Free Republic

Starting in 2009 with the housing bubble burst and ensuing financial crisis, The Federal Reserve bought agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) in an effort to provide stability to the then suffering housing and mortgage markets. Flash forward to today and The Federal Reserve still has $2.62 TRILLION in Agency MBS in its System Open Market holdings. And declining very slowly. All this is happening as M2 Money growth YoY has gone negative and both mortgage rates and home price growth are slowing. Is the US mortgage market that fragile that requires The Fed to support it? The answer is yes if...

HONG KONG — Analysis of Covid-19 cases in Beijing suggests that no new variants emerged from China’s recent outbreak, according to a study published Wednesday. Facing rare mass unrest after nearly three years of strict “zero-Covid” policies, the Chinese government dropped most restrictions on Dec. 7. The sudden change unleashed the coronavirus over the winter on a population of 1.4 billion people who had barely been exposed to it, raising fears that the outbreak could produce a new variant of concern and leading dozens of countries, including the United States, to impose testing and other curbs on travelers from China....

The first are what this writer terms, “The Weak Sister Crowd.” These are the whiners and crybabies who got their noses out of joint when Trump released a “mean” tweet that brought tears to their eyes. They’re the, “Trump said boo to the _____ (insert target group here), and I’m not going vote for him ever again” brainiacs.The second group of NeverTrumpers are the Deep Swamp critters who benefit off the U.S. Feral Gruberment’s largesse. The Corrupocrats like Nancy Pelosi, who start wars and crises and then profit off them via their military-industrial complex stock portfolios. “Never let a good...

The Internal Revenue Service released a proposed revenue procedure on Monday which would entail employers in the service industry voluntarily reporting their workers’ tips to the tax agency. The Service Industry Tip Compliance Agreement initiative, for which the IRS is soliciting feedback through early May, would be “designed to take advantage of advancements in point-of-sale, time and attendance systems, and electronic payment settlement methods to improve tip reporting compliance,” according to a notice from the agency. The program would exist to decrease “administrative burdens” on taxpayers and IRS administrators. Businesses involved with the initiative would submit an annual report on...

The Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed last September by the US in a covert operation, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed. The legendary reporter made the bombshell revelation in an article posted to his newly launched blog on Substack on Wednesday.The explosives were planted at the pipelines back in June 2022 by US Navy divers under the guise of BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise, Hersh reported, citing a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.The journalist noted he had reached the White House and the CIA for comment, with both firmly rejecting the claim as "utterly false."The bombs...

Russian President Vladimir Putin likely decided to supply the missile that shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, but there is no realistic prospect of prosecuting him or others, investigators said Wednesday. Investigators said there were "strong indications" Putin had personally approved the transfer of the missile to pro-Russian separatists during fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014, citing intercepted phone calls. But the probe is being suspended because "all leads have been exhausted" into the shooting down of the plane, which crashed with the loss of all 298 people on board. The announcement comes less than three months after...

Illinois state lawmakers are pondering a bill that would force Chicago grocery stores, gas stations, banks and pawn shops to hire their own armed security guards to cover all hours they are open to the public. State Rep. Thaddeus Jones, D-Calumet City, introduced the “Armed Security Protection Act.” It only applies to municipalities with more than 2 million residents, which in Illinois would exclusively mean Chicago. What the bill doesn’t mention is the higher costs for businesses, which get passed on to customers. Grocery stores are defined as “a business engaged in the sale of food, beverages, and other goods...

[Catholic Caucus] Francis intervenes in pro-Traditional Diocese in FranceBecause the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon is too pro-Traditional, of course...[EWTN] The Vatican is investigating the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon in France for its adherence to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and its support of the traditional Latin Mass. The investigation, which will begin on February 13 and be led by Archbishop Antoine Hérouard with the assistance of Bishop Joël Mercier, is part of the Vatican's efforts to ensure that the teachings of the Council are upheld across the Catholic Church. A communiqué from the Apostolic Nunciature of France, published by the...

