Free Republic

The Federal Reserve is retreating from its Covid-era monetary expansion. And with the retreat, US durable goods NEW ORDERS fell -4.5%% in January. The worst reading since … Covid in 2020. A breakdown of new orders shows that while NONDEFENSE capital goods orders dropped -5.4% YoY in January, DEFENSE capital goods orders increased by 25.4% YoY. Damn, it feels good to be a gangster.

HANOI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast has cut the lease price for its first model shipped to the United States by more than 50% for its first customers in California, with delivery starting this week, according to the company and emails to customers reviewed by Reuters. VinFast, a subsidiary of conglomerate Vingroup JSC, had said in January its first VF8 all-electric crossovers would be available to lease at a monthly payment of $599 for 24 months. Its website showed as of Monday a monthly lease price of $399 for the vehicle for a 24-month lease. VinFast...

The term “shoot the messenger” had a very different meaning in medieval times. Court jesters might be beheaded if they shared unfortunate news. Others could find themselves sailing over the battlefield, their last moments before landing with an unceremonious thud. They probably shaped the news, to the best of their ability, to avoid such a fate. Today’s court jesters provide a similar service. Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon and Oliver know they can’t speak the truth to their audiences. These realities must be avoided at all costs. BidenFlation Mayor Pete’s Train Wreck of a Presidential Dry Run VP Harris’ Word Salad Menu...

I think that red state Republicans have it easy and can afford to be soft. Or at least they think they can. And so they often are. I think that in the blue states, we Republicans have to fight. I can literally go days not talking to anyone who thinks like us who is not a super-hot Cuban woman.

Michigan Democrat Rep. Elissa Slotkin on Monday announced her 2024 Senate for the seat of retiring fellow Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow. The race for the open seat will likely intensify Michigan's status as a battleground state, with Democrat Joe Biden having won it in 2020 and Republican Donald Trump having won it 2016. Slotkin, a former Obama administration official who has served in Congress since 2019, pledged on her campaign website that she will continue her work "defending and expanding Michigan’s middle class, making critical items in America, keeping our kids safe from the things that are truly harming them,...

Los Angeles County, California confirmed it had removed 1.2 million ineligible voters from its rolls thanks to a settlement with the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch, the group announced Friday. Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in 2017 on behalf of itself and four registered voters in Los Angeles County. Election Integrity Project California, Inc., another public interest group, was also a part of the lawsuit. Under the agreement, Los Angeles had to send 1.6 million address confirmation notices to voters listed “inactive” on its voter rolls. According to the National Voter Registration Act — which requires states to maintain accurate...

As it turns out, leftists just have to learn the hard way that there’s nothing more domineering and oppressive to the female sex than men in drag.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — It was pharmacist Gwendolyn Herzig’s first time testifying before a legislative committee when she spoke to several Arkansas lawmakers in a packed hearing room this month about a bill restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Herzig, who is transgender, spoke out against the legislation and told the panel that one of the biggest obstacles trans people face is a lack of empathy. Only a few minutes later, a Republican lawmaker asked her an inappropriate question about her genitalia. “It was horrifying,” she said. During follow-up questions, Republican Sen. Matt McKee asked Herzig if she is transgender....

Alex Murdaugh's defense team is expected to rest Monday after the disgraced attorney spent two grueling days last week testifying at his double murder trial in Walterboro, SC. Defense lawyer Dick Harpootlian said Friday that they had four more witnesses, including a crime-scene analyst, then planned to formally end their case by the early afternoon. Attorney Creighton Waters said he expected to have one or two brief rebuttal witnesses. Closing arguments could be as early as Wednesday. Monday marks the sixth week of the trial that has mapped out the spectacular downfall of the powerful scion of what was once...

In this photo taken and provided by Pao Jo-yee, model Abby Choi, holding a cat, poses for a photo on Feb. 11, 2023, in Hong Kong.(Pao Jo-yee via AP) *********************************************** The ex-husband and former in-laws of a slain Hong Kong model were detained Monday on charges in her killing after police found body parts in a refrigerator and a pot. The case has gripped many in a Chinese territory where any violent crime is rare. Ex-husband Alex Kwong, his father Kwong Kau and his brother Anthony Kwong were charged with murdering model Abby Choi a day earlier. Alex Kwong's mother,...

