Free Republic

Investing.com -- Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). has stopped orders for various products manufactured in China and other Asian nations. This move is seen as an effort by the company to lessen its vulnerability to tariffs established by President Donald Trump, according to a document examined by Bloomberg and sources familiar with the situation. The order cancellations for beach chairs, scooters, air conditioners, and other goods from numerous Amazon vendors came after Trump’s April 2 declaration of his intention to impose tariffs on more than 180 countries and territories. The list of affected regions includes China, Vietnam, and Thailand. The abrupt nature...

The Ukrainian military has captured two Chinese citizens fighting in the Russian army, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said the Kremlin's ranks probably contain many more soldiers from the Asian nation. The pair of Chinese fighters were detained in Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, which borders Russia. Documents, bank cards and personal information were on them when captured, he said. "We have information indicating that there are significantly more Chinese citizens within the occupier's units than just these two," Zelensky said Tuesday on social media. "We are currently working to verify all the facts." Accompanying the post was a...

European Union talks tough game on tariffs but introduced its own at a lesser rate than the United States, while saying it was hoping to strike a deal. The European Commission called tariffs “unjustified and damaging” while introducing its own on American goods on Wednesday, the members of the European Union agreeing on a package of “retaliatory duties”. Only strong Trump ally Hungary, led by Viktor Orban, voted against the measure. While the announcement of tariffs worth €22 billion come amid swirling headlines of a trade war with China, Europe’s move appears to be anything but, with new tariffs billions...

A transgender ‘Zizian’ member accused of murder and attempted murder had to be restrained by deputies after uncontrollable outbursts about transphobia. At a court hearing in Fairfield, Calif. on Tuesday meant to set a new trial date for two trans Zizian members accused of murder, attempted murder and escape, one of the defendants was ordered to be ejected again from the courtroom after screaming repeatedly about transphobia. “The jail has been hormonally detransitioning me for a quarter of a decade,” Alexander “Somni” Leatham yelled behind a mask while reading from a statement held in his shackled hands, which rattled loudly....

On Tuesday, new court documents were released that reveal would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh was in talks to purchase a Stinger Missile to take out Trump here in the US. A Stinger missile reportedly costs from $119,000 to $120,000. A Stinger missile costs anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000 on the black market. So, where did Ryan Routh get all of his funding? The Gateway Pundit reported that the court documents reveal that Routh was communicating with someone he “believed to be a Ukrainian with access to military weapons.” The Gateway Pundit questioned at the time, “It sounds like Routh was...

If you're gonna be a master of sneaky pete, a master meddler, you'd better be sure your sneaky schemes work. Obama's didn't. Which is how he's found himself in this predicament, according to New York Post columnist, Miranda Devine, who cited findings from a new book by a couple of reporters: It used to be said that President Joe Biden was serving former President Obama’s third term, that his former boss was controlling him from the home he had bought in DC’s ritzy Kalorama neighborhood, two miles from the White House. The feeling was that Obama was the real leader...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before! Apr 09, 2025, 8:33 AM

Abstract Background It is widely reported that the most prominent emotion following abortions is relief. This claim primarily rests on two studies of abortion clinic patients which had methodological and self-censure bias. Other studies have indicated that negative emotions are more common than positive emotions. The objective of this study is to obtain self-assessed data on the intensity of emotional responses to abortion and pregnancy loss in a random national sample. Methods Using visual analog scales, a random sample of 1,925 women aged 41 to 45 completed a survey in which respondents rated the degree to which they experienced emotional...

I have asked for your prayers for my niece Diane because she was scheduled for a very delicate heart procedure today. Diane just called to say they decided her liver and kidney functions are too low to attempt the procedure on her heart. Of course Diane is crushed by this news.

A Chinese scientist who was imprisoned for his role in creating the world’s first genetically edited babies says he has returned to his laboratory to work on the treatment of Alzheimer’s and other genetic diseases. In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, He Jiankui said he had resumed research on human embryo genome editing, despite the controversy over the ethics of artificially rewriting genes, which some critics predicted would lead to demand for “designer babies”. “We will use discarded human embryos and comply with both domestic and international rules,” He told the Mainichi Shimbun, adding that he had no plans...

