Free Republic

A new round of trade negotiations between the United States and China has started in London, with both sides trying to preserve a fragile truce brokered last month. The fresh talks were announced last week after a long-anticipated phone call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which appeared to ease tensions that erupted over the past month following a surprise agreement in Geneva. In May, the two sides agreed to drastically roll back tariffs on each other’s goods for an initial 90-day period. The mood was upbeat. However, sentiment soured quickly over two major sticking points:...

In a ruling heard ’round the world, the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday blocked President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. This is an important moment for the rule of law as much as for the economy, proving again that America doesn’t have a king who can rule by decree. The Trump tariffs have created enormous costs and uncertainty, but now we know they’re illegal. As the three-judge panel explains in its detailed 52-page ruling, the President exceeded his emergency powers and bypassed discrete tariff authorities delegated to him by Congress. The ruling erases his April 2 tariffs as well as...

After a highly anticipated phone call in which Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to accept President Donald Trump’s offer for a full 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, the Kremlin on Wednesday extolled the trust between the two leaders as ushering in a “new world order.”Putin instead offered Trump a partial ceasefire — ending attacks on the Russian energy infrastructure being targeted by Ukraine’s long-range drones as well as Moscow’s strikes on Ukraine’s power grid — with the other issues delegated to working groups, creating the likelihood that peace efforts could become bogged down for months as Russia continues pushing into Ukraine.Trump’s...

A formal House reprimand didn’t contain the fallout from Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) interrupting President Trump’s speech to Congress, showing how petty fights and demands for retribution have become an increasingly prominent part of business on the House floor. The House Freedom Caucus is asking Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to hold a vote next week on removing Green from his committees. And Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) could force a vote on another measure to remove Democrats from committees if they were part of the group that sang “We Shall Overcome” and got in a yelling match with Republicans on the...

BMW’s conservative approach to EV adoption, investing in platforms that can accommodate internal-combustion, hybrid, and electric powertrains, is now paying off as the company navigates the uncertain transition to electric vehicles. Inside EVs reports that as the automotive industry grapples with the challenges of transitioning to electric vehicles, BMW’s strategic decision to invest in flexible platforms is proving to be a wise move. Unlike some of its rivals, such as Mercedes and Audi, who have focused heavily on dedicated EV platforms, BMW has taken a more measured approach by developing architectures that can support multiple powertrains, including internal-combustion engines (ICE),...

Ukraine’s surprise invasion of the Russian Kursk region has not left the latter’s rail untouched. The attack led to rail congestion in the area, and now Kursk and surrounding areas are no longer accepting freight trains coming in from Belarus. The Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region has prompted Russia to move soldiers from all over the country to contain the Ukrainian advance, says the Belarusian Railway Workers Association (BelZhD). The inflow of soldiers to the new front by train has overcrowded stations in the region. For that reason, Russian Railways (RZD) says it can no longer accept freight trains...

Shows bullet hole in right side of Pres. Trump's jacket.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision to appear this week at former President Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan is sparking new blowback from some House Republicans, who are questioning why he would inject himself so prominently in a case involving an alleged affair with a porn star. These Republicans, who requested to speak anonymously to discuss the sensitive topic, are accusing Johnson — a devout Southern Baptist who built a career around the fight for Christian values and moral conservatism — of undermining the party’s family values image simply to ingratiate himself with Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

Trump defended America First by keeping Putin's Russia from invading Ukraine. During the Biden administration’s tenure, multiple conflagrations have pushed the world to its most unstable point since the end of the Cold War. -snip- Unfortunately, in response, Washington seems to have produced two equally terrible strategies: One, blindly follow President Joe Biden’s policies that have allowed this chaos to reign, or two, give in to the forces of evil seeking to destroy our republic and retreat within our borders, shutting our eyes to the dangerous world around us. Both are wrong. There is a better solution, one that brought...

Highlights: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the expansion of the BRICS group signals the intention to build a new world order. . French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that the expansion of the BRICS group signals the intention to build a new world order.Macron said in a speech at the annual conference of ambassadors of the Republic at the Elysee Palace: "The expansion of the BRICS indicates the intention to build an alternative world order, which is seen as too Western.Macron explained that this creates the risk of "fragmentation of the world" that must be avoided,...