<p>After seeing promising results in Eastern Europe, Google will initiate a new campaign in Germany that aims to make people more resilient to the corrosive effects of online misinformation.</p><p>The tech giant plans to release a series of short videos highlighting the techniques common to many misleading claims. The videos will appear as advertisements on platforms like Facebook, YouTube or TikTok in Germany. A similar campaign in India is also in the works.</p>

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Appreciating and Applying God's Word ~ •Drawings•Engravings•Facades•Frescoes•Illuminations•Miniatures•Mosaics•Photographs•Reliefs•Statues•Tapestries•Windows• PILATE HAS JESUS CROWNED AND MOCKED ֎ Featuring 47 Paintings and 1 Mosaic ֎ M A T T H E W «Chapter 27*» Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. 1 "Plaiting the Crown of Thorns" 2 AARON SPONG "The King's Crown" 3 LUCAS CRANACH the Elder "Christ's Head with...

EAST PALESTINE, OH — In a bizarre development, turtles around Ohio have reportedly been spotted hanging around pizza parlors and practicing a wide variety of martial arts. "I'm telling you, the turtle could talk," said local woman Alisha Hill, who claimed to have seen a turtle emerge from the sewer. "He asked me which way to the pizza parlor, then ran away doing random front-flips. I know what I saw!" "I'm pretty sure he even shouted, 'Cowabunga!'" Though the mysterious turtle sightings were initially dismissed as a hoax, dozens of eyewitnesses have come forward with similar stories. "Our pizza joint...

Triumph Retaken shows that America’s war in Vietnam could have been won earlier at far less cost, and in fact almost was, even belatedly by 1968. Military historian and Hillsdale College professor Mark Moyar has just published Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968, which is the second in what will become a massive three-volume revision of the entire Vietnam War. It is a book that should be widely read, much discussed, and reviewed in depth regardless of one’s view of that sad chapter in American diplomacy and conflict in Vietnam. The first book, Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965 appeared...

Stronger storms fueled by climate change will penetrate deeper into the United States and threaten parts of the country unaccustomed to high-speed winds, according to a new analysis of the country's vulnerability to tropical cyclones. The report on worsening winds and their projected financial impacts was released Monday by First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research group based in Brooklyn, New York. Researchers found that more intense storms brought on by climate change would expose millions more properties to wind damage in the next 30 years, particularly as tropical cyclone winds penetrate farther inland and as storms migrate poleward up the...

Belarus partisans said they blew up a Russian A-50 surveillance military aircraft The two Belarusians who carried out operation had used drones, it was claimed Belarusian partisans and members of the country's exiled opposition said they damaged Vladimir Putin's A-50U surveillance military aircraft in a secret mission. Two participants had used drones and had already left the country, claimed Franak Viacorka, a close adviser of opposition figurehead Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Front and central parts of the AWACS Beriev A-50U aircraft as well as the radar antenna were damaged from two explosions at the Machulishchy air base near Minsk, Belarusian anti-government organisation...

A Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A has laid down the law after disruptive behavior from young customers reached the breaking point. “[T]o dine in our restaurant, anyone under the age of 16 is required to be accompanied by an adult. If not accompanied by an adult, they may come in to purchase food, but must take it to go,” the Chick-fil-A in Royersford, Pennsylvania, posted Wednesday on Facebook. The post noted, “We contemplated long and hard before posting this, but decided it was time.” The post shared a litany of problems experienced on Saturdays and days when students are not in school, which...

<p>Several prominent media publishers across the U.S. are dropping the Dilbert comic strip after its creator described people who are Black as members of "a racist hate group" during an online video show.</p><p>Various media officials denounced the comments by Dilbert creator Scott Adams as racist, hateful and discriminatory, while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.</p>

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says a man has been arrested and faces charges including attempted murder of a police officer following an assault Thursday outside the Walmart Supercenter on Philips Highway. Police told News4JAX that Joseph Merrill, 40, was arrested after he assaulted an officer who was called to the store about a reported shoplifting. Police said Merrill knocked the officer down and was beating her when a detective arrived and subdued Merrill.

The modern internal combustion engine is an engineering marvel. These powerplants run incredibly clean. According to the EPA, overall gasoline car tailpipe emissions are now about 98% - 99% less than for cars in the 1960s. Many current gas-powered cars get well over 35 miles per gallon and have highway ranges of over 500 miles. Refueling takes five minutes and there are 115,000 gasoline stations in the U.S. So why the huge push by the U.S. government to convert to electric vehicles? It is curious given that EVs are actually inferior to gas vehicles for most uses. (Perhaps a case...