The same media schlub who waved around the “I told you so” foam finger when stocks whipsawed on April 7 over President Donald Trump’s tariffs is doing the backstroke now after the markets surged just a day later. “I spent three months after the election warning Republicans they needed to be careful. Three months. I've got -- we've got about ten minutes of clips we could play you,” boasted a snooty Scarborough during the April 7 edition of Morning Joe. Stocks were bouncing over and under the flat line Monday, with the Dow and S&P 500 eventually just being off...

INTRO: MONEY SYSTEMS ARE CHANGING What if this isn’t about collapse -- but a carefully engineered shift? The old system is faltering. Something new is taking shape. And gold? It’s not being fought -- it’s being repositioned. We usually lead with charts. This time, we lead with perspective. The data’s there — but this isn’t about making a case. It’s a shift already in motion. You just have to look differently. THE NARRATIVE SHIFT: SOMETHING BIG IS HAPPENING Central banks aren’t resisting gold’s rise. They’re guiding it. Gold isn’t just a hedge. It’s becoming a cornerstone in what comes next....

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨HHS Secretary RFK Jr. on the future of vaccines: "I'm not going to take people's vaccines away from them. What I'm going to do is make sure that we have good science so people can make an informed choice." 8:27 AM · Apr 9, 2025

Female fencing star Stephanie Turner declined to face a transgender opponent in a late-March tournament, leading to her disqualification from the tournament and an explosion of a debate about women’s sports online. But while she lost the tournament because she declined to compete, it wasn’t all a loss for Turner: she also won a big award and reward from a pro-women’s sports clothing brand. The match at which the original incident occurred was the USA Fencing tournament on March 30, 2025, during which Turner was slated to compete against transgender competitor Redmond Sullivan. Turner took a knee and refused to...

..The government sell bonds - essentially an IOU - to raise money from financial markets and these are viewed as a safe investment. The US does not normally need to offer high rates to attract buyers but on Wednesday the interest rate on bonds spiked sharply to touch the highest level since February at 4.5%. ...the sale of bonds poses a major problem for the world's biggest economy. The interest rate for US borrowing over 10 years has spiked sharply in the past couple of days up from 3.9%. While the interest rate on US government debt rose, the price...

This means Jensen is directly responsible for indicting me on 30 years of federal charges for peacefully exercising First Amendment rights. Jensen stole 4 years of my life! “Mr. Jensen. So, like I said, the clear, bright line agreed upon between myself, the FBI, and DOJ was individuals or their devices identified inside of the Capitol was action to field offices for further investigation. Mr. Gaetz. Who developed that bright line? Who were the people involved in the discussion to set that as the bright line? Mr. Jensen. So that would've been myself”

Ukraine's military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in an interview published on Wednesday that Russia had launched a new offensive on the northeast of the country, adding that a large increase in assaults was already being observed. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had warned earlier that Russia was preparing an offensive on the two regions of Kharkiv and Sumy. "I can say that the president is absolutely right and this offensive has actually already begun," Syrskyi said in an interview with Ukrainian publication LB. "For several days, almost a week, we have been observing almost a doubling of the number of enemy attacks...

Pharmaceutical imports were initially exempt from Trump’s first set of reciprocal tariffs last week but his administration has since indicated that levies on the sector are coming. Global drugmakers’ stocks dropped across the board on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated plans for a “major” tariff on pharmaceutical imports, threatening an interwoven supply chain across the world, and as his country-specific reciprocal tariffs took effect, leading to more pain in global markets. Pharmaceutical imports were initially exempt from Trump’s first set of reciprocal tariffs last week but his administration has since indicated that levies on the sector, which in...

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in an interview published on Wednesday that Russia had launched a new offensive on the northeast of the country, adding that a large increase in assaults was already being observed.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had warned earlier that Russia was preparing an offensive on the two regions of Kharkiv and Sumy."I can say that the president is absolutely right and this offensive has actually already begun," Syrskyi said in an interview with Ukrainian publication LB."For several days, almost a week, we have been observing almost a doubling of the number of enemy attacks...

US President Donald Trump says he will soon announce "major" tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals, a move that could end decades of low-cost global trade in medicines. For years, most countries, including the US, have imposed few or no tariffs on finished drugs, thanks in part to a 1995 World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement aimed at keeping medicines affordable. This shift comes after Trump introduced a blanket 10% tariff on other imports last week, as part of a broader effort to bring manufacturing back to the US. His new "reciprocal" tariffs - including a duty of 104% on goods arriving from...