Free Republic

So far, American consumers have been shielded from much of the impact. But as the world of international shipping adjusts to his policies, the president is facing a potential reckoning. With the US-China trade war starting to gum up container traffic between the world’s two biggest economies, freight companies are warning of plunging bookings and a surge in “blank sailings” – where ports are skipped or voyages are called off altogether. Earlier this week, America’s most powerful retail executives trooped into the White House to deliver a blunt prognosis: tariffs on Chinese goods risked causing “empty shelves” in two weeks...

China just raised the stakes in its standoff with Washington. Despite President Trump's recent attempts to dial down the rhetoric and hint at possible tariff relief, Beijing isn't budging. A spokesperson from China's Commerce Ministry flatly rejected any notion of progress, calling U.S. claims of renewed dialogue groundless. The message: if the U.S. wants to talk, it needs to first undo the damagestarting with a full rollback of unilateral tariffs, now as high as 145%. China also made it clear that future talks hinge on more than just kind words; Washington needs to get serious about core issues like sanctions...

ETFs tracking the U.S. dollar are gaining investor attention as the greenback faces increased pressure amid increasing global trade tensions and indications of a weakening U.S. economy. As sentiment turns bearish at a record pace, ETFs such as Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish Fund UUP -0.90% are becoming crucial tools for investors trying to deal with the volatility. The most popular dollar ETF is UUP, which provides exposure to the greenback versus a basket of currencies including the euro, yen, and pound. It’s constructed to profit when the dollar rises — but has underperformed in recent days as bearishness...

President Donald Trump knows his hike in tariffs for China's goods to 145 percent will up the ante in a trade war, but Beijing also holds a strong hand with its control of the materials critical for the United States defense industry. China first responded on April 3 to Trump's initial salvo of 54 percent levies on its exports by placing export restrictions on rare earth elements, which are key for the fighter aircraft that will form the backbone of the U.S. Air Force's next-generation fleet. Following a deal with Boeing, Trump has touted the F-47 as the successor to...

The SSA introduces a stricter identity verification policy to combat fraud—millions could risk losing benefits if they don’t comply ... Starting April 14, 2025, millions of Social Security beneficiaries in the United States will need to meet a new requirement to continue receiving their monthly payments. ... This new measure is part of a broader initiative led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration.

Last October, in the home stretch of the US presidential campaign, Donald Trump told supporters at a rally in Atlanta that he was “not a Nazi”. He was reacting to comments by his former chief of staff, John Kelly, who said in an interview that during his first term in office, Trump more than once suggested that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “did some good things”. Kelly said that after consulting a dictionary he concluded that Trump “certainly” met the definition of a fascist. Since the start of Trump’s second term as US president, comparisons between his administration and the Nazi...

Social Security has never missed a benefit payment since the program first began sending individuals monthly benefits more than eight decades ago. But the recent actions at the U.S. Social Security Administration by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency are putting monthly benefit checks for more than 72.5 million Americans at risk, former commissioner and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley told CNBC.com. “Ultimately, you’re going to see the system collapse and an interruption of benefits,” O’Malley said. “I believe you will see that within the next 30 to 90 days.” Ahead of any interruption in benefits, “people should start...

The Illinois Ag Dept. illegally seized privately owned bees from renowned naturalist, Terrence Ingram, without providing him with a search warrant and before the court hearing on the matter, reports Prairie Advocate News. Behind the obvious violations of his Constitutional rights is Monsanto. Ingram was researching Roundup’s effects on bees, which he’s raised for 58 years. “They ruined 15 years of my research,” he told Prairie Advocate, by stealing most of hisstock.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) now has access to the Treasury Department's payment system and some are concerned about the benefits many Americans receive. CBS MoneyWatch correspondent Kelly O'Grady reports.

Executives at a Bermudan firm funneling money to U.S. environmentalists run investment funds with Russian tycoons. A shadowy Bermudan company that has funneled tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States is run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. One of those executives, Nicholas Hoskins, is a director at a hedge fund management firm that has invested heavily in Russian oil and gas. He is also senior counsel at the Bermudan law firm Wakefield Quin and the vice president...

