Free Republic

Out today, Controligarchs: Exposing the Billionaire Class, Their Secret Deals, and the Globalist Plot to Dominate Your Life, blows the lid off of Meta’s pattern of intentionally using harmful and aggressive tactics to get users addicted to social media apps like Facebook and Instagram and documents a shocking rise in depression and suicide that some scientists have linked to social media use. This comes just weeks after dozens of state attorneys general (AGs) filed suit against Facebook’s and Instagram’s parent company, Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta), and three of its subsidiaries, for harming children by addicting them to the social media...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday endorsed the House GOP’s funding plan to prevent a government shutdown this week as a “responsible measure that will keep the lights on.” At the same time, he stressed the need for “supplemental resources” as lawmakers press for aid to Israel and Ukraine. “Regular order requires that Congress provide itself the time for careful consideration and thorough amendment,” McConnell said from the floor Monday. “I’m glad to see that [Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)] has produced a continuing resolution that would do exactly that.”

Gimme (inexpensive) shelter! The good news is that The Federal Reserve finally cooled inflation. Well, at least core inflation cooled to 4%, twice The Fed’s target rate. At least The Fed is making progress. But on the housing front, shelter CPI is still up 6.7% YoY while transportation services are up 9.2% YoY. So, as long as you don’t have to rent or go anywhere, inflation looks good! Shelter CPI is over 3x The Fed’s inflation target rate, despite mortgage rates being up 169% under Biden. The 10-year Treasury yield cooled to 4.50% as investors see no further action from...

Ya' gotta love it when so-called Economists tell Americans not to believe their lying eyes and accept that no no, they really ARE better off under Biden's crap economy. Forget that groceries are through the roof, gas is still more expensive than it was when Joe took office, and interest rates on homes for people with EXCELLENT credit is at least 8% ... no no, things are GREAT. Awesome possum. So awesome, per Claudia Sahm, that when she insisted Americans are better off she hid replies and THEN deleted her post. Why would Claudia delete this tweet? She worked so...

European Union nations acknowledged on Tuesday that they risk failing to provide Ukraine with the ammunition they pledged to help Kyiv stave off the Russian invasion and win back its territory. Early this year, EU leaders promised to provide 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine's front line by spring next year in what would have amounted to a serious ramp-up of production. But the 27-nation bloc, for over half a century steeped in a "peace, not war" message and sheltering under a U.S. military umbrella, is finding it tough to come up with the goods. "The 1 million will...

Why is Politico pretending that this wouldn’t lead to a constitutional crisis? In Politico, Jonathan Martin has authored a long feature titled “Here’s How Biden Can Turn It Around,” which, before it gets into the nitty-gritty of our president’s present political predicament, contains this remarkable passage: 2024 will be an extraordinary election, and it demands extraordinary measures. That’s in part for reasons Biden refuses to accept: his capacity to do the job. The oldest president in history when he first took the oath, Biden will not be able to govern and campaign in the manner of previous incumbents. He simply...

HANFORD, CALIFORNIA: 82-year-old Navy veteran Will Chartrand was stabbed to death yesterday while shopping for a birthday card. You didn’t hear about this story because it doesn’t fit the narrative.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she disagrees with the recent move by Moody’s Investors Service’s to shift the U.S. outlook from stable to negative. “The American economy is fundamentally strong and Treasury securities remain the world’s preeminent safe and liquid asset,” Yellen said Monday following the APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting in San Francisco. The Moody’s move is “a decision that I disagree with,” Yellen added. While the U.S. still has its “AAA” rating from Moody’s, the agency called higher interest rates and the rising debt a risk to America’s fiscal strength.

Two years ago, Jon Foreman, the frontman of the legendary Christian band Switchfoot, responded to the coaxing of a queer “Christian” artist questioning his pro-LGBTQ+ creds, telling her that LGBTQ+ people are always welcome at his concerts and that he supports gay rights and freedoms. Though less prominent than she is now, that person was Semler, the foul-mouthed singer we last saw attending the Dove Awards with Caedmon’s Call’s cross-dressing singer Derek Webb. A pro-choice non-binary lesbian who is currently ‘married’ and expecting a baby with her ‘spouse,’ she expressed her belief that Christians are disproportionately harmful to LGBTQ people,...

Congregants at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN, have voted overwhelmingly to accept Lead Pastor Scott Sauls’ resignation, six months after he has been placed on an indefinite leave of absence for unrevealed misconduct and some publicly acknowledged bad behavior. Saul’s trouble began earlier this year when he ironically admitted to a troubling leadership style that was anything but kind and winsome- two traits that he routinely criticized conservatives for not being. “I verbalized insensitive and verbal criticism of others’ work. I’ve used social media and the pulpit to quiet dissenting viewpoints. I’ve manipulated facts to support paths that I...

Former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Newsmax on Monday that former President Donald Trump's federal election trial should be televised live for the public. When asked on "Newsline" about Trump's request to have his federal election trial shown live on television, Whitaker said he supports the idea. Whitaker said, "I agree that cameras should be in the courtroom and especially in this case of national importance, and the fact that the U.S. government and the Department of Justice opposes this, that tells you that they're trying to do this under cover of darkness."

