Free Republic

Im not enjoying the free republic lime I used to. Too many newbies that are trolls, looking for someone to drag into their abyss of self hatred. Theres been a lot of posts linked to posters with no bios, I think admin needs to limit the number of posts or remove those without any bio info.

The word “imperialism” comes from the Latin word imperium. It refers to a nation or a state implanting its rule on other states, treating them as subordinates and in an inferior fashion. Some suggest today that America is behaving imperialistically—we do, after all, have some 600 military bases around the world. So it is worth recalling some historical examples of imperialism to understand what the idea entails. Looking at empires through history, we can identify several things that most of them have in common. One is that their leaders often say or seem to believe that their imperialist policies have...

It’s amazing how few people are willing to say it. The thing is, everyone is against trannies, save for a few psycho women (and of course the homosexuals doing it in the first place). It’s just a matter if you have the personal fortitude to say you’re against it. This fortitude seems to have a lot to do with how secure you are in your money. Not that it’s not still brave either way. But people whose careers are basically over, and who have financial security, seem to be a lot more likely to speak out against the mutilation of...

Former President Donald Trump’s political action committee has paid the French-born stylist who designed Melania Trump’s inaugural ball gown more than $260,000 for “strategy consulting” since the start of last year, filings with the Federal Election Commission show. Hervé Pierre Braillard was paid $108,000 by the Save America PAC during the first six months of 2023, receiving the money in increments of $18,000 each month, according to a half-year report filed with the FEC Monday night.Braillard, who goes by Hervé Pierre professionally, also received $152,500 in 2022, broken down into eight monthly payments of $18,000 between May and December of...

The ukie concept of victory...Eight or ten more victories like this one, and the hoho military will be women only, all the men will be dead.....

Nobody's Ancestor....>/a>

The New York Times claimed that while a continued campaign in 2024 would be legal, it would be extraordinary. Clearly, they haven’t been paying much attention over the past seven years. Trump has evaded two impeachment efforts, been exonerated from any wrongdoing in the Russian collusion hoax, survived a myriad of political and personal scandals, and still come out on top. Extraordinary is what Donald J. Trump does. If there is anyone who could pull off a presidential win from jail, it would be him.

There can be few experiences more traumatizing than suddenly becoming an alien in your own land. The primal fear of the hate-fueled mob coming to get you, burning torches in hand, runs through our human DNA.That is the pandemic experience of tens of millions of Americans, condensed in two sentences.One moment, you’re waving to a longtime neighbor. The next, the neighbor is calling the police because you are violating the lockdown.

Since Creation Ministries International is based on the Bible, the question arises, why should the Bible be trusted? How should we answer those who claim that it’s been re-written so many times that we no longer have the original? And even if we do, was it written long after the events it claimed to report? Also, does archaeology disprove the Bible? Finally, even if it is true, what’s the point?

After Jerome Powell raved about the strong US labor market and oddly ignored the staggering crowding-out of US interest payments on its massive debt, the US Treasury’s 3-year debt auction was … a Hinderburg moment. First, the high yield at today’s auction of 3-year Treasury notes was 4.073%. This occured as the allotment to brokers and dealers collapsed along with M2 Money growth YoY. Then we have this horrible chart of the 3Y auction stop through, crashing into uncharted waters. A stop-through indicates when the highest yield the Treasury sold in the auction is below the highest yield expected when...

The Federal Reserve is doing Archie Bell and The Drells “Do The Tighten Up!” Over the fourth quarter, significant net shares of banks reported having tightened standards on C&I loans to firms of all sizes. Banks also reported having tightened all queried terms on C&I loans to firms of all sizes. Actually, banks are tightening standards across the various credit boxes. And as banks tighten up their credit box, we are seeing the median age of US homebuyers rising from 31 to 47 years. This is reminding me of Germany where you save for your entire life to buy a...

