Free Republic

China's call for an urgent ceasefire and peace talks to end the war between Ukraine and Russia was today met with scepticism in Kyiv and the West, with the head of NATO arguing that Beijing 'doesn't have much credibility'. Western leaders have questioned what the real motive behind China's 12-point peace plan is - given that Beijing has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia and parroted the Kremlin's talking points about NATO expansionism. China has claimed it wants to prevent the crisis from getting out of control, noting that dialogue and negotiation are the only viable ways to resolve the conflict, according...

Lodi City Councilman Shakir Khan was playing the odds that California would never check the alleged vote scam he was running out of his place in 2020. And Khan would have gotten away with the voter fraud too – if only the cops hadn’t gotten a whiff of the other stuff they say he was doing. You can’t blame Khan, really. Everybody was ripping off the California Employment Development Department (EDD) – the state unemployment office – during Covid. That’s because, much like the mail-in voting disaster the Democrat is also accused of gaming, nobody is really checking. Oh, sure,...

The New York Times runs interference for the ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ narrative by pushing shoddy evidence of its benefits.As the Supreme Court appears poised to strike down decades of racially discriminatory affirmative-action policy, The New York Times’ “The Morning” newsletter last week suggested that such social engineering policies lead to better outcomes, declaring that “research shows that students learn more in diverse groups and employees are more productive.”Yet it turns out the very research to which the Times linked admits that virtually no evidence actually exists to support the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programming — which treats individuals...

Unlike the military-industrial complex, the Censorship Complex affects all aspects of governance, controlling the information available to you on every topic.The Biden administration may have abandoned plans to create a “Disinformation Board,” but a more insidious “Censorship Complex” already exists and is growing at an alarming speed. This Censorship Complex is bigger than banned Twitter accounts or Democrats’ propensity for groupthink. Its funding and collaboration implicate the government, academia, tech giants, nonprofits, politicians, social media, and the legacy press. Under the guise of combatting so-called misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information, these groups seek to silence speech that threatens the far-left’s ability...

Alex Jones claims the Justice Department is after his cat. In a video shared by his wife on Twitter, the Infowars host is shown cradling a Ragdoll cat named Mushu while telling viewers that the DOJ believes he used the animal to hide cash owed to the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims following defamation lawsuits. During a recent bankruptcy hearing, "they wanted to know if assets were hidden in the cat," which was purchased two years ago, Jones says, per the Daily Beast. "The cat was, like, $2,000. It's a Ragdoll cat. We really do love it. But...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Thursday apologized after losing his “train of thought” while speaking to the press in East Palestine, Ohio. His act of contrition came nearly three weeks after the toxic train derailment devastated the local community there. Speaking of the dangers of what he described as “misinformation injected into this situation, none of which is to the benefit of the community,” Buttigieg appeared to lose his place. “So I think — sorry I lost my train of thought,” Buttigieg said, prompting some to note the irony of his word choice.

There’s a common misconception that a college degree is the main route to a successful career, but jobs in skilled trades are well-paying, satisfying, and widely available.Student loan debt has almost quadrupled over the last two decades and is now far outpacing auto loans and credit card debt in the U.S., according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. More than $1.7 trillion in student loans could turn into a debt crisis for America, which raises the question: Do all students need to go to college to have a successful career?There’s a common misconception that a college degree is...

“Lord of the Rings” fans are less than thrilled about the Thursday announcement from Warner Bros. that indicates the company plans to make more films based on the franchise. The decision comes less than a year after the big-budget Amazon TV series “The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” was released to mixed reviews. The television project and all previous film adaptations are based on the epic high-fantasy book series by British author J.R.R. Tolkien. Warner Bros. Pictures announced Thursday that they signed a multi-year agreement with Swedish media company Embracer Group to revisit Tolkien’s work. Director Peter Jackson...

Why should a tank commander at Fort Hood have to deal with pronouns instead of training his troops to fight an enemy force?The nation is worried about serious national security threats, including Chinese spy aircraft, but the U.S. Department of Defense seems pre-occupied with misplaced priorities. “Woke” policies are taking leftist ideologies to extremes with enforced compliance, even if it hurts the institution.Since January 2021, Defense Department officials have expanded woke transgender mandates in significant ways. A comprehensive policy analysis titled “Biden Pentagon Quietly Expands Woke Transgender Policies in the Military,” summarized here, compares Joe Biden and Lloyd Austin directives...

