Free Republic

I'm posting this as a vanity post because 20 minutes after the announcement, the only source that's published a story on this is Bloomberg, which doesn't allow re-ups. Copper is already up 11% today, having already advanced 25% year to date.

As Elon Musk moves to create a third party to upend America’s political system, he’s spoken with one-time Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang about the nascent effort. Yang, the 2020 White House contender and founder of the independent Forward Party, said in an interview that he has been “in touch” with Musk and his team. “I’m excited for anyone who wants to move on from the duopoly,” Yang said. “And I’m happy to help give someone a sense of what the path looks like.” He did not respond to follow-up questions about when they spoke and what else they discussed....

SACRAMENTO, CA — As the federal government takes steps to attempt to solve a myriad of problems facing the Golden State, a furious Governor Gavin Newsom told reporters he won't stand silently by while Trump fixes California. While the Trump administration continued to conduct deportation operations throughout California cities, and the Department of Education proposed a plan to prevent males from competing in K-12 girls' sports, Newsom pledged to do everything in his power to prevent Trump from solving any of California's severe issues. "As long as I'm breathing, California will remain on the brink of destruction," an angry Newsom...

President Trump tore into Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talking “bulls—“ and making “meaningless” overtures while keeping his bloody invasion of Ukraine going. “A lot of people are dying and it should end,” the president complained to reporters during a cabinet meeting. “We get a lot of bulls— thrown at us by Putin — [if] you want to know the truth. He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Shocking footage captured the moment hundreds of unruly Chicago teens shoved a lifeguard as they overran an upscale suburb's public pool. The 'flash mob' of around 200 teens and young adults swarmed Glen Ellyn's Sunset village pool on Saturday, forcing their way past security to pack out the area.

A mysterious object spotted on the South Pacific seafloor has been identified as the bow of a torpedoed World War II ship that famously sailed thousands of miles backwards to avoid sinking, historians say. The nearly 100-foot long section of the USS New Orleans was found Sunday, July 6, by the Ocean Exploration Trust as it searched the seafloor near Guadalcanal with a remotely operated vehicle. A positive identification was made with the help of paint fragments still clinging to the hull, along with an engraved anchor, the trust reported. The bow, which fell to a depth of 2,214 feet,...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was not happy with Russian President Vladimir Putin and was considering additional sanctions on Moscow, underscoring his frustration over the growing death toll in Russia's war with Ukraine. "We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin," Trump said during a meeting with cabinet officials at the White House.

On Monday, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk warned that there’s a concerted “influence campaign” underway in Washington to quietly steer President Donald Trump toward granting mass amnesty—even after he secured a major border-and-security funding package. Kirk says elite “ruling class” players, emboldened by recent spending wins, are now pressuring Trump to “come to the middle” on immigration by legalizing up to 25 million undocumented residents. Since the promise of mass deportations helped win Trump the White House, conservative voters now fear that a shift toward “soft amnesty” could alienate their base. Don’t worry, the Trump administration has put those...

According to the portal, the new US administration does not consider Europe to be a partner, but as a "political battleground"BRUSSELS, July 8. /TASS/. The US is taking steps to carry out a "regime change" in the EU, trying to rig elections to put far-right forces in power to "turn Europe and allies like Canada and Mexico into US vassals," said Caroline de Gruyter in a column she contributed to the Brussels portal EUobserver. EUobserver previously always expressed the interests of the globalist European elite, which prevails among the supranational officials of the EU and NATO, as well as their...

Nearly a decade before catastrophic flash flooding in Kerr County…several local officials were hard at work convincing their peers to buy into a new early flood warning system. The once “state of the art” program installed along the Guadalupe River back in the 1980s was in desperate need of an upgrade, they argued… “I’m not trying to put a dollar on a life or a flood, but the fact of the matter is floods do happen, and we need to be prepared for them,” then-Kerr County Commissioner Bob Reeves noted during a series of public meetings that began in 2016....

The West is failing to catch up to Russia's production of the most basic unit of war for the past half-millennium — gunpowder. The modern propellants and explosives that power war have largely been offshored. While Western manufacturers are churning out shell casings, they are short on the materials to fill them with. A dearth of ammunition from NATO allies has long hampered Ukraine, but is more recently alarming the Western alliance. "Putin's war machine is speeding up, not slowing down," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a June 9 speech in London. "In terms of ammunition, Russia produces...

