Free Republic

As stocks soared this week and oil prices dropped amid an apparent cooling of tensions between the United States and Iran, it may have left the impression that the energy shock that rattled the world would quickly fade, along with the risk of sending the global economy into recession.The optimism may have been short-lived. On Saturday, Iran’s military announced it would reimpose restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, throwing the critical waterway’s status into doubt.The uncertainty highlights that beneath that surface, a starkly different reality is unfolding. It is defined by disrupted supply lines and damaged infrastructure, sparking increased concern...

RealRobert@Real_RobNHere it is:The United States Senate under John Thune is officially the world’s number one sponsor of terror.CIA and counterterrorism expert, Sarah Adamsvconfirm the U.S. taxpayer is paying Taliban martyrs’ families.Every Taliban martyr who died during the war, U.S. taxpayers are paying them a stipend.Ten months ago, the House passed Rep. Tim Burchett’s No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act—to stop sending $40 million every week to the Taliban.The bill to stop it has been sitting on @LeaderJohnThune’s desk for nearly a year.In other words, some non-governmental, government funded organization is sending the kickback right back into the back pockets of...

This is a story that documents my week-long road trip through Iran - one of my favorite countries on earth. Please note that this video was filmed and edited months before the recent escalation…

A number of tankers and cargo ships did try to exit the strait Friday via the route designated by Iran around Larak Island but they suddenly turned back, said Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler. “They’ve clearly not been given approval to pass through,” Smith said. Commercial ships must follow a route designated by Tehran and coordinate with its military, a source close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council told Tasnim News. Ships are not allowed to pass if they or their cargoes are linked to hostile nations, according to the Tasnim report. It is “unclear whether there’s...

LONDON — Nigel Farage, who led the charge on Brexit, Britain’s push to quit the European Union, and more recently founded the anti-immigration Reform UK party, was euphoric when Donald Trump swept back into the White House. Farage had campaigned for Trump, visited him at his Mar-a-Lago estate and compared him, favorably, to Winston Churchill. ... Farage was an early supporter of Trump’s strikes on Iran, but as anger at the war — and at the president — grows among Britons, who will vote in local elections May 7, he is backtracking. Reform UK’s standing has dipped in recent weeks,...

New court motions for Robinson's trial, show lab reports not only deemed findings INCONCLUSIVE, they also say that the BULLET fragment COULD BELONG TO MANY MAKES/MODELS OF GUNS.

Eric Swalwell has dropped out of the race for California Governor after a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Republicans may be celebrating the demise of the prominent Democrat, but they should hold off on the champagne for now. Swalwell’s exit only increases the chance of two Democrats moving through to the run-off, depriving the GOP of a place on the ticket. However some Republicans still believe that the two GOP candidates in the race – Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco – can make it through California’s jungle primary and face each other in November. While it sounds exciting and makes...

Late last June, CBS Sunday Morning host Jane Pauley acted like a schoolgirl by openly flirting with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) during an interview, gushing about him being an eligible bachelor. But on February 28, 2021, after The New York Times reported on a second former aide accusing Cuomo of sexual harassment, Pauley ignored the allegations completely. Meanwhile, inconsistencies abound in the reports from ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Sunday Today. While Pauley was ignoring Cuomo’s scandals, she did have a report about alleged sexual harassment at McDonald’s. And although, Sunday Morning wasn’t a normal newscast –...

The US and Iran have failed to reach an agreement after 21 hours of talks in Pakistan. I can’t say I’m surprised. After all, we didn’t have to wait for the negotiations to finish to make an informed guess of the outcome. We needed merely to consider the shape of things beforehand to know that Donald Trump’s hoped-for new world order would fall into new world chaos. America and Iran agreed on a ceasefire conditional on the Islamic Republic’s complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz. It has so far refused to honour that condition. Earlier this week, President Trump...

TRANSCRIPT: CARVILLE: “I want to be clear on this. I do not want that man to die. I want to — I want to watch him suffer and I can’t watch a dead person suffer. So I want him to be fully cognizant come November so when people tell him.”

