Free Republic

This story is about the imminent – early to mid-May – Ukraine conflict escalation that we have forecast over the past six months. Let me start with a story that’s neither a leak sprung by the Massachusetts Air National Guard nor a White House lie nor the product of the febrile fantasy of a US State Department neocon loony – the principal story sources of the Western press these days. Visiting Berlin on Tuesday (April 18), Swiss President Alain Berset made it clear to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – with Swiss precision – that Germany will not be permitted to...

College graduates who studied liberal arts or education aren't likely to make a lot of money in their careers, but a degree in theology results in the lowest payout of all majors right after college, new data reveals.Graduates who major in theology and religion earn median salaries of $36,000 five years after college, according to a New York Federal Reserve analysis. As an hourly wage for full-time work, that comes out to just over $17 per hour.That's followed by family and consumer science, social service, psychology, performing arts and leisure and hospitality majors, who all make less than $40,000 five...

The Trump administration has finalized a roll back of Obama-era regulations for oil trains. The rules, which date back to 2015, required railroads carrying crude oil or other flammable liquids to outfit their trains with more responsive electronic braking systems. The rules came in response to concerns about explosions and spills from mile-long trains of crude and ethanol. In the Northwest, those trains move along the Columbia River and through cities to coastal refineries. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which has been working on rescinding the rules since last December, said in statement this week that its analysis showed the...

US Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Amy Klobuchar told Ukrainian troops in December 2016 that they would help make 2017 a “year of offense” against Russia and that it was time to make Russia “pay a heavier price”. Knowing they had an agreement with Putin not to let NATO get closer to Russia. The Deep State and NATO have been actively planning and conducting uprisings and unrest worldwide in Afghanistan, Iraq, Serbia, Libya etc. Ukraine is just one more in a long list of countries that have been devastated for the benefit of the very few that pull the...

Overview * The Ukrainian “offensive” in the south has been underway for 18 days as of today. As an American military intelligence officer observed, “I’m reminded of Lincoln’s comment about McClellan: ‘He has a case of the slows.’” More on this propaganda offensive below. * In the principal theaters of action, the mouth of the Donbas salient, the line of Ukrainian fortifications near Avdivka, west of the city of Donetsk, and the areas west and north-west of Kherson, there is heavy and stepped-up Russian artillery shelling accompanied by multiple missile attacks throughout Ukraine. * Russian forces are within 2-3 kilometers...

Speaking at the Russian Senate on May 17, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia focused on some of the most sensitive issues, including the nature of Russia’s dialogue with the West: Back in the 18th century, Russia opened up to the West, which became a source of knowledge for us, an example for the transformation of society. Thousands of foreigners came to our country, and for many of them Russia became a second home.At that time, cultural communication was built largely on shared Christian values. However, in modern times in the West, ideas which I believe...

President Trump defended his personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani on Saturday amid reports that federal prosecutors are investigating whether the former New York City mayor broke lobbying laws in his efforts to oust the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yavonovitch. “So now they are after the legendary ‘crime buster’ and greatest Mayor in the history of NYC, Rudy Giuliani,” Trump tweeted. “He may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer.” In defending Giuliani, Trump revived one of his recurring conspiracy theories that a “Deep State” of entrenched bureaucrats...

Boris Johnson’s suspension of the UK Parliament is unlawful, Scotland’s highest civil court has ruled. A panel of three judges at the Court of Session found in favour of a cross-party group of politicians who were challenging the prime minister's move.

A Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-backed American foundation has been colluding with the heads of the recent Hong Kong riots with financial and strategic support, actions that Chinese experts said show the US’ intention of “Americanization” which is endangering Hong Kong. Sentaku, a Japanese monthly magazine, revealed in August how the foreign forces represented by the US, manipulate the Hong Kong chaos. The magazine said that Hong Kong extremists received significant funding from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which it called “a CIA soft-power cutout that has played a critical role in innumerable US regime-change operations.” Under the Reagan administration...

As Trump barrels forward, Democrats are engaged in a furious argument over how to stop him. Many Democratic primary voters indicate they are ready to support the candidate most likely to defeat Trump, even over their personal favorite. Joe Biden has become the early front-runner because of a widespread sense that he is the “safest bet” to defeat Trump. Experienced and moderate, “Scranton Joe” is credited with having a special appeal to the white working-class voters that went to Trump, particularly in the In fact, rather than the “safest bet,” Biden is more likely to end up the worst of...

