Free Republic

Road to MoscowBill Clinton’s Early Activism from Fulbright to Moscow By Fedora SummaryDuring the 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton’s student protests and Moscow trip generated much controversy, but few answers. While Clinton’s government files from that era seemingly remain unavailable even today, there is at least more information available than in 1992. The public record reveals that Clinton’s social network and views on Vietnam were influenced by a pattern of contact between Communist agents and sympathizers and Clinton’s academic and political associates. This pattern is documented here through an analysis of Clinton’s antiwar activity up through the time he left Oxford...

Guest(s): Steve Hanke Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University President Donald Trump is not facing stiff competition for the presidential elections in November, and a low chance of a recession should further help his odds, this according to Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins university. “If you look at the challengers, there’s not much to write home about. They’re pretty pathetic,” Hanke told Kitco News. “The economy might not make Trump a shoe-in, but it’ll be in pretty good shape and he’ll be pretty tough to challenge. (Video at link)

The far-right Brazilian populist Jair Bolsonaro has secured a resounding victory in the first-round of his country’s presidential election, but fallen just short of the majority required to avoid a second-round run-off. After a campaign as improbable and electrifying as any Brazilian telenovela – although infinitely more consequential for the future of one of the world’s largest and most diverse democracies – Bolsonaro secured 46.93% of votes - with 94% of all votes counted. second-placed candidate, the leftist Workers’ party Fernando Haddad, won 28% of the vote, according to Brazil’s superior electoral court, the TSE. Behind him came the Democratic...

Julie Swetnick, one of the women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, faced allegations of her own misconduct during a short stint at a Portland tech company 18 years ago. Swetnick, 55, became the third woman in recent weeks to raise allegations against Kavanaugh. She issued a statement Wednesday in which she claimed she'd observed Kavanaugh at alcohol-fueled parties where women were mistreated. Her attorney is Michael Avenatti, a fierce critic of President Donald Trump who is reportedly considering a presidential run in 2020. Avenatti also represents Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who claims to have...

Venezuela is doing something completely unprecedented. Some even say illegal. As part of an attempt to stop skyrocketing inflation, the country is issuing a new fiat currency called the "sovereign bolivar," which will be backed by a cryptocurrency. But that cryptocurrency, called the "petro," does not trade, and Venezuela's own parliament says it's being illegally used to mortgage the nation's cash-strapped oil reserves. "This is a smoke-and-mirrors operation typical of Venezuela — I'll believe it when I see it," said Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and one of the world's leading experts on hyperinflation. "The...

Left-wing scholars, particularly in academe, make lots of attention getting assertions. Regrettably, they usually offer little in the way of illuminating evidence. "In the midst of almost unimaginable horror in Puerto Rico, a bright light has shone on one of America's most unjustifiable and economically backward laws, the previously obscure Jones Act," Brink Lindsay and Steven Teles wrote on October 2, 2017 for Washington Monthly. "First created in the aftermath of World War I to buffer the impact of post-war demobilization, the Jones Act requires that all ships that carry cargo within the United States be built in America, with...

A group of Johns Hopkins University researchers found a bug in Apple’s encryptionthat would let a skilled attacker decrypt photos and videos that were sent as secure instant messages. (Matthias Schrader/AP) Apple’s growing arsenal of encryption techniques — shielding data on devices as well as real-time video calls and instant messages — has spurred the U.S. government to sound the alarm that such tools are putting the communications of terrorists and criminals out of the reach of law enforcement. But a group of Johns Hopkins University researchers has found a bug in the company’s vaunted encryption, one that would enable...

<p>FBI agents armed with search warrants raided two houses in a southwestern suburb of Philadelphia yesterday, backed by members of a hazardous-materials squad wearing full protective gear.</p> <p>Located less than two blocks apart in Chester, Pa., some 15 miles southwest of Philadelphia, the houses are owned by Dr. Irshad Shaikh, a Pakistani physician and specialist in epidemic diseases who is Chester's city health commissioner, and by Asif Kazi, the Chester city accountant, who also is a Pakistani native.</p>