Free Republic

German luxury auto manufacturer Audi said it is considering moving car production to the United States to avoid tariffs from the Trump administration. Volkswagen’s subsidiary Audi brand said this week that it is examining various long-term strategies, including potentially shifting production to America, to deal with President Donald Trump’s restrictions on foreign imports. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner said that the company is “currently assessing various scenarios for additional localization in North America – among other things, to be closer to the needs of local customers and to make ourselves more resilient to global economic uncertainties.”

The European Union (EU) retaliated swiftly with a two-step approach in response to President Trump’s fresh 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum that took effect Wednesday. First, the European trading bloc — made up of 27 nations — will allow the suspension of the existing 2018 and 2020 countermeasures against the U.S. to expire on April 1. Second, the commission is proposing a new package of countermeasures on goods coming from the U.S. that will go into effect in mid-April, covering some $28 billion in imports in total. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said Europe...

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a number of new initiatives to bolster defence in a speech in Warsaw, as European powers appear set to comply with U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands that the continent pay for its own protection rather than relying on America. Speaking before the Sjem parliament, Prime Minister Tusk declared Friday: “Hope is no substitute for strategy. Hope is a beautiful feeling, but in politics, it is often adjacent to naivety or illusion… Today, Europe is beginning to understand that since the United States expects much greater outlays, determination and courage from us, it must be...

China warned it is ready for any “type of war” with the US in an alarming escalation as President Trump’s tariffs went into effect. “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said late Tuesday. Tensions grew stiff between the two nations on Tuesday as Trump bumped up a 10% tariff on Chinese imports to 20%, claiming the trade measure would halt the flow of fentanyl into America. Jian’s statement, reiterated on X by...

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have gained popularity recently for their ability to support weight loss, which can mostly be attributed to their appetite-suppressing effects. Ozempic is in a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which mimic the hormone GLP-1. This slows down gastric emptying and sends signals of fullness to the brain. Basically, this means food stays in the stomach longer and tells the brain that you are full and don't need more food. This leads to less calorie consumption and, eventually, weight loss.

(NewsNation) – The Social Security Administration announced 2024’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) just over a month ago, confirming a 3.2% bump in benefits for retirees. Here’s what you need to know. How does the 2024 increase compare to 2023’s? While still one of the largest increases in decades, 2024’s COLA increase of 3.2% is far below the 8.7% bump that recipients were granted in 2023.

Washington could grant Chevron approval to significantly boost oil production in Venezuela as early as this weekend, if the government of Nicolas Maduro resumes talks with the opposition. This potential would mean an easing of sanctions against Venezuela at a time when the United States is pushing for higher oil production to ease soaring prices. Easing sanctions on Venezuela is among the only options left to the Biden administration to increase oil production. OPEC+ has refused to heed Washington’s calls for a production hike; instead, cutting production by 2 million bpd through the end of the year. Sanctions will not...

From cattle to uncontrolled wildlife, pesky but pervasive large parasites like tapeworms have a far greater impact on the total body health of their mammal hosts than previously known, new University of Alberta research suggests. "Parasites don't have to kill the animal to control a population," says Kyle Shanebeck, a Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Science's Department of Biological Sciences who led the study. Shanebeck explained that all wildlife have at least one and often multiple parasites. The less fatal a parasite, the more prevalent it is within a population, with potentially stronger negative effects. "They can affect the...

The possibility that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade has set off alarm bells in the LGBT community. Advocates and legal experts are warning that the 1973 landmark decision, which deemed that a woman’s right to abortion is constitutional, could have severe consequences for LGBT Americans’ mental and physical health, socioeconomic status and right to marriage.

https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/crop-production/nitrogen-shortage-brewing-so-what-will-it-take-cure-worlds-fertilizer

To mark the premiere of Fox Nation's new special, "The Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan," former White House Advance Planner Rick Ahearn joined "Your World" Tuesday to reflect on the shooting of the 40th president by John Hinckley 40 years ago next week.

When COVID-19 restrictions reduced his work schedule at the National Institutes of Health, Sam Smith decided to turn to another time-consuming job: applying to medical school. He'd always wanted to go into medicine, but what was happening in the world had a big impact on the kind of medicine he hopes to practice. Now Smith wants to specialize in infectious diseases. The experience of the last year "makes me think, there's probably going to be another pandemic" in the future, said Smith, 25. "So I want to be on the front lines of the next one."

A few choice comments by Dave Cullen. Today's subject: CNBC - "Physicists assure us that we're not living in an alternate reality where Trump is president"http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/22/alternate-realities-and-trump-mandala-effect-and-what-cern-does.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYTJYCdebzQ

The Burlington police said Trump's campaign issued the free tickets online through its website. Trump's rally will be held at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts at 7 p.m. Thursday. Doors will open at 5 p.m. The Flynn's capacity is 1,411, which includes space for the press pool.

Writing for the Associated Press, Rachel Zoll notes that, "The Vatican ambassador to the U.S., addressing American bishops at their first national meeting since Pope Francis was elected, said Monday they should not 'follow a particular ideology' and should make Roman Catholics feel more welcome in church. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano noted the challenges from broader society to Christian teaching....'the Holy Father wants bishops in tune with their people....He made a special point of saying that he wants pastoral bishops, not bishops who profess or follow a particular ideology.' In a September interview, Francis said Catholic leaders should give greater...

This election highlights a growing phenomenon: non- Jewish Republican candidates outflanking Jewish Democrats in pro-Israel positions. When an Orthodox Jewish, kippa-wearing Democratic candidate might lose a congressional election in the most Jewish (and 75% Democratic) congressional district in America – a seat occupied by Democrats for nearly a century – to a non-Jewish Republican, something significant is going on. And Golda Koppelman knows what that something is. New York’s 9th Congressional District (Brooklyn and Queens) is gearing up for the September 13, 2011 special election to fill the seat vacated by disgraced Democrat Anthony Weiner. Koppelman, a Holocaust survivor who...

BOSTON—The number of Earth-like extrasolar planets suitable for harboring advanced life could be 10 times higher than has been assumed until now, according to a new modeling study. The finding contradicts the prevailing notion that a terrestrial planet needs a large moon to stabilize the orientation of its axis and, hence, its climate. In 1993, French mathematicians Jacques Laskar and Philippe Robutel showed that Earth’s large moon has a stabilizing effect on our planet’s climate. Without the moon, gravitational perturbations from other planets, notably nearby Venus and massive Jupiter, would greatly disturb Earth’s axial tilt, with vast consequences for the...

A radical reformulation of quantum mechanics suggests that the universe has a set destiny and its pre-existing fate reaches back in time to influence the past. It could explain the origin of life, dark energy and solve other cosmic conundrums.The universe has a destiny—and this set fate could be reaching backwards in time and combining with influences from the past to shape the present. It’s a mind-bending claim, but some cosmologists now believe that a radical reformulation of quantum mechanics in which the future can affect the past could solve some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, including how life arose....

Yesterday, Fox News reported the hearings held by Senator Joe Lieberman with cabinet officials concerning a shortage of flu vaccine. I'm sitting in Afghanistan not getting much broadcast TV news. I wanted to find out more, so I searched Google News for related articles. It turns out that as of this writing, the rest of the media is not reporting this event, at least in print. Try this. Go to the Google search page, click on the "News" tab. Now enter "Joe Lieberman".