Just over a year after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida where a gunman claimed the lives of 17 students and teachers, gun violence and the prevalence of violent crime in the United States remain hot button issues in American society. Undoubtedly, the US has remarkably high rates of violent crime compared to other developed nations in Europe and Asia, especially in certain regions, but what is the underlying cause behind these numbers? Could it be the nationÂ’s lax gun laws and the ease of acquiring a firearm, or is there another explanation? Is this about gun...

When NPR interviewed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in February about her Green New Deal, she said that her goal was bigger than just passing some new laws. "What I hope we're able to do is rediscover the power of public imagination," she said. Well, we're unleashing our imagination and exploring a dream, a possible future in which we're bringing global warming to a halt. It's a world in which greenhouse emissions have ended. So — what does this world look like? Mass Electrification (Batteries Hold The Power) (Editor's note: Each story has two sections, the first reflecting the present and the...

Opinion: A commander-in-chief at odds with the best traditions of military service

Even as the 2020 race begins in earnest, President Donald Trump is already suggesting that Democrats cannot beat him fairly -- raising the specter that if he loses next November, he will suggest that the election was not legitimate. "The Democrats in Congress yesterday were vicious and totally showed their cards for everyone to see," Trump tweeted Tuesday, referring to House Democrats' launching of a broad-scale investigation into him. "When the Republicans had the Majority they never acted with such hatred and scorn! The Dems are trying to win an election in 2020 that they know they cannot legitimately win!"...

Nearly 11 million Americans nationwide would have been capped from deducting more than $323 billion in state and local taxes in 2017 because of changes enacted in the GOP's tax reform legislation, according to an audit released Tuesday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration — and expect similar results for the 2018 tax year. The 28-page report offers a new window into the full scope of the $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, which is supported by the White House and top congressional Republicans but has been heavily criticized by the leaders of many high-tax Democratic states, including New...

witter’s favorite large adult son, Donald Trump Jr., produced one of his most thought-provoking self-owns earlier this month, when he attempted to impugn the patriotism of the Democratic women of Congress. On February 6, Trump tweeted a post–State of the Union photo of a white-clad group of congresswomen huddled around Nancy Pelosi with the superimposed caption “NOT ONE AMERICAN FLAG PIN AMONG THEM.” Ironically, Trump also wrote that the photo “speaks for itself and no one is at all surprised.” At the top of his replies, above the cracks about the Trump family’s preference for Russian flags or the gallery...

At 18 years old, Zion Williamson is already getting used to being the biggest name in the building. That was not the case for Wednesday’s Duke-North Carolina showdown at Cameron Indoor Stadium. A number of big names showed up for game, none bigger than noted basketball fan and former President Barack Obama, who was met by a shrieking swath of Cameron Crazies who greeted him with high fives before the game.

President Donald Trump is known for boasting about having “the best words,” but Kellyanne Conway’s husband, attorney George Conway, is having none of it. On Friday, George Conway, who has been critical of the Trump administration even though his wife is a senior White House adviser, upped the ante by ripping the president’s oratorical skills. Conway’s post on Twitter linked to a Washington Post column by Henry Olsen that lambasted what he called Trump’s ”rambling and disjointed explanation” for why he is declaring a national emergency to fund a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. For Conway, the key quote...

Last year was Earth's 4th-warmest year on record, coming in behind 2016, the planet's warmest recorded year, as well as 2015 and 2017, according to information released Wednesday by NOAA, NASA and the U.K. Met Office. Why it matters: The yearly rankings don't tell the whole story of long-term climate change, since natural variability can still push or pull an individual year up or down the rankings. However, the overall picture is growing starker with each passing year. Nine of the 10 warmest years on record since reliable data began in 1880 have occurred since 2005. At the same time,...

One of the mysteries of China, and there are many such mysteries, is what it is like living in the hinterlands of China. Rural China. People see pictures of the skyscrapers of Shanghai, and the high-tech modern world of ultra-futuristic Shenzhen, but what of the rest of the country? What is it like? Is the mainstream media narrative that it is a devoid and barren wasteland correct? Well, in this post we try to show what China is like outside of the big mega-cities. It’s kind of difficult, as China is just rife with mega-cities. In fact, many a village...