Staffers with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC today, inciting concerns of downsizing at the agency. “They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former Noaa official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement on Monday, once again placing the world's top historic emitter of greenhouse gases outside of the global pact aimed at pushing nations to tackle climate change. Here are some reactions to the announcement of the second U.S. withdrawal from the climate pact: SIMON STIELL, U.N. CLIMATE CHANGE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY "Embracing (the global clean energy boom) will mean massive profits, millions of manufacturing jobs and clean air. Ignoring it only sends all that vast wealth to competitor economies, while climate disasters like droughts, wildfires and superstorms...

"By March 23 many of our largest cities & hospitals are on course to be overrun with cases."

The FDA today has issued an order today that will ban Red No. 3 from food products and ingested drugs. The dye, which was approved to use in 1907, has been banned in cosmetics and topical drugs since 1990 over evidence that it can cause cancer. Its use in food is already banned or restricted in Australia, Japan and countries in the EU. Red No. 3. is commonly found in candy, gum, and cookies, including Brach’s candy corn, Betty Crocker sprinkles, and strawberry Ensure. Food manufacturers will have until January 15, 2027 to remove it from all products, while makers...

Hope all is well and Happy New Year. Are you keeping track of this new virus going around in China? Is is apparently in the Ukraine now too? Any updates? Could this be what the 9th of January was targeting? Disease and War cycle? ANSWER: I am aware of this new virus. I went to see my doctor, who, when she asked me if I got vaccinated, I said NO! Her response was GOOD! She is actually from Sereavo, and oddly, I knew I looked familiar since I had advised the government there about the breakup of Yugoslavia. She believes...

Russia will launch the serial production of its new powerful Oreshnik missiles in the "near future," Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday. "In the near future, serial production of such systems should be ensured to protect the security of Russia and our allies," said Putin in a speech at the Russian Defense Ministry's final board meeting of the year on Monday, which was publicly broadcast. -snip- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said last week that he had asked Putin to provide him with the new missiles, and Russia agreed to supply Oreshniks "for free."

Putin has vowed to incinerate Ukraine with new missiles firing warheads almost as hot as on the surface of the sun. The Russian dictator said he would use the new Oreshnik missiles to turn areas of Ukraine “to dust” in blasts “comparable to nuclear weapons”. In a speech to ex-Soviet state leaders in Kazakhstan Putin vowed to ramp up his country’s production of hypersonic missiles, in a bid to outpace the West’s ability to supply Ukraine. Boasting about his new super-weapon Oreshnik, he said that in future it would be devastating in the destruction it caused. “Of course, there are...

Russia has threatened to attack a new US defense base in Poland with “advanced weapons” — just hours after reportedly launching an intercontinental ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday. Moscow leveled the warning after saying the opening of the ballistic missile defense base, located in the town of Redzikowo near the Baltic coast, would lead to an increase in overall nuclear danger. “Given the nature and level of threats posed by such Western military facilities, the missile defense base in Poland has long been added to the list of priority targets for potential destruction, which, if necessary, can be executed...

By getting governments to over-regulate farming, elite oligarchs like Bill Gates and Klaus Schwab aim to take control over food production in the name of sustainability. Besides ‘degrowth’ and ‘net zero,’ one other dangerous buzz phrase being bandied about by proponents of the Great Reset is “nature-positive food systems.” The stated goal of moving to new food systems is to reduce nitrogen emissions, livestock production, and meat consumption. This is to be achieved by consuming plant-based products, lab-grown foods, and insects (as a source of protein). The moot question, however, is whether such a change is at all necessary? The...

RUSSIA is ready to use nuclear weapons and trigger World War Three if provoked, Putin puppet Dmitry Medvedev has warned. -snip- "If the new [US] leader is going to be fiercely dedicated to adding fuel to the fire of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it will be a very bad choice. "Because this is the road to hell. "It's really a road to World War Three. "Whoever decides to continue the war will be making a very dangerous mistake."