Free Republic

Very good YouTube 17 min. video from HistoryLegends on the ongoing battle in Bakhmut. They do an excellent job (complete with pictures and maps) to spell out the pros and cons for both sides in this fierce battle. Also spells out KIA casualty figures for both sides to date in the Ukraine war. Over 100,000 KIA Ukrainians; 15,000 KIA Russians. The presenter has a sense of humor and does a good job mimicking neocons complete with accents...:-)

American households' real wealth fell $13.5 trillion in the first three quarters of 2022, ... The 8.6 percent drop from January to September is the second fastest decline on record, behind the financial crisis of 2008/2009. Record-high inflation under the Biden administration is causing a decrease in the purchasing power of assets and liabilities, MarketWatch reports: Nominal net worth fell 4.6% to $143.3 trillion, as the market value of assets fell by $6 trillion and liabilities rose by about $900 billion. Households’ balance sheets—assets minus liabilities—were propped up by a 10% increase in home equity, which is the greatest source...

Massachusetts residents who fought to end the war on Christmas in their hometown are celebrating the return of an annual tradition after a public library tried to upend the holiday season. Marianne Martin and Jason Brogan, residents of Dedham, Mass., spoke out about their efforts to display an annual Christmas tree in the Endicott Branch Library Monday on "Jesse Watters Primetime." "I’m sorry, this Christmas tree has brought out just a beautiful unity of different voices, people that I think come from different political ideologies, different ethnicities, different religions," Martin said. "But they all got behind this, and it’s a...

Republican voters did their part. When one accumulates the popular vote for House races across the country, Republicans won by three percentage points—a margin that was once just under five points but narrowed as votes from deep-blue districts trickled in over weeks after Election Day. That kind of turnout for Republicans “would normally translate into GOP gains of 20-30 seats,” according to the Cook Political Report. But Republicans have as of early December netted only eight seats, bringing their total in the House to 220. At most, Republicans will hold 222. In races that seemed to be easy flips, Republicans...

Yoel Roth, Elon Musk’s former right-hand man who was instrumental to the new era of Twitter, has reportedly been forced to flee his home, likely in the Bay Area, after getting harassed by Musk and his supporters. Roth, the now-departed head of trust and safety, received increased threats after Musk promoted a baseless accusation that his former employee endorsed children accessing “adult Internet services,” CNN first reported Monday afternoon. "Looks like Yoel is arguing in favor of children being able to access adult Internet services in his PhD thesis," Musk wrote in a tweet Saturday, with a screenshot to what...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he is petitioning the state's Supreme Court to "impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate any and all wrongdoing in Florida with respect to COVID-19 vaccines." DeSantis made the announcement while chairing a roundtable focusing on the reported side effects of coronavirus vaccines, with some participants alleging negative health experiences after getting the shots made by companies such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. "In Florida, it is against the law to mislead and to misrepresent, particularly when you're talking about the efficacy of a drug," DeSantis said. "Today, I'm announcing a petition...

Former Vice President Mike Pence says the response to his new memoir has been “a great source of encouragement” as he considers getting into the ring for the White House against his onetime running mate, former President Trump. “You know, to be vice president is to be in the second position. I always believed that in that role it was important to take a half-step back and not be the story,” Pence said in an interview with Fox News to promote his memoir “So Help Me God.” “And so the fact that people are now getting to know me and...

A pair of Democrats are pressing Pfizer about the company’s plans to raise the price of its COVID-19 vaccine. In a letter to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a senator-elect, slammed the move as “pure and deadly greed” and expressed concern it could result in other vaccine manufacturers, such as Moderna and Novavax, raising the prices of their vaccines. The Democrats asked for information about the justification for the price increase and the impact of the increase on Americans who could be required to pay high out-of-pocket costs for the vaccine. “We...

MIAMI – Did she see this coming? A federal judge sentenced a so-called psychic and fortune teller from Miami who prosecutors say swindled more than $3 million out of a woman by claiming she needed the money to break a family curse. Fifty-one-year-old Samantha Stevens was sentenced to spend 30 months in prison on fraud and money laundering charges, officials said Thursday. According to prosecutors, Stevens met the victim in 2012, gained her trust and convinced her that a curse had been placed on her family. Stevens claimed she needed to “perform rituals on large sums of money in order...

