Free Republic

SCOTT JENNINGS: This is -- he's describing what is currently the dumbest strategy in politics, which is Democrats taking the 20 percent side of every 80-20 issue in America. USAID, people want this pared down. They want to streamline. They want to know where the money is going, Democrats have a meltdown. Today, Donald Trump signs an executive order on keeping boys out of girls' sports, and Democrats take the 20 side of that issue as well. All these issues, this is like Trump's superpower, finding a bunch of 80-20 issues, getting on the 80, and everybody who's sort of...

Elon Musk, director of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and his staff are sleeping in the federal personnel office to save taxpayers about $1 billion a day, a person familiar with the situation told the New York Times. Sleeping in office buildings is not unusual for Musk, who deployed the same cost-saving measure at Twitter and Tesla. “Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days!” Musk posted on X over the weekend. “Working the weekend is a superpower.”

The UK’s green agenda-loving Labour Party wants to see Britain’s become a “clean energy superpower” under its rule, the party’s leader has claimed. Keir Starmer, the neo-Blairite leader of Britain’s globalist-left Labour Party, is to set out a number of “national missions” that he wants to achieve should he be elected Prime Minister, including making the UK a so-called “clean energy superpower”. However, while denouncing the ruling Conservative Party as lacking a “serious plan” to rule the country, the goals Starmer has set out are remarkably similar to those being pushed for by the current government under Prime Minister Rishi...

British and European Union universities and academics have collaborated on thousands of joint projects with institutions tied to the military of Communist China, an investigation has claimed. A collaborative investigation between 11 European newsrooms, the Dutch investigative outlet Follow the Money, and German nonprofit CORRECTIV has identified nearly 3,000 scientific publications that were produced by European Union universities and military-tied institutions in China. According to a report from the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle — one of the news outlets involved in the investigation — the scientific projects included research on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing,...

Red China constantly rethinks how it will become the world's leading superpower, and plans accordingly. The Epoch Times has just published a detailed plan delivered in a speech in July, 2016, laying out how the People's Republic can overtake the United States as the world's leading nation. Professor Jin Canrong, from the School of International Studies in Beijing, explained how the PRC, following Xi Jinping's call for a national rejuvenation, could accomplish it. The speech, kept secret until now, combined four elements: 1) weakening the United States by becoming increasingly involved in American affairs, and 2) infiltrating Chinese agents into...

Full title: What Jamaican Maroons and the Founding Fathers have in common: When fighting a superpower, it is not possible to free every single person We live in an age were now even the most fringe of arguments, the idea of reparations, is a widespread part of presidential elections. The problem with this is that if the progressives had any consistency they would be demanding that Britain pay reparations to American blacks. The Founding Fathers didn't bring all of these slaves here. King George did. All three of them. Queen Anne did. King William did. Queen Mary did. King James...

The United States will remain the world’s only global economic superpower until 2035 even though China’s role in the world economic landscape will become more important, according to Beijing’s latest predictions, in an apparent toning down of the mainland’s public ambitions for its future role in global economy. While the report by the Development Research Centre of the State Council (DRC) does not directly address the rivalry between China and US, it does attempt to project a relatively low profile role for China over the next two decades. It is often assumed that China will overtake the US as the...

<p>WHAT’S the most powerful country in the world? There’s a good case to be made that it’s China. There are many kinds of power – diplomatic, cultural, military and economic. So an easier question to ask is: What’s the world’s largest economy? Almost certainly China. Many might protest. After all, the US still produces the most when measured at market exchange rates. But this comparison is misleading, because things cost different amounts in different countries. Gross domestic product (GDP) is supposed to measure the amount of real stuff – cars, phones, financial services, back massages, etc – that a country produces. If the same phone costs $400 in the US but only $200 in China, China’s GDP is getting undercounted by 50pc when we measure at market exchange rates. In general, less developed countries have lower prices, which means their GDP gets systematically undercounted.</p>

Toward the end of the presidency of George H.W. Bush, America stood alone at the top of the world—the sole superpower. After five weeks of “shock and awe” and 100 hours of combat, Saddam’s army had fled Kuwait back up the road to Basra and Bagdad. Our Cold War adversary was breaking apart into 15 countries. The Berlin Wall had fallen. Germany was reunited. The captive nations of Central and Eastern Europe were breaking free. Bush I had mended fences with Beijing after the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square. Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin were friends. The president declared the...

