Free Republic

Could a second Biden term be more injurious to the economy than his first term? It seems unimaginable given the first three years gave us 20% inflation, a $2,000 loss in average real incomes for the middle class, 6 million added illegal immigrants, a war on American energy that has caused gas prices to rise by more than 40% to $3.64 a gallon, the collapse of our many major cities, another $6 trillion added to the national debt, the unaffordability of new homes, and the chaos on college campuses. So what's the encore to that abysmal performance? What will Bidenomics...

Restaurant chain Red Lobster could file for bankruptcy protection as early as next week, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the company, overwhelmed with hundreds of millions in debt, plans to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in Orlando before Memorial Day. Bloomberg previously reported in April that the restaurant company was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

On Tuesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen predicted that President Joe Biden’s tariffs won’t cause any meaningful price increases for typical families and responded to a question on her criticism of the Trump tariffs as “taxes on consumers” by stating that Biden’s tariffs are different because they’re “are a targeted group of strategic sectors where we have developed a real overdependence on China.” Yellen said that with the Biden tariff regime, “I don’t think that anything will occur here that would be noticeable to the typical American family. Mainly, these tariff increases serve to protect firms and workers that...

CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed during an interview with Yahoo Finance that inflation was nine percent when he took office in January 2021. VERDICT: FALSE. A report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate was at 1.4 percent in January 2021, when Biden came into office.

President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign and affiliated groups announced a $90 million fundraising haul for March on Saturday. The total — which includes funds from the campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and affiliated joint fundraising committees — out-paces former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee’s (RNC’s) $65.6 million raised in the same month. Biden’s fundraising apparatus now has more than double the amount of cash on hand as Trump’s, at $192 million compared to $93.1 million, according to a press release. “ The money we are raising is historic, and it’s going to the critical work of...

Head of the Mezha Anti-Corruption Center, Martyna Bohuslavets, has written a report in Pravda asking "Where are the fortifications?" She reports that millions of dollars that were intended for the construction of fortifications in Ukraine were instead "transferred to Kharkiv OVA to front companies of avatars." Bohuslavets said the Ukrainian Kharkiv Regional Military Administration (Kharkiv OVA) paid out funds to fictitious companies during the construction and fortification of the Kharkiv region. The report comes as Russian forces have broken into the northern region of Ukraine and the US continues funding the war. According to Ukranian Pravda reports, the Russian military...

Every year, former Republican congressional candidate Paul Chabot hosts a welcoming ceremony at a barn in North Texas that draws hundreds of people. There, barbecue vendors, military recruiters and line dance instructors indoctrinate their new neighbors, teaching them about their new home and the Southern lifestyle. After the festivities, the county sheriff hands them a red, white and blue certificate declaring them honorary Texas citizens. When these families sign their names and recite their oaths, they must not only “swear loyalty” to the Lone Star State, but profess that “there is no finer, greater or better place on the planet.”...

Actor Robert De Niro said Tuesday on ABC’s “The View” that former President Donald Trump and his supporters were filled with anger and hate. Co-host Sunny Hostin said, “Some people have criticized you, because you’ve been pretty open about your dislike for Mr. Trump and the dangers he poses to democracy. You once famously said you’d like to punch him in the face. But right now he’s leading in the polls in five battleground states. Any advice to the Biden campaign or the voters? What are you thinking?” Heavily censored, De Niro said, “Well, I think I don’t understand why...

New York City Councilwoman Shahana Hanif blasted Mayor Eric Adams (D) for his temporary tax-supported immigrant housing policies, suggesting instead that taxpayers pony up for permanent housing for immigrants. On Thursday, Hanif accused Adams of not wanting “New Yorkers to be happy” and denying them the chance to enjoy “permanent, dignified housing.” “The administration just does not want New Yorkers to be happy — plain and simple,” the Democrat told NY1. Adams has been working to enforce limits on shelter time for illegal aliens, threatening to evict them after 30 days for singles and 60 days for families. Adams began...

A majority of swing state voters said there is “not really any chance” they would cast a vote for President Joe Biden, a New York Times/Siena/Philadelphia Inquirer poll recently found, underscoring Biden’s tough road to reelection. The poll asked respondents, “Would you say there’s some chance you will support Joe Biden or not really any chance?” 52 percent said not really any chance Four percent said some chance Two percent did not know Among the 52 percent who said there was no chance they would vote for Biden, nine percent voted for Biden in 2020, and seven percent considered themselves...

