Free Republic

It seems like the Total Fertility Rate collapse is a mega-trend that is not being incorporated into conservative expectations. In addition to the economic problem of a system historically based on perpetual growth, we are going to have to come up with a practical answer to entitlements like Social Security. I don't think our present system can accommodate this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GeVG0XYTc

Sydney Sweeney really does have good genes and not just because she's an attractive blonde. More importantly, women in general appear to have a genetic advantage that gives them a longer lifespan than men. The fact that women live longer has been well known for a long time. But a recent study across the animal kingdom suggest and explanation for why this happens.“From a human standpoint, it’s really remarkable that women live longer across almost every country in the world,” said Johanna Staerk, an evolutionary demographer at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. “So we were interested...

SNIP Known in the Armenian community as “psycho Barbie,” Nadine had allegedly stalked an ex. She was also accused of keying his new girlfriend’s car and showing up at his home on Christmas Day in 2010 with her two children to try to win him back, according to a restraining order. “Nadine always believed she was above the law,” the former boyfriend said. With Menendez, friends said, she played hard to get, though, pitting him against Anton. When they began dating again in 2018, Menendez allegedly sent Capitol Police officers from Washington, DC, to his rival’s office in Hackensack, New...

Ukrainian intelligence has once again intercepted communications of the Russian military, in which a commander orders fire on his own troops, according to a post by the Defense Intelligence of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on Telegram. Soldiers of the Defense Intelligence intercepted another conversation of the Russian military in the Donetsk region. The Russian commander orders the execution of subordinates who try to retreat from their positions.

European officials fear that US President Donald Trump's new rhetoric on Ukraine is aimed at shifting blame to Europe. Trump is calling on the EU for tougher sanctions against Russia and tariffs on China and India, which Europeans consider unfeasible.European officials fear that US President Donald Trump's latest rhetoric on Ukraine "is intended to set them an impossible mission" that will allow the American leader to "shift the blame from Washington if Kyiv fails in the war or runs out of money," the Financial Times reports, writes UNN.Details As the publication writes, "after months of pressuring Ukraine to settle with...

European officials are uneasily digesting U.S. President Donald Trump's speech at the United Nations this week, where he blasted the world body and attacked Europe’s immigration policies, energy transition and commitment to climate action. Unlike his last appearance in 2020, when China dominated his speech, his European allies were the focus of some of his harshest criticism, getting mentioned twice as often as Beijing. "Immigration and their suicidal energy ideas will be the death of Western Europe," Trump told the assembly. "Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe.” The speech dismayed many in Europe - and left some bemused - -...

US President Donald Trump's new $100,000 ( £74,000) visa fee for foreign workers has drawn sharp criticism from the global tech community, triggering confusion at airports, concerns of brain drain, and growing fears that the policy could derail American innovation.In a wave of social media condemnation over the weekend, tech executives, startup founders, and economists expressed dismay over the hefty cost attached to H-1B visa applications—used predominantly by major tech employers such as Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft to hire highly skilled workers from abroad.While the White House scrambled to clarify the policy late Friday, the initial announcement sent shockwaves through...

Every living former chair of the Federal Reserve, as well as a slew of ex-Treasury secretaries and former White House economic advisors, urged the Supreme Court not to allow President Donald Trump to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook as her lawsuit challenging her removal is pending. Signers included ex-Fed chairs Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen; ex-Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Hank Paulson, Jack Lew, and Timothy Geithner; and ex-CEA chairs Glenn Hubbard, Greg Mankiw, Christina Romer, Cecilia Rouse, Jared Bernstein, and Jason Furman.

A mix of high borrowing costs, dwindling job openings and growing economic and political uncertainty have left many U.S. households at a standstill, with many Americans saying they feel unable to buy new homes, take new jobs or move to new cities. The Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut last week — the first of the year, with the expectation that more will follow — may have boosted stock prices, but it isn’t likely to make much of a difference to everyday Americans, economists say. While the economy is generally in good shape, many people feel stuck. “Consumers have been increasingly...

It turns out that the services benefiting the well-to-do are most impacted by DC’s ICE crackdown.According to Yesim Sayin, who studies the city economy at the D.C. Policy Center think tank, this is all terrible news for the municipal economy, coming at a moment when federal job cuts have made the tax base ever more reliant on hospitality and real estate. “All these actions with ICE are like putting additional weight on something that’s about to break,” she said.But the identity of the most prolific consumers of the impacted industries is also likely to shape the politics around the immigration...

Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were treated to all the pomp and pageantry during their unprecedented second state visit to the UK, and one fashion statement was not to everyone’s liking. >

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel launched its offensive in Gaza City on Tuesday, vowing to overwhelm a city already in ruins from nearly two years of war as thousands of Palestinians fled in vehicles strapped with mattresses and other belongings that clogged a coastal road. The operation into the largest Palestinian city escalated a conflict that has roiled the Middle East and likely pushed any ceasefire with Hamas farther out of reach. The military would not offer a timeline for the offensive that aims to crush the militant group’s ability to fight, but Israeli media suggested it could take months. “Gaza...

Special Presidential Envoy Keith Kellogg on Monday said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently advised President Trump that Russia is losing its war on Ukraine — as Moscow has seen more than 1 million casualties while taking less than 1% of Ukrainian territory since November 2022. Speaking at the Yalta European Security Conference in Kyiv, Kellogg revealed he and the chairman, Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, each reassured the president of Moscow’s wilting position roughly six weeks ago — shortly before Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. -snip- “I responded quite forcefully,...

The AI argument kicked off in late July, just a day after Trump announced his AI plan — a 28-page strategy to accelerate the technology and build new power infrastructure to supply it. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) fired off a tirade on X, complaining that AI could create mass poverty by replacing human jobs, and giant AI data centers could have potentially devastating effects on the environment and water supply. In the days that followed, GOP strategist Steven Bannon chimed in, comparing the pursuit of AI superintelligence to “summoning the demon.” And since then, think-tankers and populist conservative outlets...

On Monday, former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey – once President Trump’s top pick to lead the FBI – will be sworn into a new power-sharing role with deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino. Bailey’s installment comes at a perilous time for FBI Director Kash Patel, whose leadership atop the nation’s premier law enforcement agency is under fire, according to ten sources from multiple federal offices granted anonymity to speak freely. The White House’s reasoning to create an unprecedented office for Bailey has not been explained and left FBI leadership confused, two people at the agency said. "The White House, Bondi,...

The numbers show Democrats have an image problem, amid record-low approval ratings and a growing voter registration gap. To reverse that trend, some Democrats are working to build a message they say can win over more Americans. Democrats suffered heavy losses in the 2024 elections, both nationally and in battleground states. Last year more new voters registered Republican than Democrat for the first time since 2018, according to data from business intelligence firm L2. “Democrats have to reestablish trust with voters and win a whole bunch of folks back,” said Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio. Landsman hopes to lead the charge...

In a move that’s sending shockwaves through the American media landscape, Fox News personalities Jeanine Pirro and Tyrus have fired a warning shot at the country’s legacy networks—CBS, NBC, and ABC—declaring an all-out “war” that’s as much about influence as it is about ratings. The campaign, fueled by a staggering $2 billion war chest, isn’t merely a battle for viewers; it’s a fight for the soul of American discourse as the nation barrels toward the 2025 election. The War Begins: Fox News Goes Nuclear The drama unfolded in a series of televised segments and behind-the-scenes strategy sessions that quickly leaked...

The chances of Donald Trump resigning have spiked over the last day on a cryptocurrency-based prediction market following speculation about the U.S. president's health and absence from public engagements over the last week. Polymarket increased the chances of a presidential resignation after the Trump administration said there would be an Oval Office news conference at 2 p.m. ET Tuesday without specifying the reason for the event. However, later White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Newsweek in a statement "the President will be making an exciting announcement related to the Department of Defense." The event follows days of speculation about Trump...

Taking their cues from modern warfare, the far-right American terrorist movement sees off-the-shelf or home-built first-person viewer (FPV) drones as a critical weapon in their own future war against the US government, which has American authorities on edge. And there’s ample reasons for those fears: in the open and closed online spaces where far-right extremists congregate, talk is commonplace of how these cheap drones are revolutionizing current wars and will be the critical tools of a so-called second civil war. “The use of FPV drones in the war between Russia and Ukraine, the use of drones by terrorist groups such...

Small local organizations called Active Clubs have spread widely across the U.S. and internationally, using fitness as a cover for a much more alarming mission. These groups are a new and harder-to-detect form of white supremacist organizing that merges extremist ideology with fitness and combat sports culture. Active Clubs frame themselves as innocuous workout groups on digital platforms and decentralized networks to recruit, radicalize and prepare members for racist violence. The clubs commonly use encrypted messaging apps such as Telegram, Wire and Matrix to coordinate internally. For broader propaganda and outreach they rely on alternative social media platforms such as...