Free Republic

Russia's supply of cheap oil is running out, another major blow for Vladimir Putin as he continues to grapple with a growing economic crisis. Businesses and consumers across the country are reeling under the effects of spiralling inflation and high interest rates. In April, the Central Bank confirmed it would keep the key interest rate at 21% for the foreseeable future, much to the bitter disappointment of the Kremlin and business leaders. Many firms are fighting to stay afloat, as they attempt to pay back bank loans originally secured during more favourable economic times. -snip- Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov...

In a ceremony held in Paris on July 4, 1884, the completed Statue of Liberty is formally presented to the U.S. ambassador as a commemoration of the friendship between France and the United States. The idea for the statue was born in 1865, when the French historian and abolitionist Édouard de Laboulaye proposed a monument to commemorate the upcoming centennial of U.S. independence (1876), the perseverance of American democracy and the liberation of the nation’s slaves. By 1870, sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi had come up with sketches of a giant figure of a robed woman holding a torch—possibly based on...

VIDEOAh! What a difference a mere week makes. A week ago, much of the media was eagerly anticipating a SURGE in inflation due to President Trump's tariffs. They repeatedly cited "experts" proclaiming the inevitability of such a rise in inflation with NO alternative scenario possible. Unfortunately for them, reality did not cooperate with liberal fantasy yet again.

Authorities in Lancaster, South Carolina, have charged six illegal immigrants between the ages of 13 and 21 in connection with the “random” May 2 murder of a mother who was driving to meet friends in Rock Hill. Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office deputies located Larisha Sharrell Thompson, 40, deceased with a gunshot wound behind the wheel of her vehicle on Riverside Road in Lancaster, which is located about an hour south of Charlotte, North Carolina. On May 12, authorities announced the arrests of three adults, including Asael Aminadas Torres-Chirinos, 21; Jarby Ardon Ramos-Odari, 18; Jeyson Sobied Pineda-Salgado, 17; and three juveniles,...

A Colorado clinic infamous for late-term abortions has shuttered after 50 years of being open, Associated Press reported. “It became impossible to continue, but closing is one of the most painful decisions of my life,” 87-year-old clinic founder and late-term abortionist Dr. Warren Hern said of closing the Boulder Abortion Clinic last month. The clinic was one of the few in the U.S. that aborted unborn babies after 28 weeks of pregnancy, and for years, Hern was the only abortionist in the U.S. who performed abortions later in pregnancy, according to the report. The clinic ultimately closed because of financial...

Trump’s Riyadh Speech Heralds The End Of Failed Neocon Foreign PolicyTruly looking out for American interests means refraining from trying to remake foreign countries in our own image.In what was probably the most important presidential speech in decades, President Donald Trump repudiated decades of failed interventionist U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East during an official visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.Not only did Trump lambast neocon “nation-building” in the region, he more or less vowed never to pursue the kinds of neocon misadventures that spilt American blood and treasure over the past 25 years in the insane pursuit...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he will press Russian President Vladimir Putin to participate in peace negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey later this week. "I'll try to talk to Putin," Lula told a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday before heading for Moscow, Agence France-Presse reported. "It costs me nothing to say, 'Hey, comrade Putin, go to Istanbul and negotiate, dammit.' " Russia and Brazil are both members of the BRICS group of emerging-market powers and Lula reportedly attended Moscow's recent Victory Day parade.

Mariangela Hungria, a microbiologist in Brazil, spent decades looking for bacteria in the soil that could act like fertilizer, boosting farmers' harvests. But she faced a lot of skepticism. "When I started my career, everybody was like, 'You're crazy! You will never succeed. This will never be possible,'" she recalls. Today, her work was rewarded with the World Food Prize, which recognizes advances in agriculture and nutrition. Bestowed by the World Food Prize Foundation since 1987, it comes with a cash award of $500,000. Hungria has spent her entire career as a scientist with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA),...

A 19-year-old man was arrested after spending months planning an attack on a U.S. Army site in suburban Detroit, authorities said Wednesday. The man was planning a mass shooting at the Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command in Warren, commonly known as the Detroit Arsenal, on behalf of the Islamic State group, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. But he didn’t know that he had been scheming with two undercover FBI employees, who recorded audio and video images of their meetings with him, including handwritten diagrams of the site, referred by the Army as TACOM, authorities said.

While the Qatari government's giving President Donald Trump a luxurious, state-of-the-art jet has grabbed headlines, it's actually quite common for foreign governments to send things as special gifts to build relations and curry favor. The Babylon Bee has obtained the following list of other gifts world leaders have given to America: Israel — Weather control machine: Finally, someone other than the Jews will be in control of the global climate. Mexico — A giant wooden horse: It sounds like there are people inside of it speaking Spanish, but that's probably nothing. Poland — A submarine with a screen door:...

