Free Republic

Nearly half of the Senate Republican Conference has signed on to a letter to President Biden warning they will not vote for any bill to raise the nation’s debt limit unless it’s connected to spending cuts to address the nation’s $31 trillion debt. The letter, led by conservative Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.), says it is the policy of the Republican conference that any increase in the debt ceiling must be accompanied by cuts in federal spending or “meaningful structural reform in spending.” “We, the undersigned members of the Senate Republican Conference, write to express our outright...

The authors of a book arguing for slavery reparations have demanded that the federal government should fork out an eye-watering $14 TRILLION to the cause. Duke University professor William A. Darity and writer A. Kirsten Mullen called for the mammoth reparations payout as they argued that the federal government is 'culpable for slavery.'

After the Internal Revenue Service issued several releases warning about potentially lower tax refunds this filing season, some analysts say that it could put strain on some families who may have anticipated an expanded child tax credit. Analysts Sound Off.. Financial expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox told NPR on Jan. 22 that there are “four main reasons” that cause will cause 2022’s returns to be smaller. “The first is: no more stimulus checks. The second is that what was called the enhanced child credit—that’s gone,” she noted. A third reason is that a pandemic-era tax break for charitable deductions was killed for...

The continuing search for classified documents in the possession of President Joe Biden has turned up more written information and resulted already in a report about the seized items. The recent search was conducted over a 12-hour period on Friday with the approval of the president’s attorneys, unlike the raid on former President Donald Trump’s home, CNN reported. Also unlike Trump’s scenario, there have been many documents found that date back to Biden’s days as a vice president and senator when he did not have the clearance of a sitting president. The findings are causing other previous Democrat presidents have...

Former President Donald Trump sued famed journalist Bob Woodward on Monday over the release of audio recordings of his interviews with Trump, who claims he never agreed to allow those tapes to be sold to the public. Woodward, publisher Simon & Schuster and its parent company, Paramount Global, “unlawfully usurped” Trump’s copyright interests and other rights by publishing an audiobook featuring hours of “raw” audio from Woodward’s many interviews with Trump, the lawsuit alleges. The suit seeks $50 million or more which it says is based on an estimate that the audiobook, “The Trump Tapes,” sold more than 2 million...

The Japanese government has lashed out at Beijing, condemning an incident wherein a flotilla of Chinese government vessels breached Japan-claimed waters around the around the disputed Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.Tokyo has lodged a formal diplomatic complaint after a Japanese-registered private vessel operating within Japanese-controlled waters was approached by four Chinese Coast Guard ships in the early morning hours of Monday. Tokyo says its coast guard patrols forced the Chinese ships to depart the area.Illustrative file image, via Kyodo NewsThe encounter was tense, based on the description given to US military news outlet Stars & Stripes, which recounted...

On this date in 1744, Skinnar Per Andersson was beheaded in Stockholm — a cautionary examplar of the limits of electoral change. Andersson, (English Wikipedia entry | Swedish) a farmer from Dalarna, was his constituency’s most eloquent exponent of grievances against the ruling Hat party. The latter had proven deeply unresponsive to the complaints of farmers and peasants while also harrowing the countryside for recruits to die in the Hats’ insane war of choice against Russia. Andersson tore into the war policy at a public meeting in July of 1742, demanding punishment for the politicians who had launched it; he...

The Associated Press is continuing its tradition of celebrating people who are making a difference in an effort to “save the planet” through noble acts of sacrifice. One such person is Josh Spodek of Manhattan. After taking recycling and composting to the extreme, Spodek determined that he still wasn’t doing enough. So now he has permanently unplugged his refrigerator, which was apparently using too much electricity and contributing to the climate crisis. He started out by unplugging it for three months during the winter, but now he has shifted his shopping and eating habits to allow him to live entirely...

Politifact is biased. All news sources are biased to some extent (I make no bones about being a conservative, although do my best to stick to the facts), although some are better about trying to be open and fair than others.Politifact? Browsing their site I have concluded that while they may think they are fair, they don’t come close.The first “fact check is a doozy, since their “Truth o Meter” and the content of their “analysis” contradict each other. They rate a claim “false” while their explanation for coming to the conclusion shows that it is, in fact, true. They...

Attorneys for Tyre Nichols' family suggested a white cop involved in the victim's arrest got special treatment.Officer Preston Hemphill was placed on paid leave in connection to the fatal beating of Nichols. "Why is his identity and the role he played in Tyre's death just now coming to light?" the lawyers asked.Attorneys for the family of Tyre Nichols — the Black man who died after being beaten by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this month — suggested on Monday that the only known white officer involved in the victim's arrest was getting special treatment. The Memphis Police Department confirmed...