The IRS says pastors who endorse political candidates from the pulpit shouldn't have to risk their churches losing their tax-exempt status. The move effectively calls for a carve-out for religious organizations from the rarely used IRS rule called the Johnson Amendment, put in place in 1954 and named after then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson. In a joint court filing intended to end an ongoing case against the IRS, the tax collection agency and the National Religious Broadcasters Association - a Evangelical media consortium - and other plaintiffs have asked a federal court in Texas to stop the government from enforcing the Johnson...

An imposter using AI to mimic Secretary of State Marco Rubio's voice has been sending voice as well as text messages to foreign as well as US officials in Rubio's style of speaking and writing. US authorities do not know who the person is who has been linked to the instances of AI mimicry, according to The Washington Post, however, they believe that the imposter is trying to manipulate government officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts," the outlet said, citing a cable sent to State Department employees from Rubio's office. The imposter has “contacted at...

Following the winter storm in February 2021, all three members of the Public Utility Commission and six members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas board of directors resigned. The CEO of ERCOT was also fired. During the February 2021 winter storm, transmission companies inadvertently cut power to parts of the natural gas supply chain when ERCOT ordered the utilities to reduce power demand or risk further damage to the grid. That decision aggravated the problem as natural gas producers were unable to deliver enough fuel to power plants. At the same time, some wells were unable to produce as...

A man died after he was sucked into a jet engine at one of Italy’s busiest airports on Tuesday — in what authorities believe could have been a suicide, according to local reports. The man, who was neither a passenger nor an airport employee, evaded security checks and was spotted sprinting towards taxiing aircraft when he was killed, according to Italy’s national news agency ANSA. He is believed to have snuck onto the runway intending to take his own life, according to the outlet. The aircraft involved was an Airbus A319, operated by budget airline Volotea, which was due to...

Killer whales have been repeatedly seen offering food to humans in the wild, a behavior that’s baffling researchers. The whales often lingered or made second attempts, raising questions about their intent—and their capacity for cross-species connection.. Shutterstock Across oceans and decades, killer whales have been caught doing something no one expected—offering food to humans. From California to New Zealand, 34 documented incidents reveal orcas bringing fish, rays, and squid to people in the water, on boats, and even onshore. Scientists say this behavior, usually seen between whales as a bonding act, may show a surprising willingness to connect with humans....

Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News host turned independent media personality, spoke to fellow podcaster Emily Jashinsky about the DOJ and FBI’s conclusion that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein didn’t have a client list on Tuesday. “In the memo, the language that Pam Bondi used, which was ‘no incriminating client list,’ that really jumped out to me actually, because it maybe gives her a little wiggle room between saying that she had a client list and then saying there’s no incriminating client list,” began Jashinsky on her After Party YouTube show. Attorney General Bondi has been under fire for her...

Three-quarters of the Americans who voted for President Trump in 2024 are backing further economic sanctions on Russia as it continues its war against Ukraine, a new poll shows. The Vandenberg Coalition in late June found that around 77% of Trump voters viewed Russia as a threat, 75% backed additional sanctions, and 70% said it was “vital to prevent Russia from invading other European nations,” according to results obtained exclusively by The Post. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) revealed Sunday that Trump had given him the go-ahead on a bill he introduced to tighten sanctions on Moscow. “If you’re buying products...

According to the report, one of the 15 former hostages said she was forced to perform a sexual act, which was preceded by sexual abuse and verbal and physical sexual harassment. She also said she endured forced nudity - an experience which was reported by six other hostages as well. Almost all of the hostages reported verbal and some physical harassment, including "unwanted physical contact in private parts", the report says, while six said they also faced threats of forced marriage. Two men among the hostages said they were subjected to forced nudity and physical abuse when naked, with one...

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins revealed that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is rolling out the National Farm Security Action Plan, which will “promote agricultural prosperity” and “defend the foundations of agriculture” and strengthen the U.S. domestic food supply. During a virtual pen & pad event on Monday evening, ahead of a press conference on Tuesday, Rollins explained that the plan includes “seven key action items.” One of the key action items focused on “securing and protecting the American farmland,” while another key point focused on “rooting out fraud, abuse, and foreign adversaries” that were posing a threat...