Free Republic

Leftist billionaire and Democratic mega-donor George Soros has been leaning on the Democrat-controlled Federal Communications Commission for months in hopes of fast-tracking his group's acquisition of over 200 radio stations in over 40 markets — including stations that run shows from Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Erick Erickson, Sean Hannity, and Dana Loesch. On Wednesday, the FCC reportedly adopted an order to approve the purchase, meaning that in a matter of days, Soros will likely take control of communications to over 165 million Americans with the help of unvetted foreign investors whom Democrats have spared from the FCC's customary national security...

The 2-year U.S. Treasury yield on Tuesday topped 5%, and rose to its highest level since 2007, as investors assessed comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell who said the central bank may need to increase the pace of interest rate hikes again.

Analysts at Swiss Re expect economic distress to remain elevated for average US citizens over the next year, with increases a real threat as the likelihood of stagflation and recession has substantially risen. In the US, Swiss Re notes that the misery index is now in the highest 20% of readings over almost 50 years, an indicator of mounting economic pain to citizens. The cause is high inflation, and analysts see lower-wage workers as particularly vulnerable due to their exposure to both relatively high unemployment and the greatest erosion of their purchasing power. The misery index is a sum of...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – A collector credits a hunch with helping him land one of just 100 sheets of stamps recently issued by the United States Postal Service featuring a corrected version of its rare and famous error, the 1918 "inverted Jenny." Art Van Riper bought the stamps in Waverly, N.Y., after reading that the Postal Service had printed a new batch of inverted Jenny stamps celebrating the 95-year-old edition that, by mistake, featured an upside-down biplane. He also read that, as a way to draw more people into stamp collecting, the Postal Service randomly distributed 100 sheets featuring the plane...

BEIJING – Overseas tourists often find the menus here befuddling, for good reason. After all, what Westerner has experience with foods like these? “Cowboy leg,” “Hand-shredded ass meat,” “Red-burned lion head,” “Strange flavor noodles,” “Blow-up flatfish with no result,” or “Tofu made by woman with freckles.” As proud as the Chinese people are of their thousands of years of gastronomic culture, even a Chinese native can feel disoriented when going to another province, given all the different styles of cooking. Many of the food names, often unique to different provinces, get lost in translation, especially in booming cities starting to...

FOREST GROVE, Ore. - A photo released by police shows the predicament an 18-year-old got himself into when he tried to make a run for it and ended up impaled on a wrought iron fence. The incident happened last Thursday when a teenager under arrest for assault tried to flee police as he was about to be transported in a patrol car. The teenager, who has since been identified as Cody Carlson, bolted from the car and tried to vault the fence with his hands cuffed behind his back. Firefighters ended up having to cut out a section of the...