Free Republic

Key Points The consumer price index rose at a 2.7% annualized rate last month, a delayed report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected CPI to have risen 3.1%. Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was also cooler than anticipated, increasing 2.6% over 12 months.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has proven himself to be a passionate car guy, but every now and again he pops up to remind everyone he’s running a multi-billion dollar company with one of the most recognisable brand names in the world. Earlier this week, Farley stood with US President Donald Trump as fuel economy targets were slashed, effectively allowing Ford – and other brands – to battle less red tape and sell vehicles for greater profits, while at the same time providing better up-front affordability for buyers. Now, Farley has turned his attention to Europe, amid reports that the continent’s...

EU leaders warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a closed-door call that the United States might betray both Ukraine and Europe by conceding territory without firm security guarantees, Spiegel reported on Dec. 4. According to the outlet, European heads of state and government expressed deep mistrust toward Washington’s role in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Spiegel published what it claims is a transcript of the call — involving German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, several other European leaders, and Zelenskyy — in which the Americans were portrayed as unreliable. “There is a possibility that the United States...

Something unprecedented happened in Moscow. Trump's envoy met with Putin while China's foreign minister met with his Russian counterpart. Three nuclear superpowers converged, and London is in panic because they can end British imperial control. In this episode, Susan Kokinda discusses a significant event in Moscow involving Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, Vladimir Putin, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The meeting represents a major shift in global power dynamics, signaling potential threats to British imperial control. Kokinda delves into Trump's new alliances with Russia and China and his efforts to target the financial lifeblood of the British Empire. The episode...

The U.S. has only "scratched the surface" of its oil potential, with new technologies and untapped resources emerging that could help cement America’s energy dominance for years to come. "The biggest opportunity is to recover more of the molecules that are in the ground," Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told FOX Business in an exclusive interview. Currently, only about 10% of the oil in place can be extracted with existing technology — a figure Chevron aims to increase. Wirth told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo that the company is investing in a new generation of drilling innovations, including artificial intelligence-powered systems and...

U.S. Flag with Israeli Stars Which of the United States or Israel uses the other for its foreign policy? Is Israel the proxy for US foreign policy in the Middle East? Or does Israel determine US foreign policy, both through and because of the Zionist lobby and the neocons and liberals present in the US administration? Is it “the world upside down” “tails wagging dogs”? This is a very old question: who manipulates whom in this American-Israeli relationship?

Angelina Jolie spoke up about the free speech debate going on in the United States. The Oscar-winning actress was asked at a film festival in Spain over the weekend, “What do you fear as an artist and an American?” “It is a very difficult question,” Jolie responded, according The Guardian, “I love my country, but at this time, I don’t recognize my country,” Jolie said. “I’ve always lived internationally, my family is international, my friends, my life.” She went on to say, “My worldview is equal, united and international. Anything anywhere that divides or limits personal expressions and freedoms from...

The Real Economics of Tariffs: Why America Holds All the Cards The debate over tariffs is often frustrating because it so seldomly touches on reality instead of whiteboard economics of the Ivory Tower. Critics focus on textbook theories about comparative advantage and free trade efficiency, but they ignore the fundamental reality of how global trade actually works today. For decades, the U.S. has played a peculiar role in the global economy: we consume what the rest of the world produces. That is not a neutral or natural arrangement. It’s the result of policy choices—ours and theirs. And tariffs are finally...

A new and potentially significant source of demand is that of demand from Iran. Iran imported a massive $1.2 billion worth of precious metals from Turkey in April alone. Turkish exports of gold, precious metals, pearls and coins to Iran rose to $1.2 billion in April from a tiny $7,500 a year earlier, according to figures released by the state statistics institute in Ankara yesterday. This is a massive increase in demand and suggests that there may be official involvement in the imports from the Central Bank of Iran. This trend continued in May when Turkish gold imports leapt by...

A historical US flag stolen from the grounds of a school built on the site of a former American naval base has been returned after it was recovered from a bonfire in Londonderry. The flag was taken from Foyle College on the city's Limavady Road in early July. On Monday, independent Derry City and Strabane District councillor Gary Donnelly said he believed the flag had been removed from the bonfire. Foyle College confirmed on Tuesday that the flag had now been handed back to the school. The school thanked those involved in securing the safe return of the flag.

