Free Republic

On this date in 1871, the shadowy but legendary swordsman Kawakami Gensai was beheaded on a pretext — his use to the Meiji government at an end. The Hitokiri — “mankiller” — Gensai came to manhood during the confusing death throes of the shogunate leading into the Meiji Restoration. That Japan’s feudal stagnation would give way to the Meiji era’s centralization and modernization may well be accounted an inevitability of history. The particular form of its birth superimposed upon the epochal conflict a bitter internal division over openness to foreigners vis-a-vis the centuries-old isolation.....

Top U.S. bank JP Morgan Chase on Friday reported $49.6 billion in profits for 2023, a record for the bank, despite a sector crisis that shut down multiple smaller institutions. Profits for the year were up for the bank despite net income bringing in only $9.3 billion in the fourth quarter, falling 15%, while the company brought in $39.9 billion in net revenue, up 12% for the quarter, according to JP Morgan’s fourth quarter earnings report. JP Morgan’s record profits come after a year of crisis for the sector, starting with a bank run in March at Silicon Valley Bank...

The Federal Reserve ran an operating loss of $114.3 billion last year, its largest ever, a consequence of its campaign to aggressively support the economy in 2020 and 2021, then jacking up interest rates to combat high inflation. The losses added to already large federal deficits that have required bigger auctions of Treasury debt. The central bank’s losses could continue for as long as short-term interest rates remain near current levels. That has the potential to fuel new political attacks on the Fed, though there have been no signs of that so far. The U.S. central bank announced preliminary, unaudited...

Gonzalo Lira, a Chilean-American war commentator known for his critical views on the Zelensky regime and Russia-Ukraine conflict, passed away on January 11, 2024, in a hospital in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Lira's death followed an eight-month imprisonment on charges of ”justifying Russia's military actions in Ukraine”, sparking international controversy and raising questions about freedom of speech and human rights during wartime. Gonzalo Lira gained notoriety in 2022 as a vocal critic of what he perceived as increasing authoritarianism in Ukraine. Lira saw the conflict as a proxy war waged by US against Russia and critisised the loss of life for a...

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate William Lai, also known by his Chinese name of Ching-te, has emerged victorious after a tightly contested presidential election as the island’s next leader, Fox News Digital confirms. "The results are in, and Taiwan’s voters stood up to China and all its war talk of recent weeks," Gordon Chang, Gatestone Institute Senior Fellow and China expert, told Fox News Digital. "Free people, living just a hundred miles from the menacing Chinese state, refused to be intimidated." Lai, defeated his rival, New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) party, by just...

"Being the most powerful journalist in America is like being the tallest building in Topeka," quipped pundit George Will at a Palm Beach speaking engagement on Wednesday evening. Will may have been aiming for modesty in response to a remark about his prominence, but his simile also reflected an unavoidable truth: the Washington GOP establishment, of which Will has long been a part, is in crisis. Will, a longtime conservative who is now a registered independent and voted for Joe Biden in 2020, was reluctant to weigh in on his former party's prospects in 2024, even as former South Carolina...

The Nationalist Party of China (KMT) – the party which Beijing prefers – has conceded defeat in the Taiwanese elections. With well over half of the votes counted, Taiwan’s ruling party is set to declare victory in their presidential elections. It is a setback for China, which views the Democratic Progressive Party as dangerous separatists. The DPP’s candidate, Taiwanese Vice-President Lai Ching-te, is in the lead with 40.5 per cent of the vote, and is due to speak to the gathered press at 8:30pm (local time). He is followed by KMT candidate Hou Yu-ih with 33.3 per cent, and TPP...

President Biden received a hostile welcome from swing state voters in Pennsylvania during a visit to several small businesses to tout his Bidenomics economic plan. "Go home, Joe!" one onlooker yelled as the Pennsylvania-raised president walked into a bike shop in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. "You’re a loser!" another yelled. "Loser!" During the president's visit, he swung by a running shoe store, bicycle shop and coffee house in the eastern Pennsylvania downtown.

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

CRESCO, Iowa — When the surge of conservative populism started sweeping the Republican Party in the fall of 2015, Howard County Republican Party Chairman Neil Shaffer remained firmly behind Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) when he went to caucus in January 2016. Shaffer eventually warmed to Donald Trump and went on to vote for him in November of that year. It was a vote that made him part of a coalition that turned Howard County, which lies here in northern Iowa on the border with Minnesota and not that far from the Wisconsin state line, Republican for the first time since...