The whole of Iceland 'is on edge' as experts say earthquakes which have been rumbling beneath the surface for days and have torn through a town are a precursor to a volcanic eruption. More than 700 quakes have been recorded in the southwestern Reykjanes Peninsula since yesterday, and despite them being slightly weaker than in previous days the Fagradalsfjall volcano is still expected to erupt. Iceland has been shaken by thousands of tremors over the past few days, with a state of emergency declared on Friday and around 4,000 people ordered to leave the fishing community of Grindavik. Evacuated residents...

In one of those pro-Hamas demonstrations held recently in London, one girl’s message on a raised placard stood out. The sign showed a stick-figure human dropping a Star of David, representing the Jewish people, in a garbage can — in other words, on the ash-heap of history. And no one seems to think she can be punished for this “hate crime.” More on this unmistakable expression of an annihilationist antisemitism can be found here: “London student calls for world clean of Jews in pro-Palestinian protest,” by Zvika Klein, Jerusalem Post, November 6, 2023:A pro-Palestinian protester is under fire for holding...

An intense manhunt is underway in Texas for a 19-year-old suspect wanted in a mass shooting at a popular flea market that killed a 10-year-old boy and wounded four others. An arrest warrant has been issued for 19-year-old David Negrete, charging him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the deadly incident at Cole’s Flea Market in Pearland Sunday. “He should be considered armed and dangerous,” officer Chad Rogers, with the Pearland Police Department, said of Negrete. On Monday, cops arrested a pair of 18-year-olds in connection with the shooting, charging Juliana Espiono and Cruz Mesa with...

While Western democracies have, for the most part, supported Israel without the obligate two-sided balance statements, several countries have taken the opportunity to become Israel’s enemies.In the West, large protests have been ongoing in major cities and college campuses. While the left and its fellow traveling Islamists fetishize the murder and decapitation of babies, officially, host countries such as the US, UK, Germany, and France have made their support of Israel public and relatively clear.While the West is sympathetic to the brutality Israel has faced and the challenges of chasing down an enemy that hides behind women and children and...

HOUSTON (KTRK) - A Texas man with prior run-ins with the law is being hailed as a hero after he found himself in the middle of a freeway shootout and risked his life to help pull an injured officer to safety. John Lally was driving on Houston’s Southwest Freeway around 10 a.m. Saturday when he found himself in the middle of a shootout between a carjacking suspect and multiple police officers. He saw one of the officers, identified as 29-year-old Officer J. Gibson, get shot and didn’t think twice before rushing to the rescue. “I just kind of ran over...

The Bible In Paintings ~ Encouragement for Applying and Appreciating God's Word ~ •Drawings•Engravings•Facades•Frescoes•Illuminations•Miniatures•Mosaics•Photographs•Reliefs•Statues•Tapestries•Windows• !BIBLE QUIZ! TODAY’S QUESTIONS: 25. “WHILE THE ISRAELITES WANDERED IN THE WILDERNESS, TWICE MOSES GOT WATER FROM A ROCK. 1,500 YEARS LATER, PAUL REVEALED THE SECRET: “THAT ROCK WAS _______.”” 26. “GOD PROMISED CANAAN TO THE ISRAELITES, SO MOSES SENT SPIES TO LOOK OVER THE PROMISED LAND. BUT WHEN THEY RETURNED, ALL OF THE SPIES COUNSELED TURNING BACK—EXCEPT FOR TWO WHO TRUSTED GOD. WHO WERE THOSE TWO?” 27. “IN THE DESERT OF PARAN, SNAKES WERE BITING AND KILLING ISRAELITES. GOD TOLD MOSES TO PUT A...

While the slaying of some 1,400 Jews by Hamas is a major tragedy in and of itself, other important facets of the story merit attention. For example, a Harris poll taken after the massacre reveals that 51% of American 18-24-year-olds think the murder of innocent Jewish men, women, and babies was justified, and much of this Jew hatred can be attributed to our nation’s schools.Rethinking Schools, a radical activist outfit established in 1986, whose products are used by 200,000 teachers and are on university reading lists, asserts that educators have a “moral and educational responsibility” to join and teach about...

A number of State Department staffers joined with staffers from the Agency for International Development — 100 in total — in criticizing President Joe Biden’s response to the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. Israel declared a state of war with Hamas after terrorists breached the border on October 7, slaughtering 1,200 Israelis – most of them civilians – and kidnapping more than 200, taking them into Gaza. According to an Axios report published on Monday, a five-page internal memo referred to as a dissent cable was “organized by a junior diplomat” and accused Biden of failing to...

The average American household that uses electricity to heat a home this winter will pay hundreds of dollars more than those who use natural gas, according to a new report from a federal agency. The report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said a home that uses electricity will pay 77 percent more or an average of $462 this winter, compared to a household that uses natural gas. Looking into the winter fuel outlook, the report said electricity will cost $46.19, based on a unit of heat. By comparison, the cost of natural gas will be $13.97. ... officials have...