Free Republic

President Donald Trump demanded gas stations slash prices 'immediately' on Monday and urged retailers to start targeting gasoline at around $2.50 a gallon, warning there would be 'big problems' if they failed to act. In a fiery Truth Social post, the president insisted fuel prices no longer reflected falling crude oil costs and accused retailers of overcharging motorists despite oil dropping to around $68 a barrel. 'Gasoline Retailers must get their Prices down, IMMEDIATELY!' Trump wrote. 'They're too high considering that Oil is now at $68 a Barrel, and heading south. The Retailers must quickly react to this statement, and...

Donald Trump’s new stock-buying strategy isn’t socialism, but it is a step toward a government-controlled economy. Recently, a handful of people—none of whom have ever invited me to their birthday party—accused President Donald Trump of being a socialist. Gavin Newsom, who many pundits credibly believe is the governor of California, said Trump is committing socialism by having the federal government buy stock in private companies. At the time of writing, the government has taken shares in Intel, MP Materials, Lithium Americas, U.S. Steel, and even a Canadian mining company that mines cobalt or some other stupid mineral I hate. This...

Energy issues are the kind of thing that causes significant numbers of people escape into fantasy worlds rather than consider reality. Energy issues are boring to many people, full of the sort of things the current wizards of academia and the press consider “white privilege” and “patriarchal” thinking -- you know, the kind of thing in which correct answers matter more than subjective feelings. Significant numbers of people escape into fantasy worlds rather than consider reality, which is not only boring, but often harsh enough that it requires us to make hard choices. Escapism seems preferable. SNIP On the other...

Bonn (AFP) - Calls by the Group of Seven (G7) Monday to slash world carbon emissions did little to boost UN climate talks in Bonn, where frustration mounted over the snail-like progress. Groups of countries pleaded for greater efforts to streamline a draft text for a climate pact due to be adopted at a conference in Paris in just over six months. "We are very concerned about the pace of negotiations," said Amjad Abdulla of the Maldives, speaking for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) which are deeply exposed to climate change. "We have not made the big jump...