Free Republic

Democrats and supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday after she refused to name slavery as the primary cause of the Civil War. Haley, 51, made the apparent gaffe during a town hall event in Berlin, NH, after a voter asked the former United Nations ambassador to identify the cause of the deadliest war in American history. The White House hopeful appeared caught off guard by the question and failed to mention the antebellum South’s “peculiar institution” in her response. “I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government...

Here is my question. Was the North intending to end slavery to make growing cotton in the South untenable for the plantation owners in order to bankrupt them so that the Northern Textile barons could take over the land? I know the South seceded because the North was trying to end slavery, which would have raised the cost of growing cotton because the plantation would now have to pay wages, instead of trading labour for bodily needs. This likely was not an affordable option for the landowners, because the North was not going to pay a penny more for cotton...

Nine years ago leftists torched and looted dozens of businesses in Ferguson, Missouri after local teen Mike Brown bum-rushed and beat a cop and was shot dead. Then months later leftists burned down the business district again after the police officer was found not guilty in Brown’s death.Barack Obama sent more representatives to Mike Brown’s funeral than to the funeral in Dallas, Texas, when five police officers were shot dead during a Mike Brown riot.The left lied for months about Mike Brown being a “gentle giant” who was a peace-loving individual who was starting school in a few weeks.Then photos...

Biography of Congressman Patrick McHenry Congressman Patrick McHenry is serving his tenth term as the representative for North Carolina's 10th Congressional District which comprises all or parts of nine counties in North Carolina, from the suburbs of Charlotte on Lake Norman to Pisgah National Forest in Burke County. In the 118th Congress, Congressman McHenry was elected as the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, a committee he has served on since he was elected to Congress. As Chairman, he will continue advocating for innovative solutions that increase access to banking services and credit for American families and small businesses....

The House would be in uncharted waters if McCarthy is removed as speaker: A motion to vacate has never been used successfully. But the chamber wouldn't be as paralyzed and chaotic as it was in January amid McCarthy's five-day, 15-ballot vote to win the gavel. As part of a rule change after 9/11 to support the continuity of government, the speaker is required to deliver to the House clerk an ordered list of members who can act as speaker pro tempore in the event of a vacancy. The person at the top of McCarthy's list will serve as interim speaker...

Too many swamp creatures to vote for him, but the heart attacks and strokes induced in the left just by the nomination may actually help with the 2024 election.

<p>Kevin McCarthy failed in an initial vote to block an effort to oust him by Rep. Matt Gaetz, putting his position as House speaker in peril.</p><p>Gaetz’s "motion to vacate" the speakership will now head for an official vote.</p><p>To prevail, McCarthy or his foes will need a majority of those voting, not just Republicans. Typically Republicans can lose no more than four GOP votes on party-line votes when all members are present. Democratic leaders recommended Tuesday that colleagues vote against saving McCarthy.</p>

Now-former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was stripped of his gavel on Tuesday afternoon via roll-call vote on Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) motion to vacate the chair, pursuant to rules agreed to by McCarthy in order to clinch victory in his drawn-out race to become speaker in January.By a vote of 216 to 210, the historic motion prevailed as presiding Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) declared "the resolution is adopted...the office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant."The Republicans joining Gaetz in his motion to vacate were Reps. Biggs (AZ), Buck (CO), Burchett...

McCarthy has been retired. Patrick McHenry is acting Speaker

Militias backed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards force attacked a U.S. military base in southern Syria with drones recently and on the same day, a different base used by the U.S.-led coalition near Syria’s eastern border with Iraq came under rocket fire. U.S. officials saw the back-to-back strikes on Aug. 15 as more sophisticated than previous attacks and feared that more were coming. That set off a string of tit-for-tat attacks this week — including U.S. airstrikes on three consecutive nights against Iran-linked targets in Syria. They amplified tensions between two powerful adversaries fighting on a foreign battlefield. The Americans made...

The world's largest oil producer stepped up imports of Russian oil in the second quarter despite sanctions aimed at choking Moscow's energy flows, Reuters said. Saudi Arabia imported 647,000 tonnes of Russian oil from April to June, according to data reviewed by Reuters. Saudi Arabia took possession of the oil from Russian and Estonian ports, and has thus far imported 320,000 more barrels from Russia compared to 2021 levels. The Kingdom's increased willingness to grow its reliance on Russian oil is at odds with global powers which are trying to condemn the Kremlin and cut off its exports in response...

