Free Republic

If you think the price of tariffs is high, consider the cost of no tariffs.Liberal and libertarian opponents of President Trump’s tariffs argue that Americans pay for tariffs and that those tariffs are a form of taxation. Tariffs were how the American government was funded before Democrats were able to successfully implement the otherwise unconstitutional income tax through the Sixteenth Amendment. Democrats preferred tariffs to taxes. Why? Because they believed tariffs were regressive while taxes were progressive. Tariffs kept the poor from buying the cheapest products while taxes were weighed against the wealthy. That’s still the thrust of their current...

The United Nations warned Wednesday there is a 70 percent chance that average warming from 2025 to 2029 will exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius international benchmark. The planet is therefore expected to remain at historic levels of warming after the two hottest years ever recorded in 2023 and 2024, according to an annual climate report published by the World Meteorological Organization, the UN's weather and climate agency. "We have just experienced the 10 warmest years on record," said the WMO's deputy secretary-general Ko Barrett. "Unfortunately, this WMO report provides no sign of respite over the coming years, and this means...

The developments come after a whirlwind weekend of diplomacy from Trump where he told reporters on Saturday that he was 'absolutely' considering imposing new sanctions on Russia. The next day, Trump launched into a blistering attack on Putin where he said the Russian leader has gone 'absolutely crazy.' Trump condemned the Russians for escalating their strikes on Ukraine while negotiations were ongoing, which he said was resulting in the 'needless killing of a lot of people.' In a chilling warning about the future of the former Soviet nation if the bloodshed continues, Trump said Putin's war 'will lead to the...

There is a new trend of voters who chose President Donald Trump on the ballot speaking out against their vote and voicing their regrets now that they’ve had a few months to experience his presidency. These TikTok videos vary from satires to teary-eyed testimonials to cringy confessions that honestly don’t even seem real. However, it is astounding the amount of people — from a variety of backgrounds — who are denouncing the very man they just knew would help them prosper. The ignorance that blinded people from his racist, fascist, money-hungry ideals is beginning to lift slowly but surely.

They told us Joe Biden had a “childhood stutter.” They told us he was sharp as a tack, lucid, and a fully in-command grandfatherly type. They told us that questioning his mental fitness was “dangerous disinformation” and bullying. And now, after years of pushing North Korea-style propaganda, the entire corporate media complex is pretending to be shocked – shocked – that Joe Biden can’t form a sentence on his own. They’re replaying clips of him stammering and wandering around a six-foot stage totally lost, like they just woke up from a coma and missed the last six years.

Luther’s Doctrine of Justification Born of SatanIn our previous post on Luther we cited his famous colloquy with Satan, since these conversations were the genesis of the Protestant Reformation. The same would also give birth to Luther’s doctrine on justification, which the Vatican today dignifies. Through this infernal colloquy, the devil convinced Luther that we must accept our sinful lives as they are, and he instilled in him a false security about the sins we commit.Hence was born Luther’s crackpot idea that Jesus died on the cross so that we may sin freely without the fear of eternal punishment. Consider...

The Trump administration has fired nearly 600 Voice of America employees as the president is working to overhaul the agency. The employees who were notified this week are mostly contractors, The New York Times reported. The 600 equals about one-third of the agency's staff. Those fired were told their last day of work will be May 30, which also will be the deadline to return badges, credentials, and other VOA property, The Hill reported. The firings follow U.S. Agency for Global Media senior adviser Kari Lake's announcement last week that One America News Network will provide news-feed services to the...

Trump has been in office for only a few months and has already managed to cut national debt growth by 92 percent. This is definitely one of the things that would cause people to say, ‘I voted for this.’While the left rants and raves over cuts to various government programs, Trump is securing the nation’s financial future by getting spending under control.And remember, while Trump and Republicans are taking care of this serious business, Democrats are obsessing over and defending illegal immigrant criminals. The contrast could not be sharper.The Washington Examiner reports:Trump has slowed national debt growth by 92%For all...

Bush, oil and the Taliban Two French authors allege that before Sept. 11, the White House put oil interests ahead of national security. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Nina Burleigh Feb. 8, 2002 | PARIS -- In a new book, "Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth," two French intelligence analysts allege the Clinton and Bush administrations put diplomacy before law enforcement in dealing with the al-Qaida threat before Sept. 11, in order to maintain smooth relations with Saudi Arabia and to avoid disrupting the oil market. The book, which has become a bestseller...

In the "socialist market economy" of China, some cracks are visible that show a country unprepared to stand up to Trump tariffs long-term. China has been increasingly opaque in markets and manufacturing information. As Beijing and Washington meet this weekend in Switzerand for trade talks, the Chinese economy is in more significant distress than is widely reported. The country is facing heightened pressure from an ongoing property crisis, protests, and a general economic downturn, in part because of recent U.S. tariffs. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is holding meetings with senior Chinese Communist Party Politburo member, Vice Premier He Lifeng,...