Full Testimony of Jacqueline Breger at AZ Committee

Forty-fifth President and leading 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump has the highest favorability rating among all political figures, according to a recent poll released this week.The survey, conducted by Harvard Caps/Harris, was taken February 15-16 among 1,838 registered voters.Trump was viewed as the most favorable with 48 percent having a positive view of him, compared to 45 percent who don’t.This poll shows more Americans are beginning to see Trump as their favorite political figure. In December, 44 percent viewed Trump favorably.Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) tied for second place with 44 percent. In contrast, 36 percent...

European natural gas inventories fell by 69 BCF over past 1 week. EU nat gas storage 63% full. Current inventories at 2426 BCF

The Berkeley Institute of Government Studies/Los Angeles Times poll, conducted between Feb. 14 and Feb. 20 among 7,512 registered voters, asked respondents the question, "If Joe Biden decides not to run for a second term for President in 2024, how would you feel about Vice President Kamala Harris running for President in 2024?" Just 16% said they'd be "very enthusiastic," while 21% said they'd be "somewhat enthusiastic"; 18% answered "not too enthusiastic," and a clear plurality of 41% said "not enthusiastic at all." Four percent of survey respondents offered no opinion. In sum, just 37% of voters say they have...

Donald Trump is dominating the 2024 field, this time in a hypothetical matchup with other potential Republican competitors in the Kansas primary.The poll, published by the Remington Research Group, put Trump in a hypothetical matchup with Flordia Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), former Vice President Mike Pence, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. The poll also included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), both of whom have yet to declare.The 45th president grabbed 30 percent of voter support. This dwarfed Governor DeSantis’s support base, which totaled 17 percent. Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo...

A Wall Street Journal editorial this week highlighted the absurdity of America's strategy in Ukraine. The Journal urges the U.S. to provide more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a longer-range missile system, which Biden is reluctant to do. Ukraine, with America's help, must win, argues the Journal, in part to thwart a developing Russia-China-Iran axis of power. The Journal doesn't seem to notice that U.S. and Western support for Ukraine's military has been the impetus for this incipient axis.###In war, telling your enemy you'll push only so hard is a serious handicap. It cedes a critical tactical advantage to the...

Poland has confirmed delivering the first Leopard tanks to Ukraine on Friday as Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited Kyiv to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At a meeting of the National Security Council in Warsaw, President Andrzej Duda said: "The prime minister couldn't be here, he went to Kyiv to bring Leopard tanks which are the first batch delivered to Ukraine." Shortly after Berlin approved the export of the German-made battle tanks, Ukrainian crews started training on the Leopard 2 tanks in Poland.

Instead of America asking why it took 19 days for former President Trump to visit East Palestine, Ohio, we are asking why it took Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg 20 days.That’s how badly His Fraudulency Joe Biden and Buttigieg bungled the Norfolk Southern train derailment and toxic spill. They had 18 whole days to beat Trump to the punch, and they still blew it.Don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticizing Trump. What he did was spectacular in several ways. Trump in East Palestine on Wednesday was Trump at his best, was Trump firing on all political cylinders. Instead of shit-posting on...

VIDEOAs you can see in this video, YouTube is officially claiming that all revenue earned by creators up to the moment of demonetization of their channels will be REFUNDED to the advertisers if the demonetization period lasts for more than 50 days. Since the vast majority of channels that are demonetized remain so for more than 50 days, this affects quite a bit of creators and revenue. The strange thing is that demonetized channels at least up to September 2020 were paid their earnings up to the point of demonetization as happened to my DUmmie FUnnies channel. However, starting at...

A recently released surveillance video shows a student allegedly attacking a Florida teacher aide, knocking her to the ground and punching her repeatedly. Video released by the Flagler County Sheriff's Office shows the Matanzas High School student allegedly attacking the teacher's aide because she confiscated his Nintendo Switch during class.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” it was “ironic” former President Trump visited East Palestine, OH, in the aftermath of a train derailment that caused hazardous materials to leak into the environment because he took “down regulations.”Reid asked, “You know, the sort of theatrics of Donald Trump being in Palestine were odd, but this is a community that voted overwhelmingly for him. The county that Palestine is in voted 71/29 for Donald Trump. I want you to reflect on the irony. In 2016, it was 68/26. This is a Trump county. What do you make of...