It seems like President Donald Trump is showing up everywhere these days, and that's understandable, given the current GOP primary campaign cycle and the former President's ongoing legal battles. But now, in what may be the strangest appearance of the primary season, President Trump has shown up in Sweden.In the form of a steak.Hail to the beef?A Swedish man was shocked when he fired a steak on the grill — and saw former President Trump’s mug staring back at him.The hunk of meat bears a somewhat uncanny resemblance to Trump’s signature blond bouffant and pouting lips.“I realized the steak looked...

U.S. officials have released video that shows a Russian Su-27 fighter jet colliding with the propeller of a U.S. MQ-9 reaper drone. The video was released by the U.S. military's European Command on Thursday, allowing the public to view the widely-reported aerial incident. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin summarized the incident Wednesday in a press conference, saying, "Two Russian jets dumped fuel on an unmanned U.S. MQ-9 aircraft conducting routine operations in international airspace. And one Russian jet intercepted and hit our MQ-9 aircraft, resulting in a crash." Austin sharply criticized the Russian military for its actions, stating that the Black...

Too often, we’re asking the wrong question about atmospheric rivers and climate change. It’s understandable as Californians are bracing for the next system, watching footage of the Pajaro River levee break, wondering what fails next. It’s not just Californians, either. Our atmospheric rivers don’t always stop at the Sierras. They can plow across the rest of the country, dumping more rain and snow when conditions are right, like they were earlier this week in the Northeast. This year’s storms have seemed worse than many people remember, and the data back that up: This winter we’ve set new records for snowpack,...

https://www.newsweek.com/tulsi-gabbards-dem-decision-fuels-speculation-shes-trumps-vp-choice-1750971 -- Former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's decision to leave the Democratic Party has some wondering whether she could be former President Donald Trump's future running mate. Gabbard announced on Tuesday in a video shared to social media that she was no longer a Democrat, and said the party was being led by "an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness" who promote "anti-white racism." She went on to say that she was leaving the party to become an Independent in part because she believed Democrats were bringing the world "ever closer to nuclear war." -- Very interesting. Trump himself,...

So far, no space exploring nations have claimed responsibility for the rocket. NASA has discovered the crash site of a "mystery rocket body" that collided with the Moon's surface earlier this year. The impact left behind a widespread "double crater," meaning it wasn't the average rocket. However, since its crash landing, none of Earth's space-exploring nations have claimed responsibility for the mysterious projectile, leaving NASA scientists baffled as to who was behind its launch. New images shared on June 24 by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show the unusual impact site. After a rocket body impacted the Moon last year, NASA's...

Russian President Vladimir Putin can afford to cut off natural-gas exports to Europe thanks to ample revenues from other commodities, but such a move would come with longer-term risks for Russia’s sanctions-stricken economy and its prolific energy industry. Earlier this week, Moscow resumed gas supplies via the Nord Stream pipeline after annual maintenance ended, easing worries in Europe that Mr. Putin would further crimp exports at a time when the continent is filling up its storage ahead of winter. The restarted pipeline, however, is pumping at just 40% capacity, after a separate, still-unresolved technical issue that Moscow blames on Western...

The Supreme Court’s decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade and severely limit abortion access across much of the country is not only an infringement on my human rights. It also violates my religious beliefs. Given that American Jews are one of the most consistently liberal groups in the country, it’s not surprising that an overwhelming majority of us — 83% in one 2014 poll — support legal abortion in all cases.

New report finds Shroud of Turin dates back to the era of the earthly ministry of Jesus, contradicting 1988 evidence dating cloth as being centuries newer. New scientific procedures says fabric in the shroud is about 2,000 years old. The study also analyzed traces of pollen on the shroud. “The pollen samples gathered are from plants that are native to not just the Middle East, but specifically the area around Judea, Palestine, and Syria within that time period,” said Brian Hyland, curator at Museum of the Bible. “There’s also pollen from the area around Constantinople. There’s a lot of pollen...

MORE THAN HALF OF Americans think President Donald Trump's behavior warrants his removal from office and 57% think he's committed an impeachable offense, according to a poll released Friday morning – unwelcome news for a president facing a Senate trial that could begin this month. [ SEE: Photos of Trump’s Impeachment Hearings on Capitol Hill ] Further, the survey found that 57% of Americans want the Senate to hear from new witnesses to shed light on Trump's conduct, a demand Democrats have made – so far without success – of the GOP Senate majority. The FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll reflects a partisan...

This is interesting. The Chinese language testifies the veracity of the Bible.