U.S. President Donald Trump announced today (Sunday) a dramatic escalation in the confrontation with Iran, declaring a full naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The move comes just hours after reports of the unsuccessful conclusion of a round of talks between the American and Iranian delegations in Pakistan, and after the White House made clear it would not tolerate illegal transit fees being collected in the strait’s international waters. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: "Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they knowingly failed to do so. This caused anxiety, dislocation, and pain to many...

Kristen Welker: "I want to start with President Trump because President Trump's threats to take over Cuba come as the United States has removed President Maduro from power, has invaded Iran and killed its Supreme Leader. Do you fear you could be killed or arrested by the United States?" Miguel Díaz-Canel: "That is a very interesting question. Those of us who have leadership positions in the revolution have a strong commitment to our revolution and to our heroic people. In this connection, our responsibility entails the conviction and the commitment that we are willing to give our lives for the...

Environmental groups are legally challenging a permit that Mississippi granted to xAI allowing the company to build a massive, methane gas-burning power plant in the state. The permit application had "deficiencies," like inaccurate air pollution estimates, the groups said, adding that regulators rushed what should have been a careful process. Now part of SpaceX, xAI wants to build the power plant to provide electricity for its data center in nearby Memphis, Tennessee, and another one coming in Southaven, Mississippi. Elon Musk's xAI, now owned by SpaceX, is facing a new legal challenge from environmental groups in Mississippi, where the company...

Hide the sharp objects—at least if you take Nicolle Wallace seriously. On Friday’s edition of Deadline White House, Wallace began by painting an apocalyptic picture of the situation in Iran. Grim enough to have Trump supporters reaching for the Lexapro—if they believed her. After laying out her bleak scenario, Wallace went a step further, warning of: “A full-scale global economic crisis that might actually be even worse than those headlines, and worse than we think.”Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

MS NOW’s Stephanie Ruhle and Richard Stengel compared the Iranian regime’s “deep belief” and even its use of human shields at power plants and other vulnerable targets favorably to President Donald Trump’s worldview on Wednesday evening. Ruhle and Stengel’s comment came after The Financial Times’ Gillian Tett submitted that “President Trump comes from a background where he assumes that money can buy everything, and money drives everything, and he wants to cut a deal with everyone using money, and he assumes other people will basically fall in line on the back of that.” “So the fact that the Iranian regime...

On April 22, KRON4 will host a California gubernatorial debate airing across the state. On the Democratic side, former Rep. Katie Porter will join East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell and billionaire activist Tom Steyer on the debate stage. On the Republican side, political commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco will also take part.

'Just shut up!': MAGA allies fed up with Trump's belligerence and war with Iran. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/just-shut-up-maga-allies-fed-up-with-trump-s-belligerence-and-war-with-iran/vi-AA20wRD8?ocid=socialshare#details

Rep. Brandon Gill is picking a public fight with fellow House Republicans over immigration, torching the DIGNIDAD Act as “mass amnesty” and daring its backers to say out loud what he says the bill does. “The Dignity Act is mass amnesty and would constitute a terrible betrayal of our voters,” Gill wrote on X, after GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, talked up renewed interest in the proposal. Gill then turned his fire directly at the bill’s supporters: “If your bill were so popular, you’d be straightforward about what it does. The DIGNIDAD Act provides mass amnesty...

The front page of today’s New York Times features a big article clearly intended to get the readers riled up about the latest environmental horror that must be stopped. The headline is “The Illegal Airstrips Bringing Toxic Mining to Brazil’s Indigenous Land.” Subheadline: “The Times identified hundreds of airstrips that bring criminal mining operations to the most remote corners of the Amazon.” Wow, this is bad. The airstrips are “illegal.” The mining is “toxic,” and not only toxic but also “criminal.” And it’s all happening in the most pristine place left in the whole world, the “remote corners of the...

On Tuesday's CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish turned to retired Brigadier General Steven M. Anderson to assess President Trump’s potential expansion of military strikes on Iran. Anderson repeatedly warned that targeting infrastructure such as bridges, power plants, and water facilities could amount to “war crimes,” even suggesting U.S. troops could be put in the position of refusing “illegal” orders. Cornish failed to disclose that Anderson sits on the board of VoteVets, a progressive PAC that backs Democrat candidates. Nor did she note his record of sweeping, alarmist claims, including warning in a Washington Post op-ed of a potential military...