Free Republic

I do not have an economics degree from Boston University, like AOC, and I’m not a professional economist by trade. I only play one. Nevertheless, here are five cases for Trump’s tariffs.1. As we saw last week with his new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, Trump’s plan is to use tariffs punitively, to alter behavior.The president-elect said that he would impose across-the-board tariffs on Day 1 and that they would stay in place until Canada, Mexico and China halted the flow of drugs and migrants.All three countries have wittingly produced fentanyl (China) or aided in the smuggling and distribution...

THORNTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WLS) -- The decision was made within minutes, with Thornton Township supervisor Tiffany Henyard receiving a blow to her reelection efforts on Tuesday night. A packed gym room at the Homewood-Flossmoor Park District erupted in cheers as the Democratic Party Caucus for Thornton Township decided to deny embattled current Township Supervisor Henyard's name from being on the ballot in April. Illinois State Sen. Napoleon Harris is now nominated as the Democratic challenger for that position. "So, to hear the people, tonight - you heard them express how wonderful it was to finally, finally get rid of her,"...

... Fighters from the Wagner Group have been in CAR since 2018, when they were invited by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra to help tackle rebel groups. The group’s subsidiaries went on to win contracts to operate gold and diamond mines. They are also operating in several other African countries but their most significant presence is in CAR. ... Prigozhin and Utkin died alongside others on 23 August 2023, after their private jet came down north-west of Moscow, killing all those on board. It came two months after their aborted mutiny in Russia. The Kremlin denied speculation it was to blame for...

One of the best ways to create an environment in which an economy can thrive is to have abundant, reliable, reasonably priced energy; a sure way to destroy an economy is to make it so only the rich can afford the utilities.Here, Pakistan accepted China’s help, just like many poor countries around the world, and became energy dependent on China. Now, the Pakistani people can’t afford the energy bill, and Pakistan is in massive debt to China.Pakistan’s Reliance on Chinese-Built Power Plants Is Strangling Its EconomyPakistan turned to Beijing to solve a crippling energy shortage. Now, crushed under debt and...

A 100-year-old concentration camp guard dubbed last Nazi should stand trial accused of murdering 3,300 Holocaust victims, the German high court has ruled. Gregor Formanek had successfully appealed a decision to put him on trial for the "cruel and treacherous killing" of victims at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, back in May. The Hanau Regional Court excused him from prosecution, based on medical evidence declaring that he had a "permanent incapacity to stand trial". But now the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court has overturned that decision and sent the case back to Hanau for another hearing. This means that Formanek is likely to...

As the world’s focus turns to the devolving chaos in Syria, do jihadi groups in that war-torn country openly threaten Israel? Meanwhile, Iran and Russia brace for a showdown in Syria. What prophetic role might Turkey play in this brewing turmoil? Watch now.

KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Little about Kolwezi, a small city in southern Democratic Republic of Congo, hints at its global importance. Nondescript and ringed by slag heaps, pits and quarry lakes, the city is home to some of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world. Now, Kolwezi is at the center of U.S.-Chinese competition over critical minerals. Earlier this year, mining firms began shipping ore along a U.S.-backed railway that terminates in Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito. A massive infrastructure project is focused on this rail line -- which is viewed as a bid to counter...

Pete Hegseth told reporters Wednesday morning that President-elect Donald Trump has told him to “keep fighting” as he faces serious doubts about his ability to get confirmed as Defense secretary. “I spoke to the president elect this morning. He said, keep going, keep fighting,” Hegseth said. “Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter.”

Daily Readings from the USCCBThen he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full. Matthew 15:36–37This line concludes the second miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes as told by Matthew. In this miracle, seven loaves and a few fish were multiplied to feed 4,000 men, not counting the women and children. And once everyone ate and was satisfied, seven full baskets remained. It’s hard...

Penelope Hegseth, the mother of President-elect Donald Trump‘s defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, defended her son after a 2017 email surfaced in which she claimed he had abused women. The New York Times reported last week on the elder Hegseth’s email, in which she said, “On behalf of all the women (and I know it’s many) you have abused in some way, I say … get some help and take an honest look at yourself,” as the younger Hegseth and his then-wife were going through a divorce in 2017. Penelope Hegseth said Wednesday on Fox News’s Fox and Friends that...