The Hill has an interesting story: 5 takeaways on a surprisingly strong jobs report. “The U.S. economy added 517,000 jobs in January, more than doubling Wall Street expectations and turning up its nose at prognosticators of an imminent recession. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.4 percent, the lowest level since 1969. Analysts were expecting it to move in the opposite direction, ticking up to 3.6 percent.” Yes, I was expecting U-3 unemployment to increase to 3.6% as well. What happened? Seasonal adjustments (BLS doens’t provide non-seasonally adjusted data). But the shocking headline (mostly due to seasonal adjustements) was not as...

Last week’s strange jobs report (massive discrepancy between the Establishment and Household data) did push expectations of further Fed rate hikes up. In fact, the US Treasury 10-year yield is up 10 basis points this morning. The US Treasury 10Y-3M yield curve remains inverted at -106 basis points while the implied Fed rate hike for the June 2023 FOMC meeting jumps to over 5%. Mortgage rates? Likely to rise.

Strange days indeed! Today’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statists (BLS) was stunning. 517k jobs added! Very strange since the ADP jobs added report on Febuary 1st was only 106k. THAT is a huge discrepancy (probably a seasonal adjustment in the BLS reporting). Average hourly earnings rose to 4.4% YoY. Too bad headline inflation is still roaring at 6.5%. So, the inflation tax is still overwhelming wage growth. The spread between the January jobs report (BLS) and the ADP jobs added report (ADP) is similar to the infamous jobs report that the Philly Fed “corrected” (orange circle). Here...

President Biden had better give his State of the Union Address before the economy worsens any more. In January, the Challenger, Gray and Christmas jobs cuts index was a doozy. Jobs cuts rose 440%. This is happening as The Federal Reserve keeps its feet on the monetary brake pedal. Many of the job cuts are in the tech sector, but job cuts are now spreading across the economy as a recession looms. This morning, the US Treasury 10-year yield is down only -3.5 basis points, but it is Europe where the action is. UK is down -16.2 basis points and...

The Federal Reserve slowed its drive to rein in inflation and said further interest-rate hikes are in store as officials debate when to end their most aggressive tightening of credit in four decades. Policymakers lifted the Fed’s target for its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 4.5% to 4.75%. The smaller move followed a half-point increase in December and four jumbo-sized 75 basis-point hikes prior to that. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee was in line with financial market expectations. Markets are forecasting a pivot after the June meeting in 2023. The...

The US economy is slowing down. In fact, ADP jobs added just printed at 106k in January, the lowest reading since August 2021. ADP jobs added follows the slow down of M2 Money growth YoY as The Fed tightens its monetary policy. Do I detect a trend (orange line)? I doubt that January’s ADP report will be mentioned in Biden’s State of the Union address.

The Case-Shiller index is out for November 2022. Too bad it is January 31, 2023. Call it “Happenings 2 Months Time Ago.” On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, the Case-Shiller National home price index slowed to 6.77%. On a month-over-month (MoM) basis, the CS National index fell -0.54%. That is the 5th straight month of home price declines. Only San Francisco fell on a YoY basis (down -1.6%). Five metro areas were above 10% and they are all in the South. Atlanta, Charlotte. Dallas, Miami and Tampa. On MoM basis, every metro area in the Case-Shiller 20 index saw price declines...

The important labor market cost index, the US Employment Cost Index (ECI) fell in Q4 2022 to 1.0%, down from 1.2% in Q3. Notice that ECI is falling as M2 Money growth falls. Fed meeting coming on Wednesday!

The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) is meeting on Wednesday. What will they do? First, The Fed Funds Target (upper bound) is above the Core US inflation rate YoY. Second, M2 Money growth YoY has slowed to -1.3%. Of course, the members of the FOMC might decide that this is not enough and may keep raising rates and shrinking The Fed’s enormous balance sheet. In the “Haven’t they suffered enough?” arena, US real disposable income has fallen by -21% since Biden was sworn-in as President. On the other hand, the Taylor Rule is still pointing to a target rate...