Free Republic

In early December, a sensational story ripped through the tabloid press: President Vladimir Putin had stumbled and fallen down the stairs, involuntarily soiling himself in the process. It proved an irresistible tale for a Western audience largely horrified by Putin's invasion of Ukraine and hungry for his ultimate demise. The claims were covered in The Sun, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Gawker, and Newsweek, among others. They attributed them to a single, anonymous source: the mysterious Telegram account known as General SVR. The channel is a striking example of the wild media ecosystem that has boomed since the...

A registered sex offender was sentenced to 37 years to life in prison on Wednesday for the brutal assault and rape of a young woman in Manhattan inside a sidewalk construction shed. Darryl Phelps, 62 , was convicted of predatory sexual assault and sexual abuse by a jury following his trial for the horrific 2021 act of violence towards a 23-year-old woman from Korea while she was walking home from her job as a waiter in Koreatown. “I desperately want the perpetrator to be punished,” the victim wrote in a statement read in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday by Assistant...

Hélène Gravel’s house sits on Roxham Road near Canada’s most famous illegal border crossing, used by migrants leaving the United States to seek asylum up north. She has watched with increasing frustration as a bitter winter has failed to stanch record inflows and as New York City even began buying bus tickets for migrants headed her way. “There’s no political will to fix this,’’ Ms. Gravel, 77, said in her driveway, a stone’s throw from the border. “Canada is soft,’’ she said, adding that asylum-seekers should be processed at official border crossings. “And the United States doesn’t care because this...

Facing anonymous complaints, Bowden could acknowledge guilt and pay a fine, but she has demanded a public hearing instead. ... A Houston doctor facing anonymous complaints over COVID-19 treatments has rejected a disciplinary compromise offer from the Texas Medical Board (TMB). Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist who studied medicine at both the University of Texas and Stanford University, says she has successfully treated more than 5,500 COVID-19 patients without a single death. She drew controversy in 2021 for promoting Ivermectin and other early treatments while publicly criticizing vaccine mandates. After receiving complaints last year, the...

Rebecca Kiessling's sons Caleb and Kyler died in 2020 from fentanyl poisoningBiden snidely laughed off Marjorie Taylor Greene's claim that he 'killed them' Kiessling is demanding an apology from the President for his 'shocking' remarks A mother who lost her two sons to fentanyl poisoning has reacted scornfully to Joe Biden laughing off the claim that his policies might be to blame for their deaths, saying in a video message last night: 'How dare you?' Rebecca Kiessling's sons Caleb and Kyler died in 2020 before Biden took office after taking what they thought were pain killers, but that were laced...

WASHINGTON — When he made his surprise wartime trip to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv last week, President Joe Biden reassured that country with great confidence that “the Americans stand with you.” But the question that remains unanswered is: For how long?For all of the president’s bravado while he was abroad, the politics of Ukraine back home in the United States are shifting noticeably and, for the White House, worryingly. Polls show public support for arming the Ukrainians softening while the two leading Republican presidential candidates are increasingly speaking out against involvement in the war.While the bipartisan coalition in Congress...

CHICAGO, IL — After suffering a humiliating defeat in Chicago's mayoral election, Lori Lightfoot blamed her stunning loss on "those tricksy hobbitses." "They stole it from us!!" wailed Ms. Lightfoot. "Nasty, tricksy little hobbitses!!" The campaign watched the disastrous results come in from a dimly lit sushi restaurant, where the enraged Ms. Lightfoot gorged herself on juicy-sweet raw fish. "Gone!! It's gone, precious!!" cried Ms. Lightfoot to supporters. "Filthy, sneaky hobbitses!! Wicked, tricky, false! Curse them! CURSE THEM!!!" Long considered the electoral frontrunner, Ms. Lightfoot saw her lead evaporate as supporters became steadily more concerned about being murdered. "I...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)“Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asked for a fish?” Matthew 7:9–10Clearly this is a rhetorical question by Jesus. No parent would hand their son or daughter a stone or a snake if they asked for food. But that of course is the point. Jesus goes on to say, “...how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.”When you pray with deep faith, will our Lord give you whatever you ask? Certainly not....

President Donald Trump promised to deliver a recipe that would “fix” the myriad of problems plaguing the United States at the hands of the inept Biden administration, previewing his anticipated remarks on Saturday at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in a statement posted to Truth Social.“I will be at CPAC on Saturday, talking about the fact that, obviously, our Country is going to ‘HELL,’ and how to fix it,” he wrote on Thursday. “Also, the Democrats use of Radical Left Prosecutors and the WEAPONIZATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT. It is illegal, has never been used and abused like this,...

The GOP is traditionally thought of as the party of faith, freedom and family, which is why it’s embarrassing when New York City’s Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has more of a spine than most Republican leaders. Adams’ chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin introduced the mayor Tuesday during an interfaith breakfast, saying the Adams administration “does not believe” it must “separate church from state.” Adams doubled down on the idea, saying, “Don’t tell me about no separation of church and state. State is the body, church is the heart. You take the heart out of the body, the body dies. I can’t...

