Free Republic

BURIRAM, Thailand—Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda said he is among the auto industry’s silent majority in questioning whether electric vehicles should be pursued exclusively, comments that reflect a growing uneasiness about how quickly car companies can transition. Auto makers are making big bets on fully electric vehicles, investments that have been bolstered by robust demand for the limited numbers of models that are now available. Still, challenges are mounting—particularly in securing parts and raw materials for batteries—and concerns have emerged in some pockets of the car business about the speed to which buyers will make the shift, especially as...

ransomnote: The video excerpt (transcript below) is undated, was recorded when President Trump was in office, and is likely from 2019. The video was uploaded to YOUTUBE on Dec 1, 2022.https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZaNqkKGt8aATRANSCRIPT of video clip:Why are we the only ones that give the big money to the Ukraine?We give money to Ukraine, and it’s bothered me from Day 1; and you have plenty of people, just here; I say, "how come it’s always the United States that gets ripped?"Frankly, Ukraine, we wanna help them.What I was having a problem with are two things.Number 1, Ukraine is known (audience: Zelensky?) –before him,...

Election denier Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) announced Monday that the January 6 Committee would refer former President Donald Trump for criminal investigation by the Department of Justice for four charges. These charges include conspiracy to defraud the United States; obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to make a false statement; and inciting, assisting, or aiding and comforting an insurrection against the country. Raskin himself has objected to the past certification of election results — the action at the center of the charges that he, and the rest of the committee, voted unanimously to refer the former president for prosecution.

After nearly two years of the Biden administration’s failed diplomacy, the revival of the Iran nuclear deal—aka the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—is all but dead, likely making Tehran thrilled with its burgeoning friendship with Moscow. Why? Well, it turns out that Russia can do many things to support Iran in a post-nuclear deal world—and Tehran likely is expecting that, considering what it already has done for Moscow in its unjust war on Kyiv. As we are aware, Iran has provided several hundred—likely more—combat drones to Russia for its military campaign in Ukraine. The Iranian drones have had a sizable...

The epic is heading for a strange head-to-head with Barbie at the box office Universal has released the first full trailer for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist closely associated with the invention and detonation of the first atomic bomb in the 1940s. The tone is epic and serious as we see a montage of the bomb being devised and prepared at the Manhattan Project site in New Mexico, while Cillian Murphy, as Oppenheimer, looks on, aghast at his creation. “They won’t fear it until they understand it, and they won’t understand it until they’ve used...

The head of Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council, Oleksi Danilov, assured Monday that the Chechnya region will only be part of Russia "as long as (Vladimir) Putin is alive" and insisted that "once Putin leaves it will be a free country." Danilov has pointed out that Putin and the leader of the Chechen region, Ramzan Kadirov, have reached an agreement whereby the Russian president "gives everything." "Money, opportunities, orders, welfare, everything. In return, Chechnya remains part of Russia, but as soon as Putin leaves, it will become a free country," he stressed. "Whether with Kadyrov or without him, it...

Metabolism studies reveal surprising insights into how we burn calories—and how cooperative food production helped Homo sapiens flourish It was my daughter Clara’s seventh birthday party, a scene at once familiar and bizarre. The celebration was an American take on a classic script: a shared meal of pizza and picnic food, a few close COVID-compliant friends and family, a beaming kid blowing out candles on a heavily iced cake. With roughly 380,000 boys and girls around the world turning seven each day, it was a ritual no doubt repeated by many, the world’s most prolific primate singing “Happy Birthday” in...

Members of Pussy Riot, a Russian punk rock band known for political stunts to draw attention to societal issues, was detained in Qatar after trying to storm the field at the World Cup on Sunday, activists say.The band members were looking to protest against Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, the imprisonment of Russian political activist Alexei Navalny and the oppression of women in Iran that have sparked protests throughout the Islamic Republic, according to Reuters.Nika Nikulshina, an associate of the group, and Peter Verzilov, who is from Ukraine, were detained before they could get onto the field at Lusail Stadium, the...

I have to go on Medicare early next April. I have my credit reports frozen. Does anybody know which ones I need to un freeze in order to log on? Foot traffic to the local SS office is backed up late February. The local SS office had no clue which credit report I needed to unfreeze.

Watch here:KARI LAKE LAWSUIT HEARING

U.S. stock indexes fell on Monday, led by shares of Tesla and other megapcap companies, as investors feared that the Federal Reserve's monetary policy tightening campaign could push the U.S. economy into a recession. The main U.S. benchmarks have sold off sharply in December, putting them on course for their worst annual declines since the 2008 financial crisis, after mixed economic data and the Fed's hawkish stance fueled worries of a recession. Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) fell 1.6%, reversing strong premarket gains in the wake of a Twitter poll that showed majority of users voted for Elon Musk to step down...

