Free Republic

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) predicted on Thursday that leftist President Joe Biden’s decision to trade imprisoned basketball player Brittney Griner for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “merchant of death,” would result in people dying as rogue states interpreted the move as open season to arrest Americans. Biden announced and the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday that Griner and Bout were both free.

Emerging markets fund manager Mark Mobius doesn’t think there will be a trade war if Donald Trump is elected president. Trump’s positions on trade—including raising tariffs on Chinese imported goods—have raised concerns that we could end up in an all out trade war between the US and China. Speaking at the SALT Conference in Las Vegas on Friday, Mobius, the executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Market Group, said it won’t come to that. He thinks Trump will get deals done. “When people ask me, I say, ‘I don’t like what he says, but I like the way he says it,”...

Vote was 219 For 219 Against (Roll Call). 8 Republicans voted For and 2 Did not vote. Enough to have made the difference. Republicans who voted For: Mary Bono Mack, CA-45Mike Castle, DEMark Steven Kirk, IL-10Leonard Lance, NJ-7Frank LoBiondo, NJ-2John McHugh, NY-23Dave Reichert, WA-8Chris Smit, NJ-4 If you are a constituent of any of the above, you may wish to express your displeasure at their voting for a bill that will do nothing to prevent climate change but will saddle American's with thousands more in tax increases and job losses. Contact links for each member are available on their web...

Voyage to prove pharaohs traded cocaine By Tom Leonard in New York Last Updated: 2:21am BST 30/05/2007 An adventurer who believes that ancient man regularly crossed the Atlantic Ocean 14,000 years ago plans to recreate such a voyage in a 41ft raft made of reeds and eucalyptus tree branches. Basing his theory on the thinnest of historical evidence, Dominique Gorlitz believes that the discovery of traces of tobacco and cocaine in the tomb of the pharaoh Rameses II proves that there was trade between the Old and New Worlds. He also claims that 14,000-year-old cave paintings in Spain show that,...

Cuban colonists traded bootlaces for gold Maev Kennedy Monday October 9, 2006 Guardian Unlimited (UK) El Chorro de Maita cemetery; and an artist's impression of the jewellery made by the Cubans from the Europeans' shoelaces. Images: Courtesy Institute of Archaeology The people of El Chorro de Maita, a fishing and farming village on the east coast of Cuba, were buried with their greatest treasures: jewellery made of stone, coral, pearl, gold and silver alloy, and odd little tube shaped metal beads. Meanwhile the first Europeans to make contact with the island were sailing home, well pleased with their barter: they'd...

Voluntary Alternatives to Taxation Stuart K. Hayashi Most Americans believe paying taxes is a patriotic duty. Yet this very nation was founded upon people evading taxes in 1776. When individuals don’t pay taxes, the government goes after them with guns, even though they haven’t used force on anyone else. Thus, taxation is an initiation of physical force against the individual’s right to life, liberty and property. Because taxation is forcible extortion, it violates your right to property. If you don’t pay taxes, you can be jailed, hence depriving you the right to liberty. And if tax “evaders” fight tax...