Free Republic

President Donald Trump hosted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House to discuss trade and military matters. The Thursday meeting was Erdogan’s first visit to the White House in roughly six years. It began with President Trump suggesting that the United States could lift sanctions on Turkey and allow it to purchase F-35 jets, provided Ankara stops purchasing Russian oil. “He needs certain things, and we need certain things, and we’re going to come to a conclusion. You’ll know by the end of the day,” Trump stated of Erdogan. “The best thing he could do is not buy...

Donald Trump humiliated Keir Starmer today with brutal swipes at Labour's Net Zero drive. The US President used a rambling speech at the UN to brand climate change 'the greatest con job ever'. The UK was singled out for particular criticism, despite Mr Trump being honoured with his second state visit to Britain just last week. Mr Trump also laid into Labour's London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan with an extraordinary allegation that he wanted to introduce Sharia law to the capital. The US President told the UN General Assembly in New York: 'I want to stop seeing them ruining that...

"The USA Strategic Oil reserve is an imporatant safeguard to buffer the effects of any event that could cause problems to the general supply and price of the main products such as diesel or gasoline. So, how's it looking?" My latest blog analyzing data to see how long would it really take to refill the Strategic Oil Reserve.

Yesterday, a baffling video started making the rounds on social media showing Tennessee representative Tim Burchett casually claim that alien entities are here on Earth, and that they're rising out of the ocean. "What if, these are entities that are here on this earth, that have been on this earth for who knows how long, and we think they're coming from way out," he says while strolling along the streets of DC, the Capital rotunda glowing in the distance. "Maybe they did a millennia ago, but they're here, and they're in these deep water areas." Throughout the minute long cell...

Amid California’s worsening affordability crisis and warnings of a 75-percent price increase at the gas pump, state legislators over the weekend sent a package of bills aimed at tackling energy costs, fuel supply, and pollution to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.Newsom announced the deal with state lawmakers last week, and the two chambers extended their session through Saturday to finalize last-minute negotiations before the Legislature adjourns until January.“After months of hard work with the Legislature, we have agreed to historic reforms that will save money on your electric bills, stabilize gas supply, and slash toxic air pollution—all while fast-tracking California’s transition...

India's oil demand is likely to outpace China's this year, according to Trafigura Group. The prediction was made by Chief Economist Saad Rahim during an event hosted by S&P Global Commodity Insights on Monday. He said that "this year, Indian demand is set to outstrip China's if you exclude strategic stockpiling." Market dynamics Role in global demand growth India and China, the region's top crude importers, are major contributors to demand growth. The two countries are at the center of how producers and traders adapt to economic changes and the rise of renewable energy. India's growth is fueled by urbanization...

U.S. President Donald Trump told European leaders on Thursday that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that he said is helping Moscow fund its war against Ukraine, a White House official said. Trump joined a call of the "Coalition of the Willing" countries, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, who were meeting on security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal with Russia. "President Macron and European leaders called President Trump into their ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting. President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war — as Russia received...

There are many sources to reference, but China has cut off energy imports form the US since Trump's Trade Wars. Many in the diplomatic community could see Blinken/Biden dropped the ball on Brics but Trump also recognized the damage to USD dominated trade posed by Brics. In June 2025, China imported zero crude oil, zero liquefied natural gas (LNG), and virtually zero coal from the United States. Both oil and coal ended completely; however, China continued to honor LNG Contracs but rerouted all the LNG at a profit to Europe. One year eariler, China had been a major importer of...

In the last couple of years, the largest U.S. oil companies gobbled up smaller ones. Now, contending with persistently mediocre oil prices, those giants are laying off many workers in hopes of squeezing more fuel from the ground at lower cost. The latest is ConocoPhillips of Houston, which said on Wednesday that it would cut up to 25 percent of its global staff, or as many as 3,250 people, most of them this year. The company employs around 13,000 people, including contractors. “We are always looking at how we can be more efficient with the resources we have,” a company...

If you want to know where America’s oil boom is happening, no need to look at the whole map—because it’s limited to just ten counties in the Permian Basin. Between 2020 and 2024, these small dots in Texas and New Mexico delivered 93% of all U.S. crude oil growth, according to the latest EIA and Enverus data. It's almost like the rest of the US doesn’t even matter when it comes to oil production growth. The U.S. added 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) of new crude and condensate output over that stretch. But nearly all of it came from...

The average price of a gallon of regular gas in the U.S. reached its lowest late-summer price of the past four years this month — but not in Oregon, where gas prices rose over the same time period. So far this month, the U.S. average for a gallon of gas has been about $3.13, a 3-cent drop from August 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Meanwhile, the average this month for a gallon in Oregon has been about $3.98, a 20-cent increase from August 2021, according to figures provided by AAA. Adjusting for inflation, national gas prices are...