A giant warehouse near St Petersburg has gone up in smoke after the Russian workers there set the entire facility ablaze. The action was reportedly taken after Russian police raided the Wildberries warehouse to find people to conscript to fight the war in Ukraine. According to Russian media sources the incident is currently under investigation by the state prosecutor's office. According to APA's Russian bureau, there is currently no available information regarding the number of casualties or injuries caused by the fire. The fire took hold of the 50 thousand square metre site and required hundreds of firefighters to bring...

Joe Biden on Friday traveled to Allentown, Pennsylvania to shuffle around for a couple hours. After emerging from three days outside of public view, Joe Biden will not be delivering a speech during his visit to Allentown. He will only be visiting a few local businesses. … Biden couldn’t be bothered. He leaned forward and creeped on a young girl. She recoiled as Biden whispered in her ear.

Everything about the case in New York City against the Trump Organization business operations is ridiculous. There are no victims. There was no fraud. All of the lenders did their own due diligence. All of the loans were paid back without issue, and the statement of financial condition was factual and accurate. There were no defaults or banking interests adversely impacted. There are no victims of what the State calls “fraud.” New York Attorney General Latisha James campaigned for office with promises to target the Trump Organization and Donald Trump himself. This is malicious Lawfare in the extreme. Additionally, the...

Police Scotland are to pay thousands of pounds in damages to a street preacher who was arrested and detained in Glasgow in 2022. Angus Cameron, pastor of Cumnock Baptist Church, was told by the arresting officer that a complaint had been made about "homophobic language", a claim he strenuously denied.

The Democratic Party and progressive movement legitimately owe black Americans reparations, and everyone knows it. Leftists convinced black people that the U.S. government was a proper substitute for and better caretaker than God and the truths spelled out in the Bible. Progressives bribed black women into believing that feminism, sexual liberation, and the matriarchy were superior to marriage, sexual modesty, and the patriarchy. The consequences of progressive lies are now painfully obvious among the voting bloc most closely aligned with the Democratic Party. The black family has been destroyed. Black men have been emasculated and run out of leadership and...

The Marxists in charge never get tired of slapping American citizens around and telling them it’s for their own good. California is now covering the costs of genital-mutilating surgeries for illegal aliens. Leftism’s slippery slope invariably leads to depraved absurdity. Consider how Governor (receding) Hairdo and the Pyrite State’s other communist saboteurs have greased the shifting ground under Californians’ feet: (1) There is no illegal immigration crisis. (2) There may be a crisis, but California taxpayers won’t be paying for it. (3) Taxpayers may have to foot the bill for the illegal immigration crisis, but California will do nothing to...

President Joe Biden appeared confused during a visit to Pennsylvania on Friday where he received a less than warm welcome from hecklers branding him a 'loser' and urging him to 'go home'. The 81-year-old appeared baffled during a visit to a bike shop in the Allentown area, which was one of several small businesses he was there to tour. Video showed the president looking momentarily bewildered as he was introduced to staff at the store, before appearing to recollect himself and beckoning the employees over to greet them.

Maine officials are coming under fire after handing a $132,000 contract to a racial justice group, only for it to conclude with a 30-minute webinar on 'problematic' place names. Taxpayers footed the bill for the lecture as part of the state's employment of non-profit Atlantic Black Box (ABB), which claims to 'engage the public in the collective rewriting of our regional history.' In footage of the webinar this week, ABB founder Meadow Dibble urged attendees to acknowledge suffering caused by 'white settler people' as she rattled off place names Maine residents should feel offended by.

We received about 20 inches of snow this week. So …. 8:00 am: I made a snowman. 8:10 - A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn't make a snow woman. 8:15 - So, I made a snow woman. 8:17 - My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman's voluptuous chest saying it objectified women everywhere. 8:20 - The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it should have been two snowmen instead. 8:22 - The transgender man / woman / person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts. 8:25...

Daily Readings from the USCCBAs he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed Jesus. Mark 2:14How do you know the will of God for your life? In his spiritual classic, The Spiritual Exercises, Saint Ignatius of Loyola presented three ways in which we come to know the will of God. The first way is the clearest and most definitive way. It is a time in which the person experiences a “clarity beyond doubting” as a result of a special grace of God....