Free Republic

The Biden Administration has spent and printed a reckless amount of money since entering office in January 2020. Nearly $4 trillion has been spent in just the eighteen months President Joe Biden has been in the White House, fueling the reason why inflation remains at a 40-year high and the economy is quickly heading down a black hole. However, with the newly-controlled GOP house, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) vowed to intervene with Biden’s big spending plans. “I like to remind people: The power of the purse strings resides with the House,” Gonzalez said, adding that Republicans need to take action...

There’s been a troubling trend in recent years of young people increasingly identifying as transgender. In fact, the transgender phenomenon, which was once mostly associated with men, is now dominated by women. Data suggests that peer influence is playing a role in the surge in transgender identity, and now some transgender advocates are admitting that this is a problem. While the transgender cult insists that the rapid increase of transgender identification is because of growing social acceptance that encourages transgender people to not keep their identity secret, others point out that the rapid growth and the changing demographics prove that...

The number of Americans who leave their homes with a pistol or revolver on their person jumped from approximately three million in 2015 to six million in 2019, according to a study conducted by University of Washington researchers. The Guardian reported the study on November 25, 2022, noting that it appeared in the American Journal of Public Health.

One of the trolls I encounter online repeats the mantra that if we are to allege electoral fraud, the burden of proof is on the accuser. No matter how strong the evidence, nor how much of it there is, the mantra remains the same. Prove it. Proof beyond reasonable doubt is the standard. No. When it comes to electoral integrity, and accusations of fraud, that's backward. Those who count the votes must prove that the numbers they report are accurate. If they cannot, then the election results must be discarded as untrustworthy. Another, more reliable — utterly reliable — election...

Biden’s war on fossil fuels may reduce funding for America’s national parks, according to the Western Energy Alliance, a nonprofit energy industry association for the U.S. West. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), which was passed in August 2020, provides $1.9 billion for public lands and national park restoration, primarily from onshore oil and gas development on federal lands. The act combined the restoration and Land and Water Conservation funds, which supplies $900 million in matching grant money for state and local parks. No Federal Oil Biden campaigned on a promise that he was going to eliminate the oil industry,...

There was no U.S. statesman who advocated for Ukraine more than John McCain. He was right about Putin’s nefarious intentions. Today we are driven by Sen. McCain’s legacy in Ukraine and we stand behind the Ukrainians who are fighting for freedom and democracy. From the 2022 Sedona Forum, watch Stand Up & Fight: The Story of John McCain and Ukraine. Video: https://www.mccaininstitute.org/resources/in-the-news/stand-up-fight-the-story-of-john-mccain-and-ukraine/

A big US furniture company this week fired all of its 2,700 employees while they were sleeping, telling them in texts and emails not to come to work the next day, according to reports. The mass firing on Tuesday by United Furniture Industries, which makes budget-friendly sofas and recliners for Simmons Upholstery, left thousands of employees including truck drivers and factory workers in North Carolina, Mississippi and California unemployed just two days before Thanksgiving.

The tight labor market is prompting more employers to eliminate one of the biggest requirements for many higher-paying jobs: the need for a college degree. Companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Delta Air Lines Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. have reduced educational requirements for certain positions and shifted hiring to focus more on skills and experience. Maryland this year cut college-degree requirements for many state jobs—leading to a surge in hiring—and incoming Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigned on a similar initiative. U.S. job postings requiring at least a bachelor’s degree were 41% in November, down from 46% at the...

The proposed amendments still pending include the reimplementation of the Holman Rule, which would permit the targeted slashing of specific federal programs or individual federal employee salaries. ... The House Republican leadership has rejected 6 out of the 8 House Freedom Caucus rules changes that have been considered so far, .. The amendments that failed included a requirement that spending bills must pass before the fiscal year officially begins on Oct. 1. If not, other legislation would not be able to be considered on the floor. An amendment that would ensure all members of the Republican Conference are able to...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” House Majority Leader Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said that “people love Joe Biden’s approach and they are in love with his agenda.” But his ratings are low because even though people are “very pleased” “when they look at their bank accounts, they look at what’s happening with their families and in their communities,” that doesn’t show up in polls, and Biden will be like President Truman who did things that “were unpopular at the time, but over time, have proven to be exactly what the country needed.”