House Republicans will enter the 119th Congress with a razor-thin majority after an election that saw Democrats score a net gain of one seat — a rare bright spot for the party that decisively lost the White House and the Senate last month. The final race to be decided — nearly one month after Election Day — was in California’s 13th District, where Democrat Adam Gray ousted Republican incumbent John Duarte, who had ranked second on Roll Call’s final list of the 10 most vulnerable House incumbents. That means Republicans won a total of 220 House seats this year, while...

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, on Wednesday said he is not backing down even as his nomination to lead the Pentagon faces trouble in Congress over allegations about his personal and professional life. "I’m doing this for the war fighters, not the warmongers. The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents. They are afraid of @realDonaldTrump — and me. So they smear w/ fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth. Our warriors never back down, & neither will I," the former Fox News...

Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth said Wednesday morning — amid rumors that President-elect Donald Trump would replace him with Governor Ron DeSantis — that he spoke directly to Trump and has his support. “I spoke to the President-elect this morning. He said, ‘Keep going. keep fighting. I’m behind you all the way,'” Hegseth said. Asked by CBS News if he was in this “all the way,” he responded, “Why would I back down? I’ve always been a fighter. I’m here for the fighters. This is personal & passionate.”

New York CNN — The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed in midtown Manhattan Wednesday morning in an apparent targeted attack as he was about to attend the company’s annual investor conference, a law enforcement official tells CNN. The gunman remains on the loose. Brian Thompson was walking toward the New York Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, dressed in a suit and tie, to attend UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference being held in the ballroom. A gunman, who investigators tell CNN was masked in the freezing temperatures, waited for about 10 minutes before Thompson’s arrival, before opening fire from 20...

Trump selects Peter Navarro as Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing.Trump says Navarro was "treated horribly by the Deep State" and that Navarro will advance Trump's "manufacturing, tariff and trade agenda."

Syria claimed that its counteroffensive successfully pushed back insurgents attempting to advance toward the strategic city of Hama, while opposition forces reported capturing additional Syrian soldiers and Iran-backed militants in intense clashes. This latest flare-up in Syria's civil war follows recent gains by insurgents, including the capture of large areas in the northern city of Aleppo and towns in the southern part of Idlib province. The conflict between President Bashar Assad's government and armed opposition forces, which seek to overthrow him, has claimed an estimated half-a-million lives over the past 13 years. According to Syrian state media SANA, government forces,...

This isn't satire. Trump actually posted this to Truth Social. I'm not sure what he meant by this, but I do know he just joked about annexing Canada right to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's face!

The Chicago Teachers’ Union, like Nazis, Islamic terrorists, and diseased ferret owners, are always angry.After demanding $145,000 salaries, free Ozempic, and turning every school into an illegal alien shelter/Green New Deal lab, they still haven’t gotten everything they wanted. Like free sex changes and “more queer competent” employees. Also secretly transitioning students.Now CTU is shrieking that a “contract that protects queer & trans students and ensures affirming, inclusive curriculum is what our students deserve” and tweeted a video of a transgender man at a CTU rally demanding “fully funded bilingual education”, and claiming that “if our schools aren’t safe for...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Advisers to Donald Trump publicly and privately are floating proposals to end the Ukraine war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future, according to a Reuters analysis of their statements and interviews with several people close to the U.S. president-elect.The proposals by three key advisers, including Trump's incoming Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Army Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, share some elements, including taking NATO membership for Ukraine off the table.Trump's advisers would try forcing Moscow and Kyiv into negotiations with carrots and sticks, including halting military aid to Kyiv unless it agrees to...

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is linked throughout the Biden-Ukraine entanglements, from Trump’s first impeachment to Hunter Biden’s business dealings.Back in 2019, the then-National Intelligence Council analyst Eric Ciaramella anonymously accused Trump of demanding an investigation into Biden’s alleged corruption in Ukraine in exchange for military aid, according to Real Clear Investigations.Ciaramella was an adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden’s office when Biden threatened to stop aid to Ukraine unless it fired Viktor Shokin, Real Clear stated. Shokin was the prosecutor investigating the Ukrainian gas company, Burisma Holdings. Hunter joined the board of Burisma in 2014 where he was making...