Britain, France, and Germany have triggered the so-called snapback mechanism of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal to reinstate UN sanctions against Tehran. The European trio, known as the E3, wrote to the UN Security Council on August 28 to initiate the process, which takes 30 days. In a statement, the E3 foreign ministers said, "We will use the 30-day period to continue engaging with Iran regarding our extension offer or any meaningful diplomatic efforts to restore its compliance with commitments." They emphasized that they "share the fundamental objective that Iran must never seek, acquire, or develop a nuclear weapon." This...

Phillips 66 will begin shutting down its 139,000 bpd Los Angeles-area refinery as soon as next week , sources told Reuters, moving forward on a closure plan announced last year. Units at the plant will idle in phases through Q4 2025, with the facility permanently offline by year-end. The decision isn’t a surprise—Phillips 66 said in October it would exit the site, citing “market dynamics.” But it comes with fallout about 600 employees and 300 contractors will lose their jobs by December, with only a handful reassigned to the company’s marine terminal. The company insists it will support workers through...

Trapped in underground rocks, a potential energy resource has eluded generations of British politicians. It's called shale gas and the method of getting it out of the ground, known as fracking, has proved politically difficult. Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, has been banned many times by different prime ministers since 2011 over concerns about earthquakes and environmental impacts. And yet despite this, Reform UK - which is leading in national opinion polls - believe it's worth going after the gas again. "We've got potentially hundreds of billions of energy treasure in the form of shale gas," Richard Tice, the party's...

The British government sought on Tuesday to limit the information it would disclose at a planned inquest into the death of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former officer in the K.G.B. who succumbed to radiation poisoning in London more than six years ago. The coroner hearing the case said that it may now be postponed. “Due to the complexity of the investigation which necessarily precedes the hearings,” the coroner, Sir Robert Owen, said, “it may not be possible to adhere” to the planned May 1 start date for the hearings. The inquest would be the first — and probably the only...

The first American sanctions on Iran since a moderate cleric won the presidential election there on June 14 went into effect on Monday, expanding the number of penalized industries and imposing rules that theoretically could halt all gold and currency trade by the country. Proponents of the latest round of sanctions said they could deprive the Iranians of billions of dollars of income that had evaded earlier rounds — particularly with the new prohibition on gold trade. Bullion dealers in other countries who flout the prohibition risk severe American penalties, including expulsion from the United States precious metals market.

A new and potentially significant source of demand is that of demand from Iran. Iran imported a massive $1.2 billion worth of precious metals from Turkey in April alone. Turkish exports of gold, precious metals, pearls and coins to Iran rose to $1.2 billion in April from a tiny $7,500 a year earlier, according to figures released by the state statistics institute in Ankara yesterday. This is a massive increase in demand and suggests that there may be official involvement in the imports from the Central Bank of Iran. This trend continued in May when Turkish gold imports leapt by...

Is Abby Grossberg: Tucker Carlson’s “Mordecai”?Tucker Carlson has long trafficked in dog whistles and culture war grievances—but his rage toward Abby Grossberg, a Jewish former Fox producer who challenged him legally, seems to cut deeper. In classic authoritarian fashion, when confronted by a credible critic, Carlson didn't just fight back—he allegedly let that grudge fester into something uglier. Like Haman targeting Mordecai in the book of Wsthet [Esther 3:4] Purim story, Carlson’s hostility toward Grossberg hints at something broader and more dangerous: when a powerful man can't take accountability, he looks for someone to blame—and too often, it’s the same...

Since January, Tucker Carlson has been funded by Qatar and has become an opponent of Trump. The journalist is part of an Arab influence strategy over North American media. 18/06/2025 by Editorial Team. Since the beginning of this year, American journalist Tucker Carlson, an icon of media conservatism, has started generating controversy due to a notable "ideological shift." According to various investigations, this is because Carlson is part of a Qatar influence strategy over American media. Official documents submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) reveal Qatar's growing influence in strategic sectors of...

Indian refiners, the top importers of Russian crude oil, are searching for alternative suppliers ahead of Friday’s summit between President Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, is looking to switch up its procurement process after Trump imposed a total 50% tariff rate on New Delhi, accusing the country of effectively fueling Russia’s war machine. Oil importers are hedging their bets that even harsher punishments are in store for anyone who purchases petroleum from Moscow once Trump meets with Putin, with India’s state processor buying large bulk quantities of non-Russian crude this week to...