Free Republic

Our country cannot get its fiscal house in order unless and until it starts slowing the explosion of Medicare spending.The budget reconciliation measure Congress recently passed includes some important reforms designed to help reduce entitlement spending. But any realistic assessment of the nation’s fiscal position reinforces why Washington must go much further in reducing spending than the half-measures enacted in recent weeks.In March, as lawmakers were beginning debate on the “big, beautiful bill,” the Congressional Budget Office released its annual version of the “Long-Term Budget Outlook,” which features economic and budgetary projections for the next three decades. The CBO report...

I honestly think to get the OBBB passed he's had to give up certain positions. How else do you explain it? The endorsement of Lindsey Graham, too? The resumption of aid to Ukraine? It's all very odd and timely. I think Trump has (had) a lot invested in getting OBBB done. Think about it. It was his signature bill. They held it hostage and now you see why... There is (was) a lot at stake.

The Justice Department claimed on Monday that Jeffrey Epstein did not maintain a “client list" and said no more files related to the wealthy financier’s sex trafficking investigation would be made public. This was despite promises from Attorney General Pam Bondi that had raised the expectations of conservative influencers and conspiracy theorists. The claims have been met with fury from the far-right who claim they have been strung along by the Trump administration. Bondi previously said in a Fox News interview earlier this year that such a document was “sitting on my desk” for review. It comes after a Trump...

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz on Thursday said he knows the list of names in the Jeffrey Epstein files regarding alleged clients in his international sex trafficking ring. “I know the names of the individuals. I know why they’re being suppressed. I know who’s suppressing them,” Dershowitz said during an appearance on “The Sean Spicer Show.” “But I’m bound by confidentiality from a judge and cases, and I can’t disclose what I know,” he added, noting at one point he was falsely named as a client. The Trump administration vowed earlier this year to release the documents and names of individuals tied...

The charade is over, but what does it mean?Another piece of the jigsaw puzzle has been made public in the decades-long drip, drip, drip of information regarding the JFK assassination. Newly released documents reveal — as was long suspected — that a CIA operative was tailing Lee Harvey Oswald. This comes despite multiple denials that anyone from the nation’s chief intelligence agency had been lurking around the 23-year-old who has held the title of lone assassin since John F. Kennedy’s murder in Dallas, TX, on Nov. 22, 1963.One document from the 40 released on July 4 detailed surveillance of Oswald...

People continue to ask if Bitcoin will replace the dollar. They believe that the recent surge in Bitcoin indicates that it will topple the USD as the world’s reserve currency, but that is merely propaganda. You must understand that Bitcoin is simply a trading vehicle, not a currency. I cannot stress that point enough. My opinion has been unpopular, and clients have walked away due to my stance on crypto. That’s fine, as I am not in this for the money. I can only adequately inform my clients of the unbiased truth and hope that those willing to listen will...

Conversations with the Master Forecaster This book is unlike anything you’ve read before. It’s not another theory — it’s a documented track record of how Martin saw what no one else did: ✅ Sovereign debt implosions ✅ War cycles and geopolitical shifts ✅ The coming collapse of trust in governments ✅ The timeline to 2032 — and what it means for you Written by longtime interviewer Kerry Lutz, this book is based on over a decade of never-before-published insights, straight from Martin’s most powerful moments on air. Whether you’re an investor, thinker, or someone simply seeking truth in an age...

NATO chief Mark Rutte has chillingly warned that World War III will start with simultaneous invasions from Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Secretary-general Rutte suggested the combined attacks from the Chinese and Russian leaders could trigger a World War nightmare and bring the planet to the brink of Armageddon. According to the NATO chief, China would start by seeking to grab Taiwan - while ensuring the Kremlin dictator simultaneously attacks NATO territory, amid fears Putin is anyway eyeing the Baltic republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, formerly part of the USSR.

FORT KNOX EXPOSED: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GOLD INSPECTION? — NO AUDIT, NO TRANSPARENCY, AND WHY DID TRUMP BACK DOWN? Where is America’s gold? Fort Knox hasn’t been fully audited since the 1950s — and in 2025, Trump promised an inspection, then suddenly backed down. No transparency. No answers. Just silence. This investigation asks the question no one in power dares to face: What are they hiding?… ….. Trump Promised Transparency. Then Walked Away. Why? Early in 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced plans to authorize a full audit of Fort Knox — the first in over 70 years. Supporters...

