Free Republic

FACT: Trump has been the MOST vocal enemy of the Neocon policy of "forever wars." He's the one who first dared to say this on the debate stage in 2016, shocking everyone. Remember? But we cannot let the specter of "forever wars" stop us from EVER taking military action, if necessary. And sometimes in history such things are necessary. A brilliantly executed strike on the nuclear facilities of blood-thirsty Islamic lunatics is not the same thing as the utopian idiocy of trying to turn Afghanistan and Iraq into Ohio and Iowa. Trump's track record should give us confidence that he...

They died in their own beds. Hossein Salami and Ali Shamkhani—Iran’s most senior military officers and the stewards of Iran’s nuclear weapons program—had spent years threatening Israel with destruction. They issued taunts, organized terrorist attacks, and orchestrated, since October 7, the encirclement of the Jewish state in a ring of fire of their terror proxies. And they knew—without the slightest illusion—that Israel had the capability and resolve to kill them. This cohort saw the Israeli air force bury Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah in his bunker, hundreds of meters beneath the streets of Beirut. They saw Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh vaporized in...

“The (puny) ask: Elon Musk recently criticized the GOP’s “massive spending” reconciliation bill, which he says “undermines” the savings DOGE has found. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller responded that Musk was wrong to expect reconciliation to lock in DOGE work, saying that the proper tool was rescission. “So where are the lock-ins? DOGE says it has identified some $180 billion in savings, though Congress needs to approve many of the grant cancellations and other clawbacks. “Yet the White House rescissions request is for a mere $9.4 billion—out of annual discretionary spending of $1.6 trillion. This (supposedly) cost-cutting...

Why did the court strike down some tariffs? The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump didn’t have the authority to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or IEEPA. What tariffs are covered by the ruling? The ruling voids many of the Trump's administration’s moves on trade. That includes fentanyl-related tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, and the reciprocal tariffs—some of which were already on hold—that affect virtually every U.S. trading partner. What tariffs aren’t affected? Those that weren't justified under IEEPA. For instance, levies on autos, steel and aluminum aren't covered....

WSJ policy on excerpting. But these are quotations made by Trump President Trump is actively considering at least 15 trade proposals with countries, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Last week, the Trump administration announced a 90-day pause on so-called reciprocal tariffs to allow time to negotiate deals with nations. “He has made clear, he wants to personally sign off on all of these deals,” Leavitt said. “There’s a lot of work to do, we do believe we can announce some deals very soon.” She did not say which nations were close to reaching a deal with the...

Not since Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff has a president chosen to disregard a larger body of informed opinion than President Trump did when he instituted his protectionist trade policy. Based on a series of verifiably false grievances—wages haven’t grown in 50 years, manufacturing has been hollowed out by imports, countries with trade surpluses are “ripping us off”—Mr. Trump used constitutionally questionable powers to abrogate congressionally approved trade agreements and undermine the world’s trading system. Markets convulsed in anticipation of the massive wealth annihilation that would accompany the shredding of global supply chains and a transition to a more...

“Tariffs are advertised in the name of helping American workers, but what do you know? They turn out to favor the powerful and politically connected. That’s the main message of President Trump’s decision to exempt smartphones and assorted electronic goods from his most onerous tariffs. “All of this exposes the arbitrary political nature of tariffs. Some industries benefit but others don’t. Too bad if you make shoes, or clothing, or thousands of other consumer products that must pay the tariffs but lack the political or market clout to win exemptions. Too bad, too, if you’re a small manufacturer that relies...

A blizzard of design changes by the military have put production of the USS Constellation years behind schedule and millions over budget. Labor shortages, old equipment and rising steel costs aren’t helping the industry. When a Wisconsin shipyard won the contract to build a new class of Navy frigate in 2020, the project was meant to address an embarrassing reality: The U.S. is now the global laggard in building warships. Stocked with high-tech weaponry to protect against enemy submarines, missiles and drones, the USS Constellation was expected to be ready for the open water in 2026. That was because the...

Yesterday was the most consequential day of deregulation in American history. Alongside President Trump, we announced that the Environmental Protection Agency will take 31 actions to advance his day-one executive orders and power the Great American Comeback. By overhauling massive rules on the endangerment finding, the social cost of carbon and similar issues, we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age. These actions will roll back trillions of dollars in regulatory costs and hidden taxes. As a result, the cost of living for American families will decrease, and essentials such as...