Raytheon Technologies, in particular, has hired retired individuals to increase the production of Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems. To meet the demand brought on by the conflict in Ukraine, the biggest Western arms producers are increasing their production of rocket launchers, tanks, and ammunition. In order to increase the production of Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems,the American company Raytheon Technologies has hired back retired employees. Since the conflict started, American company Lockheed Martin has increased the production of Javelin antitank systems by twofold and has plans to increase the production of HIMARS MLRS and missiles for it by 60% of the level...

Prominent left-wing lawyer Marc Elias, creator of the progressive media outlet Democracy Docket, praised Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) for accepting the results of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race. Elias made this comment in response to a meeting Ducey had with Democrat Governor-elect Katie Hobbs. Ducey said the meeting was to congratulate Hobbs on her victory in this election and offer his administration’s full support in helping her transition and hit the group running in 2023. Ducey also made a statement about the results of this election. “All of us have waited patiently for the democratic process to play out....

American households are still forking out huge sums of extra cash for the same products as last year as inflation batters the nation. Shoppers on average are splashing out $433 more per month than they were in 2021 - despite buying the same goods and services. While figures are slightly down from the $445 monthly figure in September, Moody's Analytics analysis of October data shows inflation is still stretching budgets.

Defeated Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s campaign has sued Maricopa County and its election officials, demanding they respond to the campaign’s public records requests about malfunctions on Election Day before the county certifies its vote canvass on Monday. Maricopa County, which spans the Phoenix area and comprises about 60 percent of Arizona’s population, has become the epicenter of election challenges this cycle, and the complaint marks the Lake campaign’s first post-Election Day lawsuit. County election officials acknowledge printer mishaps at some vote centers on Election Day but insist residents still had multiple ways to cast a ballot for counting....

This is a direct result of savings accounts being drained because of Bidenflation. We’ve simply run out of cash. And good luck trying to liquidate your fun, expendable assets, like boats, motorcycles, and RVs, because most people can’t afford to buy them. US Treasury debt now 150% of GDP. Which means government can not pay off any part of principle. Annual budget deficits are running multiple Trillion dollars now. US Treasury is currently paying out Billion dollars every day of the year in interest payments. That will soon double or triple due to federal funds interest rate jumping from less...

Congress can end the war in Ukraine and win a Nobel Peace Prize by enacting a statute withdrawing the United States from NATO — transforming it from a mighty offensive oak into a tiny acorn unalarming to Russia. As early as 1798, Congress nullified a defense treaty with France by statute. A congressional end to United States participation in NATO would be no constitutional novelty. At the very latest, NATO became obsolete in 1991 when its raison d’etre — the Soviet Empire — dissolved. By remaining in NATO and spearheading its expansion to Russia’s borders with 30 members, the United...

McConnell’s sabotage of his own side in the Senate races won’t come as a surprise to most Republicans, but many are unaware that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy used similar tactics in several House races during the same period. McCarthy’s behavior is even worse than McConnell’s in light of the extremely underwhelming House election results. Although observers expected a “red wave” that would yield a strong Republican majority in the House, Republicans are likely to have just a five-vote advantage in the end. ...[t]he political machine around McCarthy directed millions to be spent against Republican candidates in GOP primaries associated...

The war in Ukraine is nine months old. It broke out in a world dominated by a self-assured West, led by a bruised but confident USA. That world no longer exists. What has emerged is a sea change in global political power, alongside a slow-motion economic disaster which is still rippling through the West like an earthquake. Where once there was certainty, now there is doubt. Former allies and satellites such as Saudi Arabia and Argentina are realigning with the Chinese/Russian bloc known as BRICS, which is expanding beyond its founder members of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa...

Beijing's bandwidth to deliver is shrinking as its economic performance wanesIn Xi Jinping's official encounters with Western leaders at the Group of 20 Summit last week in Bali, the Chinese leader was accommodating, even collaborative. This made for a stark contrast with his rigid appearance last month at the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan before that. Indeed, Xi's swirling agenda of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G-20 could be seen as a charm offensive to shift from confrontation with the West to what might be...

Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers are staging strikes and walking out of their jobs on Black Friday, pushing for the company to provide better wages and protect the global environment as it produces strong revenue numbers. Strikes and walkouts are planned for Friday in more than 30 countries as part of the “Make Amazon Pay” campaign. The countries include the United States, India, Australia, Japan and many in Europe. The website for the campaign states that real wages are dropping for Amazon workers while the company makes record revenues, including $121 billion in the second quarter of this year. “But...