Mt. Ennon Baptist Church is a 9000-member megachurch in Clinton, MD, that is associated with the National Baptist Convention USA and is led by senior “pastor” Delman Coates. According to their website, their vision is to be a “Caring, Christ-centered, Community Church, with a Kingdom Agenda.” One of their core beliefs is the importance of “Biblical Preaching and Teaching” , because “The Word of God is the final authority; it is true; it is unchangeable; it is to be used to equip the saints to achieve our mission.” At the same time, however, along with other beliefs centering around “prayer,”...

The European Commission was wrong to refuse to release text messages sent by Ursula von der Leyen to the head of Pfizer during negotiations to secure Covid-19 vaccines, the EU's top court has ruled. The General Court said the commission had not given a plausible explanation as to why the exchanges between its president and Pfizer's Albert Bourla could not be made public when an investigative journalist requested them in 2021. That year, Pfizer signed billions of euros in vaccine contracts with the EU, including a deal for 1.8bn extra doses. The content of the messages between von der Leyen...

Pacific Lutheran University is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington, that is sponsored and financially supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA.) They recently hosted ‘Queer Prom,’ an event targeted at 14-24 year olds, in conjunction with the Oasis Youth Center. According to Campus Record, “The sign-up sheet for the dance asked attendees to list information including personal pronouns and offered 8 specific options for sexual orientation and 7 different genders to choose from.” Along with dancing, the event features “prizes, direct advocacy, free condoms, pregnancy tests, and HIV testing. For more on the ELCA:

Daily Readings from the USCCB“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” John 15:16After Judas betrayed our Lord, the Apostles gathered together to pick someone to succeed him. They decided it should be someone who had been with them from the beginning. They prayed for guidance and cast lots “and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the Eleven Apostles” (Acts 1:26). Little is known about the ministry...

The First Opium War ended with China surrendering Hong Kong. The Second ended with China surrendering its dignity. Now, nearly two centuries later, the Third Opium War has just ended—and once again, China lost. But this time, they weren’t importing opium. They were exporting it. The Modern Opium: Fentanyl No sails. No gunboats. No treaties. Just chemicals—sent in barrels and disguised in powders—feeding a synthetic addiction that’s killed more Americans than all our wars combined. China didn’t need to invade. They simply flooded our streets. - Synthetic precursors shipped to Mexican cartels - Distribution routes subsidized by “strategic partnerships” -...

The three Ukrainian nationals were arrested in Germany and Switzerland on suspicion of agreeing to send parcels containing explosive or incendiary devices from Germany to Ukraine, German prosecutors said. They were apparently working for people associated with Russian state agencies. The alleged plan was for the men to send packages that would explode while being transported to Ukraine. According to the German news magazine Spiegel, the man had started to run tests for possible attacks by sending parcels with GPS trackers to Ukraine. The men are suspected of acting as secret agents for the purpose of sabotage, as well as...

CV NEWS FEED // Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago has contracted with a lobbying firm that also represents organizations supporting or providing abortions, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The firm, Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, is currently registered to lobby on behalf of Catholic Charities before the Illinois state government. Public records show that the same firm also lobbies for Rush University Medical Center, which provides abortions, and CVS Health, whose pharmacies dispense drugs used in chemical abortions, according to the outlet. Beyond client representation, the Sun-Times found that Cozen O’Connor and its employees have contributed to political campaigns...

Fox News host Mark Levin is NOT pleased with President Donald Trump’s current diplomatic tour of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which, given his history of reflexive pro-Trump rhetoric, is notable. Trump spoke to the Saudi Royal family and other very important global business leaders during a remarkably convivial economic investment confab on Tuesday that ended on the same note as most of his political rallies: with The Village People blaring the gay disco anthem YMCA. Trump later flew to Doha, Qatar, for more meetings aimed at securing Middle Eastern investment in the American economy, despite serious concerns about human rights...

U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-HI) is introducing legislation that would mandate triggers, barrels, and other gun parts be tracked after being sold. Island News reported that Tokuda’s bill, the Gun Hardware Oversight and Shipment Tracking Act (Ghost Act), is designed to track gun parts as a way of helping law enforcement find so-called “ghost guns.” Hawaii News Now noted the legislation “will allow law enforcement to track gun parts coming into the state and who ordered them.” Tokuda said, “Let’s not make it easy for people to buy the parts that they need to make weapons of destruction, endangering law...

A Louisiana woman killed her 20-week-old unborn baby with the abortion pill and threw her baby in a garbage can. That’s the shocking story from a pro-life state where officials are pursing potential charges against a New York abortionist who is violating the state’s pro-life law to illegally mail abortion pills to women. Louisiana’s attorney general mentioned the shocking case during testimony yesterday in the state legislature. She also highlighted New York-based abortionist Margaret Carpenter, who is now under investigation again for selling the abortion pill used to kill the baby. Carpenter allegedly mailed the abortion drug to another woman...