Dozens of athletic competitions for women and girls have been upended by the participation of males identifying as transgender women, who benefit from a host of biological advantages over female competitors, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found. Transgender-identified males have competed in a variety of women’s athletic competitions, from school sports for young children to top college events and Olympic competitions. Differences in an average woman’s strength, stamina and physique compared to the average male are sustained even when a male undergoes testosterone suppression, according to the Sports Councils’ Equality Group. “There is no equity, fairness, sportsmanship or opportunity...

The United States is finalizing plans to send the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, a decision that could be announced as soon as this week, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday...Two of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the announcement could come as early as Thursday but was awaiting formal approval from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden.

Do you ever look at your friends and wonder how in the world they just can’t see the truth? This is a problem that many of us conservatives experience on a regular basis. Sometimes I just look at people and think, “how can you not get it?” Then one day a good friend of mine sent me a Bible passage and told me that this verse made everything makes sense. And I agree. What if it is actually impossible for people to see the truth? And, even more incredibly, what if it was true that it is God, who makes...

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr Matthew 21:28–32,br> Friends, today’s Gospel is the parable of the two sons, a story about obedience to God. To live the good life is not finally a matter of autonomy but of obeying commandments.The obedience that Jesus desires is a surrender to the one who wants what is best for the surrenderer. The entire to-be of the Son is a listening to the command of the Father, and the creature, consequently, is meant to be nothing but a listening to the command of the Son.This is why Jesus says in the Gospel of...

The DOJ had Bankman-Fried arrested, but the SEC release spills the beans. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on the evening of Monday, December 12, by Bahamian authorities at the request of the US government. On Tuesday, December 13, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged him with violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Perhaps the most interesting item in the SEC announcement is that the Biden administration is, for the first, time revealing Bankman-Fried used embezzled funds to make political donations. He has been called the Democrats’ second biggest...

A grand jury indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried was unsealed Tuesday. Prosecutors in New York accused him of mixing the coffers of FTX and Alameda Research. The 8 criminal charges against him include wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the US and violate the campaign finance laws. US federal prosecutors in New York have formally charged former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with 8 criminal charges, including fraud for allegedly using FTX funds to support the endeavors of his crypto hedge fund Alameda Research.

A Minnesota science teacher in the Saint Paul Public Schools district lambasted cell biology lessons, particularly on mitochondrion, for containing "capitalist" propaganda, Fox News Digital found. Mandi Jung, a teacher at Highland Park Middle School, said, "Lately, there's been a lot of conversation about teachers indoctrinating students to their beliefs. And I always find this funny because our children are seeped in capitalist indoctrination from like the second they're born, basically." Jung proceeded to provide the "perfect example" of how "capitalist indoctrination" is expressed in her seventh grade science classes. "Seventh grade science… [is] the year that you learn that...

WASHINGTON — President Biden wrongly claimed Tuesday that he lowered the national debt by $1.7 trillion — when in fact the debt grew by nearly $3.7 trillion during his first 23 months in office. Biden made the error while using the terms “deficit” and “debt” interchangeably during remarks touting the slight decline in the annual inflation rate to 7.1% in November. “We’ve done all of this while lowering the federal deficit in the two years we’ve been in office $1.7 trillion,” Biden said before incorrectly adding, “Let me say that again — $1.7 trillion we’ve lowered the federal debt.” The...

Indictment says Daniel Duggan provided military training to the pilots through a ‘test flying academy’ in South Africa between 2010-12 Australian pilot Daniel Duggan – a former US Marine Corps aviator – has been accused of breaking American arms control laws by training Chinese fighter pilots to land on aircraft carriers, according to an indictment now unsealed by a US court. The indictment said the naturalised Australian “provided military training to (PRC) People’s Republic of China pilots” through a “test flying academy” in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. Duggan was arrested by Australian authorities, at the request of the...

Outgoing National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that society was becoming anti-science because “untruths” are being normalized through social media. Mitchell said, “With the rise of disinformation and misinformation, are we developing an anti-science animus in society?” Fauci said, “The answer is yes. The short answer to your question.

A study shows that New York City has lost 10 percent of taxpayers earning over $750,000 and 6 percent of those who make between $150,000 and $750,000. Nevertheless, leftists emboldened by the midterm elections are calling for even more tax increases on the wealthy: A new city analysis shows that a huge chunk of high-income earners fled in 2020. Yet progressives refuse to hear the alarm bell: They’re pushing to “tax the rich” yet again instead. The study by the city’s Independent Budget Office shows a 10% plunge in taxpayers who made over $750,000, and 6% of those with incomes...