Through relentless narrative distortion, mass formation tactics, and AI-driven censorship, Democratic-aligned propaganda has destabilized the mental health of millions of young liberal women-especially those radicalized in academia and conditioned to see Donald Trump as an existential threat. This essay documents the psychological wreckage of believing lies, and exposes the party that weaponized fear and rage to mobilize votes and radicalize emotionally vulnerable young women. The Psychological Damage of Narrative LiesA quiet but devastating crisis has been festering beneath the surface of American politics, ignored and rationalized by the very party that claims to champion mental health. According to Pew (2020),...

It is no secret that Russia ‘recycles’ wounded soldiers, sending them back to the front line as soon as they are mobile. Commanders have made sure that getting wounded is not a ticket out of danger. But now we are seeing more extreme cases, with soldiers still on crutches or even in wheelchairs being pushed forward in assaults. What is behind this bizarre phenomenon? There may be method behind this gruesome madness, but there are competing explanations. It would be easy to dismiss this sort of claim as Ukrainian propaganda. Except that apart from the many cases captured on drone...

Protests from furious factory workers in China demanding back pay are spreading across the country after President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports began impacting the communist nation’s economy. Unrest has been reported across the country as workers have taken to the streets protesting unpaid wages and challenging unfair dismissals following the closures of factories squeezed by US tariffs, according to Radio Free Asia. Chinese industry leaders, meanwhile, are “extremely anxious” about the steep duties, with many telling factories and suppliers to halt or delay supplies, Wang Xin, head of an industry group representing more than 2,000 Chinese merchants told the...

by R.V. Scheide ....The final candidate interviewed by the board last Wednesday, Ellie Leigh Sharp, a Subject Matter Expert II and top-down integration specialist for the Nevada Secretary of State Elections Division, has worked in elections offices since 2007—about the same length of time as Assistant ROV Joanna Francescut. She was clearly more qualified than Curtis, who has no direct elections experience. Like all the candidates, Sharp declined to comment on the state of Shasta County’s election system and instead described what a healthy system might look like. “So the nature of elections, you have normally two systems,” Sharp said....

"There are very, very few people in the West who seriously believe that".. The Associated Press complains that President Trump is calling their political allies “Communists”. For years, President Donald Trump blamed “communists” for his legal and political troubles. Now, the second Trump administration is deploying that same historically loaded label to cast his opponents — from judges to educators — as threats to American identity, culture and values. In 2025, communism wields big influence in countries such as China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba. But not the United States. “The core of communism is the belief that governments can...

Join us as we travel to Pyongyang, North Korea and explore one of the most secretive and isolated countries on Earth 🇰🇵

With the new mineral rights deal between Washington, D.C., and Kyiv, President Donald Trump fulfilled his pledge to hold Ukraine financially accountable for the billions of dollars that has already been provided in military assistance. This now opens a new avenue for the U.S. to provide weaponry to the country without using any taxpayer funds. Following months of discussions, the deal was signed on Wednesday. It established a common investment fund to which both countries will contribute, including through the sale of mineral rights, oil, and gas licenses in Ukraine — with a 50/50 profit split. The agreement states that...

For years, President Donald Trump blamed “communists” for his legal and political troubles. Now, the second Trump administration is deploying that same historically loaded label to cast his opponents — from judges to educators — as threats to American identity, culture and values.Why? Trump himself explained the strategy last year when he described how he planned to defeat his Democratic opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, in the White House election.“All we have to do is define our opponent as being a communist or a socialist or somebody who is going to destroy our country,” he told reporters at his New...

VIDEO: WOW! "Ukraine DECLARES VICTORY as Russia’s Pokrovsk Plan CRUMBLES" The Military Show 1.62M subscribers 5-1-2025 5:00 P.M. Video Length 20:47 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxfH_AXunJM "Russia’s long-running plan to seize Pokrovsk has collapsed. On April 30, Ukraine declared victory in the city, with the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation confirming that Russian forces failed to capture the settlement despite concentrated efforts. Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi previously noted that some of Russia’s best military units were deployed to take Pokrovsk. Their failure marks a major defensive success for Ukraine at a time when the eastern front remains highly contested. This Pokrovsk win also blocks...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced the closure of the Global Engagement Center as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the “censorship-industrial complex.”“Today, it is my pleasure to announce the State Department is taking a crucial step toward keeping the president’s promise to liberate American speech by abolishing forever the body formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio wrote in an op-ed for the Federalist, titled, “Rubio: To Protect Free Speech, The Censorship Industrial Complex Must Be Dismantled.”Rubio wrote that, in 2016, the Obama administration changed the GEC’s focus on combatting international terrorism cover...