The horrific beating death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis has rapidly been driving the national conversation on policing with a renewed level of energy reminiscent of the 2020 “summer of love.” This week, the NAACP called for the firing of all of the law enforcement officials, including Sheriff’s Deputies who were present during the assault even if they did not take part in it. It’s not an unreasonable demand. Less desirable is the suddenly renewed debate in Congress over federal “police reform” laws. It seems obvious that Democrats in Washington are using Nichols’ death as an excuse to run that...

Immigration activists are stirring the pot in New York City. Migrants were scheduled to be moved from the Watson Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen on Sunday night, but they refused to leave. They are to be moved to a new shelter in Brooklyn with all the same services they receive at the hotel. It’s not good enough.The new shelter is at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Mayor Adams announced last week that the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal would be a migrant mega-shelter. It will hold up to 1,000 single adult men. This is the fifth Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center opened in...

Like spoiled children, liberals never give up when they want something, and they can never get enough. Whether it’s more redistribution of taxpayer money, more acceptance of unacceptable behavior, or another cookie, left-wingers always want more. Perfect example: Rather than “only” coming after our evil, planet-destroying passenger cars, the left is targeting our pickup trucks as well, my fellow Americans.Moreover, the idiocy is neither new nor driven only by the left’s hatred of internal combustion engines.As I first reported in January 2021 — and this is laugh-out-loud hysterical — pickup trucks not only brazenly project “petromasculinity”; they’re also the personification...

e-mail 302 shares 418 View comments A Russian frigate carrying 'unstoppable' Mach 9 nuclear-capable hypersonic cruise missiles has deviated from its course and is sailing towards the US coast, reports have claimed. The Admiral Gorshkov, armed with Zircon missiles which Vladimir Putin boasts has 'no equivalent in the world', is being closely monitored by NATO navies during its maiden voyage. Earlier this month, the frigate was escorted through British waters by the Royal Navy, and French and Spanish ships then escorted it through the Atlantic. It was scheduled to head south past South Africa to the Indian Ocean then enter...

Good news, everybody. The COVID-19 pandemic now has an end date, at least according to the Biden administration.On Monday evening, news broke that the White House will be announcing an end to the emergency footing of the federal government regarding the coronavirus. So what’s the date? Does it end next week? Next month?The answer is neither. In fact, the end date is being set on…May 11th?🚨NEW – THE WHITE HOUSE will announce shortly that it plans to end the public heath emergency for Covid-19 on May 11, according to multiple Democratic sources. This will be part of a SAP opposing...

When it comes to fertility, the focus tends to fall on women and their (loudly ticking) biological clocks. Yet it’s not just women who have to take age into account when considering when to have children. Experts agree that men's fertility also depends on their age. According to Dr. Jane L. Frederick, a reproductive endocrinologist, women get most of the attention because they have a finite number of eggs at birth and must contend with changes in egg quantity and quality starting at age 35. “Women play an obvious role in reproduction, leading us to believe that the topics of...

A load of more than 60 Bradley fighting vehicles departed South Carolina for Ukraine last week as part of the latest $2.5 billion package in military aid that the Biden administration announced earlier this month. The armored vehicle, named after World War II Gen. Omar Bradley, is operated by three crew members and can transport up to seven infantry around the battlefield. It's outfitted with a 25mm automatic cannon, as well as a 7.62 Coaxial Machine Gun and an anti-tank missile launcher. "The Bradley is a very powerful vehicle that we are providing to the Ukrainians," Army Lt. Col. Rebecca...

The Biden administration has informed Congress it plans to end national COVID-19 emergency declarations on May 11. The move would shift the U.S. government’s response for managing COVID-19 back to the normal authorities given to federal agencies, with the virus to be considered as endemic. The COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency at the start of the outbreak by then-President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020. President Joe Biden has repeatedly extended the emergency declarations since. The White House noted on Monday that the COVID-19 national emergency and the public health emergency (PHE) are currently set to expire on...

Researchers have found that the drug rilmenidine can extend lifespan and slow aging. The findings show that animals treated with rilmenidine, currently used to treat hypertension, at young and older ages increases lifespan and improves health markers, mimicking the effects of caloric restriction. They also demonstrate that the healthspan and lifespan benefits of rilmenidine treatment in the roundworm C. elegans are mediated by the I1-imidazoline receptor nish-1, identifying this receptor as a potential longevity target. Unlike other drugs previously studied for this purpose by the researchers, the widely-prescribed, oral antihypertensive rilmenidine has potential for future translatability to humans as side-effects...

Track 2 (side one) from the album, "Can't Buy a Thrill" (1972)