A battle of interplanetary proportions is brewing on Capitol Hill. It’s not “Star Wars,” but partisan lines are quickly being drawn in a budget battle over the future of NASA, which could have a long-term impact on the space agency’s ability to explore the deepest corners of space as well as the ground beneath our feet. On one side are Republicans who accuse the Obama administration of taking its eye off the ball by funneling too much money into research about the planet Earth, rather than focusing on distant worlds and stars. On the other, Democrats argue that the administration’s...

Does anybody really buy the Left’s faux outrage over former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s opinion, offered at a private event for Wisconsin governor Scott Walker last Wednesday, that President Obama does not love America? After all, it’s a matter of orthodoxy on the right that Barack Obama’s opinion of America ranges from mild disapproval to outright hatred. In my own estimation, it is somewhere between. A thought experiment for you: How do you think a spouse, a friend, or a colleague would react if you suggested — in your nicest voice — “I think you’re wonderful, but I...

I’ve heard from tons of people regarding yesterday’s  “What’s Your Superpower” post. Some who previously hadn’t realized they possessed superpowers, like HHS. Until they read my blog, HHS had contended they had “no legal authority to exclude the U.S. territories from ObamaCare.” Then (ahem) upon “reflection” HHS: discovered new (super) powers after "a careful review of this situation and the relevant statutory language," that enabled them to 'selectively exempt' American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, and Virgin Islands from Obamacare. Most impressive, as up till now only Barry and DOJ were allowed to circumvent the law of the...

Don’t blame me, Blonde Gator started this last week with her pig poster:But that got me wondering: Do we all have super powers? Clearly BO does; sometimes he deploys them with nothing more than his phone. Other times, it’s just his pen. It’s awesome. Still, I remember not so long ago when he lamented being burdened with his super power: "It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled...

“WHY is it that everybody is so eager to use military force?” America’s cerebral president betrayed a rare flash of frustration on April 28th when dealing with a question in Asia about his country’s “weakness”. Barack Obama said his administration was making steady, if unspectacular, progress. By blundering into wars, his critics would only harm America. Mr Obama was channelling the mood of his people, worn out by the blood and treasure squandered in Iraq and Afghanistan. A survey last autumn by the Pew Research Centre suggests that 52% want the United States to “mind its own business internationally”, the...

Praise the Lord and Pass the Putin By Norma Zager There is a rumor that a big Hollywood producer has approached Putin to do his own Reality Show. Why? Because Putin makes good TV. He is easily the most entertaining Russian leader since Khrushchev, who blustered and beat his shoes on desks. What a kick to watch. So what is it about Putin that makes him so much fun? After all, the moron in North Korea is an ignoramus and has definitely replaced Tattoo as the short funny guy on that Fantasy Island he inhabits. Yet, he still has the...

Environmentalists are pushing a new way to deal with global warming and overpopulation: the U.S. needs to “de-grow” its economy. What is “de-growth”? It means forcing people to work less to make them more equal, consume fewer goods and use less electricity. Think of it like camping, but for the rest of your life. Environmentalists at the New Economics Foundation in London and the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C. argue that cutting the 40-hour work week and using less electricity is necessary. This includes a living wage requirement and a more progressive tax code. “There’s no such thing as sustainable...

The traditional American posture as the guarantor of freedom and protector of allies, and the scourge of Nazis, Communists and al Qaeda is headed toward a less manageable, every-man-for-himself series of ad hoc arrangements that portend greater international instability in which terrorism and warfare thrive. Here is what happens when the United States is weakened in the eyes of the world: China derides U.S. economic leadership, posits itself a "source of financial stability," and suggests the yuan as a replacement for the dollar. China also announces plans to sell Pakistan two more nuclear reactors. Russia doubles down by offering Iran...

For a country that is supposed to be the most powerful in the world, the fact that Americans have today woken up to find large swathes of their nation closed for business is humiliating.

2010 was also the year China overtook America as the world’s largest car market, as the world’s largest retail market, and as the world’s greatest producer of patents. A year later China became the globe’s greatest user of energy. In 2012 China became the world’s biggest market for PCs, and the primary source of global trade. Just three days ago China unveiled the world’s most powerful computer.