Following up on my February 28th post regarding the Russia-Ukraine War, occasionally the question is sardonically asked why Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t invade Ukraine while Donald Trump was President. The progressives who, to this day, believe Trump was a Russian stooge struggle for an answer. If they were correct, surely Trump would have done nothing more than harrumphed, gone off to play a round of golf, and told Ukraine good luck. Some on the right side of the aisle believe Putin held off out of fear as to how a loose cannon like Trump would respond, one option being...

If you didn't like yesterday's post on why President Trump can't be the GOP nominee in 2024, you're going to love this! As a buddy of mine might say right now, "If I thought the way you did, I'd probably put a gun to my head." Not to worry, while the title of this post tells you I'm not going to sugarcoat things, despair and surrender are the last things on my mind. So let's get to this, and hang with me to the end. One last admin note, as longtime readers know, on the rare occasions that I use...

Investors are bracing for longer inflation.The Federal Reserve indicated that more restrictive monetary policy is in the cards amid strong employment gains. In Europe, while inflation has fallen, it is still far above the 2% target. Across the Euro area inflation is estimated to have reached 8.5% in January.At the same time, as Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld and Sam Parker detail below, some countries have managed to tamp down inflation. Slower growth, cheaper import costs, and foreign exchange policy are some of the factors keeping inflation subdued.As price pressures rattle global markets, the infographic below maps inflation rates globally using...

Attorney General Merrick Garland talked a lot about the Justice Department’s “resources” during his appearance Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Congress provided the Justice Department with “critical resources” to strengthen its national security and law enforcement capacities, Garland testified in his opening statement. But there were a number of times during the hearing when the attorney general invited the prospect of receiving more resources, which appeared to be more about funds and personnel rather than legislative tweaks, to better address matters ranging from antitrust issues and combating drug cartels trafficking fentanyl into the United States. At one point, during...

"We will win by creating a parallel economy and that's exactly what PublicSq is doing. PublicSq is on a mission to identify millions of small businesses across America that share our patriotic values," Trump Jr. said.Public Square, an anti-woke digital marketplace, is set to merge with Colombier Acquisition Group in a $200 million deal that will also see the company go public. The San Diego-based company hosts over 50,000 individual vendors. According to the Daily Mail, the site has gained the attention of Donald Trump Jr., who advises the company, and former Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters. "People need to...

A week after Nikki Haley jumped into the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, she remains behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second and is getting crushed by former President Donald Trump.In one of the first surveys to size up the coming GOP fight, Trump has the support of 52% of Republicans. DeSantis landed second in the Rasmussen Reports survey at 24% and Haley at 15%.But where she scored big is with Democrats, and that has helped her in a potential head-to-head with President Joe Biden. She is seen as a good alternative by enough Democrats that she is leading Biden...

If you've ever wondered if Greta Thunberg is an environmentalist or a Marxist, I think her most recent stunt will give you your answers. The infamous climate warrior is in the news once again, but not for fighting fossil fuels this time. Nope, this time she's protesting green energy, particularly against the use of wind turbines in Norway. She and a group of 10 people were removed from government grounds in Oslo for protesting for the removal of a wind farm. The wind turbines in question were built on the reindeer grazing lands of the Sámi people, the only indigenous...

They're single but they're not mingling. New data from the Pew Research Center has shown that 63% of men under 30 are single – up from 51% in 2019. COVID isolation and women’s high expectations for something serious are the main reasons they’re avoiding going out and coupling up, young guys say. “Dates feel more like job interviews now. Much more like ‘What can you do for me and where is this going?'” said Ian Breslow, a 28-year-old high school teacher who lives in Astoria. “The ‘getting to know you’ period is gone and that doesn’t feel so great after...

The U.S. Air Force has contracted Boeing to build the first two of potentially 26 E-7A Wedgetail radar planes. Boeing is to kick off work on the U.S. Air Force’s new airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft, with a contract to develop a version of the E-7 Wedgetail radar plane for the service. The Air Force will use the E-7 to replace at least some of its 31 remaining 707-based E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning And Control System, or AWACS, aircraft, which have been struggling with poor mission-capable rates — the Air Force’s metric that reflects levels of operational readiness....

So sorry, but the lifestyle of low-cost credit and all the goodies it could buy is permanently out of stock.In focusing on geopolitics, we lose sight of the dependence of every economy on a functioning global economy of low-cost goods, services, materials, shipping, transport, capital, labor and financial instruments, all flowing freely across borders and around the world.Russia, China, the U.S., and indeed every economy are equally dependent on access to a functioning global economy to obtain essential goods, services and capital and sell surplus production.The irony here is the "poor" subsistence villagers with very limited access to global markets...