Shocking footage has emerged of the moment a Russian soldier attempted to destroy a Ukrainian missile launcher from close range with dramatic and potentially lethal consequences. The clip, shared on a pro-Russian channel on social media and messaging app Telegram, shows one of Putin's fighters taking aim at an abandoned Ukrainian S-300 missile launcher sitting mere yards away. After taking a few moments to compose himself, the soldier squeezes the trigger of his PKM machine gun, presumably expecting to damage the hardware or perhaps set off a minor explosion to render it inoperable. A split second later the missile launcher...

"The former Republican president also floated that while Russia and China seem to be operating in tandem, there might be an opening for the United States to form 'an alliance of convenience' with the Asian nation. 'I don't think they want to be too cozy with Putin at this moment,' Bush surmised. 'So this might be an opportunity to conduct some diplomacy that [creates] an alliance of convenience,' he said. 'The president's foreign policy team has an opportunity to deal with China in a way that will surprise the country.' Bush said that Putin 'loves the idea' of isolating China...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called to "destroy the ruble and crush the Russian oil and gas sector" in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. Graham made the call in a tweet thread posted after Putin's national address in which he recognized the independence of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic areas of Ukraine. "When it comes to thugs like Putin disrupting world order and destroying democracies – enough is enough," Graham wrote. RUSSIA-UKRAINE: PUTIN TO RECOGNIZE INDEPENDENCE OF UKRAINIAN BREAKAWAY REGIONS: LIVE UPDATES "Putin’s decision to declare eastern Donetsk and Luhansk as independent regions...

Graham took to Twitter and called for the destruction of the ruble and demanded the West “crush” Russia’s energy sector. This will be difficult now that Joe Biden approved the Russia pipeline fueling Western Europe. Joe Biden also started importing oil from Russia after disrupting the US energy sector. Snip “When it comes to thugs like Putin disrupting world order and destroying democracies – enough is enough,” Graham wrote.

Russia's attack on Ukraine has prompted a lot of noble and industrious responses from foreigners around the world -- from the warm welcome that ordinary Polish and Romanian citizens have extended to fleeing Ukrainian refugees, to the Pittsburgh professor who raised $800,000 in day to help Ukraine with humanitarian needs, to gourmet chef José Andrés's World Central Kitchen operation to cook for and feed Ukrainian refugees, to the Animal Food Bank's effort which is delivering relief to pet owners, to Project Hope, which is shipping medical supplies to Ukraine, to the millions of people around the world who have peacefully...

Donald Trump, an ongoing eruption of self-refuting statements (“I’m a very stable genius” with “a very good brain”), is adding self-impeachment to his repertoire. Spiraling downward in a tightening gyre, his increasingly unhinged public performances (Google the one with Finland’s dumbfounded president looking on) are as alarming as they are embarrassing. His decision regarding Syria and the Kurds was made so flippantly that it has stirred faint flickers of thinking among Congress’ vegetative Republicans.

The Houthis, a rebel army fighting against Saudi-led interests in Yemen, claimed credit for launching the attacks on Saturday. However, the U.S. government now says it believes the assault was launched from Iran, and that it may have involved cruise missiles rather than drones.The strikes centered on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq refinery. Abqaiq is the world’s largest oil refinery, processing about two-thirds of the total Saudi supply each day. Saudi Arabia is the world’s second-largest producer of crude oil behind the United States.Several large Saudi oil fields were also attacked. Those attacks, along with the disruption of the Abqaiq refinery...

With never-Trump conservatives bailing on the GOP and crying out for the Party of Pelosi to save us, some painful truths need to be restated. The Republican Party of Bush I and II, of Bob Dole and John McCain, is history. It's not coming back. Unlike the Bourbons after the Revolution and the Terror, after Napoleon and the Empire, no restoration is in the cards. It is over. The GOP's policies of recent decades -- the New World Order of George H.W. Bush, the crusades for democracy of Bush II -- failed, and are seen as having failed. With...

People who believe they have lived past lives as, say, Indian princesses or battlefield commanders are more likely to make certain types of memory errors, according to a new study. The propensity to make these mistakes could, in part, explain why people cling to implausible reincarnation claims in the first place. Researchers recruited people who, after undergoing hypnotic therapy, had come to believe that they had past lives. Subjects were asked to read aloud a list of 40 non-famous names, and then, after a two-hour wait, told that they were going to see a list consisting of three types of...