ve never written about this because I could never corroborate the existence of the secret meetings other than a single source who was in attendance. But it doesn’t take corroboration...

Washington, D.C.’s deputy mayor for "public safety and justice" was charged in connection to a caught-on-camera alleged assault in the parking lot of a gym he belongs to in nearby Arlington, Virginia. Christopher Geldart, 53, has been charged with assault after allegedly grabbing the neck of Dustin Woodward, a trainer at the Gold’s Gym, during an altercation in the parking lot on Oct. 1. According to Arlington Police, an argument ensued after Geldart allegedly opened his car door, hitting the parked car of Woodward’s girlfriend. Geldart, appointed by Bowser to serve as Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice on...

A Seattle-area elementary school again canceled Halloween celebrations. The principal called it “exclusionary” because not everyone celebrates the holiday. After torturing children with absurd and unscientific COVID protocols, like socially-distanced lunch outside on the pavement, you’d think Principal John Simard of Brookside Elementary in Shoreline would want kids to have fun. No such luck. He emailed parents to explain that while some children may be looking forward to Halloween, he cannot allow any celebrations. Wokeness killed another holiday celebration where kids could have fun. This move should be condemned, not celebrated as inclusive. ... School pretends Halloween is exclusionary.. There...

@IAPolls2022 BREAKING: Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 500 points, or 1.65%. The S&P 500 lost 2.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 3.1%. NASDAQ Return 626 Days in office 🟢 PRESIDENT TRUMP: +40.2% 🔴 PRESIDENT BIDEN: -18.63%

Another day, another price hike for the popular electric Ford truck. Buyers of the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning can now expect to pay around $52,000, up another $5,000 over the most recent price jump. Taking into consideration some of the Lightning electric truck’s ownership costs, is this truck still a good buy?

In short, our country came to be before our republic came to be, and long before what we today call "our democracy" came to be. A country is different from, and more than, the political system that it adopts.

Major oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia have decided to slash the amount of oil they deliver to the global economy. And the law of supply and demand suggests that can only mean one thing: higher prices are on the way for crude, and for the diesel fuel, gasoline and heating oil that are produced from oil. The decision by the OPEC+ alliance to cut 2 million barrels a day starting next month comes as the Western allies are trying to cap the oil money flowing into Moscow's war chest after it invaded Ukraine. Here is what to...

Russian leader Vladimir Putin marked his 70th birthday on Friday with congratulations from the fellow authoritarian leaders of Cuba and Kyrgyzstan and a full “work” schedule, according to the Kremlin. The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry observed the day by sharing a recent quote from Putin predicting the “collapse of Western hegemony” on Twitter, illustrated by a photo of Putin wearing sunglasses.

Police Captain David Dorn was murdered in 2020 during riots following the death of George Floyd. While reacting to the sentencing of his murderer, his widow Ann Dorn blasted Democrats, “including Rep. Cori Bush for still supporting the ‘defund police’ movement.” In singling out Bush, Dorn cited the congresswoman’s support of anti-police rhetoric on Fox & Friends on Thursday. “I find it funny that she says ‘defund the police.’ But yet, she spends $400,000-$700,000 on security alone just for herself, using police officers to do it. And her own city that she came from is being destroyed by crime. Police...

In Genesis 1:11,12 God established some things in this physical world that also apply to us spiritually. Genesis 1:11,12 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Based just on that we know that because God spoke those words they...

Two journalists with TFLEV decided to drive the Ford 150 Lightning EV truck from the lower 48 states to Alaska and learned some of the recharging challenges they would face. Having made that drive from Pennsylvania to Fairbanks in 2013, I can tell you it certainly required some planning driving a gas-powered SUV, much less an electric truck.They stopped at Carter Lake, outside of Loveland, Colorado, and rented a campsite. The site included a standard 120-volt outlet — Level 1 in EV parlance — as well as a larger 240-volt option used by recreational vehicles and fifth-wheel trailers to run...

President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared cautiously optimistic about Democrat prospects in the midterm elections in November. “So far, it looks like in the Senate we not only will hold but maybe pick up a couple seats,” Biden said to supporters at a fundraiser in Red Bank, New Jersey, with Governor Phil Murphy.