I am not buying it. A 200 foot balloon with a 2000 pound payload was able to breach US airspace over Alaska and went unimpeded as it completed its mission spying over the US. Joe Biden allowed it to finish the mission before ordering the balloon shot down, specifically ordering the payload targeted. My guess is it was done to minimize disclosure of Chinese success. That balloon could have carried mini-surveillance devices, small dirty bombs, EMP weapons or even hypersonic missiles. The next one also could. Only until the furor grew to a fever pitch did the Biden administration "reveal"...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) knew Democrats would hate what she had to say to Biden during his State of the Union address, but she couldn’t care less. Only spineless Republicans don’t get it, mainly because they’re soft Democrats by now. For the conservative base, she showed why they elected her to Congress. She was brought in to be an attack dog who doesn’t care about the conventions of the institutions; she’ll brush them aside to make her point. Greene did what Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) did when Obama addressed a joint session of Congress in 2009. She called Mr....

Former President Donald Trump responded to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address Tuesday night, focusing on the mass illegal immigration taking place at the southern border, crime, drops in real wages, and “corruption.”“Here’s the real State of the Union: Over the past two years under Biden, millions and millions of illegal aliens from 160 different countries have stormed across our southern border,” said Trump, the lone GOP candidate officially in the 2024 primary field. Since Biden assumed office in January 2021, 4.2 million migrants have been apprehended by Border Patrol agents along the southern border, marking a record...

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (R-Calif.) said Wednesday, the morning after President Biden’s State of the Union address, that she believes the country needs a “strong” Republican Party but this “is not it.” “It’s not our judgment about what it should be — it’s their judgment — but it’s a missed opportunity for America,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” She pointed to the 15 votes and nearly a week of negotiations that it took House Republicans to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker, calling it “inept.” Republican lawmakers repeatedly heckled the president during his speech before a joint session...

Embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) exchanged some harsh words prior to the State of the Union address on Tuesday. After video captured the two Republicans briefly speaking as lawmakers entered the House floor, Romney confirmed he told the New York representative he shouldn’t be there. “I didn’t expect that he’d be standing there trying to shake hands with every senator and the president of the United States,” Romney told reporters after the speech when asked why he went out of his way to say that to Santos. “Given the fact that he is under ethics...

There is nothing more dangerous to authoritarianism than a principle applied impartially. Authoritarianism thrives on group bias. Thus, one of the cures for authoritarianism is a willingness to be fair to your opponents, to judge both your own group and their group with the same lens. Like a fungus exposed to constant fresh air, authoritarianism simply cannot survive when a sustained principle is fairly applied to all sides. The danger of authoritarianism is one of the many reasons that to show partiality in judgment is not good. Given the current tendencies for extremists across the political spectrum to spiral into...

Republicans are quick to suggest that President Joe Biden has lost a step — but he proved nimble enough Tuesday night to box them in on Social Security and Medicare. And he did it, in part, by going off script. Nearly halfway through his State of the Union address, Biden said that "some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years" and that others would like to use the possibility of defaulting on federal debt as leverage to cut those programs. Republicans jeered. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a newly empowered voice in her party, yelled, "Liar!"...

Christians who once identified as homosexual have mixed opinions about recent remarks made by Pastor Andy Stanley, in which the megachurch leader said that LGBT individuals who go to church have “more faith than a lot of you.” Last month, a short clip of Stanley was posted on Twitter in which he said “a gay person who still wants to attend church after the way the church has treated the gay community, I'm telling you, they have more faith than I do. They have more faith than a lot of you.”“A gay person who knows, 'You know what? I might...

Egg prices rose to record highs in December. A dozen large Grade A eggs had more than doubled in price during 2022, on average. A historic outbreak of bird flu in the U.S. disrupted egg production and supply, economists said. Wholesale egg prices have fallen by more than 50% since December, according to Urner Barry data. Retail egg prices may soon follow, but it’s not a sure thing.

President Joe Biden made his annual mockery of himself and of Democrats’ ridiculous policies during Tuesday’s State of the Union speech, and at one point got roundly humiliated by Republicans when they all laughed at one of his remarks. Biden, speaking about his administration’s commitment to move away from fossil fuels, stated at one point that “we are going to need oil at least for another decade” before being interrupted by a cacophony of uproarious laughter. Take a look below as Biden once again proves how clueless these folks are: As independent commentator Clay Travis pointed out on Twitter, every...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the British Parliament Wednesday afternoon, expressing his view on military alliances in terms of equipment transfers, and thanking the United Kingdom “in advance” for the gift of its warplanes. The speaker of the British House of Commons was presented with a signed combat pilot’s helmet by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday afternoon, saying the gift should act as a symbol to help get Western warplanes donated to the Ukrainian war effort. Indicating, perhaps, that he now considers getting British fighter jets is now a fait accompli Zelensky said in his address to the UK...