State Farm General Insurance Company: Update on California Bloomington, IL, March 20, 2024 State Farm General Insurance Company (“State Farm General”) is working to ensure its long-term sustainability in California. In doing so, State Farm General has had to make some difficult but necessary decisions that will impact a portion of our California policyholders as follows: Non-renew approximately 30,000 homeowners, rental dwelling, and other property insurance policies (residential community association and business owners). (A rental dwelling policy insures rental home owners. Renters insurance is not affected.) Withdraw from offering commercial apartment policies with the non-renewal of all of those approximately...

What’s changed from 2016 in precincts where voting is complete Here are shifts in precincts where we believe nearly all votes have been counted. AREAS THAT ARE… VOTES SO FAR VOTE SHIFT, 2016-20 Majority age 65+ 648k +1.5 62% to 60% R White, fewer college grads 1.1m +0.5 75% R Suburban 2.9m <0.5 51% to 50% D Obama-Trump areas 409k <0.5 54% R High-income 687k <0.5 55% R Majority college grads 1.1m +1.5 50% D to 51% R Rural 1.8m +2 68% to 71% R Majority Black 611k +2.5 85% to 83% D Urban areas 1.3m +6 68% to 62%...

Af­ter cel­e­brated New York Times and Wash­ing­ton Post ar­ti­cles about Don­ald Trump and Rus­sia turned out to be wrong, will ma­ligned New York Post ar­ti­cles aboutJoe Biden and Ukraine turn out to be right? This fas­ci­nat­ing me­dia era could force a re­de­f­i­n­i­tion of terms like “main-stream” and “tabloid.” Five days af­ter the New York Post started pub­lish­ing al­leged emails de­tail­ing Biden fam­ily cor­rup­tion, the Bidens still haven’t claimed they’re coun­ter­feit.

To our betters in the American ruling class: Just a note to say thanks for giving us a much-needed lesson in the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, who were not shy at all in admonishing us to be wary of surrendering the kind of government power you people have wielded, supposedly for our benefit, since the Chinese Communist virus hit our shores at some indeterminate point in the recent, or maybe not-so-recent, past. What you’ve done has made an abject mockery of the idea we have God-given, unassailable rights. Instead what we have are permissions from our political betters. Thomas...

Mr. Cuo­mo’s gov­ern­ment-led virus strat­egy has failed the most vul­ner­a­ble pa­tients, even as it de­stroyed busi­nesses and jobs. He should im­me­di­ately end the lock­down and al­low free peo­ple to help them­selves and each other—and that in­cludes by gen­er­at­ing the wealth nec­es­sary for sur­vival.

Greatest Generation, meet the latest generations. The United States is in the grips of a global pandemic unlike anything ever experienced by baby boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, Gen Z, or whatever you prefer to call the descendants of the G.I. Joes and Rosie the Riveters who fought, each in their own way, to save democracy and preserve freedom.

Different countries report coronavirus cases and deaths in different ways, which can easily lead to confusion and makes comparing the situation complicated. Here's a look at what you need to know in order to understand how the Swedish figures are reported.

Experts now agree the virus’s spread can be slowed but not contained. It will take its place among mostly seasonal respiratory infections. After a time, recurrent outbreaks will be moderated by a large number of potential carriers who have immunity from their last infection. And then we can ask some questions. The cost to Americans of the economic shutdown is vast. What are they getting for their money? Essentially less excess demand for respiratory ventilators and other emergency care than can currently be supplied.

Charles Mackay wrote not of pandemics but “moral epidemics” 179 years ago in Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. “We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object,” he observed, “and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, [until] their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first.” Mackay wrote of hopes overriding reason in the public’s manias for tulips and alchemy and so much else. Now, our fears override our reason. The Moscow boogeyman seizing our democracy this...

In the event of an outbreak of a new or rare disease, such as the novel coronavirus, RIVM convenes the Outbreak Management Team (OMT Outbreak Management Team ). This emergency response team brings together specialists from various backgrounds who know a great deal about the disease in question. These specialists discuss the outbreak based on the latest information and knowledge from the scientific community.

If it’s true that the novel coronavirus would kill millions without shelter-in-place orders and quarantines, then the extraordinary measures being carried out in cities and states around the country are surely justified. But there’s little evidence to confirm that premise—and projections of the death toll could plausibly be orders of magnitude too high. If the number of actual infections is much larger than the number of cases—orders of magnitude larger—then the true fatality rate is much lower as well. That’s not only plausible but likely based on what we know so far.