President Joe Biden signed into law a ban on Russian enriched uranium on Monday, the White House said, in the latest effort by Washington to disrupt President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The ban on imports of the fuel for nuclear power plants begins in about 90 days, although it allows the Department of Energy to issue waivers in case of supply concerns. Russia is the world's top supplier of enriched uranium, and about 24% of the enriched uranium used by U.S. nuclear power plants come from the country. The law also unlocks about $2.7 billion in funding in previous...

Porn star Stormy Daniels wore a bulletproof vest to get to court to deliver salacious allegations about Donald Trump because she feared what “some nut might do to her,” according to her attorney. Daniels, 45, was “paralyzed with fear” before her two days testifying to her alleged fling with Trump that is at the heart of his criminal hush money trial, her attorney, Clark Brewster, told CNN late Monday. “She was concerned about the security coming in to New York,” Brewster told CNN on Monday. “She wore a bulletproof vest every day until she got to the courthouse,” he said,...

<p>DES MOINES, Iowa — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is gearing up to lend a financial hand to former President Donald Trump, marking a significant shift in their political relationship, according to AP sources.</p><p>Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on anonymity, disclosed that DeSantis is set to start fundraising efforts for Trump in the upcoming weeks, aligning with his pledge made during a recent meeting with the former president.</p>

Ford’s attempt to electrify its revenue through electric vehicle production has been a swing and a miss. In response to the decreasing market for EVs, Ford has begun cutting orders from its battery supplies, according to Bloomberg. Even though this changeup will be beneficial in the long run, Ford will not come out of its EV experiment unscathed. Sources told Bloomberg that Ford lost over $100,000 per EV in the first quarter of 2024, more than double its deficit from last year. The news comes as the EV market across the country has taken a hit in 2024. The Associated...

Inflation at the wholesale level rose much more than expected in April, the latest sign that price pressures within the economy remain elevated and difficult to tame. The Labor Department said Tuesday that its producer price index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level before it reaches consumers, rose 0.5% in April from the previous month. On an annual basis, prices remain up 2.2% — the highest level since April 2023. While the monthly gain is notably higher than the 0.2% increase forecast by LSEG economists, the headline figure is in line with expectations.

Struggling Red Lobster is abruptly closing at least 48 of its restaurants around the country, according to a leading restaurant liquidator. TAGeX Brands is conducting an online auction of Red Lobster restaurant inventory, including kitchen equipment, furniture, tables and chairs. The auction begins Monday and continues through Thursday, according to company founder Neal Sherman. Red Lobster locations in Buffalo, Orlando, Jacksonville and other cities were listed as “temporarily closed” on Red Lobster’s website, according to local news reports. Red Lobster did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment. The company has around 650 locations. Red Lobster is reportedly considering filing...

President Joe Biden issued an order on Monday forcing a Chinese-backed cryptocurrency mining company to sell land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base, citing national security concerns. The company, MineOne, acquired the real estate in June 2022, placing its operations within a mile of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, a “strategic missile base and key element of America’s nuclear triad,” according to the White House. The company’s site contained “specialized and foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities,” the presidential order said.

Timothy Bundren must have heard wrong. The sun wasn’t up yet. He was still groggy from starting his morning routine of walking through chicken barns. His phone rang and his contact with the global meat company headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas, just two hours south of his farm, started telling him he would no longer be raising chickens. Bundren, 52, didn’t believe him at first. Just hours later, he was supposed to meet with the bank about another loan to buy the farm down the road. Bundren waited an hour and then called the man back. The news didn’t change, but...

“I had the hormonal urges,” said Prof Camille Parmesan, a leading climate scientist based in France. “Oh my gosh, it was very strong. But it was: ‘Do I really want to bring a child into this world that we’re creating?’ Even 30 years ago, it was very clear the world was going to hell in a handbasket. I’m 62 now and I’m actually really glad I did not have children.” Parmesan is not alone. An exclusive Guardian survey has found that almost a fifth of the female climate experts who responded have chosen to have no children, or fewer children,...

The economy is experiencing a golden moment thanks to exports and tourism after cleaning up its accounts. But the country has paid a price in migration of qualified workers and reduction of public services. Ten years after the departure of the “men in black” — the international managers of the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank who cleaned up Portugal’s accounts with a machete, the country has emerged as the most diligent student in southern Europe. In 2023, for the first time, public debt fell below 100% of GDP (it stood at 98.7%) and there was a...