The UK government's plan to deport migrants to Rwanda is lawful, the High Court has ruled. The court ruled on Monday that the scheme did not breach the UN's Refugee Convention or human rights laws. But the cases of eight asylum seekers had not been "properly considered" and would need to be reconsidered, judges added. Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she is committed to making the Rwanda policy work. A hearing will take place in January to deal with any appeal applications. Ms Braverman said: "We have always maintained that this policy is lawful and today the court has upheld...

A proposed Department of Energy rule would phase out the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to remove less energy-efficient bulbs from the market. Current standards require light bulbs to be at least 45 lumens, the unit used to measure brightness, per watt. Under the proposed update, first reported by CNN, the standard would be more than doubled to more than 120 lumens per watt. Commonplace 60-watt equivalent lightbulbs would only require a maximum of 6.5 watts, according to an analysis by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). “Today’s announcement is the latest...

Yes, I said it and I mean it wholeheartedly. Every Black History month Blacks sing "We Shall Overcome" but if the Black community in America continues to accept and foolishly advocate for a slave mentality, that is what they shall get. The progressive socialist left, aka the Democrat party, has been highly successful in perpetuating a victim mentality for the black community. And in many ways, it has been the policies of the white socialist elitists of the left that have decimated and destroyed the black community. Over the centuries, it has been the Democrats who have brought forth the...

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Monday on FNC’s “America Reports” that he hoped former President Donald Trump is not criminally charged for his actions surrounding January 6, 2021. Pence said, “But let me be very clear about this point. Congress has no formal role in Justice Department decisions, so they can make recommendations today. But when it comes to the Justice Department’s decision about about about bringing charges in the future, I would hope that they would not bring charges against the former president. I don’t look, I as I wrote in my book, I think the president’s actions...

Federal and state governments are practically giving away electric school buses, and if your local district doesn't have its hand up yet, it should. ... diesel buses emit greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. ... The catch: An electric school bus costs $350,000 to $450,000 — three to four times a traditional diesel bus — and most districts can't afford the upfront expense, despite the long-term savings. What's happening: A bunch of new government incentives make replacing aging diesel fleets an easy call. The five-year, $5 billion Clean School Bus Program, approved in November 2021 as part of the...

An FBI agent contacted a top Twitter executive hours before The Post published its first exposé about Hunter Biden’s questionable overseas business dealings in October 2020. The FBI sprang into action just hours after The Post reached out to Hunter Biden ​for comment ​about his scandalous laptop — which contained details of the then-presidential candidate’s son and his extensive dealings with Chinese and other foreign business interests –​ ​warning Twitter and ​F​acebook executives, without any evidence, ​that it ​was a Russian “hack and leak” operation. A day later, Twitter and other social media companies censored The Post’s article, “preventing it...

Late yesterday afternoon Matt Taibbi posted a Twitter Files Supplemental thread running to 12 substantive tweets. It is accessible here. I urge interested readers to check it out. Here are my notes and comments. • The New York Post covers it here. The Daily Mail covers it here. Mainstream media eyes remain wide shut. The revelations of the Twitter Files suggest that Elon Musk may not be public enemy number 1. • This supplemental thread is derived from old Twitter’s communications with FBI Special Agent Elvis Chan (hereinafter “the bad Elvis”). The bad Elvis has not left the building. Indeed,...

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have both reportedly invested in Synchron, a new brain-computer interface startup that aims to compete with companies like Elon Musk’s Neuralink. On Thursday, Synchron announced that it had completed a funding round of $75 million, with Bezos Expeditions contributing a portion of the investment. The round was led by ARCH Venture Partners and included investment from Gates Frontier, the venture capital branch of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, as well as other investors. In addition, several previous investors, including Khosla Ventures and its founder, Vinod Khosla, who introduced Oxley to Gates, also...

VIDEO The FBI repeatedly grilled Twitter execs about censorship on the social media platform in the summer of 2020 — insisting that the company provide more information about removing “state propaganda” from the site, according to the latest Twitter Files release. The agency’s Foreign Influence Task Force — which deals with cyber threats — interrogated Twitter on its reporting about official state media actors’ use of the site, according to emails unearthed by independent journalist Matt Taibbi in what he dubbed the “Twitter Files Supplemental” Sunday night. San Francisco FBI agent Elvis Chan pressured former Twitter trust and safety chief...