S&P's latest projections show India's GDP growth will remain steady at 6.5 per cent in the ongoing fiscal year, matching the previous financial year's performance. New Delhi: US President Donald Trump's punitive tariffs on Indian imports will not impact India's economic growth, and its sovereign ratings outlook will remain positive, according to S&P Global Ratings Director YeeFarn Phua. New Delhi is facing a 50 per cent US tariff--comprising 25 per cent that kicked in on August 7 and another 25 per cent due to come into force on August 28 as a penalty for buying Russian oil. Speaking at...

A deepening spat between the US and India could cancel this year’s Quad leaders’ summit, potentially delaying a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese and undermining the region’s premier democratic bloc against China’s rise. The Albanese government is concerned by the escalating tensions after the US president threatened to slug Indian exports to America with an extra 25 percentage points in tariffs unless it curbs purchases of Russian crude oil. But as ties between Washington and New Delhi come under severe strain, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday signalled he planned to travel to China later this...

During an appearance on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday, failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams alleged President Donald Trump was taking steps to cancel elections in the United States. Abrams outlined 10 steps to guest host Anthony Anderson in her book, which she was promoting, that would ultimately lead to an “autocracy.” “[Y]ou criticize the media, and you create your own echo chamber of propaganda,” Abrams said. “You call it truth even though you know you’re lying. Then you go to the next step, and I call that step seven. It’s at step seven you have to blame someone....

Chicagoans can’t catch a break when it comes to the cost of living—at least, according to a new study from home-goods pros Highland Cabinetry, which ranks the most overpriced cities in the U.S. Analyzing a diverse range of metrics that consider not only the cost of living but also the quality of life in the Windy City—including the exorbitant expense of housing, earned income, relative safety, traffic and so on—the study sourced its data from the likes of the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Zillow real estate stats. While Newark, New Jersey earned the number one spot for being the...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who led the stalled nuclear deal talks with the United States, demanded in a letter to the United Nations on Sunday that the global body help Tehran seek “reparation” for the damage caused by American airstrikes on his country’s illicit nuclear sites. The letter, according to the Iranian propaganda website PressTV, insisted that the Security Council had a responsibility to “hold the aggressors accountable,” referring to Israel and the United States, and recognize the targeted attacks on Iran’s terrorism apparatus as “heinous and serious crimes.” “We solemnly request that the Security Council recognize the Israeli...

The White House refuted a leaked report that stated Iran’s nuclear capabilities were not totally destroyed in the U.S. airstrike. President Donald Trump announced that Israeli officials believe the U.S. airstrike targeting an Iranian nuclear site over the weekend has made it “totally inoperable” and set the regime back for years. “The devastating U.S. strike on Fordow destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable,” Trump told a NATO conference in the Netherlands, reading the statement from the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission

Dangit, that's 8 months ahead of real life. But guess what - it's catchy.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) responded to the news that the United States had carried out strikes on several nuclear sites in Iran, describing it as the “correct move.” In a post on X, Fetterman described Iran as being “the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism,” adding that they “cannot have nuclear capabilities.” Fetterman’s post came after President Donald Trump revealed in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. had completed a “very successful attack” on several nuclear sites in Iran. “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” Fetterman wrote. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of...

Wednesday on ABC’s “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said the rights of black people in the United States are under attack at the “same” level as Iranians living under an Islamic regime. Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said, “Let’s just remember, too, the Iranians literally throw gay people off of buildings. They don’t adhere to basic human rights.” Goldberg said, “Listen here is the thing, let’s not do that, because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car.” Griffin said, “The Iranian regime is today is nothing compared to the...

President Donald Trump announced, “We now have complete and total control” of Iranian airspace and that the U.S. knows “exactly where” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “is hiding.” Trump’s announcements came in a string of Truth Social posts. “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff,'” Trump wrote. “Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA,” he added. Trump then said the United States knows where Khamenei is located.