The quintessential ice cream flavour is under threat, and many other dessert staples along with it, according to climate change researchers at the University of Costa Rica and Belgium's KU Leuven university. Increasing climate extremes are changing the habitats of wild vanilla species — primarily found in the tropical regions of Central America — and their mainly animal pollinators, the researchers say. This, in turn, is putting global production of vanilla at risk. In some regions, the plants may find more favourable conditions, but the insects that pollinate them may no longer find suitable habitats, according to the study published...

Former Wall Street money manager and financial analyst Ed Dowd of PhinanceTechnologies.com has been forecasting “Danger of Deep Worldwide Recession in 2025.” It looks like his thesis is turning out correct. He predicted interest rates would be declining. They did. And inflation has been going down right along with the economy as illegal immigration was being stopped and deportations ramped up. Dowd says, “Our friend Joe Biden spent anywhere between $500 billion to $2 trillion to bring these people in and set them up. Now, that’s all going the wrong way. Trump has shut down the border crossings, and as...

The Defense Intelligence Agency has produced a 5-page preliminary report on the strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities which concludes the strikes were partially successful but failed to destroy the underground sites. That report seems to have leaked instantly to ever major news agency, starting with CNN.The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, one of the sources said...Two of the people familiar with the assessment said Iran’s stockpile of...

Summary Gold seen as biggest winner from dollar diversification Euro seen top currency to benefit in short term - OMFIF survey Yuan favoured by central bankers over a longer time frame Reuters' sources see euro recovering some lost ground quickly Euro share of reserves likely to rise in next few years. LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - The custodians of trillions of dollars of global central bank reserves are eyeing a move away from the greenback into gold, the euro and China's yuan as the splintering of world trade and geopolitical upheaval spark a rethink of financial flows. According to a...

This March, I reported that using advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) technology, scientists from Italy and Scotland claim to have discovered a vast subterranean complex stretching approximately 6500 feet beneath Egypt’s Giza Plateau. Now, these scientists claim they have located a “hidden city” or “vast underground city” discovered beneath Egypt’s Great Pyramids of Giza. According to a team of researchers from Italy and Scotland (led by Corrado Malanga from the University of Pisa and Filippo Biondi from the University of Strathclyde) advanced radar technology has revealed what they describe as a massive subterranean network connecting the pyramids of Khafre, Khufu,...

Scientists have announced a new discovery of an underground city beneath the Egyptian pyramids. The announcement comes just months after the first reports of an underground city beneath Khafre’s pyramid, reports Metro. The latest finds, said to be located beneath the Pyramid of Menkaure, suggest the existence of a large underground complex that may connect all three pyramids at Giza. A team of researchers led by Italian scientist Filippo Biondi previously announced the discovery of columnar structures beneath the Pyramid of Khafre. According to Biondi, tomographic scans now reveal a similar structure beneath the Pyramid of Menkaure. Researchers suggest that...

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:...

Today my latest book, How Countries Go Broke: The Big Cycle , is being released. This note is to share what it says in a nutshell. To me, what matters most is conveying understanding at this critically important moment, so I want to pass the key ideas in extreme brevity in this note, as well as comprehensively in the book, and leave it to you decide how deep you want to go. Where I'm Coming FromI have been a global macro investor for over 50 years, have bet on government debt markets for nearly as long, and have done very...

Transgenderism, decadence, sexual deviancy, and moral decay were all present in Rome when the republic became an empire. What could this mean for America, which faces similar problems right now?

Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!

From a Renaissance fresco, “Take Rome as your example if you wish to rule a thousand years; follow the common good, and not selfish ends; and give just counsel like these men.” America isn’t the first country to suffer secular effects from shunning its religious foundation. I was at first surprised to learn that a decline in Roman religious observance played a leading role in Rome’s corruption and fall. In 715 BC, the Roman senate appointed Numa to succeed Rome’s founder, Romulus. He turned to religion to tame a fierce